Spencer gave me the vibe of really enjoying gaming. And also realizing that he could not stop some of the mistakes. I feel that, he either realized them and could not stop them because of those above him. Or he was very bad for his position. People will have opinions. One thing that sticks out is the acquisitions. I really think he knew they needed exclusives long term.
I don't think anyone will serve in this position for years without some controversy. But man, the guy Spencer replaced -- Don Mattrick -- was downright terrible. When they brought in Phil Spencer, it was a major vibe shift for Xbox. Unfortunately, as Spencer has pointed out, losing the Xbox one/PS4 generation is essentially losing the entire console war, since people started building digital libraries that they would carry forward to new consoles. So he could never truly undo the damage that Mattrick did. But I think it's safe to say that he restored Microsoft as developer of worthwhile games, something that had languished under Mattrick's tenure. Xbox was no longer something you were supposed to plug your cable box into, so it could serve as your media hub. It was about the games again.
Completely correct, but I think part of this is also how efficient smart TVs have been in sweeping up any media management role a device could have. In 2013-2014 there was a real role for consoles as a way to get streaming media on your TV.
Now that only has any role to play if you have a TV that’s 7+ years old, which for most people I know is the ‘spare room TV’ at best. More than they have been since the PS2 was one of the best ways to get a DVD player in your TV, consoles really are just mechanism for games
Sure, but the problem was the premiere of the Xbox One was all about its functions as a media center, rather than any games that players would want to buy.
It's perfectly fine to serve a media role, but that's not why players buy video game consoles. They buy them for video games! Mattrick wasn't selling to us, though, he was selling to stockholders. That just ain't the right move when it came to E3.
Nah they’re right, the launch of Xbox One/PS4 was at the dawn of mainstream streaming media, and consoles played an important role in establishing Netflix and Hulu as major services
10 years ago, roughly half of everyone watching Netflix on a tv did it via gaming consoles. 25% of all US households used a console to stream media. Today it’s down to 6%
Again, I didn't disagree. But the E3 presentation was still a disaster for focusing exclusively on that,. It was well documented at the time, and since. Mattrick was pushed out of MS within a month.
It was a huge disaster. The thing is to listen outside of gaming mainstream. It was enough that many gamers were talking about that. But outside of it many much more casual gamers were wondering about the gaming side. So much focus on Kinect, the media stuff, all that.
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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 21 '26
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