Preservation or commercial continuity? It will have to be defined at some point, but the truth is that Xbox has made a remarkable effort to keep three previous generations to Xbox Series X|S relevant through its backward compatibility program and other initiatives. Recently, it was revealed that the brand gave the green light for the publication and launch of a service offering over 1000 vintage games, and this was thanks to Phil Spencer.
Phil Spencer was a Key Factor for Antstream Arcade's Arrival on Xbox
During an interview on the Xbox Expansion Pass podcast (via Pure Xbox), Mike Rouse, head of Antstream, the subscription service for retro games, revealed that Phil Spencer played a significant role in bringing the service to Xbox. Initially, the idea of bringing the service to consoles was inspired by Mike Rouse's previous work at Xbox, where he participated in establishing the brand's studio in London, England, where he met Phil Spencer: "My experience has been in studio management and AAA game development for the last 23 years. I set up the Xbox development studio in London in 2012 and had a good relationship with a large number of people at Xbox, including Phil Spencer. When I went to Antstream, much of the focus had been on trying to use things like smart TVs, and I said we had to go where the players were."
We're celebrating our @Xbox launch in style!
— Antstream (@AntstreamArcade) July 20, 2023
One lucky person will win an XBOX SERIES X plus an Antstream Arcade lifetime pass 🎉
Runner-up prizes of additional Antstream Arcade passes to be had👾
Hit the link to find out how to enter 👉 👉 https://t.co/RN7B277WNk pic.twitter.com/4Lk90ueg8A
Later, Mike Rouse revealed that when he had the idea that consoles were where players were, he immediately thought of Phil Spencer. After presenting the concept of the service, the Xbox boss approved it: "I reached out to Phil Spencer, had a meeting with him. He loves preservation. He talks about it a lot, but when you see it, and you're face-to-face with him, he's extremely passionate about it, and he essentially gave us the green light to make it work on Xbox. So we've spent the last year implementing our technology, optimizing the code to run on Xbox, and without Phil and his team's support, it might never have happened. But yes, they've been a great support for Antstream to arrive on Xbox. They have the vision, and for Xbox players, there are more than 1400 games landing on day one. You may not like them all, but there's probably enough to keep you playing for 10 years."
Stay tuned here on LEVEL UP.
Comments
Best
New