At E3 2018, Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s Executive President of Gaming, revealed new Xbox hardware is on its way. Microsoft is seemingly committed to supporting the Xbox brand in the long-term, and Spencer concurs—though he admits the enormity of today’s games might change how we perceive sequels and console generations.
“As you think about this next wave of hardware that eventually will come, so many of the large, large games people are playing today are still going to exist when the next hardware comes out,” Spencer tells Eurogamer in an interview published today. “You’re not likely to see a ‘2’ after all those, as people are trying to move you to the next version of those games. In the old model of games shipping, getting played and then going away—and that was all of the games—a console transition was an easy step-function.”
Spencer cites Minecraft as an example. The reason Xbox One didn’t ship with Minecraft 2 is because players don’t necessarily want a new Minecraft; they just want Minecraft to keep getting better.
“When you look at games like PUBG and Fortnite and you think about these large games and ecosystems that’ll be out there, when new hardware comes, people are still going to want to play those games, and it’s going to be important for us as platforms to support them,” Spencer says.
Crazy crossover events help keep “old” games fresh, too.
The longevity of games resulting from the “games as a service” model is also why Xbox is committed to backwards compatibility. “I’m very proud of our track record of compatibility and us respecting the purchase of games you’ve made with us and bringing that to the current generation,” Spencer said. “It is in our core on who we are.”
We can supply everything there is to know about the new Xbox, and we’re also on top of all the neat little surprises coming out of E3 2018. Keep following us!
Read more here: https://www.usgamer.net/articles/minecraft-2-isnt-happening-as-the-original-will-evolve-and-live-on-forever