Gamer First? Yet the Xbox One direction recently would show otherwise.

https://www.photofunny.net/...

You can't say "I'm a gamer this, I'm a gamer that" like Phil does while being a high up member of a consoles company and where the first party offerings are barebones. If you were high up like them and a gamer at heart you'd be making sure the first party line up among other things are in tip top shape.

This is news?

Get your asses in gear making your own games instead of acting like starry eyed fanboys. This seems insincere and just trying to score pr points anyway.

If he’s a gamer first then he’d be doing his best to make the “Greatest Games Lineup in Xbox History” tagline actually hold weight.

Big respect to Mike for this, i would rather him then useless Spencer in charge at Xbox HQ.

"And States That He Is A Gamer First"

Yet you turn out the amount and type that you do...

Why wouldn't he play God Of War and test what kind of product the "competition" is creating? He might enjoy it as a gamer, but this is market research, as well.

I hope the game inspires Microsoft.

LMAO at GB calling out fanboys...

GB personally incites half the arguments here..

Shu is still too busy playing ridge racer

First off, it's Gamingbolt. Second, the article is obviously designed to incite arguments on the forums judging by the first sentence alone. Third, Ybarra gave God of War the respect that it deserves. Fourth, MS needs to put gamers first.

I think that about sums things up for everyone here who wants to stay on topic.

Devs reacting like this is cool and all but c’mon Xbox..... you guys showing humility is great and all, but Is the plan of the Xbox is just to be the better 3rd party console?

E3 can’t come soon enough!

Can we assume that the Vice President of Gaming has limited power vs the President? I like to think someone who's a gamer would make decisions for his company that benefit gamers, such as having solid and plentiful exclusives. So far we haven't seen that, but maybe he's gathered some data from God of War that will encourage him to push for something of that quality on Xbox. As it stands, until we see evidence to the contrary, I'm just going to assume nothing has changed and this will just amount to an amusing anecdote about a MS executive enjoying what the competition has to offer.

Glad everyone is happy.😂

Ms is just trying to take the attention off SONY by any means necessary. Its strategic marketing to congratulate the other team on more than one occasion knowing they cannot do the same to you since you dont have any product out. MS is trying to push Sony between a rock and a hard place but it wont work since Sony will keep going at their neck with AAA titles. Let your product speak for itself and stay off twitter.

Vitue signalling.

The replies were awful a bunch of kids who don't realise that the plastic box you play games on doesn't matter as long as your enjoying yourself. He loves pubg from what ive seen and he was playing it before it was out on xbox and still plays it on pc even though its on xbox leave the guy alone at least he plays games unlike the rest of the executives that only care about money at these companies.

Microsoft needs to get his ass up and do ryse 2 :)

If you have to say it...

It’s funny how MS tries to get some kind of PR spin with another’s success. If you like the game, great but do you have to try to spin it like, “Oh look how humble and good Spirited MS is to their competition?”

How about instead of congratulating the competition for their success, why don’t you guys actually try to give your users incredible games as well and actually have a library that’s competitive?

Just food for thought.

Where would I be without hard hitting news and opinion pieces like this. Thanks N4G.

He is in his drawers sitting on the couch playing God of War as we speak. He was waiting for this game like everybody else, let’s just be honest.

It's really a slap in the face

Ybarra is another clown that needs to be dumped along with Spencer....i want the Xbox brand to succeed but it won't with guys like them.

Can we get a scrolling tweet banner so we can free up room rather than social media gossip? Maybe have it sorted by like, executives, companies and developers?

Even Microsoft know deep inside that Sony is far superior to them. Even Nintendo but obviously they do not like comparison, sales etc

Here's a tip...shut the f*** up

All they care about is the money. It's pure greed, and it's disgusting

Them: "We've figured out a way to squeeze you of more money, come on let us stick it in."
Us: "No."
Them: "Please! just the tip."
Us: "That's how it always starts."

Where's that tip is actually going the CEOs pocket.

"Interesting concept"?! This is beyond idiotic.

First of all, developers have a salary and they earn a pretty decent wage.
Next, tipping culture is awful overall and should be abolished, i think. People don't see it as a token of gratitude for the job done well (as it should be), they see it as their own money that you must give them, no matter how they do the job. Look at some places, tips became mandatory and they are a fixed percent of your order, for some reason (especially in kids playrooms). You'll give them an inch and they'll take a mile and then another one on top. Look at macrotransactions, started on free to play games, was costing around $2-$5, now it's everywhere, even in $70 AAA games and cost more than a game, up to $100.
On top of that, you'll have to waste resources adding this system, integrate with payment providers and fix the bugs, who will do that? What, another company should make it and take a fee from every transaction? No, thanks, there're already enough parasites around.

Even if we ignore that this is dumb idea and should never be a thing ever:
Who can guarantee that the money will go to developers ONLY? That's right, no one.
How many developers are working on a AAA game? 100+? Who would you tip, some particular developer? How would you know who? All 100? The wouldn't even notice a few cents bonus.

Hey, as long as we're throwing (dumb) ideas around - how about the other way around, CEOs and top management will tip the players who play their game? I read everywhere about the record profits and firing development staff, yet CEOs and top management are keeping theirs, so how about sharing some of your wealth? Oh, what, you don't want that? Oh, i guess it should only work in your favor, huh?

