[Grisham]

Phil Spencer ‘feels good’ about Xbox’s proposed Activision deal gaining approval | VGC

The $69 billion deal is currently being scrutinised by regulators…

www.videogameschronicle.com

Spencer said in an interview with Bloomberg: "I feel good about the progress that we've been making, but I go into the process supportive of people who maybe aren't as close to the gaming industry asking good, hard questions about 'what is our intent? What does this mean? If you play it out over five years, is this constricting a market? Is it growing a market?'

"I've never done a 70 billion-dollar deal, so I don't know what my confidence means," he added. "I will say the discussions we've been having seem positive."

This week it was claimed that Saudi Arabia has become the first regulatory authority to approve Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Microsoft recently reiterated its claim that it doesn't have plans to make Call of Duty an Xbox exclusive should it successfully acquire Activision Blizzard.

Xbox boss expects there to be ‘less and less’ platform exclusive games in future | VGC

Microsoft’s gaming chief thinks products being multiplatform is better for the industry…

www.videogameschronicle.com

Xbox boss Phil Spencer expects the number of platform exclusive games to decline over the coming years.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Spencer said games being made available on multiple systems was better for the long-term health of the industry than products being tied to a single platform.

Console exclusives are "something we're just going to see less and less of", Microsoft's gaming chief predicted.

"Maybe you happen in your household to buy an Xbox and I buy a PlayStation and our kids want to play together and they can't because we bought the wrong piece of plastic to plug into our television," Spencer said.

"We really love to be able to bring more players in reducing friction, making people feel safe, secure when they're playing, allowing them to find their friends, play with their friends, regardless of what device — I think in the long run that is good for this industry.

"And maybe in the short run, there's some people in some companies that don't love it. But I think as we get over the hump and see where this industry can continue to grow, it proves out to be true."

 

[Stilton Disco]

Yeah, could you imagine having to give Xbox hundreds of pounds a year to play their games, and other companies on the same device because you've invested in their ecosystem, instead of a couple of quid every few years for the odd game on PC, not least of all because their games have purely coincidentally become a bit shit?

Good Guy Phil, super manger.

 

[lock2k]

What's the point of having consoles if they have no exclusivity.

Phil is such a BS Artist. lmao

 

[Bolivar]

 

[Grinchy]

What's the point of having consoles if they have no exclusivity.

Phil is such a BS Artist. lmao

Especially with how they are clearly angling to be a streaming/subscription only company.

All the streaming companies have exclusive content to make themselves stand out. You can't just go and watch Seinfeld on Amazon Prime. So clearly, when they have spent over $100B on this desperate play and contracts have expired, they will want content exclusively on their paid subscription service to set them apart from the other paid subscription services.

 

[HeresJohnny]

What's the point of having consoles if they have no exclusivity.

Phil is such a BS Artist. lmao

Truly. He is such a fucking epic scammer.

 

[Grisham]

Phil Spencer says Microsoft really wants Activision for mobile and PC games

Call of Duty is great but mobile is where the money is.

www.pcgamer.com

It would be reasonable to think that Microsoft's pursuit of Activision Blizzard was driven to a significant degree by Call of Duty. It's one of the biggest game series on the planet, after all, a perennial money-maker that just can't seem to lose, even after over a decade of yearly releases. But in an interview with Bloomberg (opens in new tab), Xbox boss Phil Spencer said what really drove Microsoft's interest was mobile games and, to a lesser extent, PC.

"The biggest gaming platform on the planet is mobile phones. One and a half billion people play on mobile phones," Spencer said. "And I guess, regretfully as Microsoft, it's not a place where we have a native platform. As gaming, coming from console and PC, we don't have a lot of creative capability that has built hit mobile games.

"One thing about the videogame space is, if you've been around maybe too long, you know most of the creators out there. So you kind of know teams that could be a good fit in terms of what we were trying to do. But we really started the discussions, internally at least, on Activision Blizzard around the capability they had on mobile, and then PC with Blizzard. Those are the two things that were really driving our interest."

 

[Torrent of Pork]

Phil Spencer says Microsoft really wants Activision for mobile and PC games

Call of Duty is great but mobile is where the money is.

www.pcgamer.com

And there it is. I've said for months that Activision Blizzard was a nice addition to what MS really wanted, King Mobile.

 

[Musky_Cheese]

How many years straight have we heard this shit before

 

[Zeta Dragoon]

Peter Molyneux and Todd Howard have nothing on Phil.

How about some actual current info on Avowed, Fable, Perfect Dark, or the many games supposedly in development but which we still know nothing?

Over time, exclusives have made Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo unique in their own ways.

Consolidation of certain exclusives on PC while having some benefits also bodes ill if this is how Microsoft and other companies are going about it. A streaming only future for games would be hell to be honest.

 

[HeresJohnny]

And there it is. I've said for months that Activision Blizzard was a nice addition to what MS really wanted, King Mobile.

