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[Fess]

Not a court order. They have a 10 year contract with Sony which they used to help gain passage for the acquisition.

Same thing what could they actually do with that contract in place?
I mean it’s easy to pretend to be a hero if you’re forced to act in such ways.

 

[Klayzer]

Phil didn't mention Sony did he?

With unbelievably bad takes like that, It's not hard to understand why the Xbox platform is currently in the witness protection program.

 

[BattleScar]

You know their intentions because you were in the board room when they discussed it?

They stated their intentions pretty directly when they cancelled Zenimax productions on PlayStation until very recently.
That's what all the court nonsense was over ABK. They wanted to strengthen their brand. They failed, and now they're taking a different approach.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Same thing what could they actually do with that contract in place?
I mean it’s easy to pretend to be a hero if you’re forced to act in such ways.

Like they did with Minecraft.

Tried to act like they were being so generous (with PR) when they were contractually obligated to. Then we find out Phil was trying to find ways around that purchase clause the entire time.

Which is funny, because that purchase clause was "once a tinfoil rumor," but was actually confirmed in the email mess-up during the trials.

They rely on short term memories in the same way politicians do.

 

[ByWatterson]

Phil Spencer is the Dillon Brooks of Steve Ballmers.

 

[TropicanaTwista]

To be fair since Phil has taken command Xbox hasn’t really paid 3rd party game developers to keep their game off other platforms.

I mean, there was also stalker 2 and high on life. Not to mention Persona 4 not having a native PS5 version, ya know, the main platform where this franchise has existed. But Xbox series does have a native version.....

Then there is the whole buying multiple publishers and keeping some of those games off. Redfall devs has confirmed they were working on a PS version but we're to scrap (yes I know the game sucked but overall irrelevant). Also even a game like Indiana Jones, which was announced before MS even bought Bethesda. To act like they're not guilty of this in their own right is just being ignorant.

 

[Klayzer]

Welcome back Spinster, we missed our favorite politician, during the spring gaming primaries.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Welcome back Spinster, we missed our favorite politician, during the spring gaming primaries.

The guy just can't be happy with a good show. He has to double down on war shit after. Always.

He seems bitter.

 

[Klayzer]

The guy just can't be happy with a good show. He has to double down on war shit after. Always.

He seems bitter.

He was way more truthful, doing his MIA routine earlier this year.

 

[cHaOs667]

But he was when he made Starfield exclusive, when they moneyhatted rise of the tomb raider, when they moneyhatted Stalker 2.

If MS hardware hadn't tanked they'd obviously still be going for exclusive content.

Starfield is third party? Damn, I must missed something...

For real, this discussions are pointless. Phil and MS forgot that they need to heavily advertise, sponsor sport events and push money into the retail stores in order to compete with Sony.

 

[Quantum253]

I look forward to the choice to not have unlocks behind a battle pass and content fully accessible by playing the game

 

[poppabk]

Did he even mention Sony?
"Playstation owners - we aren't going to fuck you over like you thought we would try to do"
"Leave Sony alone"

 

[GHG]

Phil didn't mention Sony did he?

Just as disingenuous as your master.

 

[Rockman33]

He paid a lot of money to essentially cancel the PS5 version of Starfield thinking that would move the needle his direction

Hard to say cancelled when it was never announced…

 

[Klayzer]

Did he even mention Sony?
"Playstation owners - we aren't going to fuck you over like you thought we would try to do"
"Leave Sony alone"

Obviously, he was talking about Sega.

 

[Deerock71]

So Phil's WHOLE strategy was to spend 70 billion dollars to acquire Actiblizz just so PS5 players couldn't get the Taco Bell Gonzo skin pack exclusive for six weeks?

 

[Rockman33]

I mean, there was also stalker 2 and high on life. Not to mention Persona 4 not having a native PS5 version, ya know, the main platform where this franchise has existed. But Xbox series does have a native version.....

Then there is the whole buying multiple publishers and keeping some of those games off. Redfall devs has confirmed they were working on a PS version but we're to scrap (yes I know the game sucked but overall irrelevant). Also even a game like Indiana Jones, which was announced before MS even bought Bethesda. To act like they're not guilty of this in their own right is just being ignorant.

I never said it doesn’t ever happen. It is just far rarer than Sony.

Owning a studio is far different. They are choosing not to put it on other consoles. Not paying to keep it off. If you don’t understand the difference you are acting very ignorant.

 

[Topher]

Did he even mention Sony?
"Playstation owners - we aren't going to fuck you over like you thought we would try to do"
"Leave Sony alone"

If Herman Hulst make some crack about a $3 trillion gaming company being "slimy" would you be confused as to what company he was talking about? Considering Sony's history, would he be out of line making such a comment?

Answers: No. Yes.

Works both ways.

"Leave Phil Spencer alone"

 

[DeepEnigma]

Did he even mention Sony?
"Playstation owners - we aren't going to fuck you over like you thought we would try to do"
"Leave Sony alone"

He was talking about Disney

 

[Killjoy-NL]

To be fair since Phil has taken command Xbox hasn’t really paid 3rd party game developers to keep their game off other platforms.

