They put their games on the Switch. What a barrier.

Crazy all of the people trying to give this guy a hard time when he's justifiably calling out hypocrisy. You can't say you want to expand gaming while restricting where people can play their games. Sony doesn't hide the fact that they want to expand their business and Nintendo thinks that games should be made to serve their hardware not the other way around. Phil had a lot to say before the Bethesda buyout about removing barriers to play but when a business opportunity arose he took it and he's still out there paying for timed exclusives as well.

"This deal was not done to take games away from another player base like that. Nowhere in the documentation that we put together was: ‘How do we keep other players from playing these games?’ We want more people to be able to play games, not fewer people to be able to go play games." - Phil Spencer

And yet only if they want to play those games on PC or Xbox or a steaming service. You can't say you want more people to play the games and then sell it on fewer platforms. That's just lying to people.

Ok people. The man is simply saying he wants Ori on PlayStation and everything else but can’t. He made this great game on the system with the smallest user base thats the only ones that can play it.
Ori is exclusive and he has problems with exclusives. Not hard to see the real issue here.

I know how these things have always worked. This isn’t a new ideal. As someone that loves games I have always got every system. I didn’t want to miss out on Mario world nor did I want to miss out on Sonic 3. (Helped that my dad was a big time gamer too)
Some people have to choose the system that has the most pluses for them OR that fits their budget. Been like that from the beginning. Only way around this is for Microsoft to sell its gaming division, Sony to sell its gaming division, Nintendo to sell itself, or for Stadia to claim its rightful place on the video game throne.

It's kind of a shame there's so many people reinforcing these walled-gardens as if it gives them some value. How does it hurt you in any way that someone else who chose a certain platform plays your games?

Exclusives are good for no one. Even platform holders are slowly realising it and releasing their games on PC. Imagine a world where regardless of your platform of choice you can enjoy Forza Horizon 5 and Halo as well as God of War and Spider-Man.

I personally like exclusive culture in my opinion it was better time choice for customers.

I think the statement sayinf MS is in this weird place rings true.
PPL are mad at MS for not having real Serie X exclusives and at the same time some ppl are asking for the opposite.

He wasn't complaining when Microsoft funded their first 2 games, the games that made them the studio they are today.

Microsoft can simply make Game Pass available to all platforms and games the publish available on Game Pass.

If consoles didn't have first party exclusives then what would be the point in having 3 different console platforms since they all release on each others consoles?

Might as well everyone just get a pc. Or if a console is a must. You want a handheld one? Get a switch or want to play on a TV? Get a playstation.

He sure did take MS money and advertising to get his game where it is..he should be happy his game was so successful, don't bad mouth any of the big 3, take all your money and go make free games for 13year olds to play. MS is sticking to their word..you can play the game on a cell phone for crying out loud..they said they wanna make it so you dont have to own an Xbox to play..and u literally dont have to have an Xbox..PC, Cell phone, web browsers and soon T.Vs. they even had a commercial in Japan playing MS games on PS5!

They put his game on PC, all Xbox consoles and the Switch and he bitches that it ain't on Playstation? A game he knew from the very beginning no matter what MS was saying for PR wouldn't go to Playstation..I'm 100% playstation never once came up when they were inking a deal..but now that he has a truck of money and wants more, he pretends to be on some high horse. This guy need to STFU..make his private game and put it everywhere he see fit..after using MS to make a name for his studio, he has the balls to insult them and then Sony and Nintendo..wow..

The Ori dev must not have been up on history of Microsoft with their Embrace Extend Extinguish/Exterminate strategy that's still ongoing. Just like buying the Kinect tech to keep Dr Marks from using the tech on PlayStation. Just as Microsoft bought Zenimax to deny games from PlayStation while they say something else about having open barriers.

Make their software compatible in multiple areas except for their competitor to try to put them at a disadvantage. Goes with games as well. There's nothing new here. Companies like Netscape know this well. As well as Opera, Java, etc.

