Does anyone here think Phil Spencer has done a good job as Xbox CEO?

The games media fawns over this guy, but I don't quite understand the hype for him.

It seems like the Xbox brand has a bit of an identity crisis. Microsoft itself has been particularly meddlesome in the development process, they canceled promising titles like Scalebound and let other franchises lay dormant, they're really pushing the ESG garbage, the brand only seems as big as it is because of the mergers that have their own anti competitive implications, Spencer himself wants to ban players across every online platform for "hate speech", and it seems they currently only really have 2 big name franchises; Forza and Halo.

Furthermore, feel free to disagree with me on this, but I'm not sure I see the advantage of Game Pass, especially as someone who doesn't care to play online. You have to pay a base fee on top of the additional cost for individual games. I tend to wait for the price of a game I want to play to come down; and I learn about said games from forums like this one. Wouldn't it make more sense to pay the game's MSRP up front and not just more directly support the developers, but have a working copy you have more ownership of? And not have to worry about looking for a specific game, only to see it delisted because you decided you needed more time to see whether you truly wanted to purchase it or not?

Lately, it seems that Game Pass itself seems to reward bare bones, exploitative live service game design. Look at Forza 2023, which was apparently specifically designed for Game Pass users. The career mode was bare bones at launch, the game itself was riddled with technical issues, its campaign only got new events through this live service model; and the events themselves disappear after a certain time. Forza 2023 also requires an Internet connection to save progress, and seems to require extensive amounts of grinding to make meaningful progression in the game.

If that's the sort of game Game Pass seems to incentivize the creation of, I'm not sure that's a gaming experience for me; especially if other gaming companies try to replicate it.

At that point, a game feels more like a full time job rather than something fun.

Maybe I'm just an out of touch dinosaur. But I don't quite see how Phil Spencer's ideas benefit the customer. I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts on what Phil Spencer has done for the Xbox brand.

Does anyone here think Phil Spencer has done a good job as Xbox CEO?

The games media fawns over this guy, but I don't quite understand the hype for him.

It seems like the Xbox brand has a bit of an identity crisis. Microsoft itself has been particularly meddlesome in the development process, they canceled promising titles like Scalebound and let other franchises lay dormant, they're really pushing the ESG garbage, the brand only seems as big as it is because of the mergers that have their own anti competitive implications, Spencer himself wants to ban players across every online platform for "hate speech", and it seems they currently only really have 2 big name franchises; Forza and Halo.

Furthermore, feel free to disagree with me on this, but I'm not sure I see the advantage of Game Pass, especially as someone who doesn't care to play online. You have to pay a base fee on top of the additional cost for individual games. I tend to wait for the price of a game I want to play to come down; and I learn about said games from forums like this one. Doesn't it make more sense to pay the game's MSRP up front and not just more directly support the developers, but have a working copy up front?

Lately, it seems that Game Pass itself seems to reward bare bones, exploitative live service game design. Look at Forza 2023, which was apparently specifically designed for Game Pass users. The career mode was bare bones at launch, the game itself was riddled with technical issues, its campaign only got new events through this live service model; and the events themselves disappear after a certain time. Forza 2023 also requires an Internet connection to save progress, and seems to require extensive amounts of grinding to make meaningful progression in the game.

If that's the sort of game Game Pass seems to incentivize the creation of, I'm not sure that's a gaming experience for me; especially if other gaming companies try to replicate it.

At that point, a game feels more like a full time job rather than something fun.

Maybe I'm just an out of touch dinosaur. But I don't quite see how Phil Spencer's ideas benefit the customer. I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts on what Phil Spencer has done for the Xbox brand.

Does anyone here think Phil Spencer has done a good job as Xbox CEO?

The games media fawns over this guy, but I don't quite understand the hype for him.

It seems like the Xbox brand has a bit of an identity crisis. Microsoft itself has been particularly meddlesome in the development process, they canceled promising titles like Scalebound and let other franchises lay dormant, they're really pushing the ESG garbage, the brand only seems as big as it is because of the mergers that have their own anti competitive implications, Spencer himself wants to ban players across every online platform for "hate speech", and it seems they currently only really have 2 big name franchises; Forza and Halo.

Furthermore, feel free to disagree with me on this, but I'm not sure I see the advantage of Game Pass, especially as someone who doesn't care to play online. You have to pay a base fee on top of the additional cost for individual games. I tend to wait for the price of a game I want to play to come down; and I learn about said games from forums like this one. Doesn't it make more sense to pay the game's MSRP up front and not just more directly support the developers, but have a working copy up front?

Lately, it seems that Game Pass itself seems to reward bare bones, exploitative live service game design. Look at Forza 2023, which was apparently specifically designed for Game Pass users. The career mode was bare bones at launch, the game itself was riddled with technical issues, its campaign only got new events through this live service model; and the events themselves disappear after a certain time. Forza 2023 also requires an Internet connection to save progress, and seems to require extensive amounts of grinding to make meaningful progression in the game.

If that's the sort of game Game Pass seems to incentivize the creation of, I'm not sure that's a gaming experience for me; especially if other gaming companies try to replicate it.

Maybe I'm just an out of touch dinosaur. But I don't quite see how Phil Spencer's ideas benefit the customer. I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts on what Phil Spencer has done for the Xbox brand.