In an interview filled with information Phil Spencer, head of Gaming at Microsoft, has revealed even more about their next-generation plans. He talks about the Bethesda deal, missing genres in their portfolio, Game Pass on PlayStation and Switch and much more. If you want to read the entire thing, please give GameReactor a click. You can read the full interview by clicking on this link.
We’ve collected some interesting quotes from the interview for you.
On acquisitions and genres that have been underserved on Game Pass:
Spencer: If we look at what people are playing on Xbox, what Game Pass subscribers are playing, I think what is missing from our portfolio is casual content with a broad appeal. E-rated content (to use an ESRB rating) is not a strength for us. We obviously have Minecraft and we have some other franchises. But when I think about expanding the creative palette that our teams have, I think that is critically important.
So, with the growth that we are seeing, I expect we will constantly be in this mode of bringing more creators into the fold.
Regarding games coming to PC and the platforms on PC they are releasing on in relation to them shipping games on Nintendo Switch:
Spencer: I don’t think its healthy where for every first-party game that comes out I have to get the question, is that coming to Switch or is that coming to Switch.
And there is this expectation from customers like there is now on PC, where people don’t really question – there might be some timing things, on when certain things happen – but if we are shipping a first-party game it’s coming to PC. If we are shipping a first-party game on PC it’s coming to Steam and our own store. Like we built an expectation from our customers.
The reason why Phil Spencer has been vague on exclusivity and upcoming content regarding ZeniMax/Bethesda
Spencer: First of all, I would like to say that we haven’t acquired ZeniMax. We have announced our intention to acquire ZeniMax. It is going through regulatory approval and we don’t see any issues there. We expect early in 2021 the deal will close. But I say that because I want people to know, I’m not sitting down with Todd Howard and Robert Altman and planning their future. Because I’m currently not allowed to do that, that would be illegal.
On the never ending debate about Game Pass being better for multiplayer or singleplayer games and what kind of games Microsoft should be making:
Spencer: I want a long tail of a lot of games that people are playing, and I think the diversity of online multiplayer versus single-player, we have to support the diversity there, and that’s my goal. If anything I’d like to see more single-player games from our first-party, just because that over time we’ve kind of grown organically to be more multiplayer-driven as an organisation.
On expanding the Game Pass business to PlayStation and Nintendo devices:
Spencer: I love the Switch, I love PlayStation, honestly, I think they’ve done an amazing job as being a part of this industry. I’m not sure that those are the next big set of users for us, but we could be open to those discussions.
There’s a lot more in the interview which you can read here.
