Obsidian Studio Head Said Phil Spencer's Authenticity Was an Important Factor for Its Acquisition - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 17 June 2022 / 3,098 Views
Microsoft in November 2018 announced it acquired Obsidian Entertainment, as well as inXile Entertainment.
Obsidian Entertainment studio head Feargus Urquhart in an interview with IGN shared why the studio was willing to be acquired by Microsoft.
At the time he didn't know Phil Spencer very well, but he had a reputation of being authentic and someone who loves games. He was also being sold that Xbox wants to let its acquired studios "be who they are" and retain their creative freedom and culture.
"I didn't know Phil Spencer well at that time, I probably only talked to him once or twice up to that point," said Urquhart. "But what's so interesting with Phil is he is this- I don't know. I don't want to say 'persona' in the end, because he is Phil Spencer and because he runs all Microsoft games.
"But now knowing him, and even what I knew [about] him back then, his reputation was just someone who was authentic and someone who doesn't BS and loves games. And that was the trust in that."
Mary McGuane, who is the current studio general manager at Xbox Game Studios for Obsidian, Double Fine, and inXile, said changes at Microsoft and Xbox have been going on a lot longer than the public were aware of.
She says changes started to happen back in 2014 with the acquisition of Mojang, which was steered by Matt Booty and pushed for a difference approach into the studio's integration.
"Before [Mojang], it was: you’re a part of Microsoft," McGuane said. "One day you’re [part] of this studio, the next day you’re fully Microsoft. And it had…varying success, I’ll say. So with Mojang, there was an approach taken that we like to call minimal integration, where we looked at the stuff we really needed to have fully integrated: and that’s like IT stuff and security policy, that kind of stuff.
"But then we really tried to create stability in these studios to not have the acquisition be something where the whole studio lost focus, where the studio was now trying to figure out this thing called Microsoft."
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 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Companies always look great when they offer you tonnes of money and space.
Money is always a factor in this stuff, sure. But that isn't always enough, look at Bungie. More importantly though, in many acquisitions key personnel often leaves after some time (probably after contractual duties ran out). Obsidian, Double Fine, inXile all have some very prolific names behind them. They could've cashed out after the MS-acquisition and go their way. But they decided to stay. I think this says something.
Yes look at Bungie... MS didn't offer enough money, Sony did. And Bungie didn't say they wanted to be bought because Yoshida or Jim is a great guy, nor that they didn't want to be bought because Phil is a bad guy (and well if Phil being a great guy was a motive for Obsidian, and it would be relevant, why it didn't mater to Bungie that well already worked in MS and likely knew Phil?)
I was really surprised when Obsidian and inXile agreed to join Microsoft and ESPECIALLY surprised when Double Fine joined. The pedigree of the big name developers at these studios is insane and I never thought they would agree to be purchased by anyone, let alone Microsoft. This just further goes to show that this is not the same Xbox leadership of the past. I see now what Phil Spencer meant when he made the comment earlier this year, I think, that today's Microsoft could've kept Bungie on board.
This article is kind of funny in that the headline is the least important part. No one is going to sell because they like one employee at a ruthless corporation. He could leave or switch positions tomorrow. He's not even the final authority, he could be overruled if Microsoft leadership decided to go in a different direction. It's happened many, many times before. Microsoft is in this for money and power. If they've decided to be the "good guys" then it's because they believe that path will be the most rewarding. This is, after all, the company that became infamous for a strategy referred to as EEE (Embrace, Extend, Extinguish) where the first part is about gaining the trust.
They'd be absolute fools if liking Spencer was any kind of meaningful motivation.
The second bit is the important part. Microsoft has always devoured whatever company they've purchased, chewed it up and integrated it into the whole. That might work with technology but gaming studios are about personality and expression, ideals that can become lost in a corporate environment. It can only be a good thing for gaming if they've realized that developers need a certain degree of autonomy to be at their best.
At least from what we can see from the outside, Phil Spencer does seem like the kind of boss most people would want to work for.
This bit:
"Before [Mojang], it was: you’re a part of Microsoft," McGuane said. "One day you’re [part] of this studio, the next day you’re fully Microsoft. And it had…varying success, I’ll say. So with Mojang, there was an approach taken that we like to call minimal integration, where we looked at the stuff we really needed to have fully integrated: and that’s like IT stuff and security policy, that kind of stuff."
Was this the idea that before Mojang, who's acquisition was made by MS not Xbox division, the idea that before it when you got bought, MS still has it's idea that you are a MS division now, as an IT company, which is not how game development should work. Studios need to have their creative freedom and own responsibilities to be able to continue their work without their big parent company putting their nose in. Of course with Mojang it helped that what they purchased wasn't exactly going to fail, it has proven it's success in Minecraft and all they have done is expand the brand since. Of course kudos to Notch for selling.
You can see the conversation
MSFT - We love Obsidians games, how would you like to be part of xbox and only make games for xbox consoles and pcs.
OBS - Thanks MSFT but you guys are 1/3 of the console gaming market, we would prefer to aim at 100%.
MSFT - We will give you creative control, space if you join us and make games for us only.
OBS - Again, you are only a small fraction of the gaming market and we prefer to offer it to everyone, we already have control.
MSFT - Offers $hit loads of money
OBS - Sure we would love to work for MSFT, sorry I mean with MSFT. Its the place to develop. We love MSFT, woohooo. And Phil - he's the man. He is AUTHENTIC.
MSFT - thanks and here is another $50k for saying that.
OBS - wink wink
I’ve gotten the opposite impression. He seems pretty disingenuous and fake. He seems to say things to make himself and/or Xbox look like “the good guys,” even if those things are sometimes not true. Seems hyper-focused on PR/reputation.
I mean, what kind of executive would he be if he didn't try to make his company look good? But, he's turned the Xbox brand completely around from the grave. He's done a lot of good for the brand, and he's literally a gamer. You'll occasionally find his gamertag, P3, in games like Elder Scrolls Online.
I actually dislike Jim Ryan a toooooon more than I do Phil Spencer. Mainly because of how corporate Jim is and the boneheaded decisions he's made since taking over SIE. Phil has had quite a drawbacks for sure, but overall, he's done more good than bad. At least for Xbox. You should take a look sometime at what Phil had to do over the years to ensure Xbox didn't die. The heads at Double Fine, Obsidian, and inXile knows what it's like to work at big companies and were independent for so long that they wouldn't have just sold to a conglomerate like Microsoft for no reason. Especially considering that all those are heads are still at their respective studios. They easily could've retired or cashed out and left after being acquired, but they stayed.
I actually agree with almost everything you said. I should’ve given the other side to my opinion that he’s done a hell of a job turning Xbox around. I feel like that’s nearly an objective truth. And I have no love for Jim Ryan. But I just have a pet peeve for disingenuousness, especially in someone trying hard to look good or moral. Phil Spencer just seems very fake to me. But on a performance and PR score, he gets a 9/10.
The thing is you don't see the Playstation heads doing as many interviews and PR stunts as Phil to do a comparison. You may hate Jim, but he shows up like less than 10% of what Phil do. Probably if you sum all higher ups of PS it doesn't meet 50% of Phil airtime.
And money had nothing to do with it =p
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