Microsoft admits consoles too similar now, wants next Xbox to be more innovative

Microsoft CEO of Gaming, Phil Spencer, has discussed what he’d like to see in a future Xbox console.

Speaking to former IGN host Destin Legarie on his new Save State Plus channel, Spencer opened up about what he sees as one of the shortcomings of the current console generation. As Spencer notes, the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 are quite similar overall, and that’s something he’d want to avoid in the future.

“I want us to innovate and make hardware the differentiator. We’ve got into this space where the differentiation on the hardware has gone down, and it’s really been ‘locked games’ that have become the identity of the hardware,” he said. “I love when I see handhelds, when I see unique things that hardware manufacturers do. I want our hardware to compete on power, and on innovation. So let’s have our platform continue to innovate with services and the hardware work that we’re doing — whether it’s controller, power, or mobility.”

It’s a rather astute point. After Microsoft reversed its controversial “always online” strategy for the Xbox One, its hardware has effectively been more or less the same as PlayStation’s. Of course, there are some differences, like the Xbox Series S being a much lower-cost current-gen offering or the PS5’s unique DualSense controller features, but on the whole, the consoles are largely on par with one another from a hardware and third-party games perspective.

Meanwhile, Nintendo has offered the incredibly innovative console-handheld hybrid functionality since it launched the Switch in 2017, and that will continue with the Switch 2 when it releases later this year. We’ve also seen the likes of Valve’s Steam Deck and Asus’ ROG Ally offer handheld PC gaming experiences, a market in which Microsoft says it wants to play a bigger role. To that point, the company has even been teasing portable devices that bring together “the best of Xbox and Windows,” acknowledging that the portable Windows experience leaves a lot to be desired.

It’s also worth noting that Spencer’s comments came in response to Legarie asking about why someone should buy an Xbox console, given Microsoft’s repeated intention to continue to bring first-party games like Sea of Thieves, Grounded and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle to platforms like PlayStation and Nintendo that many have criticized for devaluing Xbox hardware. It remains to be seen what sort of innovations a future Xbox might have to incentivize purchases, especially as actual Xbox games are set to continue to be multiplatform.

Source: Save State Plus