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Head of Xbox Phil Spencer will be on the Kinda Funny XCast tomorrow

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
He's not wrong. I've been saying this for years. Having more games, better games and a cheaper pricepoint didn't help Xbox 360 outsell the PS3. The PS3's early years were also a PR disaster. Yet YoY PS3 outsold the 360. You can't compete with Sony and Nintendo on unit sales. The only thing you can do is increase your revenues in new markets, which they have been doing.
PS3 outsold X360 in the second half of the generation because (1) Xbox 360 exclusive games started drying up after a fantastic start, and (2) Sony upped their exclusives game by 10x in quantity and quality.

Games absolutely sell hardware. But I've been saying this for a long time, and I'll say it again: Xbox just cannot afford to release good games. They need to make 10/10 must-play games that are significantly better than PlayStation Studios games.

If they do it consistently for 3-4 years, they will take back their market share. There is no other way. That's what Sony did.

Pentiment and Grounded may be good games, but they are neither 10/10 nor must-play games. In comparison, TLOU, Spider-Man, or God of War are considered 10/10 must-play games.

Starfield may be a good game, but Sony will also have Spider-Man 2, launching in that very month. Had Starfield not delayed, Sony would have God of War Ragnarok in November 2022.

When it comes to a head-on 1-on-1, the masses would choose Sony's games. Xbox needs to win those 1v1 battles consistently, and they will capture the market share.
 

Thirty7ven

Banned
I see he had to throw out some obligatory red meat for the rabid fanbase and their constant Xbox persecution complex.

As if Microsoft didn’t have a “discreet focus” on limiting Sony’s access to COD content when they began moneyhatting timed exclusive DLC back in the 360 era? Or they didn’t have a “discreet focus” on removing products from PlayStation when they bought a multiplatform developer group and immediately told them to can development on PlayStation versions?

Anything to pass the buck and play victim. “It’s not our fault guys, Sony keep targeting us!”

Mmhmm.
Sure Phil.

It’s total bullshit. As if PlayStation paid for COD/fifa/Madden/Fortnite/GTA exclusivity or something.

They can sign exclusives but when the competition does it’s unfair, lol

And the hell “first class citizen”? Awful choice of words.
 
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Bojanglez

The Amiga Brotherhood
Wait... did he just say, "even if we made great games, shit won't matter nor move the needle?" (paraphrased)

Lord have mercy on the brand.
To be fair he was talking about consoles specifically and he made a good point that it is harder to get people to switch because the XB1/PS4 generation was when a lot of people started to build their digital libraries and are thus less likely to switch. That said, it doesn't send out a great message to your internal team and the public.
 

FunkMiller

Gold Member
Wait... did he just say, "even if we made great games, shit won't matter nor move the needle?" (paraphrased)

Lord have mercy on the brand.

That attitude right there is making me think now would be a good time to sell my Series X, and put the money aside for a potential ps5 pro/slim. He sounds like they’ve given up on Xbox in the console space, so maybe I should too…
 

kyussman

Member
I can't be reading those quotes right because it sounds like he's not really interested in competing with Sony on the big games......that can't be right surely.As someone who's not jumped into this gen yet that's not really selling me on your brand dude.I was PS3 and PS4 only previously but was totally open to the XSX if the games were there.....I'm not sure what I even think about this,lol.
 

LordCBH

Member
That attitude right there is making me think now would be a good time to sell my Series X, and put the money aside for a potential ps5 pro/slim. He sounds like they’ve given up on Xbox in the console space, so maybe I should too…

It’s a damn shame too. I’ve very fond memories of the OG Xbox at my friends house, the 360 at my house, and even the Xbox One at my house. Stuff like Halo, Gears, the OG Mass Effect back in the day. Hell one of my most played games on the 360 was the OG Crackdown. It scratched an itch I didn’t know I had. I got severely disillusioned when Crackdown 3 launched and was awful. Phil’s words on this just tell me I was right to move on.
 

Nydius

Member
PS3 outsold X360 in the second half of the generation because (1) Xbox 360 exclusive games started drying up after a fantastic start, and (2) Sony upped their exclusives game by 10x in quantity and quality.

