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Microsoft Almost Abandoned the Xbox brand after the launch of the Xbox One

xem

xem

Member
Oct 31, 2017
2,043
oh interesting. we knew this happened but nice to see more details
 
Trago

Trago

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,605
It's a good thing they didn't.

Less competition in this space is good for no one.
 
CarbonCrush

CarbonCrush

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,135
So happy they learned from their mistakes and persevered. The S X|S are amazing consoles - reminds of the 360 years.
 
HardTimesFamilyPride

HardTimesFamilyPride

Member
Oct 26, 2017
8,055
Appalachia
Cool to see info on this. There were rumours flying around back then that Microsoft's shareholders were trying to ditch Xbox. Made sense after the money dropped in Live and etc. only to see the One royally fuck up at launch. But now it's working very well for them!
 
Prophet Five

Prophet Five

Pundeath Knight
Member
Nov 11, 2017
7,692
The Great Dark Beyond
I could be remembering incorrectly but I swear I remember reading something saying Mattrick hated the gaming arm and wanted Xbox to be done. It may say this in the article but I can't get it to load (having weird internet issues today).

I just don't understand how he was placed in charge to begin with. Likely, corporate politics and "working his way up" but he wasn't actually qualified or experienced enough in gaming to be the lead. Of course, I could also be wrong there but that's a big yikes either way.
 
Dinjoralo

Dinjoralo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,153
I have to imagine there were more than one of such meetings last generation. There's no way the failings on the PC side of things initially didn't cause that to fall in the crosshairs as well.
 
Dirtyshubb

Dirtyshubb

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,555
UK
I remember countless people calling those who suggested this could happen as console warriors etc. Seems they were almost proved right.
 
rrc1594

rrc1594

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,805
Prophet Five said:
I could be remembering incorrectly but I swear I remember reading something saying Mattrick hated the gaming arm and wanted Xbox to be done. It may say this in the article but I can't get it to load (having weird internet issues today).

I just don't understand how he was placed in charge to begin with. Likely, corporate politics and "working his way up" but he wasn't actually qualified or experienced enough in gaming to be the lead. Of course, I could also be wrong there but that's a big yikes either way.
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It was the other guy I believe who was Lead of the whole hardware division. He worked at that Phone company MS sabotaged I believe.
 
Lobster Roll

Lobster Roll

signature-less, now and forever
Member
Sep 24, 2019
34,380
It cannot be overstated how terrible Don Mattrick was for the Xbox brand.
 
Delusibeta

Delusibeta

Prophet of Truth
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
5,648
That would have been within six months of the Xbox One's launch, woof. Had the executive decided to bin the brand, it would have cemented the Xbox One as gaming's all time worst launch. I'd still argue its gaming's all time worst launch, since it gave PlayStation a near unassailable lead in the last console generation they could get away without backwards compatability, but that's a substantially weaker argument than "Xbox went from leading to US market to dissolution in six months".
 
Garrett 2U

Garrett 2U

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,511
Dirtyshubb said:
I remember countless people calling those who suggested this could happen as console warriors etc. Seems they were almost proved right.
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The period as to which Microsoft was questioning its investment in Xbox was much, much shorter than the period of time as to when console warriors were suggesting Microsoft was going to sell Xbox. People were saying this before even the Xbox One.

I imagine basically Satya was like "Hey Phil, why are we in gaming? Let's meet in two weeks to talk about it." And two weeks later Phil was like "This is where we see gaming going." And Satya was like "Ok cool, let's do it."

Meanwhile console warriors were like "LOL M$ is gunna dump Xbone!"

Not remotely justification for that.
 
SilkySm00th

SilkySm00th

Member
Oct 31, 2017
4,803
It's kind of amazing to see how much damage the "We have a console for that - it's called the Xbox 360" and the whole "We can't just flip a switch and turn off the check in requirement, if you're not an engineer or programmer you have no idea what you're talking about"
... 3 days later...

It was just L after L for Xbox for like 6 months straight right out the fuckin gate. I'm glad they shifted to putting people who are actually passionate about the industry and games in the top spot.
 
Prophet Five

Prophet Five

Pundeath Knight
Member
Nov 11, 2017
7,692
The Great Dark Beyond
Virtualoso said:
I'm not really a fan of Xbox, but I like the energy and dedication Phil Spencer has. That man knows what he's doing.
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I don't want to catch heat for this because I know how ERA feels about corporations and leadership (and it can be applied to political figures here as well) but Phil seems like a "decent" enough guy. I don't worship at his feet or anything but I don't actively dislike him. He seems chill enough.

(is this a diplomatic enough response to not have anyone jump down my throat? lol)
 
Yasuke

Yasuke

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
19,817
I can't fathom myself ever wanting one, but I echo everyone's relief that this didn't come to pass.

That'd have been horrible for the industry.
 
