Phil Spencer doesn't just want to lead Xbox on every screen, but also wants other stores to come to Xbox. Interviewed by Polygon during GDC 2024, the head of Microsoft's gaming division said he wanted to break down the barriers that have historically limited players to making purchases in stores for the first parts of each console. That is, he wants games to be purchasable on Xbox from other stores, too Epic Games Store and itch.ionot just from the official one.
Spencer doesn't like closed ecosystems and knows that those who use a PC he doesn't like to have limitations on the choice of experience to have. This is why he wants to create something similar on consoles too.
Fewer barriers
Moreover, the current market is favorable for this transition, as he himself explained: “La Moore's law he slowed down. The prices of console parts are not falling as quickly as in previous generations.” Furthermore, the console market is not growing, with many players moving to the PC world and that of portable devices. In short, the concept of exclusive official stores is losing more and more of sense, because the wall that would like to keep people in the console ecosystem is ending up keeping them out.
Spencer's goal is therefore to remove as many barriers as possible for players and content creators, in order to make Xbox a meeting point where they can be free to choose. We will see how this plan will materialize in the future, how it will be associated with the end of the exclusives, and what the realities involved will be.
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