Along with having spoken about how XBOX is just getting started with its new approach to console-exclusive releases during The Game Business Live, the division’s chief strategist, Matthew Ball, also discussed the company’s approach to its next-generation console, dubbed Project Helix. According to GameSpot, he noted that the company has had to rethink its approach to console hardware, especially in light of a world faced by ongoing memory shortages – something Ball refers to as a crisis that “is not yet getting better”.
He also brought up the fact that this crisis has affected even the current-generation Xbox Series X/S. Despite its inability to keep store shelves consistently stocked with consoles, however, Ball has noted that there is still a hunger in the audience for XBOX hardware. “We are producing them as quickly as possible,” he said. “There is a severe limitation to how quickly we can do that, but it’s not a question of appetite. That is a privilege as a company. It is a challenge for us to figure out.”
As for what this might mean for Project Helix, Ball spoke about the company being committed to shipping its next-gen console, while still staying cognisant about the changes it needs to go through as a company to ensure that the console can get into as many hands as possible, with affordability being a major concern. Noting that “The crisis is not yet getting better,” Ball went on to talk about the gaming category being constrained by these issues.
“We are working very hard to rethink everything that we can about Helix, which is a console we are committed to shipping, and we are very cognisant of the ways in which we need to change as a company to make sure it is affordable, to make sure that it’s flexible,” he said. “We are working hard to rethink what the console model can look like, not in an exclusionary way, but in an additive way, so that as we take a look at this crisis, which may have acute effects for 2-2.5 years.”
“We are working very hard to figure out the best way to navigate it or a way that works for everyone, that does not ask too much from players, but also does detract from the other investments that we need to make as a company,” he continued. “We also have tens of millions of people who we ask to spend $500 which is still an incredible sum of money. Those people that we asked to buy a console years ago; we still have an obligation to them to meet their expectations and to have them feel rewarded for which platform they chose.”
Ball also brought up a conversation he had with new XBOX CEO Asha Sharma about whether Microsoft’s XBOX business “is fixable”. Calling himself a “strategic optimist,” Ball said that he joined the company due to his beliefs that he can contribute to making XBOX better.
“I joined because what she told me she wanted to achieve, I believed was right and achievable… we can turn this company around and grow if we do better by our players – and we need to do that; we languished for several years – then the rest of the industry can in aggregate too,” he said.