Phil Spencer Is Directing Xbox To Be Multi-Platform Partly Due To Gen Z Habits

Phil Spencer is ushering in a new age for the Xbox platform, one that could be appropriately titled ‘The Multi-Platform Age Of Xbox.’ It’s begun with four games coming to PlayStation and Nintendo consoles, and if recent reports are true, there’s many more to come.

Spencer dug a bit into why he’s leading Xbox in this new direction, and how part of this change comes from Gen Z buying habits, and the lack of growth in the console market.

[rippermcrip]

Gen Z's habit not to buy Xbox consoles?

[RpgSama]

You won the Internet for the day my friend, LOLOLOL

[VenomUK]

When the first leaks began this year Phil Spencer finally was pushed into announcing the 'Xbox Business Event'! All the hardcore in the Xbox community and the extremist lost their mind about it being the end of Xbox. Then when the video when live Phil Spencer said it will only be 4 games released. Whew! He avoided a bad PR event and everybody thought things were back to normal...

IT TURNS OUT PHIL SPENCER WAS LYING TO MICROSOFT'S MOST LOYAL CUSTOMERS. He just waited a few weeks to soft reveal all in an interview where there wouldn't be video footage of him actually saying the words that Xbox is now a third-party publishing company.

Markets change, things happen and yes Xbox has to 'pivot' if it has to. But this man has done more 360s with the Xbox business model than any other console company; first Xbox is a boxed console, than a subscription service, then a cloud service, then an online store on other platforms! The fact is the Xbox Series S/X combined are selling worse than the Xbox One - how can this be? I strongly think that it's because MS Game Pass taught Xbox owners that they didn't need to spend on third-party games - hence the collapse in the UK market. Look, I get it, I know that we all 'know' Phil Spencer as he's always friendly and giving interviews.

It's now time to ask whether Phil Spencer is the worst thing to ever have happened to Xbox?

[fr0sty]

Noticing a definite lack of obscure observations on this news, 😂

[GamerRN]

Well, as an Xbox supporter....

You're not wrong!

I think he is better off creating an identify for Xbox and pushing harder, but yeah, not happening

[_Decadent_Descent]

Just need to make good quality exclusive games, yet that seems to have been the most elusive thing for them to do.

[GamerRN]

Yeah the last few definitely have fallen flat. Starfield was a huge disappointment... I liked it but not as much as I expected

[itsmebryan]

@ripper
Well console sales didn't keep Sony from losing 26% of its operating income, closing studios, layoffs, etc.....It's not like Sony is doing great with those console sales. Smh

[StormSnooper]

That was exactly what I thought, “habits”, as in they don’t want xbox.

[BehindTheRows]

Aaaand, you win this discussion! 😀

[-Foxtrot]

Lmao

“It’s not our fault Xbox fans, we have no choice, blame yourselves or the young”

I thought he said a while back it was because of AAA budgets being so bloated or something

[Crows90]

But we already know good games don't require bloated budgets....it's called government spending/mismanagement of money

[Eonjay]

Well as a consumer, the PS5 seems like the better choice if you get Xbox and PlayStation games. I guess Microsoft wins too because the can make more money off their games. And Sony wins because they get their 30%.

[Profchaos]

Apparently sea of theives was a huge successful on PS so I guessed the board has seen dollar signs and that small batch of games will probably Expand

[Hereandthere]

He failed miserably and like always will not take the blame.

[anast]

Gen Z is buying up PS5s, so he needs to put his games on Sony platforms.

[jznrpg]

Everyone is buying PS5’s. Gen. X Y Z

[anast]

For sure

[Cockney]

I'm 52 what gen am I?

[Silly Mammo]

Cockeysville. Gen X

[LoveSpuds]

@Cockney
Your are prehistoric chief 🤣🤣

I am only a couple of years behind ya mate.

[Scissorman]

Due to being lame. Let's face it. Xbox just isn't cool. It had a flash in the pan success with the 360 but it's been on life support for a while.

[Profchaos]

It's amazing how much Don tanked the brand with his assumption that the hardcore would always be there for us while we play around in the casual market with the Kinect and try to replace other devices with the one system.

Tv tv tv.

