Xbox Boss Commits to the Price of the Current Consoles And Purchasing More Studios

Phil Spencer mentioned maintaining the current Xbox Series prices while investing significantly more in game development.

 

When Sony unexpectedly increased the price of the PlayStation 5 in the second year of the current console generation, it made some people take notice. Naturally, many people questioned whether the same challenging economic conditions we are all experiencing would result in an increase in Xbox prices. However, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer recently told CNBC that it wouldn’t be a smart move for the company at this time to raise the price of the Xbox Series series. He also clarified that despite Activision Blizzard’s bid, Microsoft has no intention of slowing down its investment in video game developers.

Phil Spencer made an appearance on CNBC while he was in Japan for the Tokyo Game Show to discuss Microsoft’s prospective interest in purchasing more businesses, how it sees itself competing in the Japanese video game market, and whether Xbox will follow PlayStation in raising prices. Instead of “categorically” denying that Xbox would raise its costs, Spencer chose to emphasise the success of the less expensive Series S and to emphasise that, despite the fact that “customers are more economically challenged and unsure than ever,” the firm isn’t now planning to do so.

 

 

 

Spencer stated that “moving forward,” the corporation can’t completely rule out the potential of a price shift, even though this is a more straightforward admission that we shouldn’t anticipate price increases in the near future.

Moving forward, we continually assess our company. We can’t ever say, in my opinion, that we won’t do something. However, when we consider our current consoles, the Series X and Series S, we believe value to be of utmost significance. Our less expensive console, Series S, has a great market position. The majority of the new players we’re discovering come through Series S. And I can unambiguously state that we do not currently have any intentions to increase [the cost of our consoles]; we do not believe that doing so would be the correct course of action at this time.

After discussing acquisitions, the debate turned to console prices, and Phil Spencer outlined the magnitude of the firm’s rivals, including Sony and Tencent, saying that due to the competitive nature of the video game market, the company “gets to push pause on nothing.” Between Xbox and PlayStation, the recent Activision acquisition has undoubtedly raised some concerns, particularly with regard to the future of Call of Duty’s multiplatform position. Regarding purchases, Spencer said:

 

The biggest gaming firm today, Tencent continues to make significant investments in game developers and game content. Today, Sony has a bigger gaming industry than we do, and they keep making investments. It’s clear from our investments that the market is incredibly competitive. We want to be a significant role in this. Whether that be through putting money into our own teams [or] establishing new relationships.

Additionally, Spencer discussed Xbox’s plans to grow in Japan, where the company has historically had difficulties. The recent collaboration between the company and Kojima Productions to produce an ambitious, forthcoming game to Xbox was mentioned, along with hopes to establish partnerships with current Japanese creators.