While the Xbox One is currently secured in terms of hardware, services, and features, the one area it is notably lacking in is quality exclusive games, owing mostly to Microsoft’s shockingly weak showing in this area over the last few years.
Speaking on Twitter to fans about first party games, however, Spencer said things that might suggest fans having a cause to be hopeful. For instance, responding to a fan who expressed a desire for an Uncharted like first party IP, Spencer dropped a tease saying ‘me too, if only we could have the best single player and best multiplayer in one studio and IP…’
It might be a tease, or it might be empty words- but you can take it either way. While an action adventure game might be in the works, what’s not coming from Microsoft Game Studios is a new baseball game, Spencer confirmed. Nonetheless, bolstering Microsoft’s first party lineup is something Spencer is interested in, he confirmed- he knows that hardware, services, and OS are now secured for the Xbox platform, and he says it is important to bolster up the games, too. He says that work on new first party games has started- but it will take time for the results to show. When they do come, however, he suggests that they might be better paced through the year, rather than having them all release in the Holiday season, as Microsoft has traditionally done.
While Microsoft has blazed the trail in unifying the Xbox and PC gaming ecosystems, Spencer confirms that integrating Steam and Xbox is going to be difficult, and is unlikely to happen, thanks to a whole host of technical and licensing challenges. Similarly, Play Anywhere support for PUBG is hugely unlikely to happen, thanks to the state of licensing in the industry at the moment- for now, the Play Anywhere integration will be limited to Xbox and Windows 10.
This all sounds encouraging- now to see if Spencer walks the walk, and puts his money where his mouth (or rather, Twitter account) is…
Me 2 🙂 If only we could have the best of SP and the best of MP in one studio and one IP, is that too much to ask…
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) November 19, 2017
Not from 1P, sorry.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) November 19, 2017
Better pacing through the year makes sense to me.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) November 19, 2017
I now feel good about HW, XBL/srvc and OS. Work on 1P has started, games take time but I know all 4 areas have to be strong
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) November 19, 2017
Lot's of licensing/technical challenges in ever making this happen. Today we just try to make it easy for PC games to come to XB1.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) November 19, 2017
Can't really do XPA with games in other digital stores today, that happening is a ways off in our industry.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) November 19, 2017
