With the rumors flying around about Sony’s Xbox Game Pass-style competitor, “Spartacus,” Xbox’s Phil Spencer weighed in with his thoughts, saying that he sees it as an inevitability in the video game industry.
Speaking with IGN, Spencer explains that there are many different factors that go into a service such as Game Pass, like backward compatibility, having simultaneous releases on both PC and console. He emphasizes that customers should be able to decide how and where they want to play their games, as well as being transparent about initiatives regarding PC and cross-gen.
“So when I hear others doing things like Game Pass or coming to PC, it makes sense to me because I think that’s the right answer,” says Spencer.
He doesn’t see Sony’s attempt at a Game Pass subscription as any sort of validation, but just as an inevitability. The initiatives that Xbox is pursuing are advantages it has in the industry currently, and so the platform holder is continuing to innovate, as well as being the first ones to try out new approaches.
“I like it because it feeds our energy on what are the next things that we should be working on as we continue to build out the things that we’ve done in the past,” Spencer continues. “Because I think the right answer is to ship great games, ship them on PC, ship them on console, ship them on Cloud, make them available Day 1 in the subscription. And I expect that’s what our competitor will do.”
Sony has recently been pulling PlayStation Now gift cards from retailers, fueling speculation that its Spartacus initiative will be launching soon. PS Now’s branding is reportedly being phased out, as it is being merged with PlayStation Plus when Spartacus arrives.
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