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

01011001

Banned
If anything it says alot about you

it says that I am correct yes.

the PS3 was behind the times, and played catch-up until the end.

No Party Chat, no party system in general meaning you had to rely on in-game menus for invites etc., no messaging system until years after launch, no Achievement system until a year after launch, slower GPU, worse Memory setup (one of the culprits that made Party Chat impossible btw.), awful controller that was also stuck in the past in terms of design, super expensive at launch, launched a year later while exhibiting worse game performance in the majority of games...
fuck, the system didn't even have a friends list until a later Firmware update...
You couldn't even download things in the background, and when they finally patched it in you had to "prepare" the background download, and after downloading you had to install the game...

the whole user experience on PS3 was abysmal and in many ways so behind the times, that it lacked features the original Xbox already had.
At launch especially the whole user experience was, in one word, isolated, when the 360 felt alive and futuristic.


so with the PS3 in that state, and Microsoft having a ton of exclusives, it still wasn't enough.
 
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Darsxx82

Member
"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." -- Phil Spencer
Sounds more like words directed at the CMA, FTC and EU ..... He is undoubtedly admitting that Xbox has no chance against PS5 in sales, but that is one thing (as I say, more towards the regulators) and another is the interpretation of some beyond that such as:

"P. Spencer is saying that he's not going to invest in big first party games because they don't serve to sell more consoles"🤣 Of course he's not saying that, the investment is there and Gpass need It.

"P. Spencer is advancing that they are going to stop manufacturing consoles and become 3rd party." 😂He is far from pointing out such a thing, especially when he admits that cloud gaming is far from being a reality and that the XBOX console is still the center of income for his gaming business.
And no, becoming a 3rd party and abandoning hardware manufacturing is not synonymous with being a better business, NO. First because Sony is not going to accept Gapass on Playstation. Second because MS loses 30% of the sales of 3rd party games on console. Third, the success of your first parties is always more profitable on your platform and not on someone else's.

If cloudgaming ever becomes a real competition for physical hardware... then not only will the XBOX console be in danger, but so will the competing consoles.
 
If they kept that momentum going, they could be the market leader today. They put the breaks on around 2009/2010
X360 was a killer system but to say it was VASTLY superior to PS3 in almost EVERY way is ridiculous. Sony got there shit together and that system was a good one overall. HDD in every system, free online, bluray and some truly epic games like uncharted, GOW, TLOU.
 
Phil is right to some degree in that making great games wouldn't take market share from Sony or Nintendo. They either need to make better games than their competitors or Sony needs to drop the ball. However he is basically admitting that they can't make games as good as Sony or Nintendo. He should go because he has fundamentally hurt Xbox by saying that.
 
it says that I am correct yes.

the PS3 was behind the times, and played catch-up until the end.

No Party Chat, no party system in general meaning you had to rely on in-game menus for invites etc., no messaging system until years after launch, no Achievement system until a year after launch, slower GPU, worse Memory setup (one of the culprits that made Party Chat impossible btw.), awful controller that was also stuck in the past in terms of design, super expensive at launch, launched a year later while exhibiting worse game performance in the majority of games...
fuck, the system didn't even have a friends list until a later Firmware update...
You couldn't even download things in the background, and when they finally patched it in you had to "prepare" the background download, and after downloading you had to install the game...

the whole user experience on PS3 was abysmal and in many ways so behind the times, that it lacked features the original Xbox already had.
At launch especially the whole user experience was, in one word, isolated, when the 360 felt alive and futuristic.


so with the PS3 in that state, and Microsoft having a ton of exclusives, it still wasn't enough.
You are delusional, the X360 was a good system but to sell the PS3 that short...take the green glasses off my friend.
 

XXL

Member
He didn't say great games don't matter, you guys are twisting his words.
"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."
 

IlGialloMondadori

Gold Member
it says that I am correct yes.

the PS3 was behind the times, and played catch-up until the end.

