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Why XBOX lost the war - according to Laura Fryer

Crayon

Member
U want Xbox and gamepass to fight the war, if Xbox withdraws or leaves the console market get ready to get fucked by Sony.
Not saying Sony is the bad guy here but any monopoly will be ultimately bad for consumers.
Nvidia is a great example here when amd fell behind Nvidia has set new standards of fucking us in the ass, graphics cards going as high as 1400 dollars.
There is nothing stopping Sony for charging u 1000 dollars for ps6 if there is no competition

Nah I'm not buying this. Never did. Last month changed things, though. A lot more people got to see what kind of uh.... thought experiments that go on at ms. Simply taking things off the table -including competitors- until they are the only game in town. I'd like to hear an argument that sony could do something anywhere near that damaging in the long term. The way phil himself thinks in those emails is mind-bending and made it so clear why they are bad at this.

Aside from ms' unique ability (we can leave willingness out of it to give ms the underserved benefit of the doubt) to fuck up the industry so bad, sony has valve and nintendo out there with just as many users. None of these 3 are going to sit on their hands and assume and accept that the displaced users will go to sony be default. The idea that ps and xb are destined to be in an eternal struggle like constellations in the sky is downright mythical.
 
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diffusionx

Gold Member
False. All false.

Creating the largest, most impressive suite of in house development talent in the world has been monumental. The falsity you ran into is that you thought it was going to matter for 2021 - 2023 when it was always meant to impact 2025 - 2035.

Many people here are completely ignorant of long term strategy. If it doesn't happen now, it doesn't exist. These companies don't operate like that.

just hold on bros... two more years and it will all be clear...
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
I've been hearing this kind of shit for YEARS!

This is the problem.

You've been listening to what XBox has been saying rather than what they've been doing. If you believed XBox or their fanboys, when they said 2015 was going to be a banner year, then the fault lies with you. You need to learn to distinguish between bogus PR speak and what a company is actually capable of.
 
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RickMasters

Member
Disagree on that one. MS was kicking Sony's arse the first few years of the PS3/360 generation.

Then they kinda...imploded.

Lack of good leadership/team seems kind of obvious in hindsight. The people can make a brand what it is.
I agree. They were a much sharper management team when Peter Moore and jay allard were leading things. After they left it just sort of lost momentum and then it all came to head at the launch of Xbox one.



That was one embarrassing reveal foliwed by an E3 that’s didn’t make a single x360 owner feel better about getting the next Xbox.


And since then they have struggled to just get back on form. And really it’s just an all round lack of common sense on their part. And then the years of empty promises to their customers….. they are lucky I’m still an Xbox owner. They are lucky any of us still are. Least they can do is …. Do better….and they just seem to not get that part right.
 

MacReady13

Member
You've been listening to what XBox has been saying rather than what they've been doing.
So you want me to NOT believe what they say? Microsoft talk up a big game yet haven't delivered. And they won't deliver! They can buy whomever they want, it will NOT shift consoles! People need to get this through their heads- Sony and Nintendo OWN the console space. Microsoft can buy who they want- it will not change a thing!
If the casual gamer knew that Microsoft had purchased all these companies, why the fuck are they not buying up Xbox consoles to play all these wonderful games that will more than likely be exclusive to the Xbox consoles? Instead, they keep buying Playstation 5 consoles when they haven't really said boo about major 1st party upcoming games!
And please explain how Nintendo continue to dominate the console space with a weak console and "only" 1st party games?
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
So you want me to NOT believe what they say?

hug-yay.gif


YES! Be highly skeptical of standard PR speak from people who benefit from selling their product.

Watch what they do instead.
 
This idea that MS absolutely needs a console to sell videogames is simply wrong. They sold games before Xbox and they can sell games after. Lots of companies sell videogames and do fine with it. Now you are making the mistake that GamePass as currently constructed - which is made up of some MS games, but a lot of third party titles they pay huge money for - is the way it has to be, and since that requires a ton of money, they need to figure out ways to generate more revenue. That's wrong, especially when it involves operating in this market that they are really not operating very well in. if the Xbox was more successful and more predictable as a market, you could have something like the printer/printer ink business that HP runs in, but it's not that at all. Would this require a change in their operating model, absolutely, it's huge change, but it's not like MS has not undergone huge changes. Once upon a time Windows was their main moneymaker, now it is basically irrelevant as a revenue generator.

