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Xbox Boss Phil Spencer: Success Doesn’t Mean Pulling Sony Down

RevengeTaken

RevengeTaken

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Aug 12, 2018
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Phil Spencer has a very different view of what success for Microsoft looks like.

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While console wars might be a thing that the gaming community takes for granted, as far as those actually in the business are concerned, that's far from the truth. Microsoft and Sony, for instance, are in direct competition with each other, and have been for over a decade now, but it's not like one of them cannot survive in the market while the other is still around.

Phil Spencer, head of Xbox and the gaming division at Microsoft, recently spoke in an interview with Fortune, and candidly went over this very topic, while speaking of his work with Sony, Google, Nintendo, and others that are deemed Microsoft's competitors in the market. Spencer sees gaming as a growing business, and doesn't feel like the way to success for any entity in the industry is by pulling down competitors.

"I would say the most competitive side of it- no," said Spencer, when asked if the perception of this competition in the general audiences affects the way Microsoft approaches its decisions. "I'm always listening to the community, but the people who want to see others fail in order for the green team to succeed- that's not me. There were people, when the Sony deal was announced, I could see it online, 'what are you doing helping them out?'

"And it's like, we've had years and years of a relationship with Sony. Sony shipped PCs and they had Windows on it, they use our development tools to bring games. This idea that the only way for any of us to succeed is by pulling down someone else just isn't the way that the industry works today. It just isn't."
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Lokimaster

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It's not like he would be able to do that anyway.

Honestly it's better if phill just stops talking. People get all his words and stuff mixed and screwed.
 
PopcornMegaphone

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This has always been true. Too many people treat business like a sport with winners and losers but the reality is always more complicated.
 

Deleted member 4970

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Yup, said as much on his Giant Bomb E3 appearance. They are very successful with their latest focus on game pass, cross-play, and third party partnerships. It doesn't have to be about raw sales numbers anymore, but the user retention as well, and they've gained more of my attention this gen with the heaps of services, features, and programs they've run.

Next-gen, they should finally have that big first-party backing so this gen has been almost a sort of blessing when you think about it. It has allowed them time to re-think their entire business model and be able to stand out from Sony in a way that is more enticing to me up front, at the very least.
 
Kolx

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If gaming was niche then yes, more companies would help push it forward (like in VR for example). Gaming is not niche tho, gaming is bigger than music or movies. I don't understand why MS would want Sony to succeed and he didn't provide any explanation other than "they use out products as well" which is no way an explanation.

This feels like another one of Phil's pr friendly statement that means nothing, but it's still better than flaming fanboy war I guess which is one of the reason why I like Phil.
 
shazla

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Its a fascinating perspective and insight Phil offers (he's always pretty generous with answers), but my god that interviewer is soo annoying in both mannerisms, and interjecting mid answer - i genuinely couldn't finish the vid.
 
SuikerBrood

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Kolx said:
If gaming was niche then yes, more companies would help push it forward (like in VR for example). Gaming is not niche tho, gaming is bigger than music or movies. I don't understand why MS would want Sony to succeed and he didn't provide any explanation other than "they use out products as well" which is no way an explanation.

This feels like another one of Phil's pr friendly statement that means nothing, but it's still better than flaming fanboy war I guess which is one of the reason why I like Phil.
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Microsoft's current stance is that they want to grow the pie. So that means Sony can still take a large part, hence both winning.
 
Kolx

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SuikerBrood said:
Microsoft's current stance is that they want to grow the pie. So that means Sony can still take a large part, hence both winning.
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But the pie is already massive, like biggest industry right now when it comes to entertainment and consoles\pc are a huge part of that. I feel we're at a point where companies are competing for that pie more than building it together.
 
Musubi

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It really does feel like all three major players in the console hardware biz are all going for entirely different strategies right now.
 

ThisIsBlitz21

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Yeah they can be successful without "defeating" playstation. Which many people boil "success" down to for Xbox, for some reason.
 
DriftingSpirit

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I keep repeating this too.

MS can improve their position from this gen without interfering with what Sony has going. If MS sells ~45M X1 this gen, they can bump that up to ~60M next gen and have good sub activity while Sony has another 100M+ console.

