Phil Spencer's Views on Sony Could Mean Big Things

SwitchedOn Gamer writes: Phil Spencer clarifies his stance on Xbox and Sony's collaborations, and it could mean big things for the next console generation.

[IRetrouk]

It's going to change absolutely nothing, next gen will play out like every gen so far, one will sell gangbusters and the other two will do ok, whichever order it ends up in can change but if you honestly think these companys wont be competing anymore than they are now is being short sighted and silly, they may collaborate on tech etc but dont get it twisted, each company wants your dollars to themselves, they dont want to share customers, the console war will rage on, bet my life on it.

[TheEnigma313]

Nintendo has stopped competing and carved their own lane. MS competing with Sony is Suicide. They can't go out of their way to compete; they couldn't beat Sony at their worst.

[jukins]

If you think Nintendo isnt competing with Ms or Sony hell steam and epic store as well, your insane.

[IRetrouk]

Bullcrap, they want gamers just as much as Sony and ms, and they want them to themselves too, nintendo change what they say just like ms and sony, ofcourse they are competing, they are selling consoles and games in the same markets that the other two do, that's literally what competing is lol.

[bouzebbal]

Well said..
Same with Nintendo up to the gamecube.. They took another approach and it paid off.
Xbox is slowly doing the same with the digital xbox service but let's see all the DRM and stuff how they stack up next gen.
Xbox anywhere is good on paper... But only on pc and xbox and I don't own them so for me it is kinda not the best yet.. Should open to all platforms and I'll sign on

[MrPinkDies]

Carved their own way? Dude, the last time Nintendo tried to do their own thing they had their big console reveal at a freakin' Best Buy, haha. The Switch is operating in the same competitive market as PC clients, Sony, and Microsoft consoles.

[Godmars290]

I think Nintendo is perfectly happy being the 2nd console buys if the 1st is PS or Xbox, so long as people buy more than one console. Cause to some they're also a 1st choice.

[Tross]

MS's "lane" will probably be a lot more GaaS heavy though. They appear to be beginning to understand why PlayStation is where it is and Xbox...isn't, but time will tell if much will change, studio acquisitions or not. The biggest barrier to the success of Xbox isn't Sony or Nintendo, however. It's Xbox, or more specifically, the way it's being managed. I still expect they will focus more on attempting to "carve a lane" as you put it, than addressing why they're falling short, but I guess we will wait and see.

[chiefJohn117]

360 brought in way more money than ps3

[IRetrouk]

Did it really? Even with rrod taken into account?,that cost like 1.15 billion to fix alone, I take it you mean xbox live made more than psn, that could be true with ms charging for online from the off, I'm sure ps plus made some money for sony too though, I'd like to see your breakdown, be interesting to see your sources.

[RangerWalk267]

That's simply not true. I believe we as gamers shouldn't care about this "console war". What matters most to a consumer is getting quality products. And if Microsoft flexed it's wallet muscles, Sony would quiver. But as Phil said before, being successful for us doesn't mean tearing Sony down. Meaning, it's a good thing to have them both successful. Remember... we're the consumers. We are not stockholders that need to watch the market value for each company. Just enjoy the games.

[madpuppy]

Microsoft NEVER met a competitor that they didn't want to either crush or assimilate.
They are NOT to be trusted and Sony has been around long enough to know better than to deal with them...unless they are playing a different game than what we can see at this narrow point in this collaboration.

[TK-66]

"They can't go out of their way to compete; they couldn't beat Sony at their worst."

The Vita?

[UltraNova]

You all need to stop bickering, its pointless. 2020 is almost here and we will see what is offered by MS, Sony, Nintendo and Google. Dont waste your breath on what corporate mouthpieces spewing bullshit all the time.

[JBlaze226]

Wow, you think MS can't beat sony must have not played on the 360. Trust me when I say don't sleep on MS.

[opc]

They all compete with each other for our time and money. I didn't buy a console this past gen because I have so many games on PC. I would like a PS4 and a Switch, but I simply don't have the time.

[bumbleforce]

I kind of agree. I think that is why they are doing there own thing now. Nintendo does what Nintendo does. Sony sells consoles because Sony is nothing withput playstation. Microsoft is turning xbox into a platform that runs on a lot of things

[darthv72]

For me personally... next gen will be the same as this gen. I will buy and play all mainstream offerings from Sony, MS and Nintendo. Although, up to this point I have not yet acquired a Switch. I am getting one eventually.

[IRetrouk]

I end up with them all too, 2 switches in my house, the kids love em to be fair, I've not really spent much time with them yet but will do at some point.

[Silly gameAr]

I usually buy both or all, but I'm not going to waste money buying systems that don't interest me anymore. I could be spending that money on something that I'll actually use.

