Listening to gamers and offering exclusive games is the future of XONE - Phil Spencer

His greatest achievement to date is deflecting all the blame for last year onto Mattrick, meaning he's now being seen as the saviour by xbros. This conveniently forgets that as head of first party development and a member of Mattrick's first line he must have been fully signed up to the DRM and the overall XB1 strategy, and he's also directly responsible for the lack of interesting 360 games in the past few years.

But still, he has an active XBL account and he's saying the right things, so he's got to be better than Mattrick right?

A Donkeys week long constipated turd would do better than Don Mattrick. Props to Phil for actually caring about this magical thing that games consoles can do, play video games.
 
I hope Phil holds this position during the development of the fourth Xbox. I'd love to see the brand go back to the Xbox and early 360 days.
 
I think everybody that's ever said "MS should give Rare freedom!!" was also under the impression that Rare was being forced to make Kinect games.

When Kinect sports made more money than their past, like what, 5 games combined? Do you really, really think Rare wouldn't want to do that? They were practically rolling in money from that endeavor. Ok, a little hyperbole, but honestly, these developers, contrary to popular belief, are actually in this to make money. See they have a bad habit: they like to eat...

Also, what I was trying to point out was that people don't really want MS to be hands off even if they believe they do. Nope, they just want to see those old games, and they have to blame somebody, so they blame MS.

The point is, does MS get force Rare to do things or not? Regardless of the output, do they get to do that or not?

The guy was General Manager of Microsoft Game Studios. He would have to be pretty ineffective at his job to have such little influence on the studio's direction. Also, he still reports to people. Terry Myerson, head of operating systems, is Phil's boss. Myerson's job is to unify Windows, Windows Phone, and Xbox so there is still going to be a lot of downward pressure on Phil to do non-gaming stuff. Yusuf Mehdi is also Phil's counterpart, leading the business strategy and marketing side of the Xbox.

But hey, he wore a State of Decay tee under his blazer, so, gamer.

I don't think you're getting it.

He's the guy who is supposed to do stuff. Like, his job is, in fact, to greenlight projects, get them funded, do quality control, etc. as I understand it. However, his superiors set him borders that he cannot just go out of. In fact, he may say "Cool, let's greenlight this" and it begins production, but then he does his little quarterly report thing to all his bosses and says "here's something we're working on" and they just shake they're heads and say "Uh, no. We're not doing that. Cancel that right now." In that situation, he has no power but to go ahead and go with it.
 
He was the Microsoft games head before this roll.... And from higher up? He is at the top

He is in charge of the Xbox subdivision, like someone else is in charge of the mobile and surface subdivision.

These 3 people report to Elop who sits on top of the electronic division.

Phil has to sit down with Elop and say where he wants Xbox to go and how much money he needs to do it.
 
Is it fair to say MS money hatted games like Lost Planet and Dead Rising? Weren't they exclusives by default due to PS3 not being out in all regions and the generally poor development environment at the time?

From the Lost Planet wiki-site:
it was originally intended to be an Xbox 360 exclusive but it was later ported to other platforms such as Microsoft Windows on June 2007 and PlayStation 3 on February 2008.

Dunno the reasons, and whether money was involved. Considering it's Capcom, well...
 
Not to mention the PS3 got Lost Planet not too long after it was on the 360 and the DR sequels. To be honest i have yet to see any real proof of MS passing out top hats filled with money to publishers.

Hence, a timed exclusive, just like many of the others I mentioned, like Bioshock.
 
It matters to me. Creating new games as exclusives delivers fresh, platform optimized titles to the table. Buying exclusives is just shitty attempts to block others from enjoying a third party effort.

Well if we use that as an example, this only applies to the GTA IV DLC. They funded titanfall, not moneyhatted but funded.
 
From the Lost Planet wiki-site:


Dunno the reasons, and whether money was involved. Considering it's Capcom, well...

It initially being intended as an exclusive for a console that was sitting at around 10m units vs a console that was just launched, doesn't sound too much like a moneyhat to me.

Not every game that isn't multiplatform is due to moneyhats. We don't make claims that Sony moneyhats Yakuza do we?
 
LOL at people praising a guy already saying he is doing a great job just for stating the obvious, or what MS and any console manufacturer should have always been saying. I mean seriously/
 
It initially being intended as an exclusive for a console that was sitting at around 10m units vs a console that was just launched, doesn't sound too much like a moneyhat to me.

Not game that isn't multiplatform is due to moneyhats. We don't make claims that Sony moneyhats Yakuza do we?

BS there are well documented money hats. Dead rising 3 is one such case. COD DLC, = money hat. GEars of war = money hat. Not like epic needed MS help to launch that game.

GTA IV DLC expensive money hat.
 
He is going to need to invest in first party titles for a start.

People have learnt by now exclusive from Microsoft are not really exclusive just means you have to wait a bit longer to play it on PlayStation.

He will have to shell out more money to make is a permanent exclusive. Titanfall is the exception for now but we will see if it remains so.
 
