Phil Spencer: 'We Have No Plans to Bring Game Pass to PlayStation or Nintendo' - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 December 2023 / 6,356 Views
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer in an interview with Windows Central was asked about Xbox CFO Tim Stuart saying he wants to see first-party Xbox games and Xbox Game Pass on "every screen" possible, including rival consoles like PlayStation and Nintendo.
Spencer said there are no plans for Xbox to bring Game Pass to PlayStation or Nintendo platforms.
"I'll start by saying we have no plans to bring Game Pass to PlayStation or Nintendo," said Spencer. "It's not in our plans. But I think you hit on the right point of 'what it means to own an Xbox.' The thing I want to be focused on is how do we continue to innovate for people who've made the commitment to our hardware platform? And how do we continue to make sure that they feel great about their investment in what we've built.
"I'm obviously going to have my own point of view on our hardware. But I think our hardware teams did a great job with the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S this generation, giving value and performance in the hardware line. When I think about investments in things like Game Pass, and Xbox Cloud Gaming, cross play, and cross save, and ID@Xbox, all of these things — I want us to continue to innovate, so people on our console feel like we're making investments in console that matches their commitment they're making to us.
"Game Pass was one of the things you know that over the last five years we built, and we continue to grow, it's on PC, it's on cloud. It's an important part of the Xbox console identity. And I think it will continue to be that. And we will continue to look at future ways for us to innovate across our game portfolio and our platform."
Spencer was asked about Microsoft's plan for innovation with Xbox and gaming and he stated, "We absolutely do. Just just last month, we elevated Sarah Bond to be the president of Xbox, the hardware team is in her organisation, the platform and services team are in her organisation.
"We made that we made that organisational move specifically to ensure we had a unified focus for our innovation roadmap across hardware and services. That includes the developer platform for Xbox consoles as well. That's about innovation we're doing within our teams, but we'll have more to talk about in terms of what we're doing in the hardware space, and in the service space — there's a lot of there's a lot of great work for us to do. We're always listening.
"On cloud gaming, one thing that has been interesting — you've watched us. Early on, we talked about Xbox Cloud as a way to get onto mobile gaming. And globally, there are a lot of people who play cloud gaming on mobile today. But in a place like the US, the way people use cloud primarily is on Xbox consoles. They use it to look at games and to browse games that they might want to download to play through Xbox Game Pass, or even purchase outright. That's sparked innovations that we didn't plan. When we watch what customers are doing, and listen to the feedback that they're giving us, we think about as other things we can do with Xbox Cloud, and for the Xbox console experience.
"There's a roadmap of those things coming as well. There's a hardware roadmap, there's a service roadmap, maybe there's even a roadmap for improvements to Xbox achievements, which I know is something that you and many others care about.
"We need to make sure we're exposing roadmap to our customers to keep them excited. We know that our customers want to know that, as Xbox continues to grow, that we still have a commitment to them. We want our Xbox core customers that have been with us all along to feel respected."
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 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Honestly, I think Microsoft has done a great job with the Phil Spencer AI.
There is not a bigger meaningless phrase from corporations when they say " we have no plans". it's such a vague, leave open any possibility to occur phrase....that literally means nothing.
Not a news story and never will be.
Sony and Nintendo would have probably been very concerned if they heard him say that there IS a plan to bring it to those systems.
In other words he wanted to but Nintendo and Sony said no.
They should bring Game Pass to SteamOS. Sure, there are already two options to play GamePass games on the Steam Deck (Windows installation or xCloud streaming of the Xbox versions), but both aren't ideal.
They are pushing to make gamepass the best Netflix gaming type of service and he said as many screens as possible so what is Xbox and Microsofts endgame?
By no plan he means he doesn't know how to do it right? Because on UK trial they said they didn't put GP on PS because Sony didn't allow it (well and other documents say Sony didn't because MS also wouldn't allow PS+ on Xbox).
Anyone taking Phils word as the truth is doing themselves a disservice. The is the same guy who said BG3 not being on Xbox was not an issue with the system but with Larian not properly prioritizing their time.
