Phil Harrison, Microsoft’s corporate vice president, revealed in an interview with Eurogamer that the next-generation Xbox One hardware will be merging all games into one convenient location for the new platform.
The Xbox 360’s current dashboard separates the gaming section into three distinct categories, Xbox Live Indie, Xbox Live Arcade, and On Demand titles. This separation of content into discrete channels has made it easy for users to access exactly what they’re looking for. Yet, it seems that Microsoft is hoping to make it even easier to access and find the gaming adventures you’re craving as Harrison stated:
“With Xbox One and the new marketplace, they’re games. Just games. Search, recommendation, what your friends are playing, game DVR – these all go to helping you discover the games you want to play, so I think we solve fantastically some of the challenges that independent developers face, particularly around discovery and connecting their game to an audience, by some of the platform features we have in the machine itself.”
Shuffling all gaming content into a distinct section on the Xbox One dashboard makes sense in terms of the sheer focus on the console as entertainment hub, however, it seems that it could very easily leave indie developers in the shadows.
Luckily, Harrison went on to comment about the continuing functionality of the console to spotlight significant titles on the dashboard homepage.
“[W]e don’t give up the ability to put a spotlight on the products that we think are going to be exciting to our user base, but in addition to that, what your friends are playing, what other people think is hot in your area, your country, your continent, will propagate up the most interesting and exciting games.”
What do you make of Microsoft’s decision to consolidate all gaming content into a distinct channel? Be sure to give us your thoughts and opinions in the comments below.
Published: May 22, 2013 10:30 pm