Xbox Boss Wants to Beat PS6 on Hardware Capabilities, Not Necessarily Games

The gap between the Xbox Series X|S and PS5 is growing dramatically, and there’s a good chance it’ll get even bigger in 2025.

Microsoft, in response, has effectively ripped off the band aid and is in the process of rebranding as a third-party publisher. Last week, boss Phil Spencer indicated that virtually all of his firm’s future games will release on Sony’s system.

However, the trillion-dollar titan has continued to express its ambition to make more hardware, leaving the question: why would you choose a hypothetical next-gen Xbox over the PS6?

Spencer says his organisation plans to beat Sony on console capabilities, and not necessarily games.

“I want people to pick hardware based on the capabilities of that hardware and how that fits into the choices that they want to make about where they want to play, and we want our hardware to win based on the hardware capabilities that we have,” he told Gamertag Radio.

The outspoken executive didn’t offer any examples of the kind of capabilities he expects to offer.

As things stand, the experience between the Xbox Series X|S and PS5 is quite similar. Sony focuses a lot on the immersion of the DualSense and technologies like Tempest 3D audio, while Microsoft points to features such as Quick Resume and its Play Anywhere initiative.

Spencer continued: “In the position that I’m in, I look at hardware as a critical part of what we do, but [we’re] not trying to gatekeep the games off of other places for the benefit of it.

“Let’s go build innovative hardware that people want to use to play, whether that’s in their hands, whether it’s on the television, or even other places.”