Xbox's Phil Spencer Admits The Game He Wants To Play Next Is On PlayStation

Not interested in it myself as preferred the original style of God of War games. Will wait and play it when it's on PS+.

Don't know why he brother's as Jim Ryan won't be giving Xbox games any praise at all.

Well it ain’t going to be on Xbox is it? I’d rather admire Phil for earning his pay and getting games out from all the studios Xbox now have than him playing games on PlayStation… either that, or stop asking us for money. Seriously, this kinda ‘face value’ stuff only wins over the most gullible surely?
There’s a reason why Sony and Nintendo aren’t telling us to buy the other platforms so often.

I get Phil wants to be relatable, seen as just ‘one of us’ ‘the gamer’…but you have to actually earn humbleness or it becomes valueless.

A man of fine taste, my most anticipated as well! Great to see positive reactions as opposed to silly tribalism.

I'm not huge into GoW but more single player Xbox exclusives from MS would be great.

@Bleachedsmiles
You are spot on.

Lumines is cool. I have it in Switch, which is exclusively a handheld for me. I played it on Gamepass and really enjoyed it on the big screen. I got a $5 credit from MSFT, so decided to double dip.

Surprisingly even as a primarily Playstation player, my hype for God of War is pretty tame. I liked the first one a lot but for some reason I'm just not as hyped for the sequel. Maybe it's because Cory Barlog isn't directing it. That said I'll definitely end up playing it at some point I'm sure.

I'm much more excited for Soul Hackers 2, Trails from Zero and Plague Tale Requiem.

Damn some of you need to chill. He's a gamer at heart. All of them do this. Phil is just the only one that actually said something publicly about it when asked. Sakurai has a Xbox and Playstation in his living room. Kaz loved the 360 and Wii. Like I said, all of them play games on the rival's console. It doesn't mean that they've stop developing or caring for their own platform.

@Geezer No one should expect a public announcement that they play games on other consoles either. If you are genuinely a person that says great things about rivals, then it's truly in your nature. Can't expect someone to be the same as you are, even if it's kind of messed up. Btw Herman Hulst and Kaz has stated positive things about Xbox in the past. Phil is just a stand up dude who wants to see everyone thrive. He's a rarity among the corporate.

I really should get around to playing the first god of war(PS4)..but tbh I feel disheartened after the average at best Horizon games...feel like I will most likely be disappointed with god of war aswel...to many ps games have been massively overhyped

Ladies and gentlemen. Phair Play Phil

Phil you are great for Xbox in a way.
But for for me you are in the wrong Xbox job.

Xbox needs testicular fortitude and aggression and big amazing AAA games from its studios with though out the year scheduling etc.

2022 zero top end AAA exclusives, that’s the wrong man in the wrong job or he is employing the wrong people in the wrong jobs.

@Dezzy70 Xbox has ANNOUNCED plenty of games. the problem is at the studio level. they continue to be AMAZINGLY inept at actually getting games over the finish line. in 2 years we're talking really about 2 games, one of which was delayed a year lol. i don't know who's responsible for it, so i won't blame anyone but they're pretty close to being out of time with me...

The man is a clever manipulator of his own 'oh so wholesome' image, and I do admire that, as the faithful gleefully suck it all up.

Of course he's eager to play GOWR, even if it were not his style of game, any games executive not looking to play and understand why its so popular should be out of a job. His corp is 3rd in a 3 horse race, its his job to figure out what the others do that bring the sales...

Cynical as I am, I'd rather this type of honesty than simply having a pop at the opposition, so props for that at least 😀

I’m sure, in fact I’m 100% positive the sad Sony fans will twist this around… they won’t respect his honesty.

@armondo36
Even when they showed Starfield and Redfall recently they didn’t look that top end AAA years of development time for me quality.
They couldn’t have messed up the AAA exclusives schedule for 2022 if they tried any harder.
Have a bad feeling Xbox big AAA games will be less than AAA and built for gamepass.
I have no trust in Xbox and their so called big AAA exclusives what so ever.

