740°

Opinion: For Xbox, The Phil Spencer Era Is Over

Phil Spencer has been in charge of Xbox since 2014 to elevate the brand, however, recently it seems that Xbox is at a major crossroads.

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lordsofgaming.net
Knushwood Butt398d ago

They say in that interview with Phil that a new IP failing is bad for everyone because the decision makers will be more likely to only greenlight sequels because they are a safer bet.
Did they forget about Halo Infinite?

MIDGETonSTILTS17398d ago

He isn’t wrong about that, even if he only brings it up to avoid explaining how at no point in the last 5 years of development was the lack of variety in the gameplay apparent, let alone a blaring alarm that enemies were sooooo stupid.

neutralgamer1992398d ago

For it to be over it has to first start

His whole tenure has been MEH

LoveSpuds398d ago

He gets a free pass in respect of his senior role at Xbox before he became Head in my view. As general manager of Microsoft Studios he was also part of the management team that oversaw the decline in 360 and the piss poor performance of Xbox ever since.

He is a snake oil salesman, plain and simple and he always has been. It's hilarious that some members on N4G would talk about Nintendo getting a free pass whilst at the same time letting Spencer and Xbox off the hook over and over again. It does feel like the tide is turning now and other than a few hard core Xbox apologists, people are starting to question Spencers efficacy as Head.

Notellin398d ago

You rarely see any support for Xbox or Phil on here.

This narrative is crafted in your head only.

DOMination-397d ago

Phil was head of Microsoft Game Studios back in the late 2000s. Before he joined, the 360 had a strong launch and first couple of years. After he joined..

- The studios made a bunch of Kinect shovelware
- He greenlit a 4v1 Fable game that was never going to work and then promptly shut Lionhead down when they realised it wasn't going to be successful
- He started Black Tusk Studio who revealed a trailer of their new IP, only to then abandon that project and stick them on Gears,
- He was in charge of building 343i, employing all the best management and talented developers to work together as a "super studio". We know how that's worked out.
- opened and then promptly shut down several studios before they ever released anything - LIFT London, MS Victoria and I believe another MS branded studio that I can't remember.. maybe MS Vancouver?
- He allowed the Crackdown 3 debacle to happen, with the cloud computing guff and then overseeing it switch developers multiple times as they tried to make their previous cloud statements work (and failed)

Then he became head of Xbox and during the last ten years has overseen MS continue to basically not release any games. He could have made deals for third party exclusives during the barren years (which frankly, has been most of them since he took over), and been in charge of a fresh new generation where he had plenty of time to fix things and get the many studios they have to actually make some games. I appreciate that isn't really his job now but ultimately he is responsible for Matt Booty doing it.

I don't think it's a crafted narrative. There's a lot of evidence that suggests Phil hasn't done a great job. And that's a shame because I do think he speaks well and believe that he cares and is really passionate about gaming. But so far, the results speak for themselves.

CrimsonWing69398d ago

I think you’re misunderstanding.

What he was saying is that if people see new “games” or IPs fail, then they are unlikely to take risks.

Now, I think he was actually trying to say that Red Fall was a new game “conceptually” and while co-op shooting vampires in Massachusetts is a new idea, the game is borderline a GaaS designed feeling game.

There isn’t anything that’s “New” mechanically speaking and it’s pretty freaking derivative. The games it copies are far better than what Arkane Austin approved.

I don’t agree this is a new game and I’m hoping publishers see the backlash so we can stop with these f*cking kinds of games.

But I wouldn’t say this is a game like Parasite Eve or Xenogears or Silent Hill, where it takes concepts and molds something “new” from it that could be a gamble.

That being said, yea, it’s bad because when sh*t fails and fails hard, then yea, risk-taking gets harder to see across the industry. I mean, compare the PS1 and PS2 library to PS4 and… well the 5, PS5 games we have.

There is a stark and I mean STARK difference between how many new IPs and experimental games get made. We have this sh*tty GaaS model and Open-World trope type games and if anything is experimental it gets a shoe-string budget and barely any marketing.

