Xbox boss Phil Spencer also contested the idea that “if you just build great games, everything would turn around” in his latest interview.In his latest interview, Phil Spencer discusses being “third place in the console marketplace” and reflects on how Microsoft “lost the worst generation to lose.” Phil Spencer on the Xbox ecosystemIn the “quick hit questions” portion of Kinda Funny Xcast episode 137, Spencer first explains the Xbox team’s vision for its players before addressing the ideas put forward by some on how Xbox might “win the console race,” saying, “We’re not in the business of out-console-ing Sony or out-console-ing Nintendo. There isn’t really a great solution or win for us and I know that will upset a ton of people, but it’s just the truth of the matter is that when you’re third place in the console marketplace and the top two players are as strong as they are, and have in certain cases very discrete focus on doing deals and other things, that kind of make being Xbox hard for us as a team, that’s on us — not on anybody else.”Spencer continues, saying, “I see commentary that if you just build great games, everything would turn around. It’s just not true that if we go off and build great games, all of a sudden you’re going to see console shares shift in some dramatic way,” before reflecting, “We lost the worst generation to lose in the Xbox One generation, where everybody built their digital library of games. So when you go and you’re building on Xbox, we want our Xbox community to feel awesome, but this idea that if we just focused more on great games on our console that somehow we’re going to win the console race, I think doesn’t really lay to the reality of most people.” He points out that most people looking to buy a console “are already a member of one of the three ecosystems. And their digital library is there — this is the first generation where the big games that they’re playing were games that were available last gen, when you think about Fortinte and Roblox and Minecraft, like the continuity from generation to generation is so strong. I see a lot of pundits out there that kind of want to go back to the time where we all had cartridges and discs, and every new generation was a clean slate, and you could switch the whole console share — that’s just not the world that we are in today.” In sharing his thoughts on how Redfall’s reception piles pressure on Starfield to carry Xbox in 2023, Luke pointed out that the expectations for Starfield are close to the point of far exceeding what any game might be able to live up to. Spencer, meanwhile, notes that however excellent Starfield might prove to be, it won’t be enough to shift console shares, saying, “There is no world where Starfield is an 11/10 and people start selling their PS5s. That’s not going to happen.”What do you make of Spencer’s comments? Let us know!
Source link
