PauloRoberto
Member
Believe me... it was graceful my MS business standards, specially if we remember that Xbox is falling short of their expectations since... Good lord i dont even remember!
-
Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
Phil Spencer is Retiring and Sara Bond is Out bot there's something really worst than that
Topher
Identifies as young
lol...are we trusting the words of Microsoft execs now?
TheThreadsThatBindUs
Member
Asha is quite delightful
Nobody is talking about this part but i agree she's hot.
Lurv me some desi hotness.
Panajev2001a
GAF's Pleasant Genius
Last edited:
Your mistake (that most here are making) is in thinking that by talking about AI slop she is talking about all and any use of AI. She isn't. She's making a simple point about not using low quality AI outputs in a careless or lazy way, where it degrades the quality of games.
Many, many people in the industry (games and AI alike) use the term and agree with the problem it describes. But they don't see all AI outputs as 'slop', just the aforementioned low quality, poor taste, careless use of it.
AI is, of course, going to be used at Microsoft Studios just like it will eventually become commonplace across the industry. It's just a tool, it's just software. What will matter is how it is used. Nobody expects studios to hire a team of devs who do nothing but model and place trees across a game map anymore, they just use SpeedTree to procedurally generate them at scale. Gamers don't complain about SpeedTree being used and demand hand-crafted trees in games and you'd think that would be because they understand it would be a waste of time to make hundreds or thousands of them manually.
Studios will use AI to help with coding, turning human art into models, speeding up texture production, coming up with lots options for dialogue, doing pre-viz for cutscenes, working through lots of potential level designs, ideating art styles and many other things.
Last edited:
digoutyoursoul
Member
Topher
Identifies as young
The fact she used the word "AI slop" is the giveaway she is full of it…
I figured you were kidding. Yeah, that's why I was saying yesterday that she was trying too hard with the "AI slop" reference.
Last edited:
Sorcerer
Member
It's a bit odd but Phil heading into 25 years might have reached a Golden Parachute. And Bond always seemed to have her hand in other cookie jars. Bond probably gave her notice as far back as six months ago and they just had the opportunity to coordinate the exits. Get this over with at once and sweep it under the rug as soon as possible.
The only thing I can think of is they were afraid of announcing Phil's retirement earlier because there would have been endless speculation for months and months and that's all that anybody would talk about.
Somehow Nadella thinks making the announcement over a weekend, people will forget it by Monday.
I'm guessing Sharma is there in a Grim Reaper role. She is going to try to reduce department sizes with AI and maybe lose teams altogether where she can. I mean I doubt Phil and Sara knew much about games either when it came down to it, but her background is an AI and the cards are on the table.
Last edited:
Ozrimandias
Member
Something I read somewhere on X and found very true:
"It's incredible how Microsoft has the ability to overshadow Sony's screw-ups with its own."
"It's incredible how Microsoft has the ability to overshadow Sony's screw-ups with its own."
Panajev2001a
GAF's Pleasant Genius
What a shit town hall…
"Yeah, he is the one that convinced me about selling, he is just so aligned to how we want to work he understands and will let us do things our way"
….
Booty: "I want to change the least amount of things possible"
…
"We are worried about MS acquiring us and going after our ideas we may develop even when they do not compete with MS / Double Fine…"
Booty: "Let me be clear if you work on it while working here we own the idea"
Schafer (with the biggest "WTF did I do?" look possible): "but… well… unless they are produced we have always maintained that we do not own their ideas if they, on their own time, work on some side things…"
Booty (reading the room): "Well, we may want to revisit that…"
(Studio is like "WTF?!?")
…
Somehow the editor of the video did not think about reshooting it or cutting the segment somehow or anything
. WTF…? Quality control anyone?
Last edited:
Nonehxc
Member
Haha the meme creates itself!
'DUTCH!!' <--- Hermen Hulst
'DHILLON!! <-- Punjabi clan surname
MANLIEST HANDSHAKE
We need
Ass of Can Whooping
to make his magic and put Sharma head on Dillon and Hulst on Dutch Predator handshake. 
