There has been a lot of discussion recently regarding Microsoft's new focus on PC gaming besides Xbox One, something that has left people under the impression that Microsoft is trying to unify the two platforms. But speaking to PC Gamer, the Xbox boss Phil Spencer says this isn't the case:
"I wouldn't say our strategy is to unify, because when I hear 'unify' I worry a bit that people will interpret, my own teams included, 'Hey, we just want to say a game is a game and all games should run everywhere.'"
Spencer also says the two formats are different and explain his point of view:
"I think there are a real two factors that today differentiate what I consider PC and console gaming. One is input. We've said we're going to support keyboard and mouse on console, and clearly you can plug a controller into a PC, so that's not a trump card, but [while] PC games... can support keyboard and mouse, console games today usually don't and for the most part can't.
"The other thing is the play space itself. I'm usually closer to my monitor, it's a smaller screen. All these are 'usually's. And my TV experience on a console, I'm further away, it's more of a communal play experience. But the console experience is a dedicated gaming hardware device that is very appliance-like, instant on, ability to basically do one thing, which is play games, very well."
Therefore it isn't always as simple as taking a console game and releasing it for PC, or the other way around. They must cater to the right audience. Spencer used the freshly announced Forza Motorsport 6: Apex on PC as an example.
"We don't think Forza 6 is what the PC racing fan thinks of as a racing franchise. If you look at the racing franchises that are on PC today and do incredibly well, they're not, kind of, $60 shrinkwrapped products the way we built Forza 6. This is a good example of not trying to make all games the same everywhere you go. So we're going to learn."