In a recent interview with Eurogamer, Xbox boss Phil Spencer spoke once again about the power of the upcoming Xbox One X. Interestingly, Spencer also talked about Sony holding back pieces of content on other platforms, as with Destiny 2’s PS4 exclusive content that will only arrive on Xbox One and PC in Fall 2018.
Spencer said that, “Xbox One X is the most powerful console ever built, and this fall it will be the most powerful console in the market. There’s nothing technically that would keep any game a console game maker is building who wants to take advantage of the capability here from making Xbox One X the very best version of every one of those games.”
As for the content deals in other games, he said, “I don’t know what deals get written. I’ve been pretty open about, I’m not a fan of doing deals that hold back specific pieces of content from other platforms. You don’t see that in the deals we’ve done with Assassin’s [Creed Origins] and Shadow [of War]. We’ll have a marketing deal on those, but I don’t say, hey, I need some kind of Strike or skin somebody else can’t play.
“I don’t think it’s good for our industry if we got into a point where people are holding back the technical innovation of game developers based on a marketing deal. I don’t know anything about what’s in other people’s deals. But this, clearly, from a technical perspective, is the most powerful console by quite a wide margin. So, when I stood on-stage and I said this will be the best place to play all those games, there’s nothing technically that would keep any developer from not making that true.”
Which is all fine and dandy but then it doesn’t explain how Microsoft had the same deal with Ubisoft for Tom Clancy’s The Division and its DLC last year. Times change though and Microsoft has been doing away with timed exclusives and the like. What are your thoughts on all this? Let us know in the comments.