Xbox
Destiny and Guitar Hero could have been Xbox exclusives, and Phil Spencer calls them some of his “worst” decisions
The head of Xbox has recently admitted that they’ve let many games pass them by when they could have gotten the exclusivity.
Console exclusives have changed in recent years. Increasingly, companies opt for the multiplatformity of their products, a strategy that Microsoft has also implemented. In the midst of controversy, Xbox announced that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will also come to PlayStation 5, a decision that not everyone liked. Meanwhile, Phil Spencer—head of the division— has talked about Bungie, exclusivities, and some decisions he has made throughout his career as head of the platform. He admits that he has made some bad decisions, but he doesn’t regret anything.
“Getting the pitch for Destiny on ‘do we want to sign this’ - we ended up not signing Destiny,” admitted Spencer. “It obviously went with Activision, and to see what it grew into, like from a business kind of Xbox standpoint, I can look at it … and it’s just a really interesting journey in terms of what [Bungie] built.”
From Destiny to Guitar Hero, and many things in between
Another one of the titles rejected by Phil Spencer was Guitar Hero, which also ended up being published by Activision. In the case of the latter, the head of Xbox decided to let it go because he thought it wasn’t going to work. “I’ve passed on some of the worst, like made some of the worst game choice decisions. “[Alex Rigopulos] pitches a game where they’re actually going to make plastic guitars and they’re going to plug into consoles and then they’re going to sell tracks … “I’m like, ‘really, do we really think that’s going to work?’”
“I’m not a regrets type person. Maybe that’s a fault of mine, but I passed on so many games.” Instead of looking back at those mistakes, Spencer prefers to look towards the future and think positively about what is to come.
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