64bitmodels
Reverse groomer.
I wouldn't like another CEO like Don who basically got the brands teeth kicked in after years of great momentum
People say he brought the games but its like the wii u where it had games but no one wanted to buy one
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How well do you believe Phil Spencer has handled Xbox from 2017-Present?
- Thread starter Eddie-Griffin
- Start date
People say he brought the games but its like the wii u where it had games but no one wanted to buy one
MatrixReloaded101
Member
It’s funny how people like to downplay Don’s impact. He was the senior Vice President during the 360 era also. He did a horrible job with the Xbox one but he at least had a good console gen under his belt with the 360.
Phil hasn’t had that yet, sure the Xbox Series Is better than the Xbox one but that’s not really saying much because the Xbox one had a horrible gen and he still has a lot to prove. 2023 is a make or break year for him at Xbox IMO.
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TheGodfather07
Member
the actual handing from a software perspective has been bad but the PR is simply masterful. this guy knows how to speak and i can see why he was placed as the head of xbox. good PR is a must for microsoft. phil spencer is almost woshipped by xbox fans and he pretty much has been even before gamepass took off. he gives off that good guy for the gamers vibe.
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Moriarty1889
Member
Phil back in 2014 was about selling xbox one consoles and having AAA games to bring people in. I watched a video of him saying those exact words. How things have changed today. It’s all about gamepass, not much about the consoles and AAA games are far and few between for Xbox. A drastic change indeed.
Eddie-Griffin
Banned
Interesting bump, but to address your post, Phil said he was going to focus on FP in 2014 and 2015, which directly coincided with losing the COD marketing to Sony which apparently Phil didn't even pursue because he wanted to grow in house.
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/201...buying_lots_of_third-party_exclusives_for_ps4
What's interesting is that it's been 8 years, 9 if you include 2014, since then and we haven't seen yet any improvement in first party in terms of releases. although this year 2023, this may actually change from this year forward. But it depends on what's planned for this year, and what surprises there re to fill 2023 with games.
But it's clear he should have still went after third parties to some extent outside what he did even when he made that promise. He only picked a few odd choices that didn't work out outside of PubG and Shadow of the Tomb Raider (but it didn't bow up) and basically let some good potential deals fall on the way side. So as we were waiting for Phil to fulfill this promise since 2014, restated in 2015, until NOW 2023, we haven't had that many major releases from Xbox mostly because they had nothing to fill the gaps with outside indies and A-AA games on occasion.
There were supposed to be games ready for the Xbox One X, that didn't happen and we got some console launch timed exclusives which was a thing the announce did at every reveal when the One X was announced at the conference, and everyone was having a meltdown over "console launch exclusive" wondering if MS lost their minds. The Super Luckys Tale announcement was causing some hilarious meltdown on the YouTube and internet forums.
But it wasn't hilarious if you had an Xbox One.
Hopefully things will finally come to fruition in 2023, and then Phil can retire with dignity.
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ChorizoPicozo
Member
i don't think that is going to happen.
ChorizoPicozo
Member
PS fixed their shit in half a generation.
SeraphJan
Member
PS had a good foundation to start with, and the mess they made wasn't as fatal as Don
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LiquidMetal14
hide your water-based mammals
I always pictured he'd be transgender by now and be called Phillipa Deloris Spencer
ChorizoPicozo
Member
that is not an excuse.
Gavon West
Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
Gavon West
Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
Facts!
Xbox is an entirely different beast this gen. The IPs are coming slowly but, they are coming. Phil has done a legit turn around of the brand, even up against the market leader. Not to list all the things Xbox has done since he's been at the helm but, just think, they aren't even done yet. This year has been insane already. And it's just beginning.
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Hendrick's
If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
Phil is the GOAT. He had the vision to see that Xbox 1st party was good to be slow to turn around so he made some smart acquisitions to keep the games rolling in. And he gave us Game Pass, the best thing to happen to gaming since Xbox Live.
