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So, is it true there is a Phil Spencer fandom?

fireflame

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,275
I do not own a Xbox One, so I am not fully aware of what this man achieved. But I have seen people praise him, and other people complain that it was ridiculous to do so. What I get is that he seems to have been able to give fuel to Xbox One after the damage caused by the previous leadership, which hurt the Xbox brand.But since I don't see the same thing happening with Nintendo and Sony, I am wondering what is this story about Phil Spencer being "worshipped" as I have read several users mentioning this inside the community.
 
Theorry

Theorry

Member
Oct 27, 2017
61,029
So you would say there is a cult? :P

www.resetera.com

Why does Phil Spencer have some weird cult of personality?

Despite my name and avatar and I'm not some super Phil fan, nor am I one of his detractors. I have come to the conclusion, whenever it's in general or mainly on this board, that he has some form of weird cult of personality, where he can say or do anything ( or nothing in some cases) and get...
www.resetera.com www.resetera.com
 
Ja-

Ja-

The Fallen
Oct 30, 2017
1,029
Doesn't happen with Sony and Nintendo? Never heard of Reggie and Kaz?
 
Doskoi Panda

Doskoi Panda

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,970
I don't know what's Kaz-ing it, but I've Cerny-ly never seen such behavior from any other fanbase, no siree

FFS lmao.
 
Yerffej

Yerffej

Prophet of Regret
Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,557
Seems down to earth and I like the shots he's calling. My thoughts about him stop there.
 
OG_Thrills

OG_Thrills

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,655
My thoughts on Phil Spencer fandom aside... As a people and a species we seem to be living through an age where "cult of personality." is a thing. It's something I don't adhere to personally. And I think that creates conflict when you run into people who do.

As a person, I'm able to distinguish between PR fluff / PR smoke in every facet of our society. In my country (UK) we're having a election and PR/Spin is at an all time high. But I bob and weave my way through it by believing none of what they say and half of what I see.
 
Naga

Naga

Alt account
Banned
Aug 29, 2019
7,850
He's the only guy at Xbox charismatic enough at an executive level to have fans, and shown to be nice on twitter and in interviews.
It's not deep, there's the same for Sony.
 
Bear and bird

Bear and bird

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,596
Nah. Some people try to make it seem like he's worshipped though. I guess it's telling that they can no longer accuse Phil of lying or being a salesman. So the next best thing is to act as if he's treated as some sort of religious figure by the fanbase.

In reality, most Xbox fans are just happy to have a competent leader at Xbox. Xbox has improved in so many areas from 2014 to now that it's almost an entirely different organization. Obviously he's not the sole reason why they turned Xbox around, but for better or worse he's the current face of the Xbox division.
 
Magneto

Magneto

Prophet of Truth
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,449
fireflame said:
The current CEO of Nintendo doesn't seem to be praised as much. It is true Reggie was popular at soe point. But lastly I have really seen a lot of comments about Spencer.
Click to expand...
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Kaz Hirai
Jack Tretton
Shu Yoshida
Reggie
Iwata

All of them had some sort of "fandom". And i'm sure i'm forgetting some names.
 

Deleted member 198

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
12,319
fireflame said:
The current CEO of Nintendo doesn't seem to be praised as much. It is true Reggie was popular at soe point. But lastly I have really seen a lot of comments about Spencer
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
That's what happens when you manage to have an active face and voice while turning the company around.
It's no different than when the old board was flooded with weird gifs of Cerny/Kaz at the PS4 launch
 
IIFloodyII

IIFloodyII

Member
Oct 26, 2017
23,979
It's definitely not exclusive to Phil, he's just really the only one on the Xbox side. Nintendo had Reggie, probably much more so than Phil in the last 5 years thanks to him being a bit of a goof in directs and a few big developers.
Sony's is more their big developers now too, with a lot of the faces leaving or taking a step back from being the face you always see in their shows.
 
Jaypah

Jaypah

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,866
Phil could have a "cult" for 5 more years and still wouldn't approach the fandom and amount of .gifs as Kaz and Reggie. Hell, there are probably more .gifs of Shu sleeping than .gifs of Phil.
 

Deleted member 5028

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,724
You say you don't see that happening with Sony but for years we had this
tumblr_miitsms9FK1qzt2qao1_400.gifv


There has always been fandom around console leaders.
 
tokkun

tokkun

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,408
The one I really don't get is Reggie. Aside from making one flamboyant comment near the start of his role, it was years of the most bland robotic corporate PR speak imaginable.
 
Magneto

Magneto

Prophet of Truth
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,449
tokkun said:
The one I really don't get is Reggie. Aside from making one flamboyant comment near the start of his role, it was years of the most bland robotic corporate PR speak imaginable.
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He also lied on multiple occasions. But if you can reach the meme status, like he did, you can say whatever you want.
 
Fat4all

Fat4all

Woke up, got a money tag, swears a lot
Member
Oct 25, 2017
92,903
here
tokkun said:
The one I really don't get is Reggie. Aside from making one flamboyant comment near the start of his role, it was years of the most bland robotic corporate PR speak imaginable.
Click to expand...
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he was just affable and chill, and had some good lines here and there

he was fun for the time
 
Eumi

Eumi

Member
Nov 3, 2017
3,518
Everyone face a company gives itself will inevitably garner a fandom from the people cheerleading for that company.
 
Lobster Roll

Lobster Roll

signature-less, now and forever
Member
Sep 24, 2019
34,380
I don't think "fandom" is the right word. With Microsoft, Phil has been the spokesperson and face that represents the shift from Don Mattrick's always-on DRM & Kinect disaster to the current landscape of Gamepass, Xcloud, new studios, etc.

So when Phil is involved in something (like a show), people get excited. Same thing happened with Reggie. Same thing used to happen with Todd Howard. Todd Howard comes on stage and everybody makes "Papa Todd" jokes because the odds of a new Fallout or Elder Scrolls announcement increases.

So these guys don't have "fans" per se, but it's more of a situation where when they make an appearance, something cool might happen.
 
IIFloodyII

IIFloodyII

Member
Oct 26, 2017
23,979
tokkun said:
The one I really don't get is Reggie. Aside from making one flamboyant comment near the start of his role, it was years of the most bland robotic corporate PR speak imaginable.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I remember Reggie being pretty divisive for awhile, until he started doing silly stuff in directs, playing Smash against people in a Smash tourney and him at the game awards/with Keighley.
 
Lentic

Lentic

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,836
Cult of personality is nothing new in gaming.

Hideo Kojima
Miyamoto
Sakurai
etc.
 
Phil me in

Phil me in

Member
Nov 22, 2018
1,292
It's a it baffling really. Took him until the end of this gen to start getting exclusives out the door.
 
jediyoshi

jediyoshi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,126
I find threads going on about people going on about him more odd. What's even being discussed here? It just immediately reverts back into a conversation about him, which isn't what OP was looking for to begin with.
 
tokkun

tokkun

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,408
IIFloodyII said:
I remember Reggie being pretty divisive for awhile, until he started doing silly stuff in directs, playing Smash against people in a Smash tourney and him at the game awards/with Keighley.
Click to expand...
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What I remember about those Game Awards interviews is Reggie giving the most politician-like non-answers possible. Dodge the actual question, then respond with a scripted PR bullet point. The only real entertainment value was when Keighley would press him to give a real answer until he got annoyed.

I get that this is what PR people are trained to do, and he might not have had much choice in the matter, but I don't see why it would endear him to anyone.
 
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