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[Gaiff]

I actually agree with this. If this was Bethesda's only goof/semi-goof (Starfield is not much worse than this), we could put more blame on Microsoft. After Fallout 76 though, it seems like they've lost their way a bit.

Yeah, pretty much. Bethesda just refuses to get on with the times. There's no reason other than that awful engine for Starfield not to be a seamless experience and have better technology than this. I also believe Id helped them with the combat design and gunplay and Starfield is vastly superior to Fallout in that regard so Microsoft did give them full support, including delaying another year.

Microsoft has a lot to be blamed for but Starfield isn't on them. Blame them for the mismanagement of 343 and turning The Coalition, one of their 5 best studios, into a Gears machine but Bethesda was acquired exactly because they're some of the best in the business. They're supposed to be a top 3 dev under Microsoft if not the undisputed number 1.

 

[Jinzo Prime]

Sarah will get ate alive as the top dog of xbox.

She will be the most defended person in the entire gaming industry. People will re-write reality for that woman, mark my words.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

That's only a couple metrics, though.

Oh, sorry, I forgot about OXYGEN.

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

Yeah, definitely.
Lying so deeply is bad and it's ugly when we see it and even worst when we notice it was the plan.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

Oh, sorry, I forgot about OXYGEN.

Excuse me for trying to make an actual point.

 

[Misterhbk]

By every metric we traditionally use to measure the success of a video game console brand, he’s done nothing to actually improve their position in the market.

He's made it so they can hide their failures behind words like engagement and player count. Which I guess has been enough to hold off shareholder anger, but as someone who owned multiple Xbox 360. I couldn’t be further removed from the brand.

Starfield almost brought me back until the reviews showed it wasn’t really something worth a 600 dollar investment.

I don’t think he’ll be around much longer. At some point he has to actually improve things beyond what was accomplished in the past.

 

[Deerock71]

He's sure an easy punching bag when Microsoft's gaming division is down, but I'd manage that just in case the AB deal goes through. Then, he'll be in charge of a division in MS that by itself would be EA-sized by comparison.

 

[Putonahappyface]

This needed a thread? I thought it was obvious!

 

[truth411]

I fully moved away from PC gaming to consoles during the ps360 period for reasons not related to the topic and to be honest I don't have any real nostalgic memories about it. Just a box under my TV that I played 7-8 games per year on it. Now, with XSX is different. After selling Ps5 that is my only console now and even though I barely have any free time, I'm more passionate about gaming than I ever was thanks to discoveries I found on Game Pass. I also love silly stuff like Quick Resume, Fps boost, auto-HDR and so on. I wish they didn't drop the plan of res upscaling xbox one era games and it's a bummer BC updates stopped coming.

That's why it's great to have a choice.

But it's Literally not the best Xbox Console, your free to have your opinion, but the first half of the 360 was objectively better in every way.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Phil Spencer's biggest mistake is allowing incompetent morons like Bonnie Ross, Adam Greenberg and (worst of all) Matt Booty to keep their job. I used to like him as a figurehead, but he has done NOTHING to turn the brand around in terms of sales and marketshare. They prefer to win internet points.

 

[Negotiator101]

"Compared to who?
Jim?
Most definitely not."

Besides releasing consoles that mop the floor with Xbox , how is Jim Ryan actively hurting it? Or, was that the point?

Are you mad?

 

[Victor Omega]

why would anyone, and nintendo isnt everyone, want to be under the Xbox brand when its own CEO cant run the company?

 

[Cyberpunkd]

I don't think so. He's certainly a lightning rod for criticism but that goes with the territory. I actually think he cares about games and is passionate about Xbox, but has his hands tied by a corporate culture that defines success much differently than the average company.

That corporate culture gave him 70bln to buy ABK, he never would have gotten even a fraction of that at a purely game company.
It also doesn’t matter if he is passionate, doesn’t help him succeeding at his job or seems.

 

[GeoramA]

Yes and it's pretty hilarious when he gets exposed.

I hope he runs Xbox forever just for my amusement.

 

[diffusionx]

Maybe you should get a series console and see what your missing before making judgment. The S or X will be fine both excellent consoles in my opinion.

