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Microsoft needs to "invest in teams, empower them creatively, and give them time"- Phil Spencer

Deleted member 249

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Now, this is interesting for a lot of reasons:
  • The tweet he is responding to explicitly says "Not just multiplayer games"
  • It talks about something as potentially generation defining as God of War, Breath of the Wild, or the original Halo
  • Spencer seems to agree on both counts
Now the thing is, I feel like this is, on the whole, something Xbox should have tackled and addressed first- why be in the gaming industry without, you know, investing in games? But that's that, it is what it is, and I am at least glad to see that Microsoft seems to be saying it will invest more in games going forward. The question now is, when can we start seeing results? Can we expect some major announcements at E3? Microsoft have bee talking their E3 presence up this year a fair bit...
 
Sir Guts

Sir Guts

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Oct 26, 2017
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Good to know where you're lacking. Happy to hear this. Now it's time we see Xbox have more 1st party studios
 
H-I-M

H-I-M

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I mean if they're only realizing it now, we won't see the impact of games like BOTW or GOW on Xbox for another 5 years at least.
 

Deleted member 8196

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If they started last year like rumours are suggesting, you wont see anything till E3 2019 or 2020.

The next Xbox launch will be crucial for them.
 
Dyashen

Dyashen

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Matt Booty, when he was promoted to CVP of MS Studios, shared his stance on how developers should make games under Microsoft's vision (aka they publish it) and it went along the lines of letting teams allow as much creative freedom as possible.

This is the full quote and it goes along, at least if i'm understanding Phil correct, with what he's saying:

Link to article: https://venturebeat.com/2018/01/17/...craft-leader-matt-booty-to-no-2-job-in-games/

On the creative side, I've always had a golden rule to stay out of the way of game teams as far as where they go with design and the craft of making their games. But at the same time, I think there's a lot to be gained by supporting them and providing a layer of administrative help, really just a layer of operational help, so they can focus on making the game. My mantra has always been that I think I'm doing a good job inside a studio if the game teams show up to work and the only thing they need to worry about is making the game.
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With some restructures happening behind the scenes at Microsoft Studios and also the recent hire of Darrell Gallagher, the future definitely looks brighter.
 

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I don't see this as anything other then "we hear you we're listening" but I wait every single E3 to be proven wrong.
 
takriel

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They've been saying this since Titanfall. Show, don't tell.
 
SuikerBrood

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Jan 21, 2018
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We've had threads about this same topic for the last couple of days. Is it threadworthy every time?
 
SpotAnime

SpotAnime

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Dec 11, 2017
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Because you can't disagree with solid logic. The problem with Microsoft is that while they agree with the criticisms, they have had a couple of year where they haven't made substantial impact in this regard. 2015 was arguably their last best year.

I'm hoping at E3 they'll move the needle, and with stuff coming out THIS YEAR, not more promises for the future. And not just Gears 5/Halo 6/Forza Horizon 4.
 
AR Starts

AR Starts

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Oct 25, 2017
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My comment from the discord: To be fair MS really only has a few true 1st party studios Rare, 343, Coalition, Mojang, Turn 10...its hard to ask them for more when they have so few. The 2008 post Peter Moore Xbox team turned everything they had into kinect studios, closed several studios/partnerships, and released the mess that was og Xbox One. On top of that they seemingly did not set up their first parties to win...Halo 4 was a dev mess if the story about rebooting and all of the alternate ideas are to be believed, Rare was kinect sports, Coalition was running on a title that wasn't bearing any fruit. Phil's crew had to first get the OS into a stable state (original was so bad), cut out the kinect focus, release better hardware, fix the large XBL ecosystem, introduce back compat, get first party back on track (halo 5, gears 4, sea of thieves) before they could ever invest in new studios and IP.
 
neoak

neoak

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Oct 25, 2017
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I wish MS hadn't closed most of their 1st party studios. Man, it would be great to have them these days.
 
Brian McDoogle

Brian McDoogle

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Oct 25, 2017
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I'll admit I haven't been following a whole lot of Microsoft since the Xbox One launch, and I think the last thing I played was Quantum Break, but haven't they been saying this for a few years now? I feel like Spencer has been saying this since he took over in 2014. I'm probably wrong, but it just feels like this has been said for a while now. It'd be nice if actual stuff came out that wasn't Forza games. It's becoming almost gaslighting levels.
 
