14 DAY TRIAL // The team at Microsoft in charge of home console development says that it still has long-term plans for the Xbox 360 despite the fact that the launch of the next-gen Xbox One has been more successful than initially planned.
Phil Spencer, one of the executives leading the company, says that all those who bought one of the older platforms one and a half years ago should be aware of the fact that they are still going to get new titles and that their device has a clear future.
He is quoted by VG247 as saying that, “Most of the third parties will support both generations for a couple of years. For a third party this is the nice part of the curve for the last generation, because you’ve got millions of people out there and they want to sell content that these people will buy.”
Most of the blockbusters of the coming six months, including high-profile titles like Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Destiny and Battlefield Hardline, are set to be offered on both next-gen and current-gen platforms.
At the same time, Phil Spencer makes it clear that his company is thinking about the future and the executive adds, “They also want to kickstart the new generation successfully, so you’ll see a lot of them doing a little bit of both. For us in first party, our primary focus is Xbox One. I’ve been proud of our first party line-up on Xbox One.”
At the moment, the Microsoft next-gen console is lagging behind the rival PlayStation 4 from Sony in terms of overall sales, by 5 million shipped devices to 7 million sold to gamers.
This could change in the near future after the company dropped the Kinect motion tracking system from the core package for the Xbox One and reduced its price to 399 dollars or Euro.
The platform is also getting monthly firmware updates, which are designed to add extra functionality and open up more hardware power for the various development teams to use.
The Xbox One is set to be launched on a number of secondary markets, including Japan, in early September and the title will be delivered with free versions of both Titanfall and Kinect Sports Rivals.
Microsoft also says that the current-console generation will last for a number of years and that it has long-term plans to make the platform more interesting in the coming months.