Phil Spencer Has Now Been Head of Xbox for 10 Years; We Look Back at His First Decade

IGN: "Ten years ago on March 31, 2014, then-Xbox Game Studios boss Phil Spencer was named Head of Xbox. And he inherited quite a mess. You all know the story; there’s no need to beat the horse corpse for the ten-thousandth time. The brand was in disarray after what can, without hyperbole, be called a pretty disastrous launch of the Xbox One. So how far has Xbox come under Spencer’s tenure? And where’s it going from here? Let’s look back and then look forward."

[helicoptergirl]

This is a Fluff piece hidden behind more obvious criticisms from the past. No mention of the flatlining console sales. Sales that are worse than the Xbox One generation that Phil has admitted was a complete failure. The stagnation of GP subscribers, a lot of which have been forced to sub to the basic if they want to play online. The firing of nearly 2000 employees. The desperate need to sell beloved exclusive titles to competitors to try and raise profits and there'll be many more to come as he tries to soften the blow to the faithful, bit by bit as he does his many PR tours throughout the years to come. I know they mentioned the righting of the ship after Mattrick, but I really feel like this was a Fluff piece.

[CrashMania]

Ryan McCaffrey is big Xbox shill, so can't say I'm surprised.

[Abear21]

He “works” for M$ as they own part of his company

[Cacabunga]

All i can say is, xbox was way better before this moron took over.. people in charge during 360 and OG xbox actually cared to deliver quality titles.

[Petebloodyonion]

Because Sony paying for an exclusive deal in each major genre didn't factor into the decision of ppl going over PlayStation instead of Xbox?
Let's see:
who had an exclusive deal for the biggest shooter PS4 or Xbox?
Who had an exclusive deal for the biggest fighting franchise PS4 or Xbox?
Who had an exclusive deal for the biggest RPG franchise PS4 or Xbox?
But let me guess Sony's words about COD type of game making a bigger profit compared to exclusive and forcing consumer habit into changing console only work when it's Sony vs the CMA right?

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

Microsoft had exclusive deals with popular franchises throughout the 360 era so I don't see your point.

[Tody_ZA]

@Petebloodyonion You typed a paragraph to make yourself sound uneducated, well done on wiping your memory of the last fifteen years of gaming. Let me remind you. After the PS3's disastrous start, it made the greatest comeback with not one or two, but multiple GOTY quality titles (Killzone 2, God of War 3, Uncharted 2, Metal Gear Solid 4, The Last of Us, etc.) and the launch of PS Plus as Xbox 360 was stagnating. Then we don't need to revisit the total self-destruction that was the Xbox One launch to give PlayStation a massive boost going into the last generation, which they followed with some of their greatest games of all time, i.e Bloodborne, Uncharted 4, and God of War, as well as the launch of Spider-Man. Remember E3 2016? The PS4 is where Sony won the majority of its new fanbase over and Xbox lost theirs due to their own stupidity and lack of games investment. Sony's streak continued when they announced the digital edition of the PS5, while MS announced a flaccid Xbox Series S to hamstring the new generation. Cheap sells, but it doesn't sustain a generation.

Now, after ALL the above and more, you want to cry about some exclusive deals that went Sony's way as if they are the big picture?

Let's not forget that Microsoft had EVERYTHING going for it in the 360 era, with massive IPs like Gears of War, Halo, Forza and Mass Effect on their machine and the cheaper console that released a year before the PS3 AND all the exclusive deals for the Call of Duty's and such. It's their utter failure to make good games or good decisions about their brand that led them to where they are now. They are not a gaming company. Get that through your head.

[Skuletor]

I remember hearing "Play it first on Xbox" ad naseum in trailers during the 360 era, like with Call of Duty dlc.

[DigitallyAfflicted]

Microsoft has more than enough to buy game exclusivity... the factor in MS failure is its own bad decisions, not other companies good decisions.

[Charlieboy333]

Hey onionhead, has your alzheimers kicked in or are you just ignoring Xbox buying Halo, buying Gears, paying for Mass Effect, paying for Bioshock, paying for GTA IV DLC, paying for Tomb Raider, paying for Dead Rising, paying for ES Oblivion, etc, etc, ETC back in the day.

Just because Xbox can't be bothered to make good deals for you anymore is not Sony's fault. The fact that Sony still makes deals for their customer's benefit is great because that is THEIR JOB as a service and product provider.

Sorry Xbox hasn't given a shit in ages about you, but that's your problem...not ours. So go cry into your Phil body pillow or something.

