Microsoft’s head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, has stated that the company is more focused on expanding the video game industry rather than competing with other platforms.
In an interview with EDGE magazine (via Video Games Chronicle), Spencer highlighted how Microsoft is promoting features such as cross-play and cross-save as part of its push towards gaming without boundaries. He also mentioned that erecting “artificial barriers” does not help the industry grow, seemingly contradicting an earlier announcement where Microsoft stated that some Bethesda franchises, which have been multiplatform thus far, would be exclusive to Xbox and PC.
In response to a question about traditional console wars, Spencer stated, “I spend zero energy on ‘how do I make other gaming platforms smaller so that Xbox gets bigger,’ I’m more interested in the growing pie of gaming than I am our slice of the pie-eating into someone else’s.”
He added that this is the reason why Microsoft has been focusing on things like cross-play and cross-save functionality, stating he thinks about “these scenarios of why you and I maybe can’t play a game together, and it shouldn’t be because of the console you bought versus the console I bought.”
While that sentiment may sound nice, it’s also far from reality. Since announcing its acquisition of Bethesda in 2020, Microsoft has revealed that The Elder Scrolls VI would be an Xbox and PC exclusive. Similarly, Bethesda’s Starfield will also be an Xbox exclusive — something Bethesda executive Pete Hines felt the need to apologize for. Notably, Ori developer Thomas Mahler pointed out this contradiction in a statement earlier this week and explained that Microsoft was “between a rock and a hard place.”
