The Man At The Center Of Microsoft's First Party Strategy

The first-party apparatus of every console is an integral part of its success; looking at the hype and sales generated by games like Halo: ODST, Wii Fit, or Uncharted 2 is testament to that. Earlier this year, Microsoft named Phil Spencer corporate VP and head of worldwide studios.

Having recently served as the GM of worldwide studios and worked in England with Rare and Lionhead, among others, he moves into the role as the platform is about to undergo its most drastic upgrade since launch: the Natal peripheral, which Microsoft is promising will fundamentally change the way games are played for all 360 gamers.

Here, Spencer speaks about the overall first party strategy for the company, its specific Natal strategy, and its experiments with free-to-play, microtransaction-based titles (Joyride) and ad-supported games (1 vs 100).

[James Bond]

MS needs to find a better guy.

[Montrealien]

why is that?

[jcgamer]

In this era of PS3 and Xbox 360 games, where third-parties are almost never shipping console exclusives, certainly Sony's been very strong on, well, "our strategy, then, for differentiation is to use our first-party organization to make solid, important, AAA exclusives." Is that how you see it, too?

PS: Absolutely. And to ship them! That's an important part of our strategy. Look at Forza shipping next month: the definitive racing sim this generation. You could say it's the only racing sim that's shipping this generation.

Danny Boy and The Funky Bunch, with special guest Phil Spencer strikes again!

lol :)

[starvinbull]

M$ have a first party strategy?

EDIT: Someone beat me to it lol.

[Tony P]

I really don't like where this guy seems to be headed. Praising stuff like Mafia Wars and lesser MMOG-like PC games. Sounds like he wants to focus on social/casual gaming. I don't personally like it.

Which brings me to Joyride from the recently acquired BigPark.
...Is anyone pumped for Joyride but him? I don't know many people who've heard of it at all. And why the heck is it f2p only to gold members? Sounds like a game a lot of people will miss. This is as boneheaded imo as the PSO fiasco last gen. (You were REQUIRED to have XBL to play the game AT ALL.) I don't see why he gets so puffed up about it.

Natal. WHY IS HE TALKING SMACK ABOUT CONTROLLERS? You can't play every game with Natal. You can't even play the majority. They admitted that. And it's annoying that they keep sidestepping the million-dollar question: "What titles are coming out for Natal?" Yeah, we know you announced all those big names "talking about support" (or "actively developing" huge dif) for Natal. Less hype, more games.

[callahan09]

This guy says, "Look at Forza shipping next month: the definitive racing sim this generation. You could say it's the only racing sim that's shipping this generation."

Really? The ONLY racing sim that's shipping this generation? What a ridiculous thing to say.

And about Microsoft Game Studios bringing a great mix of new IP? Well, this year the only new IP released by Microsoft Game Studios was Ninja Blade, and nothing more for the rest of the year. Next year, the only announced new IP they're going to release is Alan Wake.

Sony's 2009 new IP releases are inFamous, EyePet (coming in Europe this year), and Demon's Souls (yes, this was a game funded and produced by Sony, even though they aren't publishing it in America, they did publish it in Japan, and it was a Sony creation).

Sony's 2010 currently announced new IP releases are MAG, Heavy Rain, ModNation Racers, The Last Guardian, White Knight Chronicles, and The Agency.

Microsoft and Sony both did well with new IP in 2007 and 2008, but what the heck happened to Microsoft's new IP initiative for this year and next year? 2 new IP games over 2 years? Really? Versus something like 9 from Sony?

[4Sh0w]

"Praising stuff like Mafia Wars and lesser MMOG-like PC games. Sounds like he wants to focus on social/casual gaming."

Well to be fair Mafia Wars was not mentioned until well into the interview and its mentioned only in reference when he is asked about microtransactions. This is a 5 page interview and not much is said about Mafia Wars or lesser mmo pc games so I just don't see how you get to him being focused on social/casual gaming. In fact the first game he talks about is MGS and Kojima's thoughts on not abandoning the fanbase, and he mentions stuff like "facial recognition" and "voice recognition" as being ways Natal can enhance some games and once again he comments on the fact that microsoft has been saying Natal's level of implementation depends on the type of game and its up to the dev to "kind of decide what's the right experience for how they're trying to entertain people". I've noticed quite frequently this point is overlooked, with reasoning by those who overlook it being that microsoft advertise Natal as being controller free, true because it is the only "motion device" currently that will at least have the ability to play SOME games without a controller, but as with all advertising that does not mean the tech is limited to that one aspect.