No Party Chat, no party system in general meaning you had to rely on in-game menus for invites etc., no messaging system until years after launch, no Achievement system until a year after launch, slower GPU, worse Memory setup (one of the culprits that made Party Chat impossible btw.), awful controller that was also stuck in the past in terms of design, super expensive at launch, launched a year later while exhibiting worse game performance in the majority of games...
fuck, the system didn't even have a friends list until a later Firmware update...
You couldn't even download things in the background, and when they finally patched it in you had to "prepare" the background download, and after downloading you had to install the game...

the whole user experience on PS3 was abysmal and in many ways so behind the times, that it lacked features the original Xbox already had.
At launch especially the whole user experience was, in one word, isolated and bare, when the 360 felt alive and futuristic.


so with the PS3 in that state, and Microsoft having a ton of exclusives, it still wasn't enough.
I had and loved the 360. The ps3 started late, and had real issues with games. At the point when ms switched to Kinect, I abandoned the 360 completely and focused on ps3 solely because of the games. It would have been a tough fight, but if they had something other than Kinect focus, it would have been an actual fight.
 

Gone

Banned
Things will change, of course.

How do you think things changed for Sony? They made the freakin' The Last of Us.

For the sake of convenience, imagine if the following games don't exist yet, and Xbox releases one of these every quarter, fully exclusive to Xbox (no PC or Game Pass):
  • Year 1
    • Q1 = Ghost of Tsushima
    • Q2 = FFVII Remake
    • Q3 = Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
    • Q4 = The Last of Us Part 1
  • Year 2
    • Death Stranding
    • Elden Ring
    • Returnal
    • God of War
  • Year 3
    • The Witcher 3
    • Forza Horizon 5
    • Red Dead Redemption 2
    • Spider-Man
You don't think 3 years of this cadence and quality of games will make a difference?

Just 3 years of great content like this, and people will flock out to buy the Series X console to play these games. They may or may not sell their PS5s, but that doesn't matter at that point. The more important goal is that people will purchase an Xbox and become a super-engaged Xbox player.
Wouldn't matter that much.

I already mentioned that they can and need a constant stream of great games but as far as market share concerned, Xbox wouldn't earn what people expect.
 

Gone

Banned
This is absolutely absurdity. You're telling me if they didn't release a string of bangers and have a history of providing quality games, that people wouldn't consider making an Xbox their primary console in the next gen? I mean, sure you have your console warriors but most of us aren't that deeply entrenched.
Most people are "fine" with the Playstation since the Playstation 1. They don't "need" the change and that's why Xbox will never be as big as playstation is.
 

FrankWza

Member
OK? There isn't only one way to compete.

Not necessarily. The video game market is huge. There's enough room for all of them to coexist with wildly different business models.

It wasn't that they realized they had more money that made them go in this direction. It wasn't until around 2016 when Phil finally came up with a plan that aligned and synergized with other pillars and successful business models of Microsoft and where they anticipated the market to expand, that convinced the CEO to go all in.
Explaining Gary Oldman GIF by Apple TV+
 

XXL

Member
Also this just gives credence to people saying they should have focused more on managing themselves before acquiring anyone else

They obviously don't have a real pipeline set up to properly support and manage their developers. Now they have to do that while the devs are currently in a free for all.
Thank fucking God they weren't able to aquire Activision/Blizzard.
 

ren008

Neo Member
Welp its confirmed by the boss himself. Bought series x at launch and i guess i choose the wrong team.. if they are giving up should at least give us option to dual boot win11 on my now certified loser box.

Zero chance of a series refresh i guess too now?
 

Bragr

Banned
Phil Spencer says that Xbox currently can't go head-to-head with Nintendo and Playstation because of their strong ecosystems.

He says they need Game Pass, mobile, and cloud to offer something different.

And then everyone takes that, out of thin air, as him saying Xbox isn't trying to make great games, or that they can't make great games.

Jesus christ. The amount of buffoonery and absurd reactions from this.
 

darrylgorn

Member
I agree with Phil in that simply having great games isn't enough. Microsoft doesn't have the same fanbase to leverage like the other two and while Nintendo has failed in the past, they're resilient because some creative minds over there are devising a new hardware gimmick every generation.

XBOX is like the Sega of modern day consoles. They're marketing a product that is very similar to the main competitor.

Tbh, I think they're content with the level of success they have, and it's refreshing that they're this honest about it.
 
Exactly. I look back at Uncharted Drake's Fortune and as great as it was, it wasnt until Uncharted 2 came out did the series finally achieve its full potential. Same goes for Assassins Creed 1 to AC2, Demon Souls to Dark Souls, and Mass Effect 1 to Mass Effect 2. I cant believe MS never greenlit a Ryse 2, Sunset 2, Quantum Break 2, and straight up cancelled Coalitions New IP which they revealed at E3 2014 in trailer form. Insmoniac went on to achieve insane success with Spiderman, Remedy won awards for Control (imagine if that had been an MS exclusive) while Coalition were forced to develop derivative Gears sequels that didnt move the needle.

