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[IAmNotFromDelaware]

Nothing of what he's saying is untrue. I mean most of you are big boys here, right? You all own stock either through direct investment or 401Ks.

The industry is going through a downturn and most companies will need to make tough decisions. The hope is that it's just transitional and this will not be a long-term downturn.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

why Xbox people (fans and executives) don't understand that Xbox is a complete faliure, as a brand, console and ecosystem.

The excuses making is so damn pathetic.

The worst thing is if they ever did improve substantially then they are the type of people who will attack anyone who wanted them to do better in the first place .

“Haters are quiet”
“All those people hating on Xbox can shut up now”

Arseholes the lot of them

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

At this point I pity Phil’s subordinates. What a freaking mess of a message.

 

[LordCBH]

I think Phil gets the axe within the next 14 months. Real question is how will the shills react? Will it be a bunch of Phil praise like now, or will they turn on him as soon as the announcement is made?

 

[digoutyoursoul]

I think Phil gets the axe within the next 14 months. Real question is how will the shills react? Will it be a bunch of Phil praise like now, or will they turn on him as soon as the announcement is made?

Praise. Likes of Ryan McCaffrey leading the way.

 

[LordCBH]

Praise. Likes of Ryan McCaffrey leading the way.

I suppose it’ll depend on if Microsoft is still willing to pay the shills. If they do I fully expect them to go “Phil has always sucked what a masterful decision by Microsoft.”

 

[TheUsual]

I can't wait for my government mandated Xbox with mandatory Gamepass sub, Phil.

 

[Horseganador]

Phil Spencer will blame capitalism and whatever before himself, his ENTIRE strategy with Xbox has failed after an investment of 70-80 billion, the best thing he could do is resign from his position.

 

[LordCBH]

I can't wait for my government mandated Xbox with mandatory Gamepass sub, Phil.

Social Security benefits have been replaced with a guaranteed Gamepass Core subscription. Rejoice.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

I suppose it’ll depend on if Microsoft is still willing to pay the shills. If they do I fully expect them to go “Phil has always sucked what a masterful decision by Microsoft.”

Trust me majority of them won’t. It will be revisionist shite. No integrity at all.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

This revelation from Phil pretty much confirms Xbox and gamepass is profitable.

Doom and gloom surrounding Xbox is overblown.

 

[Shrap]

Dude has been given a free ride for a decade and an absurd amount of money to buy publishers no one else can. That is a luxury not a single other company in the games industry can enjoy.

Now, billions upon billions of dollars later, they actually buckle down and expect Xbox to start making money and Phil's like "oh shit, you mean I've gotta be competent to do this?"

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Dude has been given a free ride for a decade and an absurd amount of money to buy publishers no one else can. That is a luxury not a single other company in the games industry can enjoy.

Now, billions upon billions of dollars later, they actually buckle down and expect Xbox to start making money and Phil's like "oh shit, you mean I've gotta be competent to do this?"

All the IPs and franchises Phil has picked up are automated money printers. He doesn’t have to do anything.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

He doesn’t have to do anything.

that's what he does best.

but those studios are not going to be fine without proper executive leadership.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

This revelation from Phil pretty much confirms Xbox and gamepass is profitable.

Doom and gloom surrounding Xbox is overblown.

exactly, they are hiding their profits because they don't want to scare regulators. this will make sure regulators don't block the Sega acquisition this wednesday and Valve next Friday.

Xbox's future is bright, bright

 

[vaibhavpisal]

that's what he does best.

but those studios are not going to be fine without proper executive leadership.

Studios are doing fine. Check their ip sales/ gamepass subscribers / current players on steam etc etc.

 

[Dutchy]

But guys, I thought Microsoft was super rich. Why would they care about growth and profit?

*looks at all of the legacy xbox titles that i can't play online anymore*

 

[Goalus]

As always, the Sony Defense Force is triggered to the maximum - ever thought of joining the purple-haired community?

 

[Clear]

Lets be real about this; when even a low-budget game costs millions, somebody somewhere has to underwrite that expense! And if you have that sort of money, you want it to be working for you!

Blame "capitalism" all you want, but its absolutely the only way these things are going to get made.

 

[Astral Dog]

They always blame capitalism for their problems

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

If you ask me, the problem with Phil and MS, is that they simply lack a fundamental understanding of how the console gaming business works.