They also got their asses handed to them the moment they stopped doing that.
The only reason they were 'successfull' with X360 because they moneyhatted everybody left and right and they still ended up in 3rd place.

Anyway, Spencer sounds like a sore loser who is trying to convince everybody their losing strategy is the future.
It only is, if your brand is on the brink of extinction.

 

[Three]

For people that want a recent example this is from 2017 and the words are coming directly from Phil Spencer’s mouth



Ohh they cared so much for exclusives until they realized it did fuck all for making them relevant.

As soon as it became prohibitively expensive to get third party exclusives for their platform they started the influencer/media narrative to demonise it as a bad thing to do even though they were deep in it before. They started to buy out the third parties and did "slimey platform things" with their games instead. Now that the regulators were breathing down their neck and they had all their dirty laundry laid out in court they're back to calling it slimey platform things. Let's see what happens with GTA6. I've always had a feeling something will happen with that game. Sony or MS will surely be eyeing that up.

 

[poppabk]

If Herman Hulst make some crack about a $3 trillion gaming company being "slimy" would you be confused as to what company he was talking about? Considering Sony's history, would he be out of line making such a comment?

Answers: No. Yes.

Works both ways.

"Leave Phil Spencer alone"

I don't give a fuck about Phil Spencer, his only saving grace is that Xbox exclusivity with respect to PC was forced to end during his time.
But I'm pretty sure he is including MS in the people who have engaged in the 'slimy' process of exclusivity deals for CoD, hence the more than 10 years reference.

 

[Fess]

Like they did with Minecraft.

Tried to act like they were being so generous (with PR) when they were contractually obligated to. Then we find out Phil was trying to find ways around that purchase clause the entire time.

Which is funny, because that purchase clause was "once a tinfoil rumor," but was actually confirmed in the email mess-up during the trials.

They rely on short term memories in the same way politicians do.

Isn’t ”Play day one with Game Pass” kinda a way around the contract obligations now?

As it is they literally make taking the Gamepass route seem more appealing.

hmm

 

[DeepEnigma]

I don't give a fuck about Phil Spencer, his only saving grace is that Xbox exclusivity with respect to PC was forced to end during his time.
But I'm pretty sure he is including MS in the people who have engaged in the 'slimy' process of exclusivity deals for CoD, hence the more than 10 years reference.

Where did he say that?

This is all I see,

“It’s been 10 years since Call of Duty has been in our show,” Spencer said. “It’s been even longer since all Call of Duty players got the same game at the same time.

 

[poppabk]

Where did he say that?

This is all I see,

Right 10 years since it's been in our show even longer since there wasn't some bullshit exclusivity.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Isn’t ”Play day one with Game Pass” kinda a way around the contract obligations now?

As it is they literally make taking the Gamepass route seem more appealing.

hmm

No.

For the bolded, Then why are they porting games to other platforms?

Right 10 years since it's been in our show even longer since there wasn't some bullshit exclusivity.

So, he is throwing his former teams he was a part of under the bus. How noble of him.

 

[saintjules]

It's the "24 hours" comment by VGC that made me laugh.

 

[poppabk]

So, he is throwing his former teams he was a part of under the bus. How noble of him.

Well, yeah, he's no doubt an asshole who has left a bevy of career corpses on his rise to the top.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Well, yeah, he's no doubt an asshole who has left a bevy of career corpses on his rise to the top.

That's all most of us were trying to say. PR Phil and behind the scenes Phil are two different people. Like a politician.

 

[Klayzer]

That's all most of us were trying to say. PR Phil and behind the scenes Phil are two different people. Like a politician.

It's not personal. You have to call a spade.....a spade. GHG has proof he constantly talks out of both sides of his Windows filled mouth.

 

[StereoVsn]

Starfield is third party? Damn, I must missed something...

For real, this discussions are pointless. Phil and MS forgot that they need to heavily advertise, sponsor sport events and push money into the retail stores in order to compete with Sony.

They didn’t forget to cancel Killer Instinct tournament because they were afraid it would be too popular and don’t want to do a sequel.

 

[Fess]

No.

For the bolded, Then why are they porting games to other platforms?

You don’t see what they’re doing?
If Phil actually meant what he said he could’ve put COD on PS+, Ubi+, EAPlay etc.

Game Pass is a pseudo platform for them now, that’s why they don’t care about ports, they can get money on other platforms while still make Gamepass seem great and growing that through what essentially is subscription exclusives.
/ Slimy platform thing™

 

[Topher]

Well, yeah, he's no doubt an asshole who has left a bevy of career corpses on his rise to the top.

And he has also engaged in bullshit exclusivity himself. As DeepEnigma said, he really isn't in a position to wag his finger at anyone. That's been the primary point here from most rather than some weird defense of Sony who is just as guilty, if not more.

 

[poppabk]

That's all most of us were trying to say. PR Phil and behind the scenes Phil are two different people. Like a politician.

I would never disagree with that.

 

[mckmas8808]

Didn’t Xbox kick all that shit off in the 360 days with the timed exclusive map packs?

YES!!!! Phil is such a weirdo with things like this.

 

[Dick Jones]

But our timed exclusives are cheeky and fun.

