Phil Spencer: 'The Future of Blizzard is Brighter Than Ever'

[shrike0fth0rns]

At the rate things are going with PS seemingly, don't get your hopes up. Hell, Nintendo's gearing up to stomp on both PS and Xbox next year.

MS's gonna see a bump in various markets whether you like it or not, following ABK. And games like ESO aren't slowing down, either, unlike Destiny 2. There's not going to be a collapse of PS or anything like that anytime soon, it won't get anywhere near the worst years of PS3.

But the next couple of years are definitely going to be a lot more competitive between the three brands than some might want to admit. That's if Sony keeps with their current strategy and don't make a drastic major play (three-month 3P timed exclusives ain't it). Nintendo's barely had a drop in momentum and any they have had will be made up for and then some with Switch 2. Xbox is going to be a good deal more competitive in a lot of Western territories with tying IP like COD, Diablo etc. to the brand marketing-wise which at very least will give them a noticeable boost in market relevance (and performance).

I'm pretty convinced now that most of Sony's 1P don't have anything ready over the next two years in terms of AAA or even AA traditional titles, and might not have much in the way of 3P exclusives to fill that void. At least that, we've heard of.

It's going to be something wild if Sony's overly aggressive GaaS push & slow reaction to securing notable 3P pubs/devs in M&As (and a sustained PC strategy porting all their current non-GaaS games in short & shorter windows) is what gives Xbox a chance to survive and thrive. And not, y'know, the temporary shortages caused by COVID. If that happens, I'm gonna be laughing pretty hard.

And the crazy part is, I don't want to laugh.

Nintendo is utter fcking garbage and revenue wise is in 3rd. Most of the games they release do t even fcking sell and they do is milk the same brain dead garbage ip that the same brain dead ppl by all the time. They hardly ever release new ip and and are creatively bankrupt. PS in the past decade has sold 2.5 billion units of software on their home console while Nintendo in comparison just crossed 1 billion earlier in the summer.
Nintendo is garbage and will continue to be garbage bayonetta sales are ass, astral sales are ass, Metroid dread sales are ass, fire emblem sales are ass, pikmin sales are ass, labo was an stupid embarrassing flop, everything with Nintendo is a fcking useless gimmick. No innovation no creativity just garbage made for infants and man children. How many new ip has Nintendo come up with in the switch generation that actually sold? Outside of Pokémon, sht that includes Zelda, Mario or animal farm wtf does anyone buy Nintendo for? Who’s going to be playing Witcher 4 on switch? next dragon age? Mass effect? Any of the new marvel games? The next game by remedy? Res9? Any new big graphical intensive game? The next switch will be the worse place to play and any real hardcore game is going to get a ps5 pro and play their games on that. Switch? Fck switch! Useless pile of garbage for ugly baby games and the worse looking multiplats.

 

[JAHGamer]

Nintendo is utter fcking garbage and revenue wise is in 3rd. Most of the games they release do t even fcking sell and they do is milk the same brain dead garbage ip that the same brain dead ppl by all the time. They hardly ever release new ip and and are creatively bankrupt. PS in the past decade has sold 2.5 billion units of software on their home console while Nintendo in comparison just crossed 1 billion earlier in the summer.
Nintendo is garbage and will continue to be garbage bayonetta sales are ass, astral sales are ass, Metroid dread sales are ass, fire emblem sales are ass, pikmin sales are ass, labo was an stupid embarrassing flop, everything with Nintendo is a fcking useless gimmick. No innovation no creativity just garbage made for infants and man children. How many new ip has Nintendo come up with in the switch generation that actually sold? Outside of Pokémon, sht that includes Zelda, Mario or animal farm wtf does anyone buy Nintendo for? Who’s going to be playing Witcher 4 on switch? next dragon age? Mass effect? Any of the new marvel games? The next game by remedy? Res9? Any new big graphical intensive game? The next switch will be the worse place to play and any real hardcore game is going to get a ps5 pro and play their games on that. Switch? Fck switch! Useless pile of garbage for ugly baby games and the worse looking multiplats.

