Had Phil not righted the ship, there’d be no Xbox today. That’s a fact.
For all the moaning, it’s never been a better time to be Team Green if, for no other reason, we have Game Pass - unquestionably the best deal in gaming. That’s Phil’s legacy.
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B-
Gamepass was an ingenious move that hooks you into the xbox ecosystem. I thinkhe turned around image of the xbox brand, and he brought respect back to Microsoft name. Also, Microsoft finally getting japanese game support was huge because that was missing last gen, and it feels nice to be playing these type of games again. I think Phil for the most part has solved service aspect of xbox, branding, and getting more games onto platform
The negatives for me might stir some trouble, but it’s been 8+ years and he hasn’t had his hand in worthwhile xbox console exclusives whether it’s first or third party. I think time is coming up soon to start producing bangers after bangers like Sony and Ninendo does, and 2023 seems to be that year. However, since he took the job his motto has been “maybe next year Xbox will have better output”. I do feel with the studios that have been acquired that the healthy dose of content throughout the year is going to be a thing for Microsoft. Also, I feel Phil plays a bit too nice and needs to start making aggressive third party deals because I feel gamepass or nothing has made Xbox gamers miss out on some key games.
Anyways, Phil has turned it around, and platform seem to be heading in right direction. Hopefully, this missing piece of the puzzle has been solved which is quality game output because it’s been 8+ years and not much console exclusives to show for it when being compared to Nintendo and Sony. Since it’s been 8 years+ I can’t give him higher than a B- until the game output is there. Also needs to vastly improve marketing
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Bayonetta 2 is a slightly different situation. No one else wanted to publish that game and Nintendo stepped in to save the series. Platinum have publically thanked Nintendo for believing in the franchise and 2 and 3 wouldn’t have been made without them.
Rise, Deathloop etc. would have come out regardless of the exclusivity deals. Both games were revealed before the exclusivity was announced, which suggests those deals were still in flux when the games were announced.
I would rather Xbox invest in first party content rather than third party, and that’s what they’ve done. We’re just waiting for the fruits of that.
I will say, it was a bad look to let Sony get KOTOR, a historically Xbox game that has never appeared on PlayStation. Maybe the speculation about them having doubts about Aspyr is true (and they were right, given recent events) but it was still a bad look for them to lose a game that has such a legacy on Xbox.
Just started to read all the comments after I posted mine. 
But yep, that sure is a big obstacle. I know how folks often want to say Xbox fans give too many excuses and such, but these are all valid reasons.
Oh for sure, not a 1:1 at all, but I do think that, even from a purely business perspective, one shouldn’t necessarily care as much about vocal minority backlash when making decisions.
That said, I absolutely agree that MS should invest more in first party than third party exclusives, timed or otherwise, zero arguments there. But the thing is, the competition is doing both. Sony invests in God of War Ragnarok and FF16. Nintendo invests in Xenoblade 3 and SMTV. I don’t think it has to be one or the other.
I think this is unfortunately (or fortunately for me, since I like saving money) where Game Pass comes in. Microsoft would rather invest in Day 1 Game Pass than a third party exclusive. This is better for Game Pass subscribers, but perhaps not as great for purchasers (who don’t benefit at all) and list wars.
Edit: I shouldn’t say list wars, since there are benefits to the perception of the console by having exclusives instead
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I was actually going to make a point about optics, but yes, I think your edit caught it haha.
Game Pass is definitely a great point too, and for sure I am glad Microsoft invests in that as hard as they do. I’d rather have Persona and Yakuza and Hollow Knight on Game Pass day and date than have those only be on Xbox for six months but me having to buy them.
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Thing is at Nintendo much like Sony Gaming is their number One priority , where with MS they have their hands in many different things and for many years Windows was priority one Xbox was seen as an offshoot side project not really taken seriously at best and at worst outright hated by other departments withing MS. Spencer himself said it in an interview something to the effect of "we were like a garage band, they let us play as long as we weren’t too loud.
Couple this with the fact that there was never a Don Mattrick (arguably Jimbo is comparable ) or Terry Meyerson at Sony or Nintendo who correct me if I’m wrong , was over Spencer during the first couple of years of Xbox One . Xbox was under the Windows division and Meyerson didn’t get gaming. Many got mad at Zhuge for saying that Xbox division had it’s budget cut a few years back, i believe that. Once Meyerson left and Spencer took over that’s where you started to see investment , true investment for the first time from MS. Again we’re going from less than 7 studios to over 40 in a few years. Many had previous obligations and those AAA “bangers” (ugh) people love so much take years to complete. Throw in a global pandemic to screw things over that much more and yeah, it’s going to take a while to right the ship.
What’s crazy to me is Phil Spence whatever you think about him has kept his word on everything he set out to do. We got better hardware, we got first party investment, which last i checked people were asking for. Even if it’s taking longer than people like for these games to come out, they are coming. It’s just fact.
Personally i don’t get the concept of “waiting” that people are always bringing up with xbox all the time. I haven’t been waiting for anything. I play what’s out until the games i want come. Simple as that. Also it’s not like MS hasn’t released anything. It’s just what they release is missing an “A” and you need two more of those to be considered a worthwhile game to most folk these days.
