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Phil Spencer to Receive 'Legend' Award at Annual NY Game Awards for "phenomenal contributions to the video game industry" Reggie Fils-Aimé agrees.

Fredrik

Member
Assuming this is about Gamepass and syncing console, PC and mobile and possibly for his kind attitude and not liking console war and from congratulating competitors on their launches etc. Repairing the brand after TVTVTV Xbox One DRM could be a thing too but it seems more industry related than Xbox related.
 
Game Pass
Game Pass is just another in a long line of subscription attempts by various companies. It just happened that this one was great.
A huge step forward for Backwards Compatibility in the console space, allowing gamers to play hundreds of Xbox games, from every generation of Xbox
Backwards Compat was done long before this generation and done better in the past. PS3 could play *literally* every PS1 and PS2 title with its original release alongside the new PS3 games as a quick example. It is certainly the best for current systems, but it is still an incredibly flawed and actively abandoned system.

Championed and ushered in Crossplay on console/PC devices, and even wanted PS on board, except PS didn't want Crossplay with Xbox
People are asking for no crossplay now. Clearly a winning concept :p

Turned the sinking ship that was Xbox around, during a time when it was known that the higher-ups were seriously thinking about gutting it, entirely
And yet we still are waiting for a stable supply of strong first party titles and keep getting excuses year after year for why there are so little.

Heavy investments in studios, IPs and larger teams/support in Xbox history (we'll see if that pays off, in time)
I really hope so. I want to see Xbox succeed and create a stable release of high quality first party AAA titles. They can bring some great A-AA quality titles routinely, but that doesn’t sell platforms.

The best platform for indie devs, with ID@Xbox, which has only improved under his lead
This can be debateable, honestly. Sony and Nintendo do very well with Indies and Ninty especially tends to get just as much praise as Xbox, if not more so (though that is mostly due to Nintendo having far more reach outside of the US than Microsoft does).

Pioneering cloud gaming, with XCloud, that works on TVs, PCs, consoles, tablets and phones, from apps to anything with a browser
Cloud Gaming was “pioneered” long before Microsoft. Its also trash.

A unified ecosystem on PC/Console
No. There are many games unavailable on PC even to this day and vice versa for the console. There is no unification just yet. Though I really hope they get that fixed. I would love to see OG Xbox games playable on PC and not just on the console itself. They *are* bringing previously PC exclusives to the console with titles like AoE so hopefully they can do the same from Console to PC.

Has brought us the most powerful hardware two gens in a row, with the Series X and One X
Doesn’t mean anything with nothing to take advantage of it. Just wasted potential.

Support for the easiest dev kits, so that anyone can test/develop for the Xbox, simply by enabling developer mode, which is much better for devs, and by extension, better for gamers
Again, this can be easily debateable. There is nothing that makes Xbox any easier than PS or Ninty dev consoles.

The things Phil has done has changed and will change gaming for the better, forever, whether you like it or not. His decisions will far outlive him, you, me, Jim, Reggie...
This sounds more like wishful dreaming than reality.
 

Kenneth Haight

Gold Member
Thierry Henry Smile GIF by hamlet
 
Don Mattrick left after a terrible launch lead up period in mid 2013, and Phil Spencer took over in 2014. Game Pass launched in 2017. He was 100% involved in Game Pass. Not only that, he was a Game Pass evangelizer when most inside the organization were skeptical of it.

Thank you for saying such, but do you have evidence? I want to believe you as I do think GamePass is a fantastic service and one that should become common place as an option in today’s gaming landscape.

But I have seen silly evangelical claims for all 3 major platforms before.
 
Thank you for saying such, but do you have evidence? I want to believe you as I do think GamePass is a fantastic service and one that should become common place as an option in today’s gaming landscape.