I'm also not convinced that GamePass as is going away would be so horrible. These subscription services are not what everyone thought they would be, except for arguably Netflix, for now.

You continue to make mistakes.

You think Microsoft in the 90s in gaming is the same as Microsoft now.

Microsoft has built up and bought out several studios. Their operating costs are enormous. You don't just transition to selling games on other platforms. You have to drastically readjust your pipeline.

Sega made way more games when they were a platform holder and bigger budget games.

There is a reason why in such a limited window Embracer has started selling off studios and shuttering studios. If they aren't individually making profit, it's hard to justify keeping them or keeping them open.

Microsoft would not sustain it's current size or model without Xbox. It's pretty simple and straight forward. There is a reason why ABK wasn't just out there buying major publishers. There becomes a time when you're introducing more risk and exposure to your business by being over extended.
 
False. All false.

Creating the largest, most impressive suite of in house development talent in the world has been monumental. The falsity you ran into is that you thought it was going to matter for 2021 - 2023 when it was always meant to impact 2025 - 2035...

Many people here are completely ignorant of long term strategy. If it doesn't happen now, it doesn't exist. These companies don't operate like that.
tl/dr: don't buy an xbox series x/s. the big stuff will be coming next gen...
 

Alan Wake

Member
I'm taking a leadership course at work this year and I recognize a lot of what she's saying. She goes after culture and I think that's probably a big part of what went wrong at Xbox. "Culture eats strategy for breakfast", as they say, and I think that's true. You can have visions and a strategy to accomplish that vision but if you have a rotten culture you won't motivate your co-workers to do the job to get there. Absent leaders, a broken feedback loop, wrong people at the wrong posts, all that makes people less motivated.

It's funny, Phil Spencer has always been saying the right things and looking like that admirable boss who cares about people. And maybe that's genuine, I can't know. But if it is then there's something else broken in the culture. Or maybe Xbox has simply been too integrated into the Microsoft system in which it is only a small and not crucial part to the company as a whole (unlike what gaming is for Sony and Nintendo). Being the garage band 20 years ago was certainly challenging but it also gave them a lot of freedom to go do crazy things. Not anymore.
 
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Just trying to speak a little common sense in here. Heck, I'm a PlayStation guy (12+ GAAS) so I don't even know why I'm defending XBox.

Oh wait, yes I do! Because truth matters!
The 'truth' being that people have been stupid for believing Xbox when they have said that the good games were coming for the last decade. But also stupid if you now don't believe that we will be overwhelmed with games from them in this next decade. Is that right?
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
The 'truth' being that people have been stupid for believing Xbox when they have said that the good games were coming for the last decade. But also stupid if you now don't believe that we will be overwhelmed with games from them in this next decade. Is that right?

Wait, lol.

So you're saying you believed XBox from 2010 - 2020, when they were at a severe development disadvantage.

And now that they bought Bethesda and ABK, now you don't believe them?

It does sound like a broken clock being wrong...all the time.
 

SHA

Member
What culture did Sony has? , they bought existing publishers just like ms did except in their earlier years, ms did it much later than that, I think people will understand the situation from a 3rd person point of view, look how the world views ms xbox, localization differences, now, it only gets clear from there, most parents buy for their children a Sony Playstation console, others look for what their friends play their games on, what we're seeing now is a reflection to a quality product from idk, 10, 20 years ago, changing these exact people's minds is difficult, what is actually happening, chasing mobile demographic numbers if they really wanna stay relevant to this day is the next logical step, and it's already happening.
 
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Wait, lol.

So you're saying you believed XBox from 2010 - 2020, when they were at a severe development disadvantage.

And now that they bought Bethesda and ABK, now you don't believe them?

