Xbox Head Honcho, Phil Spencer, had some incredibly positive things to say about Nintendo’s first party games, and how well the Japanese giant has handled its gaming platforms during a Twitch Animal Crossing themed talk show.
“The pure thing about what Nintendo does, is they think about games, and they think about their hardware and their platform all as one thing, and build those experiences – and I know the teams there pretty well – and I think it’s magical the way they’re able to create a complete Nintendo experience on their devices, and this experience I’m looking at right here, in my hands, on my Switch, is Animal Crossing. From the Switch running it to the game itself to the way you go to other people’s islands.
In the entertainment business, you know, most things don’t turn out to be huge successes so there always has to be some amount of surprise, but Nintendo is just masterful at what they do, and I’ve said it before, I think they have the strongest first party pedigree out there and strength, and they’re a jewel for us in the games industry and something we should protect.” – Phil Spencer
The statements shouldn’t be that surprising, in the past Spencer has reached out to Sony’s first party studios in order to publicly congratulate them in creating some of the greater games of the current generation such as God of War.
Spencer, unlike most industry executives in his position has always been forthcoming about the games he has been playing and enjoying, even if the games are developed by the competition. This general attitude has led Xbox fans to believe that Phil is the right man for the job – in terms of getting the company back to its glory OG Xbox, and the first half of the Xbox 360 days – were exclusive games were plentiful and of great quality.
Spencer’s comments about Nintendo, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons come at a time where Nintendo is enjoying a nearly unprecedented level of success with the game, and the Switch is outselling the Xbox One at 7-1 sometimes 9-1 ratio on a weekly basis. t Clearly, Spencer feels that Nintendo needs to keep doing what its doing, and in what hopes for the company to keep being successful at creating unique experiences as they are “Jewel” within the gaming industry.
The comments also come at a difficult time for Microsoft’s own first party efforts, as some of their most exciting games such as the Fable Reboot are years away from perhaps even being showcased, and Microsoft had to delay the next entry (Halo Infinite) of their most storied franchise until next year.
The delay, and the Xbox Series X’s less than stellar games showcase has caused concern among Xbox fans, and some have gone as far to as to call for Phil’s head on different Video Gaming Forums ( which by the way, we think is an over exaggeration, Phil has done many positive things for the Xbox brand).
Still, his comments might be a reflection of what he feels Microsoft should strive to be, in terms of creating a platform and devices centered on entertainment, and the gameplay experiences that their game studios can provide.