‘Paying for third-party exclusives isn’t our long term strategy,’ says Xbox’s Phil Spencer

Not ‘core’ to Xbox strategy

Paying for third-party exclusives isn’t part of Microsoft’s long-term strategy, says Xbox boss Phil Spencer. 

Talking to Chinese site Gamecores during China Joy 2015, Spencer said that in the future Microsoft will focus on more first-party content rather than third-party exclusives, such as upcoming timed-exclusive, Rise of the Tomb Raider.

“My strategy is more around our own first-party franchises, and investing in franchises that we own. I want to have strong third-party relations, but paying for many third-party exclusives isn’t our long-term strategy,” said Spencer.

“It’s great to have Tomb Raider as part of our line-up, but investing in first-party — you’ll see more of that at gamescom next week — is really core to our strategy.” 

Here’s the full ten-minute interview, courtesy of ZhugeEX. (Tell me I’m not the only one who thinks that the venue of this interview looks shady as feck.)

Microsoft recently acknowledged that it “must do better in Europe,” with Spencer confirming that “mainland Europe is definitely an area we want to focus on.”

Xbox is kicking off Gamescom festivities one day early with a press briefing tomorrow on August 4 (4 pm CEST/10 am Eastern). On August 4 and 5, it’ll also hold a Fanfest, a community event where fans can play upcoming titles without going to the full gamescom show. 

Does it matter if Xbox games are first- or third-party to you? What do you think Microsoft must do to catch-up with Sony’s PlayStation 4?

Less third-party deals and more first-party exclusives in the future for Xbox, says Spencer [VG24/7]