Games absolutely sell hardware. But I've been saying this for a long time, and I'll say it again: Xbox just cannot afford to release good games. They need to make 10/10 must-play games that are significantly better than PlayStation Studios games.

If they do it consistently for 3-4 years, they will take back their market share. There is no other way. That's what Sony did.

Pentiment and Grounded may be good games, but they are neither 10/10 nor must-play games. In comparison, TLOU, Spider-Man, or God of War are considered 10/10 must-play games.

Starfield may be a good game, but Sony will also have Spider-Man 2, launching in that very month. Had Starfield not delayed, Sony would have God of War Ragnarok in November 2022.

When it comes to a head-on 1-on-1, the masses would choose Sony's games. Xbox needs to win those 1v1 battles consistently, and they will capture the market share.
ALL of this.

Xbox (and their fans) need to stop worrying about winning the console sales and refocus on making good games. To quote the cliche line from Field of Dreams: If you build it, they will come.

The problem with Microsoft lately has been very poor quality first party output relative to their competitors. Or as SkillUp succinctly illustrated it in his video: “PlayStation’s last first party exclusive was God of War Ragnarok. Nintendo’s next first party exclusive is LoZ: Tears of the Kingdom. Microsoft’s answer to that is Redfall.”

Just make good games. It worked for the 360 until they got overly focused on chasing the Wii’s success with Kinect and Avatar nonsense. Trend chasing has been Microsoft’s single biggest downfall in the Xbox brand.
 
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ungalo

Member
What he said about winning the generation was incredible, i don't know if i should say incredibly honest because it could be some kind of damage control again but those were strong words anyway.

I understand his train of thought but first i don't think you're supposed to say that publicly to Xbox owners, second i firmly believe in the possibility of spontaneous success through quality. Sure people are fond of an ecosystem or a brand but they are not stuck in it because of a list of friends or a digital library, it's not something incredible to purchase a new system. Of course it doesn't mean your strategy can only be focused on content, it's just the keystone.

As soon as they fucked up with the Xbox One in 2013, they seemed to have abandoned everything. He says they lost the most important generation but it's not like they really tried in the second half of the PS4 generation either. And they just released consoles who don't have their first real next gen game yet and he says that, that's baffling.

You wonder why he feels the need to react about the bad launch of Redfall if he genuinely believes quality content doesn't matter and it's just about playing everywhere.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
To be fair he was talking about consoles specifically and he made a good point that it is harder to get people to switch because the XB1/PS4 generation was when a lot of people started to build their digital libraries and are thus less likely to switch. That said, it doesn't send out a great message to your internal team and the public.
It's not about switching, you see, he thinks with the "console war mindset."

It's about getting gamers interested in your machine and games as well. You don't have to "switch," you can buy another machine down the line when they make great games.

"If you build it, they will come."
 

LordCBH

Member
It's not about switching, you see, he thinks with the "console war mindset."

It's about getting gamers interested in your machine and games as well. You don't have to "switch," you can buy another machine down the line when they make great games.

"If you build it, they will come."

If they came out and released a new Lost Odyssey next year and said “only on Xbox no PC” I’d absolutely buy a Series console. The quote is very very accurate.
 
The reviews are late because Xbox sent the review codes late and the review embargo was on launch day. This just reinforces that the game is a 4/10. They could have given a review embargo a week before release but of course that would tank the game's sales and engagement even more.
Of course, but it certainly provides more clicks to join the pile-on. It also allows IGN to say, "Look we're a legit review site." It's much safer to give a low score after everyone else does it. It won't risk publisher relationships at that point.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Wait... did he just say, "even if we made great games, shit won't matter nor move the needle?" (paraphrased)

Lord have mercy on the brand.
"There is no world where Starfield is an 11 out of 10 and people start selling their PS5. That's not going to happen." -- Phil Spencer.

