Phil Spencer: "It would be nice to buy a Japanese studio"

The head of Xbox on Game Pass, the impact of streaming, and why he's not afraid of Google.

[Obscure_Observer]

Do it, Phil! Make it happen!

[travestyj]

They should try making an actual quality game before they think of buying another studio

[NarutoFox]

Agree

[bouzebbal]

To make multiplatform Games??
This guy loves to ruin the industry... Invest your damn cash to make games moron

[mikeslemonade]

Microsoft has a lot cash sitting on the sidelines. They have bought 15 studios since 2018. You people got obsolete logic by underestimating Microsoft.

[travestyj]

Lol my comment and the one above got botted the xbox fanboy. That won't help Xbox sell consoles.

[mikeslemonade]

Consoles sold doesn’t mean more money. Look at Nintendo who is usually profitable when they don’t even sell many consoles.

[madpuppy]

"^^lol are you an idiot? How does he ruin the industry? By making sony fanboys angry?"
-sixthelement

By buying studios and them killing then off 2 years into a new console generation is how Microsoft kills the industry.

[NecrumOddBoy]

What about Mystwalker? They did Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon on 360 and they had Infinite Undiscovery from SE. Xbox also has a unique games in Japan. Those games didn't get much love after and sold soft even though they are good. Also Scalebound and Ninja Gaiden were thrown to the wasteside. End of the day, it doesn't make sense for these companies to put games on a console that sells so poorly and a lead exec team with messed up priorities. Xbox is moving to just be the Netflix of games with more focus on Game Pass than wanting to sell games or hardware.

[darthv72]

@puppy... the only major studio MS "killed off" was lionhead. there were a few others that were tied to kinect games. when they axed kinect then they also axed those studios.

Other than that how are they ruining the games industry???

[nommers]

I swear I hear “Last resort” playing more intensely by MS fans just wanting to watch the world burn at this point.

[rainslacker]

Yes. Do it. Stop talking about it, and do it. Spencer is great at talking about all the things he'd like to do, or should be done. He should just do it. Don't say anything until you do it, unless you're actually doing it. If you are doing it, stop presenting these things as some sort of pandering comment to try and act like you are receptive to new things.

More action. Less words. Just do it.

[NXFather]

When did any God, Any of them send a prophet to lie about his rank. Or how about this. When did any God tell us lucifer or any devil is number three?

[Atom666]

Again, rain, "calculated." Comments like this are less about pandering to fans, and more about using this stage (an E3 interview) to send a message to potential studios.

He's hanging up the "Now Hiring" sign. For the studios tired of whoring themselves out to would-be publishers, or the folks who are struggling with contract work, crowdfunding, and the inability to fund their ambitions: he's telling them that MS's money is waiting.

[rainslacker]

@Atom

If he needs to do this to get the message out there that they are interested in buying a Japanese studio, then he's doing it wrong. This is MS. They have people that all they do is research if there is a company out there that would be worth buying for any given reason...whether it's to attain a patent, gain a revenue source, or provide some software or service that they want to get into.

Spencer doesn't need to put out feelers like this, because they're already getting plenty of submissions for games, and they can easily look at that companies viability, and then decide if they want to explore an acquisition.

So, yeah, he's pandering to the press. There are professional portals and more private ways to get this information out there than doing it in an open interview. If MS just wants desperate companies joining them, then this is maybe a good way to do it, but I'd rather they seek out something that gets them where they want to be.

There's nothing wrong with putting out feelers like this. It's just more that he likes to make a spectacle out of such things.

[Atom666]

Giving an interview to gamesindustry.biz is a spectacle?

Either you're giving him too much credit or too little. Not sure. But I do know that he needs to step up his spectacle game if this is his method.

We see this all the time in a variety of business. Media and publication chatter and buzz are just as important to soliciting potential acquisitions as is sending out your own feelers.

[rainslacker]

Spectacle in that it's used to draw a lot of attention without much substance behind it. If he wants to buy Japanese studios, either say you are looking at buying them, or say that you are buying one. Saying like this is like pretending it's some mythical quest, or just some preponderance on his part, and like so many things he's said this gen, is just used to get the community hyped or worked up.