@Titntin
Quality reply

@StylesT I haven’t got around to playing Forbidden West, I was disappointed with the first Horizon, polished but unremarkable, however God of War is in a whole different league, it has a very unique parent/child dynamic, the story is epic while at the same time personal, and honestly it has stuck with me for years after playing, it is a game that I feel deserves to be played by everyone who appreciates games as an art form

The next game I am looking for is xenoblade chronicles 3 on switch , so I will let my Xbox series s rest for a while since this game is at least 100 hrs of play time .

The psychology of Phil Spencer is so interesting when you really sit back and look at it.
You have Fraser ending this article stating We've said it before, and we'll say it again... it's so great to have Phil Spencer running the team at Xbox! … but why is that?
The most common answer is always because he comes across as relatable, he’s a gamer, so there for we trust Xbox is in good hands…and yet, when we separate the character of the man from the actual job he’s done…

Nintendo fanbase loved Reggie. PlayStation fanbase loved Shawn Layden. I think most never bought into them being proper gamers?…they were loved because of the games Nintendo and PlayStation banged out under them.
Phil it’s different… he’s produced a service, that may very well ultimately effectively kill off the Xbox brand…as in one day they’re destined to drop ‘Xbox’ from gamepass. They’re destined to have gamepass beyond the Xbox console…one day it will be on PlayStation, and there will be very little point in owning an Xbox.
I’m not saying this is an unwanted possibility. Or that gamepass doesn’t deserve us praising Phil. Gamepass is great value on a whole that benefits gamers…But it’s hard to argue against it’s success today having more to do with deep pockets than Phil ensuring quality first party support and leadership.

Fact is this is the first generation under Phil Spencer…and in its second year he’s not been able to produce as of yet any first party games…let alone anything reaching the quality of god of war. I can’t think of a single Xbox first party game since the dawn of Phil Spencer that has produced anything coming close to matching the quality of any of Sony or nintendos out put, but that’s all down to preference…I also, however, can’t think of a single time a console in its second year has had no first party support?
Instead under Phil so far we’ve had games cancelled. Games delayed. Games studios falling apart. A service that has had 100’s of billions invested into it with no exclusive content from those investments. The second year of the consoles life lacking first party support.
The attempt to double the price of gold.
And was he the one that didn’t have the foresight to see how lucrative exclusive marvel licences could be for Xbox?

But he tells us he values us and is above the ‘console war’… and we love him because he seems like a nice guy…he’s a gamer. We seem to use words like ‘he’s open and honest’ when he praises games on other platforms…we fickly push out of our heads all the times he’s less than forthcoming when it comes to exclusivity whilst he uses words like ‘Inclusivity’. Is it not his aim to sell us a product?

Its all very interesting how far perceived charm can get you. But at some point you have to produce the goods. And then I’ll be all on board that it’s great having Phil Spencer running Xbox… instead of just running alongside it as little more than a face that tells me he plays games.

Really amusing seeing the difference in tone between this article and the one on Push Square

@RicebinBernacky Lol, you wouldn't really expect it any other way surely? 😂
To be fair, their article is pretty resonable, but obviously not gushing with singing his praises, but some of the replies there are a bit harsh. Again though, you'd surely expect that... gamers that comment on the net are not famous for reasonablness and impartiality!

@Titntin
for sure haha, I just can't see the folks at Push Square ever writing something like " it's so great to have Jim Ryan running the team at Playstation!"

@StylesT I totally agree the horizon games are just assassins creed lite which now is already the Witcher 3 lite.

Phil just seems like a pretty genuine guy sometimes. Like he isn't just trying to be a video game boss 24/7, dude just likes the industry he is in and is genuinely interested in everything going on.

That's probably why he's so good at what he does. He's constantly keeping on top of what all the competition is doing, and he isn't afraid to admit when he likes something they're doing.