I had Xbox, 360, and One and not only do not have a Series, but have never raelly had any desire to get one. I think that by itself is indicative of how MS has been doing, but I'm not going to drop $500+ just to score some internet argument points.

 

[HeWhoWalks]

Are you mad?

Enlighten me — what would I be mad about?

 

[King Dazzar]

Whist Phil loves to put his foot in his mouth. I'm not sure if its just Phil at fault or Microsoft and Xbox as a whole. i.e I'm not convinced different leadership will win back my trust/like/respect for the brand. One thing is for sure, as someone who pre ordered an XSX for launch. This Xbox generation has been an absolute shit show.

 

[NickFire]

That corporate culture gave him 70bln to buy ABK, he never would have gotten even a fraction of that at a purely game company.
It also doesn’t matter if he is passionate, doesn’t help him succeeding at his job or seems.

Subjectively, I was giving him the benefit of the doubt, assuming he was handcuffed from focusing on great individual games in search of something far bigger to appease the enterprise side of the company.

But after considering the objective reality of the resources he had available to him, I simply cannot argue against you.

 

[Banjo64]

I don't know about that, since he has a cult personality around him. But his replacement is probably Sarah Bond and I doubt she'll be better

Considering she’s part of most of the email chains and comes across as his puppet (and a dunce) I’d say they’re doubly fucked if that’s their route.

 

[Dick Jones]

Phil Spencer's biggest mistake is allowing incompetent morons like Bonnie Ross, Adam Greenberg and (worst of all) Matt Booty to keep their job. I used to like him as a figurehead, but he has done NOTHING to turn the brand around in terms of sales and marketshare. They prefer to win internet points.

Don't tell me they are multiplying

 

[ahtlas7]

Failure starts with leadership and ends with leadership.

 

[tryDEATH]

No, Phil has done a great job. The public's perception of Xbox is much healthier than it was and is only getting better, only in pockets on the internet is he perceived as a failing leader. That perceptiom among a certain group of people is due to their complete lack of understanding of corporate culture and how such institutions work in REAL LIFE. His charisma and approachability as a public figure for MS is one of his main assets as a leader, that in part has played great deal in getting MS to significantly invest into their Xbox/Gaming division with the obvious pending acquisition of ABK. If as some here claim that he's ineffective or even detrimental to a corporation like MS he would not be backed by the CEO of the company.

 

[Banjo64]

Looking at sales, he’s certainly not helping it.

From a personal POV I’ve gone from being an Xbox fan from 2006 until earlier this year and now I never want to buy another Xbox console, game or product in my life and I’m moving from a windows PC to Mac so yeah. Pretty much as disastrous as it gets on a personal level.

This is due to Spencer’s failure to deliver and the ABK situation re-revealing Microsoft’s true and ever prevailing greedy destructive nature.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

If as some here claim that he's ineffective or even detrimental to a corporation like MS he would not be backed by the CEO of the company.

Because CEOs are those infallible figures that can do no wrong?

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Considering she’s part of most of the email chains and comes across as his puppet (and a dunce) I’d say they’re doubly fucked if that’s their route.

I'll take one for the team and unleash my inner sexism to get rid of her if I have to

 

[NickFire]

No, Phil has done a great job. The public's perception of Xbox is much healthier than it was and is only getting better, only in pockets on the internet is he perceived as a failing leader. That perceptiom among a certain group of people is due to their complete lack of understanding of corporate culture and how such institutions work in REAL LIFE. His charisma and approachability as a public figure for MS is one of his main assets as a leader, that in part has played great deal in getting MS to significantly invest into their Xbox/Gaming division with the obvious pending acquisition of ABK. If as some here claim that he's ineffective or even detrimental to a corporation like MS he would not be backed by the CEO of the company.

What makes you say that the public's perception is getting better? The sale figures information we get suggests that is not true.

 

[GHG]

This guy decided it was a good idea to heavily market Redfall while deciding to give zero to Hi Fi Rush.

He doesn't have a clue what he's doing and deserves to fail.

 

[tryDEATH]

Because CEOs are those infallible figures that can do no wrong?

