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GameSpot: Seven Years In, Phil Spencer Has Succeeded Immensely In Helping Xbox Turn Things Around

We’ve been hearing that story for years already. They need to deliver the first party games, now. Has any console in history launched with the first entire year having zero first party exclusives? How can anyone be proud of that?
Isn't this a bit of a self own considering the ps5 didn't launch anything either outside of a remake of demons souls? Are you proud of that? It also hasn't been a year yet.
 

Nubulax

Member
Good with PR and making the xbox ecosystem look seamless but still no games really that make me want to get an xbox so idk I wouldn't say things are fully swinging up for Xbox just yet

This... I had an original XBOX but aside from that all Playstation systems plus WII-U and Switch but there just hasnt been anything in the last 7 years for me to even want to get into the XBOX ecosystem. Ive been waiting for a few killer games that are ONLY on XBOX for me to dive in like Halo originally was. I cant believe they didnt sink with how horrible the Xbox One was. Gears 5 and Forza are the only notable titles I can even think of.
 

LordCBH

Member
The only thing left to actually turn around is Xbox Studios lackluster output. I hope they can do it because they have a wealth of IP’s I’d love to see get new, great titles. I eagerly await to see more of Obsidians new title.
 

RyRy93

Member
Game pass is cool but when was the last time an Xbox first party title was even in contention for GOTY? Not good enough after 7 years and counting.
 
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skit_data

Member
Isn't this a bit of a self own considering the ps5 didn't launch anything either outside of a remake of demons souls? Are you proud of that? It also hasn't been a year yet.
You dont play Souls games do you? I bought the original for my PS3 early last year and in some ways it shares more mechanics with Dark Souls 3 than the first Dark Souls does. Slap on a major graphical overhaul and some QoL-improvements and it couldve been made this year by From Software without anyone questioning its relevancy.
 
Phil is great. I would say if it wasn’t for COVID we would have seen his plans for exclusives start to roll out this year. I think by end of 2022 we will see a much larger array of exclusive games launched. (pc and Xbox)

For sure I think by end of 2022 we'll have *something* tangible but I think covid moved the 2 year take off pace of new console launches to 3 years. 2023 will be the year of next gen, 2022 will be a warm up and 2021 will be mostly part of the slow and steady cross gen era.
 

The_Mike

I cry about SonyGaf from my chair in Redmond, WA
Seven years is a long time. I haven't seen the game drought end yet, just seven years of, "soon". Seven years is longer than even the most ambitious AAA game development time, so I feel like the "give him time" duration has run its course.
The Last Guardian took over 8 years.
 

Aion002

Member
Game pass is incredible and probably the best subscription service available on video games, as someone who wouldn't even think about getting a new Xbox, after impulse buying a Series S, I am seriously considering buying their possible eventual mid gen Series X Upgrade.

I just hope that the first party line up can deliver good games! Anyway, I am convinced that his vision for Xbox might turn out to be excellent. So, after being extremely skeptical about Xbox...
possible angels in the outfield GIF


And I am in!
 

Nubulax

Member
Sony released a DLC that was made for Spiderman on PS4 pro. Other than that- what's Sony released to be excited for? You're hold Xbox to have higher standards and yet Sony gets a pass huh? Medium free on game pass too.

I mean they did release FF7 remake, Last of us 2 and Ghosts all within the past year along with MM and DS for PS5 so....
 

sainraja

Member
I definitely agree that Phil Spencer has done a lot to right the ship and position it so it can have a strong future. There is no doubt about that.
 
Every game coming to Xbox hits PC. So you are saying they have no exclusive games at all like many others mistakenly do? Not everyone has a gaming PC. Not everyone prefers PC gaming. The PC is not in competition with the Xbox and people making that comparison aren't making a sincere argument.
It matters where it launches first, if PC game is ported to PS5 doesn't make it launch exclusive for PS5.
 
No he has not and anyone who believes otherwise is fooling themselves.

Spencer and Mattrick are both clueless suits and I don't care about but but but Phil wore a gamer T shirt. No gamer would have allowed Halo to get in that state, let alone think it was acceptable to show the public.

Spencer is a mouth piece and has missed on what makes the xbox great; unique innovative games backed up by a strong staple of exclusives.

Name me the new exclusives started since the end of the xbox 360 generation. Then take a look at the games created in the same amount of time between the launch of the OG xbox and the end of the 360.

Allard and Moore are the only Xbox Heads that have understand their own console, market and demographic.

It's a shame how far off of course the xbox division has come and its a real Goddamned shame that 'fans' keep celebrating Microsofts mediocrity.

