Throughout the years, the public demand for the best gaming platform has pitted console brands against each other, but what if that’s not the case anymore?
Phil Spencer, head of Xbox and Microsoft’s gaming division, seems to think so. The Xbox boss said that cooperation with Xbox’s competitors, rather than “eroding” and “chipping” away at each other, is the key to success, in an interview with Fortune.
Spencer also added that Xbox’s biggest competitor is in fact, its product. As a result, instead of steering away from other companies for exclusivity, Microsoft gladly embraced those who can help improve its platform. For example, Microsoft recently teamed up with Sony for its cloud gaming venture, Project xCloud, and even Nintendo for a cross-play partnership with Minecraft.
On the topic of competition, Spencer firmly denounced the idea that the success of Xbox comes from the failures of other companies. When people questioned the Sony partnership, he made it clear that working with competitors was never against the agenda of Xbox. Even with the tension between Sony and Microsoft throughout the years, he asserted that their business relationship truly goes beyond gaming forum gossip.
“We’ve had years and years of a relationship with Sony. Sony shipped PCs that had Windows on it. They use our development tools to build games,” Spencer elaborated.
Microsoft is also one of the biggest third-party publishers on the PlayStation platform, shipping games like Minecraft to Sony.
Check out the full Fortune interview of Phil Spencer down below.