80S Mind Blown GIF
 
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Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Didn't watch it yet but I have a feeling he wasn't in a good place the last few months.
Yep, everything aside, I did feel for him. He has a tough job or he is not a position to tackle his challenges right now. Either way, it's weighing down on him.
 

splattered

Member
People twisting his very transparent words against him and the brand... shocking. He answered the questions as openly and honest as possible. He hasn't "given up" on anything. He said himself he's just in a negative headspace right now yet he still came on the show taking the hard questions and answering as best he could. Takes guts. The alternative to this would be to avoid putting himself out there in the public arena completely or as some of you have suggested "yeah Redfall was launched rough but don't worry guys we fired all those employees and are shuttering the studio" Or something like "But just WAIT till you see Starfield! The summer Showcase is going to BLOW YOU AWAY!" ... to which people on this forum would be screaming that it's all PR lies. Or that Microsoft doesn't have faith in its studios and is going to close them all. Or that Xbox is dying and will soon be 3rd party Software. Or blah blah blah same old crap people keep console war spewing. He openly admitted 2022 sucked for Xbox. He said he felt like 2023 opened great but the last few weeks have been a huge loss to momentum. He wasn't trying to spin any of their mistakes as a positive. He even said that if the missteps DID continue he could be replaced. He came on this show and was open and didn't try to duck any questions, i don't know what more you people expect out of an interview. "Results!" ... you aren't magically going to get results from an interview. He told you where Microsoft's head is at right now whether you want to hear it or not.
 

Varteras

Gold Member
If I was an Xbox fan right now, I'd be utterly sunk by his words. Because even as someone who isn't a fan, I can't help but feel that way myself. It sounds like Xbox threw in the towel and I don't like that at all. I want to see them fight. I want to see them kick and scream. I want to see them push and shove for every customer. No matter how many times they "lose". I have said that Xbox isn't necessary. That doesn't mean I think gaming is better without them. For as critical as I've been of Spencer, he just does not seem well. He looks and sounds drained and defeated. He may be the one to bear responsibility, ultimately, but I still can't help but feel for the guy.
 

splattered

Member
Then why buy Bethesda and seemingly your only interaction with them is to cancel all playstation versions that were in the works.

Trillion dollar company ran by poundshop cashiers.

There is no reality in which releasing Redfall on PS5 would have been a win for Microsoft. The game didn't live up to expectations and was already in development when they were acquired. If they had continued the PS5 version the game would have cost even MORE to finish developing and it would have been an even bigger loss for them. I guess in that sense cancelling the Playstation version was probably the right decision.
 

ungalo

Member
People twisting his very transparent words against him and the brand... shocking. He answered the questions as openly and honest as possible. He hasn't "given up" on anything. He said himself he's just in a negative headspace right now yet he still came on the show taking the hard questions and answering as best he could. Takes guts. The alternative to this would be to avoid putting himself out there in the public arena completely or as some of you have suggested "yeah Redfall was launched rough but don't worry guys we fired all those employees and are shuttering the studio" Or something like "But just WAIT till you see Starfield! The summer Showcase is going to BLOW YOU AWAY!" ... to which people on this forum would be screaming that it's all PR lies. Or that Microsoft doesn't have faith in its studios and is going to close them all. Or that Xbox is dying and will soon be 3rd party Software. Or blah blah blah same old crap people keep console war spewing. He openly admitted 2022 sucked for Xbox. He said he felt like 2023 opened great but the last few weeks have been a huge loss to momentum. He wasn't trying to spin any of their mistakes as a positive. He even said that if the missteps DID continue he could be replaced. He came on this show and was open and didn't try to duck any questions, i don't know what more you people expect out of an interview. "Results!" ... you aren't magically going to get results from an interview. He told you where Microsoft's head is at right now whether you want to hear it or not.
I can grant him he has balls to do an interview just after the launch. But i don't think that what he said at the end has been twisted. I genuinely believe that what he says is his strategy is not what anybody wants to hear, especially those who own an Xbox, it's the total opposite.
 

Represent.

Represent(ative) of bad opinions
That was a fantastic and honest interview. Salute to him for his candidness.

He basically admitted defeat, and based on some of his answers, sounds like SONY has a lot more 3rd party exclusive deals coming up that will make it even harder for Xbox to win.