Chill out

I agree Nintendo does get away with BS that no one else ever could, but they still do a lot of good. One thing I respect about Nintendo is they're not trying to push the cloud, PC, gaas, non stop acquisitions, and subscription service nonsense that Microsoft and Sony are hell bent on pursuing. They've fostered an ideal install base that actually VALUES video games and actually buys video games, keeping our industry healthy. Unlike Xbox fans that want everything on GamePass, and PS fans that are starting to become the same with PS Plus. They also don't partake in censorship and have strong physical game support. Nintendo is dedicated to the console and the traditional model, and that's why they're so successful. It's why they've been able to dominate Japan and many parts of the West, and why they'll be able to decimate Sony when their new console releases. Nintendo will remind Sony why copying Microsoft was a fatal mistake.

Even if you hate Nintendo, you have to respect them for keeping gaming honest.

Their revenue being "low" means nothing when you consider they don't have 70% of 3rd party games, but their profit is still within range of Sony's, sometimes exceeding it. And they blow Xbox out of the water in profit despite Xbox getting way more 3rd party support.

P.S It's funny the games you mention that sell the least are my favorite....Bayonetta, Astral Chain, Fire Emblem, Metroid, Pikmin and Xenoblade. Zelda is an old IP but they've completely revitalized it, I think BOTW and TOTK are super overrated, but they're still great games.

The next switch will be the worse place to play and any real hardcore game is going to get a ps5 pro and play their games on that.

Lol this is such an Xbox fanboy talking point, 99% of gamers don't care about "where is the best place to play"....they're just going to play a game on their preferred hardware. Last gen I couldn't care less that the Xbox One X ran games better than my base PS4...because I enjoyed playing on my PS4. This applies doubly for the Switch because it's a hybrid console and people love the portability. I even get certain games on my Switch now because I'll be able to play in bed or on the couch, it's why Steam Deck, ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, and even the PS Portal exist..... Why do you think so many developers work so hard to get Switch ports of their games? Because they know a lot of people will buy it! Even Kotick says he regrets not putting CoD on the Switch. The Switch 2 with more power will take even more market share from Sony, no one will care if PS5 runs games a bit better if they can play it on their preferred platform that's portable. Be prepared to see 3rd party games sell best on Switch 2 and for Nintendo to get ALL of the 3rd party Japanese exclusives.

 

[shrike0fth0rns]

Chill out

I agree Nintendo does get away with BS that no one else ever could, but they still do a lot of good. One thing I respect about Nintendo is they're not trying to push the cloud, PC, gaas, non stop acquisitions, and subscription service nonsense that Microsoft and Sony are hell bent on pursuing. They've fostered an ideal install base that actually VALUES video games and actually buys video games, keeping our industry healthy. Unlike Xbox fans that want everything on GamePass, and PS fans that are starting to become the same with PS Plus. They also don't partake in censorship and have strong physical game support. Nintendo is dedicated to the console and the traditional model, and that's why they're so successful. It's why they've been able to dominate Japan and many parts of the West, and why they'll be able to decimate Sony when their new console releases. Nintendo will remind Sony why copying Microsoft was a fatal mistake.

Even if you hate Nintendo, you have to respect them for keeping gaming honest.

Their revenue being "low" means nothing when you consider they don't have 70% of 3rd party games, but their profit is still within range of Sony's, sometimes exceeding it. And they blow Xbox out of the water in profit despite Xbox getting way more 3rd party support.

P.S It's funny the games you mention that sell the least are my favorite....Bayonetta, Astral Chain, Fire Emblem, Metroid, Pikmin and Xenoblade. Zelda is an old IP but they've completely revitalized it, I think BOTW and TOTK are super overrated, but they're still great games.


