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Phil Spencer gets honest about Redfall

Ansphn

Member
Phil Spencer doesn't have balls. this is not what a true leader says or does.
Yep. Shu or Jim Ryan would have ripped the Arcane leadership a new ass hole. It's a guarantee they would all be fired even before the game is released in this condition. PlayStation got rid of the people who were remaking KOTOR and they were all replaced and the game was passed on to new developers. Shu destroyed God of War 2018 and made them do it over..Sony don't play around. Phil needs to be in HR if he don't have the balls or the business-like savagery to dismantle if needed.
 
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Yep. Shu or Jim Ryan would have ripped the Arcane leadership a new ass hole. It's a guarantee they would all be fired even before the game is released in this condition. PlayStation got rid of the people who were remaking KOTOR were all replaced and the game was passed on to new developers. Shu destroyed God of War 2018 and made them do it over..Sony is play around. Phil needs to be in HR if he don't have the balls or the business-like savagery to dismantle if needed.
yeah. i mean, what happened to Ready At Dawn, Evolution, Bed?

Out, closed and total restructuring.
 
Phil admitted Xbox's certain defeat in the console space in that last segment, which I don't think it was a smart move to do so openly the way he did. Nonetheless, he is right about one thing, going forward they should aim for improving their digital library and making GP their main target for selling Xbox as a brand. Only thing I hardly disagree with about his statement is making good games and taking risks. If you want to offer something different and appealing in a business you gotta take risks, even if they are controlled to an extent.

Idk about Xbox's strategy in the eyes of Microsoft higher-ups but it wouldn't take me by surprise if they decide to take Phil out of the scene with a few more slip-ups.
 

Interfectum

Member
The end part of the interview took me my surprise. I'm not gonna go awwww because results are all that matter and I'm still of the opinion that he needs to step down. Still, to hear the "leader" of a platform say publicly that there's no saving the Xbox brand regarding the console race,(be it because of the ABK deal or not) is pretty shocking. I feel like everyone who is on the fence with his Xbawks needs to listen to this segment. Around 34 minutes in.
Exactly.

The dude literally threw in the towel for the console wars and people are discussing fucking Redfall. Why the hell would you buy an Xbox after hearing this?
 
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In my opinion it’s the same shit different day. At this point it’s unacceptable and he can be sorry all he wants but that doesn’t change that he knew the state the game was in (clearly from how he speaks here) and still let it ship at $70. He would have been better off delaying the game for another year, letting it release as a mediocre game without the bugs or non existent AI and it not have the absolute critical flaying that it’s getting from both the media and public. The games already a meme for fuck sake lol.

It may not seem like it to some, but he is setting the scene for the rest of the year and now people are concerned that their other releases are in just as much of a state as this. Not a good look!

He comes across as the accountable person and talks the talk, but he has done nothing to fix the issues Xbox are having. I want to see Xbox succeed (I’m massively excited yet nervous for Starfield and Avowed) but I’m not sure it’s going to happen under Phil Spencer.

Edit: just watched that last segment and it was great to see Phil talk about the vision for Xbox and for him to be clear about where he sees things going for the platform.

I’m not sure I agree with what he says about releasing great games and it not selling consoles though. I (and almost everyone I know who plays video games) will absolutely go and buy a console if a game cannot be played anywhere else. I did it with GoW Ragnarok, Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey, I did it with Halo (OG Xbox) and I’m sure there are tons of people who do it too.
 
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I’m a little bit perplexed he pretty much says its just ”not true” that good games would lead to a shift in market share. Although I can sort of agree that the PS4/XB1 gen was really a bad gen to lose I think Xbox would’ve been in a very different place if they’d at least had some good games out the gate.
Wait he said that?
 

Thief1987

Member
We knew that game is a turd. We knew that it's not salvageable, so we didn't delay it. We still decided to sell it for 70$. See? We are honest about it. Please buy our next game.
 

FunkMiller

Member
Exactly.

The dude literally threw in the towel for the console wars and people are discussing fucking Redfall. Why the hell would you buy an Xbox after hearing this?

