E3 2014 was an important event for all those in the game industry, but to none more than the folks at Microsoft. While Sony had a strong showing (and to some stole the show) Microsoft also performed well. Now, Xbox Head Phil Spencer talks more on where they go from here.
In a recent interview, the ‘One front man starts by giving credit where credit is due (IE their rival Sony). Instead of downplaying it, Spencer acknowledges the huge success of their next-gen counterpart. “You look at what Sony has sold, and congratulations to them; they’ve had a great launch. Maybe we’re 10 percent of the way into this generation, so we’re early, early days in how this will all play out. I tip my hat to them…they’re coming in with a lot of strength. But this is a long-term competitive space, which is good for consumers.” He says.
While Microsoft has shown some strong potential moving into the rest of 2014 and beyond, some still question what their commitment to new, emerging technologies will be. With them dropping the Kinect requirement in newer bundles (not to mention their competitor developing the Morpheus), what exactly are Spencer’s thoughts about virtual reality’s influence on the industry? Spencer calls it an “interesting technology,” but thinks it isn’t “…mainstream yet… it’s great that the game space, whether it’s what Sony is doing or Oculus is doing, that so many of the innovations you see all up in consumer electronics have come out of the game space. VR is something in games and out of games. I’m watching how that evolves over the next few years.”
Check back tomorrow as I give Microsoft a much needed progress report, to determine if E3 was the shot in the arm they truly needed.