Microsoft exec admits Xbox lost console war to Nintendo, Sony: ‘Worst generation to lose’

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer candidly admitted in a recent podcast interview that Xbox cannot win the “console war” against rivals Nintendo and Sony when using conventional strategies. 

Phil Spencer, 55, made the comments during an appearance on Kinda Funny Games, an Xbox community YouTube channel. 

FILE: Head of Microsoft Xbox Phil Spencer speaks during the Microsoft Xbox E3 2017 media briefing in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 11, 2017. (REUTERS/Kevork Djansezian / Reuters Photos)

The Microsoft exec said it was naïve to think that Sony or Nintendo players would switch allegiances over hotly anticipated games. 

“It’s just not true that if we go off and build great games, all of a sudden you’re going to see console share shift in some dramatic way,” Spencer said, adding: “We lost the worst generation to lose in the Xbox One.” 

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Spencer downplayed the idea that Xbox could eclipse its rivals by merely creating games, saying it doesn’t “relate to the reality of most people.” 

Xbox logo is seen inside electronics store in Krakow, Poland on August 26, 2021. (Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images / Getty Images)

“We’re not in the business of out-consoling Sony or out-consoling Nintendo. There isn’t really a great solution for us,” Spencer said. 

The exec said Xbox would be focusing its energies on Game Pass, Xcloud, and ensuring that its games work seamlessly across all devices. 

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“I see a lot of pundits out there that want to go back to a time when we all had cartridges and discs, and every new generation was a clean slate, and you could switch the whole console share,” Spencer said. “That’s just not the world that we are in today. There is no world where Starfield is an 11 out of 10 and people are selling their P5s. That’s just not going to happen.”