Knushwood Butt398d ago

I take your point.
I was just pointing out that Redfall is a new IP (regardless of content), and that Halo is a well established IP and therefore supposed to be a safer bet.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 397d ago
jznrpg398d ago (Edited 398d ago )

Phil isn’t the problem. MicroSoft is the problem. Sure he’s not a good spokesperson but their culture and team at Xbox is influenced by MS who wants to dominate industries.

Their vision for dominating stopped being console a long time ago and has turned into a cloud streaming service future that they want to dominate. To do this they want to buy as many 3rd party games as possible and more importantly to them the biggest casual games that sell best elsewhere.
That’s where they think they can steal customers for their cloud service future.
Games aren’t most important to MS or Xbox. It’s the domination of a particular industry first to sell you a sub second that’s on their servers (cloud) third and then the games. They don’t care what games they are as long as they are the best selling somewhere that casuals pump money into constantly and they will try to buy them.

Jin_Sakai398d ago

It’s never good guy Phil’s fault. He’s been in charge for two Xbox generations and it’s only been downhill since. He is part of the problem.

rippermcrip398d ago

He was in charge of their games before that. He's been shit for 15 years.

Aloymetal398d ago

Exactly!...People always seem to forget that Phil Spencer was GM of Microsoft Game Studios starting in 2008, became the VP in 2009. He was in charge of their games. He is to blame just as much as anyone else for their lack of IP's and all the mess.

Tankbusta40398d ago

Phil has been a problem for now two generations of game consoles.

Father__Merrin398d ago

If it was up to me I'd have Spencer arrested!!

TheEnigma313398d ago

When you're the head, you take the blame. You're paid because you will always be that one who takes responsibility.

terstomp398d ago

jznrpg, you have illustrated exactly what Microsoft's motive is. Well said. Alot of people understand this, but most xbox fans refuse to acknowledge this fact.

franwex398d ago (Edited 398d ago )

Yep. Nadella has not been involved at Xbox to the extend that Bill Gates, or even Steve Balmer were. I doubt that he even games or cares about gaming in general.

It’s simply not a concern for Microsoft and I’m sure Xbox would’ve been abandoned if it wasn’t for that cloud base future that they are trying to cultivate. It could well be Xbox last Gen, or close to its last Gen and simply be a service in 10 or so years.

It sucks for gamers, but Nadella has grown Microsoft beyond $2 trillion. That cannot be ignored. Its real rivals are not Sony or Nintendo. Rather Google, Apple, and Amazon.

CrimsonWing69398d ago (Edited 398d ago )

No, it’s Phil’s fault, Microsoft hired him to do a job and he’s making terrible decisions and not delivering.

Look, I feel like Phil is a good guy in person, he seems genuine and I personally respect him more than Jim Ryan. That being said, he’s incompetent at this point and something seriously needs to be done to course-correct the Xbox game division to getting to the Xbox 360 days where they actually were a contender in the gaming arena.

It’s 2 generations now and I’m actually starting to feel this gen is their worst.

Grilla398d ago (Edited 398d ago )

The 360 was a fluke. The 360 was a pc in a box and therefore got a lot of pc ports. Sony learned their lesson and went X86 for the ps4 and MS lost that advantage.

Ra3030398d ago

"Phil isn’t the problem. MicroSoft is the problem"
I 100% agree but Phil Spencer has to go.

ChasterMies397d ago

100% this but put more simply, Microsoft still wants all the things they announced at E3 in 2013, and all those things are still just as unpopular. Phil Spencer might be able to bring Xbox box to its 360 glory days if not for Microsoft’s corporate goals standing in the way.

+ Show (5) more repliesLast reply 397d ago
XiNatsuDragnel398d ago

I think it's combination of phil Microsoft and their team problems. You need freedom but order at certain points vice versa.

