I think he is the most competent of the two running the show at either location. Jim Ryan took over a steaming locomotive. Phil took over a sinking ship. I have not seen the media ever praise the Xbox the way they have the past 3 years since the debut of the Xbox 360. The end of the 360 era turned into a TV/Kinect s*** show, and the beginning of the Xbox One was a TV/Kinect s*** show, and the PS was walking away with more power, lower price and better games and more games.
Phil saw that Xbox wouldn't survive on Halo/Gears/Forza, and needed more games, better games and a larger variety. They needed better pricing, better performance, and needed to focus on one thing and one thing only. GAMES GAMES GAMES. No strippers, no rappers, no concerts at Xbox shows. Just games.
He has turned the Microsoft Game Studios into an Xbox Game Studios arsenal.
- Play Anywhere, pro consumer. Buy the game once and play on Microsoft Windows PC and Xbox
- No remasters. Only free enhancements for games from one generation to the next
- Game Pass. Day one release of AAA First Party games that never leave Game Pass at a price that is considered a great value
- xCloud included with Game Pass to play your games that you own and you can stream to your devices. On top of that, you can use your Xbox as a server for your own games that you own
- Bring back games to Microsoft Windows PC, and resurrect games such as Age of Empires and Flight Simulator
- Listen to consumer feedback on the Xbox dashboard for poor performance and bring it to a new improved level of performance
- Listen to consumer feedback on the ability to customize the homepage as well as the guides
- Listen to consumer feedback about bringing on new IPs
- Listen to consumer feedback about growing the first party development studios
- Working with Japan to bring more Japanese games to the Xbox in a more timely fashion
- Listen to consumer feedback about announcing games sooner than later so the consumer can see what they are getting for their investment
- Better graphic and performance ability of the console as well as better pricing/value than last gen
- Cross platform support with PlayStation, Nintendo, Xbox, Microsoft Windows PC and mobile devices
- Huge support, as requested, for backwards compatibility for all generations
- Support the Xbox One beyond the release of Series X/S as well as have Series X/S exclusives at some point
- Transparent about pre-order times and dates (even though the retailer websites took a s***)
- More games
- Huge social presence, not only from him, but for the people that work for him communicating with gamers every day. He has staff on Twitter, Facebook, Neogaf, Resetera, Youtube, Twitch talking to people as "verified" members.
- Stopped milking Halo, Forza and Gears with annual releases and told the teams to spend more time with the titles. We would probably be on Halo 10 by now if the previous captain in charge had his way.
Phil had to fix the hardware. Phil had to fix the games. Phil had to fix the perception of Xbox. Phil had to fix the revenue stream. I would say that Phil fixed the hardware, Phil has clearly fixed the games going forward. Phil has fixed the revenue stream, having just come off a record Xbox quarter ever.
But let me finish by saying this is just my BIASED OPINION, and I am sticking to it. So SUCK MY TAINT!