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[Randall365]

1. Buy Valve (Valve is worth billions, Microsoft is trillions).

2. Release one sku - Xbox 4, with Steam on it as the games delivery system going forward, running alongside some legacy xbox stuff.

3. Price it the same as the PS5 and release on nearly the same day.

4. Forget all the Gamepass nonsense.

5. Release the second SKU after three years - Xbox 4 Elite at a significantly higher cost for people wanting to get better performance mid-gen.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Bought nintendo just to see the world on fire

 

[Topher]

As other people said before me, making great games, that's the only solution.

You don't need to be fucking Einstein to understand this right?

Or Microsoft can live out of AoE, Freelancer and MegaMan, are we lunatics?

Why do you keep pretending Hudo 's list of ideas consisted of three games? If "we" are going to point to lunacy, I'd start right there.

 

[danklord]

Fun thread!

1. Cancel the Series S
2. Stop buying companies
3. Make the vision of the Xbox to be the PC in the living room by allowing it to run Windows, or a simplified couch-version of. They were so close to this vision with Dev mode running emulators.

It boggles my mind that Microsoft has THE killer app of the world (Windows) and still hasn't found a way to properly integrate it into Xbox.

Xbox should be the gaming PC for gamers who don't want or can't afford a gaming PC. Let Sony stick with their existing strategies, they will never have a platform like Windows.

 

[Don Carlo]

Focus on making great games.

Easier said than done

 

[BlackTron]

Easier said than done

There shouldn't be an "everyone gets a trophy" system in place just because its hard.

 

[Havoc2049]

Important to note, the CEO of Microsoft is a services guy. He wants everything at MS to be a service. If Phil's pitch to get the job was, "let's spend billions of dollars to run the Xbox division like Sony does" then I doubt he would have gotten the job.

I think this is what happened. The whole company had gone to a service model company and is making bank. MS has even seemed to stop pushing Surface, which had some momentum. If that was the case, Phil should have made the case that the Xbox division already had a service in Xbox Live.

The whole ABK deal was weird as well and brought the Xbox division tons of bad press.

 

[fred420170]

Exactly what he's already doing...

 

[MacReady13]

Firstly you'd grow some balls and stop with prioritizing this DEI bullshit.

Then i'd abandon gamepass as their main source of releasing games. How they can let day 1 releases on their in beyond my comprehension.

Then i'd continue on from what they did on the 360- focus on great exclusive 3rd party games (much like what Sony did for the PS4/5) to ensure your console has the best exclusives, even if they are short term exclusives.

Most importantly i'd focus on 1st party and make sure they have strong devs making quality games.

Pretty much Microsoft did the 1 thing Sony and Nintendo HAVEN'T done, and that is that both of those companies have put the gamers 1st by making games we want to play and that are of generally excellent quality! How Microsoft dropped the ball on the most important thing- games, is beyond my comprehension. And they wonder why they keep losing console generations... They've fucked Gears. They've fucked Forza (still love Horizon) and more importantly, they completely fucked Halo.

 

[{insert code here}]

With the benefit of hindsight, i would've scrapped Series S. I would've faded Game Pass to be strictly indies and no AAA, not even 1P. I would not have dumped billions of dollars for Beth and ATVB.

I WOULD have taken all that now freed up capital and push really hard in Japan. I call up Capcom (again, hindsight bias) and I offer them a billion dollars for 5 console exclusive games (they choose but one of them has to be an RE game). I call up Square Enix, Namco, Sega, Koei Tecmo, etc., and I start writing checks. In total i probably invest 4-5 billion in console exclusive partnerships. I look for deals in China amd SKorea.

I also sign a deal with Bungie/Activision for them to reboot Halo (retcon 4 and 5) and i scrap 343. I sign deals with Rockstar and Bethesda to get exclusive DLC expansions for their games.

Look, I'm just an armchair analyst here who doesn't know any more than anyone else here, but i think some of us here given the MS war chest could have done a much better job than Spencer with that 75B+ and maybe put Sony's feet to the fire a little with the PS5.