But I have seen silly evangelical claims for all 3 major platforms before.
Absolutely, there was a big piece on him in the Wall Street Journal earlier this year that had tons of quotes from other employees or coworkers. It's behind a paywall, but some other news sites took little bits of it and reported on them. Here is one of them: Phil Spencer Championed Game Pass Even Against His Own Staff
 

feynoob

Banned
Nah, Don Mattrick nearly killed the brand. I'm pretty sure Xbox's future was in doubt right around 2015-2016. All of their launch games had released and there was nothing on the horizon. Xbox was being outsold two to one. The TV and Kinect gambits had been huge failures.

Phil Spencer took over and led the charge for backwards compatibility, launched Gamepass, and launched the Xbox One X (which was one of the best built consoles ever in my opinion). He righted the ship very quickly. The biggest thing he did though was to paint the picture of Gamepass's potential to senior leadership and got them to truly commit to Xbox with unprecedented investment.
That is neogaf for you. Always short sighted people, and never focus on broader issues.

Xbox entire problems started from that guy. Xbox went downhill after he left. Cleaning that mess was alot, not to mention regaining those lost market isn't easy.

Revisionism is helluva drug.
 
Game Pass is just another in a long line of subscription attempts by various companies. It just happened that this one was great.
Yes, it's great; that's why I mentioned it. What's the problem?

Backwards Compat was done long before this generation and done better in the past. PS3 could play *literally* every PS1 and PS2 title with its original release alongside the new PS3 games as a quick example. It is certainly the best for current systems, but it is still an incredibly flawed and actively abandoned system.
Show me where I said MS/Xbox invented Backwards Compatiblity? I said they were responsible for a huge step forwards in back-compat, allowing gamers to play Xbox games from every generation of Xbox. No other company in the console space has that level of back-compat; ergo, a huge step. Am/Was I incorrect? Can your PS5 play PS1 games? Can it play PS2 games? Can the Switch play SNES games, or Nin64 games? What about Dreamcast games? GameCube games?

People are asking for no crossplay now. Clearly a winning concept :p
Personally, I think CoD (or insert other multi-plat game here) players on PS would enjoy being able to play against CoD players on Xbox. Who wouldn't enjoy that option?

And yet we still are waiting for a stable supply of strong first party titles and keep getting excuses year after year for why there are so little.
What does your point have to do with mine, or Phil's accomplishment of restoring some good-will to the brand of Xbox, and taking it off the chopping block from MS? Did he not do that? Am I mistaken? You'd have preferred if Xbox continued to go in the direction it was going when the Xbox One launched?

I really hope so. I want to see Xbox succeed and create a stable release of high quality first party AAA titles. They can bring some great A-AA quality titles routinely, but that doesn’t sell platforms.
Like I said, time will tell if this pays off.

This can be debateable, honestly. Sony and Nintendo do very well with Indies and Ninty especially tends to get just as much praise as Xbox, if not more so (though that is mostly due to Nintendo having far more reach outside of the US than Microsoft does).
Sure, it can be debatable.
Cloud Gaming was “pioneered” long before Microsoft. Its also trash.
Pioneered doesn't mean what you think it means. It doesn't mean the first to do something, it means the first to do something in a new or novel way. iPhone wasn't the first to do smartphones, but it pioneered them. Nokia wasn't the first to do cameras on phones, but they pioneered it. Xbox isn't the first to do cloud gaming, but they have the best iteration of it, to date. They've pioneered the delivery method. There has never been a time in gaming, where cloud gaming was so accessible, so easily, so affordable, on so many devices. This isn't arguable.

