Welp, he did it once and now hes back to do it again. He congratulated Sony on Bloodborne, he congratulated Sony on Uncharted 4 and now on Horizon. This completes the hat trick of congratulations. Such a great guy, but for some reason it almost feels forced since Microsoft threw shade at Sony's efforts with the PS4 pro with the Xbox S responses to Sonys lack of true 4k. Despite his efforts to say there is no console war, Microsoft sure has a weird and passive aggressive way of selling their product in response to Sony. Proof that there will always be a console war. Anyway, Hopefully he inspires his division to make better exclusives so Sony can congratulate him more. I have a feeling that Phil is going to congratulate Sony once again once God of War drops. LOL

To be honest I think Sony have done the same. One cant help but remember the emphasis on being able to lend games that Sony emphasised once the Xone was revealed. Nor the teasing ad with Shu. Congratulating the opposition is a lot better than the arrogance shown by all parties in the prev gens.

I truly miss the 90's era console wars. Considering there are entire books written about that time, I think it's safe to say it's not just me who thinks it was more interesting when companies actually cared enough to fight for their position. Watching everyone cuddle and be friendly is not interesting lol

I still chuckle when I think about Crash using a megaphone to heckle Xbox  right outside Ms's Redmond site.

It would be considered good if Microsoft sayihg congratulations wasnt followed by undercurrents of passive aggressive advertisement. Remember the Xbox S response to the PS4?

There was so much speculation though. The situation with Sony and Nintendo was tense. Microsoft comes off fake. It was funny too when Sony called them out on for throwing shade at their PS4 pro.

He congratulates Sony on a really good console exclusive. Ok? All of those games you mentioned are extremely good by most gamers standards. People are cheerleading for the company, Some are figuratively worshipping them with the upmost sincerity. But its problematic when Phil gives Sony a pat on the back?
What makes this sad for the most part isn't that the gaming media frequently post every tweet about him sneezing. The fact that so many people make it newsworthy themselves is, quite genuinely, sad.

Yes it makes perfect sense for Spencer to say there is no console war whilst Microsoft attacks in every opportunity possible. Spencer controls a mere division of Microsoft. Microsoft in general still does whatever it feels like and still has their hands in Xbox. Not saying Phil is a puppet, but he doesn't have as much free reign or control as you make it seem.

Misleading thread.

Here is the quote
Forza Horizon 3, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Civilization 6, Horizon Zero Dawn, Overwatch etc all make gaming better,” he continued.

So basically big AAA games are good for console market in general.
Also, he mentioned Forza H 3 first, and there is a reason for it.

BTW If not that quote i would not even know that Civ 6 exist.

Its what you get with some gamers in charge, theres plenty of people in the main Xbox team, mike Ybarra was also playing horizon, loving it.

Sure they fling poo at sony sometimes with an add or a comment but in generall this generation has been quite nice on both sides and Microsoft is and will be much more active on social media in general so there is going to be more positive- and negative things to say about that.

Overall I think they know they are behind and making the best of a bad situation, which is good because we all love competition its good for games, sales and innovation because look at what happened with intel in the cpu department, releasing the same cpu with 5% performance gains and rediculous prices is really bad.

Ryzen comes and intel is starting to actually do things again, its all about competition and altough I don't own an Xbox yet I plan to support the scorpio too and it would never have happened if they didn't change direction after 2013

They have enough free reign to create a upgraded Xbox that is not needed but cannot make better exclusives? I dunno how to weigh the pros and cons of this argument. Microsoft is going for the petty battle and thats when they will boast just like they did the Xbox S.

Sony's response to Microsofts passive aggressive behavior.

"While others have shifted their message and changed their story, we were consistent in maintaining a message that is fair and in tune with consumer desires,"