Xbox chief admits Microsoft can't 'out-console' PlayStation

Xbox chief Phil Spencer has admitted that Microsoft can not ‘out-console’ PlayStation.

During a very candid interview with Kinda Funny Games, Phil Spencer conceded that in terms of selling consoles, the war may already be lost with the PlayStation 5. As reported by The Verge, Spencer explained: “We want Xbox to be something that people who buy our consoles can feel like members of a full ecosystem. We're fully committed to that. We're not in the business of 'out-consoling Sony or Nintendo', there's not a win or solution for us.”

Xbox are pinning their hopes on Starfield.

The Xbox chief went on to explain that this war between Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 was lost during the last generation of PS4 and Xbox One, at a time in which digital video game sales really began to take off. “I see the commentary that if you just build great games everything will turn around. It’s just not true that if we go off and build great games all of a sudden you’re going to see console share shift in some dramatic way. We lost the worst generation to lose in the Xbox One generation, where everybody built their digital library of games,” he said.

It’s fair to say that Microsoft certainly has a lot of catching up to do. While Sony has been knocking it out of the park with God of War Ragnarök, Horizon Forbidden West and Ghost of Tsushima, Xbox has been struggling. Halo Infinite was supposed to be a generation defining game, but it ended up being a disappointment all around. Perhaps Xbox’s best exclusive is Forza Horizon 5, but that still might not be enough as Microsoft’s success appears to be focused on cloud gaming and Xbox Game Pass.

Following the shockingly poor launch of Redfall, the likes of Starfield, the Forza Motorsport reboot, the next Fable, Gears 6 and more, really need to knock it out of the park if Microsoft has any hope of catching up with Sony.