BS there are well documented money hats. Dead rising 3 is one such case. COD DLC, = money hat. GEars of war = money hat. Not like epic needed MS help to launch that game.

GTA IV DLC expensive money hat.

Then what kind of motivation would drive Epic to make Gears of War a xbox exclusive? They easily could make that money by having it on PC and PS3. Why go with Microsoft? I mean, so what if MS could pay them an equal or slightly greater amount? If I'm Epic, I'm not seeing any motivation to go with Microsoft over, ya know, everybody, especially in the long run.

Also, I might add, Mods don't really appreciate concrete statements like "We have documentation" if you can't actually provide that documentation. Like, it's on the TOS. I'm just going with what you're saying regardless, but yeah.
 
His greatest achievement to date is deflecting all the blame for last year onto Mattrick, meaning he's now being seen as the saviour by xbros. This conveniently forgets that as head of first party development and a member of Mattrick's first line he must have been fully signed up to the DRM and the overall XB1 strategy, and he's also directly responsible for the lack of interesting 360 games in the past few years.

But still, he has an active XBL account and he's saying the right things, so he's got to be better than Mattrick right?
Imagine how these posters vote. Its scary haha
 
Money
Cell

As I said when I edited it just now, Money doesn't make much sense.

And the cell. Um sure, what does that have to do with PC? Epic easily has enough money to publish their games, and they were plenty familiar with PC up to that point, being, oh, entirely PC up to that point.
 
E3 2015 is when we'll see Phil truly effecting Xbox.


I'm really excited for the Xbox E3 Conference, more than Sony's or Nintendo's. After last years, I think Microsoft will do really well.
I am "this" Close to jumping back on the Xbone wagon before two reason. One Phil is so far undoing all the damage of the Stupid Xbone relase and two unlike most people I really want to see 343i Halo because I really was impressed what pulled of technically with that good old 360. IT was a good game that was a blast to play through. True the Muliplayter was a let down but the game felt like it was trying to BURST of the limits of last gens hardware campain wise. I for one am no sold on a PS4 that I can have PC play the same titles better.... but I am sold on a Halo Box that will some good line up of games compared to sony at the moment. If that Rumored Platinum deal is true welp I am sold and quantum break is also something I think only a Company with MS coffers. Sony could very much run out of steam while MS still is the only one that can burn money for days.
 
Right. Now please list all of these games MS is supposed to have kept off of other consoles through money hats. People keep bringing it up over and over as if they do this a lot yet all I hear about is Titanfall and that's been pretty much debunked so what are the others?

I'd also like to put that list up against the amount of third party exclusives on the PS2 during that gen that I couldn't play on my Xbox and before that Dreamcast. You know the DMCs, FF, Dragon Quests, Tales (not to mention Soul Calibur 3) etc...

Sony didn't really moneyhat a lot of 3rd party games, & didn't really need to do so as both the PS1 & the PS2 already had larger install bases (coupled with the very low cost of development of games back then).

Today, development costs are very more expensive, & it's really expensive to moneyhat a certain title nowadays, especially when you're behind on the competition in sales.
 
BS there are well documented money hats. Dead rising 3 is one such case. COD DLC, = money hat. GEars of war = money hat. Not like epic needed MS help to launch that game.

GTA IV DLC expensive money hat.

Can I have the documentation for Dead Rising 3 and Gears of War then? I've never seen either.
 
LOL at people praising a guy already saying he is doing a great job just for stating the obvious, or what MS and any console manufacturer should have always been saying. I mean seriously/
I saw no posts praising him. What u smoking bra people are optimistic is all compared to the hate anything Microsoft squad.
 
It initially being intended as an exclusive for a console that was sitting at around 10m units vs a console that was just launched, doesn't sound too much like a moneyhat to me.

Not every game that isn't multiplatform is due to moneyhats. We don't make claims that Sony moneyhats Yakuza do we?

I don't think the userbase was at that level when the development started, and the platforms were chosen.

Seems to me you're concentrating on those whose exclusivity is more debatable, and dismissing the other timed exclusives; Bioshock, Limbo, Mass Effect 2, Minecraft, PvZ:GW, and Below.
 
BS there are well documented money hats. Dead rising 3 is one such case. COD DLC, = money hat. GEars of war = money hat. Not like epic needed MS help to launch that game.

GTA IV DLC expensive money hat.

Links on the DR3/Gears stuff. I'm under the impression that MS has funded the development of every Gears title to keep exclusivity
 
I don't think the userbase was at that level when the development started, and the platforms were chosen.

Seems to me you're concentrating on those whose exclusivity is more debatable, and dismissing the other timed exclusives; Bioshock, Limbo, Mass Effect 2, Minecraft, PvZ:GW, and Below.

Yea, but Capcom would have been aware that one console was going to be on the shelves long before the other.

Also, I'm not dismissing the other games mentioned. They simply had nothing to do with the post I replied to. MS has likely paid for timed exclusives, I was just contesting the idea that Lost Planet is definitely one of them. I'm also not claiming Yakuza is more debatable at all... I seriously doubt Sony pays anything for Yakuza.
 