 

[Snake29]

 

[Crayon]

I work got a big tattoo on my face. Bought an old black Camaro and drive around 100 miles an hour blasting a guilty gear soundtrack.

 

[Skifi28]

I would have probably gone on a diet.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

Had console only exclusives.

 

[Sushi_Combo]

Re-hire Donald Mattrick

 

[DragonNCM]

Phill is right...if you can make great games buy them all

 

[Unknown?]

Fired myself!

 

[Alan Wake]

Stop the shopping spree after 2018. Owning a lot of studios doesn't mean shit if you can't manage them and get the games out. I thought the Series S and X strategy might work, having a cheaper entry level console seemed quite smart.

They're in a shitty situation now. Consoles are not selling. Games are not selling. Game Pass isn't growing. Nothing works. And they're just sitting there with tons of studios.

 

[Tiamat2san]

1 console only and even if i personally love gamepass, i would stop it.

 

[archangelmorph]

Say you are Phil it’s two years before the series x launch. What do you do to avoid the position xbox is at right now?

Well…

Instead of perhaps spending $75.4B on an Activision acquisition, I would have invested that money into AAA next gen games.

They wouldn’t even need to be exclusive. Fuck it. 3 year timed exclusive on Xbox and PC before farming them to Sony & Nintendo.

The reality is MSFT didn’t give anyone any reason to buy an Xbox this gen from a content perspective. & in the entertainment biz we all know content is king.

Do you know how many exclusives they could have bought with $75.4B?

Three hundred and seventy seven AAA blockbusters with $200m budgets each.

Let that sink in…

 

[Hudo]

Buy Microsoft.

 

[WitchHunter]

 

[ByWatterson]

Either greenlit a zeitgesty cinematic adventure, or gone out and purchased one.

People can shit on the budgets of the Naughty Dog/Insomniac/Guerilla third person action adventure all they want - they create buzz and move consoles.

They never even bothered competing in that space. It's inexplicable.

 

[WoJ]

Focus on developing good exclusives and kill game pass.

 

[Dorfdad]

Say you are Phil it’s two years before the series x launch. What do you do to avoid the position xbox is at right now?

I would have fought tooth and nail for exclusives on XBOX and PC for 1 year anyone who agrees would get a 15% reduction in fees. I would have money hatted WOW or a spinoff for XBOX exclusively. I would have bought some companies that specialize in FPS and RPG's. I would have tried to buy Activision in parts if possible. OR at least buy the Ip's / COD. I would have money hatted cinematic storyline games. There are plenty of great IP's that could be games.

I would work with AMD and add L2 Cache to the console like the AMD CPU's 3DX series offers. And I would have added at least 16GB RAM. I'd honestly fight for the GPU to have more memory. I would not fear having the console cost $75.00 more for the Series X with these specs.

Easy to say I would have cancelled the Series S was a gamer but that their best seller. It's however become a problem for games.

Id balls to the wall the next Xbox for whatever we can get at 599.99 for the Top End. I would drop the Series X to 299.99 and that would be my base model going forward.

Gamepass should be a cloud only offering.

 

[kingwingin]

Fuck the radical yellow-haired fat chick.

 

[reinking]

Obviously, hindsight is on our side but...

-Worry less about PlayStation and more about what is happening in my own house.
-Get rid of the paid shills and fake marketing. It feeds on itself and does little to influence people outside of that circle.
-Be honest and open with the media but do not tell them every idea that pops into my head.
-Never ever utter the words "play everywhere" unless it is in the context of launching a handheld device. Even if that is the eventual goal, let it develop into that and not lay that card on the table at least a decade ahead of its time.
-Build Game Pass but none, or few, day one releases.
-Single SKU powerful console launch and not use those chips for servers during a chip shortage.
-Build up third-party support/exclusive deals prior to launch but secondary to first party titles for launch (see #1).

 

[Jibran#one]

3 simple words would've made Phil's life easier
Make great games.
It's a fucking gaming console and there hasn't been a system seller type game for years.
The state Forza redfall and even halo was disgusting

 

[Kumomeme]

talk less.

