Phil Spencer Is Directing Xbox To Be Multi-Platform Partly Due To Gen Z Habits And The Console Market’s Lack Of Growth
Phil Spencer is ushering in a new age for the Xbox platform, one that could be appropriately titled ‘The Multi-Platform Age Of Xbox.’ It’s begun with four games coming to PlayStation and Nintendo consoles, and if recent reports are true, there’s many more to come.
This marks Xbox turning away from the strategy that continues to work for PlayStation and Nintendo, which is a strategy that centers around exclusive games being the thing that brings players to a platform, and hopefully keeps them there.
Exclusives are still important to Xbox, but in a recent interview with Polygon, Spencer dug a bit into why he’s leading Xbox in this new direction, and how part of this change comes from Gen Z buying habits, and the lack of growth in the console market.
For Spencer, it’s about getting the industry, and Xbox, to a place where it is growing. The console market, Spencer says, is not growing, so it’s clear to Spencer that the answer doesn’t lie with making a better box.
“You can’t succeed unless you draw in customers from other publishers and other platforms. And because you’re not finding new customers with the games that you’re building, everybody’s kind of fighting over the same-size pie,” said Spencer.
Spencer also doesn’t see the future of Xbox being in its consoles, because having one, dedicated place to experience media isn’t how Gen Z and every generation after is experiencing the world.
“This notion that Xbox can only be this one device that plugs into a television isn’t something we see in the Gen Z research. Because nothing else is like that for them.
Some of them will have an iPhone, some will have an Android, but all the games and everything is the same. I can still get to TikTok on both of them, at least for now.
All of their stuff is available wherever they want. So for Xbox, our brand pivot — as we attract and maintain relevance with a younger audience — is ‘Xbox is a place where I can find the great games I want to.’”
Source – [Polygon]
