Microsoft’s Phil Spencer seems a little flattered when it comes to the Xbox’s performance.
In an interview with Kinda Funny Games, Spencer said that while the company’s business isn’t “beating Sony or beating Nintendo,” the company doesn’t really have a solution or a win.
Because of this, Microsoft decided not to fight a console war, but to focus on cloud and subscription services, such as Game Pass for the new generation of consoles.
“The truth of the matter is when you’re number three in the console market, and the top two players are as strong as they are, and in some cases very distractedly focused on making deals and other things that make themselves Xbox as As a team, we’re hard — it’s our responsibility, not anyone else’s,” Spencer said.
While Microsoft is focused on creating a great gaming experience for Xbox users, Spencer said the company realized it couldn’t compete with Nintendo or Sony with a traditional console strategy.
“I saw it there. I saw comments saying that if you just make great games, everything will be fine,” he said. “If we start making great games, all of a sudden you’re going to see console share shift in some dramatic way, which isn’t true. We lost the worst generation in the Xbox One generation, and everyone built them digital library game.
“The idea that if we focused more on great games on consoles, we’d somehow win the console race doesn’t match the reality for most people.”
While the console is the heart of the company’s Xbox division, Spencer said its competitors sometimes make life difficult for the entire console team.
“We’re not consoling Sony or consoling Nintendo. We don’t have really good solutions or wins.
“But I know some people want us to be a better green version of what the blue guys do, and suffice it to say, there’s no winning for Xbox following everyone else. We’ve got to start doing our own thing with Game Pass, With what we do with Xcloud, and the way we build games.”
That being said, Spencer does seem optimistic about the devices consumers can use to play purchased games on a variety of devices, such as consoles, PCs, and handhelds like the Steam Deck. While that’s great, Spencer said don’t expect Microsoft to abandon the console market and focus entirely on Steaming.
This is especially true since 90% of console buyers fall into their preferred camp, whether it’s Nintendo, PlayStation or Xbox; moreover, for consumers, buying a console that doesn’t allow them to bring their old games to a new generation Game consoles are not worth the money.
“It’s the first generation, and the big games they’re playing are last generation games, when you think about Fortnite, Roblox, and Minecraft,” Spencer said. “The continuity from generation to generation is so strong.
“I see a lot of pundits wanting to go back to the days when we all had cartridges and discs, and each generation was brand new and you could switch the whole share of consoles.
“That’s not the world we’re in today. There’s no world where Starfield is 11 out of 10 and people are selling their PS5s. That’s not going to happen.”
