Microsoft’s Phil Spencer Respects Sony’s Focus, Laments Lack of Global Xbox One Availability

Fresh off of revealing that Microsoft had purchased the rights to the Gears of War franchise from Epic Games, Microsoft Games Studios corporate VP Phil Spencer spoke to OXM about the progress of competitors such as Sony and Nintendo.

On Sony and their PS4, Spencer stated that, “Sony – and I’m focused on first-party because of what I do – I really respect their focus on investing in new things and creative things, what they’ve done with David Cage and Quantic Dream around Beyond [Two Souls] and Heavy Rain; they stay committed to franchises even if they don’t sell 10 million units, they’ll stay committed to things.

“I think that long-term commitment to franchises is important, where it’s easy to pull off the Band-Aid and move onto the next thing [if it doesn’t sell]. I respect their stick-to-it-ive-ness. I’ll say, they’ve done a nice job with PS4 […] When I think about their announcement, their clear focus on a customer, leading with the value proposition of what they’re trying to do, staying true to a vision, I think they’ve done a nice job in how they defined the PS4.”

Spencer also talks about the performance of the Xbox One, and admitted that not being able to sell the console in 21 territories at launch was a major bummer. “I wish we had the global coverage that we originally announced when we stood on stage at E3. I stood on stage and talked about 21 markets… there were things around the voice models and other things we needed to make sure were right in order to really build a box that felt native to the markets we were shipping in.

“It never feels good to stand on stage and talk about 21 markets and ship in 13, but it’s a journey, and it’s not won or lost the day after launch. It will be something that plays out, so making sure the quality of each market when we ship is the important part.”

As of now, the Xbox One has managed to ship 3.9 million units to retailers while the PlayStation 4 managed more than 4.5 million in sales.