You see quite a bit of that "MS is gonna take down Sony" mentality here though. I think it has more to do with the desire to see Sony taken down a notch more than anything though.

Musubi said:
It really does feel like all three major players in the console hardware biz are all going for entirely different strategies right now.
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Sony - Worldwide console that delivers the biggest 3rd party games and their 1st party titles
Nintendo - 1st party titles and unique console idea
MS - Subscription driven model

All three of those can bring about success without clashing with the others. Sony and Nintendo are also at a point where they are their own worst enemy. If they don't mess up the launch, their product is very likely to be highly successful.
 
bulletyen

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His statements are backed by their partnership with Sony to provide cloud gaming services.
They're carving out their own niche to be sure. And someday that niche might grow to be the dominant zeitgeist in gaming.
 
Dizastah

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He's right. MS does not have to be number one to be successful. I didn't by an Xbox this gen but with the moves MS has been making, Im pretty sure that i'll be onboard next gen.
 
OneBadMutha

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Microsoft gets a piece of Sony's pie. Microsoft owns APIs that are used in multiplats. They profit of Sony is successful with streaming. They are a partner. Nintendo may become more of a partner down the road. Steam is now a partner in some ways. The only 2 platforms that are 100% competing with Microsoft are Tencent and Google.

Being successful from a business standpoint is much different than the arbitrary rules plastic warriors make.
 

Calvinien

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DriftingSpirit said:
You see quite a bit of that "MS is gonna take down Sony" mentality here though. I think it has more to do with the desire to see Sony taken down a notch more than anything though.
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Yeah. I actually like scrappy underdog Msoft. 1st party drought aside (which is nearly over and about to be replaced by a bunch of exclusives by my favourite devs) the xbox one is hands down my favourite console in terms of how consumer friendly it is. I don't know if they keep the same energy if they are on top.
I doubt very much that if there's a way for xbox to double sony's marketshare, Phil won't end up doing it.

It's less that I want microsoft to win and more that I want sony to lose. Having the market leader being the least consumer freindly and the least innovative isn't exactly a great thing for the industry.
 

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I like this mindset. It's unfortunate that Sony doesn't feel the same way (moneyhatting or encouraging devs to ignore Microsoft/Nintendo as much as possible), but this is really healthy approach in the industry. It's much better to grow the pie than to make sure your competitors can't get any.
 
GMM

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He's absolutely right, it's not about one party owning everything, it's about generating revenue where it makes most sense. Microsoft is part of many different aspects of entertainment beyond Xbox consoles and success is not only having Xbox succeed, but also getting a slice of what the other guys are doing. This could be everything from productivity software, server infrastructure or even selling first party software outside of Microsofts own stores such as Steam on PC.

If anything Microsoft is positioning itself to succeed even if other gambles fall through, selling the most consoles is not the goal for them if it's more lucreative in the long run to measure success in player engagement which could lead to sales of services.

Gaming has changed significantly over the last 15 years and Microsoft has been the company that understands this change the most if we take a look at their investments over the years, no one besides Valve with Steam and Microsoft understood why online services were so important back then, and now they have really exciting infrastructures that change how we consume games.
 
Arkaign

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His words ring pretty true when you think about what NPD Mat has consistently said about Switch and PS4. They are mutually cohesive, and don't pull each other down. Purely on console alone, PS and XB are a bit more of direct competitors in the US/UK, but Sony has RoW, and MS has a decent and growing piece of PC gaming (I expect Halo and other future releases to really help that initiative along with PCGP of course). Win/win/win.

I hope that PS5 and Scarlett aren't mostly carbon copies though. That would just ensure mostly status quo on that front rather than anything really interesting.

Like give Scarlett out of box support for 144/165/240hz Variable Refresh, KBM, and Win10 mode. Multiple display support. Etc, something to make it more of a standout for those interested in a premium setup.
 

Deleted member 56752

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If Sony tries poking holes/insulting Microsoft, chasing what they did in 2013, I guarantee it backfires. People do not hate or mistrust Microsoft like they did then. Given their aversion to cross play, I think more gamers are worried about Sony.
 