Pankratous

Pankratous

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Oct 26, 2017
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Amazes me that the head of Xbox basically admits on Twitter quarterly that Xbox is lacking in games people continue to buy the console before games even come.
 
Master Chuuster

Master Chuuster

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Dec 14, 2017
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Spencer has been saying the right things, and he says them a lot, but for the longest time, that's all that's happened. It's time to put your money where your mouth is, MS. It's good that they're saying this stuff, but they need to start acting on it.
 
Sonicfan059

Sonicfan059

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Mar 4, 2018
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takriel said:
They've been saying this since Titanfall. Show, don't tell.
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Yeah I think, like with the reveal, they just don't get it until it hits their pocketbook. Phil even said he was confused as to why people were saying they had a lack of games when they had that shitty "best lineup in Xbox history" tagline. Like he ACTUALLY believed their tagline was true.
 
Klobrille

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Oct 27, 2017
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He is just communicative to the community, answering questions on Twitter. He shares his personal opinion on a lot of things. While there are always interesting sights, people tend to really over-interpret his answers.

He knows he needs to "show, don't tell". I mean that is even in his Twitter bio "Defined more by what I do than who I am.".

Announcing games or "show" is not the purpose of a tweet though. Some really need to relax.
 
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Deleted member 4037

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"thats a low bar. we can dig under that"

MS seems to be stagnant as of late with stuff like halo or fable, which is sad to see
 
Sphinx

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Nov 29, 2017
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MS is seeing success in most areas they are investing right now, Xboxlive, Gamepass, strong hardware, GaaS and MTX stuff, everything seems right,

I am not sure they actually need to pursue that super mega AAA Single-player exclusive strategy that Sony and Nintendo seem to favor these days. it wouldn't hurt but I don't think it's mandatory.

for example, I don't think a bigger exclusive SP portfolio will improve the situation in Europe and Asia, Xbox has no chance here so why bother.
 
AR Starts

AR Starts

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Oct 25, 2017
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Thebeast! said:
Wheres scalebound then ?
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This has been beat to death to death. Cost benefit analysis said cancel it now. Sunk cost fallacy.

Simply put let's imagine a scenario with made up numbers. We will say it cost them $5MM to make Scalebound up until it was cancelled. Let's also say that it was going to cost them another $5MM to finish. Then on top of that lets say that sales projections were only $4MM. If they cancel the game it is only a $5MM loss. If they release it then it is a $10MM expense with $4MM in sales...a $6MM loss which would be larger than the $5MM without finishing it. Not only that but if they cancel it then they can put that second $5MM towards something else.
 
IIFloodyII

IIFloodyII

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Oct 26, 2017
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Gotta respect Phil, he must get asked the same thing every day on Twitter, would probably drive me insane.
 
SuikerBrood

SuikerBrood

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Jan 21, 2018
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Peek-a-boo! said:
Every time Phil Spencer says something on Twitter, it's (apparently) news.

To be fair, games wise, there's not much else for Xbox fans to talk about at this moment in time so, any little scrape of news is news.
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True, you have to talk about something on a forum I guess. Don't really think it's news tho, it is just things he has already stated in interviews. He likes singleplayer games, Xbox has to do better on them, they are investing, etc.
It won't change this month, it won't change next month, etc. but we do have threads about it every month.
 
SPDIF

SPDIF

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Oct 27, 2017
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Pankratous said:
Amazes me that the head of Xbox basically admits on Twitter quarterly that Xbox is lacking in games people continue to buy the console before games even come.
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Maybe their favourite games are 3rd party games. Maybe they don't have a gaming PC and wanted to play Sea of Thieves or State of Decay 2. It shouldn't amaze you at all.
 
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Raide

Raide

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Oct 31, 2017
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As much as I want this for now, next Gen is going to be the true battleground for MS. I am sure E3 will have some goodies but if they show off what is in the pipeline for the next 2 years, that's already next-gen territory.
 
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