RauLeCreuset398d ago

"It’s also convenient to claim success on the back of a new Gamepass service-based strategy when you are getting clobbered in the only ways the video game industry has measured success historically since its inception; console and video game sales. The moving of the goalposts seems all too convenient from a business standpoint, especially when you aren’t being entirely transparent with the data to back up those claims."

That's why it's senseless for media and fans to regurgitate talking points about Game Pass games being hits based on lacking data and MS' say so. It's amazing how many keep asserting that a GP title was a hit without bothering to inspect what that actually means.

-Foxtrot398d ago

If he actually manages to keep his job in the future, especially when the time comes to lead us into the next gen, I'll be surprised.

Obscure_Observer398d ago (Edited 398d ago )

"If he actually manages to keep his job in the future, especially when the time comes to lead us into the next gen, I'll be surprised."

No, you won´t.

The only reason why Phil still leading is because he made Xbox profitable. As long he continues to fill their pockets, retirement will be his only way out, and you know that.

If CMA´s own data is something to consider, he managed to make Xbox the isolated leader in the Cloud Gaming segment.

So just like Jim Ryan, he´s allowed to say any bs he wants as long MS executives keep their large smiles while walking straight to the bank.

Bathyj398d ago

Don Matrieks made Xbox profitable for the first time since it's inception.

Obscure_Observer398d ago

@Bathyj

"Don Matrieks made Xbox profitable for the first time since it's inception."

And yet he left through the back door and almost got Xbox dead and gone.

343_Guilty_Spark398d ago

MSFT is the leader because nobody beside nvidia and smaller companies take cloud seriously

EvertonFC398d ago

You still don't get that profit/revenue do you. Lots of people on here have explained it too you lots of times I'm staggered you still don't fathom it.

TheEnigma313398d ago

Your delusion is sickening and sad.

-Foxtrot398d ago

Jim Ryan says some stupid shit but 9 times out of 10 he shuts his mouth and it only opens when there's a new game or hardware coming out, maybe even an announcement of one or if there's an event going on like E3. The same can be said about Nintendo aswell. The recent Jim Ryan news for example is tied to the whole court case about the Activision acquisition.

Phil Spencer is a walking, talking 24/7 PR machine who has said so much bullshit over the past 10 years alone most statements contradict old ones or the goal posts get moved. If he just shut up maybe expectations wouldn't be through the roof all the time and maybe people would call him out with how much back tracking he does.

crazyCoconuts398d ago

That's not profit he's filling their pockets with...

Obscure_Observer398d ago

@EvertonFC

"You still don't get that profit/revenue do you. Lots of people on here have explained it too you lots of times I'm staggered you still don't fathom it."

I'm the one staggered with the dumb and delusional crap you said; Do you really believe MS is paying BIG MONEY to Phil Spencer as Xbox CEO while throwing at him hundreds of BILLION DOLLARS to do what he wants while running at a loss???

Dude, just gtfo with your entitled bs.

+ Show (6) more repliesLast reply 398d ago
I_am_Batman398d ago

After listening to that Kinda Funny interview, I'd be surprised as well. It almost sounded like internally the decision to fire him might've already been made and he's just gonna be the public scapegoat for a while until they have a couple good games in the pipeline to give the new CEO a good start to his role.

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30°

Interview on Indika with the Actress for Indika (Isabella Inchbald)

Interview with Isabella Inchbald, Actress for (Indika) in Indika which is an emotional, thought provoking journey through a nun's tale in questioning her religion.

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480°

Mark Cerny: When making consoles, we're not trying to build low-cost PCs

PlayStation legend Mark Cerny discusses PS5, the challenges of making consoles, and his 42-year games industry career

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gamesindustry.biz
darthv721d 18h ago

Well... they used to design their own chips. Emotion Engine, Cell, RSX... when they switched to using X86 based chips is now more akin to low-mid cost PCs than before. It may not look like a PC but it pretty much is one. I'd bet it could do productivity stuff just fine if they allowed it to.