Era of not Yakuza

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Knight613 said:
You should tell that to the other Xbox execs at Microsoft.
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Greenberg without doubt is stuck in this era

Simsamdeo said:
I like this mindset. It's unfortunate that Sony doesn't feel the same way (moneyhatting or encouraging devs to ignore Microsoft/Nintendo as much as possible), but this is really healthy approach in the industry. It's much better to grow the pie than to make sure your competitors can't get any.
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BoxingIsCool said:
If Sony tries poking holes/insulting Microsoft, chasing what they did in 2013, I guarantee it backfires. People do not hate or mistrust Microsoft like they did then. Given their aversion to cross play, I think more gamers are worried about Sony.
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What ?
 
Ænima

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Hes right, u can succeed without taking others down, its all about ur company or division growth, but a console market leader will always have an edge as its easier to get 3rd party support.
 
Foltzie

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Wise stance.

"If we want to move forward and see Apple healthy and prospering again, we have to let go of this notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose.

Steve Jobs shortly after rejoining Apple
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Braaier

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Ænima said:
Hes right, u can succeed without taking others down, its all about ur company or division growth, but a console market leader will always have an edge as its easier to get 3rd party support.
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But also, the architectures of the two machines are so similar that it really doesn't make sense for third parties not to release games on both consoles, even if they can expect higher sales on one. Well, I guess except those extremely niche titles. Otherwise as long as the Xbox sells okay it should get all third party support
 

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Braaier said:
But also, the architectures of the two machines are so similar that it really doesn't make sense for third parties not to release games on both consoles, even if they can expect higher sales on one. Well, I guess except those extremely niche titles. Otherwise as long as the Xbox sells okay it should get all third party support
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Niche titles you're talking about are mostly jrpgs
 
Judge

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Lokimaster said:
It's not like he would be able to do that anyway.

Honestly it's better if phill just stops talking. People get all his words and stuff mixed and screwed.
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Ya they should turn all interview requests down so instead we get headlines such as "Microsoft refuses to talk to us about their future, are they going to be leaving the space?", "Microsoft turned down an interview with us about xCloud, Do they not have faith in it?? Is it doomed?!?"
 
Kerotan

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I think Phil should stop giving sound bites for a few months. He seems to love the sound of his own voice. I prefer Nintendo and Sony's approach where they don't constantly yap to the media while also delivering. If Phil could take on Sony he could, but as we've seen he can't.
 

Deleted member 56752

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Braaier said:
Well, not just jrpgs, but a lot of Japanese games in general. But certainly jrpgs too. If you are a fan of jrpgs (outside of final fantasy) an Xbox may not be a wise decision for you. Western games will almost always come to Xbox though.
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I wish I had literally any lineage with PS. I just don't. None of the franchises they have give me any nostalgia or excitement based on previous entries. The games are great, sure.

But boy, give me a gears game, show me Baird or cole train saying WOO BABY CANT STOP THE COLE TRAIN, and I might literally cry
 
Ænima

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Braaier said:
But also, the architectures of the two machines are so similar that it really doesn't make sense for third parties not to release games on both consoles, even if they can expect higher sales on one. Well, I guess except those extremely niche titles. Otherwise as long as the Xbox sells okay it should get all third party support
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Is not an issue for big 3rd party devs. But smaller devs, many just pick a console + pc to release they games. Thers alot of PS4 + PC games out there because of that. And if u look at japanese games u see that even more. Despite xbox architecture being the same, PS4 has a much bigger 3rd party support.

The identical architecture certainly help whoever is not the market leader to get more support. In the PS2, Xbox, Dreamcast era things was much worst.
 
Braaier

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Ænima said:
Is not an issue for big 3rd party devs. But smaller devs, many just pick a console + pc to release they games. Thers alot of PS4 + PC out there because of that. And if u look at japanese games u see that even more. Despite xbox architecture being the same, PS4 has a much bigger 3rd party support.
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But like you said, most of that is small devs that don't get a ton of sales. Niche titles. IT makes sense for them to limit themselves and PS4 is the place to go, especially for Japanese games (unless it's a Japan only release then the Switch makes more sense)

You're not going to see a lot of third party games on the NPD or other western sales lists that are only releasing on PS4. Those games that only release on PS$ or PS4 and PC that do are mostly niche (or moneyhatted).
 
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