LordCBH
Member
Guess you could say the Booty….needs to be wiped.
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Phil Spencer - what’s he actually done?
- Thread starter Simply Sami
- Start date
James Sawyer Ford
Member
fart town usa
Gold Member
And to think that Ken Kutaragi stepped down/was replaced because of the PS3 rollout.
I suppose that's a major difference between Eastern and Western business leaders. West tend to fail upwards. I mean shit, Phil Harrison is still getting jobs, lol.
Simply Sami
Member
That’s the other issue. Every game in the past few years apart from hifi-rush has had issues. Obviously Halo had the issues. Redfall looks like it was rushed, Starfield was delayed. Forza, which is usually a slam dunk has been delayed.
Obviously every AAA game in development will have some sort of issues. But seems to be more common for MS games. What is going on?
I should say that the hardware side of it under Spencer has been fantastic. I just want a competitive MS like in the 360 days as it will push Sony further and it will be great for gaming.
James Sawyer Ford
Member
He's insulated because nobody else in Microsoft understands the gaming business. He also manages to get all these awards from the sycophantic press.
When Microsoft is making money hand over fist Nadella turns a blind eye, but the business will come under more scrutiny if Microsoft the overall business starts to underperform expectations.
bitbydeath
Member
Microsoft sacked a ton of Bethesda staff just earlier this year in two rounds of layoffs.
I wouldn't be surprised if it was to replace a number of them with contractors.
FullMetalx117
Member
You know what baffles me - out of all these acquisitions the most beneficial one to them/makes the most sense would’ve been to acquire Bungie. Pay them a lot of money/bonuses to make a real sequel to Halo. The hype levels would’ve been insane, the game would’ve marketed itself.
James Sawyer Ford
Member
Well, making Halo was the reason Bungie left
It would be hard for Bungie to strike a deal with MS without major concessions. Just a lot of bad blood there. Sony was the better fit for Bungie, especially since Sony can expand their IP into other areas like TV and film
DrFigs
Member
Bethesda was a really good purchase though. And it didn't seem like Bungie wanted to go back to Halo anyway.
FullMetalx117
Member
Microsoft can throw enough money at them to make them happy. At the end of the day money is the loudest and greatest incentive. Good point on tv/film, but a company of Microsoft’s resources should’ve been able to help with that too.
No doubt Sony has that prestige AAA brand going for them right now though, akin to HBO
Jigsaah
Gold Member
My God, tell me you're a crotch sniffing fanboy without telling me you're a crotch sniffing fanboy. Give the man his props. Anybody who says "nothing much" or "who cares" has been living under a rock for the past 10 years or just can't bring themselves to say anything positive about Xbox.
Jesus fuck, get a life.
Phil literally saved Xbox after Don basically doomed it.
He changed the entire culture at Xbox.
He garnered favor from Microsoft to actually invest in gaming both on console and PC
He was able to bring some popular japanese franchises to America (Sorry, I meant Xbox, not America).
He helped acquire many studios (though admittedly, there hasn't been enough in terms of production since these purchases)
He brought us Gamepass, nuff said on that
Edit:
Jesus fuck, get a life.
Phil literally saved Xbox after Don basically doomed it.
He changed the entire culture at Xbox.
He garnered favor from Microsoft to actually invest in gaming both on console and PC
He was able to bring some popular japanese franchises to America (Sorry, I meant Xbox, not America).
He helped acquire many studios (though admittedly, there hasn't been enough in terms of production since these purchases)
He brought us Gamepass, nuff said on that
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Shits_McGiggles
Member
The backwards compatibility push was one of the best things about the Xbox. A lot of the studios and companies Microsoft has purchased are very much past their prime (like Obsidian Games, where talent was pushed out and replaced with those of inferior pedigrees) or were questionable (like Tim Schafer's studio, one that is infamous for having games go out-of-scope, out-of-budget, and unable to complete in a timely fashion). Quite frankly, the industry as a whole has been suffering a brain drain for years. Microsoft need to have more small(er) scale projects to release, much like Sony used to do.
However, I don't see Sony being far behind from Microsoft's position in regards to the number of exclusives being released.
However, I don't see Sony being far behind from Microsoft's position in regards to the number of exclusives being released.
DrFigs
Member
He really doesn't have to do anything. These companies that they acquired will do all the work.
