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Phil Spencer: Nintendo Has the Strongest First-Party Pedigree

Phil Spencer: Nintendo Has the Strongest First-Party Pedigree - News

by William D'Angelo , posted on 04 February 2021 / 4,853 Views

Head of Xbox Phil Spencer appeared on the latest Animal Crossing-themed Twitch talk show, Animal Talking. He took some time to praise Nintendo and their strength in developing games. He even says they have the "strongest first-party pedigree" and are a "jewel" in the gaming industry.

"The pure thing about what Nintendo does, is they think about games, and they think about their hardware and their platform all as one thing, and build those experiences," said Spencer.

"And I know the teams there pretty well – and I think it's magical the way they're able to create a complete Nintendo experience on their devices, and this experience I'm looking at right here, in my hands, on my Switch, is Animal Crossing. From the Switch running it to the game itself to the way you go to other people's islands."

Phil Spencer Xbox

"In the entertainment business, you know, most things don't turn out to be huge successes so there always has to be some amount of surprise, but Nintendo is just masterful at what they do, and I've said it before, I think they have the strongest first-party pedigree out there and strength, and they're a jewel for us in the games industry and something we should protect," he added.

Thanks, NintendoLife andTwitch.


A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.


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64 Comments
Ljink96 (on 13 August 2020)

No lies detected.

  • +23
Manlytears (on 13 August 2020)

I agree that Nintendo got some of the most iconic and loved ips in the world of gaming. They earned their place as the only one of the "big Three" that can make a console based only on Exclusive titles.

That said... Xbox has the weakest first party, I don't think they can be compared to the others members of the "big three". They will need giant investment and time to have a chance, maybe they will reach a comparable level in the next decade.

  • +14
Azzanation Manlytears (on 13 August 2020)

Wouldn't say weakest, Halo, Minecraft and Rares Catalogue alone is quite impressive.

  • -5
DonFerrari Manlytears (on 13 August 2020)

Guess he didn`t want to publicly acknowledge it.

  • +7
DonFerrari Manlytears (on 13 August 2020)

So Azz, Sony is weaker? Because there is only 3 console manufacturers at this moment.

  • +5
Imaginedvl Manlytears (on 13 August 2020)

Yah.. I do not think they are close to be the weakest... Halo, Gears, Minecraft, Age of Empires, Forza, all Rare, Obsidian IPs (if you care I admit), Perfect Dark, etc.., . We are talking about pedigree here not money-hats deals or exclusives.

  • 0
Manlytears Manlytears (on 13 August 2020)

"Wouldn't say weakest, Halo, Minecraft and Rares Catalogue alone is quite impressive."

Do you realy belive Xbox got stronger first party than Playstation!? I mean, realy!? I can undrestant you like Xbox games more, as i like Playstation games more than Nintendo games, but made a horrible work on current gen exclusives and their recent investiments are far away from from bring fruits ( 2022 at the earliest) !! Damn can't manage to get a single game of the year, some would even argue that they failed to get a single nomination on Major gameawrads!

It's clear as water, Xbox got the weakest first party by far...

  • +9
Azzanation Manlytears (on 13 August 2020)

@Don It might come down to a matter of preference in the end. Halo and Minecraft are worth Multiple of Billions of dollars eclipsing many other games in general, followed on with Rare IPs which offers Nintendo nostalgia levels. Just some food for throught.

  • 0
Imaginedvl Manlytears (on 13 August 2020)

In what regard "game of the year" as anything to do with pedigree? I would argue that Sony has nothing coming close to Mario, Halo or Minecraft in term of game franchise... Mario and the Masterchief are probably the most iconic mascot in the console gaming industry (if you like it or not as you bring the "you like Xbox, so you are not objective" thing in your post, like you like Play Station would be any different :)

  • -4
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J3MD313 Manlytears (on 13 August 2020)

LMFAO so being critically acclaimed and getting most recognition and awards don't matter now? Even if you want to ignore this cause you know the first party franchise of your favorite company is abysmal in this category, you look at the fact that Spiderman, Horizon Zero Dawn, Uncharted, The last of us all sold over 10m hell aren't they all over 15m actually? How can someone in their right mind even try to argue with this? when no matter which way you try to spin it there way you can sugar coat the the fact that your favorite company has the weakest line up of games.