@StylesT 'average at best horizon games' you're entitled to your opinion but I'm sure there are people who would say gears , halo , fable , Forza are average at best

@RicebinBernacky
Haha! Theres many deluded people there, but they are not that daft.
Im not taken in by this cultivated personality, but if I had to choose someone to spend a gaming evening with Id choose Phil over Jim every day of the week! 😂

@Dezzy70 How'd you come up with testicular fortitude 🤣

Phil and the PR team at Xbox are amazing. They are very lucky to have them and the amount of good will they’ve created is almost unbelievable. Hats off to them.

No exclusives for a year in a strategy that is based one day one exclusives. The dude comes out and says the game I’m looking forward to most is on the competition and Xbox site says “we are lucky to have him running things”

Fair play that’s an amazing ability to have.

Of course his most anticipated game is not on Xbox this year…… that goes without saying

I'm all for Playstation being the most popular. It has some great single player games, most recently I really enjoyed Stray. It's really a no-brainer, Ragnarök is imminent and it'll most likely be great like its predecessor.

I prefer my Xbox Series X over my PS5 (the same goes for their accessories), but I also prefer Xbox being the underdog… having team green enhancing their products and services to push gaming into the future. PS5 celebrations are great, it's not like Xbox is suffering or nearing the abyss… Other than Starfield, I really long for Breath of the Wild 2… the latter might get a couple of dreams crushed by my high expectations even.

I'll probably hold out on Ragnarök though, haven't played Forbidden West yet due to its price… Game Pass got me a bit spoiled… and I just got myself a 279M1RV :S

@Bleachedsmiles I agree more with your first comment than with your other comments. There's as much point in getting an Xbox as in getting a PS. Actually, Xbox is more open and more future-safe as a platform, not to mention that Xbox is better hardware than PS since Xbox One X and the controller and UI is better, in my opinion.

While Game Pass is of course a very important part of the business, many things related to it are involved and while having Game Pass on PS could be a possibility if Sony agreed, the value for gamers is different on each platform and the value for Microsoft is different, too. Even in the saturated market of computers and tablets, Surface is a high-value brand ranked as the best in the market outside the Apple bubble. Imagine consoles, when only two are competing with each other since Nintendo ditched the proper home console business. That's why I never understand the Xbox is not needed idea, when it's the best value in the console market and a console is a different consumer proposition than a gaming PC.

As I said, I agree with the inconsistent first-party lineup but Nintendo's and Sony's have disappointed me as well during the last and current generations. Xbox could be much better if, and this is the most important part in my opinion, Phil was not as indulgent and I mean not letting the studios do whatever they want. The Initiative is a perfect example that without hierarchy and organisation, big teams fail. He should also carry out the platform needs. He says that he wants more family-friendly and old-school games, well, do it. Make it happen and don't expect Xbox Game Studios to magically make what's better in the big picture, as long as the studios are comfortable, of course. That's why I didn't get acquisitions such as The Compulsion Games, etc. but Blizzard Activision could be a perfect match for those needs, if he stops all the resources going to Call of Duty. There are many games to play on Xbox, many games on Game Pass and there are two high-quality Tetris games when not long ago there was none but what about games like Banjo-Kazooie, last seen on Xbox 360 when he is one of the most lovable platform stars? It's ridiculous. What about Viva Piñata, that makes hits like Animal Crossing seem boring? Sea of Thieves is great but I think we're missing too many unique IPs since last generation.

@electrolite77 It’s funny how we our memories work isn’t it.
Like, it’s hard to remember now, looking back, just how successful the 360 was…and why it was so successful.
Or that Don Mattrick was actually only head of Xbox last gen for only 2 months!

Xbox one had a PR disaster. We all know that. Was priced incorrectly. Was lacking in power compared to the competitor. The messaging was if you don’t like it don’t buy it. Disaster. Product of a companies ego because the success of the 360 went to their head.

