Support NeoGAF

[Voost Kain]

While Phil Spencer has been working hard to revitalize and rejuvenate the Xbox brand over the last few years, a lot of its problems are inherited from the tenure of Don Mattrick, under whose leadership Xbox steered away from an exclusives driven strategy to focusing on media and Kinect.

Mattrick lead Xbox for a few years before eventually leaving and ceding the position to Phil Spencer. However, the irony of the situation is that when he used to work at EA Canada before joining Microsoft, he flat out had no faith in a Microsoft created console ever working. Seamus Blackley, one of the creators of the Xbox, recounted on Twitter how when Microsoft had tried to speak to EA Canada to pitch the console to them ahead of the very first Xbox’s release, Mattrick had tried to block them, believing that Xbox would never work.

Of course, Mattrick would then head (and nearly sink) the console he didn’t believe was possible just a few years later; thankfully, Spencer came around and turned it around. Xbox, in spite of Don Mattrick, finds itself in a pretty good place today.

So it seems Mattrick had a history with bad decisions and poor outlooks of the future. From what I understand before the Xbox reveal he really didn't pay attention and just assumed that the original Xbox One vision was the future. But it wasn't all a loss, he started the partnership with Playground games, helped reverse his own policies, and revived Killer Instinct.

of course all his long-term big titles all failed or where cancelled, and features like Smart Glass were dropped, but he's in a better place now, though with Zynga also messed up (and him resigning) not sure what record he has anymore.

 

[Abriael_GN]

This is pretty misleading, especially in the headline.

Blackley only said that Mattrick did not believe that Microsoft could pull off the *original Xbox* And in the industry, he certainly wasn't alone, nor it was a rare belief held by a minority.

This says nothing about Mattrick's attitude towards Xbox as a brand after that episode.

Of course, Mattrick would then head (and nearly sink) the console he didn’t believe was possible just a few years later

No, he didn't nearly sink the original Xbox (which is the one he didn't believe was possible), nor he led it. He didn't even work on it.

 

[Dabaus]

Why would he? If not for Halo being the phenomenon that it was at the time and sony making the worst decisions possible circa 2005-2008 then I doubt wed even have an xbox one. A lot of the reason 360 got to where it was was because their closest competitor was asleep at the wheel for 3 years and even then eventually got outsold.

 

[HotPocket69]

Dude is the quintessential douchebag. Look at the shit eating grin.

No internet? Buy a 360



What a dolt

 

[Stuart360]

To be fair, loads of people thought the same before the first Xbox launched. Also the article says this was before he was even with Xbox, so the title is a bit missleading.

 

[Mr Hyde]

Lack of faith in a product by Corporate suits is nothing new. There are loads of pitches and ideas that gets shut down, and those few that do make it, faces endless resistance, both outside and internally because people in general are sceptical son of a bitches. Mattrick wasn´t the only one who didn´t Believe in the Xbox, there were plenty who thought the idea of Microsoft venturing into the video game industry was a ludicrous idea.

The same thing happened at Sony. Ken Kutaragi had to work on the Playstation in secret for some years because the old geezers at the Company told him to go fuck himself when he said that Sonys future lies within video games. This was especially true when Nintendo gave them the finger and closed their deal with Philips instead of Sony. The executives were like "give it up man, we have no business whatsoever in that Place." But thankfully Kutaragi didn´t give a shit and persevered. And look where they are now. Sony IS video games.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

 

[Vawn]

Another story where we twist the narrative to make it into something more than it really is.

 

[Gamernyc78]

Besides Don isn't it common knowledge also that the investors always had an issue with the Xbox gaming division and wanted Microsoft to pull out of it. Idk I've heard tht narrative said alot since last generation. I may have recollected wrong.

 

[GenericUser]

His body language and facial expression speaks volumes. Just look at his eyes. Poor man, he's probably an alright guy, just worked for the wrong company, at the wrong time, having to sell and promote the wrong product. Mr. Spencer is a better fit, cetainly.

 

[Voost Kain]

Damn.

 

[TeamGhobad]

god he was awful. and i can't believe he came from a game making background and not a corporate one.

 

[Calibos]

Another story where we twist the narrative to make it into something more than it really is.

Although in this case it's pretty obvious that he and Terry Myerson(sp) had no faith in xbox just by doing some research and looking at the amount of money spent then vs. now with those two out of the picture. I think that the RROD fiasco really stung around MS and made things more difficult heading into the new gen.

 

[Barakov]

Hah. The guy knew he royally effed up and got as far away from anyone in the industry as he possibly could.

 

[DanielsM]

Microsoft lost faith in the Xbox that J Allard and crew built when in 2006 Nintendo released the Wii which was basically junk hardware, capture huge growth with casuals. Microsoft then shifted directions, then came the Kinect, and the rest is history. Microsoft started chasing the casuals and in the process started alienating a lot of the users J Allard had captured.

