Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer appeared in an interview on the Gamescom 2023 IGN livestream yesterday afternoon. To start with, Phil Spencer praised the incredible success of Baldur's Gate 3 but also said he didn't think it would influence expectations for the upcoming launch of Starfield.
Great game, but I don't think it has anything to do with Starfield. Great games coming out are always good for the industry. First, congratulations to Larian and the team. I think it's like what, a 97 rated game or something? As somebody who finished the original Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate 2, and all of the expansions, I'm a huge Baldur's Gate fan. To see a team spend the time to make I think a true next iteration of a classic gaming franchise, it's always just great for the industry.
Baldur's Gate 3 is also notable because it doesn't have an Xbox release date. Famously, developer Larian Studios claimed it has an issue with making split-screen work on the less powerful Xbox Series S console, though last we heard they are still working on it and aim to provide a new update before the end of 2023. With the recent news that Forza Motorsport wouldn't support split-screen at all (like Halo Infinite, despite a menu glitch on consoles), the discourse surrounding the issues caused by the Series S hardware reignited. However, Phil Spencer clarified that Turn 10 made a creative choice not to include split-screen. He also maintained the importance of Xbox Series S in the market as a more accessible entry point for customers and said Microsoft is devoting resources to ensure Baldur's Gate 3 makes it to Xbox.
I want to decouple these issues a little bit. The decision to do split screen or not was a creative one for Forza Motorsport, it has nothing to do with any kind of hardware thing. It's just what they wanted to focus their time on. We obviously see the data in terms of how many people play local co-op. I love local co-op; shout out to Vampire Survivors that just launched it, but there's also just going where the play is in terms of where we're going to focus our dev resources.
In terms of the two platforms, I want games to launch on both platforms. There are feature differences between the platforms, we have an ability to handle that and how it works where teams are going to choose to focus their time and their effort is up to them. We're here to support them.
We want to make sure that games when they're launching on competitive platforms are also launching on Xbox, so we're going to learn from this experience as well because we don't love that, but I don't think it's something that's like a fatal flaw in the system. It's partners prioritizing their time. You see some amazing games doing great work. Diablo, Starfield, and Forza look great across both. I want to make sure console gaming is accessible to more people and we think the price point of the console is a pretty important part of that.
I will say that I think some of the discussion has maybe not come from us or the developers. It's been more the community building while this happened and then that happened and then so it must be about this. I think we can do more to add clarity.
Baldur's Gate 3 is a great game, they're an important partner, and I'm meeting with them here at Gamescom. It's a game I want to see on the platform and we have resources that can help with that.
Do you agree with Phil Spencer that the Xbox Series S was necessary, or is it just hindering developers? Let us know your take in the comments.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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