Xbox boss Phil Spencer on the future of gaming: “The business isn’t how many consoles you sell”

The head of Xbox just unveiled a new console, but Phil Spencer isn’t too worried about selling you one. “I don’t need to sell any specific version of the console in order for us to reach our business goals,” the told Verge in an interview yesterday, the day after Microsoft held its annual E3 keynote.

[Krangs_Uncle]

No, it's how many interviews you give a year.

[SCW1982]

😂

[mikeslemonade]

He’s right. This is coming from Sony fan:

1. Microsoft
2. Sony
3. Stadia
4. Nintendo

[bouzebbal]

Funny it's not what they have been screaming last gen.. Zero honesty

[mikeslemonade]

Lol keep doubting, I’ve been right every generation on who won.

Microsoft will price out the competition by letting you play new games for $5-$10 a month.

I just got Xbox game pass ultimate for 3 years at $150.

And since 2018 Microsoft has bought out 15 studios. Microsoft has lots of cash just sitting on the side line.

I’m a Sony fan at heart but their business model is obsolete. Traditional console game is dying.

[AspiringProGenji]

I didn’t join this site Yesterday @mike

Stop the bullshit

[darthv72]

Hey bouz... were the same people running things last gen too?

Different team, different dream.

[rainslacker]

@Darth

Yeah. The new team isn't doing as well in terms of sales. What's your point?

[Silly Mammo]

@darth

Problem is the dream seems to keep changing.

[darthv72]

@rain I cant remember what sales were like before Phil but i can only assume there have been more units sold since his promotion than prior. My point is that under new management, they managed to turn things around to a respectful 40+ million units sold. Who knows how bad things would have been if nothing changed.

@silly, actually Phils dream has always been the same. To increase the number of engaged players for xbox services / games. He has done pretty good so far. Expanding that reach into PC and mobile is the next logical step.

[xX-oldboy-Xx]

darthv72 - More units since Phil has been at the helm? Remove Kinect, price cuts, bundles, 3 console revisions - 3 CONSOLE REVISIONS - I had to had to say that twice. Is that a record for a single gen? Perhaps ms has won something after all.

[Unspoken]

Here come the Sony fanboys into every Xbox article. lol

Phil isn't incorrect in anything he is saying. And yes if they had high sales numbers he would talk about it. Both are correct and he would still say the focus is on software and services. Satya changed all that years ago but these children don't have half a brain to remember any of it. Microsoft has turned around many times and have increased profits even after trying multiple different innovative ideas and products.

They always scream doom and gloom. lol

[Ju]

Well, I give MS that. With Sony not showing up they can at least show up in every interview.

[Sophisticated_Chap]

@ AspiringProGengi

Enough with the nonsense.

[UltraNova]

I'm sure MS and Phil are giving their fans what they want. Just as I'm sure we non-MS fans "dont get it" wink wink*. I mean after the 360, xbox fans were fed up with all those xbox games and just wanted services and more services until their eyes popped out and their wallets drained! /S

Damn the double standards and irony is off the charts with you people...

[Ceaser9857361]

mIkelemonade

Thanks to MS for backing up Xbox because it wasn't doing well. Sony aint that powerful like MS but still doing better in Gaming department. Had Sony had that kind of Money things would have been different.

and its obvious now it doesnt matter how many console it sold for MS because PLAY ANYWHERE happened so they are very much focused on GAAS and software sales.. Most importantly GAAS
That way MS is making good money.. Once GAAS is available more than Xbox and PC platform they will make more... like the Netflix of Gaming..

Sony will be where it is and they are doing exceptionally well and they will continue to improve grow and do much better

[pwnmaster3000]

Yooo mikeslemonade is a legend out here on n4g. Put some respect on this dudes name lol.

[mikeslemonade]

^
You guys just have oldhead thinking.

And like someone said Microsoft is the closest thing to the Netflix of gaming. We had pretends like Onlive, Strydyr, and Stadia... but Microsoft has the connections, money, and fanbase to actually make it into the Netflix of gaming. And Netflix by the way is going down. It’s gonna be “Disney and Chill” sooner or later.

Sony is gonna sell slightly less than what they did this gen, it’s just gonna be a downward trend for traditional consoles.

[badz149]

HAHAHAHA Phil...you should do stand up comedy!

see this:

https://www.dualshockers.co...

PSN alone made more money than the whole xbox and Nintendo combined last year!! just PSN, not even the entire PS division.

I guess next Phil will say “The business isn’t about how much revenue you generate”

[nowitzki2004]

@mikeslemonade

Coming from MS fanboy supreme

1. PS4
2. Switch
3. Stadia
4. Nintendo WiiU
5. Xbox One

Facts are facts

[Army_of_Darkness]

For ms it's not about console sales anymore because they are way behind ps4 sales... So now it's about how many sucka... Umm, errr.. I mean people fall for their monthly game pass.. And after seeing their e3 show I see not point in even getting their next gen console to begin with... Better off with a Sony and Nintendo combo.

[mikeslemonade]

^
Lol fall for the gamepass..

Some of the games that will be there day 1:
Gears
Age of Empires remaster
Ori
Outer lands
Blair Witch
Pshychonaughts 2

And that’s just year 1. I paid $150 for 3 years. How am I getting tricked. You’re the ones who are getting “tricked” when you buy Outerlands for $60.

[Potnoodle999]

@Bouzzebbal nor at the start of this gen 😂

[lelo2play]

Then he already won. Flawless victory.

[russo121]

These executives can talk trash whatever they want, I sincerely don't get the point what he's trying to achieve. Another re-read and it seems he wants an ecosystem to be console agnostic.

[Relientk77]

LOL good one

[gravedigger]

Phil Spencer at E3 2 days ago:
"Xbox consoles are vital to us"

Surely if they manage to outsell PS5 during launch, they will scream out loud about that

[alb1899]

He didn't say consoles aren't vital but even Sony know that consoles won't be that important in the near future

[SyntheticForm]

Microsoft isn't competing with Sony because they don't 'need' to. That's why you're not seeing the story-driven, narrative heavy exclusives the likes of which Sony thrive on. Microsoft can continue doing what they're doing and mosey along just peachy. They're perfectly comfortable.

Sony may be crushing Microsoft in the first party games dept, but they're not crushing them financially - not by a long shot, and that's what Phil is basically saying. They don't need to match Sony in anything; consoles, games, etc because 'their' business model is 'working' for 'them.'

For people who care about games this sucks, but for Microsoft? Pshh.

[Dark_Knightmare2]

But comparing just their gaming divisions does show Sony crushing them

[xX-oldboy-Xx]

Synthetic - Sony is absolutely crushing ms xbox division when it comes to revenue. Sounds to me like they've already conceded defeat next gen. These are not the comments of a confident person.

[sinspirit]

This is Playstation versus XBox. Not Sony versus Microsoft. Keep that in mind. Microsoft's finances mean nothing about XBox's actual success. As can already be seen by still lacking substance and direction after almost 10 years.

Do you think it's okay for Microsoft to be comfortable? It's clear that this is their goal rather than providing industry leading games and content that they just want the constant influx of money through services and accessories. I don't think being comfortable is okay. That doesn't mean they have to rack their brains to do something. It just means they shouldn't be okay with their current status which is reliant on services that are enticing due to cost benefits rather than individual products that are enticing because of the quality of those products.