[iplay1up2]

I bought a Switch back in January, and its great. At this point you should definitely wait for the newer version that will be the same price. Not sure when the updated version will be in stores. Better battery life.

[CH33S3]

This guy (Phil) really has no shame. Trying to claim he's against the needless console war and the hostility of the industry. I wonder if he remembers this little console warmonger.

https://www.gamesindustry.b...

The language used is the very definition of confrontational. It beggers belief that...you know what? Just compare the two. Compare their positions and what occurred immediately afterward.

Enjoy.

[darthv72]

I didn't see any disrespectful comments towards Sony in that. He said he would line up the MS 1st party games with Sony (at the time). No disrespect, just comparison.

People want to call foul on Spencer when is is very respectful to other corp heads and they like him as well. It's a very different view of things from the other side. one that us gamers are not privy to because all we do is bicker. The execs may poke fun but its usually in good fun. What's your excuse?

[Soulrakk]

"We have Gears, Halo, Forza, we're continuing to push existing IP while bringing new IP to market. I'll line up against Sony's first party any day."

worked out well. ..lol..
xbox will always flip flop and ride what's currently happening. when they were doing well there was no sympathy towards playstation. now that tables have completely turned phil wants to play nice and "grow gaming" because they had/have no shot at sony. grow gaming my ass. i'd have more respect if they just bowed out and came back strong next gen with the same energy they showed during the 360. but that's the corporate world I guess. if one thing don't work you better come up with something else.

[CH33S3]

Darth72 I have a question.
Did you know confrontational and disrespectful are two different words with two very different meanings? I used one word, you used the other. You then mounted a defence on something you stated (and pretended I stated).

The very definition of a straw man argument.

[Petebloodyonion]

WOW! for a 2008 article when the Xbox 360 was dominating, the reply to a question regarding Sony's stance on AAA game and studio vs MS was sure arrogant and confrontational (sarcasm).

[LordJamar]

Good lord the fanboy radiating off you its like your foaming at the mouth when you typed that comment your way to knee deep in console wars come up for air its not that serious

[TheBrit]

Beggars.

[OB1Biker]

I agree Spencer didn't 'clarify' anything. Just pr talk and avoid talking about 'competition' as if it's the new dirty word now.

[notachance]

I kinda got bored seeing tons of MS PR article everyday lol

on the other hand Nintendo and Sony are dead silent except when they're announcing things

[WiiU-Dude]

You forget one anomaly. Xbox 360 and PS3 sold practically the same amount. Then add in the Wii that sold maybe only 10 to 15 million more and you have as near parity for a video game generation as you could ask for, BUT yes most play out as you mentioned. Lol.

[IRetrouk]

Yeah last gen really was a strange one, only gen all 3 have been so close, there are probably factors to that but I get your point lol

[Imortus_san]

That's not what hapenned last gen.

[Godmars290]

Halo on PS5.

Though that would probably mean XBL on PS5, so...

(Yeah, started as a bad idea and only got worse...)

[solideagle]

I can only dream about Halo on Playstation :)

I think previous generation was pretty even...

360: 85+ milliom
PS3: 86+ million
wii: 110+ million

All companies were successful last generation, so maybe next gen could be same. I would stick with PS5 :)

[IRetrouk]

Numbers are off a bit but your point is valid, there is room for the big 3 to do well, even stadia could find an audience, all up in the air for now, part of what makes a new gen exciting

[Godmars290]

That was also the gen many were insisting was going to be the last console gen. The 360 was suppose to be the lead system, everyone copied COD, and Blu-ray was dead/useless tech.

[stonecold3]

PS3 sold 87.7 million Xbox 360 84 million as for wii it sold 101 million but I don’t class wii in same gen as the other 2 Nintendo is beyond the 8th ball with technology

[Rhythmattic]

I know its still a sale, but im sure a reasonable percentage of 360 sales were hard core gamers buying extra machines during the RROD debacle....
I myself know 2 friends that bought replacement machines... Firstly before MS even admitted the issue... And when they did , even bought 360's , though ms extended the warranty ( free replacements, mostly Factory refurbed...) couldn't do without it for a few weeks...

At up to 50% failure rate (correct me if im wrong) Its by no means something to ignore.

[IRetrouk]

At one point it was estimated at 54.2%, and at that time microsoft put out a pr blurb and didnt dispute the number, it affected all models untill the redesign, I know this through personal experience, the rrod was a big deal, 1.15 billion dollars of a deal to be precise, ylod was 11% for the original ps3 models, even lower with the slims.

[IRetrouk]

And at the time ms didnt deny it, if it were lower they would have said, they literally glossed over it, I gave you how much it cost for them to put right, work it out if it makes you feel any better.

[WiiU-Dude]

Why so many down votes. Your numbers are spot on. You can't argue with empirical data. Solid job Solideagle.