[Modpeel]

Microsoft has more money than Sony

[notachance]

xbox games sucked, did you ever see any new fans since xbox one era?

that’s right, xbox fans are just 360 or older fans in denial of their console situation. Hell even the last 3-4 years of 360 there’s barely any good exclusives.

[ChasterMies]

This is a false equivalency, as in the $80B Microsoft spent to keep games off PlayStation is an order of magnitude more than Sony spent on studios. Although now it looks like Microsoft becoming a 3rd party game publisher (again), and I can understand how an Xbox owner can see that as devaluing their hardware.

[PapaBop]

So I take it they didn't bother to mention his failures with running with Xbox studios? In all that time and money, they haven't managed to create a single genuine GOTY contender, Forza is probably the only universally praised series they have left.

[-Foxtrot]

Must be difficult being so full of shit for 10 years straight

I salute you sir

[where-eagles-dare]

Your eloquence is far too kind Fox.

[Christopher]

*** Insomniac’s critically acclaimed and commercially successful Spider-Man series wouldn’t have happened without it.***

Shut up. Just shut up.

This article is hard to read without feeling nauseous on the author's attempt to bend over backwards to make statements like this to praise Microsoft or things having absolutely nothing to do with Phil at all. Somehow, Phil is amazing because Insomniac made their own game and that own game of theirs is the only reason they could make a good Spider-Man game. The only reason. Insomniac couldn't have done it otherwise. That's because they can only make games they're familiar with and are incompetent but also brilliant.

***The Xbox Series X is a great machine that has plenty of horsepower, looks awesome, and works as whisper-quietly as it does reliably. Meanwhile, Spencer’s strategy of lowering the price of entry for the new console by offering a non-4K version of the Series X in the form of the Series S also seems to have paid off, with Xbox doing better than it ever has.***

What nonsense is this?

[CrashMania]

Ryan really lives in an alternative reality lol.

[Hofstaderman]

Ryan must be huffing gasoline to believe this tripe he wrote, that, or he got a nice kickback from bro Phil. I loved the look on his face when IGN covered that exclusives would find their way to XBOX; he looked so baffled.

[Petebloodyonion]

And why is it nonsense regarding Sunset Overdrive?
Last I checked Insomniac did shop around for a publisher for Sunset Overdrive and I am pretty sure that they also went to Sony due to past relations the same way that Microsoft Turned down Remedy Alan Wake2.
Many outlets did point out that Spiderman uses lots of core principles from Sunset Overdrive so I fail to see what's wrong with the statement just like Remedy's Control is built on Quantum Breaks's foundation

Here's food for thought Why did Sony go with Insomniac for Spiderman instead of their 1st party studio? I doubt that Sony throws money out to any devs that don't have a concept :).

[Christopher]

***And why is it nonsense regarding Sunset Overdrive? ***

Because it has nothing to do with Phil and the remark I quoted said it only was because of Sunset Overdrive. That's why. Essentially they're geniuses for making Sunset Overdrive but idiots because without it they couldn't have made Spider-man. It's a dumb statement that speaks from both sides of one's mouth.

The whole context itself shouldn't be in an article about Phil to begin with. But, no, let's try and flex on this by calling them amazing and yet incompetent at the same time. Amazing for the game that failed, but Spider-Man was only a success due to their failure.

I swear.

***Here's food for thought Why did Sony go with Insomniac for Spiderman instead of their 1st party studio?***

*points at the entire Ratchet and Clank portfolio of games*

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

Sony wanted to own Sunset Overdrive IP, but Insomniac wanted to retain IP ownership which is why that didn't happen, but apparently they still don't have full ownership of the IP so I don't know what true answer to why it didn't happen is.

[SeTTriP]

Sony went with insomniac for spiderman because of infamous.proven track record of creating acclaimed open world super hero games.

[Tody_ZA]

Sunset Overdrive was not a game Sony was interested in, it doesn't fit their MO, and they were right as it wasn't that successful. I played it, it was sort of fun but really wasn't Insomniac's best work. But obviously as a creator you learn from any game you make.

They went with Insomniac because the team pitched a good idea, Marvel was ready to get serious about their games, Microsoft turned it away, Sony owns the Spider-Man rights..millions of reasons but obviously you have comprehension problems and like Phil enjoy spinning like a washing machine.

How something came about is less relevant than opportunity, timing, and the publisher eye to see what will be a hit and make it happen.

[Petebloodyonion]

@Christopher
So when MS releases crap games like Redfall, CrackDown 3, etc. It's Spencer's fault! When MS cancels a project like Scalebound It's Spencer's fault! but when MS publishes a great game well it's because of the great devs.
I agree that Insomniac could have made a great Spiderman without having made Sunset Overdrive but I do believe that Sony went with Insomniac because of how easily they could translate Sunset to Spiderman.

