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[In Cold Blood]

It came up in another thread about Phil Spencer being interviewed about the lack of games, and how that he should shut up like Jim Ryan and the head of Nintendo do.

It's an interesting contrast by the three companies.
Microsoft is alot more accessible and open to its customers than either Sony and Nintendo are.
Let's just compare Microsoft and Sony here, as Nintendo is more Japanese.

When both consoles launched, Sony did a couple of wired magazine interviews, and one road to the PS5 video and that was it.
They never spoke about their system again. Mark Cerny never interviewed about it, nor did anyone else from Sony. There was no further information given.

Microsoft on the other hand have been very open.
We had the initial reveal, Digital Foundry got some heads up.
We had Jason Ronald presenting himself for numerous podcasts and interviews.
We then had Microsoft do a presentation at Hot Chips where they went balls deep.and even gave a die shot of the APU. They explained why they made certain decisions like the RAM pool split etc. They showed demo's of of how some of their new tech worked like Mesh Shaders and Sampler Feedback Streaming.

So on top of the hardware side of it we have the difference between Jim Ryan and Phil Spencer as the heads of both companies.
Phil is a gamer. Jim Ryan would know how to turn a Playstation on.
Phil is a developer, Jim is a pencil pusher.
Phil Spencer has made himself available to smaller podcasts like Xboxera for example. Jim Ryan wouldn't think of doing that.

There was another part to the way Xbox heads interact with their fan base.
When Xbox was at its lowest during the Xbox One, there were a number of loyal xbox players who stuck thick like TimDog, Rand Al Thor etc and the heads of xbox mixed with them. They played online with them and to this day they still socialise with a number of them.
There's no way on God earth that Jim Ryan, Mark Cerny or Herman are going to be gaming with their player base or being friends with them.

Two totally opposite ways of doing buisness.

So which one is the better way to go? Do you want the openness and accessibility of Microsoft or the closed shop of Sony?
Do you think either one negatively effects their brand?

I worked for a large US corporation and one day during a sales meeting the manager drew two stick figures on a whiteboard. One tall looking down, and a shorter one looking up. Underneath it he wrote "if you're not looking down on your customers, how can you expect them to look up to you?"

 

[Jim Ryan other Clone]

You play video games or CEO interviews on YouTube? If the first is true, you like Sony and Nintendo if you like the second then you like Xbox.

 

[Spitfire098]

Damn bro, I hope Phil sees this. Just DM him this love letter next time.

Ps5 reveal on PS main channel- 41 million views

XsX reveal on Xbox main channel- 17 million

The two brands are not the same. PS is bigger than Jim ryan. Also the results from today's earing report speaks for itself.

 

[Wandering Leopard]

I prefer a consistent output of good games.

 

[lh032]

I prefer games to play.

 

[azertydu91]

You play video games or CEO interviews on YouTube? If the first is true, you like Sony and Nintendo if you like the second then you like Xbox.

In Cold Blood is a mix of PR and Xbox fanatism, of course it will be the second, ask him to do a openess thread about sales and he won't for example.

 

[demigod]

You know who screams the loudest? The guy in last place.

 

[Barrico82]

As Mr Jim said, we will let our games do the talking, my god how loud did they talk !

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Microsoft, and it's not even close.

We just got a solid show to start the year. Expecting more to come.

 

[drganon]

I'm into playing games, not giving ceos blowjobs.

 

[T0minator]

Execs mean absolutely nothing to me, the games do.

Nintendo and Playstation let the games do the talking

Microsoft does the talking for the games people have wanted for years, talk is cheap.

But I get it, Xbox needs mind share they need to make up for the lack of effort last gen

 

[Lasha]

You should reevaluate your life choices if you are deciding which executive to Stan for. The console war shit is getting old.

 

[Crayon]

One approach seems like a better way to cultivate diehard superfans.

 

[nemiroff]

The replies in this thread kinda helps me understand why Sony and Nintendo tend to keep their mouths closed. So much snark and vitriol because videogames. MS will also eventually stop talking.

