Xbox head admits that he turned down two of the biggest series in gaming history
EVERYONE has made a mistake at work at some point in their lives, but the mistakes that some people make have a bigger effect on the population than others.
Those in the entertainment industry can greenlight or reject projects, meaning that some projects never get made, or they get made elsewhere and make someone else millions.
This is what happened at Xbox, as the head of Microsoft Gaming, Phil Spencer, has admitted to passing over some huge gaming hits.
During a special Storytime at gaming convention PAX West, Spencer spoke for an hour about his history in the gaming industry.
It included a lot of insight into his time as the head of his department, including his rejection of a few games that went on to make millions.
The first game Spencer admitted to passing on is the first-person squad shooter Destiny.
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It went on to be the biggest software launch for PS4 generating around $500million (£400million) for publisher Activision.
As reported by Eurogamer, Spencer said: “Getting the pitch for Destiny, and do we want to sign this, we ended up not signing Destiny and obviously it went with Activision.
“From an Xbox standpoint I can look at it and it’s just a really interesting journey in terms of what they built.”
Spencer admits to not really clicking with the game at first, saying that it wasn’t until the game’s first expansion, House of Wolves, was released when he finally understood what it was all about.
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He continued: “I have to be honest. When Destiny 1 came out, and I might have played some of the preview builds that we were doing on Xbox, it didn’t really click with me.
“When Wolves came out it definitely landed me.”
However, this wasn’t the only hugely popular game that Spencer admitted to rejecting.
Spencer told attendees that he had also turned down Guitar Hero, believing that the game wasn’t going to work.
Of course, the series and, in fact, the genre have now become hugely successful, spawning similar games like Rock Band and Fortnite Festival.
Spencer admits that he has “made some of the worst game choice decisions” throughout his career, but maintains a positive attitude about it.
He said: “I’m not a regrets type person. Maybe that’s a fault of mine, but I passed on so many games that I could look back and say ‘ugh’ but I try to look forward and be positive about the things we are doing.”
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