If the CEO is making wrong moves his own position would also be in danger, so unless you're now also claiming the CEO of MS isn't doing his job and supporting Phil could be a death sentence to him by supporting MS largest acquisition ever you're questioning MS as a organization then, which would be insane.

 

[Metnut]

I don’t understand how this guy spends nearly $100 BILLION and has so little to show for it.

 

[Withnail]

The MS board of directors told him to stay humble (spoiler: he didn’t) so they obviously think he needs some oversight. His record is not exactly stellar. I think they only keep him in post because he has a cult following among Xbox fanboys.

 

[Duellist]

Yes and I love it. Fuck Phil, fuck x-box and fuck Microsoft. Fuckers are going to ruin this industry. Only saving grace is by the time those dumbasses accomplish it I will be well out of gaming.

 

[Daneel Elijah]

Yeah, pretty much. Bethesda just refuses to get on with the times. There's no reason other than that awful engine for Starfield not to be a seamless experience and have better technology than this. I also believe Id helped them with the combat design and gunplay and Starfield is vastly superior to Fallout in that regard so Microsoft did give them full support, including delaying another year.

Microsoft has a lot to be blamed for but Starfield isn't on them. Blame them for the mismanagement of 343 and turning The Coalition, one of their 5 best studios, into a Gears machine but Bethesda was acquired exactly because they're some of the best in the business. They're supposed to be a top 3 dev under Microsoft if not the undisputed number 1.

I think that even if they are not to blame they still are ultimately the ones responsible. When Nintendo was making Breath of The Wild, they found out that they were not ready to make a open world game. Their solution: bring in the Xenoblade devs and use their knowlege to make it a GOTY. When Sony was making The last Guardian with the ICO team, they found out that the game was being made at a snail pace. They took the 10 years needed to make it happen. Xbox could have done the same. They choose not to. As for Phil, I think that Microsoft is the problem and that he is just a symptom of their culture.

 

[reinking]

Yes. Not because of the leaks. All that did is expose his "aw shucks, I'm a gamer too" persona is as fake as many people thought it was. He is hurting the brand because he is focused on the wrong thing. He still doesn't seem to understand that the games and customers should be the focus. The Xbox problem with Phil (and his cast of misfit characters) is they have tried to buy culture instead of creating it. They are still trying to buy their acceptance with the purchase of developers, publishers, fans and paid influencers. They could be great if they actually did focus on the stuff that they pretend to focus on.

 

[tryDEATH]

What makes you say that the public's perception is getting better? The sale figures information we get suggests that is not true.

Sale's figures aren't the only thing you go off. He has done plenty of positive things to improve Xbox's perception from giving gamers a cheaper option with the Series S to supporting backwards compatibility, cross play on the beginning, the adaptive controller and creating GamePass, which is the best gaming deal out there. These are all things that have contributed to a better perception of Xbox/MS. The actual public will even see the ABK aqusition as possitive as GamePass will be an even better deal and casual Nintendo fans will attribute Xbox/MS for bringing them more ABK games. What hardcore gamers percive and what the public percives are two completely different things and as a corperation they're more concerned about the public, which Phil has aced.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

I still recommend a Series X just for back-compat classics which are mind-blowing on the X.

Man, how rich are people to suggest dropping over $700 CAD just to play Xbox 360 games? Goddamn.

 

[Gaiff]

I think that even if they are not to blame they still are ultimately the ones responsible. When Nintendo was making Breath of The Wild, they found out that they were not ready to make a open world game. Their solution: bring in the Xenoblade devs and use their knowlege to make it a GOTY. When Sony was making The last Guardian with the ICO team, they found out that the game was being made at a snail pace. They took the 10 years needed to make it happen. Xbox could have done the same. They choose not to. As for Phil, I think that Microsoft is the problem and that he is just a symptom of their culture.

Bethesda should have figured this out. Who at Microsoft could just go in there and tell the guys at Bethesda how it's done? Your example actually validates this since Nintendo themselves saw that they didn't have the chops to do an open-world and brought in people with open-world experience. Bethesda or Microsoft figured they could use some help at designing combat/gunplay and brought in Id who are masters at that.

