Phil Spencer Doesn't 'Want to See Every Game Turn Into Some Big Live Service Based Game' - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 17 February 2025 / 5,775 Views
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer in an interview with XboxEra doesn't want to see every game and franchise to turn into a live service game and wants to keep making single-player games that have an ending like the upcoming Doom: The Dark Ages and South of Midnight.
"They were all games that have a beginning, middle and end," said Spencer on the games featured during last month's Developer_Direct (Via GamesRadar+).
"It was because I didn't want to see every game turn into some big live service based game because they [the developers] felt like that's where the business model was. It’s not easy to do that."
He added, "And I love the fact that we can go and look at what [Psychonauts maker] Double Fine's working on next, when I think about a team like Compulsion - these aren't the biggest teams and they don't want to be massive 1,000 person teams and we want them to be able to do great work, and so I want to create a platform that can support that."
Microsoft does own several live service franchises like Call of Duty, Diablo IV, Minecraft, and Sea of Thieves.
South of Midnight will launch for the Xbox Series X|S, PC via Steam and Microsoft Store, and Xbox Game Pass on April 8. Doom: The Dark Ages will launch for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Xbox Game Pass on May 15.
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 Bluesky.
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The beauty of Gamepass is that it is Microsoft's 'live service.' The whole point of a live service game is to keep a customer coming back to spend money (subscriptions or shops or both).
Because of this, the games themselves that are on GP don't have to be live service to keep customers coming back, which gives more Xbox developers the choice to do non-live service games and that's great.
NO. Game Pass is not a live service game. You pay, and you have access to try OR EVEN BEAT any of the games in the catalogue they publicly offer. You can pay for one month of service, and not the following one. No problem.
If you like one game a lot, you can just buy it, outside Game Pass.
Where the hell you see the "live service game" there?
Anyone get the feeling Phil just combs Reddit and then peddles certain themes circulating throughout the community? lol
It's the kind of PR you'd find anyone saying in any given position, and it always net those people that go "omg, he's saying what I'm thinking!".
Like it's a no duh moment that most of us don't want every game to be a live service slopfest, but him saying it somehow still nets people seeing him as one of their own.
One of Spencer's biggest talents is convincing his customer base and his superiors that he's not a bigger fuck-up than Don Mattrick.
Actions speak louder than words, and right now those actions are well documented. Indiana Jones, Avowed, South of Midnight, and Doom The Dark Ages are the most recent examples. Then they have Ninja Gaiden 4, Fable, Outer Worlds 2 to round off the rest of the year. They don't need to find their next big live service game because they already have several and Game Pass.
We seem to forget that a few short years ago it was Phil Spencer that said that single player games were dead and that Live Service is the future.
Good to see. And with the recent releases, Xbox has a great balance of SP and MP games.
aways has something to say once its to late
I mean you kinda have to say that now, because it has become so evident that there is only room for so many live services at any one time. And you have to capture that elusive x-factor to make it work.
He learnt from redfall and also I believe Avowed initially started as multiplayer
I feel like the only time Live-Service really "works" is when it happens naturally and wasn't really intended...
Fortnite, GTA Online... even something like Smash Ultimate or Hell Divers
None of these were originally intended to be live service, just multiplayer games that had some micro transactions
Microsoft does what Sonyn’t
Microsoft learned from Sonys mistakes
This article and comment is specifically about game development, not sure why you need to make it about hardware.
I'm not seeing a lot of evidence that they've learned anything . 24 years in the video game market and they still seem as clueless as they were when they thought they could buy out Nintendo and got laughed out of Kyoto all the way back to Seattle.
More like Microsoft already made the same mistakes, considering they were one of the first to really push the "gaas" model. They allegedly forced Lionhead down that route, which contributed to their demise. Have people really forgotten about that?
i haven’t been paying attention for that long tbh. Only since January 2023. Wouldn’t surprise me if Microsoft already learned their lesson…Sony just needed 11 projects to be canned before figuring it out, which I can’t say makes me too pleased as a consumer.
If anything then: Microsoft does, you can't do this on the PS, Microsoft does what Playstation't!😂
Damn i miss the old Sega vs Nintendo times. And i tell you: I was more on Nintendo but i had both and i loved both! I just could not decide: Zapper or Light Phaser, Super Scope or Menacer? Justifier or.. bah N64 did not have a LG, the GC also didn't. Thats why the DC Gun was with me so long!! I wish so much for a new version of the Menacer: An ajustable LG for all purpuses. This is where Playstation or Nintendo could shine: I would be willing to pay 500€ alone for a new (Super) Menacer (2)!! Anyone has an idea if it was possible to do a Kickstarter?
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