In every industry, there is simply a point where growth stagnates. That can be called the whole pie. You cannot grow that pie, you can only get a part of it. Since the PS1, consoles have hovered around that 170M/gen sales. Its no coincidence that Xbox's best-performing gen was PlayStation worst performing one.

what that should have told them, was that the only way to do well was to take market share from PlayStation. There is no other way.

I could have told them that after the og Xbox Gen. Apparently, they still don't get that and are somehow expecting the console industry to do something it has not done in over 3+ decades.

 

[NickFire]

He's not saying anything remotely controversial, people on here just like to REEEEEEEEEEEE

He's not saying anything controversial on this topic. But he made his own bed the last ten years. Not the least bit shocked that people question anything he says now. Especially when things are rapidly changing, rumors are flying left and right, and it still feels like a whole lot of PR spin and astroturfing is going on IMO.

 

[rm082e]

Question: Let's assume for the sake of this discussion his boss has told him he's not allowed to take the brand into debt (which jives with what he's saying here), and he's got a limited budget for developing exclusives. Let's assume Nadella and the board told him they would be supportive of buying companies so long as their accounting numbers were in the green (hence why they bought so many developers and ABK, Bethesda, etc.)

What should Phil have done differently during the XO generation? I get that Game Pass is basically a financial failure now that the experiment has played out, but I don't remember anyone betting against it when it was launched. My memory is a lot of people saying "This is a bold move for them, and it might work out." Honestly, I'm surprised they managed to sell 60m XO units. The public sentiment in 2013 around the Xbox brand seemed terminal to me. I was half convinced they would exit the market by the end of that generation.

And given how the XO generation turned out for them, I'm not sure what he could have done differently in the last 3 years. Obviously we'd all like a half dozen new highly rated IPs from them, but that's easily a couple billion dollars of spending that I'm guessing he couldn't get approval for. I get it - "Then why did they spend billions buying ABK and Bethesda?" - Because those were companies with proven track records.

I'm not an Xbox guy any more (PC main, PS secondary), but it seems like Phil is getting blamed for the slow death of the Xbox brand. I'm guessing he's doing what he can with the boundaries he's been given. Unless there's something I'm missing?

 

[ByWatterson]

These guys all talk about growth like dividends aren't a thing. I don't get it.

 

[Saber]

They should make a show about Phil.

"Who the fuck Phil's gonna blame today?"

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

Blaming capitalism from a big corporation? Well, they gotta cater to lowest common denominator of intelligence out there I guess

I still struggle to see where he is "blaming" capitalism. He just explains why MS is currently restructuring. It's not like he's suggesting MS should be seized by the government, lol

 

[wipeout364]

Gaming is a luxury good and with inflation and people getting squeezed everywhere the industry is contracting. I personally think there is lots of room for growth but there is going to be an adjustment. The one question that’s not clear is will consoles be relevant as we move forward or will it be only PC, cloud and mobile (non dedicated hardware). I love consoles but I fear we are in their end days.

 

[SneakersSO]

This is absolutely hilarious when you consider that Xbox has only been deemed 'profitable' internally in recent times due to how much value they are bringing to Azure. Phil has never made decisions that resulted in a profitable Xbox division.

 

[VideoGameEnjoyer]

This dude is just the worst

 

[NickFire]

What should Phil have done differently during the XO generation?

He should have been a better leader and made sure they actually released enough good games to maintain or grow their market share. And it wasn't just the XO generation when things went bad. This one has been even worse.

 

[skit_data]

 

[Gojiira]

What on earth is he on about? He’s been running a non profitable and not growing business for years now. Quite successfully too…

 

[twilo99]

yes papi but that’s true for everyone

 

[Dane]

Question: Let's assume for the sake of this discussion his boss has told him he's not allowed to take the brand into debt (which jives with what he's saying here), and he's got a limited budget for developing exclusives. Let's assume Nadella and the board told him they would be supportive of buying companies so long as their accounting numbers were in the green (hence why they bought so many developers and ABK, Bethesda, etc.)

What should Phil have done differently during the XO generation? I get that Game Pass is basically a financial failure now that the experiment has played out, but I don't remember anyone betting against it when it was launched. My memory is a lot of people saying "This is a bold move for them, and it might work out." Honestly, I'm surprised they managed to sell 60m XO units. The public sentiment in 2013 around the Xbox brand seemed terminal to me. I was half convinced they would exit the market by the end of that generation.

