After several heated discussions on social media, Microsoft decided to bring its main exclusives to competing consoles. However, it appears there are still more ideas to continue expanding the company’s reach, including launching stores like the Epic Games Store (and, perhaps, Steam) on Xbox.
In an interview with Polygon during the Game Developers Conference (GDC), Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft Gaming, spoke about his dissatisfaction with the closed console ecosystem.
The executive suggests that he would like to see PC platforms such as Epic Games and Itch.io selling their games on Xbox. He doesn’t mention Steam specifically, but it’s worth noting that the store is the largest and most popular platform on computers today.
Asked if he really sees a future where there are platforms like Epic Games and Itch.io selling their games on Xbox, Spencer responds, “Yes.”
“Consider our history as a Windows company. No one would blink twice if I said, ‘Hey, when you’re using a PC, you decide what kind of experience you’re going to have [in this case, he’s referring to the ability to buy games where you want]. There is real value in this,” explained the executive. According to Spencer, gamers shouldn’t worry about the hardware they play on. Spencer also explains that a gamer shouldn’t worry about the hardware he or your friends have. In fact, they should just know if their friends have played or want to play Sea of Thieves.” It’s worth remembering that the pirate game arrived on PS5 at the end of April and achieved a good position there.
“If I want to play on a gaming PC, I feel like I’m a continuous part of a gaming ecosystem in its entirety. Unlike the console, my game is kind of fragmented based on these different closed ecosystems that I have to play in.”
Furthermore, the executive does not seem very favorable to the current console subsidy model, in which players purchase from official stores (such as the PS Store and Microsoft Store) to help recover production costs. He claims that the business model is generally difficult.
“This might sound overly selfless, and I’m not sure if it’s helping the industry grow. So I think, what are the barriers? What are the points of contention between players and creators in the modern world? And how can we be part of opening up this model?” he asked.
source: Polygon
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