Fresh off of revealing that Microsoft had purchased the rights to the Gears of War franchise from Epic Games, Microsoft Games Studios corporate VP Phil Spencer spoke to OXM about the progress of their competitors.
On Sony and their PS4, Spencer stated that, “Sony – and I’m focused on first-party because of what I do – I really respect their focus on investing in new things and creative things, what they’ve done with David Cage and Quantic Dream around Beyond [Two Souls] and Heavy Rain; they stay committed to franchises even if they don’t sell 10 million units, they’ll stay committed to things.
“I think that long-term commitment to franchises is important, where it’s easy to pull off the Band-Aid and move onto the next thing [if it doesn't sell]. I respect their stick-to-it-ive-ness. I’ll say, they’ve done a nice job with PS4 [...] When I think about their announcement, their clear focus on a customer, leading with the value proposition of what they’re trying to do, staying true to a vision, I think they’ve done a nice job in how they defined the PS4.”