It hasn’t been a great week for Xbox, with the studio dealing with widespread criticism and backlash for closing several Bethesda studios, including the talented Japanese team at Tango Gameworks (The Evil Within, Hi-Fi Rush) and veteran American studio Arkane Austin (Prey, Redfall).
This latest round of drastic cuts follows some major ones that happened after Xbox’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, so the general sentiment among the Xbox community right now is one of deep disappointment. To the point that a lot of that criticism is now being aimed squarely at those in charge.
Although it could be completely unrelated, the gaming community is viewing a Fallout 76 player dropping a nuke on Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer’s (whose Gamertag is ‘P3’) in-game Camp as a small slice of digital justice.
Thanks to the success of the Fallout TV show on Prime Video, Fallout 76 is currently experiencing renewed popularity. In the open-world multiplayer game, dropping nukes can turn a location into a temporarily irradiated zone full of danger and high-level loot.
Phil Spencer is an avid Xbox gamer, and players have regularly shared moments where they’ve encountered him in the wild or teamed up with ‘P3’ to take on a challenge. However, in 2024, Phil Spencer and his team are no longer viewed in a pure glowing light.
With X user @Sam_Snydes posting an image of P3’s Camp (aka Phil Spencer) being nuked on the Fallout 76 map, the person responsible @real1090jake responded with ‘Guilty’ and shared a video of them visiting Phil’s irradiated Camp and screenshot of bumping into him out in the wild.
Fallout 76 fans will note that dropping a nuke on Phil Spencer’s Camp isn’t quite the retribution it seems, as his in-game character is wearing radiation-proof Power Armor, and the bulk of his Camp is located in a safe underground Vault. A corporate executive walking away unscathed? Fitting.