Phil Spencer shares plans for Japanese games and E3 2017 on Twitter

Phil Spencer answered a lot of questions on Twitter today. Spencer was unusually quiet for the past few weeks so it’s great to see him continue the tradition by speaking with Xbox One owners and fans. The Head of Xbox discussed everything from his desire to rebuild Microsoft’s first-party games library to how he plans on getting more Japanese games on the console.

Thanks. It's a journey. Started w/ focus on hardware, longest timelines. We've rebuilt XBL and OS. Bringing same focus to 1P

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) March 22, 2017

Spencer has acknowledged in the past that the first-party library needs more work in order to compete against games like Horizon Zero Dawn and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Today he confirmed that he was bringing the same focus that they applied to rebuild the Xbox One interface and the multiplayer service to that task. Hopefully we’ll see more mature games like The Last of Us from the company in the future.

Yes, visit to Japan confirmed for me we'd be seeing these coming <and yes I know I've said this before>

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) March 22, 2017

The discussion then shifted to Japanese games. Many gamers asked Spencer what he plans on doing about the fact that Xbox One has very little support from Japanese developers. To this he pointed to his recent visit to the country and confirmed that Microsoft was working with publishers to bring their games over. Expect more Japanese role-playing experiences in the future.

I agree. Last 12 months shipped in April (QB), Sept, Oct, Dec, Feb (HW2). Ship dates aren't easy but I agree on need to balance.

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) March 22, 2017

Spencer also discussed upcoming games and how Microsoft needs to spread out exclusives instead of clumping them together at the end of the year. Not only would that improve sales, but it would also be a great move for brand image. The perception right now is that Microsoft has no games because the majority of them released at the end of last year. Continuously staying in the news and reminding people that a console gets a steady supply of exclusives is important.

I want to give our games more time on stage at E3, I sometimes feel like we rush telling the story of our games at E3.

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) March 22, 2017

Speaking about E3 2017, Spencer said that the briefings feel rush and this time he wanted to properly show off content. Hopefully we’ll get extended gameplay footage from a variety of experiences rather than one announcement after the other. Maybe Microsoft will host a special PlayStation Experience-like event to properly show off everything. Spencer added that they would share more plans about either events or streams in the future.

Game attach on XB1 is great, Xbox customers are buying games, DLC etc. Usage is high etc.

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) March 23, 2017

Spencer ended his Twitter session by stating that the Xbox brand is healthy and gamers are engaged. He expressed optimism for the future and even gave us some teasers. For example, one of his favorites games is coming to backward compatibility in the coming weeks and a wish list feature is in the works for the Xbox Store. There are plenty of games and features for Xbox One to look forward to. Spencer’s comments just confirmed that.