[JesusBuiltmyHotrod]

People hoping for this are pathetic.

[Spurg]

Then buy one

[BLizardXD]

they funded Mistwalker. why not re-acquire them? seriously what were they thinking....
More lost Odyssey and blue dragon!!!

[porkChop]

Mistwalker would be a great purchase. They've been struggling since The Last Story. I'd love to see a new Lost Odyssey.

[darthv72]

Platinum Games sounds about right....

[Araragifeels]

Hahaha! Are you joking?
Japanese games doesn't even do that well on the Xbox. Also I don't think want to work with Xbox after what happened with Scalebound. I would rather let Nintendo or Square Enix or Playstation buy Platinum Games than Xbox.

[darthv72]

PG and MS made friends again so it's water under the bridge.

[Lennoxb63]

Only Japanese games that don’t
do well on Xbox are turn based

[bluefox755]

Why would you wish that upon such a great dev? Scalebound wasn't enough?

[Ceaser9857361]

After Scalebound PG will be far away from MS lol!

[Segata]

No. I do not want to see PG ruined.

[nommers]

Because them working together worked so well last time when they disagreed on how to make scalebound and Platinum nearly went out of business.

[darthv72]

Can you really blame MS for pulling the plug on mismanaged funds and time? Even PG said everyone blaming MS for how it went down wasn't right. It's easy to jump on MS but PG was admittedly at fault.

[rainslacker]

@Darth

Stop saying they mismanaged funds. There isn't a single shred of proof that they did that. There isn't even any official comment that implies such a thing anywhere, from any company. Not MS, not P*, not a single industry insider. It's just baseless accusations because they also happened to produce the stellar Nier at the same time, yet people neglected the fact they have always had more than one project going at one time, and not all of them were stellar.

Just because they couldn't deliver on what MS wanted, and had development issues doesn't mean they mismanaged funds. Accusing a studio of mismanaging funds is a pretty serious breach of ethics for any studio, and I'm surprised Randy Pritchford is even still in the industry after he did just that. One or both companies may be at fault, but it is really wrong to accuse a company of it with no proof.

[darthv72]

@Rain, well without knowing the exact details all we have is speculation. And that speculation leans more to the credible side than not. MS paid them lots of $$ and allowed them ample time and in that time they still had not progressed further along than their initial reveal.

all the while their other team was working on another project. So it can be deduced that the other project was progressing at a better rate and they likely moved some member around to help finish up on it. so that is a mismanagement of time as well as funds because the $$ they took from MS went to help cover the cost of shifting employees to the other project.

Yes it is a big accusation but there is some merit to it when you think about the time table for work on both scalebound as well as neir automita and even to a lesser extent... starfox zero. Scalebound is one that they had started long before either of the other two but it got put on hold until MS gave them $$ to work on it again. And Ms wasnt asking for real crazy things to happen. Adding MP is not that out of the question but it often gets blamed for the project not progressing. MS basically let them do it at their own pace instead of micromanaging them (people hate to be micromanaged) and look what happened. They saw it as an opportunity to let it sit for a bit and work on other stuff.

you seriously can't be that blind not to see that this is what likely happened. I say likely because they cant reveal the real details but again it makes way more sense than anything else. If you have a job and you choose to do a different job in the same time than what you are supposed to be doing... do you think you should still have a job?

[rainslacker]

There is no credible side which suggests that P* mismanaged funds. Even MS said that they were having developmental troubles, and couldn't work together. Developmental troubles in no way implies that funds were mismanaged, just that the studio couldn't deliver on what MS was paying for. They may have used every penny MS gave them for the production, but couldn't make it work. It happens. Quite often. usually it means going back and redesigning the game if a publisher decides to keep it going. It's not even an overly uncommon thing to happen.

You say all you have is speculation to make an assumption, yet you've pushed this narrative on several occassions. I say there is more evidence that they just had development troubles which MS couldn't support anymore, than there is evidence of unethical behavior, because there isn't a single shred of evidence that suggest they did something wrong.