BlueManifest

BlueManifest

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,331
While they didn't kill it, they did decide on no more console exclusive games atleast, I think of that as half way killing it
 

lost7

Member
Feb 20, 2018
2,750
Thanks Phil! Imagine how awful the industry would be without MS. Sony would probably sell games for a kidney lol
 
Dirtyshubb

Dirtyshubb

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,555
UK
Garrett 2U said:
The period as to which Microsoft was questioning its investment in Xbox was much, much shorter than the period of time as to when console warriors were suggesting Microsoft was going to sell Xbox. People were saying this before the Xbox One.
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But that isn't what is the issue. People suggesting that Microsoft could decide to get rid of Xbox were still right because the discussion apparently happened.

Just because it didn't happen or not at the instant some people started suggesting it could happen, doesn't invalidate that there was genuine reason to be concerned about the possibility.
 
SilkySm00th

SilkySm00th

Member
Oct 31, 2017
4,803
Prophet Five said:
I could be remembering incorrectly but I swear I remember reading something saying Mattrick hated the gaming arm and wanted Xbox to be done. It may say this in the article but I can't get it to load (having weird internet issues today).

I just don't understand how he was placed in charge to begin with. Likely, corporate politics and "working his way up" but he wasn't actually qualified or experienced enough in gaming to be the lead. Of course, I could also be wrong there but that's a big yikes either way.
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I believe it. Someone who hated Xbox in charge of the Xbox brand makes perfect sense when you look back at "LOOK IT PLAYS TV!!" and the fuckin Kinect
"Video games? Like little kid toys? I dunno make a little camera they can play with or something, who gives a fuck. This is going to be the receiver of the future and no one is gonna play video games in 15 years anyways. Also - use the camera to charge people more if they have multiple people in the room when they renting Fast and Furious 4. That's where the money is, I tells ya!"
 
Jeffram

Jeffram

Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,924
Lobster Roll said:
It cannot be overstated how terrible Don Mattrick was for the Xbox brand.
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He gets a lot of deserved hate, but I think he was just following up on the goal of the xbox brand. It wasn't about gaming, it was about owning the living room, or stopping sony from doing it. I think they didn't realize their gateway into the living room (gaming) was the most compelling business until too late.
 
MistahS

MistahS

Prophet of Truth
The Fallen
Sep 2, 2018
3,734
Based Phil saving Xbox. Having pretty grown up an Xbox "gamer" I would've been pretty bummed out to see it go away.
 
Lobster Roll

Lobster Roll

signature-less, now and forever
Member
Sep 24, 2019
34,380
Jeffram said:
He gets a lot of deserved hate, but I think he was just following up on the goal of the xbox brand. It wasn't about gaming, it was about owning the living room, or stopping sony from doing it. I think they didn't realize their gateway into the living room (gaming) was the most compelling business until too late.
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He held the role of "President of the Interactive Entertainment Business" since October 2010 according to Wikipedia, which included the Xbox brand. It was his product and his vision delivered to us in 2013.
 
floridaguy954

floridaguy954

Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,631
Ambient said:
Fuck Mattrick really fucked things up for Xbox and bounced.
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I'm glad he got replaced, so goddamn embarrassing.
 
Jeffram

Jeffram

Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,924
Lobster Roll said:
He held the role of "President of the Interactive Entertainment Business" since October 2010 according to Wikipedia, which included the Xbox brand. It was his product and his vision delivered to us in 2013.
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They were baking off hardcore gaming since the middle of the 360 generation. The pipeline when he took over was almost entirely connect games outside of their handful of tentpoles.
 
Pasha

Pasha

Banned
Jan 27, 2018
3,018
Dirtyshubb said:
I remember countless people calling those who suggested this could happen as console warriors etc. Seems they were almost proved right.
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I remember this rumor being spread around by console warriors years before Xbox One and pretty much all the way until now where you can still see those same people trying to act as if MS is ready to sell Xbox any minute now.

Both things can be true though, MS could have wanted to get out of gaming at some point, and the warrior suggesting this could happen were doing it for console war reasons.
 
Convasse

Convasse

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,818
Atlanta, GA, USA
Phil Spencer said:
Do I worry about failure? I fail all the time. It's one of those things I just have to get out of my psyche: Being afraid to fail. If I'm afraid to fail, then I won't be bold enough in the kind of decisions I need to make. But absolutely, you think about it. I don't like being as public as I am, and I know that'll probably seem weird given how public this role is. I'm an introvert. I'd rather be in my basement playing video games, so that part of the job is difficult. I laugh when people call me a PR person because I was never trained to do that. I don't even think I'm very good at it. but the role is head of Xbox and people want to see who that is.
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This stuck out to me. I hear it tossed around so often, especially in threads about him.
 
CelestialAtom

CelestialAtom

Mambo Number PS5
Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,049
I am so glad Phil & crew are still here, as no competition is what we do not want in this industry.
 
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