Ever since the playground arguments of youth, the console wars have been a constant thing to a subset of players, specifically those who are very active in online communities. While it probably began as Sega vs Nintendo, it evolved to Sony vs Nintendo, and now we’re in a triple threat of Sony vs Nintendo vs Microsoft, and you can extend that to PC if you really want to stretch it. As next generation consoles, the PS5 and Xbox Series X, are set to release this holiday season, those conversations have flared up, and at least one man wishes you’d just stop.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Phil Spencer said he wishes the mentality of these console wars would stop. He thinks the aggression for fans of one company against others doesn’t really help anything in the end, and ultimately, he thinks the best thing is for people to applaud the games that are being made, no matter the system you play on, or the console you chose to support.
“This idea that in order for the industry to grow, some companies must succeed and others must fail … it doesn’t help gaming reach the potential it should. We should be driven to help gaming as an industry grow, for creators to take the biggest risks they can. When a great game comes out, we should applaud it, whether it’s for PC, or PlayStation or on a Switch.
“We should focus on this industry that we love and see it continue to grow. And we should protect it from the issues that it does have,” said Spencer. “If we’re going to spend energy, let’s go spend it on those things, not ‘my piece of plastic is better than your piece of plastic.’ I don’t think that’s a productive conversation.”
Under Spencer, the Xbox brand has extended past a single console and this seems to fit well with things said in the past, such as hoping Microsoft’s new streaming service, xCloud, will eventually come everywhere possible. It is, of course, a nice sentiment, but judging by various comments we see on articles, Twitter and web forums (including our own), I doubt Phil will get his wish this holiday, when these new systems are set to launch.
