Phil Spencer on what the hell is happening in the games industry, exclusives becoming a risky business & lack of growth in industry leading to layoffs

[Fenton]

In an interview with Polygon, Spencer talked about the “lack of growth” within the gaming industry as well as Xbox making sure its fans can get all the games they want, wherever they want.

“It’s a little bit of both,” Spencer told Polygon. “But I’ll say the thing that has me most concerned for the industry is the lack of growth.


And when you have an industry that is projected to be smaller next year in terms of players and dollars, and you get a lot of publicly traded companies that are in the industry that have to show their investors growth — because why else does somebody own a share of someone’s stock if it’s not going to grow? — the side of the business that then gets scrutinized is the cost side. Because if you’re not going to grow the revenue side, then the cost side becomes challenged.”


On top of that lack of growth Spencer sees, he mentioned Xbox being a business first. With that comes the need to answer to shareholders and executives that require the company to be profitable.


“We’re a business,” he said. “I’ve said over and over. I don’t get any luxury of not having to run a profitable growing business inside of Microsoft. And we are that today. But just across the industry — you mentioned it, and in sitting here at GDC, I reflect on friends of mine in the industry that have been displaced and lost their jobs and how just, I don’t want this industry to be a place where people can’t, with confidence, build a career.


“So that’s why I keep pivoting back to: How does this industry get back to growth? But to your question, for us as Xbox or any of the teams that are out there, it is really an outcome of an industry that’s not growing. It can grow and it will grow again. But you see this time right now and the implications have human impact. And we should all reflect on that and think about it.”

Phil Spencer Says Activision Layoffs Were Due To Lack Of Growth And Need For Profits

In a new interview, Xbox head Phil Spencer says that the layoffs at Activision Blizzard were due in part to Xbox needing to be profitable

insider-gaming.com

They previous said the layoffs were due to "areas of overlap"

 

[Satoru]

Lies Spencer contradicting himself? Never! An executive contradicting themselves? NEVER!

And yeah, this is not news to anybody - capitalism requires infinite growth with finite resources, so if there's a contraction, no growth, or very little growth, companies will fire people so that it can look good in their books and their profit margins look better.

With AI we're now all going to experience turbo growth and everybody will work less and be rich, anytime soon!

 

[Gediminas]

With AI we're now all going to experience turbo growth and everybody will work less and be rich, anytime soon!

At this speed, 'slavery' will return in no time.

 

[Savagefrogdemon]

If xbox is wondering why the platform is failing you only need to look at how little marketing they do PlayStation adverts are everywhere xbox does nothing at all.

 

[Cool hand luke]

I mean the guy also thinks it's his place to say how much Sony is allowed to spend on making games

Kloot is a "Sony Too!"mer. He's just jumping on the latest talking point, but a 300m budget was for the biggest superhero IP in existence from a masterclass dev house. It's excessive, maybe, but not irresponsible.

 

[JAHGamer]

Why does this thread have a PlayStation flair?

 

[Eggman]

Phil Spencer again basically telling Xbox players they are going multiplatform and they are in denial.

This news is practically nowhere to be seen on reddit

 

[Savagefrogdemon]

Imagine if they did a campaign where they say OK we cannot compete with the quality of playstation first party. However gamepass has these games that you get access to for this monthly fee to buy these game on playstation will cost you well over 500 dollars/pounds/euros that's what they should have done hammered home the value.

 

[John Elden Ring]

Microsoft’s head of gaming has said the company’s decision to cut 1,900 jobs was ultimately the result of a lack of growth in the industry. In a message sent to staff when the job cuts were announced, Spencer said the decision was taken after Microsoft and Activision’s leadership teams

“set priorities, identified areas of overlap, and ensured that we’re all aligned on the best opportunities for growth”.

Reflecting on the layoffs in a new interview with Polygon, Spencer said a lack of industry growth was forcing publicly traded companies across the industry to cut costs.

 

[Johnic]

The only lack of growth is in the Xbox camp. Does he really think people are this dumb?