Think about it, What has Phil actually done in regards to new (or newish) games?
Remeber Ryse, Sunset Overdrive and Quantum Break was the result of Don Mattick.
Phil has done absolutely nothing, zip, nada, nil, zero.
There's literally NO new(or newish) game that phil is responsible in introducing.

I mean if we are being kind we would say Flight Sim 2020. But that's it (and its not even a system seller as its a niche game).
 

PeteBull

Member
Welp its confirmed by the boss himself. Bought series x at launch and i guess i choose the wrong team.. if they are giving up should at least give us option to dual boot win11 on my now certified loser box.

Zero chance of a series refresh i guess too now?
U could always get a pc or wait year or two and get urself brand new ps5pr0, playstation CEO - jim ryan is as coldblooded motherfucker as they make them, but at least u know he wont throw the towel in the middle of a fight like phil did :p
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
Phil Spencer says that Xbox currently can't go head-to-head with Nintendo and Playstation because of their strong ecosystems.

He says they need Game Pass, mobile, and cloud to offer something different.

And then everyone takes that, out of thin air, as him saying Xbox isn't trying to make great games, or that they can't make great games.

Jesus christ. The amount of buffoonery and absurd reactions from this.
You forgot to mention the best deal in gaming.
 
Me in Highschool wanting to get a game console(s), and my decisions were:

-PS3: I can play MGS4

-Wii: I can play Metroid Prime 3 (Favorite game series), Zelda Twilight Princess, and Mario Galaxy. (All fucking bangers).

-360: I can Play Mass Effect, Ninja Gaiden 2, Bioshock. (Those were my favorite games for a while; fun gameplay, cool aesthetics/graphics, ninja titties, blue titties, guns, swords. What’s not to like?)

There was stuff like Gears and Halo for the bros, that wasn’t my cup of tea, but moved units.

Shit like Assassin’s Creed and DMC4 were going to be PS3 exclusive, but went multiplat and ran better on 360.

Everything ran better on 360, until developers finally learned the 5-D chess maneuvers required to program for the Cell way later into the gen.
bHgbxAF.gif


Had a 360 and Wii I bought from having my first job, and it was the easiest decision really.

Nowadays I’m hoping that Starfield is good, but I got the Series X because I’m too lazy to make a PC, and I fully expected buying pretty much nothing but third party games and utilizing the backwards compatibility to the fullest.

I don’t really care for most of the exclusives PlayStation has (except I’d like to try Death Stranding sometime), but it’s clear they’re at least putting in more effort than Xbox for those that do.
 
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N30RYU

Gold Member
"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."
Dramatic words none the less
Most people are "fine" with the Playstation since the Playstation 1. They don't "need" the change and that's why Xbox will never be as big as playstation is.
Not totally true. You can have a sony console and buy an xbox to play it's exclusivities... i did with the 360 and xbox One.
It's about the games, and the gamepass model i don't know if they cut budgets or they need to fill schedules to get games on the service but have plometed in quality
 
Phil Spencer says that Xbox currently can't go head-to-head with Nintendo and Playstation because of their strong ecosystems.

He says they need Game Pass, mobile, and cloud to offer something different.

And then everyone takes that, out of thin air, as him saying Xbox isn't trying to make great games, or that they can't make great games.

Jesus christ. The amount of buffoonery and absurd reactions from this.

They can make great games. The mindset obviously just isn't there from a quality control standpoint. Hence why Phil is justifying letting projects go ahead even if the creative vision is shit
 
For every Haze and Lair, they had Uncharted, Resistance, Killzone, Warhawk, Motorstorm, Ratchet and Resistance.

There is this really big misconception that sony only started to turn it around after Uncharted 2 hit which couldnt be farther from the truth. go look at the metacritic scores of KZ2, Uncharted, Infamous, Ratchet, LBP, MGS4 and Resistance games. All in the high 80s or 90s.