LordCBH
Gold Member
It's their best UI, and it would still work perfectly, trigger buttons for different launchers would make it work for the multi launcher approach as well. Drop the grid UI. Do horizontal blades and vertical lists instead.
I LOVED that dashboard. I remember when they switched off of it and broke every single theme that people bought. Microsoft's response was basically "fuck you." I never forgive the next dash absolutely rendering all the blades themes practically unusable because you couldn't see the actual theme part. And they charged money for those things.
splattered
Member
With the way he's been getting skinny and looking older faster in the recent year or two I hope Phil isn't quietly battling some sort of cancer or something and didnt want to make a spectacle of it.
Not saying its true, just a thought..
Not saying its true, just a thought..
Astray
Member
I think that documentary series was contractually obliged to be released and Doublefine didn't have final cut control.What a shit town hall…
"Yeah, he is the one that convinced me about selling, he is just so aligned to how we want to work he understands and will let us do things our way"
….
Booty: "I want to change the least amount of things possible"
…
"We are worried about MS acquiring us and going after our ideas we may develop even when they do not compete with MS / Double Fine…"
Booty: "Let me be clear if you work on it while working here we own the idea"
Schafer (with the biggest "WTF did I do?" look possible): "but… well… unless they are produced we have always maintained that we do not own their ideas if they, on their own time, work on some side things…"
Booty (reading the room): "Well, we may want to revisit that…"
(Studio is like "WTF?!?")
…
Somehow the editor of the video did not think about reshooting it or cutting the segment somehow or anything
LordCBH
Gold Member
Usually most of these big name, publicly known folks like Phil get this announced a few months in advance and get to have their balls washed and glazed by everybody. I also think he was shown the door instead of retiring.
Last edited:
viveks86
Member
I think the issue is the short period after announcement. For a company this large, the CEO leaving is massively disruptive and something as well planned as a retirement would be announced a month or more in advance. Not on a Friday to be effective the following Monday. Even a tiny company like mine had my CEO announce 3 months in advance so everyone could come to grips with it. So yeah, it certainly seems strange…
Topher
Identifies as young
We just had someone where I work retire. It was announced a month ago. Had a big party and all that. Phil Spencer has to be out by Monday? lol
LordCBH
Gold Member
Exactly!
Rien
Jelly Belly
Lol ik moest even twee keer lezen
Topher
Identifies as young
He looks like he is on ozempic
splattered
Member
Yeah ive heard that several times but he was never obese enough to really need it... though I think some people take it for other health reasons like diabetes?
He is older now, just hope he isn't super sick regardless of how people think he did driving the Xbox bus.
LordCBH
Gold Member
Yeah it was supposed to be a diabetes medication, but then fat celebrities realized it would essentially destroy their appetite so they all started taking it. Notice a LOT of the body positivity shit died down after the fatsos realized they could take ozempic, never feel hungry, and lose weight without trying.
Ellis
Member
New CEO said this…
Loved Blades, but I still think XMB is easily the best UI experience on console ever created. Outside of being a little slow at times (PS3. PSP was fine), it was incredibly seamless.
Both PS and Xbox have shit the bed since with their UI's
Panajev2001a
GAF's Pleasant Genius
MS should have cut it or edited it, Booty is the one that came across like an asshole.
Last edited:
LordCBH
Gold Member
100%. Blades and XMB were the two best console interfaces ever designed. Laid out incredibly well, functional, aesthetically pleasing, worked great with themes or wallpapers. Both companies should go back to these.
Topher
Identifies as young
Plenty of folks who are not obese take ozempic, but Spencer was fairly chunky. His weight loss was a matter of weeks. Could be a health problem (hope not), but I doubt it. Not when it is coinciding with a ton of people losing weight just as quickly.
Astray
Member
AFAIK, they didn't have "final cut rights", meaning it's legally not their call to edit anything out (that right went to the documentary producers I think).
What he should have done is table the discussion for later and not have any portion of it on video. Not that he even cares, Matt Booty is getting promoted because he's the guy that kills 4 studios when you only ask him for 3.
Angry_Megalodon
Member
Phil's weight loss doesn't look healthy at all.
vaibhavpisal
Member
Right.