Interesting enough, the years with Mattrick had by far the most units sold amounts - its not even close.

 

[VincentMatts]

This is pretty misleading, especially in the headline.

Blackley only said that Mattrick did not believe that Microsoft could pull off the *original Xbox* And in the industry, he certainly wasn't alone, nor it was a rare belief held by a minority.

This says nothing about Mattrick's attitude towards Xbox as a brand after that episode.



No, he didn't nearly sink the original Xbox (which is the one he didn't believe was possible), nor he led it. He didn't even work on it.

I believe he means "sink" as in, the xbox one launch fiasco. And charging 100$ more for a kinect not many people wanted. And he did sink the xbox brand for a good long while. They're still trying to recover from it today.

And as for the article, i dont understand how anyone could "not believe" in MS being able to make a console. This is what they do for a living: software, OSs, PC games etc... Its not as if theyre a meatball and sandwiches company.

 

[Damian black]

I think it is time to stop name dropping this dude as the cause of all xboxs problems.
I dont remember kutaragi still being blamed in 2012 by the sony camp.

 

[VincentMatts]

I think it is time to stop name dropping this dude as the cause of all xboxs problems.
I dont remember kutaragi still being blamed in 2012 by the sony camp.

of course hes to blame, why do you think he got replaced.

 

[Abriael_GN]

I believe he means "sink" as in, the xbox one launch fiasco. And charging 100$ more for a kinect not many people wanted. And he did sink the xbox brand for a good long while. They're still trying to recover from it today.

I know what he means, but that's not what Blackley is talking about, hence the fact that the article is misleading.

And as for the article, i dont understand how anyone could "not believe" in MS being able to make a console. This is what they do for a living: software, OSs, PC games etc... Its not as if theyre a meatball and sandwiches company.

Making it may be easy. Being successful with it in a market completely dominated by Nintendo and Sony is not. Many in the industry believed that the original Xbox wouldn't manage to carve itself a niche. Mattrick was certainly not alone or irrational about it.

 

[Ban Puncher]

 

[sublimit]

It's very convenient to portray Mattrick as the scapegoat who is responsible for everything that was wrong with xbox but i think with high positions like his it's very rare for one man to be responsible for everything.

Let's not forget that Phil Spencer has had a very high and prominent position in MS for a very long time too (long before the 2013 fiasco)

 

[DanielsM]

It's very convenient to portray Mattrick as the scapegoat who is responsible for everything that was wrong with xbox but i think with high positions like his it's very rare for one man to be responsible for everything.

Let's not forget that Phil Spencer has had a very high and prominent position in MS for a very long time too (long before the 2013 fiasco)

Agreed. Phil is just doing what he is told i.e. cloud services, just like Donny was. Donny was just following the goals of the company even back in 2012-2013 i.e. "cloud services" even before Nadella was appointed. The always online is a way of pushing people from physical media -> to digital -> ultimately to the cloud services.

7+ years ago (2012) - the signs were there, if one looked.

Ballmer appointed Don Mattrick to lead the Xbox team in early 2010, pushing Robbie Bach and J Allard out the door. Since then, Microsoft has signed deals with dozens of TV providers, from ESPN to Comcast, and launched Kinect, which adds voice and motion control and makes the console much more approachable to non-gamers.

Since then, Ballmer has pushed the importance of the cloud at almost every speaking opportunity, and last year he was front and center at the launch of Office 365, Microsoft's latest cloud-based business service.

https://www.businessinsider.com/how...us-about-home-entertainment-not-just-gaming-6

 

[ShirAhava]

Don warned people a shit show of a generation was coming and I respect him for that.

Told me to buy an Xbox 360 and thats exactly what I did!

 

[thelastword]

Why don't we stop blaming Don for everything that went wrong with XBOX, he hasn't been at XBOX for a while.......Many of the decisions made in 2013 was not only him, and beyond 2013, what has improved really?....It only got worse........Trying to go back all the way to when Mattrick was at EA has no bearing on anything.....Of course he was wary about OG XBOX and i'ts viability over the juggernaut that was PS2, who wouldn't? and back then, EA's bread and butter was PS2, so it made sense for him to take that position.....This in no way signifies that he somehow came in to sabotage XBOX......This is reaching and sounds mighty desperate to paint Spencer as some XBOX Jesus....