And to further my point why didn't they go with their own Superhero studios Sucker Punch because...

@Settrip
Last I checked Infamous was made by...... SUCKER PUNCH.

[Christopher]

***So when MS releases crap games like Redfall, CrackDown 3, etc. It's Spencer's fault! When MS cancels a project like Scalebound It's Spencer's fault! but when MS publishes a great game well it's because of the great devs. ***

You're throwing a lot there and it's not like some of these aren't 'yeah, that's on Spencer' and some aren't. So, here's how I see it (for both Microsoft and Sony) and I feel my past comments fully back it up (I've gotten tons of crap for hating Sony's third-party exclusive focus right now because I don't see that as a Sony win but Square or similar company win).

For first-party exclusives: This is on Phil.I would say for Redfall and Starfield, much less so. He inherited these things and to change them so that, IMHO, they would be better, just not going to happen. But, Crackdown 3 and the latest Halo? 100%on Phil Just as 100% on Phil for Forza and Flight Sim. He has to own up to the management of overall output of his studios that he has say in when they're good and bad. You can tell how much control Phil has when he, aka Microsoft, can layoff people from the studios. If he can do that, then he has the power to make them succeed or get people who can make better teams for those studios. Same with Jim over at Sony, who I blame for so much right now that is wrong with Sony and why they have nothing to show other than third-party exclusives at the time.

For third-party exclusives: They're putting money up and that's nice, but this negative or positive outcome here comes from the developers. Microsoft publishing Sunset Overdrive didn't have Microsoft come in and make it the game it was. That was Insomniac. Unlike how they do things with Sony, who gets to dictate what game they work on (typically submit multiple ideas at a panel, Sony people decide, they make that), Insomniac made their own game. Microsoft just backed it with money, not with a panel that dictate the overall game and direction nor did Microsoft have any say at all on the dev structure or management (which they do have with their first-party studios). This is the same as Stray, FF games, Stellar Blade, etc. These games are assisted in funding and marketed as exclusives, but the dev team is in charge of making it great. Can they get feedback? Sure, but overall they have say on those games and they deserve the praise just as much as the criticism for their end game.

Scalebound? I'm not sure. IIRC this was a funding issue with some speculation on Microsoft wanting them to add co-op or MP? Not sure.

But, and remember here, Sunset Overdrive was not a great success in sales and not as well reviewed as past Ratchet and Clank games or Spider-Man games. It's the 10th highest rated game out of Insomniac per Metacritic even ( https://www.thegamer.com/in... ) [Edit: Actually, that's an old list, it's now not even in the top ten]. So, why are we praising the 10th best game of the company and thereby Phil? It doesn't deserve that level of praise or noteworthiness, let alone it doesn't deserve to have any praise coming from Phil other than putting up money and still preventing Insomniac from doing what they wanted, which is the own their own IP.

*** And to further my point why didn't they go with their own Superhero studios Sucker Punch because... ***

Because Insomniac is better. Plain and simple. Better studio (one of the best rated studios for over a decade) and better games out there for the audience they're trying to reach.

[Petebloodyonion]

@Christopher
1) I don't need to look at your history to know that you do stick to your values :) I may disagree with you on certain topics (like this one) but if I take time to reply to you (even with my bad English (sorry)) it's because you do take time to construct a good argumentation. So for that Kudos yo you

Now with that said..
I'll just say this for your whole reply. I agree that Spencer is far from perfect and he has tons to account for,
for example how badly he handled Sunset Overdrive's marketing buzz (something Sony does pretty well) but on the plus side he did manage to secure a well-received game (81 Metacritic) from a known Studio.
How it fails to sell should also be attributed to Phil (And that's for another article)

As for your last quote, Insomniac is a better studio
I would like to recall that Sucker Punch made the Sly Cooper series on Ps2, made the acclaimed Infamous series, and Ghost of Tsushima. all of their games (except Infamous 1st Light) scored over 80 on Metacritic.
So I doubt that Sony doubt Sucker Punch's capabilities.

[-Foxtrot]

@Outside_ofthe_Box

The whole Sunset Overdrive situation is so odd isn't it?

We got told they went with MS because for once they wanted to own the IP

Yet in the Insomniac leaks we then found out that Microsoft owns publishing rights for any sequels made

"Microsoft owns the rights to publish two sequels for Sunset Overdrive. These include “any associated DLC, ports and derivative games (e.g., mobile companion experiences, web-based experiences, and hand-held experiences)"

So they can't port the game to PlayStation, they can't make DLC or anything else for the game

The question is, why the hell did they go with MS if owning the IP means f*** all? Did they get swindled or something? Did they expect it to be a huge IP where once a few sequels were made they'd THEN own the IP?

