The Microsoft conference at E3 2019 was a major one. We got to see plenty of games. Surprisingly some of the major studios that Microsoft owns did not show any games. This had fans thinking that Microsoft could be holding backs some big announcements. Xbox boss Phil Spencer has now confirmed that not all games were announced at E3 2019.
Phil Spencer revealed in an interview that a lot of stuff was held back at E3 2019. Here is what he had to say regarding the matter:
One of the nice things I loved about the E3 2019 Xbox Briefing, was the things that we didn’t show. I think about of the 14 first-party games, 12 are shipping in the next year. We were really able to focus on what’s coming now, which I think is awesome. And then I think about the studios — where was Initiative? Where was Turn 10? Where was Playground’s second team? This hasn’t always been the case with our first-party line-up — where we’ve had the ability to not show everything all the time.
Spencer has been very vocal about the direction of the company. The Xbox Scarlett was also announced at E3 2019 and will be coming out in the Fall of 2020. If you missed the conference then you can check out all the major highlights in our dedicated article. Spencer also mentioned that more teams equal to better quality games. He went on to mention the following:
We did reach a time in our first party, where the number of games and studios that we actually had […] put a lot of pressure on everything. And it became more difficult to manage a portfolio when you kind of needed everything […] to hit the date that it had picked three years ahead of time [and deliver a] very high level of quality. The support that we’re getting now and we’ve had over the last couple of years has allowed us to invest in our first party, adding eight new studios and really create room for us to focus on quality.
This seems to be the new strategy that Spencer is implementing in order to make better games. It will be interesting to see whether this works. For now, all we can do is wait and see. Only time will tell.
Let us know what you think about Phil Spencer holding back games at E3 2019 and whether you think this strategy could work.