Even said that releasing great games won't move the needle. But he's wrong. Great games is the fix to everything.

Will see what they show at the Showcase. He knows it has to deliver.
 
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Nydius

Member
I mean I'm %80 sure he was one of the Forspoken writers, which makes this interview more.. cosmic in nature than I anticipated.
To be fair to him though, he’s admitted that all he did for the game was write the original lore that they based the reveal demo on, then he was out of the picture. They brought in Amy Hennig and Todd Stashwick for some brief writing on the project then they, also, left or were let go.

Someone else took what they had workshopped and completely wrote it into what was released as “Forspoken”.
 

LordCBH

Member
That was a fantastic and honest interview. Salute to him for his candidness.

He basically admitted defeat, and based on some of his answers, sounds like SONY has a lot more 3rd party exclusive deals coming up that will make it even harder for Xbox to win.

Even said that releasing great games won't move the needle. But he's wrong. Great games is the fix to everything.

Will see what they show at the Showcase. He knows it has to deliver.

I’m still adamant they have almost everything they need. The fucking treasure trove of storied IP’s, game studios people recognize. But they need someone with actual management skills. Someone who won’t go on an interview and just admit defeat.
 

splattered

Member
That was a fantastic and honest interview. Salute to him for his candidness.

He basically admitted defeat, and based on some of his answers, sounds like SONY has a lot more 3rd party exclusive deals coming up that will make it even harder for Xbox to win.

Even said that releasing great games won't move the needle. But he's wrong. Great games is the fix to everything.

Will see what they show at the Showcase. He knows it has to deliver.

Ahh yeah i forgot about that... he openly brought up something like "discreet behavior making it difficult for Xbox to compete" or something like that. Man i really wish i knew that this was pertaining to. There is obviously some juicy shit that we as fans haven't been privy to during this whole acquisition mess.
 
If I was an Xbox fan right now, I'd be utterly sunk by his words. Because even as someone who isn't a fan, I can't help but feel that way myself. It sounds like Xbox threw in the towel and I don't like that at all. I want to see them fight. I want to see them kick and scream. I want to see them push and shove for every customer. No matter how many times they "lose". I have said that Xbox isn't necessary. That doesn't mean I think gaming is better without them. For as critical as I've been of Spencer, he just does not seem well. He looks and sounds drained and defeated. He may be the one to bear responsibility, ultimately, but I still can't help but feel for the guy.

Agreed, Sony/Plastation need strong competitors like Xbox because it ensures they will do their best to deliver to their userbase and customers.

Anyone praying on Xbox's downfall needs to think twice, especially us Playstation gamers.
 

Three

Member
"There is no world where Starfield is an 11 out of 10 and people start selling their PS5. That's not going to happen." -- Phil Spencer.

Then why buy Bethesda and seemingly your only interaction with them is to cancel all playstation versions that were in the works.

Trillion dollar company ran by poundshop cashiers.
They're a lot more cunning than that. How do you make a person with a digital library of games switch?
Rent them a big digital library of games for $180 a year so they won't care about their own. How do you attract people to this digital library of games? by playing takeaway from the other library and boosting your own. Moving already established audiences is even better because it's more effective than a new IP. He knows that good games isn't going to shift people to xbox overnight but he doesn't care about xbox hardware, his strategy is the $180 a year subscription on any screen. He's just letting people know xbox hardware will never sell more with this strategy. That his push is towards services.
 
If I was an Xbox fan right now, I'd be utterly sunk by his words. Because even as someone who isn't a fan, I can't help but feel that way myself. It sounds like Xbox threw in the towel and I don't like that at all. I want to see them fight. I want to see them kick and scream. I want to see them push and shove for every customer. No matter how many times they "lose". I have said that Xbox isn't necessary. That doesn't mean I think gaming is better without them. For as critical as I've been of Spencer, he just does not seem well. He looks and sounds drained and defeated. He may be the one to bear responsibility, ultimately, but I still can't help but feel for the guy.

I am to be honest. Been a fan since the OG Xbox.

I don’t understand the brick wall mentality.