[Rhythmattic]

@Vokun
"Even the worst real RROD estimations put the failure rate at 24% or so at most"

Oh, Ok... So bring up YLOD.. What 1%, 2%, 3% maybe more ?.....
Its more than a stretch comparing what was anywhere between 23.7% to 54.2 % failure with the early 360's

Wow. smh.

And as for real estimate??? whats so real? A number your happy to agree with?
MS never announced the failure rate... Says something , doesent it?

[rainslacker]

3rd party accounts are allowed on ps consoles. They still have to run through sonys standards and APIs though. Pretty straight forward to implement on the devs end. Installed content can't be delivered through anything other than psn servers, which is where minecraft got hung up on on ps consoles

[Tross]

It just means even Phil doesn't think Xbox can compete with PlayStation. I guess he's finally starting to see things for how they have been for an entire gen now.

[timotim]

Haha 😆 the way trolls are on internet message boards and the way exes see their business is two totally different things

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Phil bows to Yoshida jk, but seriously but there is good things to come from this

[StormLegend]

I laugh at people who think Nintendo is competition. How is a company that makes a handheld device with barley any third party support competing?? No one buys a switch. To play third party games and other features that the console. Obviously doesn't even have. Nintendo haven't competed since the GameCube days.

[JacoD]

The comments section is always cringe on N4G.

[Master of Unlocking]

I don't know, I like it quite a bit. (For, like, this fella right above for ex., Travis3708, see his comment?)

"How is a company that makes a handheld device with barley..."

It's a company that goes bankrupt, that's how it is. Think about it for a second, ever had a barley sugar stick in your hand? Now try and imagine a handheld device made with barley, probably sugar too to hold it together, it would stick to your hands, it would melt right after turning it on because of the heat inside it, and you'd be waving goodbye to it if you left it anywhere but in your drawer because some mice or rats or whatever would've mistaken it for their lunch. Nobody would want a handheld made with barley. Nobody.

(Just kiddin' with ya Travis3708, just kiddin', relax...)

[cbuc1125]

This is the correct stance to take after you have been pummeled into submission for years.

[timotim]

He says its SONY'S initiative to pursue Microsoft's cloud tech...its funny how you try to spin that though...

[IRetrouk]

That's not what was said though was it? sony approached ms, that's the only bit you got right, the only thing mentioned about the cloud was them both working together on cloud solutions, not sony using ms cloud tech over their own, other tech like cameras and silicon were mentioned too, ps now will run on azure servers with sonys own tech, if it happens at all, your spinning more than him, funny how renting out servers is suddenly such a big deal, ms has server farms, sony need servers, seeing loads of xbox fans trying to turn this into some sort of win for xbox, funny tbh.

[timotim]

@IR

Right...because being "pummeled into submission for years" was the more accurate assessment to fit what was said...you right.

[IRetrouk]

He was talking about phills stance on the console wars, which is the topic of the article.. you are talking about the memoradum ms and sony signed, from the other article no less, but with the wrong info... bit of a difference, no?

[Petebloodyonion]

It's funny to see comments about how they are lying and they will be at war, etc. etc. etc.

The truth is that they will always compete for your dollar. Not only against each other but against the tv company, the movie company, Netflix, Apple Music, Spotify, etc.
Basically, any company that wants to fill up your spare time.

But that doesn't mean that they can't help each other and team, just like other industry (example the car industry).

[rainslacker]

Nothing wrong with competing for the customers dollar. That's just business.

But, trying to do it by making your competitor look bad shouldn't be the way to do it. Even when it's clever and cute, like what Apple did to PC, which was essentially aimed at MS Windows, it's petty and gets old after a while. It was sad when MS did their own version of the commercials to fight back towards Apple, even if they were cute at times.

[AK91]

Just focus on game streaming and leave the actual game development to Sony.

[Jayszen]

This is all PR. Sony and MS working together where Sony is using Azure will change little of the console business as it is now. Yes, MS may well also be a third party developer of games that will be available on PS5 but that does not mean that the two companies will not be striving to ensure that their respective consoles are selling more than the competitors. As for games, the console that has the games we gamers want will do best. Sony has always relied on this fact and kept the process simple. Deliver a console that gamers like and then deliver games that are as good as they can be. We'll do the rest.

[Germaximus]

I like this mindset but at the same time it just doesn't make actual sense. It'd be like saying Netflix and Hulu aren't in competition with each other.

Either you are in the competition or you just aren't competing at all.

[OG_TK_Cole]

I have been on this site a long time, and for the life of me, I still cant figure out, why do you guys care about a "Console War?" Does Microsoft or Sony beating each other put money in your pocket?? Why cant we as "Gamers" just play video games??? Me personally I will always have both consoles, I will never pick a side, because there is no money in it for me or my family. Also as someone who works in Corporate America, the way companies see their business is totally different than the way Consumers see a companies business.