Why the hate for Phil Spencer?

Ah, so it's conclusive. Wonder how they got caught napping the past couple years.
They went for GaaS, made a wrong decision, but it was THEIR decision. There's a reason why so many people think it was an executive decision to make Concord, etc. It was the CEO vision, a failed vision, but a direction they gave.
 
Xbox was on the same level as PS in 2012. Now look at them.
True.
360 was winning first half of the generation. Then both were the same and ps3 won at the very end because of kinect failure.
Ever since then, xbox is essentially gone... man... 360 vibe was so good
 
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True.
360 was winning first half of the generation. Then both were the same and ps3 won at the very end because of kinect failure.
Ever since then, xbox is essentially gone... man... 360 vibe was so good
Yeah, they could have turned it around though which is the sad part.

Unfortunately, their early marketing and forced inclusion of Kinect really hurt them and PlayStation saw an opening and pushed the knife really deep. I think if they had stayed the course they could have turned it around though. I still think what started the downfall was the beginning of Xbox Play Anywhere in 2016. I think at the time they found it to be a good piece of marketing but it gave people less reasons to ever buy an Xbox at a time when PC was becoming more mainstream because of things like Twitch.
 
They were sitting on 82 vs 82 million console sales, with higher attach rates than the PS3.

So they were losing already: 2005-2010 was all for XBox 360

They released that console a year before Sony that was waiting for Blu-Ray technology while 360 still used standard DVDs

A stand-alone Blu-ray movie player was $1200 in my country in 2006-2007
 
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Part of the job of a CEO is to take the hits when their corporation struggles.

In his tenure, there's been a lot of struggle. In fact there's been continuous decline for over a decade.

Its really that simple.
 
I only know of Todd Howard, Gabe Newell, and Chris Metzen as far as names game devs go. So don't know this Phill guy until recently. No hate for him but also can't say I like him.

Unless of course he gives me some new Elder Scrolls and Fallout games than he'll be among the greatest.
 
Ehh, really lame AI slop. How AI can't even get basic text right is beyond me, but it's fucking irritating. There used to be a time when people actually put some effort into their memes, even if it would be just a very amateurish Photoshop.
You're right it is abit lazy. But who's got time to Photoshop, especially on a phone. Can you even do good Photoshop on your phone?
 
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Because the dude doesn't deliver.

Take all the industry and business stuff out of the equation, and just look at the games that come out under this guy's leadership. He is NOT a good steward of the studio business and doesn't seem to have good taste in games.

Talk shit about Herman Hulst all you want, but he greenlit Astro Bot, and Sony almost ALWAYS has a game in GOTY contention in December.

Xbox never has any as long as TGA's has been going on. It's as simple as that.
 
Xbox was on the same level as PS in 2012. Now look at them.

To put this into perspective, Sony was climbing it's way back from the disaster PS3 launch. They had made such progress. Sony made difficult decisions like selling buildings and assets to save Playstation. The PS4 was the apex of that come back. Meanwhile Microsoft was on the decline after making several poor decisions.

Not sure I fully agree they were on the same level in 2012, maybe just going different directions, one up and one down.

It's easy when everything is going extremely well, companies like Sony and Nintendo should get a lot of respect for being able to rebound and surivive disasters. Common theme is innovation and good games to get out of it all.

Microsoft comes across as the big bully, punch them in the nose and they just give up. Such shit management.
 
Because he's a lying piece of shit. Yea, every corporate exec lies, it comes with the job but Phil Spencer has turned it into an art form. He's created a cult of morons that follow him and parrot his bullshit in the media and gaming forums. People are slowly starting to see how much he's been lying and how terrible he is at managing his studios, that's why there's a lot of hate now.
 
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He's single handedly destroyed the Xbox image. Nobody will ever listen to anything he says. Biggest snake in the industry that just paints a Rosie picture and lies to his own staff and everyone on the outside looking in. The name Xbox holds zero value now. I wouldn't even bring this guy on any shows. He's gonna get booed to an oblivion.
 
I don't think I've ever seen so much blasting of his management as I'm seeing now tbh. Some seriously savage criticism happening rn from the press.