It’s called Kickstarter, since 99% of games are broken upon release and are essentially still in development.

Tipping culture is getting out of hand. I just see this as moving in a direction where employers no longer want to be held accountable for their employee’s salaries or investments.

Why aren’t you showing your appreciation and providing me with a tip for purchasing your game? Did I do something wrong by only dropping $130+ on your Ultimate Edition that is plagued with matchmaking issues for the next 2-3 months and only includes a bonus game soundtrack that is totally forgettable?

Just the tip?

Give me the option by all means. I can then choose to refuse.

We will then immediately see games designed from the ground up around tipping.

Yeah tipping the developer only to find later that he was laid off.

I'd like to tip a few off a cliff

How about they get paid a proper wage.
American tipping culture is just madness I've seen it's starting to expand beyond just waiters and Batista's into things like real estate agents and self service kiosks like at Macdonalds along with other place's it should never even be considering I don't tip anyone in Australia ever and no one is mad about it.

I think the developers should tip us for essentially buying dome $70 games to basically play test. Doesn’t really sound so good does it? Y’all make more than most people and still want more.

Fuck off

Whats next, I dont tip and then they remove my access to the game?

This wouldn't work for games published by a big company, of course. But it could work for smaller indie game projects that have a very low cost, such as a $5 game made by 3 people, and you can choose to tip them an extra $3 - $5 as a sign of appreciation.

However, this would be a disgusting practice if it was allowed for games published by Ubisoft, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, EA, Namco, Capcom, S-E, Sega, etc.

On top of $70 games? No

This is how food delivery apps put more of the responsibility and cost on the customer. Blizzard finds the sleaziest managers.

Give me a f@cking break!

First thet introduce tips, then they cut pay as much as possible, so they can profit more.

I could see this being a cool thing for Indies. But often you can do just that already if they have a patreon or something similar. For major developer companies that would be super silly, to start there is a huge chance that the devs that worked on that particular game has already been fired as the project is over. And obviously the money would not reach the developers that are still there, the suits would gobble it all up.

Also we all know that if this get implemented by a American. It would stop being a small bonus for good work and become a integral part of the salary of the devs in no time.

I'll be honest I don't think I'm 100% against this. Like it would be a very rare thing for me. It would only donate/tip Devs that have not only made a incredible game. But also don't make me feel like I'm getting nicked and dimed.

I love it when these CEOs and the ilk speak about the video game industry. They say the wildest, headscratching rubbish that only seems reasonable to a soulless husk whose myopic pursuit of profit make it seem reasonable to him and him alone.

Tipping culture is out of hand and it needs to stop.

excuse me? lol

To Mike Ybarra, In the words of Elon Musk, "go fk yourself!" Is that clear enough.

They're trying to be restaurant owners 😂😂 have the consumer pay for their wages smh

In a couple of years:

Horse DLC $80 dollars.. oh you buy it! Wanna tip another $20 for the demon son of Bobby Kottick?!

Go work in a restaurant if you want to work for tips. You get no insurance and paid $5/hr.

How about you make something worth buying? He can blame constant video game sales if anything. Most Games are half price in just months.

Everyone knows games go on sale constantly, devs need to make and market properly and maybe we get excited enough to drop $70. I remember seeing WAY more game commercials back in the day. They don’t spend money marketing anymore and just expect us to build hype on our own when day one gaming is risky. These devs have F’d up so many times and just fix via patches…this is bullshit and why we all just wait for your buggy rushed game to go on sale.

Wow that sounds like a wonderful idea
Then the multi billion dollar company wouldn't have to pay them as much
And if there's one company I trust with this stuff, it's blizzard
Always thinking about the little guy

My 'tip' is buying good games.

Oh yeah so then blizzard can justify paying employees less. What a scummy dude

These games are produced for the most part at multiple million to trillion dollar companies. How about they be fiscally responsible with scope and budget so they can pay the developers better. It is not the consumers responsibility to bail out failing business plans.

The USA doesn't understand tippIng....knowing them they'd reduce wages across the board for all devs in order to guilt trip customers to tip.

No no no no no no no way in hell would I ever support ANOTHER tipping avenue. "Oh it's optional" you say? Say that to the "forced 20% gratuity on some checks". What next? Unskippable 1 minute donation begging before we can play so they can write it off in their taxes?

Look at that stupid smile...

I'm not gonna tip you when I have to pay 30 dollars extra for 2 days of early access. You should have probably also tipped your coworker when she got paid less for the exact same role you were given and didn't say a word about it.

Oh what was that? I should torrent more games on PC? Don't mind if I do. LOL I have the Starcraft collection already what else shall I take hmmmm...

I thought micro transactions was tips...

The moment they implement that option, they will reduce the developers' pay and expect tips to makeup the difference.

Tipping is a wonderful thing to do, but an executive is the last person who should suggest it for an industry. This is just shady.

Actually, if I buy a game on sale, I would be open if the funds went to the developer NOT the publisher. For example, buy a $70 game at $39.99. If the game is great and updated properly, I would tip $10.