Xbox Boss Phil Spencer Promises to "Nurture What Has Made Blizzard Unique" Following Acquisition

During BlizzCon 2023, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer delivered a promising message to Blizzard Entertainment fans.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

I hope so Phil I really hope so.

[Obscure_Observer]

I´m not expecting a miracle.

But I´m 100% sure that Blizzard and its games will get a far better treatment under Xbox than they had under Kotick in more than a decade.

[Godmars290]

By what basis since MS is of the habit of turning over established IPs to studios other than ones that made them?

And what is Activision at this point other than COD, Diablo and Overwatch?

[Obscure_Observer]

"By what basis since MS is of the habit of turning over established IPs to studios other than ones that made them?"

Who cares? If the ones who made it don´t want or can´t make it, what´s the problem?

"And what is Activision at this point other than COD, Diablo and Overwatch?"

That´s exactly the point I´m talking about, dude. I´m expecting for legacy IPs to make a comeback now that ABK is under Xbox, since Kotick couldn´t give a sh!t about those games.

[Gamingsince1981]

MS won't fix anything , they never have, why would this time be different ?

[DOMination-]

When you look back through the last decade, it's hard to argue with this.

The only studio that has truly flourished were Playground Games and I'd even suggest that since MS acquired them, FH4 & 5 were the worst in the series due to huge issues not being fixed now for 5+ years due to the focus on live service style weekly/monthly updates.

[1Victor]

Way too many studios have been gutted by Microsoft to the point of closing or made into a joke as far as I know only bungie was able to break their chains and ran away as fast and far as they could unlike rare and lionheart.
Phil can say whatever he wants but as usual expect half truths, full lies or Ignorance of the situation.

[Jin_Sakai]

Anytime you see “Phil Spencer Promises” you know not to believe it.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Anti-naruto speech but it's true

[Vits]

I don't know if that is possible. Most of the folks that made the Blizzard that we loved aren't in the company anymore.

[Plague-Doctor27]

Yeah its weird to think but the "Blizzard" we all know and love is from 15+ years ago

[TricksterArrow]

Came in to say that. You are completely right. If we go by recent talents, even Jeff Kaplan jumped ship. I know some people NEVER liked Overwatch, but it was in a MUCH better state when he was at the helm. You could see he cared about the project a lot. But care can only lead you to one place only in greedy companies like this... out the door.

[isarai]

You mean like you did with Bungie/343i, Rare, Arkane and Bethesda? Plus like a lot of these legacy studios, almost if not all the vets who made it special are gone

[Chevalier]

Head of Tango has left recently too

[Lightning77]

He's been trying to retire for sometime now. Hes helped the next creative director John Johanas. High FI was his creation from scratch not Shinji Mikami.

No MS had nothing to do with HIFI before you start.

[Lightning77]

For once in your life I have to give you your flowers. Take a lap, dance in the streets you finally got something right. It took you a million years but you finally did it.

He spoke candidly about Retiring but decided not but left Bethesda. 👏 👏. I'm happy for you for getting something right It won't happen ever again buy hey I give props this time.

It's 20 and 1 you finally got one over me.

[Lightning77]

I wasn't talking you I was talking to Israi about his comment kiddo. I heard a rumor awhile ago about him retiring but it was him leaving instead. In my head I thought "retirement" a slight mess up done by my own hand. Like I said, pat yourself on the back. It's a small win leaving vs Retirement but hey it's facts and I don't argue facts. You should be proud.

[Lightning77]

343 got gutted because of bad management and slow and uninspired season releases (now they're releasing one of the best seasons yet) similar to BUNGIE recently. Redfall had nothing to do with MS. People leave all the time doesn't mean anything. With that logic Connie Booty and Jim Ryan being gone is bad management. Again with your logic Sony layoffs and downsizing recently is bad management also?

[isarai]

You must have a fetish for being wrong bro, that's the only explanation I can think of for how you act around here 🤣

[Chevalier]

@Lightning

"He's been trying to retire for sometime now."

Oh really?! Just wanted to throw in an idiotic comment as usual. Wrong again as usual too. He's not retiring at all.

https://videogames.si.com/n...

So how do you like your crow to be served?! Studio wasn't allowing him the freedom to do what he wanted to so he left his own studio under Microsoft to do what he wants to. Damn it only took 5 seconds to prove you wrong again.

Here Shinji Mikami in his own words:

“Now that I've broken the spell of non-competition on myself,” he wrote, “I guess I should get to work.”

Yeah definitely sounds like someone retiring right?! He's only making new games.

[Lightning77]

"Oh really?! Just wanted to throw in an idiotic comment as usual."

As usual!? I'm not you don't ever compare me to you kiddo.
https://www.gamespot.com/ar...

He left earlier this year yes he retired from Tango at Bethesda, BETHESDA Show me where I said he was exiting the game industry? Please show me.

Gee what do you know it only took me 5 minutes to correct you as always. You throughim false things I Never said and made yourself look dumb as always kiddo.

You'll never win anything against me you and I both know that, you're not smart enough, never ever will be so back to bridge you go.

"Damn it only took 5 seconds to prove you wrong again."

I would love to see this where have you ever proved me wrong go ahead and tell me.

[Chevalier]

@Lightning

"Show me where I said he was exiting "

The part where you deflected and made it seem like he was retiring. Hence you're idiotic and wrong. He's doing no such thing. He didn't 'retire' from Bethesda, he F'n left which isn't the same. Lol.