The Xboxone was also ahead of its time/victim of its time. A lot of the things the console was posed to do we’re comfortable with now.

Don Mattrick was a terrible face for Xbox. And spent most of his time chasing the Wii money (investing heavily in motion control Kinect). Kinect was actually a success though. Xbox’s focus on just it wasn’t.
Don had no relatability. Came across awkward and untrusting. Although, when you look back and think about it, his answers were far less obtuse than ones Phil gives?

Remove Dons character though from his ability to do his job and we find that xbox one launched far stronger than ps4 did. And FAR stronger than xbox one series did.

The exclusive games xbox one launched with are…

Dead rising 3
Forza 5
Killer instinct
Rise son of Rome.

These are just the bigger titles MS published. There’s others games like zoo tycoon. Lococycle. Crimson dragon. Xbox fitness. Power star golf.
Again all games MS published.

All these games released day 1 alongside the console.
By the end of the year (from nov 22 till the end of that year) MS had actually published 11 titles on Xbox one.

In the Xbox ones first year on the market it also saw…

Forza horizon 2
Sunset overdrive
Halo master chief edition

As well as some more indies…

So the Xbox one had 7 AAA games with in its first year published by MS alone. 6 if you don’t want to count killer instinct.
All exclusive to Xbox consoles…no pc versions.

Obviously it’s safe to assume that first year of the Xbox one, the messaging, hardware limitation, AND the first year support…all goes back to Don Mattrick.

The second year saw Rare replay, Forza 6…and then, funnily enough xbox ones big AAA for its second year came in form of them over spending for tomb raider as timed exclusive…
Xbox one then in its 3rd year finally got the much delayed Quantum Break and announced it was also coming to pc…and suddenly Xbox one lost even more momentum.
And MS clearly started to lose interest in consoles.

Phil saved Xbox for sure. He also contributed to almost killing it.
Like I said, Don was only head of Xbox last gen for two months. Xbox strongest supported year last gen was the product of him…the rest was Phil.

@Bleachedsmiles By the way, your comments are very interesting and I usually agree with many of your points.

@Banjo- Sounds like you’re taking from the view point of a multi platform owner… not everybody can afford to be. But you and I are lucky, we own and indulge in all consoles.

If however, next gen comes along….ps6 £600…Xbox series XL £600… Xbox games pass actually has day 1 first party support hitting it, and regularly… Xbox gamepass is also on ps6. PlayStation games aren’t on Xbox… I know I’ll personally spend my £600 on PS6…regardless of what it’s UI looks like in comparison. I’m in it for the games.

I do totally prefer my Xbox series x as a console though…I do prefer the UI. It’s system features like quick resume, smart delivery. I love the rewards system. I even prefer the controller. If it doesn’t have the games then what’s the point? As much as I love them over what ps5 offers me I don’t value them worth £450… I mean it’s a pretty hard sell to any rational brain to convince them quick resume, as cool as it is, is worth £450 when it could be a choice of that or the ability to play the latest god of war, uncharted, last of us… should gamepass come to PlayStation…

@Banjo- ha it’s cool. I don’t mind different opinions. It’s good.

@Bleachedsmiles I was a multi-platform player last generation, which started with 3DS and ended with Switch: 3DS, Wii U, PS4, Xbox One and Switch, only skipping Vita. This generation, I only bought Series X and it's because of my experience during last generation. I will never forget the friend that told me to buy a PS4 and the upcoming The Last of Us remaster, "better than Resident Evil". Better my butt! The Uncharted games are as entertaining as clunky. In general, PS4 exclusives are more cinematic experiences with mediocre gameplay. Nintendo is becoming more and more casual, hollow, soulless... and I don't want to spend as much time gaming as before so, at the end of the day, I'm happy with one current-gen console but I still have my Wii U connected to the TV for my Nintendo fix.

