If you could point his mistakes what would they be?
The Series X was designed with gaming in mind and is a well rounded product. Promised games seemed great. He even struck a deal with Kojima. The studio purchases were supposed to bring a lot of content.
I think the biggest error was focusing on Gamepass. But other than that, I m struggling to pinpoint with certainty if it was his fault, external reasons or directors of the studios running the games.
Especially the closure of Tango after announcing Hi Fi Rush was a huge success, was shocking
Hardware is one of the few areas I think MS have done well with overall under Phil, sure. I still think Series S was a slight misstep in execution, but I think the idea was good.
Yes, I'd put the heavy push for Gamepass to be one of the mistakes, but I will say I've been biased against Gamepass and subscription services for games in general since the start. I can write a lot about why, so wont do it here, but I think it was always going to be difficult to make work, even with more subscribers, and would put them in a seriously terrible position if it didn't.
Honestly, there's so much I could mention. Getting the Fallout IP and not getting somebody on a new Fallout game immediately was a mountain of a mistake. They knew BGS wasn't gonna be making a new Fallout game for quite a long time, but they had TWO other big-name studios with experience making quality Fallout games. This should have been put to one of either inXile or Obsidian, and made an issue of it.
And that goes to another thing - I think Phil tried to be too friendly and hands-off with developers. He never found the right balance between having a forceful hand and granting freedom. Game projects need people to be making hard decisions and keeping the project on track, and publisher pressure is a big component of ensuring this.
I'd also say Phil simply had the wrong mindset as he 'conceded' the console wars and made the bizarre statement that great games dont sell consoles. That's genuinely the opposite of the truth and to hear that from the head of Xbox dumbfounded me. It's the #1 reason they are in the position they are in, and it's literally the only thing that will save them going forward. No, they may not 'win' the console wars, but if they want to get back in the fight and at least carve out a safer existence, it's KEY to make great games that will help sell Xbox's. There's room for both Sony and Xbox even if Xbox doesn't outright win.
Basically, Phil already had made a decision at some point that they were gonna try and 'swerve' and find some alternate route to success instead of playing the game the way it's always been played. But there's a reason the game has always been played the way it has. It's what works. And now they seem completely lost in trying to figure out this mythical alternate path and it's just sinking them further and losing the public's confidence in the process. They aren't an 'agile' business, either. This is Microsoft, the most corporation of corporations. lol
I could go on with lots and lots of more detail points that all add up hugely over time, but these are some of the more broad headline points, I think.
