As the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer has stated in the past that he wants to ‘win this generation’. But if the gap between the Xbox One and PS4 is going to be closed, it’s going to require a bit of work. And Games.

Microsoft appears to be shifting their focus and going aggressively after exclusive games and franchises for the Xbox One. Phil has declared that he’s taking a different approach over previous leaders and is looking at Nintendo as a role-model for the future.

In a recent interview on Inner Circle Podcast, Phil Spencer said (Around the 11:07 Marker)

The one thing i’m probably taking a different approach on xbox than some of the previous leaders is that i’m really into investing in franchises that we own. When I think about the long term of this business, I look at what nintendo has built up over the years. And they have such a great stable of franchises, and they are able to do so much because so many people love things that their franchises are doing, that are uniquely Nintendo’s and owned by Nintendo. I want get to that same place.

 

Phil was also asked if there could potentially be a drought of exclusive content to which he replied with.

I don’t see a drought, unless things start slipping like crazy. i think exclusive content, first party content is critical to our long term success – thats something im going to continue to push as head of xbox.

 

Exclusives was a topic brought up repeatedly throughout the interview – which you can check out below.

 

 

And recently a Slack app data leak showed Microsoft has a ‘Xbox Super Secret‘ for 2015.

 

 

Do you think this is just PR marketing for Microsoft? Or do you think they are serious about going after exclusives and trying to ‘win this generation’?

 

http://videogamesandnews.com/microsoft-pins-comeback-exclusives/

 

I always hate when I hear the words "Microsoft/Xbox and Exclusives" cause I always feel like there should be an * next to the word Exclusives cause, in all honesty, a ton of games that were supposedly "xbox exclusive" got ported to the PC and heck, even games that are coming up that are "exclusive" will probably get ported as well (like Tomb Raider)... So its like, I agree that xbox needs exclusives but what xbox needs are permanent exclusives and not timed exclusives!

Good strategy, copy Nintendo.
We all see how it's working for them.

I am very scared that this will just turn into "buying 3rd party exclusives" and "paying 3rd party to avoid PS4".

Not gonna work, takes more then that.

Inferior 3rd party games will haunt their ass all through this gen. PS4 power advantage will always be there.

Also i dont see them capable of brawling it out with wws in the 1st party exclusives ring.

Microsoft's stragegy to copy Nintendo will fail because Microsoft is not first and foremost a gaming company. Anyone who has studied "opportunity cost" will understand this. What they need to do buy exclusives from third party devs.

The problem is Nintendo (like Sony) actually makes and own their own games. They do not pay for timed exclusives or publish games that they do not own. With Bayonetta being the exception (though Nintendo was approached by Platinum) Nintendo has a rich history of internal development. Other than Fable, Forza and of course Halo, MS only has Gears of War and they did not create that.They ruined Rare so I don't expect their internal development to improve. These are just PR words as usual.

To expensive this gen given PS4s big sales advantage.  

Too expensive? Microsoft was planning to buy Yahoo for $40 billion a couple years ago. They could easily buy exclusives.

Aye, they've kinda slightly sullied the name exclusive when it comes to 3rd party games anyway. You look at an exclusive now and you think... how exclusive? it's not how it should be really.

Enough with this buying stuff.They ruin everything they buy anyway. They need to create and tough it out.They spend way too much money on promoting Halo.Some of that money should go into promoting other games.Too many of the interesting games on their console are not their games and end up on other platforms.Paying for Titanfall was a bust,face it.Obviously that strategy does not work when your competitor is having more success.