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Phil Spencer admits defeat in console space, and doesn't think great games would help Xbox's market share.

DeepEnigma

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Topher said:



Then stop talking about console war shit, Phil
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That's all you should have said, Phil.

But you ramble on...
9bX8.gif
 
feynoob

feynoob

Member
Sethbacca said:
It's almost like there are more gamers born every year, and those of us that grew up with games continue to buy them, thus creating a larger install base to sell more games and hardware to.
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1 year and 4 months since Xbox released AAA. And the AAA that they released after that turnout to be "Redfall".

It's ironic that the name implies the red wedding.
 
RedC

RedC

Member
Mr.Phoenix said:
And this is no surprise to anyone here either, a lot of us has said many times over, that MS focus is not on consoles anymore, but on gamepass. And a lot of xbox fans would even denounce that and point out how GP is only responsible for 15% of Xbox revenue. So which is it? We are hearing from him here that they are trying to do their own thing, and that `own` thing is gamepass. Plain and simple.
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I would disagree that Xbox's focus is only on Game Pass because it's not. Xbox's focus is on console, PC, mobile, and cloud as well as Gamepass tying it all together. The Activision Blizzard acquisition would've likely been a shortcut in making it come together quicker than they originally planned.
Mr.Phoenix said:
Yes, its also the reason why MS is trying to acquire as many IPs and publishers as they can.... while simultaneously championing this fake rhetoric of gaming for everyone yet being the single biggest offender when it comes to putting games out of the hands of gamers. Sony pays for timed exclusives, but that doesn't mean the games won't come to other platforms,MS on the other hand, just want to prevent the games from being on other platforms period. And yet are the ones taking the most about inclusion. Their idea of games being on everything is actually you buying into their service. And that some cant see how two-faced that is is shocking to me.

At the end of the day, anyone that buys an xbox, buys it to play games, would want to see that the primary focus of the platform is on games. It would (or at least should)be very unsettling to hear the head of xbox say, making great games isn't the solution to their problem, then start talking about gamepass... cause it is like they are saying our initiative is to push for quantity over quality.

What dug both Nintendo and Sony out of their holes, were great games, great first-party output.... and that is the one thing MS is still refusing to prioritize. That Xbox still clearly doesn't get this.... should be very concerning to any Xbox fan.
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It's not fake rhetoric when they say gaming is for everyone. However, they are referring to providing access to their games and ecosystem through multiple ways via console, PC, mobile, cloud, and Game Pass. They are also referring to features in their games as well as accessories that allow people with disabilities to play their games.

It is an entitled mindset to believe any future game is obligated to be released on your platform of choice regardless if it was multiplatform in the past.

Microsoft is obviously focusing on its first party, hence the billions of dollars in investment towards it, and it will take time. People seem to forget Xbox just released Hi-Fi Rush which is likely a GOTY candidate earlier this year.
 
C

Chastten

Banned
Honestly, I kinda agree with him. The Xbox One and it's launch was so incredibly bad that it'll take them at least 2-3 consoles to get back the lost market share, and even for that, they'd need Sony and/or Nintendo to mess up like they did with PS3 and Wii U.

I owned an Xbox and Xbox 360, both great consoles. But being Dutch, living less than 25km from the German border, they told me I don't matter when they launched the One. It released a year later in my country than it did in Germany. They basically gave me the middle finger, all while Sony, and later Nintendo, did all the right things. And honestly, they might as well not exist around here anymore. Their marketshare is pretty much non existant. No amound of good games is gonna get that back in anything resembling a short term. Now obviously the Netherlands only accounts for a small portion of global gamesales but I imagine it's similar for all the other smaller Eurocountries they decided to screw over. Their only shot at clawing back some marketshare is if either Sony or Nintendo massively screw up and I don't really believe either will happen in the next 10 years.
 
March Climber

March Climber

Member
Braag said:
This is where we go back to digital libraries which Phil mentioned in his interview with Xcast. Steam deck is handheld which immediately makes it more niche. Also it mainly locks you into Steam (there are workarounds) so again, the chances of someone with a ton of games on PS suddenly shifting to go full on with Steam Deck is very small.
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So far yes, Playstation/Sony have successfully created a semi-walled garden like Apple but for consoles. There was a time last year where Sony was considering expanding their Playstation storefront for PC to compete more with gamepass and steam, but since then they've gone quiet. I actually think their inaction on this saved them in the long run. Xbox (specifically the console division) will encounter problems much sooner.