Lol this is such an Xbox fanboy talking point, 99% of gamers don't care about "where is the best place to play"....they're just going to play a game on their preferred hardware. Last gen I couldn't care less that the Xbox One X ran games better than my base PS4...because I enjoyed playing on my PS4. This applies doubly for the Switch because it's a hybrid console and people love the portability. I even get certain games on my Switch now because I'll be able to play in bed or on the couch, it's why Steam Deck, ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, and even the PS Portal exist..... Why do you think so many developers work so hard to get Switch ports of their games? Because they know a lot of people will buy it! Even Kotick says he regrets not putting CoD on the Switch. The Switch 2 with more power will take even more market share from Sony, no one will care if PS5 runs games a bit better if they can play it on their preferred platform that's portable. Be prepared to see 3rd party games sell best on Switch 2 and for Nintendo to get ALL of the 3rd party Japanese exclusives.

If that’s the case show me a big budget multiplat that released on switch and ps5 day 1 that actually sold better on the switch? When it takes almost a year long to downgrade a game to run on switch just to get it to work who the Fck is waiting? How many multi console owns who prefer Nintendo said oh well I’ll just wait and get Harry Potter in the switch where it will look and run like ass. If ppl did care there would be such a massive gap in software sales. Ps generate 2x the revenue of Nintendo because that’s mostly from mtx and software sales on ps which will continue to be the dominant console platform for multiplat gaming.

 

[JAHGamer]

If that’s the case show me a big budget multiplat that released on switch and ps5 day 1 that actually sold better on the switch? When it takes almost a year long to downgrade a game to run on switch just to get it to work who the Fck is waiting? How many multi console owns who prefer Nintendo said oh well I’ll just wait and get Harry Potter in the switch where it will look and run like ass. If ppl did care there would be such a massive gap in software sales. Ps generate 2x the revenue of Nintendo because that’s mostly from mtx and software sales on ps which will continue to be the dominant console platform for multiplat gaming.

Did you not fully read my comment? I clearly said Switch 2 not the current 7 year old Switch....

The Switch 2 with more power will take even more market share from Sony, no one will care if PS5 runs games a bit better if they can play it on their preferred platform that's portable. Be prepared to see 3rd party games sell best on Switch 2 and for Nintendo to get ALL of the 3rd party Japanese exclusives.

 

[shrike0fth0rns]

Did you not fully read my comment? I clearly said Switch 2 not the current 7 year old Switch....

Yeah and? What did u think I was referring to. Everything I said is 100% applicable to the switch 2. We are still not even at the mid way point of the gen and the series s is struggling to keep up u think based on the specs ppl have speculated on of the switch 2 it will do much better? Most of the leaks suggest they are sim for ps4/Xboxo performance u think that won’t require a huge down grade in graphics to get multiplats Alan wake 2 or the next potter game to run on it? Nintendo is garbage and will remain garbage. Ppl can talk all the nonsense they want about casuals don’t care about power if that were the case the series s wouldnt be selling like sht.

 

[JAHGamer]

Yeah and? What did u think I was referring to. Everything I said is 100% applicable to the switch 2. We are still not even at the mid way point of the gen and the series s is struggling to keep up u think based on the specs ppl have speculated on of the switch 2 it will do much better? Most of the leaks suggest they are sim for ps4/Xboxo performance u think that won’t require a huge down grade in graphics to get multiplats Alan wake 2 or the next potter game to run on it? Nintendo is garbage and will remain garbage. Ppl can talk all the nonsense they want about casuals don’t care about power if that were the case the series s wouldnt be selling like sht.

Series S sells horribly because it's an Xbox, not because it's weak. The Switch is weak too and sold over 130m units

If the Switch 2 does have DLSS, it will be able to run games at 1080p 30fps with dlss, and that's more than enough for most gamers. Xbox shot themselves in the foot by marketing the Series S as a 1440p 120fps machine, Nintendo won't be making such stupid claims.

 

[shrike0fth0rns]

Series S sells horribly because it's an Xbox, not because it's weak. The Switch is weak too and sold over 130m units

If the Switch 2 does have DLSS, it will be able to run games at 1080p 30fps with dlss, and that's more than enough for most gamers. Xbox shot themselves in the foot by marketing the Series S as a 1440p 120fps machine, Nintendo won't be making such stupid claims.

