Phil Spencer: Xbox’s Strategy Does Not Hinge on People Moving All-Digital

by
William D’Angelo
, posted 7 hours ago / 1,066 Views

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer in an interview with Game File discussed the future of physical games on Xbox and says they have no plans to rid of physical releases.

“We are supportive of physical media, but we don’t have a need to drive that disproportionate to customer demand,” said Spencer.

“We ship games physically and digitally, and we’re really just following what the customers are doing. And I think our job in running Xbox is to deliver on the things that a majority of the customers want. And right now, a majority of our customers are buying games digitally.”

Spencer said that video game consoles are some of the last consumer electronic devices to include a disc drive and the number of manufacturers of them has decreased. However, Xbox does not plan on getting rid of physical games.

“Gaming consoles themselves have kind of become the last consumer electronic device that has a drive,” he said. “And this is a real issue, just in terms of the number of manufacturers that are actually building drives and the cost associated with those. And when you think about cogs that we’re going to go put in a console—and as you have fewer suppliers and fewer buyers—the cost of the drive does have an impact.

“But I will say our strategy does not hinge on people moving all-digital. And getting rid of physical, that’s not a strategic thing for us.”

Spencer was asked about Microsoft laying off people on teams involved in making disc version of games and he said that was more due to the “alignment of our teams across ZeniMax, Activision and Xbox. So we have teams that are in charge of physical retail, inclusive of selling games in physical outlets. So that’s what the team action was. It wasn’t about us getting rid of the capability.”

A life-long and avid gamer, William D’Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.