Just seems so silly when they could have just made it for PS4 and made sequels to it.

[Skuletor]

I'd give the Batman: Arkham games more credit than Sunset Overdrive as an influence and I wouldn't say Insomniac's Spider-Man couldn't have happened without that either.

[Tody_ZA]

Correct, the Arkham games brought superheroes into the mainstream and still influences games to this day, like Spider-Man and Middle-Earth. Sunset Overdrive obviously just gave them the groundwork for their parkour and sandbox toolkit.

But Phil is gonna Phil.

[Christopher]

I would agree with this. I also find Spider-Man 2 on PS2 to be a bigger influence on movement than Sunset Overdrive.

[ChasterMies]

”Meanwhile, Spencer’s strategy of lowering the price of entry for the new console by offering a non-4K version of the Series X in the form of the Series S also seems to have paid off, with Xbox doing better than it ever has”

Oof. I think the gaming “news” industry has cognitive dissonance over the failure of Xbox in the market. There is no fact scenario where Xbox is doing better than ever. Xbox has been losing marketshare since the launch of Xbox One and that trend continues now. Microsoft took an $80B loss on buying game studios, which is definitely more than Xbox has made in profit over the last 10 years. Game Pass is still a money loser. The worst of it for an Xbox Series X owner is that the actual install base of the Series X isn’t much more than the Nintendo WiiU. Microsoft has the most powerful console ever made and no games to show it off. And now Microsoft is moving toward releasing its best Xbox games on PlayStation. It’s ridiculous to applaud Phil Spencer for his tenure at Xbox.

[thorstein]

The Xbox 360 launched in 2005. It was a great machine with great games. I never owned one since I could only afford one console and I went with PS.

Microsoft ended prodcution in 2016. This guy took over in 2014, after Xbox One launched.

What has happened since? Recently, a merger with layoffs. A new console that isn't competing globally. A dynamic shift from what made Xbox a staple of console gaming.

You can be an Xbox fan, but this guy is what went wrong.

[zekk]

The 360 as a device left a lot to be desired. I mean I think it has something like a 50%+ failure rate. But they had some great games

[Abear21]

360 was marred by RROD but still looked back on fondly because it had some truly great games.

Amazing what having good software covers up…and how forgiving and dumb consumers are. Pay for online with this Gen too, thanks Xbox for the sub model and helping ruin this industry.

[Good-Smurf]

I went with 360 right around launch of GTA IV in 2008 then later that year my parent bought a Fat PS3 40 GB model from Japan too bad it was stolen by a late-night break-in thief in late 2009.
My Xbox 360 was already had a few RRODs and I have for only two months and then E74 happened that same year and no video game stores want to take it in to fix it until a month later I found some guy down south who was running a repair shop in his bedroom fixed it for me and it lasted 'till 2015 when it refused to turn on with noisy AC adapter.
Great console but it just not reliable, everything about it except its controller breaks way too prematurely.
Disc Drive was a crapshoot unreliable and very picky about the kind of discs it will read as well.
I don't want to talk about Phil anymore, I guess I ran out of vocabulary to tell him for what he is nowadays after 10 years of lies and manipulation.

[Chocoburger]

Controller breaks easily, too. Modern analog sticks wear out, and get drift far too soon.

[Lightning77]

By undoing the bad decisions that were placed on X1? Wow, such an achievement....

When he was head of Xbox in 2014 MS cut allot of the budget for Xbox. Means no buy for new studios the first 4 years. Like idiots MS are they shot themselves in the foot. You would think a tech company like them they would think ahead and have games ready later X1 early and beyond this generation.

Now we're seeing games released later in the gen but it's too late I'm afraid. They over paid for ABK over compensated because they can't get games out and see higher revenue streams.

All this could of been avoid if they bought studios in 2014 and they wouldn't be in less of a mess.

[Hofstaderman]

Phils 10 years in one word: abysmal.

[Aloymetal]

Hey, hey...Go easy on him, remember he's a true gamer and I know that because 2 reasons...1. I trust anything he says and 2. He's always wearing a t-shirt with the letters ''i'M a GaMeR''...

[Hofstaderman]

Plus he has a trustworthy face. Lol.

[obidanshinobi]

Gamer my arse.
When asked what his favourite game was he said it was some kids game he played with his young daughter years ago.

