14 DAY TRIAL // After being accused of lackluster investments in terms of exclusive games for the Xbox 360, Microsoft has decided to clear things up and has revealed that, while its titles may be less numerous than Sony’s, for example, they sell much better and reach a larger audience.
The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles have clashed in all sorts of areas, from performance to sales and everything in between.
Of course, exclusive games is also an aspect over which fans of the two platforms have fought, with PS3 users always bragging about the array of exclusivities that are being released by Sony’s various internal studios.
Microsoft Game Studios’ Corporate Vice President, Phil Spencer, begs to differ and highlights that, while there are many PS3 exclusives, Xbox 360 ones sell much better.
“We have always been about trying to create hits that really push our platform and reach millions of people. I've never looked at our first-party mandate as trying to simply pump out content that only a few select people will go out and buy,” Spencer told GamesIndustry.
“If you look at our top franchises in our first-party, they do incredibly well relative to other first-party franchises. If you rank our top four franchises against the other franchises, our top 4 outsell like the top 11 Sony franchises or something like that. In the end, it's about creating something to scale and something that matters.”
Spencer highlights that Microsoft is also keen on securing content for third-party games, like Call of Duty titles, on the Xbox 360, in order to give owners an enhanced experience.
The executive also believes that internal studios are crucial in assuring the popularity of new devices, like the Kinect, or technologies, like SmartGlass, so Microsoft will continue with its current strategy.
“First-party is going to invest early in a lot of things. We actually have over 30 launch games on the Windows 8 tablets coming from first-party. Now we're starting to build on SmartGlass, and that thinking with a lot of connections between different screens, I think will pay off.”
Are you happy with the exclusivities on the Xbox 360 or do you want more of them, even if they are not as successful?