Rumour: Xbox's Phil Spencer Got 'Really Frustrated' Last Year Over Use Of CG Trailers

If Phil is frustrated by this, I hope Xbox releases some GOTY tier games soon. Lol.

2022 is already a bust, but I’m trying to be hopeful for 2023.

CG trailers do nothing for me now. They clearly have nothing to show, and so are showing me nothing and wanting me to be excited for nothing but my own imagination. Nah.

There's only one other way to do a CG trailer, and that is to laugh along with me about you having nothing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClhDyC0ZECs

I'd expect that these shows will always show games coming within 12-18 months and any of the further out ones they will show at Keigh3 or E3 or at a secondary show. But overall I want to just see gameplay and trailer's, no deep dives at the showcase.

CG trailers just do nothing for me, show me gameplay all day long. I play games, not cutscenes

Not sure why only recently he had an issue with it. Years ago, before COVID, back in the live event E3 days, the public and gaming media were complaining about way too many CGI trailers and not enough gameplay. Gamers have been tired of it for years now, and yet MS was still cranking out CGI trailers.

This is the problem with announcing games years before they release to try and build hype as often showing a game too early in development can mean showing a game that doesn't actually look like what it will do when closer to completion. Take Halo Infinite as an example they shown that at such an early stage that it really wasn't ready to be shown. Some games get announced way too early which is often why they need to try and keep that hype with brief trailers over the period.

Funny, I thought 2021 was a little better than 2022's showcase from an announcement standpoint, but 2022 was admittedly better in terms of substance.

@Richnj That trailer is the single best trailer in the history of trailers. Making your own Honest Trailers as the announce takes brass ones.

Plus it actually genuinely shows the gameplay because that writing is pretty much canon for the series...

@IronMan30 CG-fest showcases are always better from an announcement perspective. But that's the problem. If you look at E3's past the big memorable ones were almost always the ones that were all CG-fests. Including Sony Year of Dreams, where the only major gameplay I remember was Uncharted at the end and Detroit in the middle. It was otherwise CG After CG.

@eagletrippin I'm guessing he cracking down more due to spending almost using 200 Billion in acquisitions and exclusives. Before all of these acquisitions, Xbox just didn't have the man power to deliver more gameplay and less CGI. Now that they have the man power... It would look bad for business to keep showing CGI.

Even if the games didn't all resonate with everyone, the format of this weekends showcase was perfect. They need to do this same thing going forward. Show games that are coming soon, and show gameplay gameplay gameplay!

@Kooky_Daisuke I doubt the Kojima bit had anything to do with leaks. The segment was meant to show support from Japanese studios. Team Ninja, Atlus and Kojima back to back make a big statement that XBox is serious about the kind of Japanese games.

Strange... doesn't he review what is being shown before it is shown? Doesn't he set the guidance of what should be shown? He's kinda the boss, I would think that what is shown ultimately falls on him.

there's a middle ground, in my opinion: when you initially show a game, a CG trailer is fine. once the game has been announced, i'd prefer to see gameplay. CG trailers can be very exciting when first announcing a title.

@NEStalgia right, so that's why I say 2022 was better from a substantive standpoint. We actually got to see the games in action. And most of them looked good.

@Kooky_Daisuke glad you recognized Kojima game is no where close but was forced to reveal due to leaks...

@Hexamex-Tex He was frustrated that the games were not in a state that the devs and/or Microsoft were comfortable showing gameplay.

In this day and age there shouldn't be cinematic trailers anymore.

@I_Go_by_Many_Names 100% right. For THIS year, with the current narrative of "xbox can't get any games out" & articles saying "you should unsubscribe from Game Pass" this was the sensible show to do. Have content that will (hopefully) launch in the next 12 months and show off a lot of things coming to Game Pass.

In the future when they hopefully DO have a steady flow of games it would be great to see a bit of both. Still 90% concentrate on the here and now, gameplay and the next 12 months but also have 10% of teasers and something to look forward to in the future.

Completely agree they got it right this year. Even if it wasn't as exciting, it was more tangible and real. We didn't need to see CGIs, target renders or vertical slices of games 2-5+ years away... there's already too many games in that category sadly.

I do believe a lot of the problems with these showcases are the presenters to, a fine balance between a dev explaining something that viewers find totaly boring, because a lot of these people do come across as boring personallites, we need people on stage that can express their wow of the game and come across in a way to make you not just look forward to a title but make you want it, even though you may not have even thought about it. Maybe their scripted to much, we need some spontanious outbursts to catch us off guard.

You know I watch a few of these guys on Youtube who put up game review videos and such like and they just go for it. there passion comes across so fresh and honest it make you enjoy the video ,. People like Metal Jesus and Radical Reggie should host the Xbox show. what a crack that would be .

@theduckofdeath right… so why did they show them. Again these events are planned many months in advance. Nothing is shown that isn’t reviewed and approved. So it is on him.

Why do games have to be exclusive? I don’t care if a game is exclusive or not, actually would prefer they weren’t and more gamers get to play them.

But the point I was making was Game Pass has a lot of great looking games coming over the next 12 months, many in 2022. True If you only like big AAA games then perhaps Game Pass isn’t for you right now, but for many of us there is plenty to look forward to and play.