Xbox boss Phil Spencer has revealed that Xbox isn’t competing with Sony PlayStation or Nintendo for the next-generation, but instead with Amazon and Google.
Speaking to technology publication Protocol, Spencer revealed that Xbox isn’t competing with rival offline technology. Spencer’s thoughts are primed upwards, at the cloud – get it? – as Xbox will be taking on the rise of cloud gaming.
“When you talk about Nintendo and Sony, we have a ton of respect for them, but we see Amazon and Google as the main competitors going forward,” said Xbox boss Phil Spencer. “That’s not to disrespect Nintendo and Sony, but the traditional gaming companies are somewhat out of position. I guess they could try to re-create Azure, but we’ve invested tens of billions of dollars in cloud over the years.”
Microsoft’s Azure cloud technology is currently the glue that binds many of Microsoft’s services together, including gaming service Project xCloud. As a competitor to Google Stadia and the rumoured Amazon Streaming Service, Microsoft is already moving on their plan to combat the upcoming game streaming services.
“I don’t want to be in a fight over format wars with those guys while Amazon and Google are focusing on how to get gaming to seven billion people around the world,” Spencer said. “[We’re] willing to cooperate with Nintendo and Sony on initiatives like allowing gamers on the various companies’ systems to play with and against one another.”