Every year, China has its own version of E3 that it calls China Joy. This year, Phil Spencer decided to visit the conference and briefly sat down with some reporters to talk about the vision for Xbox and where he sees things heading for Microsoft"s newest games platform.
In a more raw interview setting, Phil spoke a little about Xbox in China, saying that the company needs to do better with simplified Chinese translations. Upcoming exclusive games from Microsoft will aim to improve in this area to properly cater to Xbox One owners who need that proper translation.
Recently, Microsoft and Square Enix formed a temporary alliance over the upcoming Rise of the Tomb Raider, with the game being a console exclusive for Xbox One for one year. Phil talked about Xbox being more of a first-party focus platform going forward, saying:
"My strategy is more around our own first-party franchises and investing in franchises that we own, and probably fewer exclusive deals for third-party content. I want to have strong third-party relations, but paying for many third-party exclusives isn"t our long-term strategy".
In addition to games, Phil talked about was the new Elite controller for the Xbox One, where Phil revealed that the controller is getting a lot more praise and hype than the Xbox team initially expected. The result could be larger demand for the controller which Microsoft may have to be ready for.
Revealed back in June, the backwards compatibility feature of the Xbox One was briefly touched on by Phil, where he confirmed that digital purchases made on Xbox 360 will automatically carry over to an owner"s Xbox One, assuming the game is made available through the backwards compatibility program. As to whether Microsoft will make a VR headset to compete in that space, Spencer said "we don"t have plans to do our own VR device".
Microsoft will have a strong presence at Gamescom 2015 this year, where Spencer says there will be a huge focus on Xbox exclusives.
Source: G-cores