Phil Spencer: single player narrative focused games are too risky, supports microtransactions

[madbuk]

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/27/xbox-chief-netflix-video-games-episodes-subscription-downloads-phil-spencer

 

On single-player narrative-driven games:

Quote

“The audience for those big story-driven games... I won’t say it isn’t as large, but they’re not as consistent. You’ll have things like Zelda or Horizon Zero Dawn that’ll come out, and they’ll do really well, but they don’t have the same impact that they used to have, because the big service-based games are capturing such a large amount of the audience. Sony’s first-party studios do a lot of these games, and they’re good at them, but outside of that, it’s difficult – they’re become more rare; it’s a difficult business decision for those teams, you’re fighting into more headwind."

On micro-transactions:

Quote

“But if I was playing a single-player story-based game and all of a sudden there was a paywall in the middle ... I mean, I’m old enough I remember horse armour, right? People had this view of, ‘Wait a minute, this is not that kind of game.’ We want to open up the opportunities for developers to do what they want to go do. But I also think we have to be able to support, as an industry, all kinds of games. I hear from gamers, ‘I don’t want microtransactions in all my games. I don’t want paywalls in all my games,’ and I think they’re absolutely in their right to voice their opinion. I do think there are models where that makes sense, and there are other models where it doesn’t.”

 

So basically what I'm getting from this is that you can forget about seeing any games like Sunset Overdrive 2, Horizon or Scalebound on Xbox anymore. The most you'll see of single-player experiences are going to be indie-budget low risk titles.

This "Games as a service" model that seems to be popular recently is nonsense imo. The day that single-player dies out is the day that I no longer bother buying new games at all and stick solely to older consoles, hopefully Sony and Nintendo never buy into this ridiculous mindset.

Also in regards to micro-transactions, it sounds like he's saying it's not OK for single-player to be a pay2win, but it's perfectly fine for multiplayer to be pay2win? What on earth?

[Conker]

My response to Phil Spencer 

 

#NeverLetSingleplayerOnlyGamesDie

Pls 100% Don't anyone agree with Mr Spencer, Thats you Sony/Nintendo 

[DamagingRob]

Is that why so many free-to-play games have been getting shut down recently? Get outta here with that nonsense, Phil.

[Such-A-Goonie]

Well, you can't disagree with him from a revenue perspective, I guess. He's in this for the money, not because he likes games so much. Every FPS has the chest lottery thing for a reason: MONEEEY!

[xZoneHunter]

Horizon sold 2.5M copies in two weeks. Singleplayer games are definitely not dead. This sounds like PR talk to the shareholders. I doubt that Phil will completely give up on SP experiences.

[Eraezr]

"We don't have that many good SPs, but let me tell you why their value is diminished."

 

Regardless of how he truly means his words, many will read it that way^

 

He's trying too hard on P.R. P3 needs to accept that they'll need to ride out this ass-bleed Mattrick left for them, until they bring out a contender for PS5.

Edited June 7, 2017 by Eraezr

[harsly]

The day SP becomes irrelevant is the day I stop gaming.

[PooPooBlast]

I like Phil Spencer despite not liking any Xbox title and I'm a massive Sony fan myself. He's always humble and doesn't trash talk or throw shades. 

 

However, what he just stated is utter nonsense.. It feels like he wasn't even speaking based on what he believes but rather just from a business or money standpoint. It's kind of like he's throwing some hints that perhaps this is where Xbox will be heading without actually specifically saying it so that when it does happen, people aren't shocked as if it was completely new. 

 

All the best wishes for Phil though because I hope he knows what he's doing..

 

SP games are about 90% the reason why I play games and I'm sure this is true for many others.

[Asvinia]

"Why does Candy Crush make so much money? I want to make that much money. Single player games are dead guys, these gamers just don't want to spend money on them anymore because they don't find single player games exciting. Besides, they take too much effort to make. You know what's exciting and doesn't require effort? Microtransactions. Gamers will say they don't want microtransactions, but we know that when they say no, they really mean yes."

