Microsoft’s Phil Spencer wants players to have more options beyond the first-party stores associated with consoles.
Spencer seems to have been keen on creating a more open and accessible digital environment for players, and has often discussed reducing platform fragmentation and giving customers more choice and control over where they play or buy games.
In an interview with Polygon at GDC 2024, Microsoft’s gaming CEO discussed the idea of giving Xbox users additional ways to purchase games by adding third-party stores like the Epic Games Store, Itch.io or GOG to the console, rather than forcing them to Users purchase from the official Xbox store.
Spencer said the add-on store on consoles will mirror that of PCs, with a variety of options, which will not only benefit customers but console manufacturers as well.
“[Consider] Our history as a Windows company,” Spencer said. “If I said, ‘Hey, when you use your computer, you get to decide the type of experience you have, no one would blink twice. [by picking where to buy games]. This does have value. “
Traditionally, console makers sell hardware at a loss, a strategy known as subsidies, hoping to replenish the funds through game sales later. However, as console sales stall and hardware costs rise, the effectiveness of this strategy is diminishing, as the prices of console components are not falling as fast as in previous generations.
And, unlike the booming PC and handheld device markets, the gaming console market is barely growing. The latest data from Circana (NPD) reports that while total spending increased by 2%, Hardware sales fell 30% year-on-year February 2024, year-to-date decline of 19%.
Spencer said that’s partly because PCs give users a choice of where to buy games, making hardware subsidies “more challenging in today’s world.” Additionally, customers should not be limited by which console they own or where they purchase the game.
“I would say, it might seem too selfless, I don’t know [subsidizing is] grow this industry,” Spencer said. “So I thought, what are the barriers? What things create friction between creators and players in today’s world? How can we be part of opening up this model?
“If I want to play games on a gaming PC, then I feel like I’m more of a continuous part of the overall gaming ecosystem rather than [console], my games are based on different closed ecosystems (in gaming terms) that I have to play with. “
In short, Spencer believes it would be possible to have a more seamless gaming experience if console and store barriers didn’t exist.
