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IGN: Phil Spencer on The Future of Xbox, including Game Pass, Xbox Games Studios and Project Scarlett.

Don Mattrick is used as a scapegoat for Xbox as a whole. The truth is he still has had far more success leading Xbox during the 360 days (following the original Xbox which sold almost nothing), than Phil Spencer ever has.

Funny, how Xbox fans never complained about Don Mattrick until after he left and Spencer came on.

Spencer is better at speaking. That's it. The Xbox library hasn't gotten better since he took over. It has actually continued to go downhill. The guy is a Snake Oil salesman.

If you didn’t see people complaining about the leadership at Xbox during the end of the 360 era when they went all in on Kinect, or the start of this gen with all the TVTVTV stuff then you simply weren’t looking 🤷‍♂️

The Xbox game library is certainly in a better spot than it was since Kinect launched on 360 and MS began acting like core games were an afterthought on their platform.
 

ethomaz

Banned
Don Mattrick is used as a scapegoat for Xbox as a whole. The truth is he still has had far more success leading Xbox during the 360 days (following the original Xbox which sold almost nothing), than Phil Spencer ever has.

Funny, how Xbox fans never complained about Don Mattrick until after he left and Spencer came on.

Spencer is better at speaking. That's it. The Xbox library hasn't gotten better since he took over. It has actually continued to go downhill. The guy is a Snake Oil salesman.
Some truth here.

I somehow missed your post butif you look the story that last decade you will probably reach the same conclusion.

Phil really knows to talk well but in action terms he did way less than Mattrik yet.

Let’s hope he can change that meme from him.
 
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quest

Not Banned from OT
Some truth here.

I somehow missed your post butif you look the story that last decade you will probably reach the same conclusion.

Phil really knows to talk well but in action terms he did way less than Mattrik yet.

Let’s hope he can change that meme from him.
Phil's judgement will come in a few years after the series X hardware is revealed and we see the results from oblivion, ninja theory, inexile, second play ground team. Did he give those solid to good studios the creative freedom and financial support needed to grow. That will be were rubber meets the road. I see these studios as the ones that could and should grow into pillars of the division especially oblivion. He better not screw oblivion up. The initiative to be honest you throw a ton of talent and money like that it usually back fires to many cooks in kitchen as they say. Hardware sounds promising we will see if the first games up hellblade 2 and the secret fable project live to the billing.
 
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DanielsM

Banned
Phil's judgement will come in a few years after the series X hardware is revealed and we see the results from oblivion, ninja theory, inexile, second play ground team. Did he give those solid to good studios the creative freedom and financial support needed to grow. That will be were rubber meets the road. I see these studios as the ones that could and should grow into pillars of the division especially oblivion. He better not screw oblivion up. The initiative to be honest you throw a ton of talent and money like that it usually back fires to many cooks in kitchen as they say. Hardware sounds promising we will see if the first games up hellblade 2 and the secret fable project live to the billing.

Phil will probably have to tell everyone, 'last person out turn off the lights', if he doesn't get services revenue up big.... I have my doubts, come back in 3 years.
 

pr0cs

Member
The initiative to be honest you throw a ton of talent and money like that it usually back fires to many cooks in kitchen as they say
Yep, it takes time to grow a cohesive team, it can't really be bought.
Tbh I am most excited to see what playground does next. Clearly they are firing on all cylinders since Forza horizon has turned out so great, can they still use that skill and teamwork to rebuild fable. Exciting stuff
 

ZombieTech

Neo Member
Sorry to hijack or derail but can't make threads yet.

Having an issue with Game Pass; got another XBox One S for the missus so she could play games with me from the other room, like she (we) wanted.

Did everything I've read as far as I'm aware.

- My account has several months worth of Game Pass Ultimate.
- I turned off Home console on mine.
- Using my account on hers, I set it to Home console.
- Logged back into mine with her logged into hers.

Results:
- She can access my bought games
- ...access my gold games
- ...even play the game pass games that I downloaded for her while signed in.

ISSUE:
- When she peruses Game Pass, she never gets option to download, just option to join Game Pass, which when clicked will go all the way through to payment options like it's not registering the currently active GPU account privileges. (So if she ever wants to DL anything from Game Pass, she has to log into my account.)

NOTES:
- Both accounts are adult (non-kid) unrestricted accounts.
- Thinking sharing would work I applied the Gold and EA Access codes that came with new console to my account.
- Weirdly, when she loads up the Game Pass games that I DLed for her while I was logged in, the Game Pass logo actually DOESN'T show in the corner of the splash screen (if that could hint at anything).