[jznrpg]

They aren’t competing with Sony anymore because they can’t win. They realized their faithful will buy anything they dish out and they couldn’t win so they shifted focus on fully on subs earlier than they planned . They wanted a bigger piece of the pie but are happy with spending less and making more .

[Mr_Writer85]

Edit
Just a quick note in 2018 Xbox Divison had record high revenue of £10b

PlayStation in the same year made £17b.

So they kinda are crushing them purely in the PlayStation vs Xbox. You have to include MS other business (Azure, Windows etc) to get the MS win over Sony.

But imo you're half right

They're not competing with Sony as I believe their long term goal is a new breed of publishing.

Think about it, atm game pass needs 3rd party games, that takes a chunk of money from MS.

But let's say in 5 years time MS have enough of their own content to phase out 3rd party games and not only offer value still, but take more profit.

Roughly before E3 there were 9m GP subs. All paying £4.99 a month.

That's £44m a month £538m a year.

Now let's just say all 9 million upgraded to GPU at £10.99 a month

That's now £98m a month and £1.8b a year.

In 10 years time, you may see an Xbox app on any sort of electronic device, phone, tablet, laptop, PC, TV, firesticks etc.

On that service is 300+ games all made/published by MS.

You have 40m subs. Even without price hikes etc that's £439m a month. £5.2b a year just selling games.

Publishers have their own store fronts on PC, but I think in the future most will have their own version of game pass.

As streaming becomes more viable, publishers will push their own content.

Much like Netflix vs Prime vs HBO vs Hulu vs Disney.

[AspiringProGenji]

Lol the xbox fans sure brag about MS finances a lot. You don’t care that MS is being crushed with games as long as they make money. You must be a fan of EA too

[Realms]

Yeah ok their business model moving forward will catch up with them, they are banking on game pass constant revenue stream but the low quality of the games available thru this service will be their down fall. We are already seeing this play out. Zero new AAA games have been announced by MS, I suspect this is intentional since they have no desire to pore resources into games that they will have to add to their service day one. Expect to get a ton of games with less quality to pad their gaming service library.

[TheEnigma313]

what does financially have to do with anything. The xbox division is not profitable at all. They are getting revenue off of windows and ms office 360.

[Kiwi66]

Maybe it would help if people didn't keep asking him for an interview

[xX-oldboy-Xx]

He is a grown man, he can say no. Maybe they ask because they know the chances of getting one is high.

[Kiwi66]

@oldboy but then people would complain about that

[Kiwi66]

Wait, so people say he does too many interviews and so i make a suggestion and people don't like that idea ?

[gamer7804]

you are right Krangs_Uncle, but thats just part of it, it's Impressions, Interviews speaking and listening to customers, Game Sales, Consoles Sales, DLC Sales, subcriptions to services, customer service, etc.

[trooper_]

Spencer is so full of crapola, lol.

[itsmebryan]

No, it's about how much money you make for a business. Now they have new money streams coming from their competition Sony and Nintendo. It think MS will do fine.

[Jin_Sakai]

Xbox boss Phil Spencer on the future of gaming: “The business isn’t about how many consoles you sell when you’re losing”

Fixed.

We all know you’d be bragging on Twitter left and right if you were winning.

[alb1899]

Time will open your eyes my friend. What was important yesterday isn't today. Talk to blockbuster and they will help you understand.

[WickedLester]

LOL you win the internet!

[EliteComments123]

lol

[antbolton89]

If the Xbox One had sold 90 million units that's all they would talk about.

[Brave_Losers_Unite]

Yup. They can't admit that they are the most inferior out of the three. Isnt Switch going to pass them soon?

[Darkborn]

It should according to the numbers. Hell it might have already.

[MONOLITHICIDE]

I might be getting a Switch here shortly. I have not bought an Nintendo system since Gameboy Advanced. My old ladys' been wanting a new Gameboy because her Gameboy color does not save files anymore. Was interested in getting the 3ds but why not just get the Switch mm'right?

[Donnie81]

If I’m not mistaken the Xbox has second place of this generation locked down. It passed the Wii U in sales years ago and I doubt it’s making a comeback

[Pickledpepper]

I'm not sure about inferior. They have a more powerful console and let's look at microsoft net worth and let's look at Sony's net worth.
I own all platforms but to call Microsoft inferior is a bit naive. If they do fall behind in sells with the next gen (which they probably will) I don't think it will worry them to much, very deep pockets.

[NXFather]

I am the best. I can admit that. Would you care to tell me the three? Oh my bad we just talking about video games. I could not pay one you to level with me on downtown there. Just tell me one thing anyone beat me on. If you're gonna say what are you talking about then there is no point responding. Just chalk it up a crazy person. I see how not one of you will bring it up in real life. We all see who did what? All the time.

[RizBiz]

@Monolithicide The Gameboy Colour doesn't save games, each individual game does. Unscrew the games she wants to play and replace the batteries.

[Mr_Writer85]

@donnie

Nice spin, but it terms of competition the Switch is closing in, last gen or next gen means diddle squat.

Right now there are 3 consoles on sale and Xbox is close to coming 3rd.

[BehindTheRows]

Indeed.

[1-pwnsause-1]

Aaron Greenberg would walk out of his room just to gloat about sales....

[leejohnson222]

Exactly

[harmny]

Whoops

[TacoTaco]

It's not what they have today and it's not the reality of the situation, so stop saying things that Phil Spencer isn't even implying.

Do you know what a "business goal" is, to start? How about a point of reference... let's go with the company I work for. It's not doing so hot in its industry, and we lost quite a bit. We are not number one, not by a long shot. So, we have a business goal to, basically, "operate more efficiently."

We have done that last quarter. We're still not number one. Still not by a long shot. But guess what? Even though we didn't X the most Y, we still reached our business goal! Is that a concept you're capable of understanding?

[rainslacker]

But, your company isn't going around acting like they are number one, even when conceding that they aren't. Spencer may occasionally act humble, but they haven't done what they should have been doing all gen, and now they're talking about next gen as if this gen never happened.

There's a huge difference between recognizing your place, and pretending your place is more than it is when it comes to business. There are plenty of stores that aren't as successful as Amazon. It doesn't mean they are making as much as Amazon, or are as good. Rhetorical example, I'm not trying to say amazon is better than everyone else.

[xX-oldboy-Xx]

Taco Taco - So the business goal announced at the xbox one reveal, is that what you mean? Or do we change when our product doesn't sell as expected - "First to 10 million units win the gen" - Larry 'Major Nelson' Hryb.

They've constantly looked at how they can make the most money with out addressing the elephant in the room.

Now they have some new studios, some ok, some good. But their plan for those studios is a worry. Matt Booty wants a game every 3 months when Scarlet is released.

They want to follow the Netflix model, do you realise how much shit is on Netflix?

[NXFather]

@rainslacker

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?

[darthv72]

90 million is nothing when there are billions of potential gamers out there from consoles to pc to mobile. By expanding the reach, they dont have to worry about sales. They just have to provide entertainment that keeps people engaged.

[rainslacker]

So, you expect MS to have more than 90 million subscribers to their service?

I wonder what makes anyone believe that. Steam, the largest and most successful company on PC, only has around 90 million monthly users, and they're a more mainstream accepted form of gaming than these sub services or streaming services.

I'd be surprised if they even go over 20 million users by the end of next gen.

