Sometimes you can’t predict whether a game will be the next big hit, so it’s not worth kicking yourself if you make an error in judgement. Or at least that seems to be the philosophy of Xbox boss Phil Spencer, who said he has no regrets about not making the original Destiny and Guitar Hero console exclusives, even if those judgments seem a little questionable in hindsight.
In an interview at PAX West titled Storytime with Phil Spencer — which seems like a name that should be kept in case Xbox makes its own kids TV shows in the future, but I digress — the executive discussed some of the shows he didn’t get because he didn’t get them right away.
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“Destiny is a very complex story and a very complex story,” Spencer said, going on to talk about his interactions with the studio and its employees when Destiny was part of Microsoft, and then about receiving pitches for the original Destiny, which I imagine is part of an ongoing relationship after Bungie went independent. “‘Do we want to sign this?’ We didn’t end up signing Destiny. It obviously worked with Activision, and from an Xbox business perspective, I could see where it went from there.” [as] It was a very interesting journey [Bungie] put up”.
Spencer went on to say that he didn’t “really like” Destiny when it first came out, explaining: “I’m not a PvP player, and if anyone saw my player [history]I hadn’t done much, and I was a little worried that I would be thrown into the PvP world. “It didn’t turn out that way at all,” he continued. [the House of] Wolves [expansion] When it came out, it really surprised me.”
Also on the list of games not selected by Spencer and Xbox was the original Guitar Hero.[Alex Rigopulos] They were pitching a game where they would make a plastic guitar and plug it into the console, and then they would sell you a way to play Simon’s tracks on that guitar,” the executive recalled. “And I was like, ‘Really? Do we really think this is going to work? ’”
Despite the success of both series, Spencer says he doesn’t regret the choices he made, even if they might be harder to justify in hindsight. “I’ve had a lot of those moments where I made some of the worst game choices,” he admitted, but later added: “I’m not the kind of person who regrets. Maybe that’s my fault. I missed a lot of games and looking back, [be annoyed]But I try to look forward and stay positive about what we’re doing.”
To be fair, Phil, none of us have a crystal ball, even though you probably wish you did when your job requires you to make or be involved in big calls like this on a regular basis.
