Xbox boss acknowledges that Starfield will not convince people to switch from PS5s to Xbox Series X
Phil Spencer, the Xbox Series X boss has acknowledged that Starfield will not convince people to switch from their PS5s to an Xbox Series X.
Since the SEGA and SEGA wars, there have been system sellers for consoles. Even in an era where there are more platforms than ever, system sellers still exist. PlayStation 5’s exclusives include God of War Ragnarok, Horizon Forbidden West, and Super Mario Odyssey, whereas Nintendo Switch is home to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom as well as Super Mario Odyssey.
Xbox Series X/S has exclusive games, but none of them are deemed to be system sellers. The Master Chief should have been that title. However, 343 Industries’ latest attempt at the Master Chief fell short of expectations. Redfall is also a game to avoid. Microsoft is looking forward to the Forza Motorsports reboot, Gears of War 2, and Halo. But later in the year, we will have Bethesda’s highly-anticipated and long-delayed sci-fi RPG Starfield.
Fans are worried that Starfield might release under expectations. Will Starfield be the ultimate system seller for Microsoft? It remains to be determined, but Xbox Chief Phil Spencer is confident that people will not be in a rush to trade their PS5s for Xbox Series X.
According to TheVerge, Spencer said, in a conversation with Sorta Funny Games: “We are not interested in out-console-ing Sony and out-console-ing Nintendo.” Spencer also believes that a good game alone isn’t enough to make a series a successful system seller. I see comments that say if you build great games, everything will change. He explained that it’s not true to say you will see console shares shift dramatically if you build good games.
We want our Xbox community to feel awesome, but this idea that if we just focused more on great games on our console somehow we’ll win the console race doesn’t really lay into the reality of most people. Our Xbox Community wants to be awesome. But the idea that we can win the console war if only we focus on the best games for our console is not realistic. It was disappointing to see the critical reaction.
Although I don’t agree that games alone are enough to sell a console, both Sony and Nintendo proved this wrong. As a console fan, I hope Xbox is able to regain some of its momentum.
