When Gamescom kicked off, it offered a pedestal for all top gaming developers to showcase their upcoming titles and everything related to the industry. Sony used that opportunity make a few sarcastic remarks about Microsoft and its policies. However, it seems like now Microsoft has an answer of its own in retaliation to what Sony thinks about the Redmond-based company.
During Sony's Gamescom press conference, Sony Computer Entertainment boss Andrew House took to center stage to criticize Microsoft for going back on a number of its policies related to the upcoming Xbox One since the E3 back in June.
To add insult to injury, towards the end of Sony's press conference, House said: "While others have shifted their message and changed their story, we were consistent in maintaining a message that is fair and in tune with consumer desires."
However, Microsoft had an answer to all that had been said by Sony with the company firmly believing that Mr. House is bashing the Xbox One reversal due to the fact that Sony might have missed the point entirely.
Microsoft made its own point in an interview with Eurogamer where Microsoft Studios boss Phil Spencer was present. Spencer accused “certain people” of trying to deem these policy changes as “a bad thing”, while also insisting that the company's ability to react to fan feedback was actually a showcase of its own “strength.”
“The thing I love about the space we’re in is you’re always going to get feedback, whether it’s on your Twitter feed, whether it’s in NeoGAF, whether it’s in Eurogamer,” Mr. Spencer said. “People are going to tell you in comment threads how they feel about decisions. The two-way conversation we have with our customers is a strength. Certain people have tried to turn that into something that’s a bad thing about what we’re trying to do, and I just disagree.”
He added that the company built a platform for gamers. “Gamers invest their time and their money in the things they want to play, and they're going to invest their time in telling us what they love about the platform, and they're giving us feedback on areas where they have more critical feedback. That two-way conversation with gamers has to be core to who we are as a platform. And if we don't have the capability of listening and reacting to what people are saying about our platform, then we're being too disconnected from customers who make investments in our platform and the games we build.”
Later, responding directly Andrew House's comment, Spencer stated that company held a community-focused event Microsoft held at Gamescom, where the executive walked the floor, lending an ear to what people were saying about certain Xbox One exclusives. This was a good way to judge all the good and bad things that fans have an opinion on.
“The two-way conversation that we have with gamers is critical,” he said. "If we weren't able to listen then I don't think we're really creating the ecosystem that means people want to come into the platform. Other people will do and say what they're going to say. Fine. We're running our program. That's a strength of who we are."
The Xbox One is coming this November, however an exact release date has not yet been provided. Check out Sony's fightin' words below.