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[phaedrus]

Take responsibility for my failures & fall on my sword:

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

Start with investing heavily in the iconic Xbox core franchises to revitalize them.

I would have:

• Put Obsidian to work on an epic Halo WRPG
• Not bought Bethesda
• Rebooted Gears of War but with a focus on the locust hordes as the main enemy faction - brought in Cliffy B to be creative director
• Fire Matt the head of MGS and replace him with a promoted studio manager; e.g. head of Playground Games
• Get rid of all the non-gamer and diversity hires from Xbox and Microsoft Game studios; replacing them with people who are actually competent, not yes-men and who love gaming enough to challenge Phil on his poor decisions.
• Setup the DirectX team as a core gaming technology service business unit; to support all MGS studios, providing tools, code examples, middleware integration and technical support.
• Get Ninja Theory to make a spiritual successor to Heavenly Sword --- bringing back Anna Torv () to voice is a must
• Stop chasing making "big career-defining moves" and instead just build out a stable of top tier first party developers, cultivating their core franchises while also investing in new ones.
• Don't pursue huge publisher acquisitions, but instead buy up smaller indie devs they've work with; funding their growth ambitions to make bigger and bigger games over a longer term; e.g. the way Sony did with the Returnal and Helldivers devs.
• Expand their core franchises into cross-media projects, but instead of focusing on TV series and movies, they should focus more on kids shows and young adults as a means to capture the next generation of gamers; e.g. a Halo cartoon, and dark and gritty Gears TV show for teens.
• Pursue third party studio partnerships to make games in long neglected genres like space combat, point & click adventures, space sims, RTS, platformers, Metriodvanias, side-scrolling beat em ups, etc
• Reject far left progressivism and instead cater to their bread and butter demographic, i.e. the US frat boy, dude bro
• Embrace games that push creative and cultural boundaries.
• Revive the Mechwarrior: Mech Commander franchise

 

[damidu]

gee don't know,
maybe not bet the future of the whole business on a subscription revolution pipe dream, which will never materialize in gaming space.
because its completely different media than movies, with its own unique consumer patterns.

don't push for 100billion worth of publisher acquisitions in span of 3 years, which will put a huge target on your ass within mothership for immediate results and lock your transition to going fully third party.
maybe you could have used the fraction of the money for marketing, promotion purposes outside of usa.

don't release unfinished, disappointing 1st party games back to back, you'll squander whatever little goodwill you have left among your dwindling userbase.

also don't send cocaine fueled "we will win the gen" hype emails to your boss, it'll bite you in the ass

at this point, I'll just be grateful for my luck, being this dumb and having made so much money and just get out, leaving the hot potato on next person's lap.

 

[jm89]

 

[Drew1440]

Replace Bonnie Ross.

 

[MayauMiao]

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?

Sell of the Xbox and become a used car salesman.

 

[Majima Everywhere System]

Court Sega, hire someone to manage studios, not rely on contractors as much, select small teams to make games that aren’t movies and are still interesting to the masses (sorry pentiment, hifi rush, psychonauts), remove the gold price at start of the gen, give Halo SP to someone else, conglomerate all Horizon maps in one game some how, give away old ass Xbox and 360 games on the reg, somehow get mics back on….

Maybe their should be free Xbox Live if you talk.

 

[Dr. Suchong]

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Well i wouldn't have released Redfall and Forza in that state for starters.

Have told this story here before but this shows he doesn't really know what he is doing

The first Halo Infinite trailer that gave us Craig was showed to Phil and Ybarra and Ybarra said he actually laughed and asked where the real trailer was because he legit thought they were trolling

Ybarra said they couldn't release this because gamers were destroy them because it looked so bad.

Phil gave it the green light and the backlash began

I know a lot of people dislike Ybarra and his style but he was really the only real gamer there and actually cared about what they put out

 

[Evil Calvin]

Well I would tell all of the studios (yes they have like 40 studios and release only a few games), that crunch is a part of the last 6 months-year of development and if you get into the industry it should be expected. Japan does this and they release games regularly and mainly in good shape. I think Phil gives these studios too much leeway. Crack that whip and motivate them a bit.

 

[H-I-M]

Quit my job because I don't know what the fuck I'm even doing there.

End thread.

 

[DaleinCalgary]

Resign. Xbox needs leaders who understand games and development.

MS went all usual for the course and bought companies that were dogs and overpaid for companies that are has beens, they have been doing that forever. Xbox has turned into a huge money pit to shareholders and they only reason they exist is to try to make MS somewhat cool to younger users.

