Xbox boss Phil Spencer has revealed in an interview with Japanese publication Famitsu that he believes PS5 and Nintendo Switch players to also be part of the Xbox family, alongside Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC players.
18.10.2023 - 11:51 / gamesradar.com / Phil Spencer / Phil Spencer Says / Says He
Xbox boss Phil Spencer has said he'd be "all in" when it comes to revisiting the company's "trove" of IP.
Speaking during the Official Xbox Podcast, Spencer discussed the recently closed Microsoft Activision deal and reflected on the company's other IPs. "When I think about Activision Blizzard King, you add in Bethesda, you add in Xbox's history, Rare - like the amount of franchises that we now have in our portfolio is kind of inspiring, it's daunting. I feel that we have to be a great custodian for the content that we touch," Spencer explains.
"When you look across all of the franchises that are part of our teams, there's an opportunity for us to go back - even if it's just to recognize the moment and what those things meant in gaming's history and do something right with it," Spencer continues, "If teams want to go back and revisit some of the things that we have and do a full focus on it, I'm going to be all in on that. I think there's just an amazing trove of things that we can go and touch again."
Using Id Software's Quake 2 remaster as an example, Spencer explains that the team behind the 2023 title "did a real good job revisiting a game, making it current, but also not leaving the history behind," noting that he'd "love to see more things like that." The Xbox exec also mentioned games like Raven Software's Hexen as well as Activision's Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk series' but didn't reveal any future plans for any of these franchises.
Elsewhere in the same interview, Phil Spencer pledged "100% parity" across Call of Duty in an attempt to reassure PS5 players. Addressing not just PlayStation players but also Nintendo fans (Microsoft did sign a deal to put Call of Duty on Nintendo consoles for 10 years, after all), Spencer said: "I want you to feel 100% part of the community. I don't want you to feel like there's content you're missing out [on]."
Find out what's definitely in the pipeline with our upcoming Xbox Series X games list.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer has revealed in an interview with Japanese publication Famitsu that he believes PS5 and Nintendo Switch players to also be part of the Xbox family, alongside Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC players.
Xbox has had a busy year which involved the release of Starfield and the finalization of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Xbox head Phil Spencer considers PS5 and Nintendo Switch users part of the overarching Xbox community.
For years, Microsoft employees have enjoyed a perk that gives them free subscriptions to Game Pass Ultimate, and that benefit was on track to be discontinued until Xbox boss Phil Spencer stepped in and saved the day.
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By Tom Warren, a senior editor covering Microsoft, PC gaming, console, and tech. He founded WinRumors, a site dedicated to Microsoft news, before joining The Verge in 2012.
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For gamers, one of the most alluring possibilities created by Microsoft's finally-completed acquisition of Activision Blizzard is the prospect of games like Call of Duty, Diablo, and Overwatch on Game Pass. Microsoft's subscription service is already a hell of a deal, and adding annualized iterations of Call of Duty plus everything Blizzard does makes it even more attractive. And it will no doubt happen eventually, but not anytime soon: Activision said last week that its games won't arrive on Game Pass until 2024 at the earliest, and in a recent interview with the Official Xbox Podcast, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said that timeline is «accurate.»
Phil Spencer has suggested that Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard won’t result in all of Xbox’s franchises being adapted for mobile.
Microsoft made several headlines when they unveiled their interest in bringing on another acquisition. After Zenimax Media, Microsoft went after a massive name with Activision Blizzard. The purchase brought in over $68 billion, and it was an uphill battle for Microsoft. They had to go through a series of regulators to ensure that this deal wouldn’t hurt competition. Of course, the significant component that hit the headlines was the fact that Microsoft would own Call of Duty. That made many players worried about a scenario in which Call of Duty would no longer be available on the PlayStation line of consoles. The folks over at Xbox continued to ensure this wouldn’t be the case.