  • +10
Azzanation Manlytears (on 13 August 2020)

@Manlytears - As Imaginedvl mention, GOTY nominations and Metascores does not mean the IPs are bigger etc. Here is a question, Name 1 Sony IP that is bigger than Minecraft? Sony definitely had a better gen with thier IPs however that doesn't make them bigger. Some of the most popular and most profitable games aren't even in GOTY contentions. Another example will be that the entire Halo Franchise has made over $5billion dollars compared to lets say the Uncharted Franchise which made more than $250million out of its 4 Mainline games from 2 years ago. And thats just Halo. So yes i stand my ground, Xbox has some of the biggest IPs in the industry, their few Juggernauts are only riviled by Nintendo. And remember they also have dozens of the most iconic games sitting under Rare as well.

  • -1
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Imaginedvl Manlytears (on 13 August 2020)

@J3MD313: There is no need to talk about our "mind" state or get personal; if you want to argue, fine, attacking people is not. Game of the year has nothing to do with the size and/or importance of a franchise. While Uncharted is a good game and a success, it is not close to Halo or Mario in term of pedigree or brand recognition. And if you really want to look at "sales". Well, you will be out of luck cause this is basically what we are talking about with Halo/Mario/Minecraft :)

  • +2
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DonFerrari Manlytears (on 13 August 2020)

You guys may be right, I have no idea why Phil Spencer needed to improve their first party, right guys?

  • +5
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COKTOE Manlytears (on 13 August 2020)

Oh, you're absolutely right. Xbox has by far the weakest first party. The gulf between #2 and #3 is absolutely massive.

  • +6
Manlytears Manlytears (on 14 August 2020)

Pedigree is not just about ip's, it's also about the people and studios that make these ip's.
When a big Nintendo game comes out, everyone automatically knows that "probably that game will compete among the nominated game of the year", this is a pedigree certificate.
A few years ago some playstation studios acquired this same pedigree, Naughty Dogs, Guerrila games, Insomniacs, Sony Santa Monica, Japan Studios, games involving these studios are often among the best.

That said, can you say the same about Xbox Studios? even considering that none of their studios had a winner in over 10 years !?

I speak with absolutely no intention of offending, but clearly, our pedigree concepts are different. You consider pedigree fame and sales, while I consider pedigree reputation and recognition for quality.

I apologize if I have offended someone, that was not the point.

  • +5
Azzanation Manlytears (on 14 August 2020)

@Don - The IPs MS have are fine and are considered some of the biggest in the industry which i just proved in my previous post. The problem is they havnt used them correctly this gen compared to Sony.
Having more is an option and to attract more customers to there eco system, but its not a necessary. I wont be complaining having more IPs, than again half the time people just want to see older titles return rather than new ones. Think that explains it all.

  • +1
Azzanation Manlytears (on 14 August 2020)

@Manly i believe you are comparing studio quality to IP pedigre. If ND made a Halo game, it would overshadow every game they would have ever made because the Halo IP is in a league of its own. MS lack the pedigree to utilise the IP in making it as good as it can be.

  • +1
DonFerrari Manlytears (on 14 August 2020)

Strongest first party pedigree, that excludes Minecraft since it is multiplatform, was a studio bought, isnt that great of game, it just have a lot of Sales. So only leave Halo and that legendary status was only really achieved with Bungie, they are still to prove that with their FIRST PARTY STUDIO 343 industries they can achieve this. Uncharted 4, TLOU2, TLOU1 have all sold better than any Halo Game if Im not wrong, and perhaps if you sum all Halos versus ND from PS3 and PS4 the sales of ND would be higher than Halo. So when you look at the collection of studios for Sony and Nintendo versus MS you can`t really say MS is above Sony with a straight face.