Is there something I'm missing or is this a known GPU bug? :-/
 
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Humdinger

Member
Phil's judgement will come in a few years after the series X hardware is revealed and we see the results from oblivion, ninja theory, inexile, second play ground team. Did he give those solid to good studios the creative freedom and financial support needed to grow. That will be were rubber meets the road. I see these studios as the ones that could and should grow into pillars of the division especially oblivion. He better not screw oblivion up. The initiative to be honest you throw a ton of talent and money like that it usually back fires to many cooks in kitchen as they say. Hardware sounds promising we will see if the first games up hellblade 2 and the secret fable project live to the billing.

It's Obsidian, not Oblivion.
 
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Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
Spencer is better at speaking. That's it. The Xbox library hasn't gotten better since he took over. It has actually continued to go downhill. The guy is a Snake Oil salesman.
How quickly do you reasonably think a giant like Xbox can be turned around? He's only been in charge for two years and most of that had to be spent correcting the mess that was Xbox One. I think it was a huge turnaround for the time he has had and what he started with.
 
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Nikana

Go Go Neo Rangers!
Some truth here.

I somehow missed your post butif you look the story that last decade you will probably reach the same conclusion.

Phil really knows to talk well but in action terms he did way less than Mattrik yet.

Let’s hope he can change that meme from him.

He's completely pivoted the Xbox brand and made it cohesive with microsohfts vision as a company....how's that way less?
 
Some truth here.

I somehow missed your post butif you look the story that last decade you will probably reach the same conclusion.

Phil really knows to talk well but in action terms he did way less than Mattrik yet.

Let’s hope he can change that meme from him.
Meanwhile, how many Studios closed because of Mattrick? Phil's turned the ship around and invested in content and hardware. Mattrick was turning the Xbox into a 3rd party machine.
 

Vawn

Banned
How quickly do you reasonably think a giant like Xbox can be turned around? He's only been in charge for two years and most of that had to be spent correcting the mess that was Xbox One. I think it was a huge turnaround for the time he has had and what he stared with.

Two years? He was promoted in 2014. That's nearly six years.

He's been touting "just wait until next year for the games" ever since.
 
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quest

Not Banned from OT
It's Obsidian, not Oblivion.
Stupid galaxy and not paying attention
Two years? He was promoted in 2014. That's nearly six years.
It was not until the last 18 months he got the capital to really do anything. There was not much he could do with out the capital and resources. He did things on the cheap like backwards compatibility and play anywhere. Once he got capital he went on s studio spending spree which was the only true solution out of this more studios to pump out games. The question remains if said studios will get the freedom to succeed or not. We seen in the past that has not by the case but I'm willing to see what he does as boss.
 

DanielsM

Banned
Stupid galaxy and not paying attention

It was not until the last 18 months he got the capital to really do anything. There was not much he could do with out the capital and resources. He did things on the cheap like backwards compatibility and play anywhere. Once he got capital he went on s studio spending spree which was the only true solution out of this more studios to pump out games. The question remains if said studios will get the freedom to succeed or not. We seen in the past that has not by the case but I'm willing to see what he does as boss.

Than you don't make promises you can't keep that's the definition of snake oil salesman. :messenger_tears_of_joy: So, basically you are confirming that he had virtually no chance of turning it around, yet said he was making games. He also back-stabbed all the Kinect users, and kept saying that wasn't going away... 2 years later... poof gone. He also said over a year ago he would fix the fucking broken ass Windows Store, instead what they did was make a new fucking client client for Game Pass bullshit. All they do is just move on to new software without fixing the existing software this has been going on since 2007 and Games for Windows Live bullshit.

What he sold to Nadella is the real snake oil i.e. services. So, he convinced Uncle Nadella to give him money which he spent on mostly AA/indie studios other than playground, and he convinced him that somehow people are going to pay $10-20 bucks a month for that, its just not going to happen, imo, time will tell.

what he does as boss.

He's been the boss longer than Donny was. :messenger_tears_of_joy: Heck, I don't even dislike the guy... I mean he seems like that guy that in high school that would screw a person's sister and come over the next day to rub their nose in it with that grin.... but he's a likable little guy. What Microsoft does in the consumer market is catch on to the latest fad, jump on the bandwagon way too late, can't really compete.... eventually ditch the thing they were chasing and move onto the next fad which they are late with.