It’s like there’s a notion that there is no one else out there who could do better, who could put teams together to compete software and overall experience wise. It feels like “we won’t ever quit or be fired , we are the best you can hope for”

Bemused to say the least
 
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L*][*N*K

Banned
This was absolutely brutal, to be honest this man is trying his best but the way people are reacting like “we have lost, hats off Jim Ryan you bested us” is a really pathetic, he didn’t say that, he said a new console generation doesn’t mean an empty clean slate, especially if you list the Xbox One generation it is hard to bounce back especially right when people were developing their digital libraries, I think people need to calm down and allow this period to past, for all we know next week we will be pissed at Nintendo for how shitty Zelda is, Microsoft still have the biggest game of the year coming up, and Phil also said one big game every quarter so there is something else at the end of the year as well.
 

Daneel Elijah

Gold Member
Loved the interview and Phil Spencer did one of the best mea culpa ever. Even bringing back the 60 fps controversy when the other people were not going that way. Shame that people just twist what he said in a admission of defeat when it is not only accurate but really great to hear if you have the right mindset. We know that the digital libraries make changing console harder than before. Like if you are Android or Apple you can't change your phone that easily. When he said that this is the first generation when you play games that were out the last gen like Fortnite and Minecraft, it is clear that changing console is harder than before. Funny that he didn't put GTA in it, probably because they have a marketing deal with Sony( and maybe another one coming ?) The fact that no one game will change the generation is also true. They need regularity. And it is powerful when he said no need to believe my words wait until you have Starfield in your hands. This is for me better than empty promises. And he did say that they will continue working towars what they have promised. And maybe succeed at making 1 AAA game every quarter. With the studios they have since 2018 it was time. Hope that this is the worst time and that they can only get better from there.
Redfall is crazy as he admitted that beyond the technical issues even the "creative vision" was not there. So for me they just let them work on it just because they did not want to destroy their work and even after such a long delay Arkane Austin was just not good enough, didn't have a good plan enough to give us a good game. This is better and also worse than what I was expecting. Better because it was not Xbox abandonning Arkane or forcing them to do this game. But worse because it shows the limitations of the present management at Xbox. They can't do the hard decisions and we all lost from it. Hope that he is not fired because if they manage to make good games from now on it would be a shame for him to leave just before things get better. And Starfield better be good.
 

Sony

Nintendo
PS3 outsold X360 in the second half of the generation because (1) Xbox 360 exclusive games started drying up after a fantastic start, and (2) Sony upped their exclusives game by 10x in quantity and quality.

Games absolutely sell hardware. But I've been saying this for a long time, and I'll say it again: Xbox just cannot afford to release good games. They need to make 10/10 must-play games that are significantly better than PlayStation Studios games.

If they do it consistently for 3-4 years, they will take back their market share. There is no other way. That's what Sony did.

Pentiment and Grounded may be good games, but they are neither 10/10 nor must-play games. In comparison, TLOU, Spider-Man, or God of War are considered 10/10 must-play games.

Starfield may be a good game, but Sony will also have Spider-Man 2, launching in that very month. Had Starfield not delayed, Sony would have God of War Ragnarok in November 2022.

When it comes to a head-on 1-on-1, the masses would choose Sony's games. Xbox needs to win those 1v1 battles consistently, and they will capture the market share.
It's not just the second half. Also the first half. How do you explain PS3 outselling 360 in its worst years features, content and price wise?
 

sankt-Antonio

:^)--?-<
This is HUGE!!



The above is a summarized version. Full version in the spoiler below.