Microsoft just has a hard time making that strategy work when Sony is so dominant worldwide. Thomas crying about Microsoft's two face when he should have already known. They've been doing double speak from way back.

I like exclusives. I like having reasons to own particular consoles, but I can see why he, as a creator, would want his game experienced by all. I disagree however that MS should port their IPs to all platforms and vice versa.

MS can't have exclusives. Only Sony and Nintendo can. :P

Eric Barone had the choice the go straight to Xbox but instead kept Stardew Valley on Steam greenlight. He worked on it with his own time and money so he had more options open. If you want to be an independent developer it is on you to stay that way. It is not a platform holders fault if you knowingly sign a contract tying yourself to a corporation. If you want the money and support to rush things along maybe think about why that cash flow is available to you.

He wasn't bitching about it when he took MSs money.... now that the games have been out for a while he starts talking shit. Now, I think MS is doing the same thing any other company would do if they have had the same amount of money. I'm NOT saying thats a good thing at all. This is the industry, though. If sont could have bought bethesda they would have. It really is that simple. It sucks that millions won't be able to play series they used to, but itsno different than it would have been if Sony had 7b to throw at them.

Ori? Moon Studios? Who?

wuuuut Phil contradicting himself?

*shocker*

Pretty sure he wasn't complaining when Microsoft was paying all that advertising money and setting you up to succeed at E3.

Love Ori, my favourite platformer I've ever played.

it's on every platform besides playstation he's a grown man that signed a contract and now wants to sit on his high horse and preach.

He actually criticizes MS for not putting Ori on PlayStation?!

I thought this was clickbait, but he really did that.

His entire argument is really stupid. Both PlayStation and Xbox have had very few exclusive games to their platform. For the past decade, exclusives have been disappearing. This is not good and anybody paying attention recognizes it for what it is.

Also, how the f does he bring up Bungie? I know I'm not the only one that noticed that not a damn thing changed when Bungie left Activision. They kept using the same exact business practices. The whole industry is disgusting.

It happens, Phil Spencer really pulled a cheap shot to MLB but, because he whined and cried, MLB The Show is now on Xbox, dont tell me Sony is a closed or restricted ecosystem, they shouldnt have had to but was strong-armed into porting an exclusive and Sony developed (out of their pocket cost) to Microsoft at no cost to Microsoft other than dirty pool and griping and complaining, and have we seen Gears of War of PS? Nope.

So, he’s upset that a brand has their own exclusives to make their product more appealing to consumers? Has this moron not realized this has been a thing since Sega and Nintendo? I mean why the hell does any company make exclusives in a competing market?

But I guess he’s cool with Sony and Nintendo doing their thing. Honestly, what a joke.

Reading the comments here and on the website the article was published on is like reading comments from two totally different planets.

Tell me again how the multiplatform strategy was supposed to fix everything. Look at your results and compare them to Nintendo, which keeps thriving with exclusives. Your loyal fans are gone. And let’s not forget the pile of IPs you purchased only to let them rot.

The worst thing is this is down from last years numbers/expectations which was down from the previous years numbers/expectations. You think about how long “down” has been a consistent part of the communication and you realize those subscriptions are what’s holding that boat together. The price cut of gamespass is still a price raise in a string of price raises. They are trying to use players to offset the missing revenue. Now call of duty is out of gamespass, which is literally WHY they bought the company. To draw people to the subscription. They realized they missed a boatload of money and that wasn’t sustainable. Now you pay for it like you would have if they never bought the company… so why buy the company? Mind you those billions still need to be paid back. Yeah it gives you a chance to say we make the biggest FPS… but the internal conversations must be brutal at high level on topics that really matter. Like revenue. Profitability. And ROI for the shopping spree.

Is this like the 10th quarter in a row they're down 33% on hardware how is that even mathematically possible. You would think their mediocrity would Plateau