With the launch of next-gen consoles later this year, Microsoft and Sony are ushering in the next era of gaming. Companies are taking slightly different approaches. Sony has said it plans to release exclusive PS5 titles directly, while Microsoft has spoken over and over again about no doing this with the Xbox Series X, and instead launching titles on their family of devices.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer told GI.biz that he is passionate about this because he wants Microsoft games to be available to people no matter what device they have. Spencer said forcing people to buy new hardware is against the spirit of the game.
“As a player, you are the center of our strategy,” said Spencer. “Our device is not the center of our strategy, our game is not the center of strategy. We want to allow you to play the games you want, with the friends you want to play with, on any device. On TV, the Xbox console will be the best way to play console games. “
The X Series is the most powerful console Microsoft has ever created, and people who play games on that system will experience the “best version” of Microsoft games when it comes to fidelity and performance, Spencer said. With that said, Spencer said he doesn’t want to exclude anyone from Microsoft games, so the company will continue to release new games on the regular Xbox One as well as on the PC.
“The game is about entertainment and community and fun and learning new stories and new perspectives, and it seems to me completely contrary to what the games are about to say that part of that is preventing people from experiencing those games,” he said. Spencer. “Or to force someone to buy my specific device the day I want them to go buy it, to participate in what the game is about.”
“The game is bigger than any device, and that’s kind of an industry that we’ve embraced as we attract more and more gamers. I think it’s vital to the role games can play on the planet.”
The difference in policies between Sony and Microsoft in this regard has led some of the audience to criticize Microsoft for “containing” the power of new games to accommodate old hardware. Spencer thinks this is a lot of nonsense, just look at the PC market, he said.
“Frankly, hold is a meme created by people who are too caught up in device competition,” Spencer said. “I only watch Windows. It is almost certain that if the developer is creating a Windows version of their game, then the most powerful and highest fidelity version is the PC version. You can even see that with some of our premium console games. PC generation, even from our competitors, that the richest version is the PC version. However, the PC ecosystem is the most diverse when it comes to hardware, when you think of the CPUs and GPUs of years ago. “
With Xbox Game Pass and xCloud, Microsoft no longer needs you to purchase any Xbox model to become an Xbox user.