Yeah I’m sure dads will solve all Nintendo problems Nintendo is fcking stupid and never learns from its mistakes. Switch and Wii sold well but the software attach rate is horrible and will remain horrible. Dlss isn’t some magic u can just apply to any game and reach the same preformsnce level and image quality of more powerful hardware. U guys give Nintendo way too much credit I remember all the speculation about the first switch and how it would match the ps4 and Xbox what happened with that? Switch will still be 2 generations behind in power and the ps5 pro will be 2 1/2 generations ahead. Switch 2 will be a bad value proposition with the shortest performance on multiplats, worst hardware, worse online experience. Ppl may settle for the switch experience on a multiplat but it isn’t their first platform of choice.

 

[JAHGamer]

Yeah I’m sure dads will solve all Nintendo problems Nintendo is fcking stupid and never learns from its mistakes. Switch and Wii sold well but the software attach rate is horrible and will remain horrible. Dlss isn’t some magic u can just apply to any game and reach the same preformsnce level and image quality of more powerful hardware. U guys give Nintendo way too much credit I remember all the speculation about the first switch and how it would match the ps4 and Xbox what happened with that? Switch will still be 2 generations behind in power and the ps5 pro will be 2 1/2 generations ahead. Switch 2 will be a bad value proposition with the shortest performance on multiplats, worst hardware, worse online experience. Ppl may settle for the switch experience on a multiplat but it isn’t their first platform of choice.

When did I say dlss was magic or that it would match ps5? I said 1080p 30fps you think magic is required for that?? Cmon….

 

[shrike0fth0rns]

When did I say dlss was magic or that it would match ps5? I said 1080p 30fps you think magic is required for that?? Cmon….

Yeah I’m sure when cod drops on switch2 at 1080 30fps ppl are going to run to it instead of playing it on ps, xbox or pc. I’m sure all the big multiplat multiplayer games that most of the casual play will sell great at 30fps. Come on man.

 

[JAHGamer]

Yeah I’m sure when cod drops on switch2 at 1080 30fps ppl are going to run to it instead of playing it on ps, xbox or pc. I’m sure all the big multiplat multiplayer games that most of the casual play will sell great at 30fps. Come on man.

Not CoD, but many other games, definitely. You’ll see.

 

[Killer_Sakoman]

Abdizur aka Sleepy Brown, is that you?

No, you're drunk

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Nintendo is utter fcking garbage and revenue wise is in 3rd. Most of the games they release do t even fcking sell and they do is milk the same brain dead garbage ip that the same brain dead ppl by all the time. They hardly ever release new ip and and are creatively bankrupt. PS in the past decade has sold 2.5 billion units of software on their home console while Nintendo in comparison just crossed 1 billion earlier in the summer.
Nintendo is garbage and will continue to be garbage bayonetta sales are ass, astral sales are ass, Metroid dread sales are ass, fire emblem sales are ass, pikmin sales are ass, labo was an stupid embarrassing flop, everything with Nintendo is a fcking useless gimmick. No innovation no creativity just garbage made for infants and man children. How many new ip has Nintendo come up with in the switch generation that actually sold? Outside of Pokémon, sht that includes Zelda, Mario or animal farm wtf does anyone buy Nintendo for? Who’s going to be playing Witcher 4 on switch? next dragon age? Mass effect? Any of the new marvel games? The next game by remedy? Res9? Any new big graphical intensive game? The next switch will be the worse place to play and any real hardcore game is going to get a ps5 pro and play their games on that. Switch? Fck switch! Useless pile of garbage for ugly baby games and the worse looking multiplats.

You feel however you want about Nintendo's IP, but I'd never go to say they're garbage. They have the most consistently popular IP in the industry for a reason: top-of-class IP retention and brand management, as well as quality control while keeping in touch with core identity.

You're also dead wrong about some of those lesser-known Nintendo games in terms of sales; Pikmin 4 did very solid numbers, especially in Japan. The Fire Emblem games have gotten more popular over time, they're probably equivalent to the Persona series in terms of selling power now. And while Pikmin & Fire Emblem aren't selling dozens of millions of copies, they don't need to. Thanks to their conservative budgets, they still bring in a ton of profit.

