Sony and Nintendo, two companies that have made a habit of making multiplatform titles seem as if they’re exclusive to their consoles by omitting certain details during their respective video game showcases (e.g., State of Play and Nintendo Direct), should be more honest and less deceptive with gamers, according to new statements that Xbox Boss Phil Spencer has shared as part of a new wide-ranging interview with XboxEra.
“When it comes to [Developer_Direct], you know fans have gotten used to – over the last 18 months – of PlayStation announces for games, and you guys didn’t shy away from it this time on your own show. Typically it’s been ‘we will talk about that afterwards, we’ll put a press release out or a blog post,’ but you’re just showing the PlayStation logo now,” XboxEra points out during one point of the interview, to which Spencer replied:
“I think it’s just being honest and transparent about where the games are showing, and we actually even had this discussion last year for the June showcase, and by the time we kind of made our decision, we couldn’t get all of the assets done and it felt weird to have some of them in and some of them out.”
“I just want to be transparent with people – for shipping on Nintendo Switch, we’re gonna put that,” Spencer explained. “For shipping on PlayStation, on Steam. People should know the storefronts where they can get our games, but I want people to be able to experience our Xbox community in our games and everything we have to offer, on every screen we can.”
“And obviously not every screen is equal,” the executive continued. “Yeah, like there’s certain things we can’t do on the other closed platforms that we can do on open platforms, cloud – it’s different. But games should be the thing that we’re focused on. And the strategy that we have allows us to do big games, while also supporting our native platform from hardware to the platform and services that we have and that’s going to be our approach.”
“And I know it’s not what everybody else is doing, but I just believe games should be the thing that’s at the forefront. Maybe it’s because of how I’ve grown up in this industry. I came from building games. But I think the games are the things that I see growing in their strength in what we’re doing and it’s because more people can play. So yeah, I’m just trying to be open and transparent with people.”
Spencer’s comments come three weeks after Microsoft aired Developer_Direct 2025, a new games showcase that included NINJA GAIDEN 4, DOOM: The Dark Ages, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 trailers that ended with not only Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Game Pass logos, but also a mention for their PS5 versions.
“The best part is that there’s not too long to wait before you can become a medieval super weapon,” Xbox says of the latest FPS from id Software. “DOOM: The Dark Ages launches May 15, for Xbox Series X|S, the Xbox App for Windows PC, Steam, and PlayStation 5 – and you can play it day one with Game Pass.”