KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM PHIL SPENCER’S GAMERTAG RADIO INTERVIEW

     As part of celebrating 1,000 episodes of Gamertag Radio, the hosts invited Xbox Head Phil Spencer onto the show as a special guest. The show reminisced about past events and games, discussed the current state of Xbox, and also gave a peek into Xbox thought process going into next gen with the Series X. It was an informal and informative episode, pulling back the curtain a bit into Xbox operations, which included the origins of some key Xbox practices. Below will be a summary of key takeaways from the episode.

2016 SAN FRANCISCO SPRING SHOWCASE

     A key moment mentioned on the podcast, was referring back to the 2016 San Francisco Showcase. Phil Spencer was a keynote speaker there, and addressed some key concepts that would come to define the Xbox business practice going forward. Among the proposals were Play Anywhere, Crossplay, and player centered focus (not hardware) going forward. While Gamepass wasn’t announced at that event, the push toward that entity was founded around that time.

GAMEPASS

     Gamepass has become a key part of Xbox’s DNA. This subscription service gives gamers an impressive catalogue of games to play, available on both console and PC, and will include xCloud as part of the package. With an affordable monthly price ($10-15), it is one of the best values in the gaming industry. One big reason Phil implemented Gamepass, was to lengthen the lifecycles of games, and give games a second chance that may have been overshadowed at launch. Hellblade, for example, was discussed as one of the best utilizations of this service. While the quick comparison is often Netflix, Phil bristles at that one. He believes that it is not completely accurate. While Netflix is solely about subscriptions, Xbox is also interested in sales of games, which Gamepass happens to greatly aid, as many who play games on Gamepass, are also buying more games than previously.

SERIES X

     The Series X was a big topic of conversation on the podcast. Phil said that he has been using it at home as his main console, enabling him to playtest it and offer feedback to the team. Backwards Compatible titles have been numerous amounts of the titles he has been testing, to make sure they run smoothly on the new system. Phil goes on to say that they are way further ahead in system building now, than they were at the same stage before the Xbox One launch. The fact that he is able to effectively take a Series X home and playtest it this early in the development process is a testament to the skills of the team. The decision to reveal the Series X and Hellblade at the Game Awards, was actually the brainchild of one of the marketing leads at Xbox. In meetings, she said that they weren’t where they wanted to be in market position, and needed to be bold going forward. The reception to the reveals at the Game Awards proved this to be a wise choice. The Series X will not have exclusive titles for the first year of its lifecycle, meaning that those with an Xbox One will still be able to play the new games during this time period, just with a different experience.

VR

     At X019, Phil made some comments that ruffled feathers in the VR community. Basically, his comments were interpreted as, “no one cares about VR”, which is not true. On this episode of Gamertag, Phil revisited those comments, and clarified his position. Phil was saying essentially that VR will not be available at launch, so don’t expect it. It is a lot more difficult to complete and perfect than simply plugging in a headset. He said focus needed to be first on what they (Xbox) already do, and that it was something they could revisit. He did not mean to take shots at VR fans or developers; saying that he respects them, he was just saying it isn’t Xbox’s focus.

JAPAN

     At the tail end of the show, the focus turned to Japan. Japan has long been a region in which Xbox has struggled to have success. For various reasons, it has been very difficult for them to gain a solid foothold in the market, whether it be console sales, third party support from Japanese Publishers, or even first party content. Since Phil took over the top spot at Xbox, he has made a very noticeable effort to right the wrongs of the past, and make Japan a viable place for Xbox, and bring Japanese games to the Xbox community. He has made countless trips to Japan to meet with publishers and studios, to find a way to make this a strong partnership. While he notes that some games will continue to skip Xbox for various reasons, the number of those games has drastically diminished, as Japan starts to view Xbox more favorably. There is still work to be done, however. Phil notes that developers there want to see more Xboxes in Japanese stores. He promises that Series X will not launch a full ten months later in Japan than North America/Europe as it did with the Xbox One. There will be full xCloud support, Gamepass, etc. at launch for Japan this time. On a final note, Phil stated that while he wasn’t announcing anything yet; that more first party presence in Japan is definitely something that can be addressed. Whether or not Xbox will acquire or build studio(s) in Japan remains to be seen, but it does seem like a nice hint at possibilities for the future.