Play games on a tiny screen with tinny sound and finger smudges all over it. Sounds like a top tier experience lol.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

Play games on a tiny screen with tinny sound and finger smudges all over it. Sounds like a top tier experience lol.

If the Whales keep my GPU sub at $15 then I'm all for exploiting their fat wallets. I ain't going to play that shit.

 

[Mickmrly]

Play games on a tiny screen with tinny sound and finger smudges all over it. Sounds like a top tier experience lol.

Not to mention playing games where you are constantly nagged to pay for loot boxes and extra content all the time. I don't know how people aren't sick of free to play mobile games, more money than brains I suppose.

Also the other thing about mobile gaming is you have to keep recharging your battery. What a good way to age your mobile battery, all the while waiting for the next level to unlock.

 

[Snes nes]

Phil Spencer says he "felt good" after watching Sony's recent showcase because he knows what Microsoft has cooking

what a console exclusive?

 

[Mickmrly]

Phil Spencer says he "felt good" after watching Sony's recent showcase because he knows what Microsoft has cooking

what a console exclusive?

I sure hope they cook it better than Halo Infinite. There is no good reason a new Halo game releases with less features than Halo 3 Day 1.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

Phil Spencer says he "felt good" after watching Sony's recent showcase because he knows what Microsoft has cooking

what a console exclusive?

At this point you have a price cut, unannounced 1st party title, 3rd party GP launch, or studio purchase.

 

[Stilton Disco]

If the Whales keep my GPU sub at $15 then I'm all for exploiting their fat wallets. I ain't going to play that shit.

Yeah, because that's what we've seen from all other subscription services, that initial low price, to get as many subs as possible, definitely remains in place forever, and doesn't inevitably and rapidly spiral upwards, at the same rate that overall quality tanks.

 

[Night Sky]

Phil Spencer seems like the kind of manager who knows he sucks at his job and is just waiting to be fired so he can cash in on the severance pay.

If gamepass fails, Microsoft can't go backwards. Imagine the scenario of "yeah, we bigged up gamepass for years saying it was the future, but it turns out that it isn't. Anyway, we're really excited to sell you halo:infinite 2 for $70, super pinky promise it will launch with full features"

The truth is, Microsoft don't have the talent to launch a full game on time with all the features present. If it wasn't for the Forza devs - who are world class, Microsoft would have nothing but dud studios. And buying Activision and zenimax doesn't change that.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

Yeah, because that's what we've seen from all other subscription services, that initial low price, to get as many subs as possible, definitely remains in place forever, and doesn't inevitably and rapidly spiral upwards, at the same rate that overall quality tanks.

Oh I have no doubt that the price will inevitably rise eventually, I'm no fanboy simping for corpos. If we can go another 3 years though I'll be content, assuming the deals keep coming like EA Play.

I think this family plan is going to be great when it rolls out, my Uncle is interested in going in with me on 2 accounts, and I've got 2 friends who would love GPU for $60 per year.

 

[HeresJohnny]

Phil Spencer seems like the kind of manager who knows he sucks at his job and is just waiting to be fired so he can cash in on the severance pay.

If gamepass fails, Microsoft can't go backwards. Imagine the scenario of "yeah, we bigged up gamepass for years saying it was the future, but it turns out that it isn't. Anyway, we're really excited to sell you halo:infinite 2 for $70, super pinky promise it will launch with full features"

The truth is, Microsoft don't have the talent to launch a full game on time with all the features present. If it wasn't for the Forza devs - who are world class, Microsoft would have nothing but dud studios. And buying Activision and zenimax doesn't change that.

Microsoft did the same thing with Kinect. Got so far up their own ass with it they made their next system dependent on it While telling people who didn't like the idea to buy a 360 instead. There's very little imagination over at Microsoft these days; they just try to ape other concepts and pray they stick.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

I don't know if I need to make a post on the main gaming board about this, but you guys realize that 65+ hour weeks for devs are going away, right? I don't have much sympathy for people demanding the world for industries that require long hours, but the gaming/visual effects industry is kind of shit, and I say that as a trucker.

40 hour weeks mean longer dev cycles, more capital required, and less risks taken. Higher labor cost, or longer dev times, pick one.

 

[quickwhips]

Microsoft did the same thing with Kinect. Got so far up their own ass with it they made their next system dependent on it While telling people who didn't like the idea to buy a 360 instead. There's very little imagination over at Microsoft these days; they just try to ape other concepts and pray they stick.

Microsoft has the skill sets to do it but their leadership over their game teams is fucking terrible. It's more about throwing money at it instead of building an high performing team that can bang out games. They can have success because the teams are good inspite of the leadership being so bad. It happens for them sometimes or that is what I think happens.

 

[HeresJohnny]

I don't know if I need to make a post on the main gaming board about this, but you guys realize that 65+ hour weeks for devs are going away, right? I don't have much sympathy for people demanding the world for industries that require long hours, but the gaming/visual effects industry is kind of shit, and I say that as a trucker.

40 hour weeks mean longer dev cycles, more capital required, and less risks taken. Higher labor cost, or longer dev times, pick one.