It does sound like a broken clock being wrong...all the time.
How about, they’ve shown their ass for a decade and have shown little aptitude to develop high quality games and it doesn’t even seem to be a priority for them. I don’t really think anything about them except ‘wow have they fallen far since my X360 was the coolest console ever.’ And I can’t remember a more pathetic decade from a platform since then.

My stance since the Xbone was announced has been nothing more or less than “show me the games” and I’m still waiting.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
How about, they’ve shown their ass for a decade and have shown little aptitude to develop high quality games and it doesn’t even seem to be a priority for them. I don’t really think anything about them except ‘wow have they fallen far since my X360 was the coolest console ever.’ And I can’t remember a more pathetic decade from a platform since then.

My stance since the Xbone was announced has been nothing more or less than “show me the games” and I’m still waiting.

I just think it's funny how you believed them when they were a pipsqueak and you don't believe them now that they're an 800lb monster.

It's like GOOD GOD man, know what you're looking at!
 

MacReady13

Member
hug-yay.gif


YES! Be highly skeptical of standard PR speak from people who benefit from selling their product.

Watch what they do instead.
We have been watching. For years. And nothing has changed. And nothing will change. I'll say it again- they can purchase who they desire but it will NOT make a difference in people choosing between a Playstation console, a Nintendo console or an Xbox. They will more than likely buy a Playstation or Nintendo console. These are facts.
 
I just think it's funny how you believed them when they were a pipsqueak and you don't believe them now that they're an 800lb monster.

It's like GOOD GOD man, know what you're looking at!
I didn’t believe them for the last decade…

You however saw the last decade and then decided to do the exact same thing they have been doing (promising that NOW the great games are coming.) curious. Spending billions to get a few popular ip under their umbrella really impresses you I guess.
 

devilNprada

Member
Well, we are in a thread about why Microsoft "lost the war" so sales are important.
The war they really lost was fought in peoples homes... They failed at everything on the home front from Bill Gates "first smart home" to Web TV all the way down to Motorola.
I thought they were on pace to conquer the world in the 90's. A personal laptop was a necessity. His/hers/kids multi Windows laptop families were the norm. Everyone carried one all the time.
When they made the original Age of Empires and Monster Truck Madness, they had no interest in making video games.
Those games existed simply to accent windows in the home market!

Then that damn Apple came out with a smart phone and google comes with every TV and home speaker..... That's the real war they lost.

Now they are just fighting over scraps against two companies that don't even realize they're fighting!
 

killatopak

Member
What culture did Sony has? , they bought existing publishers just like ms did except in their earlier years, ms did it much later than that, I think people will understand the situation from a 3rd person point of view, look how the world views ms xbox, localization differences, now, it only gets clear from there, most parents buy for their children a Sony Playstation console, others look for what their friends play their games on, what we're seeing now is a reflection to a quality product from idk, 10, 20 years ago, changing these exact people's minds is difficult, what is actually happening, chasing mobile demographic numbers if they really wanna stay relevant to this day is the next logical step, and it's already happening.
I can think of a few they have flip flopped over the years.

You can actually see Sony’s roots in hardware and media here. The culture started from there.

They were the easiest console to develop for. Great third party relation. Brought the mature audience to gaming. Cheapest media and largest to store games with the CD. Actually mandated the 3D revolution. Then they started to offer more media options such as the ability to play VCD and music on it via add ons.

They mostly brought it to the PS2 via DVD then went complete bonkers in the PS3 trying to stuff every feature under the sun. They still put media in the forefront by massively subsidizing Bluray as it was actually cheaper than any stand alone bluray player in the market. They fucked their 3rd party relations mostly because of their absurdly complicated console.

PS4 and PS5 is basically the same continuing the previous trend of the PS1 being easy to develop with state of the art cheap media discs. From single layer to double layer to triple layer BDs. Obviously this was before Activision buyout but you can see how their relations with 3rd party was great with along with other promotions and continuing Japanese support despite lower sales in the PS4 era. PS5 is actually surprisingly bouncing back.

Throughout the gens, they have also continued to mess with other ways of playing like Dance pad, Eyetoy, Move, VR1, VR2.

