Microsoft and Sony may be in as tight competition now as they’ve been ten years ago but there’s still a mutual admiration on both sides for the other. That being said, Microsoft Games Studios corporate VP Phil Spencer recently pointed out the “unhealthy dislike” (aka fanboyism) that some particular fans feel for the competition while speaking to Geoff Keighley at SXSW.
“There seems to be this natural faction that gets created around what console you own, and then this…I would call it ‘unhealthy dislike’ for people who own the other console.”
“The competition is in the marketplace. I have ton of respect for people at Sony and the franchises they build. The same with Nintendo, or my friends at Valve…In the end what we all wanna do is to take this art form of playing games and experiencing the breaking down of the wall between the narrative and interaction […] and just make a better form of entertainment.
“I love the fans that we have , but being a fan of Xbox doesn’t mean you can’t be a fan of something else, or that you have to be an anti-fan of some other brand. I own a PlayStation 4. I play Games on my PlayStation 4. I own and I play games on my Wii U. I learn a ton from what happens on those other platforms.”
All the competition is a good thing for both the companies as well as for gamers in general though – even after eight years or more, the success of consoles is as apparent now as ever. “Has anyone shown up to the party when these two big manufacturers brought their consoles out in November?
“And today we all see that hasn’t been a problem. If you look at what both consoles have done, it’s been an amazing year, probably the best year.”
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