Seeing an executive take the blame for something is like black holes: we know it happens somewhere because of the effects it has, but it is invisible to the human eye. No matter the decisions they make, they always have reasons to do so. Even if the rest of humanity sees clearly that more than reasons, they are excuses. Something in which it seems that Xbox CEO, Phil Spencer, is not the exception.
In an interview with Chris Plante from Polygon, Phil Spencer has talked about the state of the video game industry. Explaining that there are now many more risks when it comes to producing a AAA release, he emphasized that the development costs and audience expectations make the playing field very different from years ago. With publishers becoming increasingly reluctant to take risks, as where it used to be necessary to sell hundreds of thousands of copies to recoup costs or achieve profits, now it is necessary to sell millions.
As it is well known, this situation has led to a much more timid growth of the industry than expected within it. Something that is being settled with the dismissal of thousands of people, including 1,900 layoffs at Xbox Games Studios shortly after closing the purchase of Activision Blizzard. Something that Plante asked about and Spencer decided to answer in the most worrying way possible.
In Spencer’s words, the motivation for these layoffs is because “we are a business. I’ve said it over and over again. I don’t have the luxury of not having to run a business that grows in profits within Microsoft”. Stating that the problem is that the video game industry is “an industry that is not growing”, he believes that “it can grow and will grow again”, emphasizing that “we should all reflect on it and think about it”. A comment devoid of any sensitivity, considering that the human impact has been two thousand layoffs under his leadership after the industry’s biggest acquisition. Especially considering that it is not true that there is no growth in the industry.
Furthermore, he is optimistic about the Xbox brand, at least in terms of the entity. Stating that this industry situation is what has led them to seek to launch their games on other platforms, he also states that “the console market has not grown in the last year”, which is not true, in addition to the change in consumption habits of Generation Z, who do not see the Xbox as a device to connect to the television, which is also not true, leads them to find it more interesting to bring their games to all kinds of platforms.
The result of the interview is Phil Spencer trying to justify firing 1,900 people and an unpopular change in business strategy by claiming that the industry has not grown according to their own expectations. Something very different from not growing at all. This demonstrates how, at the end of the day, the problem with the video game industry is not its lack of growth, but the need of some people to justify their mistakes.