Now the culture of their games was largely coming of the back of their great 3rd party support until the PS3 when they actually had to make one themselves. I think it’s pretty self explanatory how they now demand excellence from the top of the corporation down to the fans. Execs literally grill them to make game that will review really well as a requirement.

Contrast that to MS where they thought Redfall was okay to release and the biggest disappointment in it is that Phil said the score was lower by a dozen points when tested by internal play testers. The game has a 50 metacritic score. Wtf?
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
We have been watching. For years. And nothing has changed. And nothing will change. I'll say it again- they can purchase who they desire but it will NOT make a difference in people choosing between a Playstation console, a Nintendo console or an Xbox. They will more than likely buy a Playstation or Nintendo console. These are facts.

That's not accurate. XBox just bought Bethesda and ABK.

If you think that's standard stuff that XBox has always been doing then how are you posting on NeoGAF?

This is a crazy conversation.
 

MacReady13

Member
That's not accurate. XBox just bought Bethesda and ABK.

If you think that's standard stuff that XBox has always been doing then how are you posting on NeoGAF?

This is a crazy conversation.
Did you read what I just wrote? I said, and I quote "they can purchase who they desire but it will NOT make a difference in people choosing between a Playstation console, a Nintendo console or an Xbox".

Learn to read my friend. I know who Microsoft have purchased but, LIKE I SAID, it will NOT make a difference. People do NOT want to buy Xbox consoles, no matter who Microsoft buys out.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
Did you read what I just wrote? I said, and I quote "they can purchase who they desire but it will NOT make a difference in people choosing between a Playstation console, a Nintendo console or an Xbox".

Learn to read my friend. I know who Microsoft have purchased but, LIKE I SAID, it will NOT make a difference. People do NOT want to buy Xbox consoles, no matter who Microsoft buys out.

Yeah, this is just insane gibberish to me.

People sure wanted to buy XBox consoles during the 360 era. Unless you can tell me what variable changed, I have to place you in the loveable but crazy category at NeoGAF.
 
What a great video! Goes through some serious changes that happened in Microsoft post 360. Change from a meritocracy, leadership never being on site, leadership no longer listening to teams about hiring, hiring from the outside instead of building from within. Also sounds like the loss of Peter Moore was very significant for that team. Crazy to think that less than a decade of poor leadership can totally decimate a brand, but we can see it over and over.
 

Hudo

Member
They've resurrected Age of Empires and are actively investing in the IP. That alone makes them "winners" (whatever the fuck that means) in my book. Meanwhile, Sony let Motorstorm die.
 

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
Master Chief Halo GIF by Xbox
There’s more outgoing support for Xbox these days though, the war with Sony is lost but part of the massive loss was RROD.
 

Humdinger

Member
We need a GAF Xbox bingo card on 'What to blame for any Xbox failure'

So far for spots I have:

Phil Spencer
Don Mattrick (10 years ago)
Bethesda
Lack of Japanese audience/support
Diversity Hires
Acquisitions
Gamepass

What else can we add?

You can probably add:

- Broken feedback loops
- Uncreative corporate culture
- Whoever spearheaded the shift from the standard gamer audience to the casual audience (Kinect) in about 2009 or 2010 (I can't recall who this was).
- Matt Booty
- Xbox fans failing to hold MS accountable
- Whoever hired Don Mattrick, thinking it was a good idea
- Lack of accountability within the division due to the deep pockets of MS, shielding them from normal consequences

I've seen all of those mentioned in the thread. I think they all have merit (except Matt Booty, who I don't think has been in his position long enough to blame; edit: well, maybe he has).
 
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MacReady13

Member
Yeah, this is just insane gibberish to me.

People sure wanted to buy XBox consoles during the 360 era. Unless you can tell me what variable changed, I have to place you in the loveable but crazy category at NeoGAF.
Have a read through some other people's thoughts on what happened about half way through the 360's life to see why people stopped buying Xbox consoles.