 

[Jennings]

The games matter. That's it. All this other stuff is peripheral fluff and none of it makes the games any better or worse. Let the games do the talking, they're the only reason to pick up a controller in the first place.

 

[GhostOfTsu]

Intense second-hand embarrassment from OP when Sony just announced the biggest quarter in video game history.

Guess who's doing a better job?

 

[Heisenberg007]

I prefer Sony's approach.

I play games on my gaming console; I don't play executives on my gaming console.

 

[IDKFA]

These CEOs only care about you spending money on their products/services. They're not your friend.

 

[nemiroff]

The games matter. That's it. All this other stuff is peripheral fluff and none of it makes the games any better or worse. Let the games do the talking, they're the only reason to pick up a controller in the first place.

Being on a gaming forum you should be no stranger to being interested in what's going on in and around gaming besides just playing games. Companies have social channels for a reason. I think a lot of people here are being disingenuous about this when they say it doesn't matter. Clearly it does.

 

[Jim Ryan other Clone]

The replies in this thread kinda helps me understand why Sony and Nintendo tend to keep their mouths closed. So much snark and vitriol because videogames. MS will also eventually stop talking.

What difference would make to you if you played a online match with Jim Ryan? You would be excited for a hot minute and then what, you will invite him for boys night? What difference would make to you if you knew how it looks like Inside the playstation and if the Supermario is living Inside in the console waiting for you to start it so he can exercise (a joke my father made when i was as kid trying to open my consoles to see what is inside)

 

[consoul]

There's no way on God earth that Jim Ryan, Mark Cerny or Herman are going to be gaming with their player base

As someone who has played with Cerny and has seen the depth of his trophy list, I call bullshit.

 

[Benniewise de Clown]

Only one of the three is struggling.

Guess which one?

(Winners don't need to convince people)

 

[vivftp]

It came up in another thread about Phil Spencer being interviewed about the lack of games, and how that he should shut up like Jim Ryan and the head of Nintendo do.

It's an interesting contrast by the three companies.
Microsoft is alot more accessible and open to its customers than either Sony and Nintendo are.
Let's just compare Microsoft and Sony here, as Nintendo is more Japanese.

When both consoles launched, Sony did a couple of wired magazine interviews, and one road to the PS5 video and that was it.
They never spoke about their system again. Mark Cerny never interviewed about it, nor did anyone else from Sony. There was no further information given.

Microsoft on the other hand have been very open.
We had the initial reveal, Digital Foundry got some heads up.
We had Jason Ronald presenting himself for numerous podcasts and interviews.
We then had Microsoft do a presentation at Hot Chips where they went balls deep.and even gave a die shot of the APU. They explained why they made certain decisions like the RAM pool split etc. They showed demo's of of how some of their new tech worked like Mesh Shaders and Sampler Feedback Streaming.

So on top of the hardware side of it we have the difference between Jim Ryan and Phil Spencer as the heads of both companies.
Phil is a gamer. Jim Ryan would know how to turn a Playstation on.
Phil is a developer, Jim is a pencil pusher.
Phil Spencer has made himself available to smaller podcasts like Xboxera for example. Jim Ryan wouldn't think of doing that.

There was another part to the way Xbox heads interact with their fan base.
When Xbox was at its lowest during the Xbox One, there were a number of loyal xbox players who stuck thick like TimDog, Rand Al Thor etc and the heads of xbox mixed with them. They played online with them and to this day they still socialise with a number of them.
There's no way on God earth that Jim Ryan, Mark Cerny or Herman are going to be gaming with their player base or being friends with them.

Two totally opposite ways of doing buisness.

So which one is the better way to go? Do you want the openness and accessibility of Microsoft or the closed shop of Sony?
Do you think either one negatively effects their brand?

I worked for a large US corporation and one day during a sales meeting the manager drew two stick figures on a whiteboard. One tall looking down, and a shorter one looking up. Underneath it he wrote "if you're not looking down on your customers, how can you expect them to look up to you?"