  • +4
Azzanation Manlytears (on 14 August 2020)

@Don owning an IP is owning an IP regardless if you buy it already made or you created it yourself, They still own the IP. The point of this is about the IPs, not who makes them. Now you shift to comparing sales? So you are basing whats bigger because some games sold better on a platfrom with almost 2/3 market share over the other and on a platform that doesn't offer the game digital anywhere else? If we compared last gen software sales on a more even footing, these results are very different. Comparing sales means nothing if the platform audience and availability isn't the same. Didn't Halo 3 alone outsell 3 of PS3s mega 1st party games?.. Anyway, digital sales are not accounted for and majority of MS games are on PC and on a service which does not add to the sales. So saying these games are bigger because it sold more physical disks is nothing more than flag waving and means nothing. The value of Halo and Minecraft eclipse majority of titles in the industry not just PS titles. Its almost as facepalming as someone on this site before saying Horizon Zero Dawn IP was bigger than the Halo franchise.. That's not how it works.

  • -2
DonFerrari Manlytears (on 14 August 2020)

You are ignoring what Phil is talking just to use the definition you want and keep on it.
"Nintendo is just masterful at what they do, and I've said it before, I think they have the strongest first-party pedigree out there and strength"
He is talking about development of games, studio quality, not if an IP is popular or not.
He is talking that when Nintendo makes a game you can expect it to be good, that have nothing to do with the IP they are working on. So in that regard you can't keep your narrative. Look at what was released this gen and again try to claim that Xbox Studios have been making games that will certainly be good no matter what team or what game.
Please don't try to debate sales, revenue and the like because we already know you make a lot of baseless claim on that and just forget. Just like you were pretending XBL total (silver and PC) meant MS was making more money than Sony because you were only comparing to PS+. Or that tired "Halo sold 450M in its first weekend", etc.
Just accept that the first party pedigree of MS is very bad and been mocked forever.
And your "PS4 have 2/3 of the marketplace"... well that is what the strenght and pedigree is about. When Sony done all wrong and MS all right PS3 and X360 basically tied (launch aligned PS3 was always ahead) with Sony never really being able to correct price disadvantage and taking like 3 years to correct SW disadvantage, When Sony done all right and MS done some mistakes that mostly was corrected before launch and price was corrected within 6 months PS4 outsell X1 by what? 2,5:1? To a point MS stopped sharing sales numbers for everything out of shame. You and others have been claiming Series X is doing all right and much better than PS5, so do you expect Series X to outsell PS5?

  • +4
Azzanation Manlytears (on 14 August 2020)

Don i dont need to prove anything. IP pedigree is different to Sales. Maybe my view on an IP strenght is different to yours. The Value of an IP is what i am looking at here not what sold more because a platform sold more. Apples to Oranges here, MS and Sony have different Sales in mind. A big name game is a big name game. If Halo was up for Sale as a stand alone IP, it would be worth more than anything Sony has. Maybe i struck a nerve with you there, sorry to disappoint you.
I guess Half Life as an IP is worth jack because HL Alyx didnt sell super well compared to your physical release sales data.

  • 0
Chris Hu (on 13 August 2020)

Not only does Nintendo sell way more 1st party games then both Sony and Microsoft they also sell way more games at full price or near full price then anybody else.

  • +13
SanAndreasX Chris Hu (on 14 August 2020)

Nintendo knows what their games are worth, and maybe if other AAA developers would more carefully market their games and not turn them into bargain bin fodder a year down the road, you wouldn't have so many publishers complaining that they can't make money without DLCs or other MTX.

  • 0
LivingMetal (on 13 August 2020)

This is why the Switch has outperformed the Xbox line in sales with under powered hardware and a later launch date. I remember arguing with some... "Xbox acolytes" that quality exclusives played a major part of a console's success. Of course they kept making excuses for the Xbox's lack of unique offerings.