I purchased a 360 cause they had the console with the best multi platform games and great 3rd party exclusives PLUS, they had xbox live arcade which was sensational. They completely lost the plot once Kinect arrived and have not recovered since.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
What culture did Sony has? , they bought existing publishers just like ms did except in their earlier years, ms did it much later than that, I think people will understand the situation from a 3rd person point of view, look how the world views ms xbox, localization differences, now, it only gets clear from there, most parents buy for their children a Sony Playstation console, others look for what their friends play their games on, what we're seeing now is a reflection to a quality product from idk, 10, 20 years ago, changing these exact people's minds is difficult, what is actually happening, chasing mobile demographic numbers if they really wanna stay relevant to this day is the next logical step, and it's already happening.
You have to only look at who they promoted. The OG guys from the playstation teams in the 90s were all promoted to either CEO of Playstation or CEO of their respective countries. Thats part of what shes talking about. Instead of promoting her, they brought in someone new. I had a similar thing happen at my work. We got a new CEO who brought in all his buddies and gave made VPs. meanwhile everyone was left holding their dicks, their access to vp and cabinet positions now completely blocked off by people who didnt have anything to do with building the company.

Parents went out and bought the xbox 360 with kinect. Xbox outsold the playstation every single month after the kinect came out in 2011. for a good 3 years straight. I am not buying this excuse that playstation is the only thing parents think of. the average age of gamer is around 39 years last i checked, its millenials who grew up gaming on nintendo, playstation and xbox who are choosing to buy one console over the other.

Playstation itself received a culture shock after the PS3. they were outed as aloof and dismissive of developers with their stupid cell design and documentation. As well as out of touch with their consumer with a $599 console with a bluray player no one wanted. But they pivoted immediately and spent the entire gen developing studios, developing their IPs, developing their relationships with gamers and other third party developers instead of just buying them outright.

Sony didnt just buy GG, Sucker Punch, Media Molecule that gen. They fostered them and helped them get to SSM and ND level within a generation. MS's internal studios like Rare, 343, Coalition Games and Initiative are not even close to getting to that level. David Jaffe was saying how Shu Yoshida would visit studios to check on games and everyone would shit their pants if the game wasnt up to snuff. Shu didnt like Demon Souls and let From walk. He realized his mistake and rehired myazaki and From to make bloodborne then remade demon souls 10 years later. Thats the accountability Laura is talking about. Bosses willing to understand that they got it wrong. Andrew House went and got kojima a day after he got fired from konami. Then helped fun his new studio from scratch. Another OG playstation guy who spoke Japanese and was ingrained in OG playstation culture. Put in charge just at the right time to snatch Kojima. Would that have happened if it was some random exec from zynga or EA? probably not. Lets see where Kamiya leaves and if MS is smart enough to sign him and help him build a new studio.

I do agree that sony is shying away from that and its mostly because all those OG guys are gone or replaced. Proving her point.
 

cireza

Member
They were the easiest console to develop for. Great third party relation. Brought the mature audience to gaming. Cheapest media and largest to store games with the CD. Actually mandated the 3D revolution. Then they started to offer more media options such as the ability to play VCD and music on it via add ons.
Pretty sure they were the first to create video-games actually.
 

Humdinger

Member
I will say, though, "It ain't over 'till it's over." And as Steve Jobs said, "Microsoft is relentless -- they just keep on coming." And they have very deep pockets.

Are they the current loser? Yes. Have they been the losers for the past two generations? Yes. But does that mean they have lost the war entirely and permanently? No, it really doesn't. This console war business may last a looong time. In 30 years, who knows how things will look.
 
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Their biggest chance to be a real competitor was during the start of the 360 era when Sony fumbled out of the gate with the ps3, but then they botched it themselves with RRoD.

MS will always play catch up behind Sony and Nintendo no matter how much money they throw at it because their focus has never been about games, despite how much they try to convince you otherwise. It has always been about pushing xbox as another live service platform to control people's living room. 360 conditioned players that it's fine to pay a subscription for online multiplayer. Xbone had the nonsense with kinect, always online requirement, as well as their attempt to restrict used games. Now the xboxx is just about gamepass.
 

