Xbox boss Phil Spencer gives lots of details about Microsoft’s strategy and plans for the next generation at the end of the year with the X Series.
While we’re getting seriously impatient about the next-gen, seeing PlayStation still being so discreet on one side and Xbox now remaining silent after it was announced at the Game Awards, we have to fall back on the short statements to the right and the left. In this little game, Phil Spencer, the typical boss of Xbox, is rather gifted. A few weeks ago, Microsoft announced that no Xbox Series X game at its launch would be a next-gen exclusive. This means that big games like Halo or Hellblade II will also be available on Xbox One. This tended to worry to some gamers. Indeed, we imagine that a game developed in this current generation will not be able to take full advantage of the power of the next-gen console. To answer that, Phil Spencer has some arguments.
So it was at the microphone of GamerTag Radio that the boss of the American firm began defending the idea that: Xbox Series X games will also arrive on the current Xbox One.
One of the advantages we have at Microsoft is that we are close to the development of what has been happening on the PC for years. I think that today, if we look at the PC ecosystem, we see some of the best games that have come out recently running on any high-end PC Gamer, and some of those same games you can run on PCs that are a few years old and have a lot less capability. The state of today’s engines and capabilities means that developers can make full use of the gaming hardware in front of them.
Phil Spencer wants to reassure gamers, however, because Microsoft has thought of its console as a new experience that is meant to be the best.
Of course, we designed our strategy with the X Series with that in mind – we wanted to deliver a game console that was going to offer the absolute best experience that can be read on a TV, and give creators a unique capability that they could use to go out and create the best games. But you didn’t want to do that with the idea of excluding individual players, and we also wanted to do it hand in hand with the developers because developers want to find the broadest possible audience. And yes, there are always compromises to be made.
With this dialogue, Phil Spencer confirms that the Xbox Series X is meant to be the best console, but that for its launch, to reach as many players as possible, there will be compromises, and that launch games may not take full advantage of the machine’s power. Although these promise to be sublime. Phil Spencer also adds.
I’m not going to dictate to every third-party studio what they should do, but what we see in the world today is that players can go out and play games with their friends, no matter what device their friends are on, people want the most extensive selection of games available to them, and developers want to use the best technology available. We’ve built this plan with those three essential elements, and we feel outstanding about that.
So it will be really interesting to see how Microsoft’s plans will evolve from the end of 2020 and the release of Xbox Series X. In any case, in these plans, there is an idea and a will to seduce the market in Japan. Since this same Phil Spencer considers the situation in Japan unacceptable.
It is during this same podcast that Phil Spencer returned to the great difficulty of Xbox to seduce the Japanese market. Of course, as soon as the Xbox Series X is launched at the end of the year, the goal will be to be much more present in the land of the rising sun.
“The first thing I wanted to do when I started working in this (boss) position was to go back out into the field twice a year to play with the studio executives, play their games and let them know that I was committed to their success on a global scale…I’ve been in the industry for a long time, and I see a lot of studio executives incredibly well. And let me tell you that when I’m out there, the main feedback I get from them is, “the people at our studio love working with you. They wish they could see more Xboxes in the stores around here. “You want to work on a game that’s going to be released on a platform that has visibility in your country. You want your friends to play it, and so on. So as far as Xbox is concerned, the Japanese market is important to us. Sony and Nintendo are both influential Japanese companies that have done a great job. We’re not going to win in Japan tomorrow. But the position we currently have in Japan as a platform is unacceptable to me. We will do a much better job with the next launch by not waiting ten months before releasing (the console) in Japan as we did last time. We will make sure that our services like Game Pass or xCloud will be there so that people can access them.
Microsoft and Xbox’s plans seem clear for the next generation. The idea will be to reach as many people as possible. Both in terms of the consoles installed, but also in terms of the games that will, therefore, be available on all Microsoft support (Xbox One, Xbox One X, PC, Xbox Series x).
As a reminder, the Xbox One was released on 22 November 2013 in Europe and the United States. It arrived in Japan only ten months later in September 2014. An error that Phil Spencer does not intend to reproduce.
Author Bio:
Dyam Ali is an experienced technology expert, business management consultant at Bulletin feed. With the 5 years corporate experience, he is now sharing his guidance to start-ups to grow with corporate team building activities.