OP, I just wanted to say that I feel bad for you.

Have a good day!

 

[bender]

I worked for a large US corporation and one day during a sales meeting the manager drew two stick figures on a whiteboard. One tall looking down, and a shorter one looking up. Underneath it he wrote "if you're not looking down on your customers, how can you expect them to look up to you?"

And then everyone in the room clapped.

 

[Crayon]

It was neat how you put nintendo in the title so it looked less ps-vs-xboxy. Nice touch.

 

[Tommi84]

So can MS STOP talking about future and start delivering on the future?

 

[Nydius]

Both management strategies have their benefits and their drawbacks. But you're trying to turn this into something deeper than it is.

The reason people are telling Phil to STFU is because he's acting more like a social media brand manager than the division head. When it takes them 18 months between major exclusives, people don't want to hear constant kumbaya PR speeches. They want to see results from all of the studios under the Microsoft Game Studios/Xbox banner. Instead, 343 is in complete disarray, there's been article after article about internal problems with MGS studios like The Initiative with Perfect Dark, RARE with Everwild, and Playground with Fable.

I don't doubt that Phil is a decent dude and a video gamer... but his job is head of Xbox. Not brand manager of Xbox.

 

[Robb]

I imagine most people would support an open communication alongside solid output.

The issue for MS is that they’ve been having an open communication with not very solid output at all, which just makes them seem not trustworthy. It all comes off as empty promises after a while.

If they don’t know with very high certainty that what they’re communicating will come true, they might as well keep quiet imo.

 

[Three]

You forgot to mention herman doesn't know which way the PS5 sits.

Frankly I wouldn't mind open communication but what you refer to as "open communication" is just promotions with fanboys like timdog and PR fluff pieces often accompanied by some lies.

If we had actual open communication we would know what's going on with projects instead of always speculating about what's happening in the background. What have they actually communicated about?

 

[Max_Po]

oh shit .. its that time of the month for Phil..

give him another life time achievement award till next period...

 

[yurinka]

So which one is the better way to go? Do you want the openness and accessibility of Microsoft or the closed shop of Sony?
Do you think either one negatively effects their brand?

I think CEOs must make sure they make consoles, services and games that their players want, plus get the biggest 3rd party support possible. And as a result making as much money as possible to reinvest it on more great games etc. than before. This is the role of a CEO, not playing the cool kid role as a PR star.

Showing as a cool guy in interviews it's meaningless as CEO. Specially when his company is the last of the group, their direct competitor outperforms them 2:1, almost don't release big exclusives, and isn't able to compete even after spending almost $100B on acquisitions and almost giving away their games.

I prefer their CEOs to focus on releasing many GOTY candidates/winners every single year than focusing on interviews.

 

[Mung]

I really dislike Microsoft's never ending spin and PR. And the 'good guys' shtick rings completely hollow. I'm much more interested in output than corporate propaganda.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

So are we gonna pretend in this thread Developer Direct did not accompany a shadow drop??

 

[mrmustard]

Wow, that's a ton of hate for the op. I've seen thread with less gaming content and nobody complained.

 

[Nydius]

So are we gonna pretend in this thread Developer Direct did not accompany a shadow drop??

The only thing the shadow drop of Hi-Fi Rush proves is that openness is a hindrance. Microsoft teasing projects 3, 4, 5 years before there's a playable iteration of them is part of their problem right now. Bethesda dropping a game that they managed to keep secret proves that we don't constantly need teases of projects that are in the pipeline.

Besides, if the pitch for Hi-Fi Rush was in 2017 as its director stated, the release of the game has no bearing on this discussion as its development and progress predated Microsoft's acquisition by years.

 

[10101]

They should all shut the fuck up and just get on with running their businesses, especially Phil

I don’t need PR fluff pieces every month. I’m old and that shit just washes over me. It’s always the same bullshit and most of it never comes to fruition.