Matsuchezz

Member
The video was great, I remember the early days of Xbox, the console was exciting my brother and I had a blast with Halo co op. Right now the brand just plain sucks! They green light some disgusting turds on a regular basis. It's like they have a bad case of diarrhea.
poop GIF
 

Dorfdad

Gold Member
I own all the systems and like their exclusives but I do find myself buying the games on PS5 more than Xbox for a few reasons. One I dislike the black crush that xbox seems to always have on games they just look better on PS5 for some reason, but this isn't why Im posting. What Xbox really needs to do is focus 100% on next Gen right now. This gen is lost its not going to magically become #1 to much competition and nothing the xbox does stands out.

Here is a list of what I would focus on for XNEXT System

1. Nextgen system needs to be Ryen 3DX chip variant and 16gb ram standard for gaming. The GPU needs to be able to do Native 4K/120FPS without compromise. The costs of the system are going to be an issue getting this but they need to. Forget 8K/30/60 just forget it focus on what's doable and most consumers will own. Changing tech specs hasn't worked. Next gen system needs to come with 1tb HD standard. This should use off the shelf easily consumer replaceable drives. Let me add a 4TB unit myself. Stop the licensed bullshit game. Maybe even make the GPU / CPU's "replaceable" so they can release a new variant in 3 years that people can swap out easily for instant upgrades. (PIPE DREAM)

2. Open up the console to more be more PC light like. Let me install Word / Excel and use it like a PC / Console full mouse / keyboard support so I can play games that I can't on consoles currently. This makes the Gamepass experience even more entising for a lot of consumers. And it makes the console unique in the space something you can't do with Sony currently.

3. Put more effort into cloud gaming. We like to bitch and moan about it here, but its the future and Xbox is so far behind on their ability to scale / improve their platforms its criminal. Using xbox consoles for cloud are silly as they need to keep pace with Nvidia and Sony if they want to be real players in the space going forward.

4. They have a TON of Ip's now that are game and system sellers once this deal goes through and I would expect them to have all cylinders firing for next gen. The probably need to move first as well with a system release. Probably a year before Sony does in order to gain traction.

A lot of you will shit on my ideas I get it, but they gotta think outside the box. Head to head Sony wins in the hearts and minds of gamers, releasing a similar machine at same times just doesn't benefit them. They need to be more like Nintendo and release in their own window but make a premium developer friendly system that stands out.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
Have a read through some other people's thoughts on what happened about half way through the 360's life to see why people stopped buying Xbox consoles.

I purchased a 360 cause they had the console with the best multi platform games and great 3rd party exclusives PLUS, they had xbox live arcade which was sensational. They completely lost the plot once Kinect arrived and have not recovered since.

Is it possible they're on the upswing and you're a little late recognizing it?

It sounds like you're open to the idea of things changing.
 

Belthazar

Member
Three years into the generation, the three major companies are all selling well... And we still see articles that say "Xbox lost". Some people are just stupid
Isn't the Series consoles tracking behind X1? How does that equate to "selling well"?
 
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killatopak

Member
Pretty sure they were the first to create video-games actually.
I think I described it well how they actually had no discernible culture for their first party early on. PS One is just a massive fuck you to Nintendo because of their cancelled partnership. Whatever Nintendo was on they were doing the opposite of it. They were basically just following trends. Probably the only exception is GT because that studio was crazy about cars from the start. They probably love cars more than they love video games. It’s not dissimilar to how Xbox started. Most of what Sony brought in was in the form of their hardware. Basically all their stuff maybe barring the Vita can be used as a media player. I mean they basically have exclusive UMD movies. You can exactly tell their priorities. They’ve been forced to change by the market. I think it’s a change for the better.
 

graywolf323

Member
I've seen all of those mentioned in the thread. I think they all have merit (except Matt Booty, who I don't think has been in his position long enough to blame).
you do realize that Matt Booty has been the head of Xbox Game Studios for just shy of 6 years right?
 

MacReady13

Member
Is it possible they're on the upswing and you're a little late recognizing it?

It sounds like you're open to the idea of things changing.
Not really. I love the Xbox from the OG days and 1st half 360 days. They were the only consoles I played. I even gave them 1st chance with the Xbox One as I didn't get a PS4 at launch and instead went the Xbone route. That quickly changed when I saw the change of philosophy within what Microsoft wanted from Xbox and I wanted none of it.
 
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