 

[JAHGamer]

The only lack of growth is in the Xbox camp. Does he really think people are this dumb?

They don't think it, they know it. Idiots like Jez Corden are already spreading the propaganda that Gen Z don't like consoles....and all the stupid fanboys are eating it up.

 

[Gamernyc78]

In an interview with Polygon, Spencer talked about the “lack of growth” within the gaming industry as well as Xbox making sure its fans can get all the games they want, wherever they want.

Phil Spencer Says Activision Layoffs Were Due To Lack Of Growth And Need For Profits

In a new interview, Xbox head Phil Spencer says that the layoffs at Activision Blizzard were due in part to Xbox needing to be profitable

insider-gaming.com

They previous said the layoffs were due to "areas of overlap"

@John Elden Ring

 

[Papacheeks]

Good thread @Puff I see you put some effort into this. Hope people bring other points to add to the conversation.

 

[Satoru]

At this speed, 'slavery' will return in no time.

It never left in some countries, including the US.

 

[AfnanAcchan]

Console market is doing fine.

Even during Sony "bad year" they are still expected to sell at least 21 millions console this fiscal year, biggest since PS2 era. That despite not receving any price cut since launch. PS5 pro is coming this year and next year GTA6 will sell more PS5 than any exclusive so far. There are still many casual PS4 gamer not upgrading because FIFA, COD, Fortnite still working fine on older console but they will upgrade when PS5 finally getting price cut and 3rd party drop PS4 support.

Switch sales drop but it is become saturated at this point and still ahead of Xbox even in US. Switch 2 will do well as long Nintendo keep making good games.

It is Xbox sales that is not doing well. Hardware sales decline faster than Xbox One, Gamepass missing target for 3 years in row, dead in Asia & Europe, losing ground in its strongest market US & UK.

 

[Nhomnhom]

Microsoft’s head of gaming has said the company’s decision to cut 1,900 jobs was ultimately the result of a lack of growth in the industry. In a message sent to staff when the job cuts were announced, Spencer said the decision was taken after Microsoft and Activision’s leadership teams


Reflecting on the layoffs in a new interview with Polygon, Spencer said a lack of industry growth was forcing publicly traded companies across the industry to cut costs.

What a lying piece of shit. This dude is cancer for the game industry, a real example of an actually toxic person, manipulative lazy slob that was never fit to do his job.

 

[JAHGamer]

What a lying piece of shit. This dude is cancer for the game industry, a real example of an actually toxic person, manipulative lazy slob that was never fit to do his job.

He's definitely the worst gaming figure ever, but is somehow the most loved and revered figure.....no matter how much he lies. Its crazy everyone just forgot about the emails of him saying "Acquiring Nintendo (and Valve) would be a career moment for me"..... If Jim Ryan or someone from Tencent was talking like that, the media would never shut up about it.

 

[Sunrise Ninja]

He's definitely the worst gaming figure ever, but is somehow the most loved and revered figure.....no matter how much he lies. Its crazy everyone just forgot about the emails of him saying "Acquiring Nintendo (and Valve) would be a career moment for me"..... If Jim Ryan or someone from Tencent was talking like that, the media would never shut up about it.

How could anyone see this email and believe anything this guys says or have any faith in him to lead the Xbox ship.

 

[John Elden Ring]

via PCGamer

The problem, according to Spencer, is a "lack of growth" across the videogame industry as a whole. "When you have an industry that is projected to be smaller next year in terms of players and dollars, and you get a lot of publicly traded companies that are in the industry that have to show their investors growth—because why else does somebody own a share of someone’s stock if it’s not going to grow?—the side of the business that then gets scrutinized is the cost side," Spencer said. "Because if you’re not going to grow the revenue side, then the cost side becomes challenged."

 

[Gamernyc78]

Already posted and is part of this thread. These writers use sane interviews and just rearrange words. This is about lack of growth and layoffs with added context of capitalism which was posted a few days ago.

This article was also added earlier.