The Xbox has come a long way since sealing a place for itself as a major contender in today's console wars.
For serious gamers, however, it's been a battle between Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. Those two are the choices hardcore gamers must decide between when considering which platform to invest their next few gaming years in.
Two years into this current console generation, the PlayStation 4 has outpaced and outperformed the Xbox One in sales numbers and customer loyalty. Asked if the Xbox One could catch up to and beat the PlayStation in this generation, Xbox head Phil Spencer candidly answered, "I don't know."
"You know, the length of the generation, they [Sony] have a huge lead and they have a good product," Spencer further added during a live interview at the 2015 GeekWire Summit.
How big of a lead? In Sony's homeland of Japan, the PlayStation 4 is outselling the Xbox One 108-to-1. Overall, around the world, 25.4 million PS4s have been sold while only 13.9 million Xbox Ones have left store shelves.
Just keeping and pleasing current Xbox One owners is an uphill task in itself: for one, the Xbox Live service went offline last week. Sony also slashed the PS4's price down by $50 this week. Now, both consoles are competing at the same price of $349.99.
Spencer traces the Xbox One's sub-par sales back to a time before the console even launched. Decisions were made about the console that agitated even the most loyal of Xbox fans. These included an always-online requirement, non-backwards compatibility with last-generation Xbox titles, and shutting out the option to play used games on the Xbox One.
Under Spencer's supervision, of course, Microsoft has reversed faulty launch initiatives. Still, first impressions die hard especially if they take a whole year to rectify. Even Spencer shares that GameStop managers approach him and tell him that "they still have customers who think the Xbox One won't play used games."
Spencer, however, is an executive who has experienced the ups and downs of the Xbox and is taking the steps necessary to get the console back in fighting form. One of these is lessening reliance on exclusive third-party content and creating more blockbuster first-party IPs such as Halo 5: Guardians and Quantum Break.
Photo: Marco Verch | Flickr