"Is anyone pumped for Joyride but him?"

No, but the point he was making in answering the question was that games like Joyride and 1 vs 100 are test beds and offer diversity.

"WHY IS HE TALKING SMACK ABOUT CONTROLLERS?"

The interviewer's very first question is about Natal, the interviewer also continues to ask about Natal. The interviewer says "Part of me is skeptical that that's achievable, actually." He's basicly saying well people had the same skepticism about Live and FPS on consoles as you go back throught the history of gaming "skepticism" is a good thing, and they are hoping to prove the skeptics wrong. Seems like the right attitude if you're going to try to introduce something different, or else you might as well believe the skeptics, scratch the project and cut your loses.

"Less hype, more games."

Again, everything new begins with less, by your logic they should keep Natal secret until they have final builds of games and skip media, fans, developer feedback in this obvious critical development phase. NO, microsoft is smart in this respect, they begin the Natal hype at E3 with something that while is unfinished is functional enough to show off its potential, they hype continues while they work internally on fine tuning the tech and developing games. If the games suck ultimately it will be a failure but if the games are good, along with the building hype then it will be a hit. Hype is the norm for this industry.

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

Also agree with 4show above. It seems like this is one of the most level headed and frank interviews around.

Gamasutra articles are always awesome and detailed! Not the blogger flamebait cr@p!!!

[Elaine Benes]

Youre slacking.

But overall you are doing a good job.

Sincerely,

Elaine

[Tony P]

@4show: I'm also going off a previous interview and it seems all he can do is talk up "fresh experiences" which are really just casual games. And looking at the structure of his domain, they aren't built to put out the titles their core fanbase would appreciate most. They have one or two studios set up for that and one focuses on a single franchsise (Halo). Natal isn't anathema among the "hardcore" titles. We've seen (with limits) the prototypical Burnout and Katamari. But again, it's just talk at this point. Spencer's superficial reassurance that they haven't forgotten the 'core takes center stage. But their actions are seemingly not intent on realizing that statement in-house. Joyride? 1 vs 100? And Rare clearly aren't focused on that demographic. That really only leaves mainstays like Lionhead and Turn 10 (but they only make racers). So he can talk about 1st-party dedication to hardcore all he wants. He's not showing it so I don't buy it.

And my point about Joyride is that for an experiment, it's too exclusive imo. Why make a game f2p ONLY when you adopt another paid service? Sometimes they can be too focused on enhancing XBL for gold members. Apparently, silver members register in name only.

I didn't have any points about whether Natal would succeed of fail. It seems like promising tech, but that's not a license to go talk trash about how 99% of us enjoy our games. Though it's hardly atypical of MS. I'm relieved the interviewer responded ably in my somewhat incensed stead. I do not "tolerate" controllers as he puts it, I LIKE them. This is what Sony and Nintendo understand about gamers and what Apple (iTouch) and MS (w/Natal) don't seem to get. They believe they're changing and perhaps eliminating the need for the traditional almost completely, but it frankly ain't gonna happen this gen if it does at all. MS particularly have that habit of trashing whatever's out if they think they've got the better product (Google, PS3, iPhone, Macs). Problem is tough talk rarely assures their successes. Natal could go either way.

Less hype, more games. Their competiton hypes with substance. They're generally quite able with that. Sony's motion shows progress at TGS since E3 in a format that gamers understand and enjoy while Natal hasn't displayed any real "revolution" since the initial reveal. Now, they did show Katamari working with Natal, and I appreciate that. And I don't want them to rush Natal stuff out the door just to compete; KOTOR 2, anybody? But they look all talk like Digi-Guys with WarDevil a year ago. I suppose the realities of their tech development don't match up with the hyping schedule. Is that where we're headed with this? "Natal will rock!" into 2010? We'll see. Even Digi-Guys finally had something to show a week ago. It interests me to see just how much third-party support they receive contrasted with the hype.