And given how the XO generation turned out for them, I'm not sure what he could have done differently in the last 3 years. Obviously we'd all like a half dozen new highly rated IPs from them, but that's easily a couple billion dollars of spending that I'm guessing he couldn't get approval for. I get it - "Then why did they spend billions buying ABK and Bethesda?" - Because those were companies with proven track records.

I'm not an Xbox guy any more (PC main, PS secondary), but it seems like Phil is getting blamed for the slow death of the Xbox brand. I'm guessing he's doing what he can with the boundaries he's been given. Unless there's something I'm missing?

Iits just hypocrisy 99% of the time, they have a grudge that Xbox 360 led over the PS3 for 95% of the time, because Sony fumbled so hard with the 499-599 dollar models and telling people to get two jobs, just like a generation later Xbox One is announced with a forced kinect and online DRM for 499 USD and the former leadership tells people to buy a 360 or get a better internet.

The acquisitions were a necessity of theirs, they only had 4-5 studios and decided to up their games, some people just want to hate it out that they bought Bethesda and later Activision, and then complain that Xbox is making ABK catalogue multiplatform and some of their own exclusives also multiplatform, its a lose no matter what for these people because Xbox is seen as the Original Sin for being from Microsoft or daring to challenge another brand.

Xbox One was always going to sell the worse because it did since the day after its launch, it had better exclusives than PS4 and yet it sold half of it.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Studios are doing fine. Check their ip sales/ gamepass subscribers / current players on steam etc etc.

yeah. Xbox is on top the food chain.

This is Phil's next T-shirt:

 

[demented waffle]

How dare people don't buy our product they don't want to.

 

[Arsic]

I wonder what it’s like living with Phil as he walks around the house with his head so deep up his own ass huffing greasy green farts…

Man single handedly under his reign killed:
-Halo
-Gears of War
-Forza
-Fable

All staple franchises that made people buy a Xbox are in the shitter.

What a joke.

 

[AJUMP23]

Growth is a good thing what is bad about growth in an industry.

 

[Skifi28]

I think Phil gets the axe within the next 14 months.

The axe? More like a promotion. Dude has been failing upwards for a decade now. I can see him as Microsoft's CEO soon.

 

[Sushi_Combo]

Growth is a good thing what is bad about growth in an industry.

It's unsustainable to expect constant growth.

 

[simpatico]

Big disagree. Microsoft business plan is always "take over the entire industry or it's a failure". They have no interest in "make cool stuff and as long as we keep the lights on and turn a tidy profit we're happy".

Phil, we're not all lightswitch brains.

 

[starfire1978]

Greed has degraded everything. Our food has become so cheaply made over need of bloat profit. Games have always been best bang for buck model and now they make them for how much money for less product.

 

[Tomeru]

Nothing of what he's saying is untrue. I mean most of you are big boys here, right? You all own stock either through direct investment or 401Ks.

The industry is going through a downturn and most companies will need to make tough decisions. The hope is that it's just transitional and this will not be a long-term downturn.

The industry going through rough times is not the reason for xbox's situation.

Iits just hypocrisy 99% of the time

What are you tslking about? Phil is literally talking one game and walks another.

 

[TexMex]

The lack of self awareness from a Microsoft executive to blame capitalism for anything is hilarious but expected at this point.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

We had a winning strategy in the first half, but our tools were not ready, and Gen Z turned their backs on us. We made a couple of acquisitions, but I forgot that money is not free, and capitalism is grabbing us by the balls. I would say that we made a good match; we gave our all to the team and fans overall.

Whats happening someone enter the field and is approaching Phil, wait a minute, is the the one and only Tim Dog!!!!

 

[Senua]

Interesting

 

[reinking]

Says the guy that works at Microsoft.

 

[Pelta88]

This, after spending 100 billion on two publishers?

 

[Dane]

The industry going through rough times is not the reason for xbox's situation.



What are you tslking about? Phil is literally talking one game and walks another.

Fun fact, most, if not, all executives are hypocrites.

 

[mitch1971]

Phil just bring back tits and arse and you'll be forgiven.

Also...

whats the story behind that!?