In an interview, Microsoft Gaming’s Phil Spencer discussed the lack of growth in the console market and how the Moore Act’s slowdown has made subsidizing hardware more difficult.
«Moore’s Law has slowed down», Spencer said. «The price of console components is not falling as fast as in previous generations.
He added that subsidizing hardware is becoming more difficult in today’s world. He is also not sure that «is developing the industry».
Additionally, Spencer expressed his disappointment with how closed the ecosystems on consoles are. When asked if there could be other stores like Itch.io and Epic Games Store on Xbox in the future, he answered positively. He recalled Microsoft’s history as a Windows company. When using a PC, no one is restricted to using the most appropriate place to buy games.
«And that’s the real value of»,” Spencer said.
He added that when running games on PC, you can feel like «an integral part of the gaming ecosystem as a whole». On the other hand, on consoles, the gameplay seems to be fragmented — based on different closed ecosystems.
In recent years, Microsoft has been releasing Xbox games on the same day as consoles, as well as on PC.
Combined sales of PlayStation and Xbox consoles have remained relatively constant for more than 20 years. Each generation of these two consoles has sold between 170 and 185 million units over their lifetime.
According to statistics, in the first 40 months of availability worldwide, sales of Xbox X|S consoles are significantly (almost twice) lower than PlayStation 5: 28 million versus 55.5 million. The difference is 27.43 million units. The Nintendo Switch is doing even better, outselling the PS5 by 4.41 million units. It sold 59.9 million units in the first 40 months of sales.