Phil says what I’ve been saying for a while…you can have the greatest games in the world it isn’t going to massively shift console share. It’s why MS are now going beyond the console.
I think that part of the interview should be quoted and pinned to every thread 
Phil made some comments that he wanted Crackdown to be a stable for xbox like halo, gears and forza. I imagine most of it was PR speak, but i feel even xbox near the end realised they had a flop on their hands and push it out of the door. Just a theory but they didnt feature the game heavily at showcases and even the marketing was half assed
They had a pillar in Fable but for whatever reason( Phil Harrison) Lionhead had to make a multiplayer game.
I don’t think anyone said it would massively change console share outside of the very optimistic fans.
It does absolutely move the needle though. For a massive shift ? You would need your competitor to utterly fail at launching a console, aka an Xbox One moment or PS3 moment.
Okay so Avowed and Hellbalde 2 will likely be at the showcase. This will easily make the showcase better than last year.
But Microsoft aren’t bothered about the console market share. They will happily sell 30 or 40 or 50 million consoles a gen, let Sony dominate it but expand their games to other devices via PC and cloud.
He’s literally spelled out their strategy there.
They aren’t trying to or ever going to out console Sony. He’s said it.
Their plan is a sub service available as widely as possible with strong releases of a wide variety of games each quarter. That’s what they are delivering.
When he says out console, I believe he means doing Sony’s strategy by spending big money on timed exclusives, etc etc.
I think it would be pretty naïve to believe Phil is content with being steamrolled by Playstation and Nintendo in the console space lol. The goal is to grow Gamepass, point blank. You do that by expanding the platforms that it’s available on aka Consoles and PC’s.
He’s literally said it, spelled it out clear as day and you still are trying to say ‘well that’s not the case’.
‘We aren’t ever going to out console Sony or Nintendo let’s get that out there….there isn’t an advantage to Microsoft in third place to try and do that - it’s why our focus is on play anywhere etc’
How much clearer can he be? They aren’t trying to sell more consoles than Sony and clearly believe they never will. It’s not their business model.
I’m happy Spencer mentioned the need for more transparency in showing console footage, instead of pc footage running at 60 fps like with Redfall.
That’s a huge step in the right direction.
That doesn’t mean it’s not important. No one expects them to outsell the other consoles, that is not what anyone is saying.
Wanting to sell consoles doesn’t mean Phil HAS to outsell the Switch or the PS5. Not sure why you’re so hostile on that aspect lol.
In fairness he didn’t quite get as far as saying that. More transparency could mean showing the videos they did but with a disclaimer that it would be 30FPS on console.
It’s clear to me from his comments that some of the acquired studios essentially aren’t functioning like first party platforms and Xbox is an afterthought. I think that reflects pretty poorly on whoever it was responsible for integration and building studio rapport. Saying we just sort of left Arkane Austin to do their thing cos it was later in development when it got a year delay is a bit weak. It does to me also sound like they knew it was a dud from a ways out because otherwise why wouldn’t you have supported them post delay?
Yeah… I don’t get it either.
They want to sell consoles but an obvious part of their strategy will be a declining console user base and an increasing, PC and cloud user base as cloud gaming catches up and console hardware declines.
The point is that it’s pretty obvious he doesn’t really see much growth potential in Xbox console market share regardless of the games they have. And obviously the focus is on expanding the ecosystem not the console market itself.
Checked out this other forum and the comments are embarrassing. They say Phil needs to step away, because a boss from a company doesn’t just go out and say these things.
For some people it doesn’t matter what he says, it will never be good enough, always bitching.
Guys, it’s really not so complicated.
They want to sell as many Xbox’s as possible, but it’s no longer a barometer for success given their current model is about Game Pass and ecosystem.
I can’t emphasise enough how much y’all should stop reading that dumpster fire of a forum. It’s not even subtly anti-Xbox.
This limited integration is not great in all cases. Zenimax-Bethesda obviously had serious issues before acquisition, just letting them continue to do their thing might not be the best idea ever?
They will be seen as first party, they are first party and their games are Xbox games and all they do reflect on the brand.
Very odd lol.
The bottom line is Xbox console sale is still important but the idea of outselling other two isn’t the goal. It’s like a wrestling company not trying to beat WWE.
I think creative freedom is good. Not making clear that as a first party studio you need to have a really solid well running Xbox version of your game seems unnecessary to say but also the fact they haven’t been set that expectation is a big wtf?