Looking at this I honestly think his time may be coming to an end soon, his "credit in the bank" is running out and fast.
 
Yet, he fought for the brand, advocating for Game Pass and convincing Microsoft to invest $80 billion into the division.
You answered your own question. He has been destructive for the industry overall and the two things you point out as positive are two things that have most likely contributed to the loss of the Xbox console. 🤷‍♂️
 
Is it really better that Xbox lives on as some shitty Call of Duty factory instead of getting shut down? Is the closure of many studios and tens of thousands of people getting fired worth it that Microsoft has one more division on their balance sheet?
 
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Phil Spencer is the worst thing to happen to Xbox. He constantly has made bad decision after bad decision. He is the number 1 reason the Xbox brand is failing like it is. Terrible leader and may have killed the Xbox brand by himself.
 
True.
360 was winning first half of the generation. Then both were the same and ps3 won at the very end because of kinect failure.
Ever since then, xbox is essentially gone... man... 360 vibe was so good
ps3 doesn't won. They ended practically tie but most of success of xbox it was on US/UK were ps3 took the rest WW and practically recovered the initial failure with the last half of the generation.
 
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There's honestly no way to know if Spencer's just gets overruled on everything or what he actually wants to do.
chatgpt

📊 Final Sales (Approximate):


  • PlayStation 3: ~87.4 million units
  • Xbox 360: ~84 million units

However, sales don't tell the full story. Here's a breakdown by key factors:

skipping the bs....

🏆 Verdict:


  • Commercial Winner: PlayStation 3, barely—by final total sales.
  • Perception Winner (Early Years): Xbox 360—thanks to launch timing, ease of development, and strong Western appeal.
  • Legacy: It's seen as a draw by many. Both platforms left a huge mark, but Sony reclaimed its dominance in the next generation (PS4 vs. Xbox One).

If you count momentum and brand recovery, the PS3 had a bigger redemption arc, while the 360 enjoyed more early success and innovation in online gaming.
 
You answered your own question. He has been destructive for the industry overall and the two things you point out as positive are two things that have most likely contributed to the loss of the Xbox console. 🤷‍♂️
So, he's bad because he's dragged this out, and should have instead let it die in 2016?
 
So, he's bad because he's dragged this out, and should have instead let it die in 2016?
If that is the way you choose to look at it. Sure. However, I do not believe the acquisition of ABK was on the radar back in 2016? I could be wrong.

I believe if Xbox (under Spencer's leadership) had focused on internal studios and IPs they would be in a stronger position than they are now. I am not saying they should not have picked up some studios along the way but basically trying to buy up the industry backfired. You read the emails. They were not nearly as "gamer" friendly in those emails as they portray in public. Instead of focusing on bringing their best to the market, they were out to destroy Sony (not just beat them, spend them out of business) and they wanted to buy out Nintendo.

I like the Xbox consoles I have owned over the years. However, I am not a fan of how the brand has been handled. People can try to blame Nadella but he is not the idea man. Those ideas were brought to him by Phil and his teams. Spencer can't take the credit for saving the Xbox console (btw, I got lol'ed out of a thread a few years ago for suggesting that) and then pass the blame when the console dies under his watch.

All of that being said, I don't hate Phil Spencer. I do not know the man. However, I do not like what he has done as a leader in the industry. A lot of flashing cash and talking-the-talk but little to back it up. Of course, we do not have an alternate reality to look at to see how Xbox would have done under different leadership. It could have gone worse; it could have gone better. 🤷‍♂️
 
The arrogance of this man. Openly saying to his colleagues that he would like his big career moment to be the acquisition of Nintendo and that it would be a good move for both companies in his opinion.

A couple years later and he's solely responsible for killing his own platform.
 
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He admitted that Microsoft leadership wanted to shut down the entire Xbox division after the failed launch of the Xbox One decimated the platform. Yet, he fought for the brand, advocating for Game Pass and convincing Microsoft to invest $80 billion into the division. Whatever doubts the company had, his efforts ensured they remained committed to Xbox for the long term.