If the actual, factual Head Of XBox doesn’t think the Xbox can compete with the other console brands, then the Xbox is doomed.
 

Punished Miku

Gold Member
Exactly.

The dude literally threw in the towel for the console wars and people are discussing fucking Redfall. Why the hell would you buy an Xbox after hearing this?
I'm still playing my Xbox way more. I think he means they will not be the market leader. Doesn't mean they won't be making consoles.

And look at the studios Xbox has. Double Fine, Obsidian, inXile. These are teams I'm excited about, but they're not mainstream games coming. They're probably very niche games coming. To me that is extremely exciting. I'm already pretty sick of games following movies into the mainstream blockbuster model. Those games are fine sometimes, but I want a lot more variety than that.
 

Dr_Ifto

Member
There are so many talented teams under the xbox umbrella, that I worry for their future. This interview was defeatest. Maybe for show for the CMA/EU/FTC, but man...if xbox gets spun off or some shit from all this, its only bad for the market. Having a dominant Sony without XBOX nipping at their heels is a bad thing. PS+ Extra is only here cause of GamePass.
 

ByWatterson

Member
I’m a little bit perplexed he pretty much says its just ”not true” that good games would lead to a shift in market share. Although I can sort of agree that the PS4/XB1 gen was really a bad gen to lose I think Xbox would’ve been in a very different place if they’d at least had some good games out the gate.

Jesus Christ, LOL.

Games won't drive sales in the games industry.....what???
 

Interfectum

Member
Some of these quotes are absolutely wild, especially the part about good games not shifting market share.
He's basically saying Xbox is a dead brand in the console space. Nothing will move the needle and the cause is them losing the Xbox One / PS4 gen. So now "play anywhere" (IE PC and cloud) is as important if not more than console owners.
 
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Dr_Ifto

Member
Jesus Christ, LOL.

Games won't drive sales in the games industry.....what???

The only thing I can think of is he meant one game doesnt drive market share, it takes a constant stream. But even then, XBOX hasnt had a constant stream of anything... I would say XBOX hasnt had a constant stream of games to drive market share since 2006-2009
 

F0rneus

Tears in the rain
You gotta give the man his props in this case. He does acknowledge the glitches and bugs, but does flat out say it's the game design that fails it more than anything else. A very sober and realistic response.
 

AJUMP23

Member
He bought great studios to make good games, but this studio has faltered so far under the MS environment. I don't know where in the chain the weak link is, but maybe the leaders have left, and the unique people took the money and left. Whatever Arkane showed to motivate MS in the purchase hasn't worked out.
 

azertydu91

Hard to Kill
Jesus Christ, LOL.

Games won't drive sales in the games industry.....what???
Yep consoles are solely sold on brand loyalty ....which is acquired by releasing great games though....
But yeah those nintendonys consoles are just sold because reasons and have never even had a floppy gen, since games don't change anything....If you disregard ps3 losing a lot of grounds and the wii U ...well ...yeah there's no neep to explain hwo much the wii U was a train wreck.
 

Braag

Member
Holy shit... the end of the interview is crazy. What Phil said about consoles and his competitors. Wow.
Him saying that people have already built their digital libraries is true though. It's the reason why you see so many PC players pissed off at Epic when they money hat a game into their store. People have already large libraries in Steam, they don't want to fragment it to several different stores and platforms.
My friend who is exclusively a PS guy wants to play Starfield, but is kinda annoyed that he has to buy a Xbox for that cause he has a massive digital library of games on PS. It's not about the money, it's about fragmenting your library. And he's not sure if he will bother to do that.

So Phil is partly right that if they suddenly released several massive hits, it wouldn't be a massive shift cause Sony already has a bigger player base and people have built their libraries in their system and don't want to to suddenly start building a new digital library in another platform. A lot of people just skip those games.
That's why he said losing last gen was such a major hit cause it was the generation most people built their digital libraries.
Hell I skip a lot of big games every year cause I just want to play everything on Steam and if it isn't there I just can't be arsed to get it somewhere else.
I feel like the more we shift into digital libraries the bigger this issue will be.
 