Xbox Plastic no thank you
Xbox Services probably no thank you
Xbox Microsoft as Middleman no thank you
Microsoft Published and developed game maybe if they improve the quality and make games I'm interested in and deploy to my platform of choice

Don't get me wrong, the early days of Xbox were awesome, imo, say 2001-2008, those days are long gone. Right now Microsoft is about services, which to me is a tough go in gaming, generally speaking.
 
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ethomaz

Banned
He's completely pivoted the Xbox brand and made it cohesive with microsohfts vision as a company....how's that way less?
Where are the results? There is nothing until now... so what exactly Phil did?

Meanwhile, how many Studios closed because of Mattrick? Phil's turned the ship around and invested in content and hardware. Mattrick was turning the Xbox into a 3rd party machine.
Phil is turned the Xbox into a 3rd party machine.
Which ship was turned around?
 
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Nikana

Go Go Neo Rangers!
Where are the results? There is nothing until now... so what exactly Phil did?

The results are in the brand itself. It was on its death bed and its now no longer a subject of ridicule and jokes. Microsoft has spent a lot of money recently and this is due to Phil's leadership and experience in this industry. By no means is it a home run yet considering they are now entering the phase of their investment to start showing results in the next few years. It could still turn out horrible if they investments in these studios don't pan out. But as a gamer people should be very excited that a company is putting this much time, money, and effort into this industry,

If you think Mattrick would of had the inclination to do what Phil is doing you are vastly misinformed.
 
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DanielsM

Banned
Where are the results? There is nothing until now... so what exactly Phil did?


Phil is turned the Xbox into a 3rd party machine.
Which ship was turned around?

They didn't turn the ship around, they're transforming the ship into a submarine. Its just the people that bought a ticket for passage refuse to believe it that they no longer have a window view.

Digital transformation.

If you go to Microsoft information sites like I do over there years, people refuse to believe what is right in front of their eyes.... they are so ingrained in a strange corporatism that you can't even speak to them rationally. You tell them, these consumer products (x,y, and z) are eventually going to get the axe and why they will most probably get the axe.. they'll attack you. Eventually the inevitable happens, and they keep attacking and just move on to the next product scheduled for abandonment. :messenger_tears_of_joy: (I am not saying they will abandon Xbox just yet, on the contrary they are trying to change it, but I also don't think they even know what they are changing it into)
 
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Nikana

Go Go Neo Rangers!
They didn't turn the ship around, they're transforming the ship into a submarine. Its just the people that bought a ticket for passage refuse to believe it that they no longer have a window view.

Digital transformation.

If you go to Microsoft information sites like I do over there years, people refuse to believe what is right in front of their eyes.... they are so ingrained in a strange corporatism that you can't even speak to them rationally. You tell them, these consumer products (x,y, and z) are eventually going to get the axe and why they will most probably get the axe.. they'll attack you. Eventually the inevitable happens, and they keep attacking and just move on to the next product scheduled for abandonment. :messenger_tears_of_joy: (I am not saying they will abandon Xbox just yet, on the contrary they are trying to change it, but I also don't think they even know what they are changing it into)

Seems pretty clear what they are changing it into. Its becoming a service just like everything else in their portfolio. You love to go around talking about all of the products they gave up on but never seems to acknowledge a single good thing they have done. Ever.

Name a company that hasn't pivoted their strategy or product lines and are still around today. I'll wait.
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
Two years? He was promoted in 2014. That's nearly six years.

He's been touting "just wait until next year for the games" ever since.
He was promoted to head of Xbox in September of 2017.
 

DanielsM

Banned
He was promoted to head of Xbox in September of 2017.


He was basically put in sudo charge after Donny left, he took over officially in 2014.... more or less 6-7 years.


Again, I don't blame him for anything, I mean if it wasn't for him selling Uncle Nadella a bill of goods, all those gamers wouldn't even be able to download their Xbox games - it clearly was on the axe list. So... Phil sold snake oil to the gamers, and he sold a bill of goods to Nadella, perfection... he makes it to retirement or close enough.
 
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Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
He was promoted to Head of Xbox in 2014 but he was promoted to Microsoft Leadership group in 2017. Basically given much more free reign and say so in Microsoft in general as a company and their strategies.
He reported to Terry Myerson as Xbox was part of the OS group until it was made its own division and Phil was put at it's head in 2017. Up until then, Xbox was hamstrung and an afterthought at MS. I don't consider Phil to have had actual control until that point.
 
