Key Takeaways
- The new “This is an Xbox” campaign has drawn criticism, as fans worry that the company is moving away from the console business.
- Microsoft Gaming head Phil Spencer says that new Xbox hardware is coming, but sales of consoles have stagnated, with more players preferring PC or cloud gaming.
- A handheld Xbox device is currently in development.
Microsoft Gaming head Phil Spencer has responded to console gamers’ criticism of the company’s latest ad campaign that calls nearly any gaming device an Xbox. Fans of Xbox have a lot to be excited about through the rest of 2024, with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl coming in November, along with MachineGames’ Indiana Jones and the Great Circle in December.
Microsoft’s recent “This Is an Xbox” ad campaign has sparked some controversy among fans. The ads point to laptops, smartphones, tablets, VR headsets, and other devices and label them as Xboxes due to the fact that Xbox and Game Pass are accessible on them. This has earned heavy criticism from hardcore Xbox console fans, who feel that Xbox is increasingly moving away from the console business and becoming more of a third-party entity. This sentiment has only grown more prominent since Xbox brought games like Sea of Thieves, Hi-Fi Rush, and Grounded to Switch and PS5 earlier this year. More recently, Xbox confirmed that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, a triple-A first-party title from Bethesda’s MachineGames, will arrive on Sony’s PlayStation 5 next year.
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Speaking with Rolling Stone, CEO of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer attempted to ease the worried minds of console gamers by responding to their concerns about the future of Xbox consoles in the wake of the “This Is An Xbox” campaign. Spencer assured fans that Xbox will “definitely do more consoles in the future,” pointing out that, compared to Xbox’s growing PC and cloud numbers, the brand’s console business has stagnated, leading to the shift away from consoles as Xbox’s bread and butter. Spencer also mentioned how such a shift will ultimately benefit console gamers. “The console space all up isn’t growing, across all of them. 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 more available in more places,” he said.
Phil Spencer Responds To “This Is an Xbox” Criticism
It can be said that Xbox’s newfound focus on PC and cloud was born out of the success of Game Pass and the stagnation of its console sales, but such a shift in priority may very well ensure that Xbox’s console business never grows again. Nintendo’s Switch and Sony’s PlayStation 5 have also encountered sales struggles recently, but both brands’ reliance on their high-quality first-party games has usually been enough to keep profits high. While it’s true that PC and cloud revenue streams will help fund more games for all Xbox gamers, console fans’ concerns about the future are well-founded.
We’ll definitely do more consoles in the future…The console space all up isn’t growing, across all of them. 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 more available in more places.
Despite the controversial ad campaign, Phil Spencer has recently announced that Xbox is working on a handheld device that’s set to arrive in a few years. On top of that, Xbox leadership has, on several occasions, mentioned future console hardware that’s in the works. While Xbox isn’t offering a PS5 Pro-like mid-gen refresh, it certainly has new hardware on the way.