Microsoft on Xbox One -- It's about games, not gigaflops

For Microsoft and the Xbox One, it's all about games. That's according to corporate vice president Phil Harrison, who told Edge that he's not interested in comparing specifications against the PlayStation 4 because it's the games that will win consumers over in the end.

"Every platform I've ever been involved in somebody has said 'oh, this has got more gigaflops or more teraflops than the other one,' and at the end of the day it never really matters," Harrison said. "It's all about having the best games and having the most impressive experiences, and clearly Xbox One has the best games."

The Xbox One's launch lineup includes 23 games and was previously described by Harrison as the best in the history of consoles. By comparison, Sony has said it will have 33 titles available on PS4 by December 31.

Harrison's comments came in response to a question regarding a report from last month that claimed the PS4 is "noticeably faster" than the Xbox One. He said this report doesn't tell the whole story.

"In the run up to launch of a console you're going to get a slightly nuanced answer because the operating system's not finished, the performance of the machine's not locked, and as you may be aware we can increase CPU and GPU capability on Xbox One," Harrison said. "So I think it's impossible to draw any conclusions from that based on pre-launch unfinished hardware and unfinished operating systems."

Microsoft announced in August that it had increased the Xbox One GPU speed by 53MHz since the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June.

The Xbox One launches on November 22 for $500, while the PS4 arrives a week earlier in North America on November 15 for $400.