Video: Head Of Xbox Phil Spencer Discusses Gaming With Microsoft CEO Satyna Nadella

That clip was a bit odd, like, it’s the middle of something… is there a longer video or context somewhere?

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“Benji mentioned that during Microsoft’s last revenue call not one shareholder asked questions about the Bethesda purchase or XBOX in general.

That’s right, a $7.5 billion acquisition didn’t cause shareholders to particularly care enough to ask questions about it, because other areas of Microsoft are making so much money lol.”

@Senua we could take that in different ways. The optimist in me sees that as Bethesda size purchases being so minimal they may do even more and are willing to let money fly at experiments, some of which might land. I’m down for being nonchalant about major purchases and moves to build the Xbox brand.

@Tharsman
It was part of a 1 hour video but its not public. I imagine they will edit and put out bitsize clips.

Interesting, but I think the bit about "shifting the balance between creation and consumption" is a little awkward. You're either playing games, or you're making games. Anything else is content editor/edutainment stuff like Dreams and Game maker garage, and it's really two completely different audiences with different intents. I don't see a "balance" to shift. Wanting to play games doesn't have any intrinsic translation into wanting to make game content, and I doubt a talk about the future of RDBMS would discuss the shift in balance from data users to data entry.

@NEStalgia Remember this video was a snippet of a much longer conversation not aimed at us gamers. I don't imagine The Coalition being asked to make a Gears Builders type of game, for instance.

@gingataisen Oh, sure, it was more a presentation justifying Microsoft's games business, probably more for reassuring investors. If Nadella was involved it was business focused. Though he did a great job "dressing down" and looking and sounding the part of a games industry leader... Ironically he could do so while being the leader of a mega corp involved mostly in Enterprise business, while Ryan and Furukawa are merely entertainment industry executives that are unable to not come across as business oriented mega corp executives.

But the statements about the balance seemed like his statement of predicted changes to the industry. But it definitely seems awkward to predict that interactive entertainment will become something that people start shifting into producing it instead of experiencing it en masse. And if it does, there's a sucking sound coming from the implosion of an already oversaturated industry saturating further.

@NEStalgia Yeah, PlayStation execs look like they want to sell you life insurance. Which Sony sells, by the way.

I have no idea how user created content can be introduced to franchises like Halo of Forza, though. He really lost me there. 🤔 Skins, maybe?

@gingataisen I still find it kind of strange how I can't find out anything about where Jim Ryan came from. Most gaming execs have a long bio of where they've been before, what they've done, or how they worked their way up from their starting position at the company. Every single one of them. But Jim Ryan has no public history no matter where you search. He "started" running Playstation in Europe....that's where his public career began. Like a trust fun kid who's dad founded Sony. But....he doesn't quite look the part. He's the only exec with an anonymous hidden background before top level executive positions at Playstation. That just seems really unusual to me. I wouldn't doubt he DID come up through the Insurance wing and they want to keep that from becoming a meme or something. My money's on Sony Pictures/Columbia. He still seems like a generic film/TV exec. Just the right blend of sleazy used car salesman and pompous inflated ego matched with a personality like dull, worn sandpaper.

I would have said Nadella was referring to video content creation rather than game content. The fungus that is Youtubers. But they just closed Mixer, so they don't appear to be hedging any future on video creation. I really couldn't begin to guess why he sees electronic entertainment shifting to people creating it. Most people aren't creatives, they want experiences. That's why most people watch TV or films most of the time, but most aren't directors or actors....

@NEStalgia All I know about Ryan is that he's been with PlayStation for a very long time.

Youtubers do make a lot of money, but for themselves, not for MS. I think if games are going to be monetized, content creation tools must be embedded on them. I just don't see how.

@gingataisen Yeah, probably PlayStation accounting. . It's hard to imagine someone working with the company for so long who still seems almost completely unfamiliar with the product. You don't HAVE to inderstand the product to run a company well, but it makes it a lot easier to make all the wrong assumptions and create long term damage if you don't. Like sports, tv, sports, for example...

Yeah, I neither see how, nor do I see the incentive for a huge number of players suddenly becoming devs. Maybe that's a shadow way of saying they'll support full PC modding on Xbox? The day they start talking Visual Studio for Xbox is the day I lock the doors and go full Push Square fanboy.

@themightyant What's weird is, this is the first I've heard that he's been there for that long. He has no bio discussing it like most execs do. And I SEARCHED for that info the moment I started hating him. I wanted to see what oil company they must have found him in.

So that's surprising that he really is a PS guy, which I honestly didn't expect at all (Finance Officer though...explains a lot. ) But it also doesn't explain how he seems SO completely unfamiliar with and out of touch with the product, if it's the only product he's been associated with for as long as its existed.... The bio sounds like somebody I would actually like..... except...he seems to have no concept whatsoever of what people actually like(d) about the product or expect from the brand, and is generally unlikable. I want to hate him less after that description....but somehow can't. I guess it makes him at least more likeable than Doug Bowser and his P&G pedigree?