Imagine a future where you have a Steam Deck Gen 3, and with it you could access your Xbox library and PS library due to their services being made available for Steam Deck since it's a PC-centric platform. The userbase would slowly decay over time until the last two standing were Nintendo and Steam Deck.
 
Games of Today

Games of Today

Member
I actually can't believe he ended up being this straight forward. It's respectable for sure. But jesus Xbox just seems kinda fucked if this is the case. It's obviously not going anywhere but now we know why there aren't really any heavy hitters coming out while trying to keep pace with Sony. Seems like the good ol' days of 2010 are over.
 
M

MagnesD3

Member
Wow damn that's crazy, I mean you not having great games is literally the reason I haven't bought a new Xbox. You have the Ip you just have to have someone who understands video game management in charge, trend chasing doesn't work lol.
 
sachos

sachos

Member
thicc_girls_are_teh_best said:
But, and maybe I'm reading too much into it, this also seems like a coded statement for "Can't you see why we need this acquisition? Making games with what we have won't let us "compete" on its own.".
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I thought of this too but i don't want too go full conspiracy mode either. It makes you think for sure, his comments sounded way too defeatist even if it wasn't his intention.
 
Captain Toad

Captain Toad

Banned
I'm still floored he actually said that.

Is this just a hail mary for Activision? Do they see it as they get AB or they are done anyway? It makes absolutely no sense.

He's basically saying it doesn't matter if we try. The quality of our product doesn't matter. Everyone already chose Nintendo or Sony, and the games won't change anyone's mind.

If I recall, PlayStation released when the word Nintendo was synonymous with videogames. PlayStation released with amazing games and immediately met and surpassed Nintendo. Even the Xbox 360 started off with amazing exclusives and was leading most of that generation against the PS3, until the games on 360 slowed and the games on PS3 speed up.

Of course games matter, Phil. I don't know how he keeps his job after comments like these. And I definitely can't understand fans of Xbox would even want to defend this.
 
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E

Elios83

Member
LectureMaster said:



Sigh, I guess things have certainly changed. Determined Phil to crestfallen Phil.
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We know what that plan was. Beating Sony on price with Series S, on specs with Series X, try to get casuals on board with the promise that with Gamepass they wouldn't need to buy games anymore, run FUD campaigns against the competition at every turn on socials/internet, use the financial power of the whole Microsoft group to buy pieces of the market.

On paper it was promising, in practice it failed for many reasons.
People don't buy stuff just because it's cheap. The PS5 hardware while launching at 399$ has nothing to envy to their top SKU.
People are not as interested about subscriptions as they were hoping, probably because games cannot be consumed like TV series and music.
Their game development pipeline has been atrocious and regulators are taking good care of the plan to simply buy marketshare/victory.
 
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Topher

Topher

Gold Member
Stare-Bear said:
And how many of 360s were people 2nd or 3rd console cause the other RRODd? Or didn’t have basics like WiFi or HDMI.
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No idea. Either way, PS3 didn't drop nearly half its total sales the prior gen because of RROD. It was because of competition.
 
Kacho

Kacho

Member
This is such a depressing thread but very entertaining as well. Can't wait to hear Shill Ups take in his video next week.
 
Braag

Braag

Member
March Climber said:
So far yes, Playstation/Sony have successfully created a semi-walled garden like Apple but for consoles. There was a time last year where Sony was considering expanding their Playstation storefront for PC to compete more with gamepass and steam, but since then they've gone quiet. I actually think their inaction on this saved them in the long run. Xbox (specifically the console division) will encounter problems much sooner.

Imagine a future where you have a Steam Deck Gen 3, and with it you could access your Xbox library and PS library due to their services being made available for Steam Deck since it's a PC-centric platform. The userbase would slowly decay over time until the last two standing were Nintendo and Steam Deck.
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So you would give up your console and your entire library you've built there and go fully to Steam deck if both platforms started releasing games there?
 
D

Darsxx82

Member
I think this is a clarification . Of course it was necessary.


Like I said, P. Spencer tells the truth. XBOX is not going to surpass NIN and SONY just by putting out big, critically successful first party games. XBOX needs much more and also for SONY to fail horribly.
When SoNY admits that without COD her business would be ruined and that its first party games and IPs are not enough to be successful..... imagine how difficult it must be for MS.
 
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leo-j

leo-j

Member
Go_Ly_Dow said:
Phil's Don Mattrick moment.