 

[yazenov]

It's already too late for the Xbox brand once Phil became the head of Xbox.

They should have invested in building their 1st part studios and IP during the Xbox 360 generation. Instead, all they did was money-hat 3rd party publishers and focus on Kinect. They should have followed what Sony did, built great studios, and started the acquisitions during that period.

It's too late for any meaningful changes now. The ship would always sink since there were so many holes in the ship's foundation. And Game Pass, along with the cheaper gimped Xbox model accelerated that decline.

The best thing he could have done after the shitstorm that was the Xbox One was to call it quits and become 3rd party sooner rather than later.

 

[RaZoR No1]

Games Games Games!
Games first on Xbox, after 6 or 12 Months on PC.
Exclusives!
No Series S or lower powered SKU

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

Have told this story here before but this shows he doesn't really know what he is doing

The first Halo Infinite trailer that gave us Craig was showed to Phil and Ybarra and Ybarra said he actually laughed and asked where the real trailer was because he legit thought they were trolling

Ybarra said they couldn't release this because gamers were destroy them because it looked so bad.

Phil gave it the green light and the backlash began

I know a lot of people dislike Ybarra and his style but he was really the only real gamer there and actually cared about what they put out

It is worry that Phil might have no idea what a BAD GAME looks like. Is he even a gamer?

it would be like trying to run a restaurant except you couldn't taste the food.

Xbox was sitting on multiple unproductive studios. Something must have gone wrong to make them that way. Buying new studios changed nothing as all the new purchases become unproductive. It really sound like someone should have gone through Xbox with a fine tooth comb and started reorganizing the entire group.

It had been my personal theory that Xbox had been paying employees to do jack and shit, because there was no punishment for failure. If you get paid either way if you do good work or not, then employees become dead weight.

 

[Havoc2049]

Replace the management team at 343 and make sure Halo is ready at launch.

Warn the world about Covid-19.

Buy Sega on the first Wednesday of 2018.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

It is worry that Phil might have no idea what a BAD GAME looks like. Is he even a gamer?

it would be like trying to run a restaurant except you couldn't taste the food.

Xbox was sitting on multiple unproductive studios. Something must have gone wrong to make them that way. Buying new studios changed nothing as all the new purchases become unproductive. It really sound like someone should have gone through Xbox with a fine tooth comb and started reorganizing the entire group.

It had been my personal theory that Xbox had been paying employees to do jack and shit, because there was no punishment for failure. If you get paid either way if you do good work or not, then employees become dead weight.

Another thing I have said here before so its nothing new but interns were used in the past to run up Xbox managements gamerscores to make some of them appear to be bigger gamers than they actually are

Now I have gamed with Phil before playing shooters, mainly PUBG when it was really big, and maybe shooters are not his thing but he was simply not good and had to explain a lot to him

One other thing that was brought up to me several years ago is when Phil did "game" in interviews or on stream for any reason most of the times his hands could not be seen while working the controller.

 

[ReBurn]

Two years before it was already too late if there were no games ready. He should have had strong launch titles. First impressions and all.

 

[Sintoid]

Wrong moves from Phil
Acquisitions
Gamepass

 

[Majukun]

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?

restructure microsoft studios so that they focus on releasing banger after banger, aka the so called "killer apps" that MS sorely lacks.
that would merely include putting the right people in the managing and directorial positions, since MS doesn't lack the money nor the time.

If they were willing to take a loss to gather market shares, i would have kept the gamepass on xbox, but (and i say it conscious that i would have hated it as a pc player) first party game would have gotten a buffer of 3 to 6 months before they come to PC, so that if you want to play said killer apps you NEED the console.

also would have not called it series s/X watever...that kind of nomenclature works for yearly released phones, not for consoles, it needs to have a personality, some staying power.

acquisitions would have also be focused on stuff you can put exclusive to the platform, if the actibliz deal can't include stuff like cod as an exclusive, then it serves very little purpose for the brand

after that it's mainly marketing, playstation is a colossus that can sell consoles without even trying, but MS managed to chip userbase at them during the 360 era, they just needed to repeat that

 

[Topher]

Have told this story here before but this shows he doesn't really know what he is doing

The first Halo Infinite trailer that gave us Craig was showed to Phil and Ybarra and Ybarra said he actually laughed and asked where the real trailer was because he legit thought they were trolling

Ybarra said they couldn't release this because gamers were destroy them because it looked so bad.

