CEO of Microsoft Gaming, Phil Spencer, is under fire this week after the newest round of studio closures that have resulted in many talented developers being laid off, shockingly including the studio behind last year’s hit HI-FI Rush, Tango Dreamworks (which ComicBook thinks is one of Xbox’s worst decisions in years), Redfall developer Arkane Austin, and more. These losses are only the latest in a year rife with video game studio closures and backlash toward Microsoft and Xbox specifically has been heavy due to tone-deaf comments and seemingly unbothered demeanor.
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So not only is Spencer under fire on the internet, he’s now under fire in Fallout 76, and it’s gone nuclear.
It started last night when a Fallout 76 player, @real1090jake on X (formerly Twitter), dropped a nuke on Spencer’s camp, which was pointed out by @Sam_Snydes on X with a screenshot showing the blast zone. The post quickly became popular with players reveling in the CEO’s virtual loss, and @real1090jake took credit for the bombing with a video of their player character standing in the wake of the radioactive storm that followed, as well as a screenshot of him interacting with Spencer’s character, “P3” (wearing deep space alien Power Armor). @real1090jake also revealed that he tried to challenge Spencer to a 1v1 fight first, which Spencer refused to accept. The X user notes, “He got me by a couple lvls if he woulda agreed to scrap I woulda mini nuked em.”
Though the timing for this particular bombing is spectacularly impeccable given the backlash toward his business decisions this week (which he has thus far remained quiet about, behavior that’s out of the norm for him), @real1090jake spoke to Kotaku and said the bombing was “nothing personal” – in fact, he’s been planning to carry this out for weeks, but it can be difficult to track P3 (Spencer) down, given he jumps around the map to avoid being crowded. Regardless of @real1090jake’s intentions, his actions have let the masses know that this is an option.
With this revelation there are plenty planning on making Spencer’s life in Fallout 76 a whole lot harder going forward, and he can probably expect to be griefed every time he logs into the game now. One of the popular replies on @Sam_Snyde’s thread comes from user @CuppaXanax, who stated “I hope people make a habit of griefing him in any game he joins from now on,” while other players attempted to make light of the layoff situation by saying Spencer will likely just have Bethesda closed now and the Fallout 76 servers turned off. It’s hyperbolic humor, of course, but demonstrates that Spencer is earning a reputation for himself as someone who will close a studio at the drop of a hat, even when the developers employed at the studio are providing well-performing games.
Do you think we’ll see Spencer’s Fallout 76 experience continue to be nuclear going forward?
