Phil Spencer is more interested in seeing gaming grow than taking market share from rivals

[jsilva]

In brief: It's common to see a company trying to take market share from its rivals, but that's not the case for Xbox, at least according to Phil Spencer. Instead, Xbox's VP is focusing on making the gaming industry grow as a whole, mainstreaming features like cross-play and cross-saves.

Spencer said he's not interested in belittling other gaming platforms to make Xbox look better. As it seems, he prefers to offer users the ability to play together regardless of which platform they have and transfer game data between gaming platforms.

He also added that console wars won't help the industry grow, especially by building "artificial barriers." This type of behavior from gaming companies will only hurt them, as gamers may stop buying the platforms that don't allow them to play with their friends.

Back when Spencer said he saw Amazon and Google as the gaming brand's main competitors, he also said its supposed console rivals (Nintendo and PlayStation) don't have what it takes to compete in the cloud space. After all, Microsoft has been investing in cloud infrastructure for over 10 years to build Azure, which gives them a decent advantage over traditional gaming companies.

Besides Google and Amazon, Spencer should also keep an eye on Nvidia. GeForce Now is probably one of the best cloud gaming services out there, and thanks to the newly added RTX 3080 tier, users can even play at 1440p at 120FPS or 4K HDR at 60FPS for $100 (six-month subscription).

At the moment, Xbox cloud gaming is available for Android devices and Xbox One and Series X|S consoles, but there are plans to introduce it to TVs and streaming sticks.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/92533-phil-spencer-more-interested-seeing-gaming-grow-than.html

 

[Dimitriid]

Yeah: I don't care what he says if what he did was buying Bethesda to keep some key, very popular games away from Sony.

Where you spend you money speaks far louder than empty press posturing statements like this.

 

[MaitieS]

I always find it funny how people e.g. Dimitriid are salty on Microsoft for buying Bethesda meanwhile horny as **** whenever Sony buys a studio.

It just shows the overall stupidity of these people who are so interested in justifying their stupid decisions everywhere they go.

Imagine being this level of attached to a plastic thing. Just pathetic.

 

[bviktor]

Yeah: I don't care what he says if what he did was buying Bethesda to keep some key, very popular games away from Sony.

Where you spend you money speaks far louder than empty press posturing statements like this.

If you think Microsoft is doing bad, take a look at Sony. The single biggest burden to crossplay and any kind of cooperation.

Yes, consoles need exclusives to sell. Xbox still has like a third of what Sony has.

 

[Dimitriid]

If you think Microsoft is doing bad, take a look at Sony.

I do, routinely: no need for whataboutism today ok?

 

[Burty117]

I always find it funny how people e.g. Dimitriid are salty on Microsoft for buying Bethesda meanwhile horny as **** whenever Sony buys a studio.

It just shows the overall stupidity of these people who are so interested in justifying their stupid decisions everywhere they go.

Imagine being this level of attached to a plastic thing. Just pathetic.

I'm not standing up for Dimitriid but Sony don't have entire articles written about their VP claiming to:

"focusing on making the gaming industry grow as a whole, mainstreaming features like cross-play and cross-saves."
Or
"Console wars won't help the industry grow, especially by building "artificial barriers." This type of behaviour from gaming companies will only hurt them."

Coming from the guy who just bought Bethesda.

 

[0dium]

I always find it funny how people e.g. Dimitriid are salty on Microsoft for buying Bethesda meanwhile horny as **** whenever Sony buys a studio.

It just shows the overall stupidity of these people who are so interested in justifying their stupid decisions everywhere they go.

Imagine being this level of attached to a plastic thing. Just pathetic.

I think you missed the point of his comment. It was about Microsoft saying one thing and doing completely opposite thing

 

[Dimitriid]

I always find it funny how people e.g. Dimitriid are salty on Microsoft for buying Bethesda meanwhile horny as **** whenever Sony buys a studio.

Since for some reason you decided to single me out by name, name one instance when I praised Sony for buying a studio, you might even be hard pressed to find me praising Sony for anything at all: they're scumbags.

Still, doesn't change the fact that what you're doing here is called whataboutism: yes we know Sony does it too, but we're talking about Microsoft today don't change the subject.

 

[McKocoa]

Making games exclusive goes directly against what Spencer said here. MS has made it a business priority to compete with Sony for a big exclusive lineup, as they rightly should do to remain competitive in that market. However, bigger picture is MS is pushing their xbox service as software ever since they started releasing MS exclusives on PC and pushing their apps on desktop. MS is a software company and they know they need to expand their gaming one way or another especially as other software services take up market share. I think MS was too late to jump in (PCs), they were too focused on consoles, lost sight of being a software company first.

 

[Guberian]

Lies, every company is always interested in expanding market share in their respective segment of the market.

