The fact that Phil (note: I call him Phil because he's my friend) said nothing and told everyone to wait, at least, a week is absolutely bonkers. How much more PR damage can the brand sustain? A week with what's going on is basically an eternity.
I know the almighty "bottom line" won't be hurt and Microsoft will still make trillions with a T... but Xbox as a brand? It's already in life support, draining blood from daddy Microsoft just to stay alive in its deep coma. But with this message, Mr. Spencer is jumping on the hospital bed and taking a shit on the near corpse of the brand. And then he gets down and whispers on its ear: "We hear you!".
If there was absolutely no credibility to anything that's being said, the immediate and first answer would have been to outright deny everything. If there was even a single nugget of truth, then the response should have been instantaneous to halt any rumormongering... But, alas, not only has Xbox let the public message get completely out of control, they are giving free reign to their sycophantic mouthpieces to either go scorched earth with the brand or make a herculean effort to spin everything in a positive light, even when the message is continuously changing. What they said 12 hours ago directly contradicts what they are saying now. But who cares, because they are protecting the identity-brand, and that's all that matters to some.
Xbox had more than 20 years to establish itself as a pillar of the gaming community and industry. They had infinite money to do so. They were never the scrappy underdog that needed to buy the biggest Western publisher in order to have a fighting chance against big bad Sony, no matter how much certain people in certain places tried to paint it like that. And for all this, this is the fruits of their labor. I can't believe how mismanaged a brand like this could get, but here we are.
Good riddance, I guess.