 

[Investor9872]

Call of Duty alone was well worth that purchase.

Sure. If you are still alive 80 years from now when MS finally makes up that money, and that's before taking inflations into account.

 

[gow3isben]

I love how people are saying make more exclusives as if it were that simple

 

[hybrid_birth]

Free Xbox consoles for all to build that 7 billion install base, then recoup through games.

 

[Beechos]

Announce gamepass day 1 games at launch of console. That would've been a huge momentum swinger at the start of the gen.

I would make everygame play anywhere. Buy on xbox and get pc version free or vice versa to get people locked into the ecosystem. If I was a pc gamer knowing knowing any game I get on the xbox pc store would be playable on the console when the times comes the xbox console would prob be my 1st choice. Just like if I knew my xbox library would transfer to pc I would prob use the xbox store to buy my games.

Focus on some more mature content. All the console makers are terrified of sex/nudity. Xbox would be a gamers only choice for some mature content besides a pc. How's that for some exclusives.

Make portable Xbox series s.

 

[Ikutachi]

Intermittent fasting.

 

[yurinka]

1. Fire Aaron Greenberg, The Verge and Bloomberg
2. No day one PC releases, wait until 2-3 years being sold in your console and don't port all the games to PC. Only some of them
3. No day one games on GP, put them around a year or two after release. And don't put your games there, only some of them
4. Series S never should have existed
5. Manage your teams to have minimum a good -or decent- first party game per quarter
6. Delay Series X release until you have a decent amount of games for launch -minimum two cool ones- and a first party game per quarter during the first two years
7. Make online MP free on console
8. No AA batteries in the pad
9. Make official dual boot support to allow players install Windows or Linux in the console
10. Better acquisitions than the ones he did. People capable to consistently create top AAA new IP and to refresh classic dead, outdated or in weap shape IPs. Example: buy Asobo for Flight Simulator and to get A Plague Tale. Or Iron Galaxy to work in Killer Instinct, or Firewalk or Bungie to work in Halo. Or if not, to get ID software from Bethesda insted of buying the entire Zenimax. Hire back Cliffy B to bring Gears to its roots. The idea of acquisitions sounded good to have more teams and big IPs, but they still didn't release worth exclusives and I doubt they'll ever do it
11. Part of the huge amount of money lost due to putting 1st and 3rd party in GP day one, would have been better spent to incentivize 3P release their games in Xbox too, specially Japanese ones, plus also getting more 3P exclusives, timed or not. The idea would be to have a similar catalog than Sony

Or well an easier alternative one: do a Sega and kill Series X, Series S and GP and pivot to full multiplatform publisher focused on selling games.

 

[AJUMP23]

Invest in tent pole 3rd person adventure game.

ask bill gates why he hangs out with Epstein.

 

[Beechos]

I love how people are saying make more exclusives as if it were that simple

Yep it bothers me too. Make good games/exclusives as if they are purposely making shitty games and sitting on their ass doing nothing.
If it was so easy everyone would be making sony/nintendo quality games.

 

[Ansphn]

Say you are Phil it’s two years before the series x launch. What do you do to avoid the position xbox is at right now?

1. I would go 3rd party from the start.

2. I would invest more money into my 1st party studios but cut half the studios to trim the fat and keep the best talent. Xbox has too many studios just sitting around.

3. I would use the money wasted on Gamepass to invest into upcoming studios with high potential and buy a share of that studio to ultimately take over (Tencent gameplan) and i would allow that studio to operate as they always did.

Basically Xbox/Microsoft game studios can be the Tencent of the West and the biggest 3rd party in the world instead of trying to battle with superior console makers like Nintendo and PlayStation.

First they need to trim the fat and keep the talent and gather the best IP (COD, Minecraft, Halo, Gears of Wars, etc) and cut out the rest. That money would then be invested into up and coming 3rd party studios with a vision.

 

[Varteras]

Gone to a proctologist to remove my head from my ass.