Simply Sami
Member
What Japanese franchises did he bring to America?
Topher
Gold Member
Everyone under Phil does what Phil says. If not, then Phil sucks at his job. You can't have it both ways.
Alex Scott
Member
When Phil was working under someone else, was he considered responsible then, or does the responsibility fall on the person in a higher position.
ComputerBlue
Member
Sold people shit on a platter they continue to eat up.
Topher
Gold Member
What work? A year and a half without a AAA game from a 2 trillion dollar company. What am I missing?
Or was that sarcasm?
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DrFigs
Member
I mean seriously, Bethesda have a bad game with redfall, but they can manage themselves. They also recently put out Hi Fi rush, which many seem to like. whether or not they release good games has very little to do with Phil Spencer's management skills.
ulantan
Member
Saved gaming too
Torrent of Pork
Banned
You would be paying $800+ dollars for a base PS5 if not for Mr. Spencer.
Go ahead and thank him.
Go ahead and thank him.
feynoob
Member
That is not the issue.
Issue is dude had no 3rd party deals to cover up Xbox lack of first party holes.
Look at PS. They got death stranding and will get rise of ronin. Those games aren't from their studios. That is what Phil should have done before.
Feel Like I'm On 42
Member
Bwahaha!! You don't actually believe that do you?
bitbydeath
Member
8K baby!
Topher
Gold Member
The games produced by Xbox have little to do with Phil Spencer's management skills?
The love for Phil Spencer for the sake of loving Phil Spencer needs to stop.
Rykan
Member
Are you aware that every single thing you've mentioned is just a variation of “Spend a lot of money?”
“Convinces Microsoft to invest in Xbox” = Spend money.
“Gave us Gamepass” = Spend money to license games for Gamepass.
“Acquire studios” = spend money to acquire studios.
He hasn't built anything. He's spend a lot of money to acquire studios and to license games for game pass. That's it. Are we supposed to be impressed that he can spend a lot of MS's money on big studio's? Literally anyone with access to those kinds of funds can do that.
Redfall is being shoved out the door in a clearly unfinished state. Games that were announced like 3 years ago from Playground and Rare still have nothing but a CGI trailer and appear to be nowhere near ready for release. What exactly are we supposed to be impressed about here?
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Great so 3rd parties made games for the other systems mostly kept the IP for themselves. I say if some of that money was spent on building studios this wouldn't be an issue. Great as peter moore was he was looking for short term fixes and missed the long game.
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adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Everything in the video game industry development is just a variation of "Spend a lot of money".
Hire developers and artists = spend money
license technology for developing game = spend money
make deals with third parties for exclusive content = spend money
Are you expecting Phil to literally code and self publish a game with his own finances?
feynoob
Member
Not focusing on their studios during og Xbox and xb360 fucked them long term.
The closure of fable studio didn't help them too.
DrFigs
Member
well I definitely don't like Phil Spencer. but I think he's made some good steps for Xbox's future, even though things are looking pretty bad right now.
Redfall is a bad game, but if Phil is getting the blame for that, then he should also get credit for Hi Fi Rush (which i personally thought was overrated, but is widely acclaimed). We're not seeing a good stream of releases for xbox yet, but i think they're in a good position to do that in the near future.
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So inexile, double fine, Compulsion games were big studios lol. All the studios he got in 2018 outside playground games were financially troubled and only Obsidian had over 100 employees. So 7 of the first 8 were hardly large studios in great shape like insomniac who is carrying the water right now. With other studios Sony purchased like naughty dog. So Sony built nothing since they built very few studios from scratch?
Jigsaah
Gold Member
Very aware. However from a consumer's perspective, his spending has saved me a fuck ton of money. It's not like the studios are sitting on their hands either. Pretty all of them are in active development. Whether that ends up being worth the price that was paid is left to be seen. Gamepass is actually profitable...literally nobody can argue this now after the most recent earnings call. Even though I doubted it was...1 billion dollars...there's no shot they spent that kinda money putting games on Gamepass.
The alternative to Microsoft not investing in Xbox....Xbox dies or becomes a shell of it's former self. I dunno if you realize this, but Xbox dying would be THE WORST thing for the gaming industry right now. Sony is already brazen in their anti-consumer practices. What do you think will happen if they have zero competition. Get ready to bend the knee and grab the lube, that's what happens.
