It is all about perspective and perception. Just go back some years guys. It is all so easy and obvious. I know, I know. The attention span of the internet is short.
Of course this is "good stuff", but sometimes people have to actually use their brain and think. Since Microsoft botched the Xbox One generation with an absolutely foolish corporate attempt of being always online and lots of other predatory measures they basically paved their own way to be the underdog and good guy. This is exactly the role that Phil Spencer fits in. I like Phil a lot. I think the Xbox Series X is a great piece of hardware. It is on paper more powerful than the PS5. Unifying Xbox and PC is great. Caring about disabled gamers is great.
But when you are the underdog and have to play catch up you have to play nice and set the narrative to focus on the gamers and caring a lot and basically do the exact opposite of what they tried to initially do with the Xbox One.
So before you think I am some sort of Playstation fanboy. It is time to SHIT on Playstation and Jim Ryan. Which are now basically in a somewhat similar position to where the Xbox One was after the Xbox 360. With the PS5 we can clearly see that they increased the prices for games and in general under Jim Ryan the Playstation brand feels more corporate, capitalistic and money/business focused compared to the good guys with the PS4 under Shawn Layden. (Don't get me wrong, both Microsoft and Sony are ruthless companies that only want your money. If they don't get your money they don't continue to exist).
Right now Microsoft is setting the narrative of being the good guys. It is also a form of manipulation. They want you to think that they see themselves as equals to Playstation. They are the good guys that play nice with everyone and the drama comes from elsewhere.
It is absolutely not a coincidence that they randomly post a tweet about receiving a lot of "PS5 is better comments". I don't even know who those idiots are that waste their time posting this under the Microsoft. I think that alone is highly suspicious. Don't get me wrong. I am not implying any conspiracy theories or that Xbox is writing those comments to have ammunition. I expect Phil Spencer to be above that and better than that. But he is an intelligent person that knows how to smile.
Was there any recent reason for a surge in those comments? Seems weird to me though.
This is much more abour PR and social media narrative than it is about caring for the gamers. Playstation did something similar with the "share a game with your friends" video for the PS4. They had to play catch up then after the PS3.
And you guys know what would happen next if Xbox were to go big and win this generation?
That is right. They are going to replace Phil Spencer with another dude like Don Mattrick who makes the promise to the suits/shareholders to squeeze more money out of the customer base. And Playstation will probably replace Jim Ryan with a person that is more customer friendly and closer to the passion of the gamers. "One of us!" we will cheer when some dude announced the PS6
TL;DR : There is nothing wrong with Xbox being the good guys and playing nice. But it is a PR move and you would be a fool to think otherwise. It doesn't mean it is bad, but it is the natural cycle of topdog and underdog. Just like the cycles in the stock market and both are about money.
