In a new interview, Xbox head Phil Spencer revealed why they pivoted away from trying to make Xbox the exclusive device for their games.
As things stand, Xbox is not an open platform quite yet. The EU’s Digital Markets Act may soon force them and other console companies to be more open, allowing customers to sideload apps and buy from third party stores in their own platform.
However, Microsoft has opened up in another way. They no longer try to make their customers buy Xbox games only on Xbox. On the same day that games launch on Xbox, you get them on Game Pass if you are subscribed. Depending on your tier, you can play those games on a Windows device, or even stream on your phone.
In talking to the Second Request podcast, Phil explained that they had the user and creator experience in mind when they made this pivot.
“From a creator perspective and a player perspective, there are three billion people who play video games.
And people play with the devices that are in their hands. I play mobile games, I play PC games, I play console games. And it’s great when I can play the same game across all those devices, to play with my same community.”
Subsequently, Phil explained that platform holders, which do not only include Xbox, but also Apple, Google, and Sony, are incentivized to keep their platforms closed.
It’s easier for those platform holders to not have to deal with other creators who may try to engage with users, in ways that the platform holder is not able to control. But, as Phil points out, this isn’t in the best interest of the consumers themselves, or for that matter, the creators.
It may feel like a lifetime ago, but it really hasn’t been that long when Microsoft was acting just like every other platform holder, and failing at it. The slate of exclusive games for the Xbox One would turn out to mostly be disappointments, and they ended up with more duds than Sony’s PlayStation 4 did.
There were the games like Sunset Overdrive and Crackdown 3, which faltered critically and commercially. There were also critical darlings that criminally underperformed, like D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die and the original Titanfall. Even Xbox tentpoles like Forza and Halo didn’t move the needle for Xbox One enough.
So, this change in Microsoft’s philosophy has turned out good for the company, because it has been good for their consumers.
You can read Phil’s full comments below.
“If you look at the largest games on the planet, those games tend to be available on multiple platforms. So, we happen to own Minecraft, if you look at a game like Roblox, or you look at a game like Fortnite. If you look at games like that – Genshin Impact would be another example – that creators want to meet their customers on the devices that their customers want to play on. And it was a pivot for us years ago with our Xbox strategy. It’s not about trying to get everybody to buy our device, and for our device to be the only place that people can play.
Every game that we ship on Xbox, we also ship on PC. And they’re available on our subscription and our cloud on the day it launches. If somebody wants to play on their television using our console, we love that experience. If somebody has an Android tablet and that’s the way that they wanna play, if you have a web browser, and you pay a subscription, our games are available there.
You definitely, on the platform side, have a lot of closed platforms that you are trying to protect, their size, and keep that closed nature of their platform. But from a creator perspective and a player perspective, there are three billion people who play video games.
And people play with the devices that are in their hands. I play mobile games, I play PC games, I play console games. And it’s great when I can play the same game across all those devices, to play with my same community.
So, definitely, if you’re Apple or Google in the mobile space, you want to keep those platforms closed – there’s only one storefront, there’s only one way to really find new content on those devices. If you’re on the console space, and you’re leading to the extent that Sony is, relative to us, you want to keep a closed platform, where you don’t have to deal with other people and other creators, creating engagement on their platform our of their control. But I don’t think that’s in the best interest of creators or players.”
Source: Second Request Podcast
