Phil Spencer has accomplished many great things in his nine-plus-year career. Head of XboxUnder his leadership, Xbox has made incredible progress in:
- Accessibility: Even if Xbox isn’t the industry leader in this regard, it’s at the top of the list. software side and hardware side.
- Game save: backward compatibility It was Spencer’s first major initiative when he took over the business and has been so successful that it has become an industry-wide standard.
- Hardware Power and Reliability: The Xbox One S, One X, Series X, and Series S are all quiet, strong workhorses that haven’t had a single widespread issue, making the Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death and the Xbox One’s underpowered launch unit were born. distant memories.
- Value proposition: No matter how you slice it, Xbox Game Pass has been a huge success for gamers.
- Cloud Gaming: The xCloud initiative (now bundled with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate) lets you play Xbox games from virtually any device, anywhere.
- DEI and Culture: Microsoft and its studios have high numbers of women and people of color in leadership roles and development teams, and have taken significant steps to normalize diversity in an industry with diverse customer segments. increase.
Unfortunately, Spencer’s legacy has one notable drawback. An exclusive blockbuster game. Xbox has been a constant disappointment over the past decade in this most important area.this is Not that Xbox didn’t have everything It’s not a zero-sum game after all, but this generation was supposed to be a fresh start for Microsoft. It’s your chance to win back the Xbox 360 customers lost to Sony and PS4. A lot of the groundwork had already been laid, including a number of new first-party studio purchases, his Gamer-First Smart Delivery feature, and the aforementioned backward compatibility and Xbox Game Pass efforts.
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Is this Spencer’s fault? It’s hard to say, but video games, like sports, are part of the multi-billion dollar entertainment industry, but the fact that winning or losing in the video game business isn’t makes me say no. It’s clearly black and white, just like sports. If your favorite team is losing every year, replace players, sign new players, and eventually fire the head coach/manager and/or general manager. It cannot be applied to Matt Booty, or anyone else in the game world. Success is measured in a million different ways, many of which are unknown to the general public. But it’s still fair to look at leadership and look at their track record and what those around them say about them.
Anecdotally, everyone I’ve ever spoken to about Phil Spencer has said nothing but praise and admiration. So if he’s not the problem, what’s the problem? Is he surrounded by “yes men” who are afraid to go against him? Is that too kind? I’m not sure, but what I do know is that in the end the money stops with Spencer. He has held the position longer than any of his predecessors who have made him a major player in the gaming industry. And to his credit, he was a key part of that foundational success, beginning his path in 2008 before taking over his current XGS. Incredibly nice people in addition to those who climbed the ranks. And he has receipts that show he’s a hardcore gamer just like the rest of us.
Still, a steady stream of blockbuster games continues to be a problem.spencer era, lion head shut down After an ill-fated attempt to change the fable 4v1 multiplayer game, sent the pillar Xbox franchise into hibernation for over a decade yet to emerge. Crackdown’s revival flopScalebound suffered very publicly cancel343 Industries suffers from inconsistencies and inefficiencies, and (among other things) Halo Infinite miss the launch Alongside the Xbox Series X and S consoles. The initiative is five years old, and its Perfect Dark reboot is completely invisible (worse, reportedly. plagued by development problems). Xbox gamers are shut out of major third-party games like Street Fighter V and Final Fantasy 16 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Very few releases.
And now the unexpected happens face transplant of Redfall, a promising new property of studio Arkane immense tracking record until now. It’s also his first Xbox exclusive release from Bethesda since Microsoft. Acquisition Redfall was already nearly a year behind. Tweet At the time, he said, “These decisions are difficult for the team making the game and for the fans. I fully support giving the team time to release these great games when they are ready, but we will also listen to your feedback.” We are expected to deliver quality and consistency, and we will continue to strive to exceed those expectations.”
With Phil’s own words from a year ago in mind, Redfall’s release is even more disappointing.To his credit, he “Full Responsibility” He also admitted that IGN lied about an IGN First gameplay video he posted last month, which drew a very negative response. At that point he knew that on PC the game was running at 60 fps, but on console he was running at 30 fps. What we’re showing is our console customers, who are the most passionate customers for our brand, who are financially committed, what they watch, what they play It means that it represents , and its transparency needs to be further improved. “
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Redfall could be just one game, and as such it’s not subject to my frustration, or that of other Xbox owners. For many Xbox gamers, this is the latest nickname for Death by 1,000 Cuts. The last bit of patience and goodwill they had left has run out, and now they’re carrying an incredible burden on Starfield. I’m pretty sure it’s not, but that’s the way it is – all I’m on Starfield. That means Xbox has to rebuild its reputation for not having a big hit dedicated game. If Starfield somehow frustrates or disappoints his 6th of September, in short, if it’s not his 10/10 video games that define what the platform can achieve, consumer confidence is forever. may be lost to Worse, perhaps, could be the downstream repercussions of breaking a camel’s back with a straw in Redfall. It could shake Xbox gamers’ confidence in Starfield and big Xbox games. To begin with, it just adds more pressure to a studio whose incredible open world isn’t exactly known for its lack of bugs, especially at launch.
Why do these mistakes keep happening on Xbox but not on Sony or Nintendo? Talent matters? 343 Industries’ revolving door aside, there have been few high-profile departures from the old and new Xbox studios. Only Rod Ferguson of The Coalition has left Take over the Diablo franchise In 2020 Blizzard and recently Ended From Tango Gameworks comes to mind.
resource? Again, by all accounts the answer is no. Double Fine has been given plenty of time (and money) to help Psychonauts 2, once a crowdfunded game on a shoestring budget, reach its full potential. . 343 knows how many tens of millions more dollars were poured into it in November 2020 when Microsoft (wisely) decided not to push it onto store shelves alongside the Xbox Series X. I was. of Thieves started as a bare-bones concept that launched as a fully fleshed out live service game with millions of players. Bethesda Game Studios has given Todd Howard an extra 10 months of development time at Starfield after he confidently pushed the 11/11/22 release date forward by a full 18 months. In fact, Microsoft doesn’t make it clear he’s a trillion dollar company and shouldn’t be squeezing a penny on that project.
But speaking of money, is it complacency?Are studios getting their feet off the gas after receiving Microsoft’s big payday? It’s been a playground Acquisition Developed by Microsoft in 2018, it once again raised its own high standards and brought it home with Forza Horizon 5 IGN’s Game of the Year Award Looking forward to 2021.Recently, tango literal surprise Hit Hi-Fi Rush doesn’t feel like the work of a team that’s just doing the work.
maybe it’s time? Is releasing these games too soon the only way to ship something to satisfy increasingly frustrated fans because the timeline for making great games is so out of sync? Perhaps Xbox management sees Redfall’s expected outcome early on and cuts the decoy so that Arkane Austin’s talented team can move on to a new project and make a fresh start did you choose to Given the ever-increasing pressure from fans, they may simply have felt the need to get something out there ASAP. Several Kind of a big first party monopoly.
After all, it’s probably not Spencer’s head that should be on the cutting board. Or, for that matter, one person. Instead, the collective Xbox team has to do a better job. In short, Xbox fans (customers who spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on the Xbox ecosystem) are tired of being told, “Great games are coming!” Year after year. And it’s a better value than what the Xbox Series generation has offered so far.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews and host of IGN’s weekly Xbox show. podcast unlockedas well as the monthly (ish) interview show, IGN UnfilteredHe’s from Northern Jersey, so it’s a “Taylor ham” rather than a “pork roll.” Discuss with him at @DMC_Ryan on Twitter.