I'm tired of the console wars being fought based on things that have nothing to do with the consoles. If you want MS to win the services war, then fight that war, and stop relating it to traditional consoles or PC gaming. It's a different market, so as console gamers, why should we care one way or the other? We'll compare next gen using their console sales, and it won't matter who has the most used service. I know it won't matter to Xbox fan boys if Sony or Stadia have the most users, and my money is actually on Google because of their reach.

[S2Killinit]

Evey new gen I go in with a mentality that I KNOW i’ll be supporting Playstation because of how great they support their consoles in the previous gen, but also with an open mind about xbox as a console i would buy if MS shows me why. But when MS opens its mouth about the future they envision for gaming, I remember why I dont support them anymore.

[alb1899]

The thing is that everything change. MS has now so many ways to reach us that isn't anymore a thing of consoles sales. More important is how many people have good enough internet than how many consoles.

[SyntheticForm]

Exactlyyyyyy.

Microsoft's business model is totally different; Sony rely on their console sales much more than Microsoft.

It's more about how many people can Microsoft reach, and consoles aren't but 'one' vessel they can use to achieve that.

[TheEnigma313]

Sony beat their asses out of the console market because they couldn't compete.

[FyBy]

Exactly!

[Codewow]

The reality is that how many consoles sell isn’t the metric they’re looking at. They take a loss on every console sold for the majority of its generation. The number they want to see is library size. How many games has a person bought, how many dlc, how many subscriptions do they have, etc. because they are playing a margins game and consoles have a negative one.

[PhoenixUp]

Microsoft sure didn’t have that mindset last gen when they would never resist an opportunity to boast about Xbox 360 sales numbers

[YodaCracker]

Because last gen it wasn’t true. The business back then WAS how many consoles you sold, and how many software sales that produced. That was a decade ago. We’re now entering the age of services and streaming. It doesn’t matter how many consoles Microsoft sells when you can get Game Pass on PC or stream the games on any device. Microsoft is in the best position heading into the future with xCloud and Game Pass. I’d be very surprised if they don’t pull in the highest revenue of any game company next gen.

[fei-hung]

They make money from services, software and accessories. Therefore the more consoles you sell the more:

1) the more services you can provide for a fee,

2) the more software you can sell,

3) the more accessories you can sell.

MS has lost sales on:

1) accessories
2) services and
3) software

If console sales didn't matter, they wouldn't bother selling consoles and by that go out of their way to create consoles to it perform their competitor and try to out market their competitor.

[vega275]

Fei-hung

You are wrong. Microsoft made 9 billion in one quarter without selling a lot of consoles.
Even when fanboys scream "I'll just buy it on pc" Microsoft gets that money. Gamepass has millions of subscribers. So how have they lost service and software?

Sony has psnow and still hasn't cracked 1 million. Even with selling almost 1 hundred million consoles. Sony knows that what Microsoft and Google may be the future and doesn't want to be left behind.

So no console sales doesn't matter if you only sell 5 million copies sold. But being able to play it anywhere sales get you 20-30million copies sold from people who would not have bought your console.

[Longadog]

oh that was back then, huh? is that so.. okay, got it tiger... whatever lets you sleep at night *thumbs up* :)

seriously enjoy spencer crowd logic

[nowitzki2004]

That sounds ridiculous.

[Sevir]

That's interesting you bring up the 9 billion but compare that to Sony's Streaming service... Streaming, the very thing you've all critized Stadia for. PS Now is one aspect of the PSN which last year eclipsed both Nintendo and Microsoft's digital sales income combined. 12.5 billion in digital sales was profit for all of 2018 for Sony. And Sony themselves have now switched to a services and software focus for the rest of this Generation now that the PS4 is at market saturation.

All their interviews are next gen leaks and development hint that they are overhauling their Network infrastructure for the future to tackle and really make for a platform to do robust streaming and a more powerful online gaming experience. Along with their own partnership with MS for this purpose.

So you're not really saying much but trying to defend why MS hasn't sold as many XB's this gen as Sony sold over double that amount with PS4s

The PS and Xbox business will evolve to tackle Stadia. They'll offer stronger robust services in the next generation.

But let's not kid ourselves. If MS sold 90+ million XBOs in 6 years Phil would be talking about the importance of hardware sales in addition to services, because let's be real, if the XB business is about reaching users then selling Xboxes to provide services is 100% the goal, and if you Sell more hardware, you have a bigger pool of customers to market your services to

[fiveby9]

" It doesn’t matter how many consoles Microsoft sells when you can get Game Pass on PC or stream the games on any device."

If you believe that is true then why is MS even investing R&D money into producing yet another new console? If consoles sales mean so little then why did Sony sell so many consoles? Clearly, someone out there wants to buy consoles. MS would love to sell more consoles. It is important to them. They are just failing at it compared to the competition.

[EliteComments123]

I sort of agree with you.

[darthv72]

I love it when people compare last gen to this gen as if things on the management side never changed. Like i said above. Different team, different dream.

[vega275]

They need to hold on to the hate. Its what they what they live for.

[sinspirit]

XBox has been slacking for 10 years. There is no different dream here. Microsoft still controls XBox. They only fired XBox's scape goat CEO who was too forward on Microsoft's strategy about controlling consumers product ownership and selling services. Phil is pushing that same vision but slowly. The box is still lacking in software, big franchises are failing and reviewing worse and worse, we lack new IP's that are high quality, they worry entirely about their image and advertisement budgets while their product quality is low, they are focused on services and connectivity rather than individual quality products being properly managed and delivered to consumers, they still act like they are leaders of the industry in articles, interviews, and presentations when they have made every mistake they could have made and are still only kept afloat due to their parent company and services that entice consumers looking for surface level cost effectiveness rather than quality assured product management.

Why are you cheerleading a motto? It's not going to stick.

[Prince-Ali]

Darth you have NOOO IDEA what you're talking about!!! EVERYTHING MS has now LITERALLY EVERYTHING they have now that you all seem to champion and point to Phil as the creator is COMPLETELY WRONG and was always part of the Xbox initiative since Don Mattrick was there lool.. i literally have an article from 2012 where everything were getting now was already approved and shown to be part of the plans except there was a lot more TV integration but they scaled back on that for now! And the Xbox One X has been an Xbox plan since 2013 to have a more powerful version of the system down the road... so literally nothing is Phil but you allll act like he's your lord and saviour lool

[BLow]

The reason he keeps saying this because MS wants to sell you a service and not a console. They keep saying this over and over again. It's called programming or brainwashing. You keep saying the same thing over and over until people just except and believe anything you say. It's a very real concept.

Gamepass Gamepass Gamepass. Oh and Xbox Live. They are putting the two together so they are relient on each other. If they are tied together, you can't cancel one without canceling both. That's what they want.

Then all the fanboys validate what they say, then it spreads like a wildfire. Look at this year's E3. Most diehards said this is the make it or break it year. The general consensus is that they didn't deliver. Then you have the some saying to wait until next E3 already. You have some where one of the main highlights for them is a service. That ultimate package. Not a game but a service.

This is what MS wants. They want you to talk about a service rather than games. This has become apparent after this conference. But this is just my opinion and what do I know? What I do like is big quality AAA games and I know where to go to get it...

[darthv72]

Are you saying gamepass doesnt have big AAA games or are you trying to say that if Sony offered the same service it would be more your style because it is those AAA games you think of?

[Jinova]

You win this thread.