"We're not in the business of out-consoling Sony or out-consoling Nintendo. There isn't really a great solution or win for us, and I know that will upset a ton of people, but it's just the truth of the matter. When you're third place in the console marketplace, and the top two players are as strong as they are, and have, in certain cases, a very discrete focus on doing deals and other things that make being Xbox hard for us, as a team, that's on us, not on anybody else. Our vision is that everybody who's on console has to feel like they have a great experience and they're a first-class citizen. They've invested a ton in our platform, but we are not in a position, and I see it out there, I see commentary that if you just build great games, everything would turn around. It's just not true that if we go off and build great games, all of a sudden you're going to see console share shift in some dramatic way. We lost the worst generation to lose in the Xbox One generation, where everybody built their digital library of games. So when you go and you're building on Xbox, we want our Xbox community to feel awesome. But this idea that if we just focused more on great games on our console, that somehow we're going to win the console race, I think doesn't really lay to the reality of most people. Like 90% of the people every year who walk into a retailer to buy a console are already a member of one of the three ecosystems, and their digital library is there. This is the first generation where the big games that they're playing were games that were available last gen. When you think about Fortnite and Roblox and Minecraft, the continuity from generation to generation is so strong. I see a lot of pundits out there that kind of want to go back to the time where we all had cartridges and discs, and every new generation was a clean slate, and you could switch the whole console share. That's just not the world that we are in today. There is no world where Starfield is an 11 out of 10 and people start selling their PS5. That's not going to happen. So what we have to do, and we have this unique vision because we see what creators want to do, creators want to build games that can meet players on any screen, people play with their friends regardless of what other screen they're on, and the console is the core of the Xbox brand, there's no doubt. So, we will stay focused on making sure that console experience is awesome. But I know some people want to hold us up of just being a better green version of what the blue guys do, and I'm just going to say, there's not a win for Xbox in staying in the wake of somebody else. We have to go off and do our own thing with Game Pass, with the stuff we do with xCloud, and the way we build our games
At least hes honest, GP is content and not quality based, in line with what every streaming service has to provide to retain attention and retention. Quality is not a priority.
And its what a lot of people here never wanted to accept when talking about the GP model. You cant have Sony first party quality games and give them away as content filler on a service platform.
Why they would need a 70bill Pub instead of simply using their studios to pump out content is a mystery to me. Yeah... they need more studios to pump out content... and yeah its cool to have known IP to work with, but not really a necessity. Netflix own stuff is mostly from new or unknown IP's with the occasional know IP thrown into the mix.
 
This is HUGE!!



The above is a summarized version. Full version in the spoiler below.

"We're not in the business of out-consoling Sony or out-consoling Nintendo. There isn't really a great solution or win for us, and I know that will upset a ton of people, but it's just the truth of the matter. When you're third place in the console marketplace, and the top two players are as strong as they are, and have, in certain cases, a very discrete focus on doing deals and other things that make being Xbox hard for us, as a team, that's on us, not on anybody else. Our vision is that everybody who's on console has to feel like they have a great experience and they're a first-class citizen. They've invested a ton in our platform, but we are not in a position, and I see it out there, I see commentary that if you just build great games, everything would turn around. It's just not true that if we go off and build great games, all of a sudden you're going to see console share shift in some dramatic way. We lost the worst generation to lose in the Xbox One generation, where everybody built their digital library of games. So when you go and you're building on Xbox, we want our Xbox community to feel awesome. But this idea that if we just focused more on great games on our console, that somehow we're going to win the console race, I think doesn't really lay to the reality of most people. Like 90% of the people every year who walk into a retailer to buy a console are already a member of one of the three ecosystems, and their digital library is there. This is the first generation where the big games that they're playing were games that were available last gen. When you think about Fortnite and Roblox and Minecraft, the continuity from generation to generation is so strong. I see a lot of pundits out there that kind of want to go back to the time where we all had cartridges and discs, and every new generation was a clean slate, and you could switch the whole console share. That's just not the world that we are in today. There is no world where Starfield is an 11 out of 10 and people start selling their PS5. That's not going to happen. So what we have to do, and we have this unique vision because we see what creators want to do, creators want to build games that can meet players on any screen, people play with their friends regardless of what other screen they're on, and the console is the core of the Xbox brand, there's no doubt. So, we will stay focused on making sure that console experience is awesome. But I know some people want to hold us up of just being a better green version of what the blue guys do, and I'm just going to say, there's not a win for Xbox in staying in the wake of somebody else. We have to go off and do our own thing with Game Pass, with the stuff we do with xCloud, and the way we build our games

As a PS fan who owns all consoles this makes me kinda sad. Seems so defeatist. Xbox can 100% compete. And they don't have to buy up everything to do it. Almost feels like he is prepping us for a Xbox leaving the console market announcement and simply becoming a publisher.
 
