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Xbox didn’t release enough games last year, admits Phil Spencer who also delivered an important update on Halo's future
He also said Xbox needs to “have a steady release of great games” now.
Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft’s Xbox division, admitted that Xbox didn’t release enough games last year. He also said Xbox needs to “have a steady release of great games” now.
Xbox's releases compared to PlayStation and Nintendo
Xbox had a relatively slow year when compared to PlayStation which had steady releases and major titles like God of War Ragnarok, Horizon Forbidden West and Stray (console exclusive) for PlayStation.
As for Nintendo, they had a rather impressive year as well, releasing two Pokemon titles, and other major games such as Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, Splatoon 3 and Kirby and the Forgotten Land.
Xbox delayed Starfield and Redfall, both AAA games that were originally planned for a 2022 release. Xbox released As Dusk Falls, and a Forza Horizon 5 expansion in 2022.
They re-released Age of Empires and Obsidian’s Grounded was released. It’s key to note that Grounded was already on Game Preview for two years. Obsidian Entertainment’s Pentiment was the highlight Xbox first-party title released in 2022.
Phil Spencer takes responsibility for Xbox's lack of game releases
Phil Spencer told IGN that the accountability for Xbox’s lack of enough releases falls on him. However, Spencer added that he feels ‘really good’ about the next 12 months for Xbox.
He said, “Our commitment to our fans is that we need to have a steady release of great games that people can play on our platform, and we didn’t do enough of that in 2022, there’s no doubt.”
He added, “And fundamentally, that’s on me. I’m the head of the business.”
“The commitment we have to our customers, to continue to deliver great games, is something I take seriously, the teams take seriously, and 2022 was too light in games.”
“We’re excited to about getting to roll into 2023, having the Developer Direct – I felt really good about the games that we were showing – and also knowing that Starfield is a game that we’re going to highlight in its own show, and then just start off 2023 with good momentum. Like you said, I think we needed that.”
Xbox boss also reflected on the show and said that it was imperative to show the games along with their release dates, as the company owed fans concrete news after telling them for months to wait for updates.
“I hesitate to get ahead of the launches, because I know there’s rightfully some fatigue in the community about us just saying, ‘just wait until…’ That’s one of the reasons it was nice to be able to launch Hi-Fi Rush during the show, to show that we can launch,” Spencer said.
“We had things like Pentiment, which came out in November and was a really high-quality game, but there has to be more. When I look at Minecraft Legends, when I look at Redfall, the work that we’re doing at Forza Motorsport, and one of my favourite franchises, The Elder Scrolls Online… I think it was important for us to show games and show dates.”
343 Industries remains ‘critically important to Halo’, says Xbox head
Spencer also talked about Halo and how important the franchise is to Xbox. His statements arrived after the recent layoffs at Microsoft which affected 343 Industries, the developers in charge of Halo.
The studio recently released a statement, confirming that they’re committed to achieving more with Halo Infinite and develop future Halo games.
Phil told IGN, “What we’re doing now is we want to make sure that leadership team is set up with the flexibility to build the plan that they need to go build. And Halo will remain critically important to what Xbox is doing, and 343 is critically important to the success of Halo.”