Had Microsoft stuck with their strong leadership they had prior to Don anything could have happened if Peter Moore stayed in power

[Jingsing]

Wasn't it Phil Spencer that said we believe in choice. Ah yes that old chestnut phrase slimey business people say. When in actuality you offer the illusion of choice by knee capping people who buy physical and digital in favor of your deep pocket subsidization of Game Pass in the hope there will only be one choice and everyone goes to you.
Once you've captured enough people you convert them to Cloud without consent and then it is truly end game.

Xbox failing is because you made it clear and transparent that is what you are doing and Microsoft famously coined the term "Embrace, extend, and extinguish" You are still doing it today and try to dress it up as some kind of lovely dovey democratization of software and gaming, just as long as everyone is paying the piper to use your servers and services.

[Shikoku]

Exactly this is the plan and has been, since mattrick tried to steam roll it and Spencer is playing the long game.

[Einhander1972]

Phil quit lying.

We all know the reason your going multiplatform.

It's because you can't give xbox's away ($200 discounts and three months of Game Pass and still getting outsold 4:1 WW) and no one buys games on your platform because they only play what's on Game Pass.

[Shikoku]

Yep. I'll get an Xbox series X when they are like 50$ on eBay in about a year

[jznrpg]

Or he’s full of crap and realizes the Xbox brand is slowly dying and needs to make more desperation moves after killing their full game sales with GamePass. This is all desperation

[Shikoku]

Yeah has nothing to do with Xbox sales being the least of the three consoles

[gold_drake]

oh dear.
another episode of "Phil Spencer missing the point"

[Futureshark]

There you go, it's not Phil Spencer's fault Xbox is going down the pan, it's because of GenZ!!!

Wow, way to pass the buck Phil!!

[M3talDiamond]

The fall of Xbox

[badz149]

OMG now it's the Gen Z's fault! It's never your fault ha?

[TheEnigma313]

Actually Phi,l us millennials and gen x purchase consoles the most and we see through your bs. Just say you have run the xbox brand into the ground and stop coping.

[cthulhucultist]

That is a weird way of saying that Phil Spencer is directing Xbox to obscurity.

I can already picture the marketing material for next xbox console.

"Xbox Gen Z combatible console now available"

[Toecutter00]

Triple A first party exclusives is how you sell consoles. It's a fairly simple formula made complicated by Corpo bros who have strayed from the path by the lure of infinite growth.

[Charlieboy333]

Lack of growth for Xbox you mean. Sony and Nintendo seem to be experiencing the opposite for some reason.

[SimpleDad]

From 13 million WiiUs to 140 million Switch consoles... yeah, there is no growth in console gaming.

[Workshyskiver]

Yeah from 155m PS2's to 88m PS3 to 117m PS4s to 50m PS5 (obviously still more to sell) seems like even the mighty PlayStation with the best lineup has seen no real growth in the last 20 odd years either. Somethings wrong with the industry and you can all bury your heads into the sand all you want.

[ravens52]

How many of those PS4 users you think haven't been able to upgrade? There could be another 100million+ waiting to be bought by current PS4 owners.

[BehindTheRows]

That’s….. not how it works. At all.

[M3talDiamond]

Phil is not Gen Z dont try put words in their mouths

[jznrpg]

Gen X doesn’t want him either

[M3talDiamond]

Lol! I see what you did there

[dumahim]

"Am I out of touch? No. It's the customers."

[Chryzz23]

this guy man, damn i used to love xbox....RIP 360 u was GOATED

[jznrpg]

It was mostly smoke and mirrors. They bought all those exclusive games for the first half of the generation but didn’t build up their studios and grow a culture of making games. If they did it the right way I would have continued supporting them but after the Kinect came out they started showing their true colors and after Xbox One reveal they bared it all for everyone to see. They don’t want you to own games, they don’t care about consoles at all. They want to put in minimum effort and dominate the industry at the same time with their cash power but it doesn’t work that way.

If they had the goal of making great games and growing the console space they would be in a different position. They turned off too many people from Xbox and now they have to try a different approach. They can only blame themselves for their poor choices

[Rainbowcookie]

What he actually means is ...we have been getting our arses kicked the last 2 generations and now we got smart to get our games on other platforms to get more revenue to buy more studios. I would be great to have only one console that plays all games...pc?