It doesn't matter what way the speculation leans towards, because it's xbox fan boys who are making the speculation that it was mismanaged funds. Do people really think they put in an exorbitant amount of MS money into Nier? Why? The game was what I would say was a mid-tier game. Square is known to fund their games well enough. It was well produced, but Square gave them the money to do that, and I wouldn't say anything about it seemed like it was something that would be extravagantly expensive to produce.

P* has been making 2-3 games at the same time for years. Long before those two games ever started production. Sometimes they delivered on all of the, sometimes, the delivery was lackluster, yet never in the past were they accused of misappropriating funds in those cases. They even have cancelled games in there, yet not a single accusation. It'd be hard for them to get funding if they were known to do such a thing.

Why all of a sudden would people speculate the assumption that they couldn't hack that and had to misappropriate funds?

Oh...I know, because it removes any and all responsibility from MS.

P* may very well have been at fault, and not been able to deliver on the game as promised. But that idea is a far cry from doing something which is actually illegal, and unethical, and would likely have you sued into oblivion...especially from a company as litigious as MS. Even Gearbox could have been put out of business by Sega when they did what you accuse P* of doing, but the success of Borderlands allowed them to settle, so it never went to court. P* wasn't in a position to settle with MS if they had done the same thing, because despite Nier being popular, most of the profits from that went to Square.

There is absolutely no merit to the notion that they misappropriated funds. None. And no evidence to suggest that was the case. Not a single shred.

You can't say it's speculation, then say it's definitively fact because of some random time frames, which ignore P*'s past history of work doing multiple games at a time.

[AngainorG7X]

Buy Platinum and give them money, independence and time.

[Sevir]

Likely won't happen after they cancelled the Scalebound, aaaand Platinum said they're looking to start self-publishing it's own ips so they're off the acquisition

[gamer7804]

Sevir is right, they like having the freedom to create whatever they want, and I think this is good, the only mistake platinum is making right now is making games that are exclusive to one platform. They need to be totally free.

[Saranya]

@Sevir, Look at this.
https://www.videogameschron...

[Sevir]

I think being an independent studio, and being small, doing one platform at a time is necessary when you don't have the resources to do simultaneous releases. I think They know this which is why they in particular ink deals where they are able to do single platform releases, especially when they've got multiple projects in tow.

Astral Chain, Babylon, and Bayonetta 3. And who else knows I'm almost Certain Babylon will end up on XB and PC a year after the PS4 release.

[GrubsterBeater]

I’m sorry but the terms “Microsoft” and “Independence” are like mixing oil with water.

They do NOT mix together.

Also, usually when MS gives someone money, it ends up being MS buying up a studio, and then proceeding to destroy the studio. Then there’s the possibility of their game getting cancelled or the studio being liquidated anyway..

In my opinion, MS buying Platinum Games would only end in disaster...

[Nyxus]

If they buy one I hope it's something like Mistwalker, they are just making mobile games anyway. Then they could develop another RPG like Lost Odyssey.

[NeoGamer232]

That would be a dream come true. Lost Odyssey was a big reason why I liked X360.

[J-DARKnes]

Please don't, you'll just make them do some kind of multiplayer that nobody wants or asked for.

[Saranya]

you just a kids.

[ElementX]

Even though it's been stated by both Phil and the acquired studios that they'll have creative independence and be able to develop the games they want? I'm tired of the same baseless comments and FUD spread by fanboys.

[vega275]

I agree. They still think MS made ninja theory make bleeding edge. Even when ninja theory said it was in development before the acquisition. Just another reason to hate MS

[MrSec84]

Build them.
Unless it's a talented studio that would die without a major publisher buying them MS should just create a new Japanese developer.

I'm sure there are loads of people that just came out of uni who have great expertise in various disciplines, who would love the chance to be in on the ground of a major project.
Now would be the perfect time to hire interns for something new and even just give a group a modest budget to see what a small, untainted team can make when given the chance.

[rainslacker]

While your sentiments are respectable, it would be hard for people fresh out of college to really make a big production of a game. Even if it's not AAA, small games are still a lot of work. It takes a lot of discipline to run a game studio, and while MS may be able to manage that, it kind of defeats the purpose of putting creative people to work, to just have to micro-manage them.

Not to say they couldn't create a studio, and hire top talent. They're doing that with The Initiative.