Phil gave it the green light and the backlash began

I know a lot of people dislike Ybarra and his style but he was really the only real gamer there and actually cared about what they put out

Sounds like Spencer wanted "yes men" around him.

Another thing I have said here before so its nothing new but interns were used in the past to run up Xbox managements gamerscores to make some of them appear to be bigger gamers than they actually are

Now I have gamed with Phil before playing shooters, mainly PUBG when it was really big, and maybe shooters are not his thing but he was simply not good and had to explain a lot to him

One other thing that was brought up to me several years ago is when Phil did "game" in interviews or on stream for any reason most of the times his hands could not be seen while working the controller.

Damn man.....you are painting Spencer as quite the fraud here.

 

[Spyxos]

I would have gotten halo collection running and ideally gears collection so people could play something permanently. Probably even give them both out for free as xbox live gold. And then games and games. But I wouldn't even look at something like Hellblade remotely.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Sounds like Spencer wanted "yes men" around him.



Damn man.....you are painting Spencer as quite the fraud here.

In all fairness he may be good at Diablo IV or other style of games but he sure wasn't good at shooters

It wasn't even so much as not being good it was the lack of awareness and his movement

 

[RoboFu]

What ever the people paying me a million + a year tell me.

 

[Kings Field]

keep getting paid.

 

[Gudji]

 

[Topher]

In all fairness he may be good at Diablo IV or other style of games but he sure wasn't good at shooters

It wasn't even so much as not being good it was the lack of awareness and his movement

Yeah, but even I ain't bad at Diablo 4 so....

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

Cancel Redfall and send it to the bottom of the ocean to lie next to whatever that trash dragon game they canceled was called.

Change nothing outside of that. Love my Series X, play it more than my Switch or PS5

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Its not an existential crisis for consoles as a whole as PS5 is selling well. So I suppose it doesn’t require a drastic change.

Market is not growing at the rate they want, so I suppose some measure’s will have to be taken.

Phil has made some bold moves that have been partially successful so far (gamepass), need to see what they do with acquisitions they have made.

I feel he has a pretty tough job of growing the industry, any forum dweller I wouldn’t trust something like that with. They will just fund a some Banjo Kazzoie, meanwhile industry will crash and burn.

 

[Hunnybun]

I don't think it was ever established (still hasn't, perhaps) whether subscriptions is the right model for selling games.

I guess fundamentally subscriptions work where you can tie people into paying for something they don't use via a combination of fomo and laziness.

So step one I suppose would be NEVER bundle into a sub what you can get people to pay for individually. Otherwise you're just robbing Peter to pay Paul.

And then the second problem is more fundamental: subscription model may be attractive, but it's not rocket science. Sony could copy it, and they did. And they actually offered the correct level of content for maximum fomo/laziness based rewards.

So it's not actually some panacea. Xbox's only real advantage was access to capital and therefore the ability to win a price war. Getting COD etc was a good strategy until they couldn't make it exclusive, and then it was worse than pointless.

Tldr he fucked up and should have spent money on stuff that could be made exclusive to Xbox - assuming they were up for a long price war. If not, they should have just quit.

 

[REDRZA MWS]

I wouldn't have paid $80 billion for a game company!

Call of Duty alone was well worth that purchase.

 

[Topher]

I think he should have put someone in charge of all the studios who knows how to get the most out of studios. Game output has sucked during Phil Spencer's tenure. Even after all those acquisitions.

 

[SmokedMeat]

I’d bring back the 360 days of timed exclusives.

 

[deriks]

I would buy Sega

and hey, tomorrow is wednesday, so...

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[LordCBH]

I’d have told Matt booty and Aaron green burg to take a fuckin hike.

Gears 5 would’ve been delayed to launch with the current generation, and the Xbox one version would have been scrapped.

Rare would have a team working on a Banjo or Conker to bring some much needed variety.

I would’ve paid EA any amount they wanted for FIFA advertising rights, especially in Europe. I’d find out who the most popular player in each country is and have a bundle with thst player for each country.

Halo wouldn’t have released on last Gen hardware, and they would’ve been told to scrap the open world bullshit.

Also, no Gamepass. At least not in its current form. You wanna play my games? You’re paying for my games.

 

[DaleinCalgary]

Call of Duty alone was well worth that purchase.

I don't think you understand how much $80 billion is.

You could buy 1/2 the NFL teams for that.

