The biggest strategic mistake of Xbox's Phil Spencer era is not talked about enough

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Who cares what Jez has to say? Guy is still lamenting the loss of Windows Phones in 2024. He's a legit shill. Xbox is in its death throes. What else is there to say? Let it die.
 
Lol, I just finished reading this same thread on the other forum and then came here.
Also from Reddit a few days ago.
 
Yes, yes. Jez Corden is an absolute dickhead. But, he's not wrong here.

Microsoft passing on Genshin Impact is the gaming equivalent of Decca passing on the Beatles.
 
Nah. Their biggest mistake was releasing mediocre game after mediocre game, figuring all Xbox fans were also fanboys and would eat up anything. Then, came Day 1 on PC, making their HW even more irrelevant. Then, Day 1 on GamePass, which taught their remaining customers to no longer buy games, which led to poor performing games and studio closures.
 
ByWatterson said:
They didn't get into gacha games.

There, saved you a click and several paragraphs before the "author" got to the point.
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Jez is an idiot.

Half of the reason we're at this point is because they were going in that direction. Gamepass and Xcloud were strategies explicitly meant to attract casual mobile gamers which far outweigh casual and core console gamers. It's a fundamental misunderstanding of how the market is structured.
 
Optimus Lime said:
Microsoft passing on Genshin Impact is the gaming equivalent of Decca passing on the Beatles.
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Equating Genshin Impact to The Beatles really did my head in.

Then I looked up the profit both are estimated to have made and uh, whew. Looks like Genshin is bigger than Jesus.
 
ByWatterson said:
They didn't get into gacha games.

There, saved you a click and several paragraphs before the "author" got to the point.
Click to expand...

Jez is certainly something. In Phil's, what is it... 12 years tenure, his biggest mistake was not getting a fucking gacha game specifically for the xbox audience? That's the black mark on what would have been a flawless career as CEO in his opinion? Nothing else comes to mind?

What the ever loving fuck...
 
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consoul said:
Equating Genshin Impact to The Beatles really did my head in.

Then I looked up the profit both are estimated to have made and uh, whew. Looks like Genshin is bigger than Jesus.
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Not even close (the Beatles or Jesus).

In $$ maybe but in every way that matters? Nah.
 
Gambit2483 said:
They (Xbox) can't get many Japanese devolped/published games outside of Gamepass deals.

Including the Gacha Hoyoverse games, i.e. Zenless Zone Zero, Genshin Impact, etc.
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Less than 1/2 of the competition's numbers in console sales puts them at a negotiation point with 3rd parties where royalty % comes into discussion, especially in freemium games. If they succumb to pressure from them, then every other 3rd party dev will demand the same citing the same reason. It's really a rock and a hard place.

Irony here is that, their recent $70 billion dollar acquisition, Activision, during the PS3/360 days did the exact same strategy for CoD, but with Sony since they were tailing the 360 by a considerable margin (which they eventually caught up and outsold the 360 later in the console lifecycle). Sony did offer them some more margins till sales caught up. Crazy how the pendulum swings.
 
ProtoByte said:
Jez is an idiot.

Half of the reason we're at this point is because they were going in that direction. Gamepass and Xcloud were strategies explicitly meant to attract casual mobile gamers which far outweigh casual and core console gamers. It's a fundamental misunderstanding of how the market is structured.
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Gamepass ended up being defeated by Free To Play before the battle even started.

Gamepass is all about paying every month and have a flood of games to play. The idea being a cheap option to have a buffet.
But Free To Play is about NOT PAYING ANYTHING, and to play only one or two titles that take up ALL of your free time so you have no reason to play anything else.

Nothing is cheaper than Free. And time-eating Live Service meant you are incentivized to NOT play other games. Gamepass was an outdated model that quite litterally was out-maneuvered by FreeToPlay, being inferior in every aspect for the Casual audience they were both targetting.

As others already mentioned, Genshin Impact had 60million MAU in 2022. That is just ONE game, beating the MAU of Gamepass as a whole by nearly double.