No. There are many games unavailable on PC even to this day and vice versa for the console. There is no unification just yet. Though I really hope they get that fixed. I would love to see OG Xbox games playable on PC and not just on the console itself. They *are* bringing previously PC exclusives to the console with titles like AoE so hopefully they can do the same from Console to PC.
Okay, I'll give you that. But as far as most 1st party titles go; they're available on PC as well.
Doesn’t mean anything with nothing to take advantage of it. Just wasted potential.
I don't understand why this is so difficult. I'm only stating his accomplishments, in response to someone who seems to think he's made no accomplishments in gaming. I'm not here to add details or points to those accomplishments, or asterisks, even. I don't care whether or not his accomplishment resulted in anything else, other than the accomplishment itself. Did he not bring the two most powerful consoles to market, in the past two gens? That's a yes or no question. The answer is yes; end of discussion. What developers do with that power is another matter altogether.
Again, this can be easily debateable. There is nothing that makes Xbox any easier than PS or Ninty dev consoles.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think you can simply buy a PS or Nintendo console, enable developer mode and develop/test on them easily. If I'm wrong, and this feature isn't exclusive to Xboxes, great; my mistake. If I'm not wrong, and this feature is exclusive to Xboxes, and you don't need to purchase a specialized dev kit, then there's nothing to discuss or debate.
This sounds more like wishful dreaming than reality.
I listed his accomplishments, which he accomplished in reality. Not in a dream. Not as a wish. Game Pass, and its model, along with the current model of cloud gaming, along with many of Phil's other accomplishments, will far outlive any of us. They may evolve and take different forms, years from now. But his impact in the gaming world is already cemented. There would be no Game Pass without Phil Spencer. I wouldn't be able to play OG Xbox games, without Phil Spencer. Arguably, future back-compat titles may not be a thing, if not for the emulation he allowed a small team to develop. As much as you want it to be, this isn't a debate. If you don't like Phil, simply say so. If you think he's overrated; fine, say so. You're entitled to feel however you feel about Phil. But, what you can't do, is deny the reality in front of you, as far as his accomplishments go.

I need not say anymore.
 
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Don Mattrick left after a terrible launch lead up period in mid 2013, and Phil Spencer took over in 2014. Game Pass launched in 2017. He was 100% involved in Game Pass. Not only that, he was a Game Pass evangelizer when most inside the organization were skeptical of it.
And they were right to be skeptical, because GP became stagnant after a year and Spencer recently came out admitting it isn't the future after all.
 
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Yes, it's great; that's why I mentioned it. What's the problem?
The problem is that it is just an iteration of what has already existed. It is neither new nor novel. Phil does deserve credit for helping push this service, that I won’t disagree. However, it doesn’t warrant “legend” status.
Show me where I said MS/Xbox invented Backwards Compatiblity? I said they were responsible for a huge step forwards in back-compat, allowing gamers to play Xbox games from every generation of Xbox. No other company in the console space has that level of back-compat; ergo, a huge step. Am/Was I incorrect? Can your PS5 play PS1 games? Can it play PS2 games? Can the Switch play SNES games, or Nin64 games? What about Dreamcast games? GameCube games?
Yes, I can play NES, SNES, and N64 games on my Switch.
My PS5 can play PS1 games. And PS2 games. And PSP games.

I already pointed out that the Back Compat is not a step forwards, but a step backwards. PS3 offered better for the entire history of Playstation to that point.

Hell, if we want to “reward” any company, we need to reward Nintendo who helped pioneer and highlight how much people wanted to play older games. Virtual Console was the true pioneer here.

Xbox has the best Back Compat of current gen systems, yes - but it is not a step forwards. It is a step backwards compared to what we had nearly 20 years ago. This can’t be argued.
They have also abandoned backwards compatibility. Twice. This isn’t something to “award” anyone over, if anything they should be actively criticized for not doing more.

Personally, I think CoD (or insert other multi-plat game here) players on PS would enjoy being able to play against CoD players on Xbox. Who wouldn't enjoy that option?
Many, as can be seen even here on GAF. Your personal views don’t mean much in the face of reality.

What does your point have to do with mine, or Phil's accomplishment of restoring some good-will to the brand of Xbox, and taking it off the chopping block from MS? Did he not do that? Am I mistaken? You'd have preferred if Xbox continued to go in the direction it was going when the Xbox One launched?
You really need this to be explained? People are still growing tired of the constant empty promises being stated about how they will “do” better. They have done this every year since he took over and they have utterly failed to do anything about it. That isn’t garnering any “goodwill”.