[TheEnigma313]

Nothing will help he xbox brand in japan. They had a few great Japanese games in the 360 gen and it barely moved the needle over there. MS really needs a clear direction; they are all over the place.

[BlackIceJoe]

I know Platinum and Microsoft were working on Scalebound, so if Microsoft bought them hopefully it could Finally come out. Falcom and Mistwalker would be good RPG companies to buy.

Seeing as Konami doesn't make video games anymore I possibly could see Konami selling their video game studios to Microsoft. Though personally I'd prefer to see Tecmo Koei for their Atelier games and Ninja Gaiden.

Vanillaware and Treasure would be great for 2d style games and would be great picks for becoming first party. So Microsoft has many companies to pick from and hopefully soon we'll find out who will become first party.

[bluefox755]

No, don't ruin another studio MS...

[AngelicIceDiamond]

How are they currently ruining any studios?

[SilverDemon]

Have you seen bleeding edge?

[goldwyncq]

^ Bleeding Edge was already in development before their acquisition though and they have other projects currently being developed, but you trolls conveniently ignore that bit.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

How many times does this need to be stated even NT said it themselves good god oh mighty. That project doesn't have anything to do with MS at all, not even a little bit. It was made in 14..14 way before MS was even lookin their damn direction. All MS did was green light their game. I'm not repeating this again, don't start this ignorant crap I don't wanna hear it.

[leejohnson222]

Come on,even with the game in development it's a service game and right up MS street. Majority of xb fans thought here is a studio that can make solid story driven games. Xb is a service and wants to publish games and support mediocre game pass content. I remember Sony getting hammered for all those indie games and cgi trailers at E3. MS just did exactly that

[vega275]

@ leejohnson222

Microsoft allowed ninja theory to make the game they wanted to make. Rather than cancel the game and give you sonyfanboys more reason make up crap and say Microsoft just destroyes studios creativity.

I agree Microsoft should have saved the indie games for inside xbox show instead of E3. But if I recoil right. Sony was praised for relying on indies in the beginning of this generation.

[darthv72]

the only studio they "ruined" is lionhead because they shut them down. Other than that, the studios have creative freedom.

[vega275]

Microsoft didn't ruin lionhead. The problem is people here like to take the word of a disgruntled employee when it comes to Microsoft. No one know what happened behind the scenes there.

[thatguyhayat]

They better stay away from them. They can go fund and build one. After the E3 they had it just goes to show they can't do anything right. Maybe they're saving the best games for Scarlet but at this point i wouldn't bet it anymore

[Arty84]

As if its not gonna happen..

[timotim]

love this...

"When we talk about xCloud, we don't say 'your console is bad, you should stream' or 'stop playing on your PC.' You want to buy a game, download a game, and play it on your local Xbox or PC, we give you a ton of options to do that. We see cloud as a way of extending the experience that you're having, to a device that today you can't go play those games [on]. But we are not trying to tell you that that's the only choice. The thing about being too early is when I try to tell you what you should do. That's when I'm not being a platform that's listening."

[CDbiggen]

Please don't.

[Magog]

They bought exclusivity for the games of the father of Final Fantasy and it still didn't help them.

[ocelot07]

Stay away from Japanese studios Phil no need to Microsoft all over them. How about building a Japanese studio from the ground up instead?

[FallenAngel1984]

Any Japanese exclusives for Xbox consoles would flop

[TeamIcoFan]

They should buy From Software.

[TheColbertinator]

Mistwalker

[TeamIcoFan]

I thought MS already owns that studio?
They made Lost Odyssey didn't they?

[TheColbertinator]

Yes and Blue Dragon but they never truly owned them.

[Spurg]

It's would be the obvious choice. They help set the studio up and is run by the father of the Jrpg, it's time for Sakaguchi to step out of the shadows.

[CrimsonWing69]

Why? So you can cancel their game after it’s third appearance at an E3?

[quenomamen]

Cant buy your way into great games.

[TheSinsibleOne]

Some decent new exclusives would be cool too.

[XxExacutionerxX]

Buy CAPCOM!