Given circumstances, I think we're quite entitled to a bit of skepticism.

[Bathyj]

They have a strategy?

[Bathyj]

Sorry, it had to be said. I'll stop now.

[rawd]

SuperHyperGlobalMeganet

[Bathyj]

Vice President Simpson speaking.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Its Patty.

[mrv321]

Sony have 100's of men, Microsoft has 1 for Making, producing, writting and play testing all of Microsoft first party games.

[RAM MAGNUMS]

not me.
im not shafting you on some new ips, its this guy.
say hello to the reason xbots are under my thumb.

[Aquarius]

HYPTAL will flop its just hype, probably get rushed as well as SONY is overtaking the 360 in sales and M$ are desperate bastards.

It's not rocket science. It will be launched around SONY's and will get neglected like HD-DVD. The only stupid people that will be buying it are bots.

you really think we will get games like this. that never existed in the 1st place (it was just acting) it was another lie.
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
plus even if the camera does manage to lose its lag, the controls will be limited and tiring.
I would really like to see how they are going to advertise this on TV and make a big fool of themselves.

P.s. @1.45 not happening :P

[MetaIGearRising]

Microsoft needs better games fast.

[Aquarius]

and what exactly do you mean by that comment bot.

http://www.n4g.com/up/10313...
http://www.n4g.com/up/10622...

Alternate accounts much?
P.s. I'm taking your bubbles...

[kurochi]

idea who this guy is, but MS needs to give him some help in his dept. as their 1st party line-up is piss-poor when compared to what Sony has lined up.

[Montrealien]

I agree, however when 1 decent MS first party game sells as much as 3 Sony first party games, he does look like he is doing at least a decent job, at least to investors.

[cereal_killa]

Montrealien your right but you also have to look at it this way, Sony is doing it the right way lets say Sony has 10 games that sell 2 mill each and M$ has only 2 games that sell 4 mill ea who would you say is more successful they both are but Sony has more options because you can only ride those 2 games so long before people say "Ok give us something new".

[Smkt]

i think that MS is depending too much on natal... what if its a flop and doesn't sell that well?

[James Bond]

I think the questions is, "What happens if they do sell one?" They say they're making games for it, but it seems like they're just be making Xbox 360 Fit or something.

[i3eyond the Circle]

Every business has a strategy.

Natal is setting up to be a game changer.

360 is only going to get better.

Cry like a baby or play games.

I play games :D

[Aquarius]

NATAL won't be changing anything.

NATAL is a step backwards.

EDIT: Just for the disagree/s

NATAL is limited and will put a lot of stress on developers to make what you call...a game!!!
M$ has barely pushed this industry/geneartion foward and NATAL looks like its backward. You need buttons to play/touch games.

The DS has touch with buttons.
The Wii is basically an enhanced DS with the touch now transformed into motion still retaining its buttons.

NATAL=THIN AIR
...and any chances of using a controller with it is ruined, with SONY's patent.
http://www.siliconera.com/2...

What body part am I going to use to do a U-turn in a NATAL type game?
A 360 degrees spin? LOL but that defeats the purpose.

[Pennywise]

Wow... Send me some of that MS paycheck and I will believe you!

[i3eyond the Circle]

Feels good to be the only person in this article not a SDF member.

You guys really try to downplay Natal because of its potential, its recent developer appraisal, and the final FACT its from Microsoft.

When the only thing you know about Natal is its motion sensing capabilities it shows how simple minded you guys really are.

[Aquarius]

NATAL "potential"????????? ?

What potential is this you speak of my dear boy?

NATAL is build on the concept of the EYETOY. Even though it uses different technology its the same thing really. And we all know how successful the EYETOY was without a controller, what makes you think HYPTAL has any potential?

You play games, so you can do things which you can't do in real life(norm).

Now with NATAL its taking it too far.
HYPTAL isn't suitable for gaming.
Period.

