Above: Phil Spencer of Microsoft
Image Credit: Dean Takahashi
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Microsoft’s top game development executive Phil Spencer defended the company’s strategy for the launch of its Xbox One video game console, which debuted in November. He did so even though Sony’s rival PlayStation 4 is outselling the Xbox One.
Speaking at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Spencer said that Microsoft is in a great competitive position compared to past video game system launches and it is poised to grow.
Spencer replaced Marc Whitten, chief product officer for the Xbox One, as the speaker at the GDC session, since Whitten resigned earlier this week to become the chief technology officer at speaker maker Sonos.
“I better get some free speakers,” Spencer said.
“The launch was great,” Spencer said. “I lived through the launch of the Xbox 360. Think of where the hardware is. Geting to launch is never without its tribulations. Getting them to the market and all of the working was good.”
Code-named Newcastle, Xbox One’s policies had been set around a year before. Microsoft made the announcement of the machine in May 2013.
After the first announcement, Microsoft ran into a lot of negative buzz because of its restrictive policies on the sale of used games, the requirement that the console be always connected, and privacy policies. Users objected to the policies and the firestorm forced Microsoft to backtrack to calm users down. That gave Sony a lift in perception in the market, as it had no such anti-user policies.
The system launched in November, a couple of weeks after the PS4. It had a disadvantage, as the inclusion of the Kinect motion-sensing system drove up its cost. Microsoft is selling its console for $499, compared to $399 for the PS4. Consequently, the PS4 is outselling the Xbox One, with 6 million announced units sold compared to an estimated 4 million, respectively.
“In hindsight, as we rolled it out, we could have been more clear and concise about what was the soul of the product,” he said. “It was a great learning experience for me. I’m not one to look back and thinking about changing things.”
But Spencer pointed to hot games like Titanfall, developed by Call of Duty creators at Respawn Entertainment, for giving a boost to the Xbox One. He said the system had huge AAA titles coming like Watch Dogs as well as smaller indie games as well.
Microsoft’s approach to indies was also a source of embarrassment. At the Electronic Entertainment Expo trade show in June 2013, Sony highlighted indie developers like Jonathan Blow, who is creating The Witness, on stage and talked about a lot of titles for the PS4 at the show. Microsoft showed almost nothing related to indies in its own press conference. That created the impression that Microsoft didn’t care about indies.
But Spencer said the issue was more with timing. Microsoft announced its ID@Xbox indie game development program in August 2013. That program is now in full steam and yielding results, Spencer said. Microsoft showed 26 working Xbox One indie games at the GDC this week, and it announced it had 250 game developers signed up to publish their indie titles on the Xbox One.
“Gamers will get to choose the games they want to play, and developers will have a more direct relationship with the gamers,” Spencer said.
That’s an improvement on the Xbox Live Arcade on the Xbox 360, as the selection and direct relationships were limited.
Microsoft is still in the process of helping indies use their Xbox One consoles as development systems (With Xbox One, every retail unit can be used as a development kit). Over time, Microsoft is playing catch up trying to service the developers who have managed to join the development program. Thousands are signed up, but not everyone is able to join the dev program yet.
