The next generation of consoles is nearly upon us. Towards the end of the year, we will finally get to see the PS5 and the Xbox Series X, with both packing monstrous power that will surely put the current generation to shame. We keep mentioning the PS5 and the Xbox Series X side by side since they have been in direct competition with each other ever since a few generations back.

Phil Spencer thinks this may not be the case anymore.

In a recent interview with Protocol, Spencer shared his views on the upcoming generation and how the Xbox is positioned in such a way that the PS5 is no longer it’s main competitor in the space:

“When you talk about Nintendo and Sony, we have a ton of respect for them, but we see Amazon and Google as the main competitors going forward,” Spencer said. “That’s not to disrespect Nintendo and Sony, but the traditional gaming companies are somewhat out of position. I guess they could try to re-create Azure, but we’ve invested tens of billions of dollars in cloud over the years.”

Microsoft had, for a lack of a better term, given up on the current generation to focus on the next. The launch of the Xbox One was rocky to say the least and even the succeeding iteration, the One X, was not enough to save the day even though it was by far the most capable system in terms of specs and services.

Over the years, Microsoft went back to the basics, focusing efforts on backwards compatibility across all Xbox generations, ensuring a smooth transition for all users. Xbox Gold and Game Pass have been fantastic services and arguably better than its PlayStation counterpart in terms of value. Microsoft has laid down the foundation for the next generation, one that sees them in direct competition with Goodle and Amazon, with the coming of xCloud.

“I don’t want to be in a fight over format wars with those guys while Amazon and Google are focusing on how to get gaming to seven billion people around the world,”  “Ultimately, that’s the goal.”

xCloud is their goal moving forward, getting everyone to play Xbox games on any device imaginable that’s capable of streaming media. The Nintendo Switch has shown us that gaming on the go is definitely something that people want, so you can only imagine the potential of being able to play a whole library of Xbox games on the go. It’s definitely a very enticing proposition.

If Microsoft is able to pull this off, and they indeed have the resources to do so, they will be carving a huge chunk out of the next generation for themselves and with Stadia off to a shaky start, the Xbox Series X may have already won the battle as early as now because of Spencer’s vision and leadership.

The PS5 is still looking to be THE game console everyone turns to but it’ll admittedly take a lot of catching up to do, something they are clearly capable of. As we eagerly await the official PS5 announcement, we can only predict what Sony has in store for us but one thing is for certain, the next generation will clearly blow us away with how we experience gaming as a whole.