[DerekFlint007]

Philip is a total w@nker. All mouth & no trousers. He's looking extra plump this E3 with an additional 3 chins. A bullshit artiste extraordinaire.

[tochi]

This slimy business man still doesn't understand human emotion. Typical Microsoft.
You cannot buy talent.

I think next generation of XBOX will fail in terms of exclusive quality.

[TheGamez100]

Please no. Theyll just end up butchering them to death due to the lack of jp fans on xbox and their handeling of studios.

[leejohnson222]

And drive them into the ground making avatars and service games

[Thundercat77]

"It would be nice to buy a Japanese studio" AND actually make a high quality good game.

2 different things.

[Indigon]

Don't buy.
Create.

[ANIALATOR136]

Please God no

[Italiano1234567]

Good luck with that. U cant just go buy a Japanese company. Its more involved then buying us studios

[EricLane]

I would like to see a game from a North Korean studio starring Kim Jong Un.

[ShockUltraslash]

And destroy it right?
No.

[2pacalypsenow]

Why? So 100 people can play the game?

[Sgt_Slaughter]

Why in the world would they buy a studio from the region that sees the least amount of success for Xbox?

Their weekly system sales are in the triple digits and usually less than 200-220 units (this includes both S and X models). Japanese gamers and those who enjoy Japanese games/JRPGs won't suddenly play those games on an Xbox, they'll just not buy your game.

[rainslacker]

"Why in the world would they buy a studio from the region that sees the least amount of success for Xbox?"

Because it allows them to say that they are so much into Japanese gaming. Even though they abandoned it last gen, and helped perpetuate the idea that western games were the way to go last gen, which was echoed by the games media, because Japanese devs were outdated and they couldn't keep up with all the great innovation of western devs.

Whens the last time MS really supported and delivered a high profile Japanese game? Last great effort they made was the start of this gen, where they had a few visual novels from 5pb....of which they did almost nothing to market them, and forgot about them after about 2 games.

My only concern about MS buying Japanese games, is they have a bad history of dropping out of the Japanese game market the second it doesn't do anything for them.

[TheHunter81]

Please don’t. It’s not a secret how poorly Xbox performs in Japan. Why do that to a studio?

[phoenixwing]

lets be honest here, unless phil buys 3-5 japanese companies to churn out those games then nobody is going to take notice enough to be pulled away from nintendo or sony for their jrpg needs.

[rlow1]

Does anybody read the damn articles? He mentions possibly buying studios for one paragraph and the other 10 or more paragraphs are spent talking about gamer choice and the new companies coming in....It's an interesting read and were the industry is heading....Good Article.

[Monkeycan8]

How about you guys MAKE one?

[AK91]

Dear god please no Phil.

[Imortus_san]

Buy Capcom or Sega so people cry for years to come.

[SkatterBrain]

Buy a Ugandan Studio, a Philipino Studio, an Alaskan Studio , then we know you mean Business

[SkatterBrain]

Buy Japanese Studio + brand it without the X's in Japan, there is a stigma that X Means Bad in Japan....call it the OBOO ONE O = lotsa Yen

[Varodor]

Please God No

[Sophisticated_Chap]

This is an interesting topic. I can't see them buying just one Japanese studio, since they would be the odd duck in terms of the American corporate culture. If they make a move for Japanese development, I think they'll go big, and scoop up something like Sega or Capcom. It would be much better to buy a publisher that owns a number of studios, so that they can maintain the culture, and then they can just basically direct which platforms they want the games released on.

[madpuppy]

"It would be nice to buy a Japanese studio"

Why? Ms track record is to shutter development studios about 2 years into a new console cycle, so MS buying a studio almost guarantees it's death.

[DaniMacYo]

Less talk and more action Philly

[garos82]

You cant even honour the 3rd party exclusive games to develop let alone buy a japanese company. Where is Scalebound dammit?!!

[Donnie81]

Buy platinum so you can fire the people that didn’t do their job on scalebound

[sprinterboy]

So basically they've bought a Japanese studio already?

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Big assumptions there pretty boy lol

[AizenSosuke]

Buy a japanese studio that's needed but build your own Japanese studio first

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Pffft Good luck phil because no Japanese studio wants to be bought by you and be shamed in their own country