True. We all know it was not brought over to xbox so it doesn't derail the starfield hype they'd been building up for years.
But he completely didn't answer the question about Xbox games coming to PlayStation and Nintendo... like at all.
Personally, I think unless he can massively increase Xbox sells they might as well make money off of the other platforms by offering GamePass on those machines too. If his statement about needing 80 million subs by 2027 is true it seems necessary especially given the fact that they are trailing behind Xbox One which did not reach 60 million.
GP and Xbox games go hand in hand. No GP means no Xbox games.
I'm just going to say this, the 2027 statement was intended to get the judge on their side. Now that they own ABK, no way this is going to happen. Xbox has hardly seen the fruits of their acquisitions. Next gen will be the real indicator once the fact sets in with the general public that Xbox owns all these studios and games now. They are playing the long game, as Phil has mentioned time and time again.
So if they don't hit that number and still stay in they lied in court and all their acquisitions that they got as a result should be ripped from them and made third party again. Lying in court should not be tolerated at all. Fine them for a trillion dollars to boot
Snake oil sales man out here doing the rounds again.
Because they will never allow it bud. In three days we will say they want to do it or we see a leaked email with him crying about wanting it there. Flip Flop Spencer strikes again lmao
so what was stuart saying?? they want to put certain games on playstation and tell ps users they can have all this for cheaper monthly on xbox gamepass??
Perhaps. but I feel like they can cut out the middle man by simply bringing GamePass to PS and Nintendo as well. There is also the reality that simply offering their games on PS and Nintendo like they do on Steam will increase revenue. Actually... I think I just answered my own question. There is nothing stopping MS from treating PS5 and Nintendo gamers without GamePass like PC gamers without gamepass. The answer was right in front of our faces.
Actually I think they need to bring more games over first before bringing the Gamepass. What use has a Gamepass for Switch for example, if all games you get through it are Minecraft, Skyrim, Doom and COD (going forward). If MS brings more selected offering of their catalog over to other platforms, they could launch a cheaper, more limited Gamepass on these platforms.
I think he just doesn't know how to do it, not that he or MS doesn't intend or want to do it.
Why not? another place to sell games.... If Sony can do a 1-2 year delay, for games to go to PC.
Xbox could do the same, with playstation/nintendo. Just take them to gamepass/xbox first, wait abit, and release full priced titles on playstation/nintendo platforms. That way they can also lure console users away over time, if they grow to like xbox titles.
99% of the reason to own an Xbox Series X/S is a combination of Game Pass and backwards compatibility.
There's nothing like Kinect or popular first-party games to drive Xbox anymore.
Putting Game Pass on other consoles would kill Xbox consoles.
The main reason I got a Series X was because of backwards compatibility and FPS Boost. It's my first Xbox and they sold me on just those.
I call crap. I do not trust a word that this guy says. Microsoft is crap compared to Sony which is releasing all original Ips.
Huh? People are really upvoting a factually incorrect statement lol. Xbox has published more original IPs this gen.
Sony: Returnal, Destruction Allstars
Xbox: Hi-Fi Rush, As Dusk Falls, Pentiment, Starfield, Grounded, Redfall
Xbox has more original IPs in development and it's not even close.
BREAKING: Phil Spencer planning to fart after lunch. More on this story as it develops.
They have to though. How can Xbox go third party by 2027 then??
You are doing a great job Phil, sinking the brand that is.
Yup, record revenues annually and upcoming pipeline at an all time high, damn you Phil!
Fr though, it’s funny how many have forgotten about the damage Don Mattrick did that Phil had to dig out of.
Really? I swear the 360 was their best console. Phil isn't good enough to lick Don's boots.
Don only took over the backend of the 360 gen, you know, when things started to go to shit. But yes, Gaming Revenue is way higher now than the 7th gen.
You……may want to educate yourself on the subject. You gonna change your tune real quick. Phil will never be as bad as Don’s leadership. Don did not start the 360 generation leading.
Yeah by inflating revenue with all the companies they've been buying.
Anf dor heaven's sake, stop this "Don Mattrick is all faulty" line.