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Phil and Team Xbox has done a lot of good. But with a new generation and we are still waiting for games I gave him a C. His kumbaya way of business isn’t something I’m a fan. PlayStation and Nintendo can get 3rd party AAA exclusive to their consoles but Phil won’t pay the big bucks. I love Gamepass but not being about to get the biggest games in your industry isn’t great. Xbox refusal of not using Big IP for your games like Marvel, DC and Star Wars. Not taking game modes, characters, skins and DLC from PlayStation and Nintendo. If they can do it you better do it. Lack of game shows showing gameplay and release dates of games. The consoles and services are great. The UI and dashboard are old and need changing. I give him a C
I take the having the worst 1st party year over Xbox not existing at all after 2016 thanks to Phil as a win any day of the week lol
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How the hell is Phil actually responsible for Starfield and Redfall needing more dev time? lol
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Luckily I didn’t have to be there for that lol.
Man it was bad they were getting destroy on the old gaming forum and it looks like it was another Sega moment, it was that bad, I really thought Sony was gonna killed them like they did Sega.
I go based on January 1st, 2018 to now. He was promoted from Head of Xbox to Executive Vice President of Gaming and reports directly only to Nadella since September 2017. Take away the rest of 2017 to get settled in, vacation, holidays, etc. and he’s about to start his 6th year. Since this promotion, Myerson was basically gone and out of his way so this is what I go based on. I don’t care what it was before 2018 because how could Spencer do anything if there was always people above him that didn’t care about Xbox?
2018 had a great first party release with Forza Horizon 4 and a few decent but now good releases with Sea of Thieves and State of Decay 2. The main event though were the 6 acquisitions for the year. Compulsion Games, InXile Entertainment, Ninja Theory, Obsidian Entertainment, Playground Games and Undead Labs. Also announced was the founding of The Initiative. The biggest and first major move by Spencer was the announcement early in the year that all of their first party games would release day one on Game Pass.
2019 saw a single acquisition in Double Fine Productions and the release of Gears of War 5. The biggest thing though was the reveal of Xbox Series X and Hellblade 2 at The Game Awards which was shocking.
2020 saw the early release of Ori and the Will of the Wisps which was an excellent game. The Xbox Showcase in May was mediocre and disappointing. The June Showcase was good but Halo Infinite’s reveal was very disappointing and underwhelming which led to a 2021 delay a few weeks later. Xbox Series X and S launched in November 2020 with only Gears Tactics as a console launch title. Gears of War 5: Hivebusters released in December and was great. The holy shit moment however happened in September 2020 when Microsoft announced that they had acquired Bethesda (ZeniMax Media). This is where I personally said, Microsoft is all fucking in!!!
2021 saw Microsoft finally release a few great first party games in the second half of the year with Flight Simulator, Psychonauts 2, Age of Empires IV on PC, Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite. They also released Deathloop for PlayStation 5.
2022, outside of Game Pass saw things go bad. Starting in May with the delays of Redfall and Starfield. While a lot of people (excluding myself) liked and enjoyed the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase, there were also a lot of people who thought it was underwhelming and disappointing. The biggest negative was that there were minimal new game releases. Two AA titles in As Dusk Falls and Pentiment book ended a port of Deathloop where Xbox gamers/fans had to wait a year for the game. The worse thing though was a total and complete no-show at The Game Awards. Not a single game trailer which since Redfall is still rumored for March, you would think that they would have at least shown that.
Overall, 2022 has been a successful year for Microsoft and Xbox in terms of revenue and whatnot but no major first party games and for the second time in three years, Spencer being reliant on a single game (Starfield in 2022 and Halo Infinite in 2020) to be their blockbuster release is my biggest complaint because Spencer isn’t stupid by any stretch of the imagination yet to not have a backup plan for 2022 after learning from the same mistake in 2020 is just disappointing because it’s like, how? How do you not have a backup plan?
I like Spencer and love what he’s done with and for the Xbox brand but I would just like to see him have a backup plan or two when things don’t work out which let’s be honest, can happen at any given time. Other than that, while delays are always disappointing, I prefer this over rushing out games that aren’t ready but at the same time, just stop putting release dates or years on games if you’re not certain at the time.
Grade: B-
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The backup plan should be big day 1 GP games but that ended up not being the case either, this year’s biggest GP addition was 2019’s Persona 5 Royal (I say this because of the immense Microsoft marketing)
I remember when this year was starting to look south, people were speculating they’d make sure a major game would launch on GP in place of first party launches.
For Sony, moneyhatted games are the backup plan for periods where there are no big first party games. They make sure to stay relevant in the news cycle.
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How about Plagues Tale Day 1? I think this actually ended up a pretty good year of Game Pass and was especially strong towards the tail end.
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To be fair people were pretty hopeful they’d make a push to get upcoming titles such as Saints Row and Gotham Knights onto gamepass once the delays came in. In retrospect that might have not been a great use of money for Xbox. There hasn’t exactly been a lot of great titles they could have viably gotten. They have been doing pretty good with game pass as of late though - with Lego Star Wars, Plague Tale, Monkey Island and Monster Hunter Rise announced for next month among other things.
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As PG says, Requiem was pretty big but that was also announced in June 2021. I was never expecting anything major because if Sony had the marketing deal, they have a clause that prevents the game from going on Game Pass day one. Then there’s also publishers that just don’t want to go on the service day one. Microsoft was basically screwed once they made the decision to delay Starfield and Redfall. I just hope Phil thinks further ahead and have a backup plan so if something happens, it doesn’t matter or at least not to the extent of the delays in 2022.
I do think 2023 will be much heavier in regards to getting day one AA/AAA titles on Game Pass.
2023 looks ridiculous already haha
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