In a recent Sway podcast, Xbox head Phill Spencer discussed whether Xbox attempts to become the Netflix of gaming sphere and shared that he believes Netflix's move into games is smart.
Xbox head and executive vice president of Gaming at Microsoft Phill Spencer believes that Netflix is on the right way moving into the game space. In a recent New York Time's Sway podcast, Spencer spoke about how increasingly more tech companies look at game business as an area to come in and gave an example of Netflix buying game studios.
The streaming service recently announced that they included mobile games in with existing Netflix subscriptions and expanded its gaming service to over 190 countries and later, the company acquired some gaming studios like Night School, for instance. Spencer supports Netflix's approach, saying: "It’s smart what they’re doing. They’re buying some studios. They’re learning about the creative process of interactive entertainment. And I think it’s a very smart way for them to move into the space".
When being asked if Xbox's cloud gaming service is similar to what Netflix offers, Spencer said that Xbox Cloud can resemble the video streaming service a little as it grants users access to the huge game library at any device, with a significant difference that users also get the opportunity to purchase and own games. "I’d say the difference for us is in the business model of — you can buy every game that’s available on the subscription, which is a little different than a music subscription or a movie subscription," said Spencer.
Although subscription services are currently growing faster, Spencer notes that transactions are still the bigger part of the Xbox business. "With Game Pass, we were one of the first movers in [subscription services] space. But the transaction business is very large. We still sell physical disks," remarked the head of Xbox.
You can learn more about Xbox state and the situation in the gaming business from Phill Spencer's point of view, listening to the Sway podcast. Also, don't forget to join our new Reddit page, our new Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, where we are sharing breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.