 

[NahaNago]

Make certain games xbox exclusive or at least timed exclusive and then release on pc. I think one thing I would do is I would hire a ton of indie studios to make nostalgia or simply great games for my console on the cheap. This would be a lot cheaper than buying a 80-billion-dollar company. We would go for a ton of good quality versus the very few great quality that Sony does. I'd also work on my first party studios by fixing, expanding, and buying several smaller studios.

 

[FalsettoVibe]

• No Game Pass
• Invest in internal studios and not buy ABK
• Not create two skus with different specs
• Create a hybrid console for next-gen

 

[justiceiro]

Not closed down lionhead.
No more CGI reveals of any games.
Not acquiring any publisher.
Delay Xbox series release until the console is significant more powerful than the previous one.

Make sure to only let actual game developers take high ranks on the Xbox department.

Xbox main problem is that they don't know how to retain talent.

 

[MikeM]

- Not create the Series S.

- Ensure the Xbox console has legitimate exclusives not going to PC day 1.

- Not focus so hard on GamePass as place to play “day 1 games.” It dilutes the margin on the games and potentially forces the requirement for live service aspects to satisfy revenue targets.

- Foster partnerships to drive exclusive content for games on your console and exclusive games in general.

PC Xbox App side:
- Achievements pop the same way as on Xbox. No more boring email pops.

- Create a “big picture mode” a la Steam that gives you the full Xbox treatment on PC.

- Make sure the app fucking works.

 

[SHA]

Goldeneye sequel, it's easy, I understand common sense.

 

[Dr_Ifto]

1) Not do Day & Date Gamepass for AAA First Party Games
2) Hire a true multi-studio manager to have a clear vision for what their games are meant to bring to the market
3) I would have targeted studios that could offer low budget AA games, and supplement GamePass with these type of games 4-6 times a year
4) Put AAA games on GamePass a year after initial release
5) Not bought ABK at all.
6) Have the SeriesS be just a diskless SeriesX

The thing is, he managed the studios from like 2014/2015 to today. From the start to 2020, there was little to no First party games except Gears/Halo/Forza. I would have started getting AA games pumping while the larger studios try to focus on a new IP as well as their legacy IPs. the XB1 years were so barren, that's why they are still losing. They need 3-5 years of their studios pumping out games to course correct, and they are banking on that. But they need to bring their games to PS/Nin to bring in funds until they are stronger. I think they can get there if they focus on hits, not release shit like Redfall, and then release their next console in 2026/27 with a stellar initial lineup.

Also, I want to say the traditional gaming market is about to get shaken up. Kids these days play one of 3-5 games. Thats it. Only us old guys play new games, and up to 5-10 new games a year. They need to have their own GAAS games that can supplement the legacy gaming market until it swings back. Probably why they thought ABK would be a good investment.

 

[AmuroChan]

I don't think you understand how much $80 billion is.

You could buy 1/2 the NFL teams for that.

Correct. Activision was making $2.5B in profit per year, and that includes releasing games on all platforms. If MS can replicate that $2.5B profit annually from Activision games, it would take them several decades to make back that $80b they paid.

 

[Wastelander92]

Kill PC exclusives
Xbox handheld instead of Series S
Give a fuck about the rest of the world besides from the US, release with lower than normal prices in historically underperforming countries to increase interest

 

[SidViscous]

Shut down 343 and given the franchise to the Gears of War team. Get all the teams who are having trouble delivering games and ask them to focus on shorter maybe even episodic titles for game pass.

 

[Holammer]

Japanese market had already actively ignored the Xbox platform for years and first party development is in shambles, so I would throw my hands in the air and say fuck it and take the nuclear option.
Make the new Series X machine a small form factor PC with slimmed down "big picture" Windows 11. Then tout the user freedom as a selling point. As long as they stay in the MS eco-system it's a win.

 

[Iced Arcade]

- have a structure and schedule to release games. They have enough 1st party studios.

- revamp gamepass a bit. 1st party games land on gamepass 3+ months after release day.

- dropped online subscription requirements.

- saved a few billion from acquisitions and use it to prices the series X lower than the competition and not release a series s.

- made sure our flagship franchise was top priority and not rushed.

- cycle Halo between developers to create internal competition to keep raising the bar.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Pretend every day is Opposites Day.

 

[Bond007]

Focus on games.
Be more transparent. Less corporate bullshit and buzzwords. Tries to hard to come off as a regular gamer.
Take the backlash on backtracking Gamepass day one abit and PC releases. Give Xbox an actual reason to exist.

 

[King Dazzar]

I think Xbox has a cultural issue that's ingrained in all the management. So you'd have to completely clean house and start again. And that's never going to happen.