 

[Stuart360]

Why don't we stop blaming Don for everything that went wrong with XBOX, he hasn't been at XBOX for a while.......Many of the decisions made in 2013 was not only him, and beyond 2013, what has improved really?....It only got worse........Trying to go back all the way to when Mattrick was at EA has no bearing on anything.....Of course he was wary about OG XBOX and i'ts viability over the juggernaut that was PS2, who wouldn't? and back then, EA's bread and butter was PS2, so it made sense for him to take that position.....This in no way signifies that he somehow came in to sabotage XBOX......This is reaching and sounds mighty desperate to paint Spencer as some XBOX Jesus....

People will stop blaming Don, when you stop with your tedious Xbox hating spiel. Neither option will ever happen, so deal with it.

 

[MayauMiao]

Off grid? Smart man.

 

[LOLCats]

...but he's in a better place now, though with Zynga also messed up (and him resigning) not sure what record he has anymore.​

Millions upon millions richer.

 

[down 2 orth]

What a clown, last gen wouldn't have been nearly as interesting without him

 

[Damian black]

of course hes to blame, why do you think he got replaced.

Way to miss the sense of my post.

 

[metareferential]

Why would he? If not for Halo being the phenomenon that it was at the time and sony making the worst decisions possible circa 2005-2008 then I doubt wed even have an xbox one. A lot of the reason 360 got to where it was was because their closest competitor was asleep at the wheel for 3 years and even then eventually got outsold.

It wasn't a race. You need to win market share, and the 360 did that. Yes, it got outsold, but it doesn't matter.

These discussions always end up in meaningless rankings. And when it's about the xbox, it's always someone else's fault, not the merits of the console itself.

 

[ghairat]

At the end of the day, Phil Spencer is also to blame. He had a high position in Microsoft and he was part of the decision making.

 

[HeresJohnny]

Mattrick was a bum, no doubt about it. Although I still say Spencer is worse. Mattrick at least initiated a vision TO fuck up, Spencer just talks a big game., at least thus far.

 

[thelastword]

Don warned people a shit show of a generation was coming and I respect him for that.

Told me to buy an Xbox 360 and thats exactly what I did!

That's actually pretty funny, no lies detected in that post.....

 

[Lino]

He was not wrong though, like someone already pointed above the only reason Xbox still exist today is because of the 360 success and the only reason the 360 was successful is because Nintendo decide to drop their hardcore base in favor off the more casual fans with the Wii and Sony got so drunk on that PS2 koolaid they stumbled upon their own success, with Sony and Nintendo now back on track Microsoft has no chance of even getting back to that level of success ever again, and Microsoft knows that the only way for xbox to carry on in the future is to transform xbox into a cloud service and expand on as many devices as they can, I'd be surprised if the next Xbox even reaches Wii u numbers tbh

 

[Bernkastel]

At the end of the day, Phil Spencer is also to blame. He had a high position in Microsoft and he was part of the decision making.

At that time Xbox was a subdivision under Windows and Devices Group. Do you think with a command chain from Steve Balmer to Don Mattrick through Terry Meyerson(head of Windows), Phil or his colleagues opinions mattered.
It's funny that people here think Phil had a part in Xbox's problem, when he was just your regular employee who had to answer to his superiors whims or be fired. And considering his ego, Don didn't even listen to his subordinates. All of this was just a part of Steve Balmer's cloud vision.

 

[levyjl1988]

It's always the stereotypical suits that always ruin the company. You just look at Ready Player One! and there is no magic in business. It's always just that, just a transaction, nothing more. Now a company that can disguise it well enough are the ones that truly succeed. Look at Disney and they know what they are doing, most of the times though. It's strategy and partnerships for sure.

 

[ghairat]

At that time Xbox was a subdivision under Windows and Devices Group. Do you think with a command chain from Steve Balmer to Don Mattrick through Terry Meyerson(head of Windows), Phil or his colleagues opinions mattered.
It's funny that people here think Phil had a part in Xbox's problem, when he was just your regular employee who had to answer to his superiors whims or be fired. And considering his ego, Don didn't even listen to his subordinates. All of this was just a part of Steve Balmer's cloud vision.

Sorry but I don't agree with you in this matter. Regular employee?? His was a freaking vice president.

 

[onQ123]

Good Guy Phil saved Xbox & everything bad was Don's fault , Xbox 2020

 

[Bernkastel]

Sorry but I don't agree with you in this matter. Regular employee?? His was a freaking vice president.

He currently is the vice-president

He was in the same position as Matt Booty is now. Again at that time an equivalent position in Windows Device Group or Office would have mattered. Don Mattrick himself was not answerable to Steve Balmer(as I said previously Xbox was a subdivision), the command chain was Steve Balmer -> Terry Myerson -> Don Mattrick -> Phil Spencer, so Phil was a normal employee in the grand scheme of things while now it's Satya Nadella -> Phil Spencer -> Matt Booty. Do you think Matt Booty's opinion currently matter(even though his position is higher than what Phil was back then) to Microsoft ? Heck, except for those who follow Xbox news, most people don't know who Matt Booty is. When Bungie wanted to move on from Halo, it was Don's decision to not fund their next project influenced by Terry, who directed it at Microsoft and Balmer's best interest and their corporate decisions, Phil didn't have any part in that neither did his opinion matter(just giving an example). Again unlike Phil and Nadella, Don and Balmer didn't even listen to their subordinates.