 

[MaitieS]

I'm not standing up for Dimitriid but Sony don't have entire articles written about their VP claiming to:

"focusing on making the gaming industry grow as a whole, mainstreaming features like cross-play and cross-saves."
Or
"Console wars won't help the industry grow, especially by building "artificial barriers." This type of behaviour from gaming companies will only hurt them."

Coming from the guy who just bought Bethesda.

You are right. Sony has these type of articles:
Sony fires PlayStation exec who allegedly appeared in pedophile sting video

Former Sony Playstation exec under investigation after appearing in pedo sting video

San Diego's Internet Crimes Against Children task force is looking into the matter.

www.cnet.com

 

[MaitieS]

Since for some reason you decided to single me out by name, name one instance when I praised Sony for buying a studio, you might even be hard pressed to find me praising Sony for anything at all: they're scumbags.

Still, doesn't change the fact that what you're doing here is called whataboutism: yes we know Sony does it too, but we're talking about Microsoft today don't change the subject.

Yeah sorry if I sounded a bit too aggressive. You are right today we are talking about MS.

 

[Dimitriid]

However, bigger picture is MS is pushing their xbox service as software ever since they started releasing MS exclusives on PC and pushing their apps on desktop. MS is a software company and they know they need to expand their gaming one way or another especially as other software services take up market share. I think MS was too late to jump in (PCs), they were too focused on consoles, lost sight of being a software company first.

I think this is kind of the way he wants to weasel out of the statement: In his eyes by supporting the PC platform it makes it "not exclusive" as it conveniently ignores the defacto monopoly his parent company also has on being the default operative system.

So the day xbox goes out of it's way to also port or facilitate in some way porting their first party games to Linux then I'd say they're truly done with exclusivity.

But right now they seem to be trying to having their cake and eat it too: they might not want console exclusivity (So platform + hardware) anymore, but the fact that they both want and purse platform exclusivity as you said, based on software entirely and not necessarily hardware anymore, remains firmly in place if you ask me.

 

[dangh]

You are right. Sony has these type of articles:
Sony fires PlayStation exec who allegedly appeared in pedophile sting video

Former Sony Playstation exec under investigation after appearing in pedo sting video

San Diego's Internet Crimes Against Children task force is looking into the matter.

www.cnet.com

And how is firing some a hole related to company strategy and saying false statement by xbox suit?

Ms keep saying one thing, and doing opposite. W11 should have never happened according to them.

 

[MaitieS]

And how is firing some a hole related to company strategy and saying false statement by xbox suit?

Ms keep saying one thing, and doing opposite. W11 should have never happened according to them.

I mostly meant it as a joke that these are the type of articles about Sony, nothing else and yeah... Windows 11...

 

[Trapped Nowhere]

Maybe things will change, since Sony's VP got fired recently from what I recall

 

[Dimitriid]

Maybe things will change, since Sony's VP got fired recently from what I recall

For allegations that iirc have nothing to do with his business practices: That means that if he's replaced it'd be with a guy with the same exact plans business-wise but maybe a bit of a cleaner image.

 

[Trapped Nowhere]

For allegations that iirc have nothing to do with his business practices: That means that if he's replaced it'd be with a guy with the same exact plans business-wise but maybe a bit of a cleaner image.

There goes the dream

 

[kiwigraeme]

Seems people can read into this whatever you want .
Probably true - no exclusivity between pc/xbox
wants Sony& pc/xbox to lessen their dichotomy - to have crossover and all that
For Sony/Microsoft to help each other to starve off usurpers like Amazon/Nvidia

Never played Risk - but business is like that - sometimes you work with competitors to promote your industry , yet you still compete claw and tooth. Used car dealers are all next to each other down the street - you want to be a car dealer - perversely best to be on that street 9 times out of 10

 

[hahahanoobs]

"But MS bought Bethesda to keep away form Sony!"
You mean to help sell consoles like exclusives always have? lol

I think a few of you are missing what Spencer is actually referring to.
Spoiler: It's not eliminating exclusives ffs.

 

[GamerNerves]

The fanboyism is strong in this comment section.

 

[Edito]

Phil Spencer is very inconsistent, sometimes it feels like he doesn't remember what he is doing, what he said before...

 

[Shadowboxer]

Yeah: I don't care what he says if what he did was buying Bethesda to keep some key, very popular games away from Sony.

Where you spend you money speaks far louder than empty press posturing statements like this.

In all fairness, Sony buy studios all the time and lock the games away from MS and everyone else. At least MS gives you access to those games on game pass and releases them on steam on day one.

Personally I think MS would be stupid not to buy studios to make games for their own systems. This is how the games industry has always worked.

 

[yukka]

Love this passive aggressive play from Phil. Lull them into a false sense of security then POW. Console wars won. Winner. Xbox.