Microsoft has been chasing Sony in console sales for years, and subsequently entered a pattern of shuttering internal studios and cancelling games. Now,
according to an interview Xbox chief Phil Spencer gave to Bloomberg, the Washington-based company is going to do the opposite: Start or acquire studios to develop more games and software in-house.
"Our ability to go create content has to be one of our strengths," Spencer told
Bloomberg. "We haven't always invested at the same level. We've gone through ups and downs in the investment."
Spencer is referring to one of the Xbox One family's greatest weaknesses: Microsoft's consoles only has a handful of exclusive franchises, mostly amounting to
Halo,
Forza and
Gears of War.
...
But signature content is still a problem. As
The Verge pointed out back in March, only four Xbox One exclusives sit in the Metacritic
list of the console's top 50 games (and three of those are Forza titles).