[Vizigoth04]

@darthv72

Sony mostly likely at some point may go the very same route, the difference though is that Sony actually makes exclusives that appeal to a variety of gamers. Where is Microsoft’s God of War, Death Stranding, Bloodborne, Days Gone, Horizon Zero Dawn, Uncharted, The Last of Us, or Spider-Man? There is far less heart and talent inside the majority of Game Pass games. You know the games you passed because you didn’t want to buy them in the first place.

[xX-oldboy-Xx]

Yep - repeat until.it becomes the narrative. Subscriptions is all they want. Good luck to them, they are taking the industry in a direction I don't like. Remember they were the first to introduce paid online, that's now the norm.

[Pickledpepper]

Im playing horizon zero dawn at the moment to see what all the hype was about, its a good game but i cant help thinking, where have I done all this before? Killing animals for pouch upgrades, taking bases, setting traps, hitting weak points on enemies, climbing towers to open up map, collecting plants for different reasons, but until now I couldn't put my finger on it.
I know a lot of people are going to disagree but it's just a Far cry 3 clone but 3rd person

[rdgneoz3]

Yah, during the 360 era they were constantly putting out number of units sold and comparing to the PS3. After getting beat badly by the PS4, they switched to reporting xbox live users (and including free accounts...). Now they don't care about selling consoles at all... Times have changed...

[SyntheticForm]

That was a different time and smartphones were just burgeoning. Raw console sales meant a lot more to Microsoft back then. Everything's changed now; Microsoft have new ways to permeate the industry.

[DarXyde]

Actually, you should consider that is still the case now. I believe it was this past December or the year prior that Greenberg came out of his hole to "congratulate" Nintendo on being the number one console sold that month and Xbox One came in second. You never hear about any other month.

[LandoCalrissiano]

They had different minds.

[UnholyLight]

Phil Spencer didn't exactly run the ship last gen tho? So I mean obviously they didn't have the same mindset 14 years ago they do now

[alb1899]

Can blockbuster talk about yesterday?
The market is changing and if you don't see it it is because you are missing some info bro.

[CP_Company]

How it is not a business? You sell more, you have bigger pool of people to sell games, passes and so on.
This statement is so broken on so many levels.
And stop saying that people asks and you give an answer, you have to be adjucated to give proper answers and not just like clueless 5 years old kid on the street. .

[TacoTaco]

Please don't talk about education when you can't even spell "educated", man. Since you are so adjucated and have full understanding of Microsoft's business goals, however, please, do tell me even one of the levels in which his statement is broken.

[rdgneoz3]

You around during last gen of consoles? They bragged all the time about how much the 360 was selling (even with red ring and usually reporting the numbers sold to stores, not customers). PS4 comes around and beats the xbone, suddenly they care about xbox live user numbers and no don't care about sales of systems at all...

[xX-oldboy-Xx]

Taco Taco - maybe English isn't his first language? Also I get caught out often with auto correct, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

[TK-66]

@rdgneoz3

"You around during last gen of consoles? They bragged all the time about how much the 360 was selling"

It's called being a salesmen. You spin your negatives into positives. Let's say sea of Theives at most has sold 2 million. You can announce that or announce that it has 8 million players and link it into talking up and success of Game Pass.

Every company in the industry has done this and will continue to do this.

[TheSaint]

Because your grammar is perfect, right?

[SyntheticForm]

I agree - CP_Company isn't educated, but a lot of us type from our phones, which tend to have a will of their own as we all know.

[TacoTaco]

My grammar is competent enough to where I know not to insult other's education and age when I can't even spell the damn word.

And regarding last gen - why the heck do we care what someone else said a *decade* ago about some other set of consoles? Nintendo sold 100m+ Wii's, then they sold just 10% of that for their next system. That's so much worse than how MS is doing today, but no, let's drag Phil through the mud over things his crappy predecessors did, at a time when every living gamer knows the Xbox One is too old to be their focus today.

[starchild]

Selling more consoles isn't the only way to reach more people and sell more games and services. That's the whole point.

[trooper_]

@Taco: Anyone with a brain knows what he meant. Look at you, trying to act smart when you can’t even prove him wrong.

[StormLegend]

Not what I heard last generation and the beginning of this one. It's your own fault the Xbox one sold only 40 million.

[darthv72]

I think you are confusing Spencer with Matrick.

[xX-oldboy-Xx]

All xbox at the end of the day, it's not a dictatorship. Mattrick was a fall guy.

[alb1899]

Even Sony doesn't know if ps5 will be their last console. Don't you get it?

[Christopher]

So, they're going the full on Publisher route? If so, then they should definitely care about market reach for a console, which means number sold.

I think he intended this to be some sort of 'at heart, we focus on other things' but as a business this is 100% important to them.

This is just pandering to the community, but the business knows better.

[Imalwaysright]

Business says that despite the X1 not selling even close to the 360, their gaming division broke profit records this generation and I would say that's more important to MS than the 360 selling almost twice as much a X1 or something close to that.

[Darkborn]

Yeah because they keep making really cheap games for game pass and that's all they care about. They said they want to release a game every 3 months. Good luck to their hardcore fans on quality.

[Imalwaysright]

Darkborn

Yeah good luck to them. I'm perfectly comfortable playing their 1st party games that interest me on PC because I didn't have to spend a dime on hardware that I couldn't care less about.

[Imalwaysright]

Hentai

You say that I'm wrong and yet you're proving my point. You're proving Phil's point. Need I say more? Hmm maybe I do because you certainly are stupid in the head but I'm not going to help you because survival of the fittest and stuff like that.

[FGHFGHFGH]

well of course they made record profits. They barely invested in new games and just brought emulated 360 games

[Christopher]

***broke profit records***

Yes, so did their competitor by even larger amounts. I'm certain only breaking their own records is all the business cares about.

Again, this is pandering. The business wants to be #1 because that's what makes stakeholders happy.

[-Foxtrot]

Yeah this kind of talk really keeps putting them in the publisher route

They want to be everywhere and one day the idea of having a big Xbox hitter on the PS, with it's huge fanbase will be too tempting to ignore. All those players...all their money.

[phoenixwing]

i have zero doubt that they've already been in talks with sony to provide their gamepass service on ps4 and sony shot them down because they're in it for the long haul.

[darthv72]

They are going full on service provider route. Providing the best games on the best place to play. xbox console, windows pc, android / apple mobile device. And possibly even their streaming app for nintendo and playstation devices.

[xX-oldboy-Xx]

You lost me at 'best games' - they have the worst portfolio of games out of the 3 console makers. And releasing a 1st party title every 3 months isn't going to fix that.

[Phoenix76]

The biggest issue with the whole GaaS is that everyone is now wanting to jump on that bandwagon. Think about it. Once all the big publishers and devs have their own streaming service they will hold back releasing their I.p's on other service platforms and before you know it, you'll be signed up to multiple platforms at once each charging their own price and we'll all be paying £40 and upwards each month. Then a service like gamepass will be devalued because all the multiple platform AAA games won't on that service and all your left with is indie titles mostly and the odd ms exclusive title every now and then. Believe me, GaaS is the worse thing to happen to gaming in years

[rainslacker]

All I see, which has only really become apparent while reading this thread, is that the console wars are being fought over things that aren't based on the console. As a console gamer, if one company winning were really important to me, I wouldn't really care about if they have more sub services.

