The console war is one that will forever be waged. It doesn't take much to fan the flames, as usually, little more than "[Insert console here] sucks lololololololol" will suffice. And it suckers people in every single time like a charm. However, this time it was one of the industry's most renowned professionals, Kotaku's Jason Schreier who appears to have ruffled more than a few fan feathers. Two days ago Schreier made a pair of tweets which more or less stated that there is no console war going on, just one (Sony) dominating the other (Microsoft).
Naturally, those tweets blew up quite a bit and were even brought to the attention of Xbox Head, Phil Spencer by an inquiring fan. Spencer himself is known to be quite active on Twitter and addressed Schreier's comments as cool and calmly as you would expect.
Here's a portion of that conversation via Twitter:
@XboxP3 hoping you can prove to some that we can compete. Not everyone has a pc that can play these Xbox games like Jason seems to believe. pic.twitter.com/r6Jf5dvNTv
— XBX4LFE♏ (@XBX4LFE) February 21, 2017
@Nick_Doran @XBX4LFE Gaming not race btw 2 consoles. Good games aren't weapons vs other plats, We work 2 make Xbox/Win10 great places 2 play
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) February 21, 2017
Of course, the conversation became quite extensive, but it's merely emblematic of the state of things right now. Sony is winning in the image department, and when it comes to the general public that tends to be enough to form an opinion. But at the same time, there is concrete evidence to support the concern.
The Scalebound cancellation hit the Xbox brand pretty hard, while Sony has churned out console exclusives like it's nobody's business in the early goings of 2017. A lot of the concern could (and likely does) stem from the fact that Horizon: Zero Dawn, a game that has consistently scored well among critics is about to come out, and Xbox gamers don't have it, or at least some sort of heavy-hitting equivalent.
Spencer's point of games not being "weapons vs. other platforms" is true, at least from a management standpoint, but it doesn't win you any PR battles. Obviously, exclusivity doesn't mean what it used to, so it remains to be seen if some of these games end up making their way over to Xbox One.
The Xbox brand is in no way, in trouble, and between the Scorpio and the upcoming Sea of Thieves, there's still many possibilities to look forward to for Xbox gamers.
Source: [Twitter via Gamespot]