[jznrpg]

A decade where I don’t feel like missed out on anything not owning an Xbox. Amazing job Phil

[PhillyDonJawn]

Unless you got a PC you definitely missed out on some gems

[Hereandthere]

Lies, broken promises and more lies. He has a trillion dollar company backing him, and he still failed.

[Tacoboto]

He's done possibly the best job anyone could have in very specific contexts, but even then it's all asterisks.

1. Convincing Microsoft to spend $70bn after several other billions spent on studios for a platform in dead last
2. Convincing Microsoft to go all in on Game Pass offering these ever-more-expensive games for pennies on the dollar
3. Backwards Compatibility

Under his leadership, first party output quality and quantity have both drastically declined, and platform sales reflect that.

I grew up on OG Xbox and 360, but during the One era PS4 and now PS5 have become my preferred ecosystems. Third parties prefer and cater to it, and the exclusives are the best in the industry.

I do think Game Pass provides the best value in gaming, and Xbox does a lot of consumer-friendly moves (cross-save, cross-play push, Xbox Play Anywhere, BC support, releasing on Steam Day One, free cloud saves, great discounts for GPU subscribers, support for older controllers).

But Game Pass means less when the first party titles are released as if they're betas, and the consumer-friendly moves mean less when there are fewer consumers they're catering to. It's a matter of how long the good will lasts, it's only there because it's their only option to compete.

Reminder - Two months away from Hellblade 2 and there's still barely any marketing from them.

[Knightofelemia]

10 years and look at how well Xbox has been preforming in sales in those last 10 years.

[TheColbertinator]

Outside of my own views on Phil Spencer personally, this article reads like AI wrote it

[RhinoGamer88]

Phil is a nice guy and a Jedi Master at high-level corporate politics. He and his team, their failures outweigh their successes by a tangible margin.

[Obscure_Observer]

Congrats Phil!

[Abear21]

Honestly gotta give him his props, he talks the most shit out there and keeps Xbox in the news. Hate to say it, but he’s good at his job in that respect!

[SeTTriP]

Goes without saying, you have to be an exceptional person to even get to the level where phil is or make the moves he has made.but he is very bad at this particular job.

[Aloymetal]

''he talks the most shit out there and keeps Xbox in the news.''
100% !! But let's be honest, you're giving him way too much credit when it's actually the biased media especially here in the U.S. keeping the green brand and Phil in the news, without the shills from the media xbox would be even less irrelevant than what already is/has been.

[jznrpg]

Xbox is in the news but that doesn’t equal making money. They could be in the news every day but that doesn’t change the fact that their brand is dying. Less people each gen want an Xbox. The Series S/X is losing to Xbox One and even though I dislike what Xbox is even I didn’t think it would be worse than last gen so soon.

[obidanshinobi]

Yes, Congrats Phil !!
From all the Playstation and Nintendo executives, he's increased their market share but lowering Xbox's.

[Obscure_Observer]

Well, last time I´d checked, Phil Spencer made of Xbox, Microsoft´s third most valuable business

https://www.theverge.com/20...

Sony on the other hand, lost 10 Billion due its PS5 sales cut forecast.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/0...

Those are the facts. Like it or not, it is what it is.

[romulus23]

"And he inherited quite a mess." And now he's making one of his very own.

[Petebloodyonion]

I think there are a lot of things that ppl don't give credit to Spencer because it's Spencer like how PC gaming improved with Spencer

1) The state of PC gaming changed drastically under Spencer's leadership forcing even Sony into making PC games
Ppl seem to forget that in 2015 PC gaming was an afterthought with bad ports like Batman Arkham, and Mortal Kombat X being the norm when a PC port was available. Spencer's claim of making Day1 PC version of Xbox game came as a joke for us PC players due to Xbox often promising that and making stellar pieces of garbage like Halo, Gears of War, etc.
Today, PC players do get good ports (it's still not perfect) of all MS titles and MS is now one of the biggest PC publishers even when not accounting for Bethesda and Activision.
To prove my points let's not forget that 100% of N4G who didn't own an Xbox1 claimed that they didn't need one cause they had a premium gaming PC that could run Xbox games at 1080P/60 frames sec.

2) Xbox PC
Again ppl seem to forget that Xbox PC players do exist and MS can be credited for making a platform that works well with its console counterpart. Cross saves work easily between console and PC versions (no need to upload/download/validate saves) and PC game passes offer an incredible value for the asking price including EA Play

[Christopher]

***The state of PC gaming changed drastically under Spencer's leadership forcing even Sony into making PC games***

Forcing them to do it?