I remember exactly when the PS3 caught fire. It was E3 2007 when the revealed KZ2 and it looked better than anything out there. Then Uncharted Drake's Fortune and Ratchet came out and showed everyone that the cell wasnt some trash piece of hardware. It went toe to toe with Mass Effect and Bioshock, two of the best looking games on the 360, and this was in 2007. By E3 2008, Sony was showing 60 player multiplayer games like Resistance 2, revealing new IPs like Infamous and Heavy Rain. then MGS4 came out in summer of 2008 and got 10s from everyone except for Eurogamer and Edge which caused a lot of commotion, but it ended up winning several GOTY awards in a very competitive year. LBP released in 2008 to wide acclaim.

E3 2009 was one for the ages with GOW, GT5, Uncharted 2, Heavy Rain and 256 player MAG blowing everyone away. And thats the difference. Despite Phil's insistence, they havent had an E3 like that in a decade or decade and a half. They have given gamers nothing to get excited over. Instead they went out and bought Minecraft for $3 billion. GOW apparently cost $200 million. Phil couldve made 15 GOW quality games with $3 billion.
Your post just made me feel nostalgic for this generation. Yeah by the time we got to 2009 PS3 was already turning things around. But once that Uncharted 2 gameplay trailer from their E3 conference was shown, that was the moment that honestly, changed Playstation forever to this day and elevated Sony's production values to what we know nowadays.

There's also the feeling i have that we barely know what Playstation studios are working on besides Insomniac. I feel like this PS showcase is going to highlight even more the gap that there is between Playstation and Xbox. I'm not even counting with rumored deals like Persona 6 being supposedly exclusive, or confirmed 3rd party exclusives like FFVII Rebirth, or console exclusives like Silent Hill 2 Remake, or marketing deals for games like Avatar, Fifa, COD that's still in place for at least 1 or 2 more years, etc.

It's weird to witness Phil complaining about these deals that Sony and Nintendo do. Like...why not do that as well? MS can clearly afford them, lmao. Sony has this industry on their pocket because MS allowed them to. And the fact they will keep getting distracted by the Activision deal will not help them for the rest of the year.

No one is stopping MS to branch out and do what Sony did with something like Genshin Impact. There was an article talking about how they were looking for their own Genshin Impact...meanwhile Sony was already securing the console exclusivity of miHoYo's next project: Honkai: Star Rail. MS are always a step behind. It's not even funny.
 
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I do understand the real reason why he said that, but i think he should not provide that kind of statement, xbox fanbase is not going to take lightly on that statement.
You think? In the commentsection in this you tube interview almost all nearly 900 Commenters are praising Phil and forgive him, and still believe every word he said. But all Phil is doing is pure damagecontrol. He fucked up and it is not the first time. Does diehard Xboxfans must wake up and smell the coffee and see trough al the damagecontrol MS and Phil are spouting....
 
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Bragr

Banned
"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."
He's not saying great games don't matter.

He's saying great games are not gonna be enough to turn it around for Xbox, that they need to offer other things. Like Game Pass AND great games.

They are still gonna make great games.
They still believe great games will help their platform. They are still all about making great games. Obviously. lol.

How is it possible to believe that he' somehow doesn't care about great games, it's the best thing they could possibly do for business in every regard.
 

Sethbacca

Member
Most people are "fine" with the Playstation since the Playstation 1. They don't "need" the change and that's why Xbox will never be as big as playstation is.
I grew up with Nintendo and I was fine with Nintendo, until I wasn't. I started making other consoles my primary once they lost 3rd party support. I do still get Nintendo consoles for the exclusives though. It's almost like games sell consoles.
 
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Phil Spencer says that Xbox currently can't go head-to-head with Nintendo and Playstation because of their strong ecosystems.

He says they need Game Pass, mobile, and cloud to offer something different.

And then everyone takes that, out of thin air, as him saying Xbox isn't trying to make great games, or that they can't make great games.

Jesus christ. The amount of buffoonery and absurd reactions from this.
Name me one new (or newish) high quality game phil was responsible for since taking over (other than flight sim 2020)?
I'm actually seriously curious.
 
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Bragr

Banned
They can make great games. The mindset obviously just isn't there from a quality control standpoint. Hence why Phil is justifying letting projects go ahead even if the creative vision is shit
Like Destruction All-Stars?

Go ahead if the creative vision is shit? what does that even mean?
 