Console war has never been about who made the most money. Who made the most profit. Who had the most services(although features are sometimes a war that's fought). It's always been about who sold the most consoles, and who had the best games. Sometimes, similar services are used and compared, but outside the XBL/PSN debate, it's not the biggest thing used to determine a winner.

So, when I see people acting like MS is winning, or will win the next generation console war because people speculate that Game Pass will rule, despite Ubi and EA now having their own services where even GameSpot was asking if it was going to become oversaturated, or that xCloud will somehow be successful, ignoring that Google has huge reach, and that Sony is already apparently doing well there, it gets really annoying that those of us who care about what we consider traditional gaming can now be redefined into something that we never cared about in the past 40 years.

I don't care if Sony or MS make a fortune on streaming services, or which one does better. I only care about quality consoles, and quality games. I don't even really care if one console sells more than the other, I just want quality games to play on a quality console. Support is what's important, and MS failed hard on that this gen.

[darthv72]

Well maybe that is the problem. You are separating people into different classes. I consider myself simply as a gamer. I play games on a multitude of devices.

[Imalwaysright]

"So did the competitor" despite selling less consoles than in previous generations? The bulk of the money that is made in this industry by platform holders comes from software and services, not hardware sold. In fact, MS and Sony are more than willing to lose money on each console sold if it means that they can get people into their ecosystem but they are now past beyond the point of needing to sell a console to get people in their ecosystem.

Money makes stakeholders happy. Number of consoles sold make fanboys happy.

[FGHFGHFGH]

MS gets 30% of all 3rd party games sold on xbox and live subscription fees. Games like COD, madden, used to sell 10+million on 360 every year. PS4 now sells like triple the amount of 3rd party games than xbox. Selling consoles matters to console makers. Live is free on pc.

[Imalwaysright]

Yes and still MS gaming division broke profit records this generation despite CoD games selling less on the X1 than the 360. Crazy huh? When people talk about previous generations all they're doing is proving Phil's point. Also, I don't believe that third party games such as CoD sell 3 times more on the PS4 than on the X1.

[timotim]

Let'em know Phil!!!

[Kribwalker]

“The business isn’t how many consoles you sell. The business is how many players are playing the games that they buy, how they play.”

I can agree with that. If people are not really playing a console, that you’ve sold, then you’re not making money on it anymore. I use my xbox daily, so does my kid. They sold me a console and continue to make money on it. My switch too. I use that at least once a week.

Sony sold me a console, one of the 90+ million, that i haven’t turned on in a year. They’re no longer making money off me until i start to play more,

Makes total sense

[SamPao]

Yeah thats exactely why Sony is making more money :) because more people play their console and more people play their games.

[Knushwood Butt]

“The business isn’t how many consoles you sell. The business is how many players are playing the games that they buy, how they play.”

With game pass it's not buying a game though.

Either way, the average consumer doesn't care about any of this nonsense. It just sounds like they lost this time so are trying to convince themselves that their new vision is a recipe for success.

[rainslacker]

Your anecdotal example is obviously a perfect representation of the the overall console market.

[Kribwalker]

Well MS isn’t just in the console market are they? They are in the games market on PC and console, and mobile (even more so with xcloud streaming coming). Why would your success be judged by just one of the 3 pillars of gaming? They have the number one used OS for PC Gaming. They are releasing their games and services on PC as well. Why would they do that if success was based on consoles sold?

So i ask again, if you were selling something to more than one market, why would just one market be a judgement of whether you are successful or not?

[timotim]

@Krib

EXACTLY!!! They don't want to hear that though...they don't see how Microsoft is zooming right past that metric...they want to continue to view the market just as they did 10 years ago...their ideas are antiquated!

[averagejoe26]

@timtom

Everything with the xbots is some magical thing coming in the future that's going to destroy the competition

First it was WAIT UNTIL THE CLOUD

then it was WAIT UNTIL THEY RELEASE THE BEAST!!11!!1

now it's CONSOLES DON'T MATTER, WE'RE SHOOTING RIGHT INTO THE FUTURE!11111

It's hilarious watching the mental gymnastics. Some psychologist should really do a study on you guys. It's amazing.

[Dark_Knightmare2]

Wow what a shocker Krib names every console he plays consistently and the PS4 is the only one that hasn’t been turned on in a year lol. You supposedly haven’t touched your “PS4” in the last year even though there’s been great exclusives released for it plus tons of Japanese And triple aaa games. No reason to reply though I already know that you’re going to say you don’t like Japanese games and you get all triple aaa games on one x because it’s a BEAST

[Shakengandulf]

Ive seen more xbox for sale then playstations.. try again.

[Potnoodle999]

You agree with Phil Spencer?.... you?
Really? Holy shit! Never would’ve thunkit!

[-volt-]

People are obsessed with sales.

[MetalProxy]

That’s the way it has been for forever and always will be. It’s one of the ways to gauge how companies are doing

[Thundercat77]

You seem to forgot that Microsoft was obsessed with Xbox sales and now that they are last place in the market, they suddenly "doesn't care"... Yea right.

[TKCMuzzer]

Er, you mean businesses? They are pretty important for any industry if were being honest

[Italiano1234567]

U gotta change the narrative when u dont sell as many as u wanted to. U guys wanted to reach 200 million when the xbox1 launched. Try 100 mill 1st guys.

[OB1Biker]

They were aiming to sell a billion actually.

[Hakoom]

its not about the sales nor the games... what is it about then? :D

[rainslacker]

The MAU's. MAU's are a metric used to measure potential paying customer base. It doesn't mean they're paying. It's something that became big, because Apple and Google are making money hand over fist in mobile by having huge user bases to potentially sell products or services too.

It's the track that MS is taking with Windows10, and all their products and services are under this umbrella. Consoles are just wrapped up in that.

[Potnoodle999]

They’re not quite sure yet....They’re just swinging until they hit something.

[nibblo]

So many bitter people in this comment thread, get over it guys.

[Thundercat77]

Your comment must go directly to Phil Spencer who is bitter about loosing and now have to make lots of excuses...

Get over it!

[WelkinCole]

Console gamers which is still the backbone of the gaming industry shockingly enough but consoles to play games.

Obvious MS really wants to go all subscription

[Potnoodle999]

This is what a console maker says to save face before they bow out.

[optimus]

you're all missing the point and the vision...phil is talking about getting people to play everywhere with whatever they have...meaning cloud gaming. in which case you won't need to sell x amount of consoles every year when everyone and their grandmother has or will have a phone, pc, tv, tablet, etc....

if you can cater to those people AS WELL as console gamers then they CAN sell more games and all bases will be covered.... i know people here are against cloud gaming/streaming (until sony says otherwise🙄) , but that's where we are headed. deal with it.

[Nyxus]

No.

[starchild]

Yes.

You're flat out wrong. It's about reaching as many people as possible with your games and services. Reaching people on PC, through streaming services and on console is smart business. It's not all about console sales.

[Potnoodle999]

Yes because Apple has reached EVERYONE and the games on iTunes are just the best! I mean you seen them? And of course that’s the kind of games every dev wants to make right! That’s all I want to play! I don’t want to play any more God of war which blew my mind! I want to play angry birds.......😒

[FunAndGun]

But Sony is the only company currently offering game streaming??

[darthv72]

It was a better service before they pulled the plug on several devices and limited it to just the ps4 and.... whats the other psnow supported device?

[rainslacker]

They removed it from TV's and Blu-Rays. They didn't even remove it from those that had it, just new devices, because it wasn't being used much.

