The Xbox boss says it will be increasingly difficult to visibly demonstrate how the new generation of hardware will be more beautiful, more and better than the previous one…

While Microsoft’s strategy doesn’t suggest it, the Redmond-based tech giant will continue to produce Xbox hardware, but it may not be something gamers expect. Phil Spencer told Rolling Stone: “We love those customers, but in terms of continuing to expand and grow Xbox, it’s about PC, it’s about cloud, and it’s about making our games available in more places.” That said, there will undoubtedly be new consoles and devices later on, so Microsoft is looking to expand what Xbox is (the result of which could be the handheld they’re prototyping… and the new marketing will be about “it’s an Xbox”).

As for half-generation updates (including the PlayStation 5 Pro, which Spencer criticized!), he said he didn’t think they were really necessary anymore, and that Microsoft might take a different approach to hardware later on (PC-style component replacement?). They want to give unique value to gamers and stick creators alike. The PlayStation 5 Pro also proves, in his view, that there is less and less of an advantage to new hardware: “There is less of a leap in graphics and image quality these days than, say, the Xbox>Xbox 360 switch… so machine learning and AI are probably the biggest generational leap Microsoft has ever made.

And in an interview with Game File, Spencer talked about Starfield: Shattered Space: “We’re always learning. Todd Howard and I talked about Shattered Space. Starfield is a game that I put a lot of hours into and I really love, but they had this thing where they added features throughout the year and then they had an expansion. I think some of the feedback on the expansion is, “We wanted more features. And it’s like, “Well, should we have waited to put out buggies? And so I think you’re trying to balance both the development effort and the impact of the expansion. And I think there will always be a balance of managing the game month to month.

Not every game is going to do expansions. It’s really up to the creators what they want to do with their stories. I think it’s a great way for us to re-engage players that may have lapsed. I don’t like expansions that are manipulative. I want it to have a unique point of view. I don’t want it to be, like, the third level that you cut before you launch,” Spencer said.

Let’s see what the future holds.

Source: WCCFTech