Oh shit! Is it already that time of the year? The MS "We hear you and we will do better" annual speech? It's been a tradition since the release of the x1.

Man, oh man. With over a decade of self reflection, next year will be xbox's year. I feel it! Phil will finally take us to the Promised Land.
 
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Crayon

Member
He's not saying great games don't matter.

He's saying great games are not gonna be enough to turn it around for Xbox, that they need to offer other things. Like Game Pass AND great games.

They are still gonna make great games. They still believe great games will help their platform. They are still all about making great games. Obviously. lol.

How is it possible to believe that he' somehow doesn't care about great games, it's the best thing they could possibly do for business in every regard.

He's straw manning it by saying great games won't put them in first. This so easily could have been spun as a message about taking care of the users you DO have.
 

XXL

Member
He's saying great games are not gonna be enough to turn it around for Xbox, that they need to offer other things. Like Game Pass AND great games.
I'll sum it up real quick for you.

If Xbox made great games consistently, things would be different. I promise you. Even without GamePass.

The thing that matters most is the software. Always.

How any of you forget that.... is mind blowing to me.
 
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Knightime_X

Member
So you're concerned about something that hasn't happened but by your own what-if scenario, you're already being fucked and apparently fine with it because Xbox is doing the dicking.

I only reply because I've seen these comments from others and they are dumb as can be. This is the stockholm syndrome that people speak of when it comes to gaming.
It's fine if they're viewed as dumb, but even dumber to think absolutely nothing could go wrong.
All we can do now is just sit and watch what unfolds.
I will remain pessimistic until noted otherwise.
 

Bragr

Banned
Name me one new (or newish) high quality game phil was responsible for since taking over (other than flight sim 2020)?
I'm actually seriously curious.
We don't know what he was responsible for, but if you mean games that came out under his watch, Forza, Halo, Hi-Fi Rush, Gears, Psychonauts 2, Hellblade, Cuphead (initially), I mean, there is a lot, just look up a list if you're curious.
 

01011001

Banned
You are delusional, the X360 was a good system but to sell the PS3 that short...take the green glasses off my friend.

I think you are projecting.

if we imagine a scenario where both systems had the exact same games, no exclusives, only the multiplatform games and nothing else...
why would you buy a PS3 over an Xbox 360? because it was worse in almost every way.

there was 1 and only 1 objective advantage the PS3 had, and that was free online multiplayer.
Yet.. the PS3 sold more in the end.

and it wasn't because of exclusives either, Gears of War 1 sold more copies than almost any PS3 exclusive, and isn't even the best selling 360 exclusive game, with Halo 3 selling twice as many copies and Gears 2 also topping it.

The PS3 sold as many systems as it did simply because of the brand.
 
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Pedro Motta

Member
it says that I am correct yes.

the PS3 was behind the times, and played catch-up until the end.

No Party Chat, no party system in general meaning you had to rely on in-game menus for invites etc., no messaging system until years after launch, no Achievement system until a year after launch, slower GPU, worse Memory setup (one of the culprits that made Party Chat impossible btw.), awful controller that was also stuck in the past in terms of design, super expensive at launch, launched a year later while exhibiting worse game performance in the majority of games...
fuck, the system didn't even have a friends list until a later Firmware update...
You couldn't even download things in the background, and when they finally patched it in you had to "prepare" the background download, and after downloading you had to install the game...

the whole user experience on PS3 was abysmal and in many ways so behind the times, that it lacked features the original Xbox already had.
At launch especially the whole user experience was, in one word, isolated, when the 360 felt alive and futuristic.


so with the PS3 in that state, and Microsoft having a ton of exclusives, it still wasn't enough.
How more wrong could you be.

In those times my X360 was my main console, and the PS3 for the exclusives, was a perfect match to have them both and it felt good.
Xbox is the only one to blaim this isn't the case nowadays, I still have both PS5 and XSX, but my XSX is gathering dust for months.
 

01011001

Banned
How more wrong could you be.

In those times my X360 was my main console, and the PS3 for the exclusives, was a perfect match to have them both and it felt good.
Xbox is the only one to blaim this isn't the case nowadays, I still have both PS5 and XSX, but my XSX is gathering dust for months.

you are literally confirming what I'm saying.
the PS3 was the "I get it for the exclusives" system, the same position the Xbox One was in a generation later, which was also objectively worse in almost every way compared to the PS4.
 
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