In a recent interview, Xbox’s Executive Vice-President Phil Spencer seemed more than confident with his company’s upcoming console. He’s certain that the Xbox Series X will be able to compete in the current console climate, especially against the upcoming release of the PlayStation 5.
Discussing the future during an interview with IGN, Spencer was confident with specific regards to the price point of the Xbox Series X. He believes that Microsoft’s plans for the next generation are going to give them the edge over Sony.
“You have to set a price target at the beginning for yourselves, and then you kind of roll in as you see the competition come in and start to do your go-to-market planning. I feel good about the price we’re going to be able to get to,” Spencer stated in the interview. “I feel good about the price and the performance capabilities that we have for Series X. I feel incredibly strong about the overall package.”
There was plenty shared in his interview with IGN, which is around an hour long. Keeping with the current social distancing efforts of the world during the COVID-19 pandemic, he gave the interview via the internet.
Spencer discussed how pricing has changed nowadays in the current technological climate, as many gamers buy a console as a sort of subscription service. With so many services like Xbox’s Game Pass or Games With Gold, players may look at the investment less as purchasing a console and more as purchasing a platform to enjoy these other services with. The same goes for players that use streaming services to watch entertainment via their consoles.
In a way, it isn’t too different from what we’ve heard before with previous generations of console. Players used to jokingly call their PlayStations the most overpriced Blu Ray player on the market, as many went with the console just because it could play Blu Rays before Xbox could. Now, many people have moved past physical collections of films and just stream whatever they desire.
We’ve also recently discussed some rumors that the upcoming PlayStation 5 may be technologically inept to their competition. While we specifically stated that there was no sort of credibility to the sources of these rumors, it’s possible that some of the heads at Xbox may have a bit more reliable sources and that part of their confidence comes from this.
Time will tell whether these two titanic consoles are evenly matched with each other, or if Xbox will claim the victory that Spencer seems confident in.