Phil Spencer On How Gen Z Is Changing Xbox's Exclusivity Strategy

Microsoft recently announced plans to bring some of its games to PlayStation and Switch, and this decision was seemingly based in part on research about Gen Z habits. He told Polygon that young people want everything everywhere, and Xbox is adapting to that.

"This notion that Xbox can only be this one device that plugs into a television isn't something we see in the Gen Z research. Because nothing else is like that for them," he said. "Some of them will have an iPhone, some will have an Android, but all the games and everything is the same. I can still get to TikTok on both of them, at least for now. All of their stuff is available wherever they want. So for Xbox, our brand pivot--as we attract and maintain relevance with a younger audience--is 'Xbox is a place where I can find the great games I want to.'"

The announcement that games like Pentiment, Grounded, Hi-Fi Rush, and Sea of Thieves would leap to PlayStation and Switch generated a good amount of discussion and debate. For his part, Spencer said this decision is "for the better of Xbox."

"I know sometimes things get weaponized, that there's some evil in the background that's making us do things--'Phil hates exclusives and that's why we’re like PlayStation and Switch now.' Every decision we make is to make Xbox stronger in the long run," he said. "It doesn't mean everyone's going to agree with every decision we make. But it is fundamental for how we make decisions."

In the wake of Microsoft's announcement of some games going to rival platforms, Spencer said any game could potentially be released beyond Xbox--but not every one will.

Even before Microsoft's official announcement of games coming to rival platforms in February, Microsoft was already one of the largest publishers on PlayStation and Nintendo devices thanks to Minecraft. Going forward, Microsoft's Call of Duty franchise will continued to be released on PlayStation for the next decade, and potentially expand to Nintendo.

In other news, Spencer recently explained and defended the recent Xbox mass layoffs.