Throughout this console generation, Microsoft’s Xbox division has arguably gone through somewhat of an identity crisis. With the new generation on the horizon, however, it appears Xbox has a better grasp on things, pivoting focus towards cloud gaming. Apparently, this means the company’s outlook with regards to competition will undergo a shift in the coming months and years. In turn, Xbox Head Phil Spencer no longer considers Sony and Nintendo among its “main competitors going forward.”
Spencer shared the insight during an interview with Protocol, noting that Amazon and Google now serve as Xbox’s key competition. Both Sony and Nintendo lack a cloud infrastructure rivaling Microsoft Azure, which essentially leaves the two gaming giants “somewhat out of position.” Spencer told Protocol,
When you talk about Nintendo and Sony, we have a ton of respect for them, but we see Amazon and Google as the main competitors going forward. That’s not to disrespect Nintendo and Sony, but the traditional gaming companies are somewhat out of position. I guess they could try to re-create Azure, but we’ve invested tens of billions of dollars in cloud over the years.
While Microsoft continues to cooperate with the Sony and Nintendo on shared functionalities such as crossplay, Spencer says the usual “fight over format” has come to an end. He added, “I don’t want to be in a fight over format wars with those guys while Amazon and Google are focusing on how to get gaming to seven billion people around the world. Ultimately, that’s the goal.”
It remains to be seen whether PlayStation executives share similar feelings on the matter. In some respects, the market will speak for itself soon enough. Both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are scheduled to launch later this year.
[Source: Protocol]
