Xbox head Phil Spencer has never been shy about praising his business opponents when they do something that he likes. In the past he has issued statements of congratulations and praise to both Sony and Nintendo for various reasons. The other day he did so again, saying that Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, which is a PS4 exclusive, “will be a great game.” When he said it, he knew that it might be controversial, preempting it with “people will block me,” and his prediction seemed to come true quickly.
Shortly after the tweet went out, Spencer was attacked by angry fans, with one saying “‘Xbox Head’ talking about how great Uncharted 4 will be, just wave the white flag already. This is embarrassing sad to say.”
Spencer didn’t take this lying down though, issuing a scathing response that reads “We should all applaud when a team does something special. Those who hope for team to fail due to platform aren’t real gamers.”
This statement seems to cut to the core of a lot of things within the video game industry. Due to the way consoles work, there is a big rivalry between the three major producers: Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft. Fans of each will endlessly attack one another, yet the truth is that we all want the same thing, great video games to play.
The last few years have seen the companies behind these products come together on a few occasions, expressing congratulations on achievements, or sympathy for losses, such as we saw with the unfortunate passing of Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. Perhaps the gaming community can take this as a sign that we don’t all have to fight one another all the time about whose gaming system is better than whose. Of course, given our history that is highly unlikely, and really it’s kind of become part of the fun of console gaming. Maybe we just take it a bit far when we hope for the other’s failure, rather than our own success.
