Xbox's Phil Spencer Doesn't Seem To Like PlayStation's PC Release Strategy

In a press briefing, head of Xbox Phil Spencer chastised other companies for their approach to bringing console games to PC. Although he never mentioned Sony or PlayStation by name, they seem to have been at least one target, as, according to VGC, Spencer was critical of charging players twice to play games on multiple platforms.

"So right now, we are the only platform shipping games on console, PC and cloud simultaneously," Spencer said. "Others bring console games to PC years later, not only making people buy their hardware up front, but then charging them a second time to play on PC."

"And of course, all of our games are in our subscription service day one, full cross-platform included," continued Spencer.

Even though Spencer didn't name any companies specifically, it's unusual to see him criticize others in the game industry. He has a long history of speaking out against console wars, and often praises competition, as he did this week in congratulating Insomniac Games on the reception of Ratchet & Clank: Rift apart.

Games from first-party Xbox developers have been released on both PC and consoles at the same time for a while now. That initiative has been further bolstered by Game Pass, which lets users play the same game across their console, PC, and mobile devices. Microsoft also recently announced that it was doubling down on streaming services with Xbox-branded streaming devices. The company plans to release one new game every three months, each of which would be added to the Game Pass catalog.

In terms of PC ports of PlayStation games, Sony's first, Horizon Zero Dawn, came three years after the game's initial release. Days Gone recently made the trip over to PC as well, just over two years after it first came out.

Sony isn't likely to be pressured into changing its PC release habits either. In a recent interview posted to the PlayStation Blog, PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst said, "I want to emphasize that PlayStation will remain the best place to play our PlayStation Studios titles at launch. But we do value PC gamers, and we'll continue to look at the right times to launch each game… Releasing games on PC will not come ever at the expense of building an exciting lineup of great console games."