When it comes to Xbox, one thing that this year’s X019 showed is that the company is looking to create a lot of different experiences. In the time of Game Pass, content is king and it means that they will need a diversified portfolio of games to catch anyone and everyone. One area of focus the head of the division wants to see is RPGs.
In an interview with Xbox UK, which you can see below, Spencer talks about how the company once had a good RPG presence and hopes to see that once again. He mentions the buying of Obsidian and InXile as key studios known for making that type of game, and hopes that as Game Pass continues and evolves, there will be more of a focus on the genre.
“Obviously first-person and third-person shooters have been strong, but it’s nice with Outer Worlds coming out, Wasteland… I think RPG is an area that we purposefully focused on and wanted to do more.
But it’s also, as we’re watching Xbox Game Pass grow and grow, we’re seeing more genres enter, and whether it’s genres that used to be popular and coming back or creators trying new things because they have an audience that’s always there and they can think how to deliver stories to those people… But I do think RPG is an area that we should focus and I think X0 will be fun around that news as well.”
There was a period when Microsoft really pushed RPGs in a big way with games like Mass Effect, Jade Empire and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic being key IPs they once highlighted on their Xbox platforms. Since the end of the 360 generation and into the One, that fell off quite a bit. With newly acquired studios, and apparently more studios they look to buy, that could hopefully change soon.