 

[thelastword]

Sorry but I don't agree with you in this matter. Regular employee?? His was a freaking vice president.

Goodness gracious, a vice president is just some errand boy that has to put his tail between his legs, obey the Don, get his coffee or get fired....Is this how the corporate world works, the boss makes all the decisions, it's all about his ideas...Anybody who challenges has to walk the plank....."really now"..

Good Guy Phil saved Xbox & everything bad was Don's fault , Xbox 2020

So if Phil does not deliver nextgen.....MS exclusives don't fire, hardware sales are not much better than this gen.....What will be the narrative then?

 

[onQ123]

Goodness gracious, a vice president is just some errand boy that has to put his tail between his legs, obey the Don, get his coffee or get fired....Is this how the corporate world works, the boss makes all the decisions, it's all about his ideas...Anybody who challenges has to walk the plank....."really now"..


So if Phil does not deliver nextgen.....MS exclusives don't fire, hardware sales are not much better than this gen.....What will be the narrative then?

They will find something

 

[KormaChameleon]

Dude is the quintessential douchebag. Look at the shit eating grin.

No internet? Buy a 360



What a dolt

I am going to comment like it's 2013.... No internet? Buy a PS4 huehuehue.

 

[ResilientBanana]

I wonder if he has an internet connection there?

 

[Dabaus]

Please correct me if im wrong, wasn't this year considered one of Microsofts most successful years? They brought in 4 billion dollars of revenue, no idea what the profits were. Now is that 4 billion the best ever for xbox as a brand or just the xbox one? Serious question.

 

[Fox Mulder]

Mattrick is hated and a boogeyman, but his years and casual shit like Kinect is probably the only reason the 360 hung on and wasn't completely dusted by the PS3 at the end of the generation.

The original Xbox was a crazy idea at the time during the M$ hate days and coming in against the mighty Sony PS2. Halo also came out of nowhere.

 

[Bernkastel]

Mattrick is hated and a boogeyman, but his years and casual shit like Kinect is probably the only reason the 360 hung on and wasn't completely dusted by the PS3 at the end of the generation.

The original Xbox was a crazy idea at the time during the M$ hate days and coming in against the mighty Sony PS2. Halo also came out of nowhere.

He was just riding on a foundation already established by J Allard, everything only went downhill after he came to power.

 

[A.Romero]

This title is very misleading. However, the topic is very interesting.

As many have said before, just because Mattick was skeptical back then about Microsoft getting into games doesn't mean he necessarily thought the same by the time he was in a position of power. For starters, most people involved in the industry back then did not expect much from Microsoft. I mean, why would they? Microsoft didn't have a great track record in consumer electronics by the time the OG Xbox was released (2001), PC gaming was not great and that would have been a more natural entry point for them, but for some reason they didn't (probably they didn't care).

Fortunately Blackley and other 3 or 4 engineers passionate enough about it to push it within and sold the idea as a way for Microsoft to get into the living rooms through a media device. If there was internal resistance what would you think was the reaction from the rest of the industry? The Dreamcast was on decline, Nintendo was stumbling around. The only ones making it were the people at Sony. From an analyst point of view, if 2 of the companies that had a long history of working on that market were having troubles, what hope could Microsoft have?

Don Mattick made a lot of bad decisions basically because he read the market wrong. The guy was trying to reproduce the Wii's success and I think nobody could blame him. It was the most obvious thing to try if you are an executive and have a poor understanding of what made the 360 great. Also the Wii made a lot of people think that traditional gaming was dead. We need to understand that decisions that turned out to be the Xbox One probably were taken by the second year of the 360. Once you are mounting a strategy to make a vision come true, is very difficult to steer away in a different direction. It's not like Mattick was trying to kill gaming.

Is he a bad executive? Well, yes. He made the wrong decisions and it costed Microsoft dearly. Did he try to kill the Xbox brand on purpose? Not at all. Actually, I've seen a lot of people over the years that were convinced by Mattick's vision of the Xbox brand.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

Personally I haven’t enjoyed the Xbox brand as much as when the likes of Peter Moore was there. I know Phil Spencer is well liked and I respect that but I can’t say I’m a fan.

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

I'm glad Phil is in charge, he is turning back on course.

 

[CyberPanda]

Ugly Tom Cruise is gone thankfully.