Hi all.

I got an Xbox 360 E back in December and just got an Xbox One X. Previously, I'd only played Xbox on family and friend's Xbox consoles.

I know I might be poking the bear here, but is it time for a change in Microsoft Gaming leadership? Phil Spencer has been in charge since 2014, which obviously means 10 years this year.

Phil and his team helped course correct some of the Xbox One with the One S, One X, Game Pass, and backwards compatibility. There are other features like Play Anywhere and such.

However, Xbox consoles are in rough shape right now. The Series X/S has been a disappointment for Microsoft and many players, and they're already working on the next generation of hardware which is implied for Holiday 2026. 

If Phil and Microsoft didn't care at all about selling consoles, he would probably be doing a really great job. But they do, considering they're making a next-gen console. Not to mention, first-party software and even third-party console exclusives are in rough shape.

The only long-term future I see for Xbox after the next console is a storefront like Steam, and maybe some licensed Xbox-branded Gaming PCs.

Honestly, yeah. He did a great job at reversing a lot of the terrible decision making made by Don Mattrick that took years to undo, but as far as leading Xbox into the future, Phil doesn't seem to have a cohesive vision, or maybe he's just done a terrible job at conveying anything that resembles a cohesive vision because his PR speak can really be all over the place.

I look forward to the day Sarah Bond takes over.

Yes it should be removed. the xbox needs to go back to the xbox 360 era. exclude releases on pc on day one. Stop launching games in competition like Playstation and Switch, do a lot of marketing for the console, make agreements with third parties to have console exclusives, only then will the Xbox compete again

And Sony is still making TVs and mobile phones... that doesn't mean that the TV business or phone business is their main focus.

The golden Xbox 360 years... less than 6 billion USD revenue per year and huge losses on Xbox hardware.

Almost 2 billion USD loss in 2007.

Since 2021 the annual revenue is around 15 - 16 billion USD (even before the Activison/Blizzard addition)..

It was time several years ago. He had an entire generation to fix XBO and didn't. He bought studios and yet hardly anything to show for it. Sales tanking. GP stagnating. Oddly selective in what gets a physical. MS will spend 70 billion to buy the act but won't shell out the cash for a physical of Hi-Fi Rush but will let LRG front the bill. Fucking why? Devs begged phil to step in for Redfall to kill it. He turned a blind eye. Halo has become a wet fart. Canceled a ton of games in the XBO era but after many delays. Studio and engine changes. Crackdown 3 comes out and is a letdown. Recore launched unfinished. Phil had been nothing but blunder after blunder. He may love games and may be a nice guy but he sucks at his job. He tanked a brand worse than SEGA. SEGA was still beloved. Xbox brand people have become apathetic.

I stopped playing on consoles several years ago. They don’t appeal to me anymore. What is it that people dislike about Xbox series s/x?

I have neither version of the Series, but from what I've read

1. Lack of compelling first-party software

2. Lack of compelling third-party exclusives, even if they're console exclusive but on PC

3. Series S is a bottleneck. There's criticism for Xbox requiring games to run on Series S and Series X. While Series S is better than One X in most ways on paper and actual performance, One X has 2 GB more RAM (but GDDR5 instead of GDDR6 like Series S) and supports higher resolutions on average. Admittedly, it has less 60 FPS support than Series S.

Is there anything concrete for this? 

Phil and Xbox have certainly had his ups and downs, but there is some misinformation in this post.

Phil was put in charge during a shit situation and did his best to fix it. Xbox was almost shut down and would have if not for Phil. while things were not great last gen, it could have certainly turned out much much worse if not for him. 

The studio acquisitions started in 2018, not when he started running things. Games take longer than ever to make and the pandemic didn't help. Ninja Theory and Obsidian are releasing their 1st big release this year under Xbox and most of their acquisitions still haven't released a game under Xbox yet. At least wait to see the quality of releases from Xbox before completely dismissing those studios. 

GP is stagnant, but not because it's a bad service. It's still one of tje most popular game subscription service out their and still the best value compared to other services. 

Physical sales have dropped significantly, and this is especially true for Xbox. When 80%+ of sales are digital, of course changes are going to happen. So when you ask, "fucking why?", Not enough people buy physical on Xbox. 

Phil didn't turn a blind eye on Redfall. Higher ups kept reassuring Phil development was going well and devs never said a word to Phil, but they hoped it would be canceled. There is a big difference between devs hoping a game is canceled and actually communicating this to Xbox. Phil fully took blame for Redfall and said they will be more involved going forward. Xbox has since then completely reorganize their internal structuring with better support from higher ups to be more involved. 

Your Sega take is completely your opinion, but its easy to look at Sega consoles or any console favorable when time pass. The day MS stops making consoles, they will likely be looked at favorably, even with their less popular consoles. Sega consoles never had to deal with the social media world we are in now to analyze ever little thing. They would probably be scrutinized for one thing or another if they did.