Phil Spencer “Fully Expects” Another Xbox And Pledges to Focus on Consoles
John Williamson / 8 years ago
Phil Spencer has been tirelessly working away to improve Microsoft’s public image among the core gaming community after the pretty abysmal Xbox One launch. The regular dashboard refinements, game announcements and pledges to improve the user-experience helped entice new users to the platform. However, the system is still lingering well behind the PlayStation 4. On another note, Spencer discussed PC gaming more openly which coincides with Microsoft’s new unified approach to PC, mobile and Xbox.
This latest strategy has caused some anxiety from Xbox, well, fanboys is probably the most accurate term:
@AAHankins Xbox One is the most important gaming product at MS. Team Xbox is 100% committed to making it our best console generation ever.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) October 24, 2015
Spencer did acknowledge the reason why some Xbox fans felt so insecure and said:
@AAHankins No issues at all. People invest in Xbox and they want to know we support their product, I get it.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) October 24, 2015
Previously, Microsoft gave their assurances to support the PC platform but this never came to fruition. Additionally, PC gamers are extremely passionate and Microsoft’s appalling Games For Windows Live continues to haunt them. While certain games are getting ported like Gears of War, the majority remain exclusive to the Xbox brand. I’m quite baffled by some of the anti-PC rhetoric from Xbox fans begging Microsoft to stop putting games on the PC. Exclusives are anti-consumer, and restricting content doesn’t benefit anyone.
Spencer also went onto discuss the future of Xbox and said:
@captaingamepad I fully expect there will be.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) October 24, 2015
This quashes some rumors regarding Microsoft’s possible exit from the console market. Clearly, Spencer believes there will be a successor to the Xbox One although it might not take the form of a traditional console. By the time the next consoles arrive, digital distribution, and 4K streaming could become the norm. Therefore, consoles have a great deal of work to do to compete with the PC and cheap Android streaming devices.
