The boss of Xbox “feels really good” about future exclusive games coming to his new consoles after criticism over a lack of unique content on the Series X.
Phil Spencer hit back at critics who have celebrated Playstation 5’s hit new titles, like Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Sackboy and Demon’s Souls, where the new Xbox relies on third-party games like Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed.
Some have moaned that the lack of a system-selling exclusive title that you can only get on the Xbox Series X and S systems plays into Sony’s hands, particularly as they enjoy rave reviews for their first-party blockbuster games.
Mr Spencer, executive vice president of gaming at Microsoft, admitted a delay in the much-wanted new Halo game, Infinite, was a blow to the launch plans for his state-of-the-art machines.
But he said that thanks to Xbox’s aggressive buy-ups of many big name studios in recent years, the “roadmap” of exclusive titles in the coming months fills him with joy.
He said: “We were very public about Halo Infinite and our desire to have Halo at launch.
“I do think there’s some great launch games that are there to go play, that maybe get lost in this dialogue about who’s got the better launch lineup, which is a downside.
“I’m playing a lot of Tetris Effect from my friend, Mizuguchi, and the team, and it’s awesome.
“We wanted Halo at launch. We thought it would have been a real cultural moment for us as Xbox. Last time we had done that was the original Xbox and Halo: CE.”
He added to The Verge: “From a business standpoint, I’m selling every console I can build.
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“It’s hard for me to point out how I would be selling more consoles today. I wouldn’t be.
“There’s also a fan promise, and that’s not lost on me that people want to see new great games that play on their new platform that they purchase. “That’s a commitment that we believe in.
“We’ve made huge investments in our first party [games], in growing the amount of games that we can build that can be special on Xbox, that can be there for our Xbox fans, so that they feel like they made the right purchase.”
Xbox has been snapping up new and established developers for this upcoming era of gaming with some impressive results.
Xbox Games Studios now has 15 development studios under the banner, focusing on delivering great games in the coming months and years.
They include Double Fine, the minds behind Grim Fandango, The Cave and Brutal Legend, as well as Minecraft inventors Mojang and Devil May Cry makers Ninja Theory.
That’s on top of long-established bodies behind the likes of the Forza driving series, Gears of War shooting games and Age of Empires strategy hits.
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Mr Spencer added: “In the long run, I think what’s going to happen is we’re going to get a better Halo game at a good time when people can actually get a console.
“I feel good about that.
“I think the game will be better for the time that we’re giving it.
“I’m incredibly excited about the lineup, not only of Xbox Game Studios, but we’ve obviously also announced our intent to acquire ZeniMax and Starfield and great games that Todd [Howard] and the team are working on, that people are going to go play on their Xbox.
“I feel good, really good, the best I’ve ever felt about our roadmap.
“But yeah, it would have been really great to have Halo at launch.”
In the mean time, Xbox is pushing its monthly Netflix-style Games Pass service.
When signing up it costs just £1 for the first month and gives you access to over 100 games on the Xbox Series X and S.
Having tried it this week, we were amazed at the quality and breadth of titles on offer, from brand new games like Gears Tactics to classic Xbox360 platformers like Banjo Kazooie.
It’s well worth a try and works across Xbox systems as well as on a PC too.
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