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IGN - Phil Spencer Interview: 20 Years of Xbox

elliot5

Member
crazy Phil would just confirm SEGA's acquisition tomorrow like that



on a serious note, gave this a listen earlier and enjoyed the interview. I wouldn't say there's a lot of anything "new", but he does answer the questions fairly straight and not give a bunch of PR spiel.
 
I really like the interaction MS has with its fans and community. I like seeing them respond on Twitter and respond to fan comments on the Xbox YouTube channel. Having Parris Lilly host an official event was awesome. It's almost like the company is run by real people who care about their fans and the games they make. I hope they continue to do things with their fans.
 

Raekwon26

Member
I really like the interaction MS has with its fans and community. I like seeing them respond on Twitter and respond to fan comments on the Xbox YouTube channel. Having Parris Lilly host an official event was awesome. It's almost like the company is run by real people who care about their fans and the games they make. I hope they continue to do things with their fans.
Big Brother Reaction GIF by MOODMAN
 

Varteras

Gold Member
I've been pretty hard on Xbox since about halfway through the 360's life, but I can't imagine a gaming market without them. It is the only brand that has survived against Nintendo and PlayStation after all these years. They've done things I haven't liked at all but they've also helped push some things forward as well. I have very fond memories of some of their games and Xbox 360 is one of my favorite consoles. I'm hoping that by the end of this generation they've re-established themselves as a more serious competitor. They've got a few top notch studios in their portfolio now.
 

CRAIG667

Member
I've been pretty hard on Xbox since about halfway through the 360's life, but I can't imagine a gaming market without them. It is the only brand that has survived against Nintendo and PlayStation after all these years. They've done things I haven't liked at all but they've also helped push some things forward as well. I have very fond memories of some of their games and Xbox 360 is one of my favorite consoles. I'm hoping that by the end of this generation they've re-established themselves as a more serious competitor. They've got a few top notch studios in their portfolio now.
You think they're not a 'serious competitor'?
 

longdi

Banned
I really like the interaction MS has with its fans and community. I like seeing them respond on Twitter and respond to fan comments on the Xbox YouTube channel. Having Parris Lilly host an official event was awesome. It's almost like the company is run by real people who care about their fans and the games they make. I hope they continue to do things with their fans.

MS Xbox changed a lot since Phil took over.
He has instilled a very gamer centric approach in whatever they design.
Hope he can stay on long at Xbox. :messenger_halo::messenger_ok:
 

GHG

Gold Member
I really like the interaction MS has with its fans and community. I like seeing them respond on Twitter and respond to fan comments on the Xbox YouTube channel. Having Parris Lilly host an official event was awesome. It's almost like the company is run by real people who care about their fans and the games they make. I hope they continue to do things with their fans.

family guy vomit GIF
 

Zeroing

Banned
So intangible, highly subjective measures. Huh.
If you think those are highly subjective that is your interpretation? Subjective is saying they aren't on distant third place because they a multimillion company. Actually for a multimillion company they could had done a much better impact in gaming.
 

Vasto

Member
I really like the interaction MS has with its fans and community. I like seeing them respond on Twitter and respond to fan comments on the Xbox YouTube channel. Having Parris Lilly host an official event was awesome. It's almost like the company is run by real people who care about their fans and the games they make. I hope they continue to do things with their fans.


One of the things people love about Xbox.
 
I've been pretty hard on Xbox since about halfway through the 360's life, but I can't imagine a gaming market without them. It is the only brand that has survived against Nintendo and PlayStation after all these years. They've done things I haven't liked at all but they've also helped push some things forward as well. I have very fond memories of some of their games and Xbox 360 is one of my favorite consoles. I'm hoping that by the end of this generation they've re-established themselves as a more serious competitor. They've got a few top notch studios in their portfolio now.
A few? 🤣 Give over, they have more top tier talent than Sony.
 
I really like the interaction MS has with its fans and community. I like seeing them respond on Twitter and respond to fan comments on the Xbox YouTube channel. Having Parris Lilly host an official event was awesome. It's almost like the company is run by real people who care about their fans and the games they make. I hope they continue to do things with their fans.
Nintendo, Sony is also run by real people. Unsure what that part meant but you started off well and then it promptly went to shit around the 3rd sentence.
 

Riky

$MSFT
Interesting that Phil says that they had discussed the Perfect Dark reboot before The Initiative formed.
Sounds like they are not done expanding the First Party studios, they want more family friendly franchises ( Banjo return?) and more studios from different areas of the world.
The answer to the Elder Scrolls VI exclusivity was either cut or he didn't answer it........
 

CeeJay

Member
In any other job he would’ve been fired many moons ago. To launch a new console with not 1 launch title is beyond me. Even a free version of Minecraft with Ray Tracing would’ve been ok…
Why?

They already said way prior to release that they aren't into traditional generations any more, they made it clear that all titles for a couple of years will be cross-gen, the new console uses virtually the same controller, the UI is virtually the same, they play the same games so to all intents and purpose its just another iteration on the Xbox One family of consoles. The truth of the matter is that every single launch title of a new generation starts life as a previous generation title and in a lot of cases is artificially held off from releasing on older consoles. The devkits for the new consoles don't get into the hands of the developers at most a couple of years before the console hits the market and the Series devkits even later still, what was it, 12 months if that? It's a fact that games are taking longer and longer to develop meaning that any big budget flagship title is going to take at the very least 3 years (probably longer) to make from scratch. Guess what, 3 years after the developers got the devkits will be about when they have said they will begin to cut off the previous gen. Sounds like an honest straight up transparent approach to me. Sure it would have been nice to have some titles at launch but it's really not the end of the world, especially when the new consoles have been so hard to get a hold of anyway and the stock is being bought up as soon as it hits the shelves. Once the stock becomes easier to get towards the end of the year it will coincide with plenty of new games being released. Even then, if you still don't have a new console you can still play those brand new titles on your old console via Xcloud. If anything I think that if you stand back and look at the way they have managed the Series S/X release then it has been handled really well and they intentionally tried to make it as smooth and "generationless" as they possibly could. Xbox talked about what they were going to do, set their stall out and then stuck to it, they should be commended for this unlike other companies who have flip flopped their messaging and being the total opposite of transparent.

