Phil Spencer On Recent Studio Closures: It's About Running A 'Sustainable Business'

Yeah whatever Phil we all know you screwed everything up, have Daddy MS taking charge and have been reduced to another suit spitting out BS PR as always. Hopefully your end with MS is near as its about time a suit paid the price instead of a Dev. The fact Halo is coming to PS due to your choices says it all.

Unfortunately, many studios have shut down in the industry: Sony's, Embracer's... Reading Phil's words, it's clear to me that it was not his decision, but the big boss told him to assume responsibility.

On a more positive note, some of the staff of those closed studios migrated to other Xbox studios and they also opened new studio Elsewhere Entertainment.

This response is honestly pretty surprising. It feels simultaneously defensive and soulless. After all this time and lying low, he’s finally on record…and sounds likes he’s just another suit. Presumably he was given strict talking points from Microsoft HQ, once again raising the question about how in control he really is anymore.

He should just answer every question with "corportate answer number _"

@Banjo- Assume responsibility would be taking a massive pay cut or quitting not closing studios and sacking a ton of Devs. Phil hasn't suffered here at all.

@DennisReynolds Then every executive in the industry should quit and that's not how big companies operate. By assume responsibility I mean, in this case:

Boss (Nadella?): "After the acquisition of ABK, we need to move these people here and close the Japanese team."

Phil: "Is there another solution, can we keep the Japanese developer?"

Boss: "No and don't blame anybody else."

Phil: "OK, you are the boss."

@DennisReynolds but then if he leaves, it might be someone else who takes the helm. And they might be much worse than the worst lol.

The closures do make sense from the business perspective but still suck. That AA zone seems to be the big casualty in the industry retraction. Maybe in better times they would have been willing to eat the loss and keep these running.

On the flip side that all-timer of a showcase was just what the doctor ordered for xbox. I'm sure there will still be the click magnet negativity articles written but xbox cemented that they have a steady pipeline of games in place.

@Banjo- That's ok then 👍🙄. You seemily supporting and defending all this really says a lot about you. The industry is burning right now and MS is one of the biggest suppliers of fuel for it. This could have been avoided if MS didn't try to buy up gaming.

@DennisReynolds

You seemily supporting and defending all this really says a lot about you.

That's not what I'm doing and you know it. I just said that it was not Phil's decision and that some of the workers moved to other studios. They also created a new studio. Yes, Tango shut down, unfortunately. It's sad, but did you post this same reaction on PS when Sony closed their studios?

@DennisReynolds A pay cut or quitting may save like...3 jobs not a whole studio.

The damage is done. This interview is several weeks too late.

@GamingFan4Lyf Say that to Nintendo. Iwata and others took a pay cut to save jobs.

@DennisReynolds

When Tango and the others were murdered you were the only one defending MS on here. You never criticise MS never, its always defending the trillion doller corp who cares nothing for you just because they make your favourite toy.

I didn't defend MS against "murdering" Tango and it's also a lie that I never criticise MS. I literally said that it was Nadella's decision minutes ago. But hey, if all you have to say today after the Xbox show is that Microsoft is an evil murderer, that explains it all.

@DennisReynolds Even if cutting his salary saved 20 jobs, it wouldn’t save an entire studio.

@GamingFan4Lyf Well we will never know because the likes of Phil would rather the Earth burn then take a paycut.

I don't get the hate for Phil. He is one of the only people in gaming that actually faces the music when they make tough decisions. He actually does interviews and gets grilled and gives honest answers that aren't always the PR twists. I can't remember a single time I have seen a playstation or nintendo rep take an interview after any of their controversial decisions. Would you rather get twitter or blog posts that lawyers and pr teams write on Phil's behalf? Phil Spencer is great at being the face of xbox.

@DennisReynolds Pretty sure corporate Microsoft would say “Cool, we’ll cut your salary.” And then close the studios anyways because it’s not enough savings.

