The Xbox boss, Phil Spencer discussed his potential plans for the RTS genre, and create more Xbox-exclusive games in the future.
While the Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard remains pending, there has not been too much major stirrings from companies. The Xbox head, Phil Spencer, recently told Wired that he would like to discuss plans to revitalize the sci-fi strategy games genre once the acquisition has been completed. He also noted that there needed to be more major first party exclusive games for the Xbox Series X|S—in an interview with Same Brain.
The only real highlight Microsoft and Xbox had this year was the big push of Halo Infinite, but had mixed reviews and reception from critics and fans—mostly because the campaign and other game modes were staggered upon release. 2022 was supposed to have more major releases like Arkane’s open-world shooter, Red Fall and Starfield—the huge space RPG from the studio that created Skyrim and Fallout. However, it was announced that both games would be pushed to 2023.
“One thing we’ve definitely heard loud and clear is that it’s been too long since we’ve shipped what people would say is a big first party game,” Spencer said in the interview. “We could have our excuses on Covid and other things, but in the end, I know people invest in our platform, and they want to have great games.”
He continued to talk about how Xbox will be bringing more in 2023 to get fans hyped up again after a disappointing year in 2022: “We’re excited about 2023. We’ve talked about games that are coming, and those games are tracking well. Getting our first real Xbox first party games out of Bethesda, having them ship Redfall and Starfield, will be a lot of fun.”
On the RTS side of things, Spencer shared how his role did not “allow [him] to make any decisions about what happens at Blizzard or Activision or King,” but would open up a channel of conversations. And while the acquisition is still pending, he noted a bunch of ideas he had:
“Not only StarCraft, but WarCraft, when you think about the heritage of RTS games that we’re talking about here, specifically from Blizzard. And I don’t have any concrete plans today because I can’t really get in and work with the teams. But StarCraft was a seminal moment in gaming, right? From an esports perspective, from RTS on console perspective, and from just an RTS storytelling perspective in the genre.”
For all those RTS fans who have been grinding away at the Age of Empires and Civilization games, there may be hope for some throwback games in the future. Activision Blizzard’s CEO, Bobby Kotick talked about reviving classic franchises under Xbox as well, if the acquisition was approved. He referred to Guitar Hero and Skylanders being two popular series for Activision, but were discontinued for various reasons.
2022 seems to be a gauntlet between PlayStation’s God of War Ragnarok and Nintendo’s Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. But, do not count out Xbox’s Halo Infinite just yet—there may be more surprises to come.
