Topic: Phil Spencer said "not every screen is equal" about Xbox Multiplatform Strategy

I would like to revisit some quotes from Phil Spencer during the recent Xbox Era interview that confirm or clarify Xbox's multiplatform strategy:

"And obviously not every screen is equal. Yeah, like there’s certain things we can’t do on the other closed platforms that we can do on open platforms, cloud – it’s different. But games should be the thing that we’re focused on. And the strategy that we have allows us to do big games, while also supporting our native platform from hardware to the platform and services that we have and that’s going to be our approach."
(...)

"But yeah, I would love to make all of the money for all of the games that we ship right, like obviously we make more on our own platform. It’s one of the reasons that investing in our own platform is important."
(...)

"It’s why us embracing Windows and embracing Cloud has allowed us to grow. One of our fastest growing regions for us right now is Asia and it’s not because we’re selling more consoles in Asia, but through cloud and PC, we’re finding more users year over year than in any other place. The fastest kind of platform is Cloud"

To summarize:
Phil Spencer discusses how their strategy is tailored to different types of screens, acknowledging that "not every screen is equal." He explains that their focus is on open platforms like PC and cloud, which are growing rapidly, while also supporting closed platforms like competing consoles on a case-by-case basis. He emphasizes that games are the primary focus of their strategy, allowing for the development of major titles while still supporting in priority their own hardware, services, and platform. (where they more money).

Phil Spencer emphasized in his interview with Destin that not all Xbox games will be available on other consoles.

He also said it a year ago during last year's Xbox Developer Direct about the case-by-case strategy and not to think that, i quote: "these 4 games were a not a sign that everything else will follow, that is not the case."

He reiterated this point during the Xbox Era interview, stating that "not every screen is equal," and explained how their strategy differs depending on the type of platform. He noted that their approach primarily focuses on open platforms like PC and cloud, rather than closed platforms such as competing consoles.

Xbox's strategy is much more nuanced than some believe; it's not all or nothing but somewhere in between. Xbox is aware that they make more money with their own ecosystem, services, and hardware. And They are also aware that it is in their best interest to prioritize open platforms like PC and especially the cloud.

It's logical, what brings the most is PC and cloud, and their own ecosystem, where there are no 30% commissions, as he said in the interview. It's logical that they continue to prioritize their own ecosystem, it's just good business sense.

The mistake often made by some people is to believe that the multiplatform strategy primarily concerns other consoles, but that's false; it mainly concerns growing markets like PC and cloud. As for other consoles, it will be on a case-by-case basis like we can already see and as has been said many times., and for the few games that will be ported to other consoles, these are temporary exclusives, as it seems to be the case: sea of thieves (Exclusive for 8 years), forza horizon 5 (Exclusive for 4 years), etc.... Of course, games that are already multiplatform remain multiplatform, like Call of Duty, Doom, Outer Worlds, etc.

Source: https://xboxera.com/2025/02/15/xboxera-interviews-phil-spencer/

The majority of the Xbox business is Xbox and PC. The PC strategy is not new, but started last generation. Not every customer is the same and not everyone wants to play mobile games, although the mobile market is the biggest and most common in Asia. Xbox has many studios that build traditional games and Cloud will make the most of the mobile market delivering those games elsewhere. Sony tried the service games and mobile games and failed, but they tried for a reason.

Like I said, not all players are looking for the same. Some Sony and Nintendo fans won't buy an Xbox to play Xbox games and that's fine to attend, but not enough. Simply, it's better to get 70% of additional copies bought by PS and Nintendo fans interested in Xbox games but not in Xbox consoles nor PC than 0%. The prophets of doom that coincidentally happen to be PS fans have been announcing the death of Xbox since Xbox One with zero facts and real reasoning. I honestly find ridiculous to think that PS and Nintendo ports may have a bigger influence over the destiny of Xbox than PC and mobile, especially considering that even first-party games are not selling enough copies on PS5, and that the biggest success of Xbox games outside Xbox is found on PC and not on the competing consoles.

Being the biggest publisher now after Tencent, it makes sense to make the most of their potential customers around the world on every platform, but their own console and PC will remain the focus, on top of Game Pass on mobile devices. PC didn't destroy Xbox despite Play Anywhere and Steam, so PS certainly won't, when the console market is static and limited and Sony is porting their games to PC, something that some thought would be impossible. If there's growth out there, it's not on the console market, but PC, because PC is becoming even more popular and versatile. Console ports are just additional revenue.

For Microsoft, Xbox is a no-brainer, being the hardware and software company that manufactures PC, tablets, laptops, hybrids and consoles and also owns Windows, shared between PC and Xbox, not to mention the engagement of Xbox owners. There will be Xbox consoles as long as the console market exists. If the console markets cease to exist, it's because of the hybrid PCs dominating the gaming landscape in the future, and then one of the available models would be manufactured by Microsoft and labelled Xbox.