***Ppl seem to forget that in 2015 PC gaming was an afterthought with bad ports like Batman Arkham, and Mortal Kombat X being the norm when a PC port was available.***

Yes, those days are totally over. 100%. PC only gets the best ports now. MGS MC, Skylines 2, Jedi Survivor, TLOUP1, Redfall, Hogwarts. All those amazing PC ports.

***Again ppl seem to forget that Xbox PC players do exist and MS can be credited for making a platform that works well with its console counterpart.***

https://n4g.com/news/259247...

[Skuletor]

Microsoft Store on PC is whack, my games on their storefront like Gears of War 4 and Forza Horizon 3 & 4 disappeared from my library despite me buying them directly from the store, their store is buggy and trash.

[Petebloodyonion]

I agree that forcing is a strong word but let's say influence it?
https://www.windowscentral....

"Yes, those days are over. 100%. PC only gets the best ports now. MGS MC, Skylines 2, Jedi Survivor, TLOUP1, Redfall, Hogwarts. All those amazing PC ports."
Like I said good, not perfect but how many games from that list are from Microsoft and are running worse versus the console version (Redfall is bad period).
Aside from PlayStation ports, how many PC ports are now released on Day 1 instead of after consoles like in the past?

I fail to see your point about Diablo4, You are bringing a game made by Activision before the merger to explain what? That MS should have remade the whole game for Windows Store and Steam?
Yes, the game does need B.Net to start (just as many EA games do need Origin) and just as many console games do need you to log into a publisher account but it still does not change the notion that when the game starts I don't need to upload/download my saves for the majority of games.
And since you want to cherry-pick How are Sony's Helldivers 2 cross-save/progression doing?

@Skuletor
I agree that the Windows store is garbage I was talking about the Xbox PC app and the Gamepass PC app.
Again the Window store is utter garbage.

[Christopher]

*** And since you want to cherry-pick How are Sony's Helldivers 2 cross-save/progression doing? ***

I'm not the one trying to give MS credit for 'a platform that works well with its console counterpart' here.

I'm pretty sure Sony can fail just as well as Microsoft, but I'm not reading an article talking about how amazing Jim Ryan is out of IGN where they praise sony for getting MS Sea of Thieves or the like on their platform like that was their idea or some nonsense.

Trust me, I have spite for both companies right now. ESPECIALLY for the people in charge at the top.

[Hedstrom]

I think if Don Mattrick would have been still in charge Xbox wouldnt be as much of a disaster as it is! We thought he was bad, but then Phil stepped up and proved us wrong!

[Abear21]

This guy is a talking head “cool dude” that is here for just that, talk talk talk and a true corporate shill that will say anything to try to take your money. This is his job.

[Abear21]

Microsoft co founder Paul Allen recently invested $50 million into Ziff Davis, owner of IGN.

Not hard to put bullshit in its proper place, just follow the money.

[Mojolupe]

Paul Allen died in 2018…

[Tody_ZA]

@Mojolupe That read like the after credit plot twist in a Metal Gear Solid game.

[Crows90]

I can't believe it...10 years of nothing. That's sad

[dumahim]

10 years of "just wait, it's coming." Formerly "wait for E3"

[jznrpg]

Wait for E3 still makes sense for Xbox

[Psychonaut85]

His first decade and hopefully his last. Dude is pure ham sandwich.

[Inverno]

10 years and nothing. Remember that unannounced game by Coalition before it was scrapped for more gears? The hype created for The Initiative and they've done jack shite. They had Scalebound which they cancelled, ironic that one as Phil was fine releasing Redfall Knowing it was an incomplete mess. They can't get HALO right, Fable STILL has yet to be released despite being known about for the last 7 years, they've bought Bethesda up and the first thing they release was a rushed out game just to say "hey look we have exclusives again!" And Starfield was a successful disappointment. If not for the stupid money Microsoft has, and their how persistent they've been swallowing up major publishers, Xbox wouldn't be a thing since last gen. Unfortunately MS have forced themselves forever into the industry with these acquisitions.

[Skuletor]

Still waiting for the Perfect Dark reboot and lol at Crackdown 3 and "the power of the cloud" too

[Inverno]

NGL I totally forgot "power of the cloud". They milked that as much as they could before they finally had to release Crackdown and show it all a lie SMH.

[anast]

He couldn't figure out how to deliver a new IP, he failed to deliver on the in house IPs, he overpaid for Bethesda, he turned Xbox into a Roku box, and he released a mid-gen console that has held his devs back from doing anything worth while.

[gold_drake]

a bunch of remarks about how bad sony is
a bunch of "CONSOLE WAR" remarks
a bunch of "we are better than sony" remarks
empty promises
a bunch of miststeps
"THE BEAST" with a side dish of "xbox always on" and xbox as a media device
"we at xbox believe"
"we are always number 3"

god there are so many ha.