  • +8
Azzanation LivingMetal (on 14 August 2020)

Switch is also doing the exact same thing with the PS4.

  • +2
LivingMetal LivingMetal (on 14 August 2020)

This article mentions nothing about the PS4 while the PS4 is still almost twice the user base of the Switch. Nice attempt of a jab to a product that outsells your product of choice when your product of choice is less than have of that user base. So one could reasonably state that BOTH the Switch AND PS4 are doing what they do to with the Xbox.

  • +2
Azzanation LivingMetal (on 14 August 2020)

Odd, my primary platform is PC sooo.... Next time when you try to fire shots, maybe know your target.

  • -3
LivingMetal LivingMetal (on 14 August 2020)

"Primary" = keyword here. Anyone who's been here long enough knows that your primary platform was the Xbox then later moved to the PC which is fine in and of itself. Anyone can make that choice. The problem is that you'd consistently bash and troll anything PlayStation because that was your and still is rival console given your responses. Here's the thing in relation of this article. Because Nintendo AND Sony have had there fair share of quality first party offerings, it's reasonable to assess that Nintendo is of the "strongest first-party pedigree" and Sony EASILY coming in second. That's why Nintendo continues to offer hardware (unlike Sega) after fiascos with the N64, WiiU, and arguably the Gamecube. That's why Sony was able to claw back with the PS3. So PC is your primary platform. Cool. So I seems you have no "dog in this fight," right? Then stop barking.

  • +1
Azzanation LivingMetal (on 14 August 2020)

Wow you really know my life? Haha so you are saying i was an Xbox gamer than moved to PC after? Iv been a steam user for 15+ years and i never owned a OG Xbox, but you know me apparently. What next, you going to tell me what colour shirts i wear? Give me a break. You fail because you generalise.
I just love pointing out the wrong with so many posts. Here you are telling me to stay out of this while here you are, a none Xbox/phil fan doing what exactly.. hmm. I fixed your claim, Switch is dominating the market, not just Xbox. Dont like the facts, dont get involved.

  • -2
LivncA_Dis3 (on 13 August 2020)

no bullshiz here
spencer keeping it real

  • +6
Cobretti2 (on 13 August 2020)

I have never got into animal crossing (not sure why, just didn't feel right for me), BUT his words are making me wonder if it is worth trying out on Switch lol.

  • +5
TheLegendaryBigBoss (on 13 August 2020)

Phil spitting facts

  • +4
Original (on 13 August 2020)

Phil Spencer is good man

  • +4
Mr Puggsly (on 14 August 2020)

Agreed. But clearly hardware matters as well given the failure of Wii U. N64 and Gamecube were a modest success compared to some other Nintendo platforms as well.

  • +1
Azzanation (on 13 August 2020)

Azzanation: Water is Wet.
IGN: Too much Water comment 7.6/10

  • +1
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DonFerrari Azzanation (on 13 August 2020)

You could try, but you would be as wrong as IGN.

  • +1
DonFerrari (on 13 August 2020)

And water is wet.

  • 0
Azzanation DonFerrari (on 13 August 2020)

IGN: Too much.... oh never mind

  • 0
DonFerrari DonFerrari (on 13 August 2020)

Yes I saw you posted earlier than me after I had hit submit.

  • 0
SanAndreasX DonFerrari (on 13 August 2020)

7.8

  • 0
miqdadi (on 16 August 2020)

Yep Mr. Phil, just don't try to buy any studio we all remember what happened to rare

  • -2
KoyomiAraragi (on 13 August 2020)
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Ayla (on 13 August 2020)
  • -21
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LatiosGames CaptainExplosion (on 13 August 2020)

Hmm how will he protect it i wonder?

  • +1
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Original RolStoppable (on 13 August 2020)

Yess

  • 0
yvanjean RolStoppable (on 14 August 2020)

Din't they lose you the day before?

  • +5
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