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SegaSnatcher
Member
I mean he's done okay, but there still is a lack of very interesting exclusives and new IPs.
Gavon West
Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
Halo Infinite is amazing. Best MP on the market (IMHO) and the SP was really good. You can say the DLC content has been trickling since release but, what's there is aces. Season 3 is legit!
ResilientBanana
Member
Honestly, Phil has lined them up for success. It’s up to the studios to do the rest.
Eddie-Griffin
Banned
The mess Phil himself helped cause and made worse once Don left, with the one thing he left for Phil, game studios, he got rid of after promising to focus on FP? With no restructuring, letting good studios go free, or converting studios away from games?
I mean all Phil had to do was have shift some staff around, give more money to the better smaller studios, restructure studios like 343 and a few others, and Xbo would have been fine. Instead, Phil basically destroyed the foundation of the 15 or whatever studios they had, dropped it to 4 at the bottom, than went on a buying spree with incompatible acquisitions that have taken forever to assimilate and to release anything stating in 2017.
It seems Phil kind of shot off his own foot there, at some point you have to stop blaming Don. Phil didn't even have games ready for the Xbox One revisions. He also led go of big third parties for his FP promise so nothing was filling in the gaps.
But we got Quantum Break and Crackdown 3 being the things Phil decided to keep from Don because... he...uh...
Gavon West
Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
Hi Fi Rush is exquisite! This year is jam packed with games. But you knew this already.
And 2021 saw a plethora of XGS games that were well received. You gotta be trolling ..
Hero of Spielberg
Member
I think he's done pretty well. Brought Xbox back from a pretty perilous position after Xbox One launch and is delivering on a vision for what could be the future of videogame consumption, i..e. subscription / cloud streaming. Getting the quality AAA1st party pipeline going is still to be seen outside of the Forza / Horizon games. Hopefully, a good showing with Starfield will kickstart that.
Gavon West
Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
They know damn well it's coming. Once the ABK deal goes through, it'll change the gaming landscape for the foreseeable future. That's what I think the PS community fears most.
ChorizoPicozo
Member
do you really believe that?
Gavon West
Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
You don't?
The last place player out of the Big 3 is changing the gaming landscape from 3rd place! These are market leader, big dick moves. Once ABK goes through, their position will only get stronger because the mobile and CoD pallet will be in full bloom.
Don't misunderstand, I'm not saying they'll take the helm as market leader, but, it'll be a more even playing field than it has ever been.
FoxMcChief
Gold Member
He’s the best voted gaming CEO by NeoGAF for a reason.
There's a reason most of the MS ABK thread is Sony fanboys praying it doesn't go through lol. Sony is worried about the merger therefore the fans are too.
Phil Spencer CarSales Man
Banned
SportsFan581
Member
I don't know, for a system that apparently is supposed to be having a crisis in terms of available software to play, my upcoming schedule is looking nice and full. If that's what failure looks like, thanks Mr. Spencer, please keep failing. 
ChorizoPicozo
Member
the answer is more nuanced.
just in term of revenue alone, MS should be very happy.
that seems logical.
the issues MS has are way deeper tho.
buying one of the most important videogame IPs ever created didn't move the needle for MS/Xbox. I am talking about Minecraft.
Why?.
1. They bought that IP once it had already become a juggernaut
which means that:
a) the brand was already engrained in the culture (not associated with MS/Xbox).
b) subsequent growth is not going to be as meaningful as the initial boom
c) you cant make it exclusive/ongoing product
d) different market segment appeal.
with Zenimax and ABK; MS is buying several IP's that are already established.
in paper, and as you said: this should make a more even playing field.
taking about the console market (which is the relevant in this conversation)
MS/Xbox has shown a very poor management of Studios/IP/and even hardware.
Every single merger (especially big ones) are followed by:
1. layoffs.
2. People leaving
4. Culture clash
5. Turmoil/Power Vacuums
and in this instance, we can add
6. Unionization efforts.
MS/Xbox is about to face and "atonement task" that could last this entire generation. which means (because MS/Xbox's track record) there is a high chance they fuck this up badly.