Pioneered doesn't mean what you think it means. It doesn't mean the first to do something, it means the first to do something in a new or novel way. iPhone wasn't the first to do smartphones, but it pioneered them. Nokia wasn't the first to do cameras on phones, but they pioneered it. Xbox isn't the first to do cloud gaming, but they have the best iteration of it, to date. They've pioneered the delivery method. There has never been a time in gaming, where cloud gaming was so accessible, so easily, so affordable, on so many devices. This isn't arguable.
I would suggest you look up the definition to pioneered. You are the one using it incorrectly. Even if we *were* to use your definition, Microsoft doesn’t even do the things you claim.
pi·o·neer
[ˌpīəˈnir]

VERB
pioneered (past tense) · pioneered (past participle)

  1. develop or be the first to use or apply (a new method, area of knowledge, or activity):
Okay, I'll give you that. But as far as most 1st party titles go; they're available on PC as well.
That is true, but it still isn’t what you claimed. There needs to be far more work done if they want a unified ecosystem.

I don't understand why this is so difficult. I'm only stating his accomplishments, in response to someone who seems to think he's made no accomplishments in gaming. I'm not here to add details or points to those accomplishments, or asterisks, even. I don't care whether or not his accomplishment resulted in anything else, other than the accomplishment itself. Did he not bring the two most powerful consoles to market, in the past two gens? That's a yes or no question. The answer is yes; end of discussion. What developers do with that power is another matter altogether.
As has clearly been shown, these are hardly “accomplishments”, aside from GamePass. Cloud is entirely based off of Microsoft’s Azure team which has zero to do with Xbox or Phill Spencer. He has routinely failed to produce the first party output that he keeps promising. He hasn’t created a unified ecosystem like you claimed. He quietly brought back DRM and was forced to remove it after backlash. He brought back a mediocre version of backwards compatibility and then abandoned it. Twice.

If you have evidence that he was the one who pushed for the power of the One X and Series X, then please provide that evidence. Regardless, it doens’t change the fact that they were utterly pointless and were completely unused. It is akin to buying a Ferarri and only using it to go grocery shopping. A complete waste.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think you can simply buy a PS or Nintendo console, enable developer mode and develop/test on them easily. If I'm wrong, and this feature isn't exclusive to Xboxes, great; my mistake. If I'm not wrong, and this feature is exclusive to Xboxes, and you don't need to purchase a specialized dev kit, then there's nothing to discuss or debate.
You are indeed wrong.

I listed his accomplishments, which he accomplished in reality. Not in a dream. Not as a wish. Game Pass, and its model, along with the current model of cloud gaming, along with many of Phil's other accomplishments, will far outlive any of us. They may evolve and take different forms, years from now. But his impact in the gaming world is already cemented. There would be no Game Pass without Phil Spencer. I wouldn't be able to play OG Xbox games, without Phil Spencer. Arguably, future back-compat titles may not be a thing, if not for the emulation he allowed a small team to develop. As much as you want it to be, this isn't a debate. If you don't like Phil, simply say so. If you think he's overrated; fine, say so. You're entitled to feel however you feel about Phil. But, what you can't do, is deny the reality in front of you, as far as his accomplishments go.

I need not say anymore.
It is clear that you have some sort of evangelical view of the man, but your dreamy perception of him does not match with reality.

Also not trying to be rude here, but it really sounds like a cult the way you word this. Please blink twice if you need help.
 

Robb

Gold Member
Good for Phil I guess. Although it’s kinda difficult to take any award that has “is a gamer” as a category seriously..
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
This is what it feels like when executives like Jim Ryan and Phil Spencer get games awards. They are suits, not gamers.

kPdhp6D.jpg
 
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consoul

Member
"co-signed by Reggie" lol

Of course Reggie went along with it. A former winner of the same award is unlikely to say "What? They're going to give it to him? These people don't know what they're doing, this award is a meaningless joke." No, you politely support the decision and the organisation regardless of whether you believe it to be the best choice or not.
 