 

Really though, sounds more like investor talk, not anything he actually believes. He'd have to be pretty stupid to think people aren't interested in SP games anymore, and if he tried getting rid of them it would just make Sony more money as people swapped over for the exclusives.

[Stardroid]

The day that single player games are no more is the day that I quit gaming to be honest. 

[MythRaider1994]

Everyone knows Microsoft's dropped the ball on single player exclusive games. If you're not interested in Gears of War or Halo and all that shooty shooty crap, what is there? Not much. 

[snakebit10]

I am still mostly a SP person. I grew on Sp games and still enjoy them the most. I can's say I would stop gaming without SP but I wouldn't game as much.

[Super-Fly Spider-Guy]

Seems pretty chill to me.

 

No shit multiplayer games make more sense. Great example is GTA V. Sure, it's a single player game. Sure, single player is all I care about. And sure, they promised single player DLC to be AVAILABLE by 2014 and instead they've just re-released the game twice and kept pumping shit into the online because MULTIPLAYER IS AN EASY WAY TO MAKE MONEY. Business wise this is obvious shit and Phil saying that is obvious shit too.

 

And no shit, of course you wanna squeeze more money out of consumers, it's bullshit, it's anti consumer, and I fucking hate it, but no shit. At least he isn't straight up defending them, he's only saying that there's certain situations which can support such a business model and I agree, there is certain situations that support it. For every million people who play Candy Crush for free, there's a couple hundred idiots shoveling a couple hundred of their idiot dollars into the machine.

 

You may not like what he's saying, but I'm glad he's saying it. Once again, Phil Spencer is straight up, and to the point, without bullshitting or dancing around potential problems, and you have to give props for that. Agree with him or disagree, at least he's got the balls to tell it like it is. 

 

...

 

All that being said, I fucking hate the idea of an online only future, and if we ever devolve to such a low point, you'll see me stick with my PS2 until death. Xbox, joke's on you, since I mostly play single player, and on my PS4 at that, and the odd multiplayer game I do buy, I buy on the *currently* superior PS4 hardware. So congrats on that approach to an MP-centric mindset, I wish you well and all, but I ain't gonna be throwing my money at it. I'll still be here, playing all these kick ass single player games on my own, when all your servers have long since shut down.

[madbuk]

1 minute ago, Super-Fly Spider-Guy said:

Seems pretty chill to me.

 

No shit multiplayer games make more sense. Great example is GTA V. Sure, it's a single player game. Sure, single player is all I care about. And sure, they promised single player DLC to be AVAILABLE by 2014 and instead they've just re-released the game twice and kept pumping shit into the online because MULTIPLAYER IS AN EASY WAY TO MAKE MONEY. Business wise this is obvious shit and Phil saying that is obvious shit too.

 

And no shit, of course you wanna squeeze more money out of consumers, it's bullshit, it's anti consumer, and I fucking hate it, but no shit. At least he isn't straight up defending them, he's only saying that there's certain situations which can support such a business model and I agree, there is certain situations that support it. For every million people who play Candy Crush for free, there's a couple hundred idiots shoveling a couple hundred of their idiot dollars into the machine.

 

You may not like what he's saying, but I'm glad he's saying it. Once again, Phil Spencer is straight up, and to the point, without bullshitting or dancing around potential problems, and you have to give props for that. Agree with him or disagree, at least he's got the balls to tell it like it is. 

 

...

 

All that being said, I fucking hate the idea of an online only future, and if we ever devolve to such a low point, you'll see me stick with my PS2 until death. Xbox, joke's on you, since I mostly play single player, and on my PS4 at that, and the odd multiplayer game I do buy, I buy on the *currently* superior PS4 hardware. So congrats on that approach to an MP-centric mindset, I wish you well and all, but I ain't gonna be throwing my money at it. I'll still be here, playing all these kick ass single player games on my own, when all your servers have long since shut down.

Except he quickly went into damage control mode on Twitter saying that he was misunderstood/that he loves playing single player games. If he really had the balls to tell it like it is, he would've doubled down on his bullshit statements in the interview when asked about it by fans on Twitter.

