In a move that's been no way orchestrated by Microsoft's marketing team, Phil 'One of Us' Spencer has congratulated Sony on the success of Bloodborne, which has already surpassed one million sales globally. To be fair to the Xbox chief, he did at least acknowledge that people would raise eyebrows at the message – so there's that.
"I know some will question me," he wrote on his personal Twitter account, "but just wanted to say that it's cool to see Bloodborne sell one million plus. New IP is hard, congrats PlayStation [and] From Software." We can picture the executive typing this out while wearing a Capybara shirt – all while being dictated to by a couple of public relations personnel.
Perhaps we're being cynical – and borderline unfair – but there's something about the way that Senor Spencer uses Twitter that seems cunningly coordinated to us. On the one hand, he'd be in a position to know how difficult launching new brands is, and thus he may well be empathising with sincerity; on the other hand, this message has hit all of the big sites – and there's no better way to repair broken consumer confidence than playing Mr. Nice Guy.
Point your hate mail at the comments section below.
[source twitter.com, via uk.ign.com]
Comments 23
I'm surprised he didn't end by saying - "But just wait until you see Scalebound!"
Something like that anyway.
I don't think it's sincere. If it's sincere he hashtaggs Blodbouenre. #Bloodbourne, not simply Bloodbourne. He knows better than to start it trending.
Good for him, I thought only Japanese people like Yoshida did this.
And nice to see a great exclusive getting the sales it deserves.
Nice to see the heads of game industry get on! Best of luck with new Halo
Part of me thinks he tries way too hard to be "one of us", and that makes me throw up in my mouth a little. Another part of me thinks he is genuinely a nice guy that likes to keep the peace, and is above petty squabbles. I like to keep that part buried under a mountain of cynicism.
Watch them pay to get Dark Souls 3 or another From Software property to be Xbox exclusive next. I'm sorta kinda kidding though, hopefully he's actually being nice and not a conniving jerk trying to make everything Xbox exclusive as revenge for PS4's success.
"Perhaps we're being cynical – and borderline unfair – but there's something about the way that Senor Spencer uses Twitter that seems cunningly coordinated to us"
Spot on. As the article says this is more marketing 101. It feels like MS are trying to get back in gamers good books after the Xbone policy disaster prior to launch.
This "I'm Sony's best friend" thing is really starting to grate. By all means Phil, enjoy the game, but keep it to yourself and sort your own console out!
I like Spencer and think he's doing great things for Xbox. I do think that he is being sincere though, but I also think that he's doing this as a marketing move. It's smart and easy and I really have no problem with it.
It's easy trying to be nice
@rjejr
Yeah, it's corporate good-guy behavior. Better this than the acidic hate-attacks that defined Sega vs Nintendo.
@Quorthon - Sega vs Nitneod is one of those things that makes me wish social media existed back than. Every night I spent drunk running thru the streets naked back in the 80's makes me glad it was invented yet though.
Make a good game + advertise the fact = sales
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi simples! peep
Well, Miyazaki do what Spencer don't.... Or wishes he could do.
@Savino - Nitneod is the result of too many drunken nights back in the 80's.
I'm probably alone in this but I think it's rather lame when these talking heads kiss their competitors' a$$ses. I'm not saying go around and hate, just focus on your own brand. All the rearend kissing just seems insincere to me. Nintendo generally shies away from that, which I don't think is a bad thing.
@JesWood13
I could see MS partnering with From Software at some point but I don't think it would be for a Dark Souls game. From Software is now at the point where the name itself, like Naughty Dog, can sell a product. Dark Souls has a good following on both PS and Xbox so I'd imagine From would want to keep that series multiplat.
It's a nice enough gesture I suppose and Phil seems a decent guy(he does come across as trying too hard be "one of us" though, as someone above mentioned) but it's got PR stunt and LOOK AT ME written all over it...if he wanted to be truly sincere and nice he could have made a phone call to someone at sony(I'm sure he has the phone number somewhere) instead of Twitter and all the other social media it's ended up on
This generation of gaming is a cold war, talk highly about your opposition while bribing third party devs/publishers to make games exclusive or semi-exclusive to your console.
Hang on - Shuhei Yoshida has done a lot of this in the past regarding Nintendo.
Yeah, yeah, it's probably all a PR stunt. But seriously... Has our gaming culture gotten so low that we now roll our eyes whenever someone is nice?
Come on guys... We're better than that!
He has nothing to gain from saying good things about his competition's content. Just a nice thing to say, PR or not.
@NomNom so true!
Dam exclusives never helped anyone except fanboys
@wittypixel not true, in a sense its a gimick to quell the uneasy feeling that xbone user might be feeling at the idea that a game is really good on another console. One that they cant play, but by acknowledging the game, it would give user a subconscious feeling, that It is a not as big a deal and that microsoft is so unconcerned that Its not a big deal to pat sony on the head.
Kinda like when a 3 year old shows you a picture he drew that looks like a scribble, you still tell him he did a good job even tbo it looks nothing like and elephant.....
@BladeRider People know bloodborn is one of the better games so the psychological example you just gave doesn't apply to much.
maybe it applies to xbox users but that's still reading into it too much.
@wittypixel maybe I didnt clearly state that I WAS talking about xbox users, sry. But you can't sit there and honestly believe that his comment is anything other that save face or damage control/pr stunt.
This is sombody who represents xbox I doubt he would make any unnecessary comment like that just to be nice.
And yes I could very well be off on my personal interpretation of it. But to say it he was just being nice is to blind to the facts.
But also I don't mean to sound like I am attacking you, and if you still believe his was genuine then you are very much entitled to your opinion . An if my response dosent sway that opinion then there is no reason to continue this conversation really.
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