Hawk269

Member
I like Phil and not sure why all the hate. But with that said, he is the first person in a leadership position that launched a new console, well 2 (Series X and Series S) without a 1st party title at launch. Not suggesting he does not deserve this award, I think he is a good leader in the industry and the turnaround has been pretty incredible, but at the same time you launched a new console without a 1st party title available at launch.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
I don’t get it. He didn’t do anything good. All he did was to remove even more ownership from hands of gamers and Xbox never made so little games.
I am honestly very surprised people eat his rhetoric.
All you have to do is sweet talk people apparently with happy phrases? We all win is bs

Gamepass will lead and leads to whole industry devaluing. To monopoly and to cheapening of games in a bad way
 
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Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
I like Phil and not sure why all the hate. But with that said, he is the first person in a leadership position that launched a new console, well 2 (Series X and Series S) without a 1st party title at launch. Not suggesting he does not deserve this award, I think he is a good leader in the industry and the turnaround has been pretty incredible, but at the same time you launched a new console without a 1st party title available at launch.
Genuine question out of curiosity: how do you define/think of the turnaround and quantify it?
 
I like Phil and not sure why all the hate. But with that said, he is the first person in a leadership position that launched a new console, well 2 (Series X and Series S) without a 1st party title at launch. Not suggesting he does not deserve this award, I think he is a good leader in the industry and the turnaround has been pretty incredible, but at the same time you launched a new console without a 1st party title available at launch.
Gears Tactics was a first party game and it launched on console with the XSX|S Gears Hivebusters came out the next month. Just because something is repeated over and over again doesn't make it true.

Phil deserves this award so congratulations to him.
 

feynoob

Banned
Game Pass is just another in a long line of subscription attempts by various companies. It just happened that this one was great.

Backwards Compat was done long before this generation and done better in the past. PS3 could play *literally* every PS1 and PS2 title with its original release alongside the new PS3 games as a quick example. It is certainly the best for current systems, but it is still an incredibly flawed and actively abandoned system.


People are asking for no crossplay now. Clearly a winning concept :p


And yet we still are waiting for a stable supply of strong first party titles and keep getting excuses year after year for why there are so little.


I really hope so. I want to see Xbox succeed and create a stable release of high quality first party AAA titles. They can bring some great A-AA quality titles routinely, but that doesn’t sell platforms.


This can be debateable, honestly. Sony and Nintendo do very well with Indies and Ninty especially tends to get just as much praise as Xbox, if not more so (though that is mostly due to Nintendo having far more reach outside of the US than Microsoft does).


Cloud Gaming was “pioneered” long before Microsoft. Its also trash.


No. There are many games unavailable on PC even to this day and vice versa for the console. There is no unification just yet. Though I really hope they get that fixed. I would love to see OG Xbox games playable on PC and not just on the console itself. They *are* bringing previously PC exclusives to the console with titles like AoE so hopefully they can do the same from Console to PC.


Doesn’t mean anything with nothing to take advantage of it. Just wasted potential.


Again, this can be easily debateable. There is nothing that makes Xbox any easier than PS or Ninty dev consoles.


This sounds more like wishful dreaming than reality.
They all have been done in 1 gen, and by 1 person.
That itself deserves a praise.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
Which is why he’s clearly not a “legend”

He’s never lead a team to create a truly fantastic game.

Nobody ever claimed this award for excellent contribution to gaming had to go to developers or producers.

He has built a service that questionably dilutes the quality of games on the platform.

The only people who push the ridiculous notion that GP reduces quality of games on Xbox are console warriors.
Even in a GP world, Xbox leadership signed off on decisions to delay AAA titles to improve quality. Halo Infinite, Redfall, Starfield et al.


Time will tell if it’s a sustainable model.

They’ve been running GP for 4 years now. Sustainable and profitable.