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Tsaki

Member
Of course, but it certainly provides more clicks to join the pile-on. It also allows IGN to say, "Look we're a legit review site." It's much safer to give a low score after everyone else does it. It won't risk publisher relationships at that point.
IGN gave a review-in-progress at launch damning the game, before the pile on started.
"It's much safer to give a low score after everyone else does it." Right. I guess every non-day one review is invalid then, since everyone is a bandwagoner.
 
Disappointing interview from Phil but I appreciate the honesty now we can confirm what we already knew...he's a leader that lacks vision it's time for MS to move on this guy literally said before this generation started "we have a plan that can win" and now he's just giving up by saying it doesn't matter if we build an 11/10 game we'll never gain market share....that's bullshit because they haven't had a AAA critical darling new IP or legacy title(non racing) under his watch to test that theory. At this point MS is so far behind that their lineup can't even compete with Sony's last generation offerings even in some cases on a tech level and that's alarming. He's the one who decided to cut devs from the Coalition ,one of their most proficient studios, and after hearing story after story about the Coalition having to help a MS first party studio now Redfall was the latest customer for my favorite MS studio to help confirmed straight from Phil's mouth, it's no wonder they don't have a game out by now. Shout out to Parris for having the balls to actually press him the rest were just absolutely useless especially Gary.
 

Riky

$MSFT
People twisting his very transparent words against him and the brand... shocking. He answered the questions as openly and honest as possible. He hasn't "given up" on anything. He said himself he's just in a negative headspace right now yet he still came on the show taking the hard questions and answering as best he could. Takes guts. The alternative to this would be to avoid putting himself out there in the public arena completely or as some of you have suggested "yeah Redfall was launched rough but don't worry guys we fired all those employees and are shuttering the studio" Or something like "But just WAIT till you see Starfield! The summer Showcase is going to BLOW YOU AWAY!" ... to which people on this forum would be screaming that it's all PR lies. Or that Microsoft doesn't have faith in its studios and is going to close them all. Or that Xbox is dying and will soon be 3rd party Software. Or blah blah blah same old crap people keep console war spewing. He openly admitted 2022 sucked for Xbox. He said he felt like 2023 opened great but the last few weeks have been a huge loss to momentum. He wasn't trying to spin any of their mistakes as a positive. He even said that if the missteps DID continue he could be replaced. He came on this show and was open and didn't try to duck any questions, i don't know what more you people expect out of an interview. "Results!" ... you aren't magically going to get results from an interview. He told you where Microsoft's head is at right now whether you want to hear it or not.
Exactly, you've got to admire the guy, he could have laid low until the showcase and that would have been easy but he fronted it out and didn't even pretend he was happy about the situation, fair play to him.
He said some very interesting things and he's obviously realised you have to be better and more truthful in your messaging. He seemed to suggest that not only Starfield and Forza are this year but Hellblade 2 may be to and they are finally going to have a game a quarter as planned.
He specifically mentioned Avowed, so that's got to be at the showcase, very hyped to see that.
Also announcing new games, so that's great news.
 
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Exactly, you've got to admire the guy, he could have laid low until the showcase and that would have been easy but he fronted it out and didn't even pretend he was happy about the situation, fair play to him.
He said some very interesting things and he's obviously realised you have to be better and more truthful in your messaging. He seemed to suggest that not only Starfield and Forza are this year but Hellblade 2 may be to and they are finally going to have a game a quarter as planned.
He specifically mentioned Avowed, so that's got to be at the showcase, very hyped to see that.
Also announcing new games, so that's great news.

The rumoured Gears of War collection could be one announcement. Depending on the work done I have no hype for it as yet considering the whole series is easily accessible through backwards compatibility. I’d love Coalition to try something else.

It would be great to see Hellblade 2 launch and impress. It’s the only game so far they have shown that has me remotely excited.
 

Riky

$MSFT
The rumoured Gears of War collection could be one announcement. Depending on the work done I have no hype for it as yet considering the whole series is easily accessible through backwards compatibility. I’d love Coalition to try something else.

