Phil Spencer’s interview with Kinda Funny following the critical mauling of Redfall was an oddly refreshing move from a video game executive. Normally, we watch them hide behind canned statements and stuffy press releases, coming up with nonsensical excuses for big failures instead of just being honest. The Xbox head has bucked this trend for years, ever eager to own up to mistakes and make it clear that, much like us, he is a certified gamer.
He talked about the lack of support offered to Arkane as a first-party studio, a reliance on mock reviews that painted a very different picture compared to reality, and how emerging as a distant second in the previous console generation has left Xbox clawing back ground it may never recover. While I don’t buy the argument that big exclusives don’t sell consoles, there is an honest confidence in the company’s long-term vision that is upfront and forward-thinking. But no matter how personable it might seem, we shouldn’t be cheering on the victories of a corporation like this determined to further entrench our industry in greedy monopolies.
Throughout the interview, Kinda Funny talked about Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision - a deal currently being blocked by the CMA - and how fans and corporate bodies view it as an awkward snag in the road, and how we’ll eventually push the purchase through before achieving victory. It’s like a corporation spending billions on another corporation to further its monopoly on an already constrained industry isn’t something worth concerning ourselves about, but a fanboy-addled triumph that will paint us as superior to everyone else.
This line of thinking is fundamentally broken, and reinforces the console war mindset that continues to hold video games back from the greatness they’re so desperate to achieve. The media leans into it less and less these days, but influencers are far less beholden to the same standards. We view ourselves and huge companies like Xbox and PlayStation as a collective instead of one being consumers with money and the other being merchants eager to empty your pockets. That is the blunt truth here, no matter how much buttering up is done to spread a parasocial veneer over proceedings.
Phil Spencer is a human face to corporate priorities, delivering failings while in the background still moving ahead with mergers that I don’t think is going to do any of us any good. To see influential figures cheer on its success makes me cringe, and how we are critiquing the big players in all the wrong ways.
Xbox has been taken to task for the failings of Redfall by the majority of gamers, but seldom does this critique venture beyond the lines of “Xbox needs more games” and thus supporting the eventual acquisition of Activision seems like the right thing to do. More developers lead to more games and resources, and fewer angry fanboys demanding something to play across their selection of plastic boxes and service subscriptions. That argument doesn’t hold water though, or at least Xbox hasn’t managed to handle its current slate of acquisitions without a mixed bag of exclusives from some and nothing to show for others.
Yet here we are, happy to believe that bringing Activision into the fold will suddenly change things for the better and keep us satisfied. It’s much too soon to say, and our willingness to take a side instead of sitting on the sidelines with a view of impartiality only serves to foster the conditions that make this possible in the first place. Xbox isn’t on our side. None of these corporations are, and we’d be better served consuming their art and critiquing their practices instead of feeding a beast poised to devour us when the time is right. But gamers like to win, or attach their identity to a brand in ways that become fatally personable. Until that changes, we’re going to keep cheering for corporate interests that don’t care about us in the slightest.