Xbox is focusing on attracting younger audiences, according to Phil Spencer, the company’s boss. Spencer has recently discussed making Xbox-exclusive games available on “rival” platforms and the possibility of an Xbox handheld console while at the Game Developers Conference. The boss spoke to Polygon and suggested that having digital storefronts like Itch.io and the Epic Games Store available on Xbox, alongside their own store could be a possibility. Spencer stated that “Xbox is a place where I can find the great games I want to”, as the console experience for many players is “sharded” due to the lack of cross-play with games.
Xbox is currently considering “different hardware form factors and things that [they] could go do” and asking the question: “What should we build that will find new players [and] that will allow people to play at times when they couldn’t go play [in the past]?” Xbox has previously released a handful of previously-exclusive games, including Obsidian Entertainment’s Pentiment and Hi-Fi Rush, on PlayStation and Nintendo consoles as an “experiment”.
Former CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment and PlayStation worldwide, Shawn Layden, has previously discussed how exclusivity will always be important, but is also the “Achilles’ heel” of many studios due to increasing production costs. Spencer’s focus on a younger audience suggests that Xbox is aware of the need to attract a new demographic of players.
The company is considering a variety of different strategies, from digital storefronts to different hardware form factors and cross-play, to ensure that Xbox remains relevant and competitive in the gaming market. With the gaming industry growing rapidly and competition increasing, it’s important for Xbox to continue to innovate and evolve if they hope to remain a major player in the industry
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