Speaking of which, for any company, profit is generally going to be more important than revenue, once you're out of the "growth phase" of a given field. Sony's been wanting to pivot to GaaS to bring in more profits, not merely revenue. Nintendo is 3rd in revenue among the Big 3 because they didn't spend $80 billion to buy up 3P publishers and assimilate their revenue into their console business the way Microsoft has. And while they don't have the 3P support Sony does, that also means they aren't nearly as reliant on 3P like Sony is. Meaning they're much less suspect to competitor M&A strategies compared to Sony/SIE. Guess what Sony is trying to do now? Become less reliant on 3P revenue...kinda like...N i n t e n d o ....

Also, sales alone are never an indication of quality. You're saying Nintendo's "lesser" games suck because they don't sell like Mario and Zelda, or Smash. But that doesn't mean they aren't great games, and even their lower sellers sell way more than most 3P games, most Microsoft games and even a lot of Sony's own games! And, due to more manageable budgets & marketing costs (plus higher MSRP retention over time), a lot more in profit margins. It's a big reason why even though Nintendo's 3rd among the three in revenue, they're #1 in profits.

I think you're going to be surprised with the amount of 3P support Nintendo get with the next Switch; it's going to be a lot. Devs who skipped the Switch or only hopped onboard very late, will be present early on with Switch 2. It's going to get a lot more Japanese & Western AAA releases compared to the original, and that's going to create more competition for both Microsoft and Sony. The people who were saying PS5 is going to be the PS2 generation are probably going to be in for a rude shock starting next year, especially if Sony also continue some other questionable things like porting their current-gen non-GaaS games to PC in shorter time intervals, or double down on GaaS (I personally think they are rightly adjusting the GaaS stuff to be a leaner output, a "less is more" approach, but we'll see).

Again, it's not me saying PS is suddenly in shit's creek or anything like that. But, I do think for the next year or two the 1P non-GaaS output might be a bit on the lighter side aside from Wolverine and maybe Team Asobi's game. Everything else that I know of is too far out if we're talking internal, or is with a 3P outside dev in collaboration. So that's why I'm saying 2024/2025 will be a lot closer between Sony, Nintendo (Switch 2), and even Microsoft (Zenimax/ABK effect, COD marketing & aggressive Game Pass perks with ABK/Zenimax etc. content). I don't think it's going to be a runaway for PS5 in that timeframe whereas back in 2020, 2021 or 2022 I'd of said it actually would've been a runaway success for PS5 in the market leaving Nintendo & Microsoft in the dust.

Which I guess, in a way, is the kind of competition I like. I like it when things are close...although only Sony & Nintendo are doing it from a path that's mostly organic, vs. Microsoft having to buy up chunks of the industry just to "compete". But it is what it is now. I also know that Sony/SIE have usually done their best, in terms of creative output, messaging & marketing, when the competition is stiffer. I think they're already making positive changes BTS to get ready for that post-Spiderman 2, and are setting things in place to be fully secured and grow by the end of the gen into 10th gen, but as of now a lot of that is my own optimistic hope. We'll see if that actually ends up being the case.

 

[shrike0fth0rns]

You feel however you want about Nintendo's IP, but I'd never go to say they're garbage. They have the most consistently popular IP in the industry for a reason: top-of-class IP retention and brand management, as well as quality control while keeping in touch with core identity.

You're also dead wrong about some of those lesser-known Nintendo games in terms of sales; Pikmin 4 did very solid numbers, especially in Japan. The Fire Emblem games have gotten more popular over time, they're probably equivalent to the Persona series in terms of selling power now. And while Pikmin & Fire Emblem aren't selling dozens of millions of copies, they don't need to. Thanks to their conservative budgets, they still bring in a ton of profit.

Speaking of which, for any company, profit is generally going to be more important than revenue, once you're out of the "growth phase" of a given field. Sony's been wanting to pivot to GaaS to bring in more profits, not merely revenue. Nintendo is 3rd in revenue among the Big 3 because they didn't spend $80 billion to buy up 3P publishers and assimilate their revenue into their console business the way Microsoft has. And while they don't have the 3P support Sony does, that also means they aren't nearly as reliant on 3P like Sony is. Meaning they're much less suspect to competitor M&A strategies compared to Sony/SIE. Guess what Sony is trying to do now? Become less reliant on 3P revenue...kinda like...N i n t e n d o ....

