Phil Spencer: I spend zero energy on console wars

Even though Microsoft and Sony seem to have buried the hatchet and seem to co-operate and stay on good terms with each other these days, many console warriors have not. It is often more important that the wrong brand sells less, than having fun with games.

The Xbox head honcho Phil Spencer has been an outspoken opponent of this kind of thinking and once even said that "if there was anything that would ever drive me out of the industry, it's actually that". Yesterday he showed that he hasn't changed regarding this stance and in an interview with Edge magazine, he explained:

"I spend zero energy on 'how do I make other gaming platforms smaller so that Xbox gets bigger'. I'm more interested in the growing pie of gaming than I am our slice of the pie-eating into someone else's. And it's why we focus on things like cross-play and cross-saves. I think about these scenarios of why you and I maybe can't play a game together, and it shouldn't be because of the console you bought versus the console I bought.

That doesn't help the industry grow, when we put artificial barriers up on those things. Whether that means we're doing something different than the other guys, you'd have to ask them. But I'd say for us, it's not about somebody else getting smaller so that we get bigger."

The probably most famous quote from Phil Spencer was his "When everybody plays, we all win", something that was also added to the battery cover inside of the Xbox 20th Anniversary Controller (check out what it looks like on Reddit). Does Spencer make a valid point that the industry (including the fans) should try to make gaming bigger as it is good for everyone, or does one brand has to decline for another to grow?

Thanks VGC