It would be great to see Hellblade 2 launch and impress. It’s the only game so far they have shown that has me remotely excited.
If it made all the content for Gears available in one place with UE5 then it might be a worthwhile exercise, but I'd rather see the next game myself.
Obviously Starfield will be huge and we're getting Forza which technically will be amazing.
If we also get Hellblade 2 and STALKER 2 this year then that's a good year no doubt as we've already had a GOTY contender in HiFi Rush.
We should get a good handle on where they are with all the other games if gameplay is shown, so Avowed seems certain from his comments and I think that game will be a pretty big deal
 
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As expected, softballs and bizarre fanboyisms.

Hosts consider themselves part of Xbox using collective pronouns and some appear genuinely hurt the ABK deal fell through, despite not losing anything.

Very odd.

Redfall and ABK are the latest in a long line of things that should have been asked about.
 
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If it made all the content for Gears available in one place with UE5 then it might be a worthwhile exercise, but I'd rather see the next game myself.
Obviously Starfield will be huge and we're getting Forza which technically will be amazing.
If we also get Hellblade 2 and STALKER 2 this year then that's a good year no doubt as we've already had a GOTY contender in HiFi Rush.
We should get a good handle on where they are with all the other games if gameplay is shown, so Avowed seems certain from his comments and I think that game will be a pretty big deal

Had more than enough of the Forza games, frankly I’m bored of even hearing about them. I said to someone earlier it’s got to a point they have stopped numbering the Motorsport series.

Stalker I don’t care for, or first person shooting in general.

Avowed, I’m sure Obsidian will do a good job for people excited for it but again it looks like more first person stuff. Not my kind of game if that’s the case.

The kind of games I want to see more from them , it looks like I should perhaps stop hoping for.

Hellblade 2 is the only one maybe

I can’t believe he let KOTOR remake become a timed PlayStation exclusive. That would of been something I would of looked to have secured years ago to compliment Halo for the Series X launch window.
 

Riky

$MSFT
Had more than enough of the Forza games, frankly I’m bored of even hearing about them. I said to someone earlier it’s got to a point they have stopped numbering the Motorsport series.

Stalker I don’t care for, or first person shooting in general.

Avowed, I’m sure Obsidian will do a good job for people excited for it but again it looks like more first person stuff. Not my kind of game if that’s the case.

The kind of games I want to see more from them , it looks like I should perhaps stop hoping for.

Hellblade 2 is the only one maybe

I can’t believe he let KOTOR remake become a timed PlayStation exclusive. That would of been something I would of looked to have secured years ago to compliment Halo for the Series X launch window.

The core Xbox audience is heavily tied up in first person shooters and western RPGs, so those sort of games will go down very well. He probably saw who was developing the KOTOR remake and thought better of it.
 
The core Xbox audience is heavily tied up in first person shooters and western RPGs, so those sort of games will go down very well. He probably saw who was developing the KOTOR remake and thought better of it.

Regarding KOTOR, he could of used Obsidian or someone else . Pay the required fee to secure the deal with Disney for a title that could of been developed internally and has been tied to the OG Xbox with a lot of nostalgia fondness within the Xbox community. It also could of brought new players in particularly during the launch period of a new console.

They even rejected the chance to make Marvel games. Now if done right that would of grown the install base like it did with PlayStation.
 

splattered

Member
Exactly, you've got to admire the guy, he could have laid low until the showcase and that would have been easy but he fronted it out and didn't even pretend he was happy about the situation, fair play to him.
He said some very interesting things and he's obviously realised you have to be better and more truthful in your messaging. He seemed to suggest that not only Starfield and Forza are this year but Hellblade 2 may be to and they are finally going to have a game a quarter as planned.
He specifically mentioned Avowed, so that's got to be at the showcase, very hyped to see that.
Also announcing new games, so that's great news.

I'm honestly not really hyped for Avowed... i have a feeling this is going to be a small pet project like Pentiment or Grounded that will still probably score well but maybe not have a ton of meat on its bones. I'm not expecting this to be some multi hundred hour RPG like Skyrim.
 
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