Phil Spencer was sitting on the boss table when all the decisiions were made. He is as guilty as Don Mattrick in that regard, The fact that Phi Spencer has been unable to repair the sinking XBox ship tells you everything you need to know. He was, is and will always be a PR mouthpiece with zero track record.
Don't forget Phil stopping the reporting of subscriber numbers.
At least Mattrick was honest in that regard.
Of course fanboys don't need numbers, because they themselves are subscribers.
Neither is Sony. You must be one of those fanboy “subscribers”
Also, kind of important, Mattrick was no longer with Xbox when Game Pass was created sooooooo what exactly was he being honest about? Lol
Sony did very recently stop reporting subscriber population while continuing to report revenue, but I wasn't comparing MS to Sony, but Spencer to Mattrick. Obviously Mattrick's reporting was of earlier Live Gold subscribers (not sure how that distinction matters? clearly didn't stop you from roping Sony into the discussion even though they obviously don't offer GamePass), and it's easy to be transparent when you have a growth story (in subscribers or revenue). But there factually was a reduction in transparency under Spencer, most notably in a category (subscribers) that was specifically promoted to justify the end of Xbox console volume reporting.
I'm personally against subscriptions and don't participate in them, finding discounted older games to be good value that keeps me busy, but I find it relevant to transparent business reporting, as I also find console sales are important as a multiplier for future content revenue. Far from holding some deep love for Mattrick, I merely thought that was an amusing nuance contrary to the majoritarian take here. What the hell else was I going to say that wasn't already posted?
Actually from what I remember under Don we had tracking of consoles sold, games sold (individual 1st parties and totals, gold subs), under Phil we have now total revenue.
Zero track record? It would be very easy to make a list of everything Phil has accomplished while in charge. And no, Phil doesn't take the blame for when Don was in charge. Another silly statement.
Phil literally saved Xbox. He took a sinking ship that was led by Don Mattrick and before he left he lit the ship on fire as it was sinking. Microsoft's investors wanted them to close down their gaming division, but somehow Phil prevented that from happening. You can criticize Phil for a lot of things, but you cannot say he is the one bringing Xbox down when he literally saved it.
100% correct.
Phil himself stated they were sunk he went into a meeting and thought they would either be shutdown or spun off, but he was told if he wanted the division to continue there needed to be a concrete plan no more continuing in the same old way that saw a decade consisting of promises not being met followed by excuses and the can continually being kicked further down the road , and all of these problems further compounded by Sony' studios seemingly running like a well oiled machine.
Nadella was behind the push for a clear future direction from the board and while that ultimatum lead to the GP of today, the fact that through GP the divisions focus had shifted back toward PC and The cloud and was no longer seen as being console centric also gained the division favour with that part of upper management that had always felt that Xbox was an outlier and not a core part of MS.
Nadella's most important act was to not just helping implement GP but understanding that it was a long term strategy and would need and eat capital with little in the way of an early return besides growth, so ensured that it was well funded and able to grow to the point that they were confident enough to undertake the biggest capital investment in the companies history, now credit needs to go to Phil and the team for following through on the boards edict but in many ways the path was opened up by Nadella who could have taken the easy way out at the time but decided that a properly funded fresh take was needed and worth the risk.
Terrible decision by Nadella. Should have invested in their strengths rather than miss opportunities in other sectors by burning cash for phil to kill popular IP by regulating them to a falling platform
If we have learned anything over the years, armchair analysis are usually wrong. A lot of people thought MS overpaid for Minecraft but look how that turned out.
Gaming for MS could easily become one of their most successful branches if done correctly, and so far they seem to be making the right moves. Studios they have purchased seem pleased. They are given the freedom to work as if independent, but without the worry of money.
Which IP(s) are they killing? CoD is staying multiplatform and will very likely continue to be the best selling game every year it releases (minus a new GTA). Every game still gets a day 1 release on PC. Can't help but conclude you are reaching hard to make this seem like only a bad thing.
The games industry would be so awesome if the shadow of MS buying everything wasn't looming over it. Wish Phil and Satya would have let Xbox die so everyone could be happy
