It’s fair to say that there’s no love lost between Sony and Microsoft when it comes to their hardware battle. But the latest blow comes from the boss of Xbox, who doesn’t like how Sony plan on doing business in the next year or so. To him, games should be cross generation for some time after a new console’s release so players aren’t excluded from the buzz and fun. But that’s what the PlayStation 5 and its gaming strategy is likely to do, apparently.
It would also ensure gamers aren’t “encouraged” to make the upgrade before their circumstances allow them to do so. Although, after the micro transaction fiasco, emptying the wallets of players isn’t something that’s causes concern for many in this world…
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Phil Spencer’s comments come after Sony themselves explained their stance, placing priority on the notion of a new generation and how it should possess features that aren’t shared with those that have come previously. But, in comparison, Xbox are intending to support the Xbox One for at least a year post the launch of their next console. And that includes the guarantee of every new first party game being cross-generation.
He does applaud the team over at PlayStation for what they’re achieving with their innovations that are promising almost non existent load times and ridiculously high frame rates. But, at the end of the day believes they should be an optional extra rather than a means of exclusion; nice if you’ve got them but not a pre-requisite to play a game.
Some believe this will cause their downfall, once again placing the advantage right back with Sony. However, there is a confidence to this message that makes it sound as though they’ve really thought about this tactic. Or, at least that’s how it reads to me. It’s a more gamer-centric attitude, which we should applaud. And is an attempt to keep the industry from becoming almost a throwaway culture. So, what’s not to like?
I’ll end this piece with a copy of Spencer’s own finishing statement, which earned my respect and sums up things nicely:
“Gaming is about entertainment and community and diversion and learning new stories and new perspectives, and I find it completely counter to what gaming is about to say that part of that is to lock people away from being able to experience those games. Or to force someone to buy my specific device on the day that I want them to go buy it, in order to partake in what gaming is about.”
Source: GameIndustry.Biz
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