Cockney1d 16h ago (Edited 1d 16h ago )

I think series consoles are closer to pc than playstation seeing as they used the full suite of rdna 2 functions, didn't Sony strip a lot of that away to streamline their machine to be games focused? Its probably lacking in the office and productivity department, don't ask me what their custom chip does or doesn't do I just remember reading a lot about at the time, "rdna 1.5" was the call and yet what we see is pretty much level pegging as far as games go

GamerRN1d 15h ago

Actually, stripping that away doesn't streamline, it hinders. Those features are actually helpful for gaming.

And they didn't strip them out, they just didn't work closely enough to be able to use them all since specs weren't finalized. Microsoft took an inside line on that one.

The reason why things are equal is because Xbox rarely has games designed on their box, they are usually designed on PS5 and ported over. So Xbox loses the power edge it has to making up the poor optimization.

It's ok, I think the lesson is you have to have a significant increase in power of 30 percent or more to be noticeable. And you have to sell enough to become the lead console for development otherwise you lose that power.

Einhander19721d 14h ago

@GamerRN

PS5 outperforms series x because it uses custom chips to process things that on xbox need to be done by the GPU/CPU.

Things like Tempest Audio, and it's custom compression chip for SSD as well as having a separate chip for upscaling using checkerboard and presumably FSR runs off it as well.

OlderGamer171d 2h ago

O please stop the myth that the seriesX mythe is the only console that is using the "the full suite or Rdna2" is already debunked al long time ago.

Number1TailzFan1d 15h ago

The consoles use video ram as system ram as well since it's all shared, so nah.

1d 3h ago
Christopher1d 14h ago

You should probably read the whole quote and not just go based on the title.

darthv721d 14h ago

I have read it... I dont think anyone can build a PC that equates to the performance of a PS5/Series X for anywhere close to their selling point. Not for a while at least.

And my comment about them switching from custom chips to more PC related just adds to that fact. whether people want to believe it or not... Sony has built a low cost (not spec, there is a difference) PC.

neutralgamer19921d 14h ago (Edited 1d 14h ago )

We need better games on these consoles. This generation has been such a huge letdown so far. Moving forward these current consoles will be supported even when newer Playstation and Xbox are in the market. AAA games have been so expensive to make and it seems fun is taken out of games and loot boxes take their place. Try playing a NBA 2k game it's like a casino with slot machines

just_looken1d 4h ago

The cost of making these games is a scam

Nba 2k19 to 2k14 its like madden the budget to make went stupid high but the fundamental of the game and the game modes never changed.

Anything now even basic intersection construction is tens of millions but pre coivid few hundred grand.

2018 here is $400 landscaping now here is the pink slip to my car.

I swear the cost of everything is the same but there taking of that huge profit top for there own pockets.

Einhander19721d 14h ago

The PS5 is incredibly customized.

The SSD, the Tempest Audio, the APU itself is a mix of cross generation AMD hardware in order to be more optimized for gaming and cost efficient.

The PS5 Pro also has features from cross generation AMD hardware with RT features from RDNA 4 plus it's own custom upscaler PSSR.

PlayStation 5 Pro features next-gen RDNA 4-based ray tracing engine, allows 2-3x faster RT
https://www.tweaktown.com/n...

PlayStation still uses custom designed hardware.

darthv721d 11h ago

honestly... I dont know why some are taking offense to it being called a low cost PC. It really is... and low cost is a good thing. the article did not say low performance PC... that is totally different.

Einhander19721d 11h ago

I'm saying they still are designing their own chips, they just use AMD templates.

The PS5 APU has features from RDNA 1 2 and 3, and the PS5 Pro adds features from RDNA 4, and the CPU is the same with it own customized features.

Then all of that is paired with other custom chips.

just_looken1d 4h ago

What you all said my rig in my bedroom can do it no issues

That plastic box has a 2020 cpu with the pro using a 2021 6700

The custom is do to them being dirt cheap with a 2 prong power supply so they made a cpu/gpu combo chip aka apu.

