Animal Talking, Star Wars: Rogue One writer Gary Whitta’s talk show set in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, has aired an interview with Xbox chief Phil Spencer. The man, who always seems to have a soft spot for Nintendo, appeared in Animal Crossing to talk about the next generation Xbox, and the recent delay of Halo Infinite.
You can watch her full interview below – Spencer joins in on about the 19-minute mark – but we’ve rounded up some of the highlights.
Spencer says some other plans were considered to address the delay in Halo Infinite, including shipping the game in parts. There were rumors before the launch that the free-to-play multiplayer of the game could come after the launch, but Spencer says that Xbox did not want to do this.
While he knows people are “bummed” about the game’s delay, he also believes it’s the right move – and a decision he could not have made 5 or 10 years ago. Spencer says he has the full support of Microsoft in the decision, even though it would have been nice for the Series X to be the first system since the original Xbox to launch with a Halo game.
He also reiterates that the system itself will not be delayed, and reminds us again that he has had one at home since last year. After playing games on Series X, he says, it’s “hard to go back” to Xbox One because games feel better on the new system.
Spencer also advocated for more “big” Game Pass announcements to come. Many of the games announced so far for Series X are on their way to Game Pass.
Spencer touches on some other topics, including the PS5, why the systems have such radically different designs from each other, and how Microsoft and Sony’s strategy differ. He also promises that the Xbox Series X will not be a sound console, saying that it will only make as much noise as the Xbox One X.
This is not the first time that the competitor’s next gen systems have been discussed on Animal Talking – director of God of War, Cory Barlog, spoke recently about the PS5. Now Whitta just needs to get one from Nintendo on the show.
The Xbox Series X is expected to launch in November.
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