Xbox boss Phil Spencer has stated that, with its recent moves to release games on other consoles, Microsoft isn’t trying to bring PlayStation or Nintendo players over to Xbox anymore. In an interview with XboxEra, Spencer said that the company is instead happier getting business by selling its games on PlayStation and Nintendo.
When asked by the host about the company’s recent moves in bringing its first party titles to PlayStation, Spencer responded by saying that, rather than trying to bring in PlayStation gamers on to Xbox as a platform, the company is instead focusing on the revenue it is making with multiplatform releases.
“It’s maybe not what I was going to say on stand at the time,” said Spencer. “But yeah, I would love to make all of the money for all of the games that we ship right, like obviously we make more on our own platform. It’s one of the reasons that investing in our own platform is important. But there are people, whether it’s their libraries on a PlayStation or Nintendo, whether it’s they like the controller better, they just like the games that are there.”
“And I don’t want to then look at that and say, well, there’s no way that we should be able to build a business there, find fans of our franchises there. I’m not trying to move them all over to Xbox anymore. People were all so invested in where our games are. Let’s just allow more people to play and yes, the 70% that we make on games on other platforms is helpful to us being able to build great portfolios like we showed at the Dev Direct and I hope this will continue to show through the rest of the year.”
For context, Spencer was referring to the standard 70-30 split for console game releases, with 70 percent going to publishers and developers and 30 percent going to the platform owner, which in PlayStation’s case would be Sony. Spencer spoke about how, while Xbox won’t be making that 30 percent, the 70 percent it is making will still be used to fund games moving forward.
Spencer also spoke about how Microsoft isn’t keen on leaving the console market, following Sega’s moves from the early 2000s where after the Dreamcast, the company decided to move entirely into software, making games for other platforms.
“I want to show respect to the people who voice their concerns,” said Spencer. “To me, like I get it. And I would never disrespect anybody who comes to me, concerned. I’ve got a library of games on Xbox console. I want to make sure I’ll continue to be able to play those games. Are we going to still do hardware? Are we going to still get to play the games the way we’ve always played? Am I going to have to rent all my games? Can I still buy games? All that.”
“I get it. I get the questions. I think we’ve shown respect for people’s libraries over the generations with back-compat and Play Anywhere, and I want to continue to do that. You can buy every game that’s in Game Pass, we’re not trying to funnel everybody into one business model. Play the games the way you want to play them.”
Spencer also spoke about the importance of Xbox’s focus on PC and cloud gaming. He cites the growth Xbox has seen in the Asian markets not through console sale, but through its subscription services and game releases on PC and the cloud, which allows players to check out a game even if they don’t have the right hardware.
“We obviously have to run a good business, so we’ll have our pricing and everything that we do, but I want to make as many options as possible for the games that we have,” said Spencer. “So they find more and more players. It’s why us embracing Windows and embracing Cloud has allowed us to grow. One of our fastest growing regions for us right now is Asia and it’s not because we’re selling more consoles in Asia, but through cloud and PC, we’re finding more users year over year than in any other place. The fastest kind of platform is Cloud. That’s the thing that’s growing the fastest year over year and those are players like you were talking about, like that radio host. We were never going to catch that person with our console. So let’s find them in a way that works, and it’s better for Indiana Jones. It’s better for Xbox.”
Xbox’s most recent first-party title, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, is only the latest of the company’s games that will be coming to PS5. In the past, Xbox has also released Sea of Thieves on Sony’s console.