Leaving a company is NOT retiring stupid. Because by that idiotic logic for example I retired when I left my last job. I did no such thing. I moved onto a better higher paying job. I didn't 'retire'.

So again wrong. You're doing mental gymnastics trying to backtrack right now when you were straight up wrong like usual.

https://www.gematsu.com/202...

"“I am writing today to let you know that studio head Shinji Mikami has decided to leave Tango Gameworks in the coming months,”

But yeah okay. Where anywhere does the word 'retire' show up. Bethesda even wished him well on whatever he planned to do. What happened is there was speculation he was retiring which you assumed to be true without researching (no surprise there of course). So again you're wrong.

https://www.gamesradar.com/...

"Mikami departs Tango at age 57, which naturally leads to questions surrounding his possible retirement. The Evil Within director has spoken pretty candidly in the past about retiring but has maintained over the last few years that he wants to direct one final game before he hangs up his hat. "

[Lightning77]

Nice way of saying that I'm right since you can't point out how I'm wrong nor have a counter argument but go ahead and entertain me on how I'm "wrong" though.

[Chevalier]

"he retired from Tango at Bethesda"

I knew were dumb and you might have difficulty with English, but, 'retiring' is NOT the same as just up and leaving. By your stupid logic when you switched jobs you 'retired'.

Here's the Oxford definition to dumb it down for you:

"to leave your job and stop working"

Mikami left Bethesda. He didn't stop working because he's still making games. He paused because of a non-compete which is not the same as retiring. So again you are wrong.

[LordoftheCritics]

I don't think you can manufacture talent.

Old Blizzard died a long time ago.

[jznrpg]

Blizzard has been garbage for a long time now. Same with Activision. Good luck with that.

[RupeeHoarder]

So MTX. Blizzard has been trash for literally 10 years since Diablo III dropped. Overwatch was unique but O2 ruined that. Diablo IV is atrocious. Good luck, the geniuses from the past are gone at this company.

[notachance]

well it's not just about management, almost all the veteran talents who made their legendary games already left the company a long time ago.

[Auron]

I just want to quote south park Cartman kathleen kennedy. Because thats what Microsoft will do to all Activision games.

[Stanjara]

That episode was so good.

[Inverno]

Can't nurture what's already left the coop. What made Blizzard unique is long gone, now all that's left is greed. MS will ruin this company further.

[anast]

HA!

[RedDevils]

Blizzard like Westwood at EA is long gone and dead. MS will just speed up the process.

[Charlieboy333]

And what would that be exactly?

[plmkoh]

If you want an analog of what Microsoft and Activision is like you just need to look at Mechwarrior.

You now have a two publishers under a single company that has both owned the Mechwarrior license but abandoned the IP despite the franchise being loved.

That says it all.

[raWfodog]

It boggles me how such valuable and popular IPs (across the board) get neglected and abandoned. The people in power are so out of touch with what the consumers really enjoy.

[Godmars290]

Just remember that anything he says likely wont see results for 5+ years at best.

[Obscure_Observer]

Only a fool would expect less.

[Hofstaderman]

Much like how a pedophile will nurture a young victim. We all know they goingvto end up hollowed out like Rare.

[shaenoide]

Sadly what made Blizzard unique is long gone. Now it's just surfing on nostalgia with greedy business model (D4) and predatory microtransactions (Overwatch 2)

[Barlos]

Blizzard is an awful company. They'll never see any of my money, and by extension neither will Activision and Microsoft.

[ModsDoBetter]

Blizzard lost its way long ago, no amount of Phil's hot air will change that.

[Angyobangyo]

What has made Blizzard unique is no longer there. Activision has made damn sure of that. It's wishful thinking to think that MS will do anything different.

[mastershredder]

"What Has Made Blizzard Unique", I think you should let some of their ex-employees and ex-project partners and contractors express what makes them really "unique". Nurture sounds like 'feed the beast and encourage its foul ways'. That Diablo IV needs some nurturing and a soul before it gets buried (btw the game sucks royal unique ass).

[Crows90]

Just like they nurtured rare and lion head studios right?
Phil has no clue what makes a good game let alone how to nurture a studio. They've had very few studios and the ones they had only got worse. Now they have a ton more studios than anyone else...doubt they'll know how to manage a single one of them.

[Redgrave]

Blizzard WAS unique many long years ago. They have been considerably less so since the Activision merger (the original, not the the recent MS one) to the point that I wouldn't even use unique or similar derivative in the same sentence as them.

Blizzard's heart and soul have long since died, replaced with hollowed detachment and GaaS schemes. And there's nothing unique about that approach in this industry either, so I have to wonder what he considers "unique".

[Pyrofire95]

Please correct the travesty that is the Overwatch 2 Battlepass/monetization.

[JusttJD0099]

Damn, Lies of P DLC?

[Profchaos]

Doubt it blizzard has always catered to PC and adapted to consoles where appropriate that won't fly with ms who will likely force all games to be designed with a controller in mind. So they will never get a green light on say wow 2 because it uses far to many buttons to be adaptable to console things like hot keys and macros and wow will never translate to console despite the last close to two decades of rumours amounting to nothing

[derek]

"I promise to kill and destroy everything you've built, brick by brick "

Good Guy Phil Spencer

[VincentVanBro]

You’d have to understand what makes them unique to begin with, which Phil and most of the people left at Activision-Blizzard likely do not. The magic left a long time ago.