He has a tendency to launch into monologues where there appears to be little filter between his thoughts and his mouth, which I've felt in the past lead to him saying things that he really hadn't fully fleshed out.

I hope that's what happened here... he referenced two GOTY contenders and amazing experiences in Zelda BotW and Horizon ZD, and then somehow made it sound as if they're not something he's particularly interested in providing.

I think when he said "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" he was referring more to the financial long term impact for the devs than the impact on the players and creative impact on the industry itself, but that's precisely the sort of thing "gamers" aren't interested in.

Sure, those service-based games that involve subscriptions and microtransactions make an enormous amount of money over time, but those aren't the games people base their console selections on. People see Horizon and are glad they already have a PS4 or feel motivated to get the Pro to see those beautiful graphics. We've already seen that Zelda has almost single-handedly turned Nintendo from a Company many thought would be forced out of the console market to suddenly a console that people are actually optimistic about, with launch sales that surpass any previous console of theirs.

He's not wrong in his observation regarding profits for the developers, but he's absolutely focused on the wrong thing when it comes to winning gamers back; really, it's a little perplexing, and that's why I think this was one of those "not fully thought out" observations that he sorta just blurted out while rambling.

I know I wasn't the only one to notice this. I feel like every time Phil talks, it feels like the Xbox division is a rudderless ship. Feeling their way around until they can announce a new angle. It's like they can never comfortably settle into anything strategy-wise. I think the new hardware could work out for them, but sometimes, I feel that too much is riding on that and service based games.

He has a tendency to launch into monologues where there appears to be little filter between his thoughts and his mouth, which I've felt in the past lead to him saying things that he really hadn't fully fleshed out.

I hope that's what happened here... he referenced two GOTY contenders and amazing experiences in Zelda BotW and Horizon ZD, and then somehow made it sound as if they're not something he's particularly interested in providing.

I think when he said "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" he was referring more to the financial long term impact for the devs than the impact on the players and creative impact on the industry itself, but that's precisely the sort of thing "gamers" aren't interested in.

Sure, those service-based games that involve subscriptions and microtransactions make an enormous amount of money over time, but those aren't the games people base their console selections on. People see Horizon and are glad they already have a PS4 or feel motivated to get the Pro to see those beautiful graphics. We've already seen that Zelda has almost single-handedly turned Nintendo from a Company many thought would be forced out of the console market to suddenly a console that people are actually optimistic about, with launch sales that surpass any previous console of theirs.

He's not wrong in his observation regarding profits for the developers, but he's absolutely focused on the wrong thing when it comes to winning gamers back; really, it's a little perplexing, and that's why I think this was one of those "not fully thought out" observations that he sorta just blurted out while rambling.