Just because Xbox's transition to the new consoles hasn't been traditional and hasn't been what you expected it to be doesn't mean anything. If you had listened to what they have been saying for the past few years and watched the moves they have been making closely then it shouldn't really come as any surprise. Do you call for Tim's head on a platter when a new iPhone releases without any exclusive apps? How about Satya's head when a new version of Windows releases without any exclusive software? In the Series X/S consoles you have new hardware that plays all the existing games better and smoother and will eventually have great games that make full use off the hardware.
 

Lone Wolf

Member
Interesting that Phil says that they had discussed the Perfect Dark reboot before The Initiative formed.
Sounds like they are not done expanding the First Party studios, they want more family friendly franchises ( Banjo return?) and more studios from different areas of the world.
The answer to the Elder Scrolls VI exclusivity was either cut or he didn't answer it........
Why would Ryan even ask that? Why is everyone still so concerned about it? It’s pretty obvious that these upcoming games aren’t going to PlayStation.
 

Greggy

Member
This was a compelling interview if I've ever seen any.
You just get the feeling that the Xbox brand is in sapable, steady hands with Phil at the helm.
For someone who's not classicly trained in communication, he's doing a great job. His ability to connect with gamers is really top notch.
No breaking news as such in this interview but some very interesting insights into Phil's mind and what it is to run Xbox, as well the overall strategy for the future.
 

HTK

Banned
Companies can be engaged with the fans and that's great, but don't you ever let that fool you to think they're your best friend.
 

BGS, Arkane, ID, Playground, Ninja Theory, Obsidian are all as talented as the top Sony devs, and the rest of the studios match up similarly with the rest of Sony's studios (and there's a lot more of them), so if we're being reductive it would be more like if you replaced one of those 3 guys with a copy of the guy on the right. Xbox has quality as well as quantity but if it helps you sleep at night to think negatively about Xbox's studios then it's your loss
 

Topher

Gold Member
BGS, Arkane, ID, Playground, Ninja Theory, Obsidian are all as talented as the top Sony devs, and the rest of the studios match up similarly with the rest of Sony's studios (and there's a lot more of them), so if we're being reductive it would be more like if you replaced one of those 3 guys with a copy of the guy on the right. Xbox has quality as well as quantity but if it helps you sleep at night to think negatively about Xbox's studios then it's your loss

Combine the output of those 23 studios and they produced fewer GOTY award winners than Sony's studios over this last generation. I don't think negatively about XGS or Bethesda studios at all though. I just think Sony's top tier is a level higher than Microsoft's. Just opinions dude. We can disagree. The only point in the pictures I posted was that, in this case, numbers don't mean everything.
 
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Warablo

Member
Combine the output of those 23 studios and they produced fewer GOTY award winners than Sony's studios over this last generation. I don't think negatively about XGS or Bethesda studios at all though. I just think Sony's top tier is a level higher than Microsoft's. Just opinions dude. We can disagree. The only point in the pictures I posted was that, in this case, numbers don't mean everything.
We really haven't seen Xbox studios get to work yet. I don't hold much value in GOTY either, because the same old type of games win it every year. Which is exactly the only thing Sony tries to make. Third person story games.
 

Greggy

Member
BGS, Arkane, ID, Playground, Ninja Theory, Obsidian are all as talented as the top Sony devs, and the rest of the studios match up similarly with the rest of Sony's studios (and there's a lot more of them), so if we're being reductive it would be more like if you replaced one of those 3 guys with a copy of the guy on the right. Xbox has quality as well as quantity but if it helps you sleep at night to think negatively about Xbox's studios then it's your loss
I’d add Machine Games, The Coalition and Turn 10 to that list. I don’t care if their games are not GOTY, they’re as talented as the best that Sony has to offer.
 

Topher

Gold Member
We really haven't seen Xbox studios get to work yet. I don't hold much value in GOTY either, because the same old type of games win it every year. Which is exactly the only thing Sony tries to make. Third person story games.

BGS didn't just start making games after MS bought them. But If we are going to judge a studio then we have to judge them on what they have done. Not what they might do one day. I certainly think MS' new studios will become more a part of the GOTY conversation as their output increases.

If you don't like third person "story games" then that's fine, but the industry awarded those games because of their superb quality. It is what it is.
 
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Combine the output of those 23 studios and they produced fewer GOTY award winners than Sony's studios over this last generation. I don't think negatively about XGS or Bethesda studios at all though. I just think Sony's top tier is a level higher than Microsoft's. Just opinions dude. We can disagree. The only point in the pictures I posted was that, in this case, numbers don't mean everything.
I presume you're only talking about Naughty Dog as they're the only Sony Studio who has consistently won GOTY awards. I mean that's your yardstick for rating a developer in your own words, "Combine the output of those 23 studios and they produced fewer GOTY award winners than Sony's studios over this last generation".

Pretty silly statement to make don't you think? Also God of War should never have beaten RDR2 in 2018.
 
I’d add Machine Games, The Coalition and Turn 10 to that list. I don’t care if their games are not GOTY, they’re as talented as the best that Sony has to offer.
It's the 13 is better than 23 because they've won a few GOTY awards 🙄 Bethesda has won GOTY as well but people have seemingly forgotten about that 😆
 
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