Also, sales alone are never an indication of quality. You're saying Nintendo's "lesser" games suck because they don't sell like Mario and Zelda, or Smash. But that doesn't mean they aren't great games, and even their lower sellers sell way more than most 3P games, most Microsoft games and even a lot of Sony's own games! And, due to more manageable budgets & marketing costs (plus higher MSRP retention over time), a lot more in profit margins. It's a big reason why even though Nintendo's 3rd among the three in revenue, they're #1 in profits.

I think you're going to be surprised with the amount of 3P support Nintendo get with the next Switch; it's going to be a lot. Devs who skipped the Switch or only hopped onboard very late, will be present early on with Switch 2. It's going to get a lot more Japanese & Western AAA releases compared to the original, and that's going to create more competition for both Microsoft and Sony. The people who were saying PS5 is going to be the PS2 generation are probably going to be in for a rude shock starting next year, especially if Sony also continue some other questionable things like porting their current-gen non-GaaS games to PC in shorter time intervals, or double down on GaaS (I personally think they are rightly adjusting the GaaS stuff to be a leaner output, a "less is more" approach, but we'll see).

Again, it's not me saying PS is suddenly in shit's creek or anything like that. But, I do think for the next year or two the 1P non-GaaS output might be a bit on the lighter side aside from Wolverine and maybe Team Asobi's game. Everything else that I know of is too far out if we're talking internal, or is with a 3P outside dev in collaboration. So that's why I'm saying 2024/2025 will be a lot closer between Sony, Nintendo (Switch 2), and even Microsoft (Zenimax/ABK effect, COD marketing & aggressive Game Pass perks with ABK/Zenimax etc. content). I don't think it's going to be a runaway for PS5 in that timeframe whereas back in 2020, 2021 or 2022 I'd of said it actually would've been a runaway success for PS5 in the market leaving Nintendo & Microsoft in the dust.

Which I guess, in a way, is the kind of competition I like. I like it when things are close...although only Sony & Nintendo are doing it from a path that's mostly organic, vs. Microsoft having to buy up chunks of the industry just to "compete". But it is what it is now. I also know that Sony/SIE have usually done their best, in terms of creative output, messaging & marketing, when the competition is stiffer. I think they're already making positive changes BTS to get ready for that post-Spiderman 2, and are setting things in place to be fully secured and grow by the end of the gen into 10th gen, but as of now a lot of that is my own optimistic hope. We'll see if that actually ends up being the case.

Ofc they have ip that are consistently popular they’ve been around the longest. Being consistently popular doesn’t mean your games are actually good. The last big new ip they created was splatoon and that was from the Wii U. What uip have they created recently? Literally every they release is child centric cartoon stuff. It’s been 2 generations since they had an actual popular big new ip. Nintendo fell behind Xbox in revenue and have fallen even further behind abk and ps us about to move ahead of Xbox. PS is alrdy peeping for its future while Nintendo is still lagging behind playing catch-up leaning heavily on some dated ip to carry them.

 

[Plextorage]

Whatever Phil said it means the opposite

 

[Gods&Monsters]

So the big announcement for Blizzard bright future was 3 expansions for World of Warcraft, a game from the 90s that you played on Commodore and Warcraft Rumble, a mobile game.

Basically nothing for the Xbox division. Xbots can't even use them to war or brag. Zero ammo. The reality of the Activision purchase will hit them a lot sooner than planned.

 

[KiryuRealty]

So the big announcement for Blizzard bright future was 3 expansions for World of Warcraft, a game from the 90s that you played on Commodore and Warcraft Rumble, a mobile game.

Basically nothing for the Xbox division. Xbots can't even use them to war or brag. Zero ammo. The reality of the Activision purchase will hit them a lot sooner than planned.

If reality kicking them in the junk, hard, continuously for the last 10 years hasn’t gotten them to acknowledge reality, don’t bet on this doing it.