My philosophy with anyone is to look at what they deliver or fail to deliver before criticising. He hasn't not delivered on anything yet. I know that he's only been in the role a few weeks but let's see what comes of his initial promises and ideas before being negative.

The problem with that is MS has invested billions into this new console and kinect development. Now, we are supposed to believe that the suits have simply gone,

"Well, that didn't work. Phil, you're up. Do whatever you want with the brand."

I believe Phil is a great guy and his passions are genuine. That said, did he just get full control over the direction the One is going? I don't believe so. The direction for success would be a kinectless sku, price drop and a complete revamp of Games for Gold. Will the MS higher ups just start spending money to finance that direction? No.

It's sad for me because at one time I enjoyed the 360. After hardware issues (repeated) and piss poor customer service coupled with MS 1st party games becoming extinct and kinect hitting the shelves I abandoned ship and never looked back. I would have loved to have seen new MS IPs, no mandatory kinect and stronger hardware at E3 last year. But, the dye has been cast and there is only so much a team can do coming out at halftime if your play book was reworked. You can make some changes to the core plays but no one would have the time to learn a whole different set without practicing them week after week before the big game.
 
Links on the DR3/Gears stuff. I'm under the impression that MS has funded the development of every Gears title to keep exclusivity

That's because they did. But that doesn't stop people from claiming other wise. That "Company A vs Company B" would be perfect for this thread.
 
Not to mention the PS3 got Lost Planet not too long after it was on the 360 and the DR sequels. To be honest i have yet to see any real proof of MS passing out top hats filled with money to publishers.

They definitely moneyhatted Japanese publishers for stuff like the Tri-Ace games and Tales of Vesperia. Fortunately Microsoft dealt with timed exclusives and not permanent ones. And a possible benefit is that some of these games probably wouldn't have been on 360 at all had it not been for the moneyhatting.

My point wasn't that Microsoft is horribly vile for doing this a lot in the past, just the nature of buying exclusives in general regardless of who does it (Nintendo did it back in the day, sort of, and IIRC had an anti-competitive suit filed against them). People were asking "what's the difference" - there is one.

And the PS2 isn't a fair comparison, because that was publisher decisions due to Sony's enormous installbase, not Sony paying off developers to keep games exclusive.
 
Yea, but Capcom would have been aware that one console was going to be on the shelves long before the other.

Also, I'm not dismissing the other games mentioned. They simply had nothing to do with the post I replied to. MS has likely paid for timed exclusives, I was just contesting the idea that Lost Planet is definitely one of them. I'm also not claiming Yakuza is more debatable at all... I seriously doubt Sony pays anything for Yakuza.

Even Sony wasn't aware of that at the time. ;) The PS3's launch was delayed after all.

I have no facts to support there were exclusivity deals on DR and LP, I pretty much just thought them to be timed exclusives like the other games of that era.
 
Based on what??? If exclusives then sony has better and more internal studios.

To his/her own personal opinion, he/she may prefer MS exclusive IP's. You can't categorically state that Sony has better exclusives because is subjective.

Going back to the interview one nice thing no Kinect mentioned at all.
 
Except TF was only a timed exclusive originally.

That is what I don't get. It was planned at a timed exclusive but late last year it was made permanent. If Microsoft funded it as they said there should have been no mention of it being timed as they would have funded it since before E3.
 
And I really doubt Titanfall would have been thrown in the trash if Microsoft didn't fund it. Someone would have come along eventually and funded it.

No, had Microsoft not stepped in, there was a very real chance that Respawn would have closed after the end of the legal issues with Activision that more than half the company were involved with. They were at the end of time with their EA deal and Microsoft stepped in and asked them to push the game to the Xbox One giving them more time and money to do so.
 
I hope he really means it and actually goes about it the right way.

I want to want an XBone, Microsoft. Give me a reason to buy your console and I will gladly do so.
 
Based on what??? If exclusives then sony has better and more internal studios.
Exclusives are and always will be entirely personal.
BS there are well documented money hats. Dead rising 3 is one such case. COD DLC, = money hat. GEars of war = money hat. Not like epic needed MS help to launch that game.

GTA IV DLC expensive money hat.
Proof please, if you're going to throw around hard facts such as those you certainly must have something to back it up.
 
Bring back Banjo, Phil. That's all I ask.

Banjo-Kazooie has the potential to be a mascot of sorts for the Xbox if done right (Even if people consider Master Chief a mascot already).
 
This is the bare minimum that any game company should do. Not gonna congratulate them for saying they're going to try be reach the minimum.
 
If it makes economical sense to buy a third party game then to make a first party game so be it. I dont want a online multiplayer game on 6 different platforms it divides the player base. I love Titanfall on Xbox 360 and think MS bought/funded a brilliant must have game.

If Sony wants to they should out bid MS but they cannot financially afford it can they?. Its far better to buy a great game then buy a studio and have all the devs leave. You Sony fans have most of the best games and best console so whats wrong with MS buying a few games for us poor Xbox fans you jealous?.

I hope Phil gets Shenmue 1,2 & 3 only on Xbox.
 
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