Whatever the strengths of the Xbox platform, it's long lagged behind Nintendo and Sony in terms of homegrown, exclusive video games. There have been highlights in its history and even some stellar games of late, such as last year's Forza Horizon 4, but the Xbox One era has been rough. There have been prominent cancellations, disappointing sequels and games that under-deliveredgiven how long fans were waiting for them.
In recent years there have been hints of a coming turnaround. While Nintendo and Sony have turned out Game Of The Year contenders such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and God of War, Microsoft has slowed its development cycle for Halo games (and possibly Forzaas well), and it has nurtured unusual exclusives like the zombie strategy adventure State of Day 2 and multiplayer-centric pirate game Sea Of Thieves with lengthy, game-improving post-release support. It's also been building and buying game studios, announcing five such additions last E3, two more in the fall and adding longtime indie Double Fine to the mix this month.
With all this in mind, I spent some time at E3 last week asking Xbox boss Phil Spencer about the quality of the platform's games. What follows is the final part of my E3 interview with Spencer, in which we approach the topic from a few angles and discuss the conditions for the people making those games as well.