Agreed, but have you watched the credits scroll at the end of a game? It's like a hundred times longer than a Hollywood production. The gaming business is full of bloat and needless fluffer jobs that are unnecessary to the finished product IMO. If this were not the case, dev teams would drop in size once developers became more familiar with hardware as a generation wore on and they became more efficient with the hardware, but they almost never do.

EDIT: I know crunch is a thing and very real, but when it takes 400 people to make a video game, you are either doing it wrong or you're in the wrong business.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

Microsoft has the skill sets to do it but their leadership over their game teams is fucking terrible. It's more about throwing money at it instead of building an high performing team that can bang out games. They can have success because the teams are good inspite of the leadership being so bad. It happens for them sometimes or that is what I think happens.

The question is what should Spencer do? Go on a firing spree for the same failures the entire industry has experienced this past year or so? I always thought the Covid shutdown was bullshit, but 2 years ago we all said shutting down in-person work would fuck over the industry at some point. That point is now.

I'm not blaming Covid now, I'm blaming Covid 2 years ago with over-optimistic devs undoubtedly pressured by corpo demands.

 

[quickwhips]

The question is what should Spencer do? Go on a firing spree for the same failures the entire industry has experienced this past year or so? I always thought the Covid shutdown was bullshit, but 2 years ago we all said shutting down in-person work would fuck over the industry at some point. That point is now.

I'm not blaming Covid now, I'm blaming Covid 2 years ago with over-optimistic devs undoubtedly pressured by corpo demands.

I would probably promote with in when you need growth and look for more hungry people vs veterans of industry to back fill. Revive ips that had good performance and get rid of woke bullshit. I would get rid of gamepass and keep buying more dev teams. Bring back 1 vs 100.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

I would probably promote with in when you need growth and look for more hungry people vs veterans of industry to back fill. Revive ips that had good performance and get rid of woke bullshit. I would get rid of gamepass and keep buying more dev teams. Bring back 1 vs 100.

I agree with a lot of this, but Game Pass ain't going away. I would love nothing more than CoD becoming biannual with Treyarch and Infinity Ward having 4 years every game, and all the support studios being freed to make their own IPs. MS has been a sub-based company for over a decade, Game Pass shouldn't be a shock to anybody paying attention.

 

[Mickmrly]

40 hour weeks mean longer dev cycles, more capital required, and less risks taken. Higher labor cost, or longer dev times, pick one.

The problem is that even when dev teams are given months or years extra long development time, the final product is still subpar. I don't think dev time is the problem, I think dev optimisation is the problem. They should make sure it works properly first and then start adding things. Its not like they don't have other games code at their studios to learn from, but they seem to be taking as much time as it would for a completely new learner every single AAA game these days.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

The problem is that even when dev teams are given months or years extra long development time, the final product is still subpar. I don't think dev time is the problem, I think dev optimisation is the problem. They should make sure it works properly first and then start adding things. Its not like they don't have other games code at their studios to learn from, but they seem to be taking as much time as it would for a completely new learner every single AAA game these days.

My warehouse should get all of our loads done on time without issue. When the warehouse fucks up we have no product to deliver. From time to time I have to deal with the results of life happening to people.

Expecting everything to work perfectly all the time is a recipe for disappointment.

 

[Grinchy]

Expecting everything to work perfectly all the time is a recipe for disappointment.

That sounds like a perfect description of middle management.

Expecting everyone under them to be robots who do the job better than they ever did it without any complaints or sick days or having any personality or free thought whatsoever. And when one thing goes wrong, it's never that middle manager's fault.

 

[Arkam]

Agreed, but have you watched the credits scroll at the end of a game? It's like a hundred times longer than a Hollywood production. The gaming business is full of bloat and needless fluffer jobs that are unnecessary to the finished product IMO. If this were not the case, dev teams would drop in size once developers became more familiar with hardware as a generation wore on and they became more efficient with the hardware, but they almost never do.

EDIT: I know crunch is a thing and very real, but when it takes 400 people to make a video game, you are either doing it wrong or you're in the wrong business.

I think you are over simplifying things. Depending on the type of game and scope matters greatly. An annual release sports game that is evolutionary and builds on the previous release is ~75 person development staff + QA (another 20-40). Every little thing you make that is new/unique takes time. Its not just drag and drop. Its concepting, planning, building, testing, optimizing. A Game like RDR2 was probably closer to 1,000 developers and hundreds of QA. I mean shit, just quest designers had to be close to 100 people.

I will 100% admit there is fluff in game credits, but its not on the developer end of the ledger. Its the marketing people, legal team, studio upper management, division VPs, etc who are part of the org but not involved in making or releasing the game.

And no development team size doesnt drop in size as you get more familiar with the HW. Might have a handful less, but the core of making a game has very little to interacting with HW. What does reduce development team size is the maturity of (and your developer's familiarity with) your tools and pipelines. Another way to reduce is to reuse assets and systems. Because again making stuff takes manpower.