The open-world is supposed to be Bethesda's specialty. If they fumble the ball on what they're supposed to be the masters of, who are you supposed to call to help them?

 

[Robb]

Not really. Maybe for you or me in our gaming-bubble, but the general public have no idea who he is and probably haven’t ever seen him. Same with Jim Ryan and Shuntaro Furukawa.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Sale's figures aren't the only thing you go off. He has done plenty of positive things to improve Xbox's perception from giving gamers a cheaper option with the Series S to supporting backwards compatibility, cross play on the beginning, the adaptive controller and creating GamePass, which is the best gaming deal out there. These are all things that have contributed to a better perception of Xbox/MS. The actual public will even see the ABK aqusition as possitive as GamePass will be an even better deal and casual Nintendo fans will attribute Xbox/MS for bringing them more ABK games. What hardcore gamers percive and what the public percives are two completely different things and as a corperation they're more concerned about the public, which Phil has aced.

And all of these should result in higher sales figures. It’s why you are in business, not running a charity.

 

[Spyxos]

Why are people here so fixated on Phil Spencer and Jim Rayn? Before I started reading here, I never heard of them and so do most players.

 

[Virex]

I'll take one for the team and unleash my inner sexism to get rid of her if I have to

We can join forces. I take sexism very serious and pracitice it as much as I possibly can. It's a way of life for me right now.

 

[Kdad]

The head of Xbox (past and present) seem to think they need to be Steve Jobs out as the pitchman (Sony used to do this too). It needs to stop, you don't need to be a human mascot (thats what hes good at) you need to manage (what he is not good at).

As a MS shareholder, clean house, get to work, get quiet. Let Satya talk about xbox as a product at his events.

 

[hinch7]

Hes shown us time and time again that he is clueless and can't judge what makes good quality games from not; see Redfall and Halo Infinite. And no idea how to manage Xbox and their studios.. more that just buy out more studio's and developers. And then you look at the leaks and you can't help but feel a bit of second hand embarrasment.

The only good thing is that with their focus of multiplatform releases.. and as mostly someone who games on PC its been fine on my end. MS games usually release on Steam and don't use Denuevo which is good considering how fecked PC ports are these days. Otherwise for consoles alone, there's no reason for me to own an Xbox whatsoever.

 

[reinking]

For those saying most people do not know who Phil Spencer is, it does not matter. "Most people" are not going to care about what leaks happened but at the end of the day, sales show that he is not helping bring Xbox to a point that MS/he is happy with the results. I will say it again, his failure is that he has tried to buy culture instead of creating it. Sure, people don't care to know his name but the market is proving that many don't care to know his products either. He is hurting Xbox and will continue to do so as long as they rely on an echo chamber of paid "customers" instead of actually listening to what the market wants.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

We can join forces. I take sexism very serious and pracitice it as much as I possibly can. It's a way of life for me right now.

My brother. Do you want to trade wives for the day? Getting bored of hitting mine

 

[Unknown?]

Phil Spencer living rent free at Gaf

Yeah all those, "I believe in Phil" shill threads are annoying.

 

[Solidus_T]

Don't worry, Bobby Kotick will promote himself to head of Xbox at some point.

The natural evolution of leadership at Xbox - getting someone even slimier. That being said, it would be best for that deal to not go through.

 

[Arsic]

I liked Phil and gave him the benefit of the doubt until this year.

He is a giga moron and needs to go. The guy thinks making good games isn’t enough to compete. Which is so wrong because games sell consoles. It’s why I got my PS5 and Switch.

When you constantly put out nothing or mediocrity like RedFall and Infinite, what do you think will happen to sales?

Xbox 360 was peak gaming. Everyone I knew had one and would buy them again despite red ring of death.

Under Phil I got gamepass pc which is an amazing value.

But I’m also under the impression he is going to allow for more RedFall tier products to shovel out under him. I think stalker 2 is on the path to be the next big stinker under him and I’m now wary of hell blade 2…

 

[DeepEnigma]

Phil Spencer living rent free at Gaf

It's not "rent free" when he's constantly in the headlines, ya dunce.

 

[ElCasual]

No more than Jim Ryan.

 

[SirTerry-T]

Not as much as that Bernoulli fella!