[SimpleDad]

I just want a $500 console where I can pick up a second controller and play with my kids over the weekend.
I don't want to invest into PC with all the launchers, accounts and driver updates.
So no... I'm not interested in playing everywhere, any time or on my kitchen fridge with wifi ok Phil.

[Killer2020UK]

The stuff that came out at GDC is damning for XBox.

[DOMination-]

..and partly because him and his leadership team have failed to deliver time and again after a decade in charge.

They started a new generation woefully unprepared which is staggering considering their resources. Sony have hardly been much better by the way. And MS should have been putting the pressure on. Instead they've blown that opportunity and no closer to seeing these promised stream of games.

[jznrpg]

At least with Sony we got Demons Souls remake , GT7, Returnal, Ratchet and Clank, Forbidden West, God of War Ragnarok and all the second party games like FF7 Rebirth, 16, Granblue Fantasy and lot of other Japanese games that aren’t on Xbox. Right now if I bought an Xbox what would I go to buy? Starfield? Redfall? Not much else I can think of they even released let alone being good this gen. If they didn’t buy Bethesda they wouldn’t even have those games. What they hell have they been doing the last 10 years? I thought for sure they didn’t release many games during Xbox One generation because they were saving them all for this generation but they had nothing at all. They want your money with no effort at all

[DOMination-]

Oh yes I agree completely. The quality of the Sony games (and ones from their partners) have been very high. But they seem to now be in a period of transition. If MS was ever going to take advantage it was this period over the last few years but if anything, the gap has only increased.

[ApocalypseShadow]

Been saying it for years about them. Least amount of effort but looking for maximum profit. While using the media and their money to try and extinguish their competitors or buy them.

Just a horrible, mismanaged company when it comes to games.

[Popsicle]

I wonder how much this guy gets paid to consistently fail.

[crazyCoconuts]

And when he gets fired he'll get paid again with the golden parachute. It's crazy.
It's really a reflection of how bad Satya is in not recognizing it earlier.

[ocelot07]

To a extent they did ok with the original Xbox. Halo, PGR, Forza.

Did amazing with the 360. Some great exclusives. Then the massive F ups came. Kinect. Little to no exclusives towards the end.

Xbox one absolute embarrassment. Then blockbuster pass came and ruined Xbox as we once knew it. Only people to blame are the management over at Xbox. Plus the idiots that who had their heads so far up Phills backside they knew exactly what he had for breakfast.

[dumahim]

360 was good until Kinect, and it all just fell apart. I think the last 2 years before Xbox One were pretty barren.

[crazyCoconuts]

OG Xbox was legendary. LAN Halo parties. Modding the console with XBMP. Good times

[ocelot07]

It still amazes me how I actually didn't experience the original Xbox live spite having one a few months right until the 360 released.

The PS2 was my first dive into online MP followed by Xbox 360.

Xmbc was amazing.

[CptFalcon]

That's it. I'm done with Microsoft.
I have owned the Xbox since the original. And every generation it became worse.
Looks like Microsoft is slowly killing the xbox and is trying to survive in some form by bringing the few exclusives they have to Playstation.

[_Decadent_Descent]

" I have owned the Xbox since the original. And every generation it became worse."

Was the 360 really a step-down from the OG XB for you?

[ApocalypseShadow]

360 had more games. That's true over OG Xbox. But that's only because they rushed to market a broken system ahead of PS3 launch that should have been recalled instead of an unheard of 3 year warranty to stay on the market. And with all their bribes to journalists and advertising dollars, they held a lead for awhile.

But that ended because Sony buckled down and made exclusive after exclusive to catch up. PS Move was just an add-on to the system. Not abandon the core gamer like Microsoft did with Kinect. And Kinect was actually working on PS2 before Microsoft swooped in with their money to take it away from Sony. Nintendo did what they always did: make a product that pulls gamers in while bringing something new to the industry.

But the end of 360's life had a lack of games for the core as Microsoft chased the casuals. Just like they are chasing this supposed "billions of gamers" instead of buckling down and making amazing exclusives. Especially when they are worth way more than Sony and Nintendo combined. There's no excuse why they weren't matching or exceeding their competitors with hit after hit of exclusive games.

And, buying third parties to somehow hurt Sony backfired because game pass killed their sales. They also can't support all those studios they purchased with money to make huge games if no one is going to buy them on their platform in large numbers. So, they need Sony to support them or risk selling or closing many of the studios they just purchased.