You're free to disagree all you want, because frankly, I've heard all the bullshit before from xbox 'fans'. Be it with Kinect, the lack of games, the xbox one, the lack of exclusives or the lack of innovation that once made Xbox the greatest games console ever made, backed up with legendary games.

Phil Spencer should have been fired years ago
Finally someone gets it.

If Moore and Allard were brought back today I'd genuinely say PS has a huge fight on their hands. These guys had the Xbox division firing on all cylinders during the Xbox 360 Era.
What a fucking awesome console that was.
 

longdi

Banned
I also find it a bit ironic that if you cast your mind back to what the media messaging was at the start of the last gen, you'll recall how bullish everyone was on Xbox's fortunes and how Sony had no chance despite getting off to a strong start.

Not saying that history is or isn't going to repeat itself, just that I find it interesting that Phil's being praised for "turning things around" when for most of, if not all of last gen, noone wanted to admit that Xbox had a problem!

nonsense!

The gaming media was calling for blood of Xbox last gen.
gaming community was making lol gifs against Xbox.
Phil saved the shit.

remember this interview, i never seen such rage from Doritos..
 

Riky

$MSFT
Every game coming to Xbox hits PC. So you are saying they have no exclusive games at all like many others mistakenly do? Not everyone has a gaming PC. Not everyone prefers PC gaming. The PC is not in competition with the Xbox and people making that comparison aren't making a sincere argument.

Us poor Xbox gamers getting the PC version for free as well with cross save compatibility, what a blow.
 

Kokoloko85

Member
Considering Gamepass isnt making a profit.

Stil hasn’t been that many great games/exclusives on Xbox compared to Nintendo and Playstation.
Yes Ori, gears, sea of thieves and forza are great but its nowhere near the early years of xbox og and 360.

And sales are behind Xbox 1, I dont see how he’s changed things around.
Phil has alot of hype but meh
 
Sony’s first year for exclusive ps5 games is demons souls, returnal, and ratchet and clank if I remember right, and even more that are ps4/ps5 exclusive too. Didn’t MS even say that their exclusives are going to be on last gen consoles as well for the next few years, yet Sony is always criticized for having a ps5 game on PS4? Hard argument to make that Microsoft is in a better position this year yet people try to claim it all the time. And games on game pass aren’t free, it’s a paid service.
Jim Ryan was the one who stated resoundingly at the PS5 launch that he "believes in generations", so most people took that to mean all those games you mentioned would ONLY be available on PS5 and not be hampered by old technology. We now know it was a lie, so that's why he and PlayStation received so much flak.
 

Mmnow

Member
The thing is he doesn’t even say it isn’t making a profit in that old interview, he says it isn’t making much profit, which implies it is profitable, and that was with nearly half the subscribers they have now.
Doesn't he say something like "not a huge profit play"?

It can mean what you want it to mean, as we've seen here, but in context he was talking about sacrificing some amount of potential profit today in order to build value.

Not exactly the "IT DOESN'T MAKE MONEY" people have twisted it into.
 

Kokoloko85

Member
No they wouldn't.

So your source is "I don't have the information, so I'm gonna make it up."
My source is Aaron Greenberg said its not very profitbable....

Considering how much they spend, theres still no proof anything has changed.

MS has the money to spend spend spend, doesnt mean they are making great money back from it yet.
If your not a rich company like MS Or Google, Amazon etc, I doubt its a great model atm.
 
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SegaShack

Member
I want to like Phil, bought an Xbox One in 2013 and by 2014 every good exclusive had already been released for the system. I think he's good at talking things up but never actually delivers.

The 360 and OG Xbox had a much better library than XB1. He always talks about a focus on games with nothing to show for it.
 
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Mmnow

Member
My source is Aaron Greenberg said its not very profitbable....
No he didn't, and that article that you're misquoting is 10 months old. There are millions more subscribers than there were then.
Considering how much they spend, theres still no proof anything has changed.
How much do they spend?


MS has the money to spend spend spend, doesnt mean they are making great money back from it yet.
True. It also doesn't mean they aren't making money. If that's your claim, you need to be able to prove it.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
nonsense!

The gaming media was calling for blood of Xbox last gen.
gaming community was making lol gifs against Xbox.
Phil saved the shit.

remember this interview, i never seen such rage from Doritos..


Not initially they weren't. Go check the Wayback machine.

Not remember how Titanfall was going to win them the gen out of the gate? How Evolve was going to be the "next big thing" ?

Hell, there were no shortage of apologists saying how "always online" wasn't a problem, and that MS' plans were just a bit too forward thinking to be palatable.