It's not M$ technology. M$ only bought the company who was developing this recently. Plus the fact that its from M$ means its corrupted.

This shows how simple minded you really are:
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

P.s. It feels good being a SONY fanboy when you get rewarded with AAAA games ;)

[NoBias]

You'll get a ton of disagrees on N4G if you do that. That's just what this sorry site has become now.

Sadly...

The SDF runs stupidly strong here.

EDIT: See, disagrees :) What a pathetic bunch.

[JD_Shadow]

You find it funny that the only ones complaining about "fanboys" on here are the ones that continually go to the "SDF" line (especially the one that uses the name)?

Get it through your heads: You're not saying anything constructive. You're TROLLING! You get called out on trolling, you suddenly think your comment was somehow constructive and you call everyone else out for being members of a group that doesn't really exist.

No one else is trolling this subject. They're saying that right now, MS's first party strategy doesn't seem to be working, and Natal is being much overhyped right now (which is true). You're the only ones who made those comments. Congratulations.

EDIT@NoBias (which you DO have): You're whining about ONE disagree (well, two now at the time I write this since I just did so)? You're thinking that no one else has the right to disagree with you at all? You might need to look in the mirror before you call someone else "pathetic"!

EDIT2: Now that I think about it, why do I have the suspicion that you wrote that before you even STARTED getting disagrees, because you knew you would get them?

You know what's really sad, though? You have one agree now, and will probably get more after I write this.

[NoBias]

Tell me what your post accomplished that mine did not. Other than the fact that you snuck in a "(which is true)" line. In that case I should be able to go on a rant as long as I say "I think the strategy is working".

Is that enough to validate my post like yours? Or do you wanna just go ahead and call yourself a hypocrite? You can if you want.

Cuz I mean, I'm calling you one...

Now your next post better be about the topic and not about my post, otherwise you'd be trolling. And we wouldn't want that from you... again...

[bjornbear]

Natal is a Motion sensor gimmick, just like wii's and even sony's

[RAM MAGNUMS]

Dont you mean pretend youre a baby while playing natal?
you cant play natal.
you can pretend to play.

[MetalGearBear]

*yawn* bored!!!!

[i_am_interested]

there they go taking shots at polyphony and gran turismo again, maybe the reason GT5 is taking so long is because theyre actually modelling car engines so that there arent any camera mistakes that show empty engine bays

[RAM MAGNUMS]

see? look at me?
Im pretending to have a blast!

wanna see the bottom of my shoe?

look, im pretending to lift my leg. see?! im a avatard!
Wooo Hoo! im pretending to be a spaceman! wowie wow right?!

[Boldy]

I feel so bad for the company. They try so hard at making great games and actually succeed, at least for the games of theirs this gen I own (Banjo Kazooie N&B, and Viva Pinata) and from what I've heard Kameo is good too. The thing that kills me is that they make these games and they just get shut out by games where you chainsaw people in half or fight in a war. I guess the demographics for the Xbox 360 just aren't pulling in their favor. They really should release a new Perfect Dark, or Conker game to match the demographic and gain the company a bit of notoriety.

[Nodoze]

MS is heading casual, when a vast majority of their customers are 'hard core' gamers. Watch and be amazed as MS abandons the very gamers that got them where they are today.

I do not know of ANY true gamers that want to stand around and jump in front of their TV's to play games. We have something called REALITY for that.

So while MS tries to woo casual gamers, they will lose their audience.

Thanks but no thanks MS.

[bigrudowsky]

i dont see how they will lose their audience. With all the great games releasing next year its very unlikely, now if they had a year like 09 again they yes they would.

[Sir Ken_Kutaragi]

...Fatal"...Only to M$!!! ;-D

[Dirk Benedict]

What first party strategy? I don't see any first party strategy anywhere near m$.

Maybe if we look hard enough we might find it along with those Halo Wars stats.

[Bigpappy]

I want to see what they will do. PS3 fanboys like to talk down Natal, then get in line to support games like Eyepet. I don't see why anyone older than 10 would have interest in buying that game. But I will not knock the game because the tech is innovative. Just like Natal is innovative.