Avalanche of news about Xbox. The Verge media outlet has published a series of internal emails between company executives that allow us know your strategy in depth when it comes to launching its Xbox Series X and S, which is accompanied by future tactics and some curious anecdotes. Because, according to this email chain, even Phil Spencer has a PS5 with which to play regularly, but the Xbox boss had to buy a ‘bundle’ with Horizon: Forbidden West to access the new generation of PlayStation.
But Spencer does not tell this experience to maintain contact with his colleagues, but rather it is an interesting fact to take into account about Sony’s strategy. In this sense, and as expected, Microsoft has been closely following in PlayStation’s footsteps with the promotion and launch of PS5 back in 2020, including its performance during component shortages: “Sony has been forcing a bundle with Horizon: Zero Dawn for an additional $50 since a time ago. I bought my PS5 two weeks ago and the only option available was the Horizon: Zero Dawn pack for $549.” Here it is important to mention that the head of Xbox is referring to Horizon: Forbidden West, as it is Aloy’s second adventure that It was included in the PS5 bundles.
Xbox has been attentive to the launch of PS5 and its price increase
It is normal for companies to study in detail any movement of their competitor, so it does not surprise us to know that Phil Spencer has been commenting with Liz Hamren (former head of platform and hardware engineering at Xbox) PS5 news compared to what is offered with Xbox Series X. All this, of course, based on information published by PlayStation in 2020, before the official launch of its console.
In fact, the team admits the good work of PlayStation regarding aspects such as SSD performance on PS5, although much of the conversation is censored. And, as you can imagine, the PS5 price increase has also given a lot to talk about in the Xbox offices; Tim Stuart, CFO, notified Spencer and CFO Amy Hood of Sony’s decision after raising the cost of its next-generation console, highlighting that the team “I had anticipated this and it is moving quickly towards a plan, now that we’ve seen confirmation.
After this, those from Redmond have remained attentive to all the PlayStation news regarding prices and Spencer has chosen to continue a strategy focused on consumer satisfaction. Ami Silverman, who was head of sales and marketing at Microsoft, responded to the Xbox boss by saying that “they are all good points, let’s be obsessed with the players here, since we are not out of the woods… We know that this may be the time to win fans vs. losing as a follower”