Although, arguably this is worse.
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Tbh this, idk how it can get any worse…… they literally shot themselves with this major statement from the head of Xbox, I don’t see him keeping his job after this.
 
64bitmodels

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
ComputerBlue said:
Failing and sucking, but still trying. You know, participation ribbons and all that.
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whats with this revisionist history that xbox has been sucking for 20 years? was the xbox one gen so bad that people just forgot all the good franchises and games they had in the 2000s?
 
RedC

RedC

Member
FrankWza said:
Right, vision. This brilliant idea came to him in a dream. Let's use Microsoft's money to buy everything. How inspired

Where's the games he's looking for then? How did redfall release to these reviews? They're an already established studio with more than a few acclaimed games under their belt.
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There are many ways for businesses to execute their vision. The only thing that matters is the end result.

Redfall was a terrible release. It happens. Phil acknowledged as such, took responsibility, and talked about things they could've done to assist Arkane Studios to better execute their vision that will hopefully be a learning experience they apply to all their studios to avoid in the future.

However let's not forget, Xbox released Hi-Fi Rush earlier this year which was critically acclaimed. They also have Starfield and Forza Motorsport releasing this year too.
 
solidus12

solidus12

Member
Darsxx82 said:
Like I said, P. Spencer tells the truth. XBOX is not going to surpass NIN and SONY just by putting out big, critically successful first party games. XBOX needs much more and also for SONY to fail horribly.
When SoNY herself admits that without COD her business would be ruined and that her first party games and IPs are not enough to be successful..... imagine how difficult it must be for MS.
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did you just assume Sony's gender?

/s
 
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N

NickFire

Member
adamsapple said:
The same thing he's said before about not being in direct competition with Sony, not that they've 'admitted defeat' like the OP headline implies. Those are two different statements.
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I'm not locking you into choosing between two possibilities. I'm just interested in your honest opinion as to why he's saying this stuff now.

I suspect that he's conditioning his company's existing customers for why its good for them to start selling games on all platforms. I do not share the view that he merely wants to tell everyone that contrary to everything they said last year and this year about competition, they never considered themselves in direct competition with those companies they call their competitors.
 
64bitmodels

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
Captain Toad said:
Well, the silver lining is - all that pressure the Starfield team was feeling after Redfall has been lifted.

Good news guys, it doesn't matter if your game is good or not.
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what does it matter if the game gets a 60 on metacritic, good games will never get Xbox back out of the rut it's in (even though we succeeded in doing that with the 360)
just make mindless sludge content for the dwindling gamepass subscribers we have!
 
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Bumblebeetuna

Bumblebeetuna

Gold Member
Demon2blades said:
Sure ps3 was thought to outsell x360 coming off the back of the ps2 gen that's a given , it probably would've ended with ms winning the gen though had they stayed the course and not fell off halfway through the gen with silly decision making . People aren't willing to see it's Microsoft that always fucks Microsoft that's why they are where they are now imo.
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Going off of actual sales, it was ahead of 360 from day one.

And I don’t think anyone is giving MS a pass here, even Spencer himself. He says multiple times they and he are to blame for all of this.

Their main fuck up was the last part of the 360 era when they could have continued with great games and third party content but instead they got a taste of casual Wii success with the Kinect and went all in. Spun that into a shit Xbone with forced Kinect and the terrible DRM and they never recovered.
 
decisions

decisions

Member
ComputerBlue said:
This is likely the first time where I’ve listened to Phil and thought wow he’s actually speaking honestly, and it makes me wonder, what’s the catch? I immediately put my guard up and think, who is he trying to bullshit, because that’s what he does. Is this their ploy to convince people that purchasing Activision isn’t a juggernaut acquisition and won’t hurt their competitors? I just don’t trust this guy to say shit like this and take it at face value.
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That’s my only thought, is that he is trying to sandbag/downplay Xbox in hopes of making the ABK deal succeed.
 
drotahorror

drotahorror

Member
They've been cannibalizing any sales they could have got from their first party titles for a LONG time and also their consoles. Soon as they introduced Play Anywhere, I sold my xbox one. I had a PC, no point in an xbox. Just recently, I grabbed a Series S as just something to play in my living room and picked up the 3 years of gamepass. I still don't play the series S as every game except UFC and a few sports games are on PC that I currently play. PC gaming is a huge market and most people part of it, have zero reason for an xbox.

Phil is wrong though, if God of War, The Last of Us and Spider-man were Xbox only exclusives, Xbox would have shit on Playstation.
 
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