Phil Spencer wants Xbox consoles to offer storefronts like Epic Games Store and itch.io

Date:
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 12:07:47 +0000

Description:
Microsoft's gaming boss Phil Spencer has said he wants Xbox consoles to feature more digital storefronts.

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Microsoft's gaming head Phil Spencer has said he wants to feature more
digital storefronts on Xbox consoles.

Speaking in an interview with Polygon during the Game Developers Conference 2024 (GDC), Spencer explained that he'd like to break down the walled gardens and eventually find a way to allow players to purchase games through multiple digital retailers, instead of the Xbox console's designated first-party storefront.

When Spencer was asked if he could see a future where third-party stores like the Epic Games Store or itch.io could be made available to Xbox users, he said: "Yes," using Microsoft as an example of how it utilizes Windows.

"[Consider] our history as the Windows company, Spencer said. "Nobody would blink twice if I said 'Hey, when youre using aPC, you get to decide the type of experience you have [by picking where to buy games].' Theres real value in that."

The Xbox boss then went on to say that the idea of selling consoles at a loss and then regaining that money through game sales is becoming ineffective, explaining that the "price of the components of a console arent coming down
as fast as they have in previous generations," and that the console market isn't growing as more gamers now have a PC or a handheld device as an option.

"[Subsidizing hardware] becomes more challenging in todays world," he continues. "And I will say, and this may seem too altruistic, I dont know
that its growing the industry. So I think, what are the barriers? What are
the things that create friction in todays world for creators and players? And how can we be part of opening up that model?"

Spencer's solution would be offering more storefronts because he thinks the gaming experience is impacted when it comes to what consoles users play on
and what stores sell certain games, saying: "If I want to play on a gaming
PC, then I feel like Im more a continuous part of a gaming ecosystem as a whole. As opposed to [on console, where] my gaming is kind of sharded - to
use a gaming term - based on these different closed ecosystems that I have to play across."

Amid speculation, Spencer also recently revealed what he would love in an
Xbox handheld , explaining that there is a "list of things" he wants to do
and that the Xbox hardware team is considering "different hardware form factors and things that [they] could go do." You might also like... The best handheld games consoles in 2024 Our picks for the best Xbox Series X games
The best Xbox Game Pass games to play in 2024



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/gaming/consoles-pc/phil-spencer-wants-xbox-consoles- to-offer-storefronts-like-epic-games-store-and-itchio


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