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Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
He reported to Terry Myerson as Xbox was part of the OS group until it was made its own division and Phil was put at it's head in 2017. Up until then, Xbox was hamstrung and an afterthought at MS. I don't consider Phil to have had actual control until that point.

Neither did Don Mattrick then? Nor the previous head of Xbox Game Studios?
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
Neither did Don Mattrick then? Nor the previous head of Xbox Game Studios?
By the time Mattrick left, MS was looking to sell off Xbox which was relegated to a broom closet somewhere. Phil was placed in charge to act as hospice to be the dying brand while MS either found a buyer or it just quietly died off completely. Somehow, he instead convinced Satya to make Xbox its own division and promote him as its head to senior leadership. Since then, the Xbox brand has come a hell of a long way from the depths of Oblivion.

He managed to salvage Xbox One as best as could be expected after it's horrendous launch. Brought back pride to the brand with the Xbox One X. Disrupted the industry with the amazing service that is Game Pass. And brought in a large stable of top tier first party studios for the next gen.

Downplay it all you want, but the man has done an incredible job when all the cards were stacked against him.
 
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Psykodad

Banned
By the time Mattrick left, MS was looking to sell off Xbox which was relegated to a broom closet somewhere. Phil was placed in charge to act as hospice to be the dying brand while MS either found a buyer or it just quietly died off completely. Somehow, he instead convinced Satya to make Xbox its own division and promote him as its head to senior leadership. Since then, the Xbox brand has come a hell of a long way from the depths of Oblivion.

He managed to salvage Xbox One as best as could be expected after it's horrendous launch. Brought back pride to the brand with the Xbox One X. Disrupted the industry with the amazing service that is Game Pass. And brought in a large stable of top tier first party studios for the next gen.

Downplay it all you want, but the man has done an incredible job when all the cards were stacked against him.
Most of it is PR spinning, he then also pushes Gamepass and xCloud, which are continuations of Mattrick's original Xbone plans.
After all, MS always stood behind the concept, their official statements were "we were too soon".

No idea how people think that's a good thing this time.
He didn't change much at all, just the way they go about it.
 
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Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
By the time Mattrick left, MS was looking to sell off Xbox which was relegated to a broom closet somewhere. Phil was placed in charge to act as hospice to be the dying brand while MS either found a buyer or it just quietly died off completely. Somehow, he instead convinced Satya to make Xbox its own division and promote him as its head to senior leadership. Since then, the Xbox brand has come a hell of a long way from the depths of Oblivion.

He managed to salvage Xbox One as best as could be expected after it's horrendous launch. Brought back pride to the brand with the Xbox One X. Disrupted the industry with the amazing service that is Game Pass. And brought in a large stable of top tier first party studios for the next gen.

Downplay it all you want, but the man has done an incredible job when all the cards were stacked against him.

Phil was head of Xbox Game Studios, but it was all Mattrick’s fault for the game output and for everything else, Phil takes Mattrick’s job, but now he is powerless because “reasons”, rallies against gamers exclusion with crossplay-gate but he is more than happy with timed exclusives/parity clauses (“just talk to us...”) and it was not even many years since Xbox group was parroting the “no cross play to protect LIVE’s quality”, Xcloud as gaming everywhere on any device where gamers are... as long as it is not on PlayStation, etc...

Phil is doing a good job overall, but he is treated as a bigger and more perfect figure than Jesus and a Buddha put together and that also does border on the annoying as well as the factually incorrect.
 

Psykodad

Banned
Phil was head of Xbox Game Studios, but it was all Mattrick’s fault for the game output and for everything else, Phil takes Mattrick’s job, but now he is powerless because “reasons”, rallies against gamers exclusion with crossplay-gate but he is more than happy with timed exclusives/parity clauses (“just talk to us...”) and it was not even many years since Xbox group was parroting the “no cross play to protect LIVE’s quality”, Xcloud as gaming everywhere on any device where gamers are... as long as it is not on PlayStation, etc...

Phil is doing a good job overall, but he is treated as a bigger and more perfect figure than Jesus and a Buddha put together and that also does border on the annoying as well as the factually incorrect.
That's also something that's contradictory.

Phil has been bragging about how open Xbox is towards cross-platform play for months, yet it wasn't until last month that they opened up towards crossplay for FFXIV (and it's release is sometime in 2020).