ChorizoPicozo
Member
fantrolls are pathetic in both sides. but sure; that thread is just sad.
AltogetherAndrews
Banned
Like he’s working for the competetion.
Havoc2049
Member
The jury is still out, IMO. He was delt a bad hand, after Microsoft downsized their first party studios during the X360 era and failure of Games For Windows, plus the XB1 rollout. If Starfileld, Avowed, the InXile RPG and the Fable, Forza and Perfect Dark reboots turn out to be system sellers and they gain market share, then it will be a job well done.
Oddvintagechap
Member
Xbox division is about to be replaced by ActivisionBK executives, including Phil.
JimmyRustler
Member
I'm not really sure how to answer here. He certainly made the Xbox image as a whole better but aside from that not a lot of good games were released so far. I'm still waiting to see some kind of payoff from all these studio aquisitions.
The OP seems to be asking how well he has done for xbox while talking about his tenure as overall gaming boss.
If you want an opinion of how well he has handled xbox it would be from 2014 (9yrs ago) when he was made CEO of xbox.
In terms of handling xbox itself I think he has done poorly and took it in directions that don't benefit xbox or console gaming specifically. In terms of PC gaming as a whole though and not specifically xbox I think he has done better. He is expanding services and games there. For mobile he has yet to show or prove anything. For other software and hardware related gaming like VR he has done absolutely nothing.
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DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
For me, as a consumer. Game pass has been a big enough disruption and game changer for me that he has done an amazing job. If these coming months and years are too tough on my finances I know I could get my gaming enjoyment from that alone. Obviously, all being well I will continue to own all platforms and buy all the games I feel the need to but game pass and microsofts output has been decent...just needs a couple of massive hits.
Belthazar
Member
Isn't ensuring their output part of his job?
Belthazar
Member
He said AAA tho.
Mephisto40
Member
It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if the next xbox was just called "GamePassBox"
As far as Phil Spencer goes, it surprises me how many people don't seem to realise he's just a guy that is thrown scripts and put on stage to read them out
As far as Phil Spencer goes, it surprises me how many people don't seem to realise he's just a guy that is thrown scripts and put on stage to read them out
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Thick Thighs Save Lives
NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
BbMajor7th
Member
No, he's miserable. PlayStation and Nintendo have been walking all over MS for most of the last decade. Nintendo crashed and burned way harder with the Wii U than MS did with the XB1, but by 2018 Nintendo was already solidly back in the game. Phil's big play - GamePass - has been poised to revolutionise the industry since its inception six years ago and aside from the restructuring and expansion of PS Plus, it's hard to know what other impact it's had. MS's putting first-party on GP day-one was clearly meant to be a 'your move' moment from MS - Nintendo and PlayStation took one look at it, laughed, and hiked their prices by $10.
PlayStation is now expanding mindshare through cross-media merchandising (HBO's The Last of Us, Marvel's Spider-Man), carving out a space in new tech (PS VR2, GT Sophy), and expanding into the PC market. Meanwhile, Phil is busy trying to convince trade commissions around the world that buying out entire publishers with vast stables of IP is totally chill and not the desperate power play of a company that has failed to win on merit alone.
PlayStation is now expanding mindshare through cross-media merchandising (HBO's The Last of Us, Marvel's Spider-Man), carving out a space in new tech (PS VR2, GT Sophy), and expanding into the PC market. Meanwhile, Phil is busy trying to convince trade commissions around the world that buying out entire publishers with vast stables of IP is totally chill and not the desperate power play of a company that has failed to win on merit alone.
Strider Highwind
Banned
I've been impressed. I've been playing my series x and/or PC Game pass on my desktop a ton - and also pc gamepass when im at work on my laptop...And im happy. Whole list of games I've beat over the past few years including about 4 over the past month alone. Its a hell of a lot better IMO but I understand if some are still a bit disappointed, I can respct it