[trooper_]

Why do you think they’re talking about that now? They gotta hold their L and try another idiotic strategy that hurts gamers in the long run.

[Nodoze]

They are clearly de-emphasizing the hardware. Scarlett will definitely be the last MS console.

[TheSinsibleOne]

The reason I'm not buying another xbox ever. Is because Playstation will have amazing games. Xbox has been irrelevant this gen. Not one big new exclusives.

What do I get if I buy and xbox? State of decay (I like this series) Halo, Gow, forza 75 and 6 billion indies.

Playstation. Spider man, gow, Detroit, witcher 3, persona, HZD, yakuza, Nier, TLOU, days gone Death stranding, ghost of tsushima etc. And that's just off the top of my head.

Xbox 360 was brilliant because of the exclusives like Mass effect at the time.

[LandoCalrissiano]

What's wrong with indies? Didn't everyone cry about how indies don't get enough love and had to bring back summer of arcade? What about the outcry of "support the devs" but except when devs like ninja theory make bleeding edge all people can say is that it's not God of War and that MS doesn't have good games when really it's up to the devs to make it good? And the 360 wasn't great because of the exclusives, it was great because of Live. To play with friends anywhere anytime, not just weekend nights.

[Varodor]

I remember how people didn’t like the presence of indie games in Sony and now suddenly indie games are good again

[wiz7191]

Isn't Witcher 3 and Nier multiplats though ??

[MetroidFREAK21]

Exactly, in my opinion, it's how you support it with updates and the quality of games to come out

[Dark_Knightmare2]

Well shit we know they haven’t supported it with quality games for a long time now

[MetroidFREAK21]

Right, I understand that. I don't have a preference when it comes to the name on the box. Of course console purchases should be supported by quality games and while Xbox lacked it this gen, I still enjoyed the many 3rd party games with my friends and some 1st party titles like Halo 5. I'm hopeful for the future, and I plan on buying the next Xbox and PlayStation! I have no loyalties as I'm a gamer first and foremost and I play what I like :)

[Dark_Knightmare2]

Hey I agree with you man I’m the same and always try to own all consoles I’m actually eyeing up a switch now.

[MetroidFREAK21]

The Switch is an excellent device. Been enjoying that since it released March 3rd, 2017 :)

[ziggurcat]

“The business isn’t how many consoles you sell”

yes it is. you can't have a business if you don't sell anything. and let's be honest - the only reason he's saying this is because they're not the market leaders. had Xbox been at the top, you bet your bottom dollar that they'd be boasting sales numbers all over the place.

MAU data isn't accurate, and can't really be used as a measure of success since they lump someone who's tried a game for 5 minutes into that total number.

[Kribwalker]

When you are providing a game service that allows people to play games without owning a console, then you have a business without selling a console (xcloud, PC releases, even Gamepass instead of game sales) That’s where Mau comes in and becomes completely acceptable and way more accurate then game/console sales numbers

[xX-oldboy-Xx]

Krib - Stadia? Is that you? Everyone on here agrees Stadia is DOA, but ms's service is a winner? I think not.

[rainslacker]

The business may not be, but the console wars always have been. I've noticed that changing the last few years, and the idea is mostly pushed by the one who isn't selling the most. Sony is just quietly doing it's thing, and providing services to the market it's aimed at, while MS is trying to make it into something that is relevant to console gamers.

About all I can figure is that MS gamers are so unhappy with the hardware, that they are excited for these new services because they won't have to buy the hardware anymore, but can still play the few games that MS has that are worth playing.

[LandoCalrissiano]

Yeah, you tell MS how to run their business and what metrics aren't successful! Their market cap just a trillion dollars, but sure, they don't know what they're doing. You know Google is going to be doing (and has been doing) the exact same thing using the same metrics like MAUs right? If you go on to Amazon even to test your internet connection you're still a shopper. But the fact you didn't buy anything doesn't bother Amazon in the slightest. And neither does playing a game for 5 minutes bother MS.

[trooper_]

Who cares how much they’re making when they’re doing NOTHING with it? You guys keep talking about profits instead of asking where’s the freaking exclusives. You know, the ones that aren't Halo, Gears and Forza.

[LandoCalrissiano]

You're the only one who cares about MS exclusives! The rest of the population are perfectly happy to play gta 5, cod, minecraft, siege and fortnite. Read the article, apparently people are even happy to play world of tanks on the 360, what the fuck do these people need exclusives for?

[ziggurcat]

"Yeah, you tell MS how to run their business and what metrics aren't successful!"

Citing MAUs is not an accurate measure of success because it doesn't reflect the actual amount of current players, and it includes anyone who has booted the game whether they had it open for 5 minutes 8 months ago or currently at 500 hours. It's cooking the books to artificially inflate the success level of the game. That's why it's not an accurate measure of success. Doesn't matter who uses that metric.

[ravens52]

No it isnt how many consoles you sell... its how many games you sell and make and how many of them are actually good. I think it woulda been better if he said its all about console sales...

[ocelot07]

We all know it's really about how many shots have been fired in Gears of war 4 and how many miles players have driven in Forza Horizon 4.

[TheHateTheyGive]

Ill keep yelling till my face turns blue. EXCLUSIVES selll consoles, not the other way around. There's a reson pc players want sony's 1st party games on pc, because no one makes long lasting breathtaking exclusive games like sony, nintendo and their fans stuck in the 90's, thats fine, but when it comes to exclusives no one touches sony.

[Kribwalker]

Nintendo has the highest rated exclusives this gen, they have the best selling exclusives this gen, with the smallest install base, yet, they can’t touch sony?

Now i’ve heard it all

[Dark_Knightmare2]

That’s because casuals dont care about a 2 or 3 point difference on metacritic lol. Sony has like five exclusives that have done ten plus million this gen,has the most goty winning games this gen and has numerous exclusives 90 plus on metacritic

[SamPao]

Dude, do you ever check the financial numbers? Sony IS on top by a large margin right now...

[rainslacker]

But....the number of consoles you sell isn't important, and by extension, exclusives aren't important anymore.

[ravens52]

Ye I dont get it. You guys are defending a company thats not really doing anything for you as gamers. Why are you guys worried about playing everywhere when you dont even have a decent game to play anywhere?...

[NarutoFox]

"And xCloud is a subscription?" Of course it will be. He really thought it was going to be free :)

[ravens52]

He just reminded me of DJ Khaled lmao

[kayoss]

“The business (gaming) isn’t how many consoles you sell”. This maybe true in the future but dont you have to establish the reputation that you (MS) can make great games in order for the business to succeed? with MS track record vs Sony's track record, i would say that Sony is winning that business (gaming) model. You cant have a business if you have less than stellar products for the consumers.

[Father__Merrin]

Spencer is a pathological liar. If xbox one was at 90 million units and Ps4 was at 40 million I will guarantee there would be no xbox on pc neither game pass

[darthv72]

you dont know that. He isnt Matrick and Nadella isnt Ballmer. Both of which were the key to numbers numbers numbers last gen. This gen the management changed and with it those views of last gen.

[sactownlawyer916]

Yah the management changed and the lost all of the market share that Xbox had last gen. And while you like bringing up game pass, psnow has more members and makes more money than gamepass and ea access combined. https://gadgets.ndtv.com/ga...

So that’s just one more thing they can’t beat Sony at.