@BacklogBrad Phil's a PR guy that's all he is. People don't like him because he's full of BS and is full of contradictions and loves calling out Sony for the same things he himself does. He's a Snake and always has been, he's "cool with the kids" because Phil learnt the art of good PR and not appearing like a suit but he his still a suit just one who wears a t-shirt holding a dagger behind his back.

@GamingFan4Lyf Almost like Phil spending 69B on Activision made Daddy take note of what he's doing.

@DennisReynolds Iwata was a Japanese man working for a Japanese company which has to abide by Japanese law, and Japanese laws are much nicer to employees than other countries. You wouldn't see the same thing happen at Nintendo of America--ever--that's for sure. And that is because in most places, the law doesn't require it.

@DennisReynolds Oh I completely agree on that! He put the Eye of Sauron on his entire department, no doubt.

All I am saying is that a pay decrease won’t do squat. Even stepping down wouldn’t do squat.

Those studios were probably doomed when the ink dried on the ABK deal as far as Microsoft corporate were concerned.

@DennisReynolds He is way less of a suit than any of the past Playstation heads. I agree he is much better at public speaking and general PR than any of them. They hide behind the public statements (that someone else writes for them). The "contradictions" that people try to pin on Phil usually come from him saying it years ago in a different time and people desperately try to apply it to today's situation.

Even the Hi Fi Rush "meeting all our expectations" statement, (I think that one was Greenberg) people don't realize that that was almost 2 years ago and before any of the layoffs or downward spiral in the industry started. Things change, but that doesn't mean the bosses should be secluded from the public.

At least I can follow phil on xbox and see what he is playing and sometimes marvel at the playtime he puts into some games. Are you really going to try and tell me that Jim Ryan played any of their games? His game was monitoring spreadsheets.

@DennisReynolds Dude enough already. Go to another site. Go out and take a walk.

Nonsense PR we saw a mile coming the day this was announced, it’s sad that even though today’s showcase was great the stain of Tango’s closure is still there lingering and tbh stops me from being fully excited about Xbox’ future.

@BacklogBrad The guy before Jimbo gave us the high of the high of the PS4 years that gave us all those GOTY worthy exclusives and new franchises like Ghost and Horizon.

@DennisReynolds That was John Kodera who had a short lived 2017-2019 reign. Which brings up the point of Phil's longevity.

@BacklogBrad Funny way to spell Shawn Layden.

@DennisReynolds good call, Kodera was Sony CEO that era

This says nothing. I love how he cowered in total silence for weeks after the closures, only coming out now to puff his chest out and strut when he can shove the shiny new things in the way.

Which is it? Was Tango not the deliverer of a game that "exceeded expectations in all metrics", or was that a lie? And if it was a lie, why has the worst gaming spindoctor known as Aaron Greenberg not been given the boot for misleading customers and making Xbox look inept and foolish?

Bunch of clowns. I say that as someone who loves Xbox- it's the C-lown Suite that needs GONE.

@BacklogBrad Two years ago? What are you talking about? Hi-Fi Rush came out in January of last year. Greenberg's apparent lie was in May of last year. You don't close down an apparent studio, still releasing paid DLC for said breakout hit while also porting it to other consoles, that has released a hit unless they're lying. One year on from that statement, they closed Tango. That does NOT happen anywhere else.

If you're going to run free defense for the multi billion dollar corporation, at least get your times right.

Closures decided by a bunch of suits with 0 know about the industry for short term benefits. Hope Tango Gameworks forms a banger Indie Studio and puts all their games on everything but Xbox out of spite.

I love how everyone gets up in arms about this. It's as if keyboard warriors have no understanding of economics, shareholders, and profitability. People need to grow up and understand that this is business and not based on kumbaya feelings around a campfire.

