Phil Spencer: Xbox Has A 'Plan That Can Win' With Xbox Series X - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 06 October 2020 / 4,083 Views
Head of Xbox Phil Spencer speaking on IGN's Next-Gen Console Watch show talked about Microsoft's next generation console, the Xbox Series X. They discussed what is planned in the lead up to the launch of the console and the possibility of the console being supply constrained and games getting delayed due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Spencer said he feels good about the price and power of the Xbox Series X and feels the Xbox team has a plan to win when they launch the console this coming Holiday season.
"You have to set a price target at the beginning for yourselves and then you roll in as you see the competition and you start to do your go-to-market planning," said Spencer. "I feel good about the price we’re going to be able to get to. I feel good about the price and the performance capabilities that we have for Series X. I feel incredibly strong about the overall package. We have a plan and we feel very solid about it. I believe we have a plan that can win."
What we do know about Microsoft's strategy includes backwards compatibility with all previous generation of Xbox consoles, the subscription service Game Pass, and a steady stream of games from their 15 first-party developers, as well as third-party developers.
Microsoft plans to release their next generation console, the Xbox Series X, in Holiday 2020.
Thanks ThisGenGaming.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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4th time is the charm...
Much better than the "Plan to lose" that they employed with the Xbox One.
I bet Sony has the exact same feeling. I myself Will never trade my PS4 library and trophies, for a new Xbox.
They currently have the momentum since they've had the better reveal over Sony. This could help them win a lot of ground they lost during the last gen but we'll see if they can bring the games to do so. I myself will always prefer PlayStation but I'm glad to see MS has recovered since competition can keep my preferred console improving and not stagnating.
you sure about that? I mean, yeah Sony's presentation was worse than being teabaged by sweaty balls and all, but 26 years of history in the business (with the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th best selling home consoles of all time...), I think Sony still has it. Nintendo has the IPs and the exclusives and the gimmicks, while Sony has consistency, balance, and power as well as their own line of outstanding IPs. Microsoft has none of that. They did pretty good the first half of Gen 7, mostly just becuase sony fucked up badly.
Xbox lost to Ps2 by a significantly wide margin
Xbox 360 lost to PS3 by a slim margin
Xbox One lost to Ps4 by a significantly wide margin
Xbox really should just go the way of Sega and retire to making games....but wait, they can't even do that! When was the last time a Microsoft (not even Xbox, just microsoft) exclusive got anyone talking like Breath of the Wild or Mario Odyssey or Uncharted or Horizon Zero Dawn?
Bah, it's too late for me to be focused on console wars of the past. I think you're reaching a bit. Nothing in the last 10 years or so of console history has made me think one superior presentation is going to undo on Xbox's side. Sony has decades of good will and a history of doing well. Microsoft does not. Eventually, that matters. They aren't competing with Nintendo - as is made clear by their games coming out on Switch - but they are competing with Sony and have lost 3/3 times, two of them being decisive losses. Phil Spencer really shouldn't be talking about 'winning' anything.
@Runa216 You're preaching to the choir, lol. I'm well aware of Sony's victories over MS and I'm actually glad they've stayed on top. All I'm saying is that MS is at the very least doing better at the moment with their preparations for the new console while Sony hasn't handled the whole reveal thing in the best of ways. Again, I'm rooting for Sony! It's just that I think competition is good.
I want to believe the Xbox will be worth it, but when comparing the legacy of the last three generations vs the last four generations of Playstation, it's really not much of a competition and I genuinely don't even know why they're trying anymore.
Sony holds the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th highest selling home consoles of all time. their WORSt selling console - the PS3 - outsold Xbox's BEST selling console - the Xbox 360.
Sony messed up the first half of Generation 7, for sure...but have been knocking it outta the park ever since about 2010-2011 or so. the latter half of the PS3's life was outstanding, and the PS4 has been pretty consistently great from day one and I think people will remember that a lot more than Xbox's better presentation amidst the Covid Pandemic. Meanwhile, Xbox's 360 output tanked in the second half of that console generation, the entirety of the Xbox One's life was marred with controversy and poor decisions and a lacking roster of exclusives, and the Xbox One X's added power did little to appeal to the masses.
yeah, Game Pass is great, but if that and backwards compatibility sold consoles or if people cared about raw power, the Xbox One X would have dominated. It didn't, so the logical conclusion is that people don't. what people do care about is exclusive titles, balanced performance, focus on the gamers, and fairness. sony has all of that in spades and I have no doubt in my mind they will continue on that path.
I hate sounding like a general in the console wars, but this isn't a war. The war is over and the best Microsoft can hope for is to carve out a niche for itself, becuase unless they drop a metaphorical nuke on Sony, there;s no chance in hell they'll ever win again. Gamers remember. Gamers may be fickle, but they remember, and Microsoft hasn't had anything of value on offer that appeal to the masses since 2009, I'd say.
