"The cloud is really a means to an end": Phil Spencer talks more on the future of Xbox with Insomniac's Ted Price

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Xbox Head Phil Spencer, in conversation with Insomniac Games President Ted Price, has revealed more about the future of Microsoft's games portfolio, and more generally about his hopes for the industry at large. 

Speaking on a new episode of The Game Maker's Notebook podcast, Spencer explained his prediction to see "a multitude of different devices in my house that allow me to play" in the future. 

"One thing that's bummed me out about console, is I usually have one TV in my house my console is plugged into. The idea that I can't just go to any TV in my house and sit down and play the games that I want to play -- we should have that ability. [...] My ability to throw that content from [my main console] or from the cloud to all the TVs in my house, is something that I think we should have. That helps us in terms of families playing together and new creative scenarios. "

"I think getting to a world where you don't have to own one device to play specific games helps the industry," Spencer continued, acknowledging that "that doesn't mean owning a device isn't part of my experience."

"I think I'm going to have a game console plugged into my television for the next decade plus. The best way for me to play on my TV is to have the local device, download, and play. But sometimes I'm not in front of my television, sometimes I'm not in front of a device with [native gaming capability], and that's our bet on cloud [gaming]. [...] For us, we really do mean it when we say "when everybody plays we all win." [...] The cloud is really a means to an end."

Spencer's comments arrived on the same day Microsoft dropped a truckload of new information about the Xbox Series X, confirming that the next-gen console will have near-complete backwards compatibility, ray-tracing, and much more. PlayStation, meanwhile, continues to stay mum about the PS5

For more, check out more upcoming Xbox One games for 2020 and beyond, or watch our latest episode of Dialogue Options below.

Alex Avard

I'm GamesRadar's Features Writer, which makes me responsible for gracing the internet with as many of my words as possible, including reviews, previews, interviews, and more. Lucky internet!