Xbox head admits he turned down Destiny and Guitar Hero

Phil Spencer says he's made "some of the worst game choice decisions" in his career

Bungie

Hindsight always provides clarity. Whether it’s a clever comeback thought of at 3am after a heated confrontation, or a solution to a problem you didn’t think of until it’s far too late to matter, looking back on past mistakes can be eye-opening. And that’s exactly what Xbox head Phil Spencer did this past weekend, when he revealed that he passed on two massive games that went on to be mega hits. 

In a special Storytime event at PAX West on the weekend, Phil Spencer spoke for about an hour about his history with games, what makes him tick, and his time so far at the top of Microsoft’s gaming division. Spurred on by talk of Destiny, Spencer revealed that he passed on the original game when it came across his desk many years ago. 

“Getting the pitch for Destiny, and do we want to sign this, we ended up not signing Destiny and obviously it went with Activision,” Spencer recalls. “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 where he finally understood what it was all about. 

“I have to be honest,” he continues. “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.” 

Spencer also recalls turning down Guitar Hero, saying that he didn’t think it was going to work, a prediction that obviously must feel pretty bad in hindsight after the gigantic success of not only that series but of Rock Band and now Fortnite Festival, all of which were headed up by the same person Spencer knocked back. Still, he tries not to dwell on the mistakes of the past, despite admitting that he “made some of the worst game choice decisions” throughout his career. 

“I’m not a regrets type person,” he says. “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.” 

It seems like Microsoft isn’t going to let similar mistakes happen in the future, as seen with its huge acquisition of Activision Blizzard last year, and that of ZeniMax and Bethesda before it. 

Still, it hasn’t been without drama and unfortunate amounts of layoffs, as we saw earlier this year when Xbox shut down four game studios, including Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks. The latter is thankfully getting a second life after PUBG publisher Krafton acquired the studio and its Hi-Fi Rush IP, so there is some light at the end of the tunnel. 

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