Yeah, I mean, his timed exclusives are cruel and tragic.

Which makes them not timed exclusives at all, really.

Evil Timed Exclusives

O'Hagan: I swear to God I'll pistol whip the next guy that says, "timed exclusives"!

Hey, Spencer! What's the name of that business practice you like with all the delaying games on other consoles for a 3 month period like STALKER 2?

Spencer: You mean timed exclusive? You're talking about timed exclusives, right?

Mac and Thorny offer O'Hagan their pistols.

O'Hagan: Put those away!

 

[DeepEnigma]

You don’t see what they’re doing?
If Phil actually meant what he said he could’ve put COD on PS+, Ubi+, EAPlay etc.

Game Pass is a pseudo platform for them now, that’s why they don’t care about ports, they can get money on other platforms while still make Gamepass seem great and growing that through what essentially is subscription exclusives.
/ Slimy platform thing™

Well no shit, they're balls deep in that sub service now as a primary focus point to their base. Which is why they have to make up revenue elsewhere.

 

[FeralEcho]

Did Phil just throw the entire Xbox 360 era team under the buss?

They were the ones that started the whole "get the paid map packs earlier" for 360 players.

 

[recursive]

Phil is a piece of shit. Always talking out of both sides of his mouth ignoring xbox's slime history with timed exclusives. He is a pathological liar. He is also a piece of shit.

 

[Melfice7]

Fucking hell i just cant with how much of an hypocrite and bullshiter this guy is

 

[Nydius]

"Slimy platform things"? Like moneyhatting timed exclusive map packs for 3 months? Just going to ignore that it was Microsoft that opened that particular Pandora's Box, Phil?

Microsoft made the rules in the 360 era.
Sony played by them in the PS4 era.
Microsoft whines about it after spending $70B to buy the company that owns the game.

Ok, Phil.

 

[midnightAI]

This is certainly a spin. Wasn't it just half a year ago that leaked emails show Spinster (thanks for this name DeepEnigma ) and company talking about buying things to crush the competition? Now he's acting like they're for the players?

Phil, some of us remember the Xbox E3s that were full of big flashy letters saying "Xbox Exclusive" and the money hat changed from buying a game's rights to buying a publisher. You're only doing this because even with ABK, even with Bethesda, even with the prices slashed to half off on the Xbox, you guys still couldn't beat Switch and PlayStation.

I thought it was Phil Spender

 

[FeastYoEyes]

Yeah let's revisit this statement in a year or two Phil and see if that's true.

 

[AyraSutoraifu]

Oh fuck off.

 

[Sintoid]

I had an awesome showcase, now it's time to be back and step on shits again

Well played Phil

 

[coffinbirth]

Disingenuous comparison. They had the map packs exclusive for a month. The PS version of COD locked operators, exp boosts, game modes, additional load out slots, etc to the platform for the life of the title. For a cross-platform game it was annoying because if someone equipped a PS exclusive operator and then went and played on PC or Xbox they’d be reset to a default operator.

A lot of people in this thread have not played COD in over a decade and their replies prove that.

100%

I'll add that the ability to turn OFF cross-platform play in Warzone is/was also PS exclusive, which aside from just being ridiculous, also meant that at the height of hacker lobbies you were just stuck with it on Xbox unless you ALSO had a PS4/PS5 and toggled it off there...which is absurd. Turning it off globally on Xbox just results in busted queues(unless it's been fixed recently).

 

[ManaByte]

100%

I'll add that the ability to turn OFF cross-platform play in Warzone is/was also PS exclusive, which aside from just being ridiculous, also meant that at the height of hacker lobbies you were just stuck with it on Xbox unless you ALSO had a PS4/PS5 and toggled it off there...which is absurd. Turning it off globally on Xbox just results in busted queues(unless it's been fixed recently).

Yea if you disabled it on the system level on Xbox it prevented you from playing Warzone which was bullshit.

 

[Astray]

100%

I'll add that the ability to turn OFF cross-platform play in Warzone is/was also PS exclusive, which aside from just being ridiculous, also meant that at the height of hacker lobbies you were just stuck with it on Xbox unless you ALSO had a PS4/PS5 and toggled it off there...which is absurd. Turning it off globally on Xbox just results in busted queues(unless it's been fixed recently).

Yea if you disabled it on the system level on Xbox it prevented you from playing Warzone which was bullshit.

Definitely Sony's fault that Xbox can't get their shit together when it comes to cross play.

 

[ManaByte]

Definitely Sony's fault that Xbox can't get their shit together when it comes to cross play.

It was a toggle in the game client that was there during the Xbox betas but removed at launch. It was client functionality they removed.

 

[Three]

Disingenuous comparison. They had the map packs exclusive for a month. The PS version of COD locked operators, exp boosts, game modes, additional load out slots, etc to the platform for the life of the title. For a cross-platform game it was annoying because if someone equipped a PS exclusive operator and then went and played on PC or Xbox they’d be reset to a default operator.

"Not having access to maps, being completely blocked from playing with friends, blocking platform cross-saves"= good times.

"Using the default operator skin when playing your crosssave on a different platform" = oh the horror of slimey platform things.