[rippermcrip]

I'll point out again, that before he became the head honcho...

He was the in charge of Microsoft Studios.

He is the only one to blame for their lack of games. This started before the X1 reveal.

Phil Spencer has accomplished nothing.

[PhillyDonJawn]

The GOAT! Too early to judge on this gen but he turned Xbox one around from certain doom and it ended with very respectable numbers and output. Wasn't flawless but much better than it would've and should've been honestly. The most respectable thing he did was actually listen to the fans. We said no to the drm plans, he fixed it. We asked for BC, he did it. We asked for more power out came the one X. While no one asked for it and it wasn't the first game service, gmaepass was the most ambitious with the day 1 titles and he quickly got it to be the #1* game subscription service on the market

[romulus23]

"We said no to the drm plans, he fixed it."

You can't be serious. If you think DRM went away you're in for a huge wake up call. If the things Spencer has done qualifies him as the "GOAT" than there's truly no hope for xbox going forward.

[PhillyDonJawn]

I been trading games wit no issues lol I guess I got a special edition of the console. Remember the vid Sony shot on how to trade games 🤣 yeah MS had no plans on it being that easy till Phil took over. Its gone! Its been 2 gens. So I don't see your point on that And cmon the GOAT thing was mostly to get reactions lol and you did not fail at it. Lmao

[The_Hooligan]

Did the fans never ask for consistent quality exclusive games? Is that the reason why he didn't deliver? Or the fans did ask but he didn't listen to them?

[PhillyDonJawn]

According to who? I enjoyed Halo 5 MP, Gears 5, Forza, Ori, Sunset, SOD2, SOT, QB also wasn't bad although too short and they should've trashed the TV stuff. I played more Xbox exclusives during XBO than I did 360. Now the end of the gen was bear bones. Their lineup was better than PS4s imo. Outside of Horizon, Ghost, GOW and Spiderman nothing else ps4 had interested me

[romulus23]

There's more to DRM than what you're talking about but in the very near future when the only thing available to buy from them is a digital only console becasue they have done away with physical copies or even right now if you buy a game from Blizzard you'll figure it out real quick. Glad I could entertain you on the "GOAT" thing. So you were trolling, sad but at least you admit it.

[PhillyDonJawn]

Even if it happen in the future it didnt happen with Xbox one nor its sequel console so moot point.

[romulus23]

I mean it's happening now with Blizzard which Microsoft now owns and it happens with their current S model and the upcoming white digital only series x and most likely whatever next console they come out with that all signs point to being digital only which none of that makes it a "moot point" at all but whatever makes you happy I guess. Phil didn't make DRM disappear he just found another way to give it to you.

[PhillyDonJawn]

Umm, they offer a disk drive version so yes the point is moot. I guess i got a special edition like i said before cause i been game on disk and offline just fine. Plus all that you talking did not happen with the Xbox One. You cant hold a consoles responsible for something they do 20 years and 3 gens later and go "seee I told you" lol especially considering the comp did the same thing. We in an entirely different era. The drm plans for Xbox one did not happen end of discussion nuff said.

[mastershredder]

10 years of deconstruction. He really nailed fumbling and back peddling like none other in the past decade. What a complete chump.

[OneLove]

Damn 10 years and all he has to show is game pass👀 had expectations from this guy and he has disappointed every time.

[VincentVanBro]

This guy proves that anyone can hold a high paying job for a decade as long as they’re experts at BS

[PRIMORDUS]

Phil the Shit Bag Spencer.

[Charlieboy333]

He inherited a mess.....and made an even bigger one

[RupeeHoarder]

And we still haven’t moved on from gears, halo, forza.

[rlow1]

Is it me or is it every Xbox article to come out always generates the most comments on this site? Honestly the people on here love to hate on Xbox and Phil. It’s their pastime…..lol

[romulus23]

It's you. Some people love to defend him and xbox at all costs, the fact is he and the company receive the negativity they deserve. Everyone has given justifiable valid reasons rather you agree or not and lets not pretend like there aren't a ton of negative Sony articles that rise to the top of this site and are filled with plenty of hateful comments towards Sony and it's leaders as well. I guess that's those peoples pastime.

[rlow1]

Not defending or attacking anything, it’s a trend, go back and look at the history. Because I can tell you for fact, in the last two years there is no Sony news article that comes even close on a consistent basis to the numbers generated on Xbox articles. It’s an observation and granted with the acquisition, it’s been a fuel rod. But this trend predates that.