If they were truly that pro-consumer, they would've gotten FFXIV way sooner instead of just trying to appear that way. Lol
 

Nikana

Go Go Neo Rangers!
Most of it is PR spinning, he then also pushes Gamepass and xCloud, which are continuations of Mattrick's original Xbone plans.
After all, MS always stood behind the concept, their official statements were "we were too soon".

No idea how people think that's a good thing this time.
He didn't change much at all, just the way they go about it.

Game Pass was not an idea of Matrick. You're making shit up.
 

Nikana

Go Go Neo Rangers!
You want to argue that the focus on streaming is different from always online DRM as Xbone was supposed to be like?

Especially since MS stated they were merely too soon with it?

the infrastructure is very different. You "could" try to to argue xcloud is a continuation but comparing streaming a game vs a license check as the same thing is preposterous.

And I was talking about your game pass argument. Never said anything about xcloud.
 
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Psykodad

Banned
Fully agree here. The two aren't the same.
the infrastructure is very different. You "could" try to to argue xcloud is a continuation but comparing streaming a game vs a license check as the same thing is preposterous.

And I was talking about your game pass argument. Never said anything about xcloud.
Ofcourse they aren't the same, but ultimately it comes down to the same thing.

No more offline games. No way to play singleplayer games without internet.

That's why I said they merely take a different approach and we are already conditioned to be more accepting to it.
So if it succeeds, Mattrick actually has the last laugh.
Spencer is just a replacement, nothing more.

Btw, I was talking about the required always online concept, not Gamepass itself.
 
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Nikana

Go Go Neo Rangers!
Ofcourse they aren't the same, but ultimately it comes down to the same thing.

No more offline games. No way to play singleplayer games without internet.

That's why I said they merely take a different approach and we are already conditioned to be more accepting to it.
So if it succeeds, Mattrick actually has the last laugh.
Spencer is just a replacement, nothing more.

Accepting it? Nobody is forcing you to do anything and last time I checked you can still buy discs of Microsoft games.

You agenda is a bit ridiculous.
 

Psykodad

Banned
Accepting it? Nobody is forcing you to do anything and last time I checked you can still buy discs of Microsoft games.

You agenda is a bit ridiculous.
Think it through a bit more. You're thinking long term.

And obviously nobody is forced, that's why Xbone was a lost cause.
Don't be surprised if the same will happen next gen with XSX and xCloud.
 

Nikana

Go Go Neo Rangers!
Think it through a bit more. You're thinking long term.

And obviously nobody is forced, that's why Xbone was a lost cause.
Don't be surprised if the same will happen next gen with XSX and xCloud.

I have no idea what you're trying to argue at this point.
 
Than you don't make promises you can't keep that's the definition of snake oil salesman. :messenger_tears_of_joy: So, basically you are confirming that he had virtually no chance of turning it around, yet said he was making games. He also back-stabbed all the Kinect users, and kept saying that wasn't going away... 2 years later... poof gone. He also said over a year ago he would fix the fucking broken ass Windows Store, instead what they did was make a new fucking client client for Game Pass bullshit. All they do is just move on to new software without fixing the existing software this has been going on since 2007 and Games for Windows Live bullshit.

What he sold to Nadella is the real snake oil i.e. services. So, he convinced Uncle Nadella to give him money which he spent on mostly AA/indie studios other than playground, and he convinced him that somehow people are going to pay $10-20 bucks a month for that, its just not going to happen, imo, time will tell.



He's been the boss longer than Donny was. :messenger_tears_of_joy: Heck, I don't even dislike the guy... I mean he seems like that guy that in high school that would screw a person's sister and come over the next day to rub their nose in it with that grin.... but he's a likable little guy. What Microsoft does in the consumer market is catch on to the latest fad, jump on the bandwagon way too late, can't really compete.... eventually ditch the thing they were chasing and move onto the next fad which they are late with.

Xbox Plastic no thank you
Xbox Services probably no thank you
Xbox Microsoft as Middleman no thank you
Microsoft Published and developed game maybe if they improve the quality and make games I'm interested in and deploy to my platform of choice

Don't get me wrong, the early days of Xbox were awesome, imo, say 2001-2008, those days are long gone. Right now Microsoft is about services, which to me is a tough go in gaming, generally speaking.
You make it your mission to fan the flames of this pointless and negative console war. It's a shame, it's always the same few names.
 
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