[81BX]

Lol oh... N4G thinks otherwise

[_LarZen_]

There's a reason streaming has taken off be it movies,series or music. When millions of people pay for said subscription and some buy a physical or even digital copy because of it. There's a reason the gaming industry is also now going after streaming and subscription models like Game Pass and Uplay Plus and so on.

It's not about selling boxes anymore. It's about getting millions of people paying a monthly fee for as long a possible.

[rainslacker]

Movies and TV are generally throw away experiences. Spending $20-30 per movie just to own it isn't as appealing as spending $10-15 a month for a sub service which provides lots of content. Movies are generally not resold like games are to fund the next game.

Plus, games have much more stringent demands on the quality. No one is complaining about a 4K streamed movie not being quite as good as the UHD version. But if anything the past few years is apparent, the console gamers seem to be EXTREMELY discerning on the quality of the image shown on their screen, and the frame rate at which it plays. In fact, Xbox fan boys make constant claims about how important it is, yet seem to be ready for this new streaming service which won't provide any of that.

[2pacalypsenow]

Oh now it isn't.

lol

[Flewid638]

Well certain shows only being on Netflix is why I have Netflix. Certain features only being in a BMW is why I own a BWM. Certain functions only found in an Android is why I own an Android.

At some point, there has to be exclusivity, a differentiator....SOMETHING that makes your product stand apart from your competition. This isn't selling me. At all.

[Scatpants]

Sounds exactly like what I would expect the third place company to say.

[Sgt_Slaughter]

Well what is the business then?

Nothing Xbox has been doing is even close to 1st or even 2nd place in terms of success, so if consoles aren't the priority I'd love to know what is, because it certainly can't be games sales or game reception or having growth in every region.

[Thundercat77]

Making excuses instead of being humble and address your current situation. That's pathetic.

Phil Spencer reminds me of Patches the Hyena from Dark Souls.

[Sarcasm]

A business isn't ran on how much money you make, how many consoles you sell, how much software is sold, and never how much profit you make. -said no executive ever

[Doomeduk]

Phil is starting to sound like todd Howard
Oh wait have I got that the wrong way around
Agree if you think phill sounds like todd or disagree if you think Todd sounds like phill
Vote now

"live services" will go down as my most hated set of words of 2019 along with "brexit"

[Rekkr]

Ps5 is my future!

[masterfox]

Well there you have it now you know why Xbox still failing.

[S2Killinit]

OH Spencer said article! Hi Spence. You suck at games, but you excel in talking about how things are.

[Donnie81]

In a few years Xbox will be making more money than the two nearest competitors combined. Xcloud and game pass are gonna be a hard combo to beat. I have tried xcloud on the show floor and it’s great.

[trooper_]

Sorry, people care about new games.

[Longadog]

today on things that will never happen ....

and yes, because Donnie81 tried it, then it must be good

[Donnie81]

Oh sorry I can afford to go to e3 and you live off the government

[Longadog]

"live off the government" ... sigh, the usual comeback

"Oh sorry I can afford to go to e3" - again, Today on things that did not happen .. :)

otoh, whats so special about affording to go to e3 ??? sweetheart, one day when you get tired leeching off daddy's money, you'll understand that question .. one day

[Donnie81]

Nothing is special about affording to go to e3. Thousands of people do it every year. Actually I didn’t pay a dime to go my employer did. Seems like you’re one of those people hanging on to the past worried how services like xcloud and gamepass are gonna turn Sony into the next Sega. Don’t worry dude I’m sure Phil will let Sony put games on xcloud. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings ok don’t worry you will be able to buy a few more plastic boxes to play games I’m sure. It’s ok if you don’t believe me but I’m still gonna tell you I played hellblade on a high end phone with a Xbox controller and it looked and played wonderfully. This fall you can see for yourself. You can take your Obama phone go use McDonald’s free WiFi and try it out lol

[Longadog]

Nothing is special about affording to go to e3 - oh wow .. look at you go .. such display of hindsight :)

hurt my feelings? cmon man, i'm sure you can do better than that. and all the while i thought i was talking to an adult .. pls don't disappoint me anymore

actually since this is getting kinda funny, all i was referring on my first post about the "today on things that will never happen" is your post about "Xcloud and game pass are gonna be a hard combo to beat". but looks like it ruffled that nerve of yours.

word of advise, you can shout out to the high heavens how you went to e3 thru your daddy (oh sorry..employer...yup i really meant employer :) , played this and that, or worst case scenario, how spencer's rod is all the way down your throat. at the end of the day, no one give's a rat's @ss about it. do take complement in that :)

hey remember when ms felt it was leading the gaming industry back in 2013 and forced implemented drm and all that sh*tty policies? you might want to consider that too as well. but honestly, its kinda hard when all you need is point to something and daddy buys it, right? (oh my bad, your employer...yup i meant your employer)

[quenomamen]

Yea no, MS got into the videogame business to come in 2/3rd place in sales. Its like they planned it.

[Silly gameAr]

OK. Hey, anyone remember the xbox 360, and the amount of consoles sold announced every 10 seconds? Phil was there in a top position at MS, loving it too. Don't let the pic fool you.

Or they could actually be taking the services route. You don't need an xbox to play xbox games. I guess you could look at it that way.

[latinillusion81]

I'm sure even he doesn't own an Xbox and probably stays up all night playing God of War. 😂😂😂

[william_cade]

That's what you do when you know you can't win, change the space.

[jznrpg]

Goal post mover of the decade

[DVAcme]

"The business isn't how many consoles you sell."
Said by the guy in charge of the least-selling console.

[Orionsangel]

When you're losing it's not about winning.

When you're winning it's all about how important it is to win.

[sushimama]

Phil 'the car salesman' Spencer. I am getting so sick of his pathetic PR spin talk. I dislike him so much. I believe he's as fake as the day is long. Dude makes me sick.

[Veneno]

Phil Spencer is so sad. When PS3 didn't do so hot, Sony took it on the chin, didn't make lame excuses, and came back strong. Xbox shows no real signs of making a legit comeback and here's Phil Spencer trying to make it look like everything is perfect at Xbox.

Typical Xbox execs trying to have their cake and eat it too. Sorry man it don't work that way. Earn the gamers love and respect like everyone else has to.

[Scatpants]

It's not how many consoles you sell, it's how well you spin failure.

[DragoonUS]

No, is how much bullets you shoot in a random online game, or how much hours of Concertina your players spent! That's what really matters.

[Longadog]

or how many combos their players make ... never ever forget that .

that is all ms proprietary

[AK91]

PFFTHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[feenix-5]

Says the idiot that’s in dead last😂😂

[Stanjara]

Think of this as a mobile phone subscription. Next thing of them, I predict, is that with game pass ultimate you will eventually get a model Super duper Ultimate, where you get a console… subsidized, and that will be a light streaming machine… I don't remember the working title...less than Scarlet. Mark my words.

[Mr Marvel]

No, it’s how many great first party AAA exclusive titles you make... which is why Sony Is killing it.

[Einhander1971]

Stadia above Nintendo, give me a break. Nintendo had the best E3 this year for sure, actual games were shown.

[RizBiz]

I'm surprised Phil still wears shoes, considering all the flip-flopping he does.

[Elda]

Yeah...it pretty much does. Moving goal posts.

[Dragonscale]

Coming from the guy who said first to 10 mill wins the gen, it sounds disingenuous to say the least. You would say that spenser considering lol.

[Saranya]

He's right.

