With the recent closure of Microsoft’s streaming platform Mixer, it would stand to reason that the company has some regrets about the decisions it made while trying to grow. Going up against the juggernaut that is Twitch was clearly not the best idea, in retrospect. Still, someone had to give it a go and Microsoft did everything it could to maintain the platform.
As sad as that story is, Phil Spencer (executive VP of gaming for Xbox) has stated in a new interview that he has no regrets with everything that has happened with Mixer. “I don’t have regrets. You make decisions with the best information you have at the time, you apply your best effort,” he told GamesIndustry.biz.
“We are in a hits-driven industry. And if we get into this space that we get afraid of disappointment that we won’t achieve what we’re trying to achieve as an organization…I think it’s fundamental to us that we’re not afraid of trying things that might not work. And that is just the art of making video games, and frankly game platforms.”
Microsoft isn’t 100% giving up on streaming technology, however. The company is still beta testing its Project xCloud service and Spencer feels everything is going well on that front. “In terms of our strategy, I feel really good. Our growth in content is a direct off-shoot of us looking at okay, we’ve got Azure as a cloud and we can build a cloud gaming platform with xCloud on top of that.”
To Spencer, xCloud will take gaming to areas where consoles are just not viable. He describes a scenario where certain “geographies” don’t primarily engage with dedicated platforms and he sees xCloud as a way to expand Microsoft’s markets. xCloud may also allow developers to push beyond hardware limits, creating titles that were previously impossible.
Whatever does happen, Microsoft is content with the closure of Mixer and is looking forward to doing better.
Source: GamesIndustry.biz
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