I like Phil and not sure why all the hate. But with that said, he is the first person in a leadership position that launched a new console, well 2 (Series X and Series S) without a 1st party title at launch. Not suggesting he does not deserve this award, I think he is a good leader in the industry and the turnaround has been pretty incredible, but at the same time you launched a new console without a 1st party title available at launch.

I don’t see how this should impact an award for meaningful contribution to gaming. Especially since that had no impact on launch console sales.

Besides, as someone has mentioned, Gears Tactics was a first party game at launch.
 

anthony2690

Banned
Just going to throw this out there again as I have said it over the years.

The only true gamer Xbox had was Mike Ybarra and when he left Xbox they left his seat open at the round table where they had meetings to represent the gamer.

I have gamed with Phil a few times and at least in shooters like PUBG he was horrible and it felt like he never played a shooter but he claims to have played a lot of Halo and Destiny

I don't think I have the receipts to show @Mod of War proof of this on this PC but Mike said on more than one occasion interns ran up the gamerscores of several key Xbox people to appear to be gamers.
I played Vermintide 2 with Phil Spencer before and he was pretty decent, even revived me, super nice guy too!

& I'd also argue I'm pretty good at first person and third person shooters.

But I'm absolutely horrible at PUBG, I feel like you need a license for tank driving, I think being aquainted with resident evil 1 controls will help more than being decent at destiny or halo. (Even though I'm sure he has said in the past he plays destiny pve as he isn't good at the pvp)

It feels absolutely horrific to play on console imo, when I last tried.
 

PaintTinJr

Member
Don’t forget the best backwards compatibility on a console.
It isn't backwards compatibility any more than the Witcher 3's incoming next-gen update. All mislabelled B/C on xbox and a lot on PS5 is just cross-gen patches with emulation, as was the case for the PS2 version of Shadows of the Colossus running on PS3's without B/C hardware.

The hardware can't play the games without further development work and software so a game no longer available to license is not allowed to work, and the hardware can't play the games while offline without patching.

Call it something else, but it can't be the "best" if it isn't even backwards compatibility, can it? On the original PS3 60gb and WiiU all games from the previous gen would work, even if the user never connected the console to the internet once. Now, that's the best backwards compatibility.
 

Pelta88

Member
Captain America Lol GIF by mtv




His accomplishments:

- under his watch Xbox has been completely irreleveant in gaming for years.

- Zero critically acclaimed games with mass appeal.

- Killed their only flagship IPs (Gears of War, Halo)

- brought all Xbox exclusives to PC making the console irrelevant

Even Don Mattrick was better.

All factual.

And under Donny M we got way more high quality games on XBOX.
 
My two candidates:

QyFy7xD.jpg
AxrJo7a.jpg
Phil Harrison is ths type of a dude you'd expect too see by a van with candy in it who's preying on children. I could never stand him, horrific decision maker, horrific leader and to top it all off looks like a creepy old pedo.

Every place he went too, he would shit the bed. PS3 era was terrible because of him, he fucked google stadia as well and didn't he work for Xbox too at one point and also fucked it up?

Don Mattrick looks like a dude with a horse smile. Fuck him too. Literally destroyed a brand in a single day at the Xbox One reveal, degenerate.
 
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DaGwaphics

Member
Oh look, another I hate Spencer circle jerk thread. :messenger_beaming:

He's popular amongst Xbox players because those players are overall pleased with the platform he has provided to them. MS has been growing in the gaming space consistently over the last 5 years (at a faster clip by percentage than Sony and Nintendo over the same period), he's got to be doing something right.

I have gamed with Phil a few times and at least in shooters like PUBG he was horrible and it felt like he never played a shooter but he claims to have played a lot of Halo and Destiny

One thing doesn't necessarily preclude the other from being true. He could play a lot of Halo and Destiny and still not be the greatest player ever at it. I've spent a lot of time playing games over the years and have remained a relatively poor performer in a competitive sense. But I enjoy it, even if my death counts can get quite high by the time I've finished a game. LOL
 
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