Microsoft has gotten playful with its messaging for the Xbox One lately, letting no chance to point out advantages that their system has over the competing PS4 pass by. Of course, some would say that this is only fair, especially given how aggressive Sony were with their advertising against Microsoft earlier this generation. Others, meanwhile, think it’s hypocritical of Microsoft to speak out against the console wars narrative on one hand, but perpetrate it with their messaging and advertising on the other.
In an interview with Gamespot, Xbox head Phil Spencer defended his company’s recent messaging, denying that it was part of any ‘console war.’
“I think us stating a feature that we have in our box that we think is an important selling feature of our box is completely within fair game,” he said. “It is a feature of our box and for somebody to look and say that talking about the features that you decide… I mean, we made a bet on a 4K Blu-ray disc, and they didn’t. And I’m not saying they made the wrong decision and we made the right decision, but if somebody wants a 4K UHD Blu-ray drive we have a console that has one, then we’re going to make sure that people know that. And if people say that that’s console wars, I think they’re wrong.
“I don’t want anybody to ever try to put us in a box of, ‘Hey, you’ve got a feature but because somebody else doesn’t have it you can’t talk about it,’ and somehow that’s unfair and console wars-like,” he continued. “Because I don’t believe that. I will always be respectful of my friends at the other platform-holders; Nintendo, Sony. I have a lot of friends at Sony and Nintendo and both those companies are doing their best to deliver products based on their vision and I respect that. We’re doing the same. You won’t see me bad-mouth what the other platforms are doing, but I am proud of the product decisions that we make and I think that we should be able to talk about it.”
It does make complete sense- Microsoft should be allowed to discuss what their advantages over their competition are. That’s not perpetrating a war, that’s simple marketing 101, across any and all industries.