@Elbow apparent is the key word in that "apparent lie" statement. It was a well-reviewed game that not that many people played. 3 Million people played it while on a service that offers the game at no additional cost to its current 30 million users. The 3 million includes Steam and Xbox purchases as well, so not even 10% of gamepass users bothered to try it at no additional cost to their subscription. Taking it a step further not even 50% of players on xbox (48.8%) beat the first boss according to achievement statistics. 12% saw it out through to the end. Those that did bother likely didn't play much of it. This game was a critical success and not much else. Translate Greenberg's quote to we had low expectations (hence the shadow drop) and we are thrilled it surpassed those. And again, they probably were thrilled to have a critical success regardless of player counts back before the industry was crumbling. That was a much different time than 2 weeks ago. Just because something was said back then does not make it applicable to today.

Then you can take in to account all the studio stuff that has nothing to do with Hi Fi Rush. Like the reports that they needed sufficient staffing increases to proceed with their next game. A leader that left. Tango being an inclusion to the Bethesda purchase and possibly not a studio they even wanted. etc.

Quote was also April not May.

For the record I was one of those xbox players that finished it, I thought it was more in the 75-80 range personally.

Only in these articles can you find the Sony fanboys. 😂

Replace 'sustainable business' with 'maximising profit'.

It is simply the case that the Xbox division is now to large to escape any sort of scrutiny and making a nice little game pass game isn't going to be enough.

Business mergers always come with consolidation and reductions. All the faux outage over MS closing a few studios is just theatrics. There will likely be more before it's all over.

I checked hellblade in steam
And it has under 400 players …. How is that sustainable Phil make it make sense

@BacklogBrad thank you for giving a detailed reply, I appreciate you taking time to go in-depth. I was also one of those that saw the game to completion, which is why the shuttering is extra frustrating. Very tired at the moment but knew I'd forget to reply at all if I put off responding

@DennisReynolds

Says the person with an account that isn't a day old and is just using it to pick fights and troll

So what you are actually saying, is that one has to be a veteran fanboy ( of a particular console) to be able to troll article on gaming websites amirite?

There is definitely no shortage of those here on PX, especially if Xbox related news become a bit too positive 😅😅..

@DennisReynolds you use the words “kill” and “murdered” to describe the closure. Those are very emotionally charged words to describe this. I’ve it, these kinds of closures are awful for the industry, but sadly they’re also inevitable. Not every studio can last as long as others, the gaming industry is filled with the names of companies that only lasted a few years.

And honestly Tango closing didn’t really surprise me. Prior to being bought by Bethesda they were struggling financially, and they weren’t a company held in that high regard prior to Hi-fi Rush. I remember the genuine surprise when that game came out because no one expected Tango to make a game that good. But now you’ve got revisionists trying to claim they were always this dependable beloved studio.

"Sustainable business" by eliminating the competition (by buying them all up) and then shutting down a good chunk of studios and eliminating all the talent? Sure, that's sustainable. People are just replaceable right?

Purexbox how did I disrespect others 😂😂😂. I tell someone to ignore a fanboy starting fights with others & happily ignores facts to serve his argument & I'm the disrespectful one.

Run a sustainable business = They grossly overpaid for ABK and all of the legal issues that arose from it.

On one hand, like it or not, he's right. However, I think the style of games like Hi-Fi Rush is something that Xbox really needed for putting more eyes on the platform. Tango could have acted as a strong loss leader for the platform, possibly providing stronger long term gain. The only issue with that is that focusing on long term gain inherently comes with greater risks, particularly with strategies such as loss leaders, so just looking at making a quick buck is often, sadly, the safer bet. Regardless, I think that using Tango as a loss leader is a bet that Xbox should have made.

This is the nature of business. Xbox is not turning amazing profits. It isn’t tanking but for the money being spent it isn’t garnering a great ROI. A business has to remain as fiscally agile as possible. And an employee has to do the same. Everyone is expendable but you can protect yourself by networking, keeping your resume and skills sharp and being fiscally responsible. I wish all the former employees the best but pitchforks and internet torches does nothing.

Most of the internet outrage is virtue signaling anyway. When a studio doesn’t make games they like most folks aren’t this “outraged”. It’s only when they feel their personal entertainment is impacted that it becomes a tragedy. Which is no different than shareholders but way less logic/fiscally driven.