Personally, I play on PC pretty much exclusively, but that's why I can see what both Phil and Jim Ryan have done well and what they suck at and be honest about both.
Simplifying what Phil has done to just "he spends lotta money, hurr durr" is neither genuine nor true.
feynoob
Member
Phil has nothing to do with redfall, as most problems stems from core mechanics, which was already there before they bought Bethesda/zenimax.
This game is from the old management. Especially Bethesda who forced arkane with other games. Reason why arkane lyon made deathloop, instead of new dishonored game.
Torrent of Pork
Banned
Sony felt confident charging today's $897.27 for the $599.99 PS3 in 2006 after the PS2's utter dominance.
I'm about to invest in a PC, enjoy your Arrogant Sony.
T0minator
Member
We always have to look from the top down. Phil is 100% responsible,
"Phil saved Xbox" ..and he's hurting the image again slowly killing fans hope of a bright future.
Phil Spencer, Arron Greenburg, Matt Booty need to be wiped off the payroll and get some new blood in there.
Marketing is horrible, first party output in horrible, empty promises and no delivery.
All three of them contribute to those issues.
I would be pissed if Nintendo or PlayStation were a mess like Xbox, at least they know what they're doing
Topher
Gold Member
Yeah bro, I get that, but he's got to hit the home runs (in baseball terms) as well as the base hits. No one bought Xbox Series X for Hi Fi Rush except for a few fanatics who pretend that is all they ever wanted from Xbox.
Yes, Phil Spencer has made good steps to bring Xbox back, but can he bring Xbox great games consistently? So far the answer is no.
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DrFigs
Member
I'm just saying if the question is: where are the good games from Xbox? then the answer is it's here, with Bethesda, because of an acquisition that Phil was in charge of. Maybe not everything is a hit right now, but we can be pretty certain that they'll be here just given their track record in the past.
Topher
Gold Member
We are almost three years into the console gen, dude. And the only exclusives he has to offer going forward is shit from companies he bought to keep off PlayStation. Buying corporations is all Phil Spencer has to offer it would seem.
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MasterCornholio
Member
Phil is doing it with Overdose.
You mean like Jimbo Ryan? Were are all the studios he started from scratch or is he buying studios left and right? Also Sony could of bought every studio Microsoft did in 2018 outside playground but Sony doesn't buy fixer upers. Yes Brian fargo not retiring or keeping the lights on at double fine or allowing Obsidian entertainment to make AAA games again is about keeping shit off PlayStation lol.
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Rykan
Member
Everything in the video game industry development is just a variation of "Spend a lot of money".
Hire developers and artists = spend money
license technology for developing game = spend money
make deals with third parties for exclusive content = spend money
Are you expecting Phil to literally code and self publish a game with his own finances?
Well, yes, you can simplify all of it to just "Spend a lot of money," but it's how that money is being spent and what decisions are made that matter.
The fact of the matter is that we're now two generations away from the Xbox 360, and Xbox still lacks a clear identity of what it is supposed to be. It used to be the system to play "Halo, Gears, Forza, and Fable" on, and now, two generations further and three years into their latest console, it's just the Halo and Forza box.
You know why you're buying a PlayStation. You're buying it for Horizon, God of War, Uncharted, Ratchet & Clank, Spider-Man, The Last of Us, Gran Turismo. PlayStation has a very clear identity, and within just two years after the console's release, all of its staple franchises are on the system with a new installment. Sony is very good at acquiring studios, helping them grow, and assisting them in producing tentpole franchises in a way that Microsoft is not, and that hasn't changed under Phil Spencer.
The only first party game that the Xbox Series X launched with was a port of a PC title with Gears of War Tactics.
Halo's live service model bombed. Fable and Gears are nowhere to be seen. Opportunities like Redfall are squandered to rush the game out the door unfinished for seemingly no good reason. It's been delay after delay for many games. Developers mention Playstation development is easier and that Series S is challenging to develop for. At what point are we going to conclude that this ship is being misdirected?
Yes, it's very impressive that you can throw your wallet onto Bethesda's or Activision's desk to acquire one of the most successful publishers in the industry. Anyone could have done that. Well, maybe not AB, because that seems like it might not happen after all.
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