Pelialalla on tapahtunut viime vuosina paljonkin muutoksia. Yksi tällainen on konsolipelaamisen kasvun pysähtyminen, ja jossain määrin kutistuminenkin. Samaan aikaan PC:llä ja älylaitteilla pelaaminen on kasvussa.
Microsoftin videopelaamisen iso pomo Phil Spencer on asiasta huolissaan Polygonin haastattelussa. Spencerin mukaan rahoituksen saaminen on koko ajan vaikeampaa, sillä pelien ajatellaan olevan riskisijoitus.
"But I'll say the thing that has me most concerned for the industry is the lack of growth. And when you have an industry that is projected to be smaller next year in terms of players and dollars, and you get a lot of publicly traded companies that are in the industry that have to show their investors growth — because why else does somebody own a share of someone's stock if it's not going to grow? — the side of the business that then gets scrutinized is the cost side. Because if you're not going to grow the revenue side, then the cost side becomes challenged."
Spencerin mukaan hän ei voi johtaa tappiota tuottavaa Xboxin osastoa. Kasvuun on panostettava, ja pelialalla tulisi olla mahdollista luoda itselleen ura.
"We're a business. I've said over and over. I don't get any luxury of not having to run a profitable growing business inside of Microsoft. And we are that today. But just across the industry — you mentioned it, and in sitting here at GDC, I reflect on friends of mine in the industry that have been displaced and lost their jobs and how just, I don't want this industry to be a place where people can't, with confidence, build a career. So that's why I keep pivoting back to: How does this industry get back to growth?"
Kasvuun panostaminen on se syy, miksi Microsoft on julkaisemassa omia pelejään myös kilpailijoiden alustalle. Ja koska pelaajien määrä ei juuri nyt kasva, ainoa keino saada aikaan kasvua omalle liiketoiminnalle on saada niitä pelaajia pois kilpailijoilta omaan talliin. Kaikki päätökset tehdään joka tapauksessa Xboxin parhaaksi.
"This notion that Xbox can only be this one device that plugs into a television isn't something we see in the Gen Z research. Because nothing else is like that for them. Some of them will have an iPhone, some will have an Android, but all the games and everything is the same. I can still get to TikTok on both of them, at least for now. All of their stuff is available wherever they want. So for Xbox, our brand pivot — as we attract and maintain relevance with a younger audience — is 'Xbox is a place where I can find the great games I want to.'"