[Persian_Immortal]

Statements like this only hurt morale Project Scarlet launches in Holiday 2020, you are telling the masses it dont matter about console sales is a sign of defeat and illustrating to the gaming community you have no confidence in your product.

[Xavi4K]

True

[Malice-Flare]

he is correct about that. it is the number of software you sell on your platform. for reference: the PS3, considered a disappointment, still sold almost 1 billion pieces of software as of March 2019...

it is all about that 30% cut...

[FGHFGHFGH]

But most of the 30% cut from 3rd party games is from xbox(console) PC gamers don't like windows store

[Malice-Flare]

well, hardcore PC gamers don't like the Windows Store. casuals however...

[rlow1]

Finally a little common Sense......it's always been about the software..... people on hear act as though he didn't show any games......but fanboy logic is always blind.

[Bennibop]

If consoles don't matter, why are spending so much time and money developing another console? Why would they just not release game pass and other services on the leading platforms pc, ps4 and switch. I smell bs Phil.

[chris235]

this dude just made the point why he hasn‘d had a chance against ps4 and a nonconsole. the business is about how you draw customers. and that is by releasing games.

but he does not really care. the xoxbox is positioned in a totally different segment than a gaming console.

[Futureshark]

Old windbag up to his old tricks again, and hasn't he put on weight?

[leejohnson222]

It's not what they said during 360 gen.
Phil talks too much, and plenty of marketing rubbish double talk

[Uglyday]

It’s about how many lootboxes and phone games you candy crush on your way to being King of no one but middle age women on break.

[tontontam0]

It's about how you lock gamers to one game as long as you can.

[RaLgEs]

I don't understand why in every post about xbox there's so much hate and people talking shit, but in every post about sony they praise it like if it was a god sent.

[rlow1]

Because it's n4g........on here it's their national pasttime......I agree that the show could of been better.....But I think MS didn't want to show it's hand early to Sony......other than that they showed alot of games, just no big surprises.....other than Keanu Reeves.......Good Showing.

[Longadog]

you have an interesting perception of the term "good showing"... but then again, anything from ms and the mother teresa of gaming, lord spencer, right? :)

[ILostMyMind]

Okay, Microsoft. Whatever the excuse to make your fanboys feel better.

[darx]

Love the new direction. Been waiting for it since the release of XB1.

[JesusBuiltmyHotrod]

You love no games and more services? cool.

[darx]

Correct

[JesusBuiltmyHotrod]

lol sure phil...yet the people who buy yuor hardware are more limely to sub to your services. Such nonsense. Yes there is more to it then number of units sold, but sold hardware is still the biggest driver. he would be singing a different tune if they sold 100 + million consoles.

[FallenAngel1984]

Funny thing is that beyond hardware sales PlayStation still beats Xbox in every other aspect of success that you can’t think of

[Psychotica]

Not true, Xbox has better shampoo...

[AnubisG]

Does he know how foolish he sounds?

[Gwiz]

But you released the most versions of said console ever since the Xbox 360 lol.

[AllMightyFox]

The statement of a "REAL" loser …… it's not about how many units or money we make ….

wait, what business school did fail online ?????

[arivera3000]

Yes it is. Sounds to me like he's upset that they didn't beat Sony or Nintendo at consoles sold.

[DaniMacYo]

He’s a funny guy 🤥

[DaniMacYo]

I never knew Phil Spencer did stand up!

[DaniMacYo]

Yeah because most people are probably just gonna play your games on PC. 🤣

[Magog]

This guy is so lost in the woods it's hilarious. PS4 won this gen not just because of how many consoles it sold but because of how many games that allowed them to sell. You're never going to make money just focusing on a subscription service as very few third parties will agree to add their games to it.

[PressPlayBros]

This is the equivalent to ugly people saying beauty is only on the inside.

[FyBy]

Yes. Business is about how much money you can earn. And what profit you have from that money. If you dont sell consoles, you have to find another sources - like services, like going on pc platform, etc... Its logical. But thats the consequence. Not that MS has friendly attitude and they found out, selling products is not important for them. But I like Phil, he is good guy.

[GamesAsAService]

ok let us think about this for a second.

It was my understanding that most game consoles are sold at a loss. It is the software attach rates and services that dictate the profitability of game consoles.

With that in mind, having your games and services on as many platforms is what is key to the success of game companies. Expanding the audience is important but the method by which one does this is no longer exclusively selling your game box to as many people as possible. Microsoft's strategy clearly demonstrates this.

They are trying to get their games and services on as many platforms as possible. Expanding the audience by lowering the barrier of entry to devices customers already own. This is what I believe he means when saying, "it is no longer about how many consoles you sell.".

We all know that Microsoft took a beating this generation but this has forced a change resulting in them becoming the most customer-friendly of the big three in my opinion. They are leading the way in crossplay, streaming, games running on multiple platforms, and game pass. These are all things that push the industry forward.

Their second weakness this generation has been the lack of a varied lineup of games. I think we can see that their heavy investment in game studios is going to bear much fruit in the upcoming generation.

I think this Microsoft is going to be a beast in this upcoming generation. If you pay attention you can see the seeds for success being carefully tended. They are gathering a lot of good will.

[InKnight7s]

He is right we need calculate shampoos and deodorants.

[monochromer]

Sorry, Phil. It's kinda about how many consoles you sell.

[S2Killinit]

Sooo can we count on you not to be mentioning numbers when it suits you? Or do you just take us for fools Mr Spencer? What a joke. I swear.

[Tazzy]

LMFAO so the Wii U was a success the Dreamcast was a success the Virtual Boy was a success he's such an idiot.

[OneLove]

Lol the hate is strong in this thread. To bad Phil is right. Once you start implementing services like gamepass the annual turnover makes console sales more redundant.

[Silly gameAr]

Super convenient.

[krauley]

and yet he/they just announced what 2 more consoles coming....

[bluefox755]

Well, that's certainly convenient for someone in last place.

[TheHunter81]

Seeing your lack of games, its not apart of your business either.

[GameStallion]

I’m so sick of this guy. I wish he would just focus on good, non-gaas games as a foundation and go from there.

[Lulz_Boat]

yeah keep talking sh!t, bruh

[xRacer74x]

You sell the consoles at a loss or at even till close to the end of the generation. You make money selling games. This has been well known forever. Attach Rate is what you want to look at.
My Numbers
Xbox: 480
PS4:40
Switch:9

[snoopgg]

Ok Phil, put whatever spin on it you need, I wasn't going to buy any more consoles from you anyway. You're right you didn't lose a console sale to me. I lost faith in Microsoft gaming with the 360 era. I only buy Sony and am missing out on nothing.

[xRacer74x]

I buy both why miss out on any good games. Racing fans alone would miss the best racing games without the Xbox. If I chose not to buy a Sony console I would miss out on Naughty Dog games. NAughty Dog is the main reason I buy a sony console anymore.

[ajax17]

Tell that to Sony...

[VR-4nic]

Yeah when you in last place of course that all sound good.
Pretty simple really "Good" exclusives = sales

[Critic4l_Strik3]

When your console is dead last, of course it doesnt matter how many consoles you sell!!

[ITPython]

The business is about the games. And that is literally the worst part about the Xbox... Very few exclusives. Sony wins every generation because it is where the games are at. It's kinda important for certain people, ie gamers.

[EliteComments123]

where are the AAA games? serously we need new ips