The entire first year was MS making promises about how the Xbox One was going to get more performant with upclocking, updates to DirectX, etc (sound familiar at all?) and receiving no pushback in the media.

Yes MS screwed up badly with the initial reveal, but they'd walked most of it back by launch. What they couldn't fix was that TVTVTV was not what the market wanted, and most of all Kinect was DOA, especially with it adding $100 on the entry price.

It took over a year before it became apparent that they were not going to recover, a year of Sony kinda shrugging about not knowing why the PS4 (and its pretty weak line-up) was selling so strongly, and the media were clueless throughout.
 
This narrative false. Recore, Quantum Break, Ryse, Sunset Overdrive were first party/second party titles, while on THE PS4 was mostly quiet for the first three years.

Sony studios hit the top gear, and you saw titles pushed out. Sony first party content was not great between the year 2013 and 2016.

Bloodbourne was released by a third/second party dev studio. Sony did not own the studio.
Ready at Dawn- Order 1886, same.

In reality Sony success depends on Guerilla games, Sucker Punch, and Naughty dog. Insomnaic will provide backup with Spiderman and other titles.

MS at this stage has 30 something owned studios and does not look the are stopping yet..

Sony got around 15+ owned studios, so the potential is massive for Xbox. Now is about delivering the content for its fanbase.
Why so much shilling and laying? MS has 23 studios, you seems a little kid. Recore, and rise are shit games unless you have very little standards, sunset override is made by a studio owned by Sony lol so your point about bloodborne is invalid. MS is still very distant from Sony and Nintendo, Phil has not proved anything.
 
It matters where it launches first, if PC game is ported to PS5 doesn't make it launch exclusive for PS5.
The comment was there was no 1st party games on the XSX|S at launch. Gears Tactics launched on consoles when XSX|S launched. It was not on console before that. You can move goal posts to score some sort of point but the statement was factually false. Games being on PC doesn't matter especially when talking about Xbox.
 

Chukhopops

Member
Many of this are third party exclusive unlike Sony ones, that's the difference.
It has nothing to do with exclusivity, what matters is that they were published by MS. Minecraft dungeons is an MS published game but is available everywhere for example. Same for Wasteland 3 or Ori.
 

Ten_Fold

Member
He did, the Xbox one SHOULD have picked up where the 360 left off. The series X/S is very good an will have a good future.
 

Kokoloko85

Member
No he didn't, and that article that you're misquoting is 10 months old. There are millions more subscribers than there were then.

How much do they spend?



True. It also doesn't mean they aren't making money. If that's your claim, you need to be able to prove it.

You need to be able to prove that they are making lots of money Too... 10 months or so, still I see no1 discrediting that quote since. No1 from xbox has come out and said now that we have xxxx more subcribers we are making much more money. So prove your claim that Im wrong lol.

So until they say we are making lots of profit of gamepass, then there not.

They just paid MLB for gamepass day 1. That aint free... it costs money. For every game they are putting on gamepass, especially day 1, it costs money.
Spending 7 billion on Bethesda parent company and having there games on gamepass, will cost lots of money.

For every 3rd party game they put on gamepass they will be getting less sales because people will play it on gamepass and not buy it as much, plus they need to pay each studio for it to come on gamepass.

For every 1st party studio game they are making, they are losing potential sales too.
MS has the money to afford this model.

XXX more subcribers, alot of them are like $1 deals
 

quest

Not Banned from OT
All you have to look at is to see how bad it was is all the rats but him jumped ship around the one launch. The first 4 years were a shit job of trying to repair the damage with zero budget. It's not like he took over the house lead Sony juggernaut that the average forum member could lead at this point. He has done great to finally get corporate to spend money to fix the first party studios. Now it's time to wait for Starfield, Avowed , Fable and the rest of the games in development
 

Kokoloko85

Member
Xbox series isnt selling past 55-65 million units. You can quote me in a few years Lol.

Its numbers arent doing better than how Xbox 1 started.
And they are coming into the generation alot weaker than how Xbox 1 came in after 360.
Its not about hate, I liked OG xbox and 360 its just my opinion and I think its gonna do roughly the numbers between xbox 1 and 65 million
 

Stuart360

Member
Xbox series isnt selling past 55-65 million units. You can quote me in a few years Lol.

Its numbers arent doing better than how Xbox 1 started.
And they are coming into the generation alot weaker than how Xbox 1 came in after 360.
Its not about hate, I liked OG xbox and 360 its just my opinion and I think its gonna do roughly the numbers between xbox 1 and 65 million
Interesting. Share the XSX and XSS sales figures then, i'm pretty sure it would be appreciated ona forum like this.
 
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