[dumahim]

Same here. I disconnected everything and pulled the batteries out of the controller a while back after they confirmed no physical release for Hellblade 2. That was the final straw.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Gen Z habit to buy playstation, pc and switch?

[S2Killinit]

Habit of not buying xbox?

[neomahi]

Excuse after excuse after excuse after excuse. He's desperate. He's super desperate l. Here's the reality of it. Years and years ago, kids talked about Xbox a lot. But this is today. Kids don't talk about Xbox and if they do, it's now associated with a sexual term. Kids play Switch on the school bus and have a PlayStation 5 at home. KIDS DONT TALK ABOUT XBOX, except in a derogatory sense that associates a sexual act with another person, which is shocking to hear kids talk that way at that age in their life. Kids don't want to play Xbox, they play Xbox because their dad was a diehard that doesn't know any better, ignorant. Habit, but they want a PlayStation because their friends all have PlayStation and talk about Sonic, Minecraft, Fortnite, and Spider-man 2. When they're not doing that, their playing Mario Wonder on their Switch on the bus. Phil, when was the last time you were in a school around kids? They don't like you, they have PlayStation and then Switch for on the go

[Nacho_Z]

He backed the wrong horse and lost. Put quite a bit on it as well.

[StormSnooper]

I think MS still hasn’t realized these types of PR talk is adding to their failure. People are not as dumb as MS thinks. Yeah you can fool a lot of people for a long time, but not forever. Eventually they see through you.

[LoveSpuds]

The trouble is squire, the extremist end of the XBox community ARE that dumb, they have propped up the Xbox brand at every turn for years and bought every lie spat out by MS.

Hell, I cannot imagine another company surviving if their product had the same failure rate as the 360, but folk would even defend MS in this regard back in the day.

[YourMommySpoils]

Yeah he can talk as much rubbish as he wants. We all know it's cause of him. No Gen Z. No weak gaming sales.

[JL2930]

Ah, Gen Z. Some people you just wish you could bring back the man with the toothbrush mustache for.

[repsahj]

Microsoft is like China, it wants to have 90% of gaming revenue like China wants 90% of south china sea with 9(now 10) dash line. XD

Make up your mind Phil! Now there's a rumor that he also wants to enter handheld PC because of its growing market.

[TheTony316]

Let's blame Gen Z for all of our failures over the last 13 years. What a joke of a brand. Xbox's downfall started with the original Kinect.

[Doomeduk]

Nail in the coffin for Xbox in our household was buying dynasty warriors brand new for my daughter's 360 and with in just a couple of hours the disc became unreadable with burns and scratches and when i contacted MS support and they had the brass bollocks to tell me who was 30yrs at the time that I was inserting the disc wrong and tried to explain the process before I hung up and sold the POS to cex and the disc went in the bin because nayfkr would touch it and I never looked back
I'm sure the call handler said his name was Phil S and he was so successful at fobbing people off he became head of the dept

[StormSnooper]

Hahaha Phil’s rise started when he successfully got you off the line, then he went on to cause the demise of xbox as a console. You my friend are a part of history.

[Barlos]

...what?

[Skuletor]

Hot take: XBOX could have started selling a lot more consoles if they made COD an XBOX exclusive after the ABK deal.

[BehindTheRows]

Except that the deal wouldn’t have gone through with CoD as an exclusive.

[StormSnooper]

And they needed the money from sales on PlayStation to pay back the bill for paying 68 BILLION dollars. Dwarfing what they have made in gross revenue in four generations of being in gaming. (Revenue not net profit, let that sink in)

[gigoran8]

they gonna share their massive investment titles? ahuh

[M3talDiamond]

All MS need to do is make good exclusive games for the Xbox Platfrom the gaming community has been saying this for years but Phil wont listen. Stop blaming Gen Z and using buzzwords like "growth" the reason Sony and Nintendo are doing better than Xbox is because of their exclusives.

[Skuletor]

I wonder if they'd be in the same position today, if they hadn't cancelled Scalebound.

[DynDasE]

It's not Gen Z.
It is because your games sucks, and they are not good enough to become a system seller.
Imagine even worse sales if these games are console only.