It isn't that Xbox didn't realize FreeToPlay makes money; it is that Xbox bet the horse on GamePass the same way Sony bet the PS3 on the CELL. The decision was made and it is too late to pivot. GamePass basically was not compatible with Free To Play and thus lost that entire, gigantic customer base.
 
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consoul said:
Equating Genshin Impact to The Beatles really did my head in.
Click to expand...

IAmRei said:
Please dont compare Beatles with Trash
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You know, when I posted that, I thought 'It's SO obvious that I'm referring to a company passing on something that ends up making a fortune in revenue, NOBODY is going to be stupid enough to actually attack me for claiming that Genshin Impact is gaming's Abbey Road. Right? Right...?'.

Right.
 
Optimus Lime said:
You know, when I posted that, I thought 'It's SO obvious that I'm referring to a company passing on something that ends up making a fortune in revenue
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I totally got where you were coming from. No attack intended. I was just surprised by it. A Beatles/Genshin comparison wasn't on my bingo card for today.
 
You guys can hate on Phil and Xbox all you want. The fact that he greenlit the resurrection and resurgence of Age of Empires (and the whole thing actually turned out to be good) makes him alright in my book.

I just wish he'd do a Rise of Nations 2 and a Freelancer 2 as well.
 
When will he learn. Xbox owners don't give a crap about these types of games. Waifus don't sell on Xbox. With a few exceptions if it's not a western title the wider Xbox userbase don't give a damn. Even monster hunter world, a title capcom aimed to really push in the west, vastly outperformed on PS4 compared to Xbox One after taking the 2:1 install base into account. https://vgleaks.com/monster-hunter-world-sales-leaked-by-platform/

Xbox getting Genshin Impact wouldn't have moved the needle for Xbox at all.
 
Mowcno said:
Xbox getting Genshin Impact wouldn't have moved the needle for Xbox at all.
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You don't know that. Look at how well Palworld did on Xbox Game Pass.

Genshin Impact went viral when it launched, and a lot of that virality could have propped up the platform.
 
Mowcno said:
When will he learn. Xbox owners don't give a crap about these types of games. Waifus don't sell on Xbox. With a few exceptions if it's not a western title the wider Xbox userbase don't give a damn. Even monster hunter world, a title capcom aimed to really push in the west, vastly outperformed on PS4 compared to Xbox One after taking the 2:1 install base into account. https://vgleaks.com/monster-hunter-world-sales-leaked-by-platform/

Xbox getting Genshin Impact wouldn't have moved the needle for Xbox at all.
Click to expand...

The problem is very little sells on Xbox period. A large part of the blame for which lies with them continually telling players that all they need is Game Pass.

Day #1 on GP is the single biggest act of self-sabotage in gaming history.
 
Dude think that a clickbait on Gaf is cool, then he goes even more to just put the link of the clickbait

Bin Laden exploded people for less
 
nial said:
Lol, I just finished reading this same thread on the other forum and then came here.
Also from Reddit a few days ago.
Click to expand...

Just read the OP of this reddit thread, it's more informative than whatever Jez has rambled about in his latest clickbaity opinion piece.
 
rodrigolfp said:
Phill delivered every game on PC day 1. Great for everyone. The only crying are console warriors.
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Because it devalues the console, Xbox is a console (no, a shitty app on PC doesn't make PC a Xbox before someone says it).
Great for PC gamers though, I got to play Hellblade II for free on release.
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Mr Moose said:
Because it devalues the console, Xbox is a console (no, a shitty app on PC doesn't make PC a Xbox before someone says it).
Great for PC gamers though, I got to play Hellblade II for free on release.
3c63100127d896f366c1933622e65e97.png
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The console should not even exist. There is no point in "twin" consoles on the market other than make people "have to buy" two consoles.
 
thismeinteil said:
Nah. Their biggest mistake was releasing mediocre game after mediocre game, figuring all Xbox fans were also fanboys and would eat up anything. Then, came Day 1 on PC, making their HW even more irrelevant. Then, Day 1 on GamePass, which taught their remaining customers to no longer buy games, which led to poor performing games and studio closures.
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That's the exclusive mentality, they both have wanna be mindset.
 
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