Get a amd laptop with there new mobile chips get the same performance.

VincentVanBro1d 11h ago

You’re right but downvoted for some reason.

just_looken1d 4h ago

Its this site even the head admin banned me for awhile being but hurt over my "anti" sony comments.

n4g is pro sony nothing sony will ever do can change that.

Pyrofire951d 9h ago (Edited 1d 9h ago )

When you only look at the big flagship chips that seems true, but there's a lot going on in a modern console that takes advantage of being a dedicated kit. The various elements put into how the pipelines are connected shape the direction of games. End to end decryption and data streaming is something big that PC can only kind of do and with less certainty for example. Dedicated audio chip that rivals the main CPU in the PS4 is a big paradigm shift, devs used to fight for cores and audio was often last priority, whereas in traditional PC design the main CPU does both of those jobs of processing audio and decryption, while also performing all the other CPU based tasks.
It's not the custom silicon that used to be what made consoles but there's a lot more to consoles now. Data storage was not even a consideration and almost no RAM was on old consoles. Now there needs to be an enormous amount of SSD storage, and RAM to make these games tick with how much is demanded from them.

just_looken1d 4h ago

@darth

Your comment show how many sony blindboys are on here

You are 100% correct but to add on the gamecube-ps3 also had a gpu/cpu combo back in the day unlike modern consoles that are just glorified tablets using apu/igpu's.

I miss the ps3 era start of ps4 era that sony was awesome

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MIDGETonSTILTS171d 16h ago

Yah, hence the majority of the PS5’s hardware investment going towards an SSD instead of a GPU.

There are countless custom pc gaming rigs out there, and I bet none of them took an SSD-centric approach to their design, like the ps5 did.

just_looken1d 4h ago

LMAO wow sony blind boy's are mad in love

That is called direct storage windows 10 has had that for over 5 year's every computer with a nvme based ssd has had that tech for years.

https://www.thewindowsclub....

The ps6 will then have this new amazing tech you all will go crazy over resize bar
https://www.howtogeek.com/8...

But that tech has been out for 2 years all 40series gpu's intel gpus and the new amd cards have that tech.

There is nothing a ps5 can do over a 4+ year old computer 2019 rig want resize bar? get a cheap amd/intel card for half the cost of a ps5.

MIDGETonSTILTS1716h ago

Clearly you did not watch Cerny’s first ps5 breakdown, so you don’t appreciate EVERYthing Cerny did to leverage their extremely fast SSD.

bigfish1d 15h ago (Edited 1d 15h ago )

I can see where he’s coming from re ps5 not just being a box with parts like a pc. They must also spend an awful lot on r & d just to design the thing so it has aesthetic appeal and typical Japanese with some sort of Philosopy behind the design. Would also think other factors around the custom airflow and the like would cost a lot given that it’s not a standard box shape

TheColbertinator1d 15h ago

That's all a console will ever be.

gold_drake1d 15h ago

true, but the alternative is, relatively, a expensive ordeal.
unless you dont game at all ha.

mkis0071d 9h ago (Edited 1d 9h ago )

Just spent 2000k on a 4070ti super 7800x3d 1440p gaming pc. Honestly consoles will never be replaced at this wide a gap in price. I plan to get a ps5 pro too.

just_looken1d 4h ago

@mk

You waisted 2 grand you mean

At 1440p a amd4 chipset with a 5600x3d combined with a 6750xt even a 6800 can push 1440p just a much for half the cost or less used/new and or sales.

I have a 75hhz monitor in my bedroom 1440p playing games maxed out spent around 1200cad but aio 5800x3d 32gb of ram and a 6750xt 28 or 30 inch monitor.

Every time i hear pc so expensive i just laugh you can spend less than $500 buy a used ebay rig fix it up or a office pc toss in a cheap low profile card.

Pyrofire951d 9h ago

If you look into the hardware beyond just the CPU and GPU things start to look different, and there's plenty beyond just those two parts, those two parts even are modified to their own design in some degree.

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50°

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