@Banjo- heh have to agree with your mate. I love The Last of Us. It’s still the best written and directed game I’ve ever played. And I think it’s certainly aged a lot better than resident evil 1. I think I would take it over all the resident evils (although re7 on psvr is an amazing experience).
The 3rd person Resident evils to me are written like a lonely housewife’s soap opera. Where as The Last of us is there’s so much more substance and heart there.
Both games were big leaps in cinematic story telling for their time though…pushing what gaming was capable of.

@Bleachedsmiles Hum I think you don't agree with me then. I didn't like The Last of Us and I'm one of the biggest Resident Evil fans on PX. Ha ha! The storytelling is good but that's it.

@themightyant It’s easy to crap on Don Mattrick - he didn’t come across well. He was nowhere near as charming. But he wasn’t a complete failure for Xbox either.

During his 6 years as head of Xbox he apparently grew the 360 install base from 10 million to 76 million. And Xbox live membership went from 6 million to 48million.

Kinect sold over 10 million units.

Kinect also alienated a lot of the hardcore 360 audience at a time when the 360 was riding high and outselling the ps3. How much we can put on MS desire to capitalise on the Wii’s success is up to you…but remember Sony was chasing the same.

MS, even with the 360 current success were never truly sold on the console market. But they wanted to be the one stop for all entertainment - a mission they’re still chasing today. So the Xbox ones focus was an all in one media machine…which ended up gaining huge backlash with its need to be always online, and focus on tv and film. It’s suggestion of removing the gamer from brick and motor stores so you couldn’t trade in your games. People freaked out to the point it effected sales and Don didn’t survive the backlash…(he didn’t help himself by suggesting if you don’t like it stick with the 360). Today we’d say he got ‘cancelled’.

Today the vast majority of us have our consoles always online…
Every platform today requires firmware updating
Today the vast majority of us buy digital over physical. Today they release digital only consoles.
Today very few of us trade in our games.
Today we get articles excitedly telling us about Halo/last of us/fall out/resident evil tv shows…
Today we get excited articles about PlayStation teaming up with Netflix, Xbox teaming up with Netflix, future Picture in Picture updates where you can watch tv whilst gaming on the same screen.

Phil Spencer is great for Xbox. Gamepass is great for Xbox. MS still want to be that omnipresent. The console still restricts that… and one day the Xbox branding will leave gamepass and be left to die. But not today.

Don had two months of last gen. And yes there was plenty of good will to repair. And when you don’t have the games and are in last place you can’t afford to be anti consumer. You have no ego. You have to go out of your way to show you care. There’s little choice there.
Backwards compatibility was good…also filled a hole because the games never came. The games are still being waited on.
One thing Don could do is get games out. This is something Phil seems to struggle with.

I’m glad Phil is part of xbox. Leading it though? He hasn’t done anything other than spend money to show me he’s a good leader and manager yet. One day by default the investments have to produce something. But there’s clear issues there. We see and hear them all the time…it’s the only thing consistent about Xbox.

So when Phil says he’s looking forward to a PlayStation game that’s out the same week he failed to deliver yet another game he’s selling subs and hardware off the back of…and Xbox fans praise him for being so humble. Well that’s all cool. but if your habit is not being able to deliver then what actual value is there in that humility?

Maybe next year when Xbox library is stacked he can talk about playing Spider-Man 2 and I can nod along and say yeah I’m glad you’re leading Xbox as you’ve shown you know what your doing in your job role as well as reminded me you’re a true gamer

@themightyant Which studios did Don close? I know he opened at least one that got closed after him.
I know Bungie was given independence during Don Mattrick… nice guy?

MS didn’t want to invest in studios for Xbox. The fact that Don Mattrick had the Xbox one launch with 4 AAA MS produced games and 9 MS produced games in totally day 1 was quite an achievement.
What exclusives did the Xbox series consoles launch day 1 with again?

