Phil Spencer Shares How Xbox Game Pass Differs From Netflix

gamespot.com:

The head of Xbox also talks about how the service is attempting to avoid TV streaming pitfalls.

By Evan Campbell on

There's no question that Microsoft continues to tout Xbox Game Pass and day-one launches on the service. But Xbox head Phil Spencer was recently asked if he should be concerned with some of the struggles the TV streaming industry has faced, like subscriber losses and content bloat.

The Guardian--which traveled to Los Angeles for this interview thanks to Microsoft's paid accommodations--posited this question to Spencer, who responded with one clear difference between Xbox Game Pass and Netflix. «Look at the stats,» he said. «The number of games that are in Game Pass relative to unique videos on Netflix is vastly, vastly different.

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»I think we're somewhere between 300 and 400 games. It's still a lot, but we're not trying to inundate you. When I get negative feedback on Game Pass, it's when quality isn't what people expected. But then there's a marginal cost for them in trying something they would've never tried before. If there's any signal, it's how are our players feeling--how's the subscriber number going, and are creators coming back?"

Another aspect that's different between the two services that Spencer didn't mention is Xbox Game Pass offers streaming games via the cloud (and Ultimate subscription), but downloading them locally is more common. Meanwhile, Netflix is all about streaming TV shows and films, though you can download some