H-I-M

Member
I’m a little bit perplexed he pretty much says its just ”not true” that good games would lead to a shift in market share. Although I can sort of agree that the PS4/XB1 gen was really a bad gen to lose I think Xbox would’ve been in a very different place if they’d at least had some good games out the gate.

And I still don't get why.
If Nintendo was able to turn the ship around after the massive disaster that was the Wii U, why couldn't Microsoft ?
It's almost as if he's saying that releasing amazing big games would be a waste at this point.
 

MikeM

Member
Interesting comment from Phil at 21:20 :

“..our console customer, our most committed customer to our brand, financially committed…”

Its clear by this statement that your bread and butter is console ecosystems. Wondering why they are still pandering the “play anywhere message” when the focus should be “play on our box first, play elsewhere when you need to.”

Good interview and happy to see Phil showing face out there whether good or bad. Still need more results from the words though.
 
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GHG

Member
I'm already pretty sick of games following movies into the mainstream blockbuster model. Those games are fine sometimes, but I want a lot more variety than that.

Serious question, if that's what you crave then why are you gaming on console instead of PC (even the steam deck is a viable option now)?
 

Dr_Ifto

Member
And I still don't get why.
If Nintendo was able to turn the ship around after the massive disaster that was the Wii U, why couldn't Microsoft ?
It's almost as if he's saying that releasing amazing big games would be a waste at this point.
You need the library of games to be able to do that. A constant stream of good games. When I say good, good for the market you are delivering to. NIntendo makes banger games for kids/teens
 

azertydu91

Hard to Kill
Here‘s the end of Phil Spender’s career, timestamped:


I jumped in the pool not knowing how to swim and you want me to beat the top 2 swimmers?I am tring to survive man.
I'm paraphrasing a bit but it is the general tone.

Edit: I just thought about something, that part when he says "even if Starfield is an 11/10 people won't sell their ps5 etc...".Does he knows that people can buy 2 consoles?of course so far they buy switch and ps5, but this is a great example of how he thinks, when we succed people have to sell their ps5....Wasn't he the one complaining that sony wanted them to fail ....Maybe that's just how he thinks everything.
 
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Punished Miku

Gold Member
Serious question, if that's what you crave then why are you gaming on console instead of PC (even the steam deck is a viable option now)?
Just habit. I've never gamed on PC and wouldn't really know where to start. I enjoy consoles.

Maybe someday I'll have to consider it.
 
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Reactions: GHG

Fake

Member
I'm disappointed



Austin Powers Doctor Evil GIF
 

Interfectum

Member
I jumped in the pool not knowing how to swim and you want me to beat the top 2 swimmers?I am tring to survive man.
I'm paraphrasing a bit but it is the general tone.
"The Xbox brand is dead, nothing will save it. Fucking Mattrick... We will continue to invest in buying a ton of shit though for a market that doesn't exist yet (cloud) and PC."
 

skit_data

Member
And I still don't get why.
If Nintendo was able to turn the ship around after the massive disaster that was the Wii U, why couldn't Microsoft ?
It's almost as if he's saying that releasing amazing big games would be a waste at this point.
Yeah it’s a pretty wierd way to analyze the situation but now their strategy of acquiring large publishers makes much more sense.
 

kyussman

Member
They way these guys are framing the Redfall failure.

"Every time someone takes a risk on something new, let's try something that hasn't been done before, and it doesn't work, it hurts everybody."

Umm, can you not see that Redfall is trying nothing new?
Right,sounds like they just put out Death Stranding or something,lol.........Death Stranding is wonderful by the way.
 

Dick Jones

Gold Member
My biggest problem with the video is seeing that smug cunt Tim Gettys appear. The annoyance of Spencer underperforming shrunk as a result.

Also what crack was Parris smoking to claim that he was drained from that interview? Maybe nodding in agreement for 40 minutes might do that to you.
 

azertydu91

Hard to Kill
"The Xbox brand is dead, nothing will save it. Fucking Mattrick... We will continue to invest in buying a ton of shit though for a market that doesn't exist yet (cloud) and PC."
What a weird thing to say in a pool....By the way I edited my post there's a late thought that came to me that you might find interesting.
 
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