5 years… what about all last gen? Don was only there 2 months of it. MS didn’t want to invest in studios. Actively closed some of the very few they did have during the Xbox one generation…

‘Lucrative’ second hand market…funny. Not so lucrative for Microsoft and developers. Which was one of the driving forces of removing the ability to trade in games…and yet you say Xbox was short sighted. Nah, they were focused on the bigger picture. Throughout the 360 generation the big publishers were all trying to tackle the trade in scene. Don’t you remember the years of console gamers having to put in a code to unlock multiplayer?
Publishers like EA were licking their lips at the prospect of an ‘always on’ console harder than they are now with £70 games.
They should have sold it as it being needed to ‘ensure quality’ - certainly more truth in it than raising the price by a tenner.

One could easily state a case that your console online today is pretty mandatory… the reasons, obvious.

I love all the paise gets squarely put onto Phils broad shoulders when it comes to Xbox being pro-consumer…yet never any of the flak when it comes to Xbox being anti-consumer. That’s the power of posting about playing games I guess.

Mid generation? Forget that, if Phil can’t deliver a game from Xbox studios next year he should 100% step down from his current position…or be seen to do something about his team.
You can of course make a AAA game like God of War within 5 years…you just need good management. The last God of War was 4 years ago… The God of War before that was 5 years
These aren’t new teams starting from the ground up. They also have a hell of a lot more money to play around with than most game devs…game devs that have still managed to release quality games regardless of covid.

Xbox studios failing to deliver has never been due to a lack of resources, time, or talent. It’s always come down to lack of decent management.

@themightyant Well the price of gold hike is the obvious one…
But then it depends on how you look at things and what side of the fence you sit on.
All the Acquisitions of big Publishing houses could be viewed as anti consumer
Spending years playing ‘nice guy Phil’ telling us exclusives are bad for the gaming industry…then announcing games as exclusive, could be seen as anti consumer
Spending millions on timed exclusivity of AAA third party games, could be seen as anti consumer
Hell, selling the Xbox one off the back of games being exclusive to it, then announcing they’re all coming to PC…and then berating gamers for showing some grievance in that, could be seen as anti consumer.

We seem to see a cycle with all platforms where last place results in them going out of their way to appease…the top spot breeds arrogance.

Xbox has plenty of studios that are not new…that still can’t produce games anywhere close to the quality of GoW.
And nobody has expected anything from Xbox ‘over night’…no platform fanbase has been as patient than the Xbox one.

Ha, trade ins actually saved gaming! If only EA knew!
I guess now we have the birth of f2p on consoles than can be traced back to that very mindset.

I guess it will be kinda comforting if next year the only game to come out of the Xbox studios ends up be Forza.

@themightyant You only get that sort of quality through teamwork, camaraderie, in short culture, and yes good management, which doesn't happen overnight. It takes many years to build up to something of that quality. The MS studios simply aren't of that calibre yet, very few studios globally are, and you can't just throw around money to make it happen.

This I agree with. I don’t consider every Xbox studio team to be this…like I said, plenty aren’t new. Plenty no doubt have had that sense of camaraderie before joining Xbox.

But isn’t this exactly what the initiative was based on? That Phil invested heavily in…that after 4 years has only produced a CG trailer and is now already shadow of itself?

@electrolite77 It would be lovely if patience did produce good results…

@uptownsoul Yet you still had to comment.

Of course the next game he wants to play is on Playstation. Thanks to him, we don't have anything comparable on Xbox. Way to go Phil! Nice to everyone except the customers who bought a series X/S for exclusive AAA content.

A little tone deaf towards the hardcore fans of Xbox. We have very little in the way of Xbox 1st party content and pretty much nothing this year. I know any criticism of Xbox management is met with rage from most Xbox fans, but I’m not a fan of his statement considering we’re two years in and he seems fine with the fact Xbox studios can’t get a game out. More of the “just wait ‘til next year” for fans and he’s hyping the competition’s games. Maybe I’m just old fashioned.