Xbox Series X Is At The "End Of The Beginning" Of Its Life Cycle, Phil Spencer Says

In a new interview, Xbox head Phil Spencer explained how the Xbox Series X|S consoles are only just getting started, and with the third anniversary of these systems coming up, how he sees this Xbox console cycle being at the "end of the beginning" of its life -cycle now that certain supply chain issues had been resolved.

"I think we're kind of at the end of the beginning. I think the supply issues early on lengthened the beginning to some extent, both on cost, as well as availability," Spencer said to IGN. "I think from a game dev standpoint, not just us but third-parties, you're really just now starting to see the swell of games that got slowed up during COVID production now starting to launch. There are so many games coming right now, that we're starting to get through the beginning of this generation and hopefully into a place where as the owner of a console, we've got games that are taking full advantage of the hardware and are great games for people to go and play."

The last few console generations have lasted around five to seven years, with the previous generation being notable for introducing mid-gen refreshes like the Xbox One X and the PS4 Pro. Touching on that topic, Spencer said that he didn't envision seeing such a refresh for the Xbox Series X|S line--beyond a storage update for the Xbox Series S--and that he was more focused on helping developers push the current hardware to its limits to make their games stand out graphically.

"I think we need to let devs settle on this hardware and get the most out of it," Spencer explained. "But in terms of increased frame rate, increased resolution, I just look at what goes on on PC with the high-end GPUs and high-end CPUs, and it's not always just about pixel count or frame resolution. I think there are a bunch of things that go into what makes a game look and feel great, and we have a ton of headroom as an industry there."

The next big game that'll be testing the limits of Xbox hardware is Starfield, which launches in early access on September 1. Bethesda's new space-exploration game has a more cinematic output on console, as it'll be locked to 4K/30fps on Xbox Series X and 1440p/30fps on Xbox Series S.