In a new report from Dina Bass and Bloomberg, Phil Spencer stopped by to talk about Xbox and the industry in general after what’s been a tough year, for Microsoft in particular.
Xbox started the year with a bang, using their popular ‘Developer_Direct‘ livestream to show gamers what was coming up in 2024. Underneath that though, rumors persisted that multiple games would be going to rival platforms – namely PlayStation and Nintendo Switch.
The Xbox Multiplatform Journey
Following reports that both Starfield and Indiana Jones were being considered under an internal program we now know is called ‘Project Latitude‘, in addition to the rumors swirling for games like Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves, the dam broke. Xbox announced a ‘Business Update’, and revealed the 4 games that would be ported to additional platforms beyond just Xbox and PC.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Spencer is apparently ‘pleased‘ with the results following the launch of these games on rival consoles, advising Xbox would ‘do more of that.‘ For those that surmised that stalwarts of the Xbox brand like Halo would be behind a redline, think again – with the Microsoft Gaming CEO saying he ‘won’t rule out any game in Microsoft’s stable.‘
“I do not see sort of red lines in our portfolio that say ‘thou must not,’ referencing that it’s too early to make any sort of decision on the next version of Halo.
Phil Spencer on New Hardware
Phil Spencer has been pretty vocal on his approval of handheld gaming devices, and offered up a few new details on what the Xbox team plan as they look ahead at what’s next. Confirming that the company is ‘working on prototypes‘, the Xbox team are also investigating the broader market to assist in finding the right vision for future hardware.
“Longer term, I love us building devices, and I think our team could do some real innovative work, but we want to be informed by learning and what’s happening now.” says Phil Spencer.
Per the folks at Bloomberg, any device of that nature is ‘a few years out‘. Right now, Microsoft engineers are working on improving the existing Xbox app so that it works better than it currently does on existing handhelds like the ROG Ally or the Lenovo Legion Go, saying the Xbox app is ‘good rather than great on some of these gadgets‘
There’s plenty more detail on future Xbox acquisitions, their mobile gaming strategy and more over at Bloomberg, so worth heading over to give the interview a full read.
We’ve spoken at length on these topics here at XboxEra, stating that the industry clearly needs to change, and that as per usual, Microsoft are going first. You can read more of our opinion pieces on this new strategy here and here.
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