Big boss walks in the room and announces policy …… is an asshole.
Hilarious and weird stuff I get to read ……
Its like listening to children who have never worked at an office.
mayham2199
Member
I guess my question is if things were getting heated and they were fired. What was the fight about? So far doesn't seem like much anything is changing.
Honey Bunny
Member
Has the new CEO had any experience in the gaming side of things at all?
JohnnyFootball
GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
Is this translated? Reading this is confusing.
rickybooby87
Member
Kacho
Gold Member
Nope.
New CEO said this…
Okay, now he's started saying what Xbox fanboys want to hear.
Humdinger
Member
Probably not for a couple of years. For instance, remember how it took a couple of years before you really felt the difference over at Playstation with the transition from guys like House, Shu, and Layden to Ryan and Hulst's leadership. And it has taken many years before we are feeling the full effects, right about now. So these changes take time to be felt -- years in most cases.
So I expect that things will stay pretty much the same, for the time being. It will be a couple of years before you really begin to feel the effects.
HeisenbergFX4
Gold Member
With what Phil did for Xbox in the early days and what he meant to Xbox overall there is no way this was him walking in saying he wanted to retire immediately and Bond also wants to step down when hours earlier she was online conducting business as usual
This was forced
simpatico
Gold Member
I did a rigorous year of keto to dump my dad weight and in the peak of it people asked if I was going through some sort of terminal illness. It really comes off fast if you're serious about it. I was eating virtually zero carbs most days.
Hollywood Hitman
Gold Member
Another woman ready to destroy another brand, goodnight Xbox
I'd absolutely bang her tho
I'd absolutely bang her tho
Last edited:
Topher
Identifies as young
Yeah, I can see how it can easily be mistaken. Could be he lost the weight naturally, but he had that ozempic face in photos and that was a tell-tale sign.
Humdinger
Member
I don't think Phil was forced out. He has been planning retirement for some time now. I do believe he was "nudged out," though -- or rather, nudged along in his retirement planning. He knew Satya was pushing towards AI hard, and he knew he wouldn't be a part of that trajectory. Meanwhile, Satya knew that Phil was planning to retire, and Satya was moving ahead with AI-first initiatives, including reorganizing Xbox. Phil probably said "Time for me to go" and moved up his retirement date in light of that, maybe in coordination with Satya's plans to turn the division over to the new lady. I don't think it ended as bitterly as "forced out" suggests. I think it was more cooperative than that, with Phil being nudged to move his retirement date up. He's sticking around in a consultant role for a while, which isn't generally something you do if you're forced out.
Sarah Bond is a different matter. It does seem like she was let go (although given the option to resign, to save face/reputation).
Sarah Bond is a different matter. It does seem like she was let go (although given the option to resign, to save face/reputation).
Last edited:
Smoke6
Member
Imma say this, game pass definitely going away and its back to Xbox live if this doesn't just become there last hurrah with the PC shift
Bond and Spencer hasn't gotten along in quite some time and it was obvious almost a year or so ago when she made that comment about how he communicated with her and not seeing eye to eye as of what she proposed he just shoots it done like she doesn't know what she's talking about!
The double digit hardware declines and lack of revenue from games sales was also another factor given the outcome vs the income!
This the last gen for them, the everything is an Xbox was the last pivot and it was a failure more they want us to know! I'm sure the marketing of that cost more than they got in return.
The handheld hasn't sold or fared well and their ports have minimal effort to them. I think bond was given orders that went against why she was hired in the first place that wasn't enforced upon Phil And she felt slighted and resigned. Why put someone through all that to just throw it all away when she out her heart into this dream.
I'm just talking tho fellas, just my thoughts on this is all
Panajev2001a
GAF's Pleasant Genius
Nope, never had.
Humdinger
Member
"Should bring the blade dashboard?"
New CEO can't write a proper sentence. Social media brain.
Ellis
Member
He does have an arsehole vibe about him to be honest.
What really matters though is his performance, and It doesn't help that he was so shit at his previous job/s.
I don't see Asha doing a good job, but the shitty comments from people saying she's a bad pick because of her being female and/ or Asian is fucking pathetic.
Last edited:
