In a recent interview, Xbox boss Phil Spencer talked about the future he envisions for Xbox Series X and consoles in general, insisting that the days of walled-off gardens are a thing of a past.
"I like watching TV. I like playing games on TV. It's where I play most of the time", Spencer told Wired. “I think there will be - for a long time - a world where people want to play on a television, and we're committed to that and we will deliver great console experiences. I don't think Xbox series X is our last console. I think we will do more consoles to make that great television play experience work and be delightful."
Cross-play has been a major talking point lately and it's clear this is where the market is going, but the road to get there is anything but easy.
Spencer is well aware of this and he's had his fair share of run-ins with console "traditionalists" when Microsoft's first-party titles started shipping on Xbox and PC.
He said that the way they see a console is, "A console comes out every five years: I take my old hardware, and I put it and all of the games in a cardboard box and go put that in a closet. And I buy all new games for this new piece of hardware. And that's the way a console should be."
Microsoft
Spencer stressed that it's not so much about being platform agnostic - choosing the device on which you'll enjoy specific content is, after all, constrained by which ones you can afford. However, he's certain that this is a complementary approach, rather than one that will cannibalise either of the platforms.
"You and I might watch Netflix. I don’t know where you watch it, where I watch it, but we can have conversations about the shows we watch” he said. "I want gaming to evolve to that same level."
You can find the full inteview on Wired .