[Super-Fly Spider-Guy]

4 minutes ago, madbuk said:

Except he quickly went into damage control mode on Twitter saying that he was misunderstood/that he loves playing single player games. If he really had the balls to tell it like it is, he would've doubled down on his bullshit statements in the interview when asked about it by fans on Twitter.

Aw shit, Phil boy, you let me down. Say something dumb, say something smart, either way, don't backpedal dude, makes you look 10 times worse than you did in the first place.

[Azaan60]

Lmao no wonder Xbox is getting thumped so hard. They need good exclusives and the Xbone is severely lacking in that department. This statement doesn't really bring hope that'll change. 

Edited April 29, 2017 by Azaan60

[HardXDXtraga]

Oh, Phil Spencer... you really are the Donald Trump of the gaming industry 

I guess it's ok as long as you have CoD and EA Sports games right? RIGHT?

[BlackCatBurrito]

Why is he using console exclusives on other consoles as examples. He doesn't have a clue about them. PS3 exclusives didn't sell, PS4's exclusives are selling better. Surprisingly they're mostly single player focused. Zelda sold more then the entire new console did. I think people want these games Phil. 

 

I think what you meant to say is “Gears & Halo aren't selling what they use to, probably because we changed who makes them & dragged them on, but we won't talk about that. Also we have our arguably best studio working on a new likely multiplayer only game & we're fucking crossing our fingers because the multiplayer platform is so volatile that it's almost all or nothing putting a first party studio on it"

 

Regardless of my console preference, Phil lost me long ago. Especially when he had an interview with Ryan of IGN, where he called Playstation out for paying to keep content off other platforms. This mind you was after the Tomb Raider deal was done. No Xbox doesn't pay to keep games off other platforms not at all Phil. Oh it's different because they help publish? Not really they probably just payed the entire marketing budget but ok there's another 20 examples at least. 

 

Phil is full of shit. 

[Sigma999]

2 hours ago, harsly said:

The day SP becomes irrelevant is the day I stop gaming.

Wise words , my dear friend . The same wil happen here . I'm a solely SP gamer and that won't change like never .

26 minutes ago, HardXDXtraga said:

Oh, Phil Spencer... you really are the Donald Trump of the gaming industry 

I guess it's ok as long as you have CoD and EA Sports games right? RIGHT?

Keep feeding the XBOX community with the so called "Bruh" games and they won't complain a damn thing .

[DennisWilles]

I have nothing against MP only games.. but what I despise are SP games with a forced MP add-on. This has ruined so many games for me.. starting with the early Assassin's Creed games, Tomb Raider, Uncharted.. GTA 5 in a way as well. They decided not to have any SP expansions to it because of the multiplayer. That makes me worried about Red Dead Redemption 2.. Undead Nightmare was absolutely fantastic but Rockstar will most likely focus on multiplayer alone there as well. 

 

 

[melbye82]

No wonder xbox is something i will never get into. Awful 1st party and lack of investment in Singleplayer

[Zanreo]

Yeah... strongly disagree. Single-player experiences is what I'm all about, I'd rather play many singleplayer games rather than focusing on just one multiplayer game (with microtransactions) for months...

Never been an Xbox fan, always preferred Nintendo and Playstation, and with less games like this it will be even harder to get me interested...

[RevengeancePrime]

I've never really seen Xbox as the console for single player focused games. Their biggest titles have always been games like Halo, Gears of War and Forza. I wouldn't mind Xbox focusing completely on multiplayer games since we're already getting a ton of quality single player titles from Sony and Nintendo. 

[Terra]

I'm not into multiplayer that much. I always preferred immersing myself into the game's story and enjoying it solo. There is absolutely nothing wrong with single player focused games but it looks like Phil Spencer is only looking at the profit. Multiplayer games are profitable but what happens once it shuts down? At least single player can be enjoyed and replayed. 

[Caesar Clown]

Modern DOOM and Wolfenstein games say otherwise, Phil.