Phil Spencer: New interview on the launch of Xbox Series X | S, Halo Infinite and Zenimax

A new interview dedicated to Phil Spencer. The Xbox Chief talked about the launch of Xbox Series X | S now imminent (November 10, 2020), the new generation of consoles, in addition to discussing Halo Infinite and Zenimax, whose recent acquisition by Microsoft has generated a wave of overwhelmingly positive reactions.

"I think the demand will exceed the supply", Spencer begins, speaking of sales related to the new console, in its X and S formats.

For us and PlayStation, I think that never before will all the consoles produced for launch be finished so quickly. The amount of consoles produced will determine the outcome of the first wave of the market, in terms of whether it is more successful for us or for Sony. I guess the Xbox S version will sell more, thanks to the lower price. To be honest, the power of the S Series surprised me in terms of performance.

In this regard, the developers of the launch title are reminded in the interview The falconeer have confirmed that the game will run at 60fps with 1800p resolution (not a typo) on S and 60fps in 4K resolution on Series X. Other developers have raised gods doubts about the difference in RAM memory available between X and S (10 GB against the 16 of the "older sister"). But Spencer doesn't seem to be worried about this aspect:

I think the scalability of the next video games will ensure, as on PC, incredible performance on both platforms, adapting the titles to the available hardware. I won't pretend I don't know this will mean double the work for development studios, but we're doing all of this to expand the market.

The Zenimax coup and the exclusive issue according to Phil Spencer

In September, Microsoft said it had bought ZeniMax, the parent company of Bethesda, Id Software and other high-level studios, capable of creating titles of the caliber of The Elder Scrolls, Doom e Fallout , for the modest sum of 7,5 billion dollars.

Regarding the possibility of having titles such as those already mentioned as exclusive to their consoles, Spencer said:

This deal was not made to deprive the competition of similar games. We didn't design this acquisition by asking ourselves 'How do we prevent players on other consoles from playing these titles?'. We want as many people as possible to be able to experience such adventures. I will also add, however, that when I think of the platform on which players will experience these adventures, they will do so within the Xbox ecosystem that we have set up over the years. And the agreement with Zenimax, for us, does not concern the possibility or not of making the games available on other platforms. Whatever this means.

It is then clarified in the article (we know, the cross-platform aspect of Bethesda titles remains a bit shrouded in mystery) that the possibility of tying a future title to an Xbox exclusive will be studied on a case-by-case basis. For example, it could be imagined that for titles of the caliber of Fallout and TES Microsoft could take advantage of the recent acquisition of the company to offer the games at a reduced price compared to the competition (Sony, then PlayStation 5). Plus, it's easy to imagine that some of the biggest titles coming out in the future will be part of the Microsoft's Game Pass catalog.

Halo Infinite, the great absent

Kotaku's colleague may have unwittingly thrown an "assist" to Phil Spencer, regarding the one of the big absentees at the launch of the Xbox Series X | S; let's talk about Halo Infinite, game postponed to August next year.

In fact, the journalist asked Spencer if the developers of Halo Infinite (343 Industries) have considered, in recent weeks, the possibility of offering the only Campaign mode, in a sort of "preview", waiting for the full title"

Bonnie Ross and the team working on Infinite will make such decisions, just in case. But I think we all want to make sure that when people buy the game, they will feel they have an authentic 'Halo experience' on their hands, no less. So, I'm not ruling out a particular strategy linked to the launch of the game, but we want to make sure we're doing something right.

These are the most relevant parts of the interview with Microsoft Games boss Phil Spencer. Before saying goodbye, we remind you that Xbox Series X and Series S will be available starting next November 10th.