I’ve said a lot of stuff about Phil Spencer in the past. Mostly positive, I think, though at some point I did speculate that his easygoing charisma and camera-facing charms could just be a convenient veil for a Patrick Bateman-type villain lurking beneath. Silliness aside, watching him hanging out on a couch a few days back on the official Xbox podcast, casually talking to some interviewers about the recently completed $69bn Activision-Blizzard acquisition and what it might bring in the future, it’s clear that this is a guy who knows and likes gaming.
In the podcast, Spencer talks about Hexen, reminisces about ancient RPGs like Zork and King’s Quest, and jokes at one point about his 10-second reaction times in Call of Duty. He’s a rare example of a major platform CEO who seems like he’d happily shoot the shit about games like Hexen with you, throw in a few jokes along the way, then head off to scheme his next major acquisition.
And following the recent announcement from Sony that Playstation’s largely anonymous and more traditionally corporate CEO Jim Ryan will be stepping down from his position after four years, it occurred to me that PlayStation could really use a more affable, approachable face of the company. It could be time for the PS brand to find its very own answer to, well, P. S.
Jim Ryan did, of course, oversee the launch of the PS5 during the turbulent times of the pandemic, and the console has gone on to enjoy fine success. But there’s also a sense that the console has been coasting, relying on the success of ongoing IPs like God of War, Horizon, and Marvel’s Spider-Man rather than doing anything truly groundbreaking or remarkable. On top of that, where Spencer would happily break the corporate mold by heaping praise on PlayStation, Ryan often seemed uncomfortable to reciprocate the praise, towing the party line of acknowledging what Microsoft was doing with its studio acquisitions, before doing the typical corporate thing of segueing into talking about Playstation’s own first-party offerings.
And in a pre-Spencer world, that kind of tight-tied formality would’ve been fine from a CEO, because a guy in a suit making big decisions behind the scenes is just what gamers would’ve expected from such a figure. Times have changed, however, and Spencer has become quite possibly the first ever games platform CEO that gamers actually relate to. The most upvoted comments on that Xbox podcast he did a few days ago say things like ‘Phil has been the best thing that has ever happened to Xbox’, and ‘Really love the transparency Xbox has had recently, keep it up Phil!’ The very fact that this is a CEO that people refer to on a first-name basis already speaks volumes.
Despite some overly emotional corners of the Xbox community calling for Spencer’s resignation following the disastrous launch of Redfall earlier this year, Spencer’s candid appearance on Kinda Funny Games, where he looked genuinely shellshocked as he put his hands up over the game’s failure, elicited an overall positive response from the gaming community. Yes, people weren’t happy about how Redfall turned out, but beyond the vocal minority of trolls calling for his head, people appreciated the transparency.
In a pre-Spencer world, Ryan’s tight-tied formality would’ve been fine from a CEO. Times have changed, however.
Meanwhile, every time Jim Ryan was let off the teleprompter, it seemed that he’d say the wrong thing, as elegantly compiled by Jason Schreier over at Bloomberg, at one point questioning why anyone would ever go back to play PS1 and PS2 games, or erroneously saying that “people had never played games before PlayStation in the Middle East.” Despite working for Sony for over 30 years, he came across every bit the aloof CEO which, as Schreier pointed out, resulted in Playstation fans celebrating his departure. Despite the Playstation 5’s success (which, realistically, everyone was expecting anyway), Ryan simply didn’t speak to the console’s community. He feels like an equivalent to Xbox’s previous CEO, the camera-hapless Don Mattrick, and has always looked kind of outdated next to Spencer.
Playstation is still far ahead of Xbox sales-wise, and there’s a case to be made that it doesn’t need a Phil Spencer to hang around on podcasts with a hoodie, getting on the level with gamers and press, and sticking his hands up when things go wrong, but as Microsoft’s acquisitions slowly start to see returns, and with Activision-Blizzard in its hands, Playstation might do well to arm itself with a CEO who can compete with Spencer on the affability front; the kind of person who can deftly switch between corporate and casual speak, and who seems like they’d be up for some kind of novelty boxing match if it came down to it.
Starfield’s sales figures, and accompanying boost in Xbox Series console figures (via Gamesindustry.biz), show that these formerly multi-platform IPs can push console sales, so just imagine the impact that games like The Elder Scrolls 6 might have, or what games like Diablo 4 and Call of Duty might do for the popularity of Game Pass when they inevitably arrive on the platform. Sony needs to be ready for Microsoft’s resurgence, and reconfiguring itself to be more engaged with its audience should be a part of that.
Yes, ultimately a console’s success will come down to the quality of its games (and its ability to market them), but where an audience-friendly CEO was basically irrelevant once upon a time, Spencer’s media-savviness has kind of changed the game here, and Playstation—a company that’s often left its games to do the talking—might want to consider that when looking for its new long-term CEO.