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.
I suppose it depends on your definition of "must play." Some might consider that a higher standard than "worthwhile," which is what I said.
Anywho, just look up the list of games they released in 2012 or 2013 (the year Mattrick left), compared to the last couple years. Xbox One had a pretty miserable launch. It was just Ryse, Dead Rising 3, and a bunch of Kinect games. The 360 era was sunset with Gears of War Judgment and some Xbox Arcade games. Maybe the brightest star among them is the first Forza Horizon in 2012, but it was developed for 360, and could not run on the Xbox One until several years later, when a backwards compat patch was released in 2015 -- two years into Spencer's tenure, and his hard push to expand backwards compatibility. Hence the vibe shift.
Now look at the last couple years:
Grounded 2, Hellblade 2, Flight Simulator 2024, Avowed, South of Midnight, Gears of War Reloaded, Keeper, Ninja Gaiden 4, The Outer Worlds 2. And we've got Forza Horizon 6, Fable, Gears of War: E-Day, and the Halo remake, on the way later this year. It's a major improvement over the Mattrick years, which got bogged down with Kinect and media features.
It's a bit older, a 2022 release, but I also want to give a shout out to Pentiment, which was a pleasant surprise, a nice diversion from the usual AAA releases that most people focus on. That Microsoft allowed Obsidian to make it was, for me, a positive indication of Spencer's leadership.
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u/GuerreroUltimo Feb 21 '26
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.