Following game delays, Spencer says Xbox will strive to deliver ‘quality and consistency’
Microsoft’s head of gaming has said Xbox will strive to meet the expectations of fans disappointed by the company’s first-party product release strategy.
On Thursday it was announced that Starfield and Redfall had been delayed from this year to the first half of 2023, leaving some big holes in Xbox’s line-up for the remainder of 2022.
Following up on the news, Xbox boss Phil Spencer acknowledged that fans are eager for more first-party games, while reiterating the importance of giving studios the time they need to create quality products.
“These decisions are hard on teams making the games and our fans,” he said. “While I fully support giving teams time to release these great games when they are ready, we hear the feedback.
“Delivering quality and consistency is expected, we will continue to work to better meet those expectations.”
It’s unclear how recently the decision to delay the games was made, but Spencer had earlier this week visited the teams at Bethesda.
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Over the past few years Xbox has invested heavily in its portfolio of first-party studios. As well as setting up The Initiative (Perfect Dark) and a new Age of Empires studio, it has acquired Ninja Theory (Hellblade), Playground Games (Forza Horizon), Obsidian (Fallout: New Vegas), InXile (Wasteland 3), Double Fine (Psychonauts), and most recently Bethesda for $7.5 billion.
It was also announced in January that Microsoft intends to purchase Activision Blizzard in a $68.7 billion deal—the game industry’s biggest ever by some distance—that would give the Xbox maker exclusive ownership of franchises including Call of Duty, Warcraft, Overwatch, Crash Bandicoot and Guitar Hero.
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