The “This Is an Xbox” campaign has turned some heads recently. With the gaming company continuing to push accessibility rather than hardware, it raises the question: Are the console wars finally over? Whether it is or isn’t, that isn’t stopping the green brand from still making consoles, as well as “other devices.”
There will be Xbox consoles and “other devices” in the future
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer discussed the future of the company as its recent ad campaign launched. “This Is an Xbox” alludes to the idea that gamers can enjoy their Xbox games anywhere at any time. Consoles, smart TVs, phones, and other devices are all part of that ecosystem. With the emphasis now on accessibility with cloud streaming and services like Game Pass, is the company thinking about cutting consoles out entirely? As of now, Spencer confirms that is not the case.
“We’ll definitely do more consoles in the future, and other devices,” says Spencer.
Although it wasn’t expanded on, the “other devices” mentioned probably include the now confirmed Xbox handheld. In an recent interview with Bloomberg, Spencer said Xbox is currently working on prototypes but is far from releasing such a product at the moment.
Although Xbox plans to continue selling hardware, it isn’t the facet of its business that is helping it grow. Spencer considers PC, cloud streaming, and game availability to be key to the company’s growth.
“Our biggest growth in Xbox players is on PC and cloud,” he said. “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, ad it’s about making our games more available in more places.”
Sony just released the PS5 Pro, a mid-generation refresh of its current console hardware with several improvements to its basic counterpart. With the direction Xbox is heading, a mid-gen refresh doesn’t seem to be the priority. Spencer doesn’t confirm it but does say they don’t need to do incremental hardware.
“We think about hardware that can create unique value for our players or creators on our platform,” he said. “We don’t need to do incremental hardware for our own benefit. Does a new device really give you a unique experience on screen in some way? [It’s] less like the old days, going from the original Xbox to 360; that was standard definition to high definition. Now, [it’s] harder to show the benefits.”
(Sources: Rolling Stone, Bloomberg)