God of War director David Jaffe harshly criticized Xbox head Phil Spencer’s leadership in the way the company is managed.
Bethesda Game Studios hasn’t really released a new game in a while, but the studio’s productivity certainly felt like it slowed down after the launch of Fallout 76 in 2018. Many gamers had hoped that Xbox’s acquisition of Bethesda will speed things up and make the company more efficient, but with Bethesda delaying two of its biggest games until next year, it shows that That hope has gone up in smoke.
Many people were extremely upset at the news that Bethesda delayed Starfield and Redfall, and not everyone was happy with Phil Spencer’s comment on the matter. Among the disgruntled, God of War creator David Jaffe said the Xbox president needed to “go find a therapist”.
Bethesda recently announced that they are delaying the upcoming Starfield and Redfall until some point in the first half of 2023. Xbox head Phil Spencer commented on the delay shortly after. “These decisions make it difficult for the game teams and our fans,” he said in a tweet. While I fully support giving the teams time to release these great games when they’re ready, we’re still listening to feedback. Delivering the quality and consistency that is expected, we will continue to work to better meet those expectations.” However, God of War author David Jaffe was unimpressed with Phil Spencer’s statement, feeling that the time is past when a single tweet is enough to reassure gamers.
Jaffe was quite scathing with the Xbox president during his three-hour YouTube live stream yesterday. “You suck, Phil Spencer”, “You look like me when I was 28” was what the veteran game developer said after reading Spencer’s Tweet on the stream. Jaffe compared Spencer’s current situation to his time working on a never-before-released project for Sony. He explained that it took him a while to learn that having commercially viable ideas and knowing how to design a game isn’t always the same as actually producing one.
Jaffe argues that while he thinks Spencer is a real visionary and brilliant planner, the Xbox president is simply unworthy of his current position. Jaffe made it clear he didn’t want Phil Spencer to be fired, but Xbox desperately needed someone better at managing development. Jaffe acknowledges that the Starfield and Redfall delays may have been due to internal Bethesda issues that lingered long before Microsoft acquired the publisher, but that Spencer has a responsibility to address these issues as a consultant. way to be the head of Xbox. Furthermore, Jaffe felt that Spencer was not doing enough to ensure that Microsoft’s games were released on time.
While this may seem harsh, David Jaffe thinks Bethesda’s delay is not an isolated incident. He mentioned coming up with similar criticism after Halo Infinite was delayed forcing the Xbox Series X and Series S to launch without a major exclusive title. Furthermore, these delays leave a significant gap in Xbox’s release schedule, which Jaffe considers unsustainable in the modern AAA game industry.
According to Jaffe, a single major delay might not be an issue in the PS2/Xbox era. However, that’s because console platforms used to have another big game to rely on, but that’s no longer the case today. Jaffe felt that this was going to be a huge problem for Xbox and that Spencer’s management was to blame.
See also: Resident Evil Village becomes the fastest selling game in the series