PHIL SPENCER NEXT-GEN CONSOLE WATCH INTERVIEW

     Xbox leadership has been hitting the media tour lately. On the latest episode of the Next-Gen Console Watch Podcast (NGCW), Phil Spencer (Head of Xbox) joined the show to discuss the Xbox Series X. In essence, this interview served as a part two of his recent IGN Unlocked interview (Ryan McCaffrey hosts both podcasts). On NCGW, Phil offered insight into pricing, games, hardware design, marketing, lessons learned, and overall mindset heading into next gen.  

     Phil noted that pricing and quality First Party games are among the biggest factors for next gen consoles. The Series X is the most powerful console ever built, so Xbox already has that aspect of next gen cornered, but pricing and games will be critical. As was already mentioned on the Unlocked Podcast, Xbox pricing will be agile enough to allow flexibility when determining a final price package. On the games side of things, Phil is proud of what the teams are accomplishing, especially as the software is the most difficult part to develop during this COVID-19 Pandemic. When asked if software or hardware were the more likely to be delayed, Phil answered that software would be the most likely to be delayed, if a delay were to occur. As the factories in China have started operations back up, physical supply chains will be less of an issue.

     In regard to more details to come on Xbox Series X, Phil said that there are still “a couple things hardware wise to reveal, but most of the focus going forward would be on the games.” On lessons learned from the 2013 Xbox One launch, Phil noted that there were “leadership mandates before that didn’t leave a clear message for the design team, and that they were not given the proper amount of time to make the right console, which is why we started in 2016 this time.” Phil went on to defend the hardware design team, noting that this team is the same one as the Xbox One team, that they are a great team who just needed better communication and proper time to create the ideal console. David Cutler, who designed Hypervision, is on the Backwards Compatibility team, and was key in designing the Series X (alongside Jason Ronald and other leaders). The importance of Backwards Compatibility (BC), for not only Xbox’s ecosystem, but their entire hardware design, going forward was monumental. Phil explained that by pushing Xbox One X Enhancements for older games via BC, it allowed them to master the process, and tailor future hardware (Xbox Series X) to run it wonderfully.

     “Humbly Confident” is the motto and attitude that Phil says represents Xbox heading into next gen. They are confidant and proud of what they have done and are doing, but realize that more work needs to be done, and that they need to win back some customers who had gone over to Sony in this current generation. The long game is the approach Xbox is taking when making plans for products, services, etc. They acknowledge that Sony was great this generation, but Xbox is committed to starting strong for next gen. As far as recent positive news, Phil disclosed that numbers for Gamepass, Xbox Live, console sales, and most everything was up across the board for Xbox during this “shelter in place, stay at home” phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic, as people are home looking for entertainment in this trying time.