Last week hardly anyone making comments on any article, this week two articles on Xbox and the pitch forks go up. It’s in the numbers, period. Xbox articles bring in a lot of traffic. Again, it’s just an observation that based on numbers.

As for my personal views, they’re somewhere in the middle.

[-Foxtrot]

Rlow1

“there is no Sony news article that comes even close on a consistent basis to the numbers generated on Xbox articles“

Because Phil keeps making his big mouth go 24/7 contradicting himself

Then you have other MS staff doing the same

Jim Ryan can say some stupid shit but it’s only when there’s something going on relating to PS. Like the court battle with the Activision deal, a PS exclusive is releasing or there’s a PS event going on.

When they do say stupid shit, you get the anger online, Sony go back to being quiet and then everything starts to mellow out.

[romulus23]

That's simply not true, just recently there was an article regarding Devs Questioning Why PS5 Pro is Happening", that article shot straight to the top, stayed there and generated lots of traffic. It may be an observation but it is assuredly a myopic and biased one, I'd say you're not as "in the middle" as you're trying to portray yourself to be. Anyway I'll just say lastly becasue I want to move on from this now, if the "hate" for Phil and xbox is too much for you here you're not obligated to visit this site and there's plenty of pro xbox web sites out there for you to visit that do nothing but praise everything he and the company does if you'd rather visit those instead.

[Zenzuu]

"Powa of Da Cloud" - Nothing came out of that

"World's most powerful console. 12 teraflops of Power" - PS5 Basically trades blows with it on multiplatform games and kills it with their first party games

"We're focusing on building world class 1st party studios" - Yeah, I guess by his definition is forking out money and buying studios.

"Xbox top selling console" - When they're selling well

"Hardware sales numbers are not important" - He downplays the importance of hardware numbers when they're not selling well.

The amount of PR and damage control is laughable. Phil would definitely be suited to join the team at Apple.

[timzone]

He normally says the right things, but ultimately Xbox is no better than it was 10 years ago.

[GhostScholar]

Much like wrestling’s Vince Russo Phil gets too much credit From hardcore xboxers and not enough credit from his detractors

[shaenoide]

To summarize : less talking (whining too) more doing please !

[Doomeduk]

It's that grin he looks like he's sniffed his own fart which isn't a crime in itself but enjoying it should be

[Toecutter00]

70 Billion dollars for Activision/Blizzard is the single dumbest decision Phil made among a series of them. You're just never going to get that money back. And thank goodness that Sony doesn't have MS kind of wallet because, to be fair, Ryan was making a ton of disastrous moves banking on GAAS, canceling TLOU game, and buying up Bungie, as well. At least Sony management had the good sense to remove him, but the damage was still done. Spencer killed the Xbox, while Ryan merely wounded the Playstation. And tragically, the result of the ones at the very top, who will never suffer the consequences of their stupidity, are mass layoffs.

[TheCaptainKuchiki]

If I were an Xbox fan, I would have demanded his resignation a long time ago.
He is single handeedly responsible for the death of Xbox. All his PR talk only aimed to make people not see the truth

[Becuzisaid]

The only thing he had going for him early on was that his name wasn't Don Mattrick. The Xbox community needed a figurehead that played the part of a gamer for the gamers, and he fit that spot for a little while. Outside of that, his accomplishments are virtually zero.

[obidanshinobi]

He's been terrible, Xbox is moribund under his leadership.

Where's the f**king games Phil?
Same thing we ask every year and then he goes on an apology tour.

"You all know the story; there’s no need to beat the horse corpse for the ten-thousandth time. The brand was in disarray after what can, ...."
Oh yeah, such disarray, that Don Mattrick had already secured 3 quality 3rd party exclusives to be released within a year, Titanfall, Dead Rising 3 and Sunset Overdrive. Despite the initial reveal, people seem to forget that the Xbox One had a good first year - DR3, Titanfall, Sunset Overdrive and Forza Horizon 2, arguably a better line up than the PS4 had in it's first year.

Phil has done good with Gamepass and back compat, but where are the quality games?
Games sell consoles, not services or features, but quality games that you can't play anywhere else and on this front Phil has massively underperformed and has potentially killed the Xbox brand.

RIP Xbox

[HankHill]

A decade of nothing but incompetence. Round of applause for Phil.

[Chocoburger]

I was looking forward to Scalebound. Then he canceled it and claimed that it was for the good of Xbox. Ah of course! Canceling games I want to play is good for Xbox, because LOGIC!

I kid you not, I'm currently wearing my E3 Scalebound t-shirt (bought it off ebay) as I make this post. Never forget.

Xbox was a great console.
Xbox 360 was a great console.
After that -- junk.