All the positives Xbox has had over the decade have come from his initiatives, while the problems -- primarily the loss console sales to the PS4 -- came from decisions made by his predecessors.

So is there any real justification for the continuous hate he gets?
he is a liar for one.
 
chatgpt

📊 Final Sales (Approximate):


  • PlayStation 3: ~87.4 million units
  • Xbox 360: ~84 million units

However, sales don't tell the full story. Here's a breakdown by key factors:

skipping the bs....

🏆 Verdict:


  • Commercial Winner: PlayStation 3, barely—by final total sales.
  • Perception Winner (Early Years): Xbox 360—thanks to launch timing, ease of development, and strong Western appeal.
  • Legacy: It's seen as a draw by many. Both platforms left a huge mark, but Sony reclaimed its dominance in the next generation (PS4 vs. Xbox One).

If you count momentum and brand recovery, the PS3 had a bigger redemption arc, while the 360 enjoyed more early success and innovation in online gaming.
I never get this obsession to find an absolute single winner because it was practically a tie; ps3 got a great recover where x360 dominate in US/UK almost the whole generation. The fallacy side of the xbox was to stay barely irrelevant for the playstation domine WW; maybe just the first years but to be so US centric it's something which cost them highly go on further in the next generations.
 
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I never get this obsession to find an absolute single winner because it was practically a tie; ps3 got a great recover where x360 dominate in US/UK almost the whole generation. The fallacy side of the xbox was to stay barely irrelevant for the playstation domine WW; maybe just the first years but to be so US centric it's something which cost them highly go on further in the next generations.
I dont care. I only respond to a post.
My vibe check was correct.
 
This is the wrong question. What should be asked if why did anyone ever think he was any good?

I mean, it was clear from the start that some people were paid cheerleaders for him, that never made any sense. Like, there fat he was promoted CEO there were shilling posts, as of the had any merit, even after he cancelled games they cheered!

Now there is no Xbox.
 
Xbox has been better under him than under Matrik but that is like saying I prefer Pol-pot to Hitler.

He just hasn't gained any ground in the market share. And that is what he needs to do. Matrik really did kill Xbox with that TV presentation and no sharing games. But they have not released a first party game that is a shifter of hearts and minds. I like what they put out, but the market does not seem to care.
 
Filthy Philth Spencer has done Xbox dirty. But keep in mind he is empowered from the top to dismantle the gaming division. The next guy probably can't reverse the damage, but clearly Filth needs to go. Pay him his remaining contract and send him packing. He can always try and resurrect Ouya and Stadia, jobs where failure is the expectation. He would fit right in those circumstances.
 
Doesn't come off as genuine. Lots of fluff, lots of spinning, misdirection, going back on something he stated wouldn't happen etc. Acting like a gamer this and that - It's lame.
A poor vision. Just look at the acquisitions...
 
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I don't think I've ever seen so much blasting of his management as I'm seeing now tbh. Some seriously savage criticism happening rn from the press.





Looking at this I honestly think his time may be coming to an end soon, his "credit in the bank" is running out and fast.


Dismantling is the correct term here

You won't recognise the American games industry in 5 years, much of it will be gone
 
Overall hes done the right things. His biggest mistake was going for the hail mary of Day 1 games on gamepass. Since that didn't move the needle and they can't go back and remove day 1 games from gamepass as it would totally kill their existing userbase, because of this xbox is now dead in the water.
 
Nobody should hate Spencer so much as everyone should hate stock holder board paper-growth driven companies.
You mean exactly like Sony? Because they are also listen on stock exchange, with a board, and chase the same quarterly targets. The thing is Sony knows what they are good at, they figured they just need to execute well on the basics - good product, good single player games from their internal studios as console exclusives. It's not some fucking rocket science.
 
You mean exactly like Sony? Because they are also listen on stock exchange, with a board, and chase the same quarterly targets. The thing is Sony knows what they are good at, they figured they just need to execute well on the basics - good product, good single player games from their internal studios as console exclusives. It's not some fucking rocket science.

You actually think Sony has done a good job lately... Lol. They are only surviving because MS is doing an even shittier job.
 
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