They should give up and go the way of Sega, make games for other consoles. Hell, I even bought Ori and Cuphead on Switch, despite actually owning an Xbox One...
That's not true, Microsoft made a timeless masterpiece for Xbox one called Crackdown 3
Quantity has a quality of its own? Thats whats this plan sounds like.
give me my PGR and you win this gen
Thought Phil was above console wars?
Guess when you think you can win, your tone changes.
For a second I thought the title says: Phil Spencer has a plan to keep optical audio port in Xbox series x
Well they're coming into this generation with better hardware and many more 1st party studios. Gamepass is now a thing so people will be more engaged with 1st party games as well. We don't really know how Series X will do, but it looks like this will be a better gen for MS. Also, curious to see if there will be a Series S.
They need to decide themselves. If they are competing with Amazon/Google or if they have a plan to win against PS on HW sales... funny they saying that when we have people on VGC that think they know their strategy better than MS and that they don't compete on selling HW anymore.
So you are saying the are being creative with their winning and it could mean anything? Not to forget like a couple day ago they said they would save 200M dollars by removing the optical on selling 100M console.
So it seems like they never stopped caring about HW sold, they just stopped talking about it because they were losing.
I'd be 'shocked' to find out that 200M, plus any other savings are going towards a $499 XBSX or $300 Lockhart subsidy. That would almost certainly suggest they are specifically targeting the PS5 and trying to beat it. Then again, maybe MS won't bother with Lockhart, won't subsidize XBSX while charging $599, and will just keep the savings for a rainy day...
@Don the term "win" doesnt have to mean to outsell your competitors.
Just like you win a race by finishing last right?
@Don you need to take off your glasses for once. Its a business not a sport competition. Is there a 1st place trophy for the winner of this so called competition? I thought not. A win for Sony would be to outsell the PS4, a Win for MS could be to outsell the XB1 and to get XCloud popular. Hardware is just one avenue in doing well. Both companies have different targets and end goals, they don't just sit around the table asking themselves, how do you outsell the our rival like playground students..
Yes sure Azz. If winning was to be taken about meeting their forecast, profiting or anything of the like, he could already say X1 won or that they have a plan that will win with XSX. But he use can and talk about next gen.
Business isn't sport for sure, but never heard of a company that doesn't want to be the first, biggest, most profitable or anything of the like. Actually companies are much more focussed on that than your average sport player since for him as long as he gets his paycheck the team doesn't really needs to win, also unless the person is a moron he knows quite easily his odds (like how many of the hundred of 100m runners thought they had a shot of winning the olympics in the year they competed? They may dream and train for it, but they know very well when their odds are minimal.
@Don I wont disagree with what you just said, that being with all companies want to be number 1, however it doesn't mean they cannot win for themselves. A win for MS could be how much more revenue and market share plus profits they gain over their previous model/product. Xbox isn't just a console, its on PC, its a eco-system, so comparing hardware sales to another console that only focuses on hardware sales is stretch in itself. I think MS know that, if Hardware sales means that much to them then they will just scrap the PC side of things and there other options that hurt their physical sales like Game Pass because that only reduces the physical numbers to what's sold. They wont because MS are going for where the money is, not just sale figures. That's been pretty obvious this recently.
Sorry Azz. Use of words have a meaning. If he wanted to not mean finishing ahead of others he could have used several other words, just like "we have a solid plan", "we believe in our vision for Xbox", etc. But when he says he have a plan for Xbox that can win, the least he is doing is a spin to make people believe they are thinking about finishing ahead.
And we are talking about MS, a company that certainly isn't happy unless they are dominating their market.
@Don, Phil has used "We have a solid plan" and "we believe in the Xbox brand" many times. Let me give you an example. If XSX goes out to sell 50m consoles and their PC audience triples with Game Pass members, XCloud and digital sales, would you say that's not a win for MS? Even if the PS5 goes out to sell 100m consoles.
My take on it is the 360 should be the benchmark that is used to denote how much they improve , especially in their best market the US.
I would assume more or less every time a new console is made by a reputable company they feel that they have a plan that can win.
I think we all knew Wii U was not a winner.
Eeeeerrrr You think Nintendo made WiiU thinking "here we have a loser? Just like planned"?
I had a goddamn PLAN!!!!!!!!
I guess it depends on what they mean by "win". It's not very likely that they're going to outsell PlayStation this generation. But, I think there's a very good chance that they can be much more competitive. In fact, I bet pretty heavily on the gap being substantially smaller.
"the Switch alone sold about twice as many units in Japan last year as all three Xbox systems combined sold in the past 18 years"
I'll let that sink in for one minute.
