Phil Spencer Discusses What He Wants Xbox on Handhelds Devices to Be

by
William D’Angelo
, posted 3 hours ago / 576 Views

Microsoft Gaming CEO in an interview with Polygon at GDC discussed handheld gaming and what he would like to see in a potential Xbox handheld.

“I want my Lenovo Legion Go to feel like an Xbox,” said Spencer. “I brought [the Legion Go] with me to GDC. I’m on the airplane and I have this list of everything that makes it not feel like an Xbox. Forget about the brand.

“More like: Are all of my games there? Do all my games show up with the save [files] that I want? I’ll tell you one [game] that doesn’t right now — it’s driving me crazy — is Fallout 76. It doesn’t have cross-save.

“I want to be able to boot into the Xbox app in a full screen, but in a compact mode. And all of my social [experience] is there. Like I want it to feel like the dash of my Xbox when I turn on the television. [Except I want it] on those devices.”

Spencer did tease the Xbox hardware time is looking into “different hardware form factors and things that [they] could go do.”

“What should we build that will find new players?” Spencer said. “That will allow people to play at times when they couldn’t go play [in the past]?”

He added, “I like the fact that Valve, Lenovo, and Asus went out and innovated in a new form factor. And I will say that when I’m playing on those devices, it almost feels more like a console than a PC — nine times out of 10.

“The things that usually frustrate me are more Windows-based than device-based. Which is an area I feel some ownership of. Like, I want to be able to log in with a controller. I’ve got my list of things we should go do.”

Spencer has been pushing Xbox to be both a console experience and a software experience that follows players wherever they enjoy games.

“From a game creator standpoint, I can then go build a single version of my game that spans more hardware and reaches more customers. And I would say for players, it reduces the friction,” he said.

“Like, if I want to go play my console games on the go with a handheld, I don’t want to only be able to buy one brand of handheld. Right? […] I want everything that we’re doing in the hardware space to be great. But if somebody chooses to go play today [somewhere else], I don’t want them to feel like a lesser Xbox [player].”

He concluded, “I think it’s important. You and I, we’ve been around for a couple of days. Look at the real inflection points in our industry, like look at the Wii. It was hardware innovation that was linked with great software innovation.”

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.