Xbox Boss Explains Microsoft's Struggles With Game Quality This Generation

There's no denying that from a first-party output, Xbox came up short this generation. Not only did its existing big IP decline a bit with less than stellar releases, but Microsoft failed to pump out meaningful new IP. That said, Xbox boss Phil Spencer is aware of this, and seems confident it won't be an issue going forward, largely thanks to its numerous studio acquisitions the past two years that have seen it add Obsidian, Ninja Theory, Double Fine, and more to its ranks.

According to Phil Spencer, more teams basically will mean more quality, because there's less pressure. A problem for Xbox first-party this generation has been that its studios haven't gotten enough development time because they have to hit deadlines. On the flip side, PlayStation has been able to give its teams time because it has a better first-party output. And this can mean a big difference between a critically-acclaimed game and a lackluster one. So many developers have said that their games completely came together in the last couple of months. If you don't get that extra time, well your game could suffer considerably because of it.

"We did reach a time in our first party, where the number of games and studios that we actually had […] put a lot of pressure on everything," said Spencer while speaking to Kotaku. "And it became more difficult to manage a portfolio when you kind of needed everything […] to hit the date that it had picked three years ahead of time [and deliver a] very high level of quality. The support that we're getting now and we've had over the last couple of years has allowed us to invest in our first party, adding eight new studios and really create room for us to focus on quality."

Spencer makes some great points, and now it makes sense why Microsoft is going hard on the acquisition front, because Spencer believes it will make the difference. That said, it hasn't exactly added a premier developer to its ranks yet, which you need to compete with Nintendo and PlayStation at the first-party level.

For more news, media, and information on all things Xbox -- including Xbox One and Scarlett updates -- be sure to peep all of our previous and extensive coverage of all things Xbox by clicking right here. And, as always, feel free to leave a comment or two with your thoughts or, alternatively, hit me up on Twitter @Tyler_Fischer_ and let me know over there. Do you think Microsoft can bounce with great first-party games for Scarlett?