I don’t think I have ever read an interview with the Nintendo guy (they probably exist though). Jim Ryan doesn’t do them too often. That’s how it should be, they are suits and should be good at running companies and melding into the background to get shit done. Let the PR department PR!

 

[BadBurger]

I'm not sure it matters. If someone wants and Xbox and/or Game Pass (including PC), they're going to pursue them regardless of what Spencer says in public. Most people don't read gaming news anyways. Perhaps he might persuade a small number of people who come across one of these articles to go with a PS5 instead of a Xbox S|X, but I figure in 2023, for the prime demographics, 99% of potential consumers have long decided which console and ecosystem they prefer.

Nintendo and Sony can allow their releases to speak for themselves, with enough in the pipeline and regularly releasing to be able to strategically talk about them at a time of their choosing. Meanwhile, every reporter or whatever seems to want to ask Spencer a variation of "where's the games?" every time they interview him.

 

[Jennings]

Being on a gaming forum you should be no stranger to being interested in what's going on in and around gaming besides just playing games. Companies have social channels for a reason. I think a lot of people here are being disingenuous about this when they say it doesn't matter. Clearly it does.

No, it really doesn't matter, unless Phil's podcasts and Q&As are the reason Microsoft only had a 13% drop in revenue last quarter instead of an 83% drop or something. It's the games that matter, and the companies that had the games had the increased revenue.

 

[TheTony316]

Sony/Nintendo > Microsoft.

I prefer a constant stream of games over PR puff pieces.

 

[Hero of Spielberg]

Wow, that's a ton of hate for the op. I've seen thread with less gaming content and nobody complained.

I’m sure you could take a wild guess why.

 

[ToTTenTranz]

Microsoft is alot more accessible and open to its customers than either Sony and Nintendo are.

More accessible and open in what exactly?

In using TFLOPs numbers and GPU features that people don't understand for a marketing push that falls flat when actual comparisons come out?
In paying for fluff pieces every week where Phil Spencer says "Hey guys I'm so sorry that this year was crap but I think next year will be the so much better, and please support me because I'M a gAmEr" for 5 years in a row?

 

[Hero of Spielberg]

I don’t mind if companies want to do more PR than others. Personally I don’t read too much of it but I know some people really enjoy hearing the thoughts of people like Jim and Phil and their thoughts. What I think is absurd is people complaining that Phil Spencer’s does interviews instead of ‘making games’ like he’s the dev for all of MS or something and him doing PR means all development goes on hold

 

[Labadal]

Phil is forced to speak up because of constant delays of Xbox games.

I will buy most of their exclusive rpgs, but there's no sign of life for most of them.

A PC is good enough for me to wait on said games. Once those games hit, I hope to have a an awesome time in all of them.

 

[Jigsaah]

Easy to deal with a closed door policy long as you deliver the goods. I feel like Phil owes it to Xbox fans to be as transparent as possible right now.

Jim might be coy, but he's come through on a number of fronts. Still don't like him, he's just not very likable, especially when comparing him to Kaz, for example. But that's just his personality (or lack thereof) and his lack of showmanship.

I don't get excited about Playstation games because Sony lets the games do ALL the talking, when really it should be more than that. Give us some kinda real show Sony. Sorry, tangent, i know.

 

[Bo_Hazem]

You seem to like snake oil.

 

[ADiTAR]

Nintendo had Nintendo Directs since 2012, Microsoft just copied it in with developers in 2023.

Nintendo had Iwata asks since 2007, a very transparent conversation about games they develop.

 

[Tams]

I prefer non-clickbait console wars threads.

 

[8BiTw0LF]

Show me the games and shut up about everything else.

 

[Ar¢tos]

Makes sense.
Why measure a company/product success by sales when you can measure it in interviews per quarter?
It's what shareholders really care about.

 

[The_Mike]

The majority in here are playing on a PlayStation so they gain from both sonys closed choices and Microsoft's open choices.