Achi news desk-
Phil Spencer has tried out all of the new PC gaming handhelds: the Asus ROG Ally, the Lenovo Legion Go, and the Steam Deck. He’s impressed. But he can’t shake a single question. How would it make them more Xbox?
“I want my Lenovo Legion Go to feel like an Xbox,” Spencer told Polygon in an interview during the annual Game Developers Conference. “I came [the Legion Go] with me to CDC. I’m on the plane and I have this list of everything that makes it not feel like an Xbox. Forget the brand. More like: Are all my games there? Are all my games showing up with the save [files] that i want? I’ll tell you one [game] that’s not true at the moment—it’s driving me crazy—it is Fallout 76. It has no cross-save.
“I want to be able to start the Xbox app in full screen, but in compact mode. And all my social [experience] Yes there is. Like I want it to feel like my Xbox dash when I turn on the TV. [Except I want it] on those devices.”
According to Spencer, the Xbox hardware team, led by Roanne Sones, considers “different hardware form factors and things that [they] he could go do it” as he planned the future of Xbox hardware. “What should we build that will find new players?” Spencer said. “That will allow people to play at times when they couldn’t go and play [in the past]?”
In our wide-ranging interview, Spencer described two approaches to making Xbox available on handsets: the hardware versus the software approach. As he said, he has strong feelings about how an Xbox handheld should feel. But he also acknowledges – having learned from the console business – that gamers can choose brands other than Xbox. For those gamers, Spencer wants to improve Xbox handheld gaming software experience, too – especially for people with devices running Windows, like the Legion Go and the Ally.
Photo: Chris Plante/Polygon
“I like the fact that Valve, Lenovo, and Asus went out and innovated in a new form factor. And I will say that when I play on those devices, it almost feels more like a console than a PC – nine times out of 10. The things that hold me back are usually more Windows-based than which is device based. Which is an area I feel some ownership of. Like, I want to be able to login with a controller. I have my list of things we should go do.”
Spencer has spent his time at Microsoft pushing Xbox to be a console and software experience that follows gamers wherever they enjoy games. That philosophy expands with his views on handheld gaming.
“From a game creator’s point of view,” says Spencer, “I can then go about building one version of my game that spans more hardware and reaches more customers. And I would say for players, it reduces the friction. Like, if I want to go play my console games in progress with a handheld, I don’t want to be able to buy just one brand of handheld. Right? […] I want everything we do in the hardware space to be great. But if someone chooses to go play today [somewhere else]I don’t want them to feel like a smaller Xbox [player].”
Over the past seven years, we’ve seen the Xbox development team get creative with its software, move games to new platforms, build the Game Pass subscription service, and make games playable on smartphones via streaming. As we wrapped up our conversation, Spencer wouldn’t outright announce an official Xbox handheld, but he said he sees a similar level of creativity coming to hardware that Xbox has brought to software.
“I think it’s important,” Spencer said. “You and me, we’ve been around for a couple of days. Look at the real inflection points in our industry, like looking at the Wii. It was a hardware innovation that was connected to a great software innovation.”
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The handheld Xbox job is the dream, says Microsoft gaming chief Phil Spencer – Polygon appeared first on Canadian News Media.
