Those are interesting comments. Although a set of them do leave me pondering.

One person says "why congratulate Sony on this when they didn't congratulate you on Sea of thieves".

With another responding "if they congratulated them on Sea of thieves it would have been seen as a joke. Like congratulating someone for getting a D on a test".

Thoughts? Should congratulations be limited to successes, or for anything?

I think if it was up to Phil and Phil only, the XB1 would have a much healthier 1st party support, but MS´s strategy for the system is clearly not focused on that.

Phil spencer has been a mixed bag so far imo. The ecosystem upgrades have been great (back compact, returns of digital games, game preview, play anywhere, live clubs/looking for group, game pass, ea access. Even the smaller changes (like the recently announced 1440p support, adaptive sync support, auto low latency modes) go a long way when added up. Playing three generations of games on a single box is pretty awesome. Having unlimited access to a diverse library of games for $10 a month is also pretty great.

I would even go far as to say the way Xbox One X has been handled completely embarrasses the pro.

However, it's almost like they made a huge underground security base for protecting some rare artifact, but except the rare artifact isn't even present. And that artifact being great exclusive games, a huge factor for selling consoles. Phil has been lacklustre in that regard. We haven't seen much of anything from him, really.

Exclusives is one of the factors that makes or breaks a system, and I hope they Microsoft can deliver on some this E3 (or save em up for Xbox two and unload a barrage of during the first two years).

I think the problem is, unlike Sony that places a huge priority on the Playstation business, the Xbox doesn´t seem to be of major importance to Microsoft, so maybe Phil and the Xbox division don´t get the necessary budget allocation for Phil to greenlight a good amount of true exclusives like Sony does.

I think Phil wants to, but depends on the higher ups, and they don´t seem interested...it was obviously different in the early X360 days.

I was about to say this in reply to another post, before seeing yours.
And I think that could be something worth thinking about for Sony's PR team. I was thinking they could chose something specific to congratulate Sea of Thieves on, like how it's the "fastest selling new IP for MS published Xbox One games" or whatever they said it was. But that could also run the risk of sounding a bit snarky. Because by not mentioning the obvious things like critical reception, you can draw more attention to them.

Maybe it's best to be silent in some situations. I'm guessing Phill didn't congratulate Sony on No Man's Sky's release for example? That was probably a wise choice, in that case.

Also that is more parroting Xbox. Almost like you are saying it right back at them out of obligation than sincerity. You can go generic but then that seems like you are forcing it.

Wonder if Sony congratulated them on Cuphead?

No they're not.

Sorry. Double post.

Honestly, I don't think Phil Spencer or MS want a console war. They are happy pulling in their XBL money, and so long as they continue to do steady business they are happy. 

Just to clarify, I meant XB1 exclusives as in not available on PS4. Yes, I know that's not exactly what exclusive means, but I assumed everyone would know what I meant. 

But what are the more than 3-4 games? I guess if you count the yearly Forza releases you get up to eight or nine, but sports/racing games don't count, because I make the rules. :P 

I mean, when's the last time you saw a Playstation Fanboy list MLB The Show 13 to 17 in an exclusives debate? 

Spinnin' what?