Xbox Boss Phil Spencer spoke about Microsoft’s commitment to events like XO18 and E3 recently and discussed what he liked about the Los Angeles-based event while expressing his hope that E3 and other events continue to grow.

Speaking during an Extra Life Livestream in a discussion spotted first by Twinfinite, Spencer spoke with Age of Empires senior producer Justin Robey about shows like the XO18 event and E3. During that conversation, Spencer acknowledged some of the feedback from XO18 viewers who said they had hoped to see a new game announced. Spencer agreed that it was exciting to hear games being announced but said he and Microsoft are committed to the XO event as a way to connect with the community and said Microsoft was happy with the even and plans to do it again.

Shifting that discussion to E3, the event that spreads beyond just Microsoft and many more companies in the gaming industry, Spencer recalled the early days of the convention before it was eventually opened to the press and later to fans. He then spoke about his current take on E3 and why it’s important while saying that Microsoft didn’t have to go and could very well do a similar show on its own or through a direct stream, but he values E3 as a place where gamers can converge and have an experience.

A big THANK YOU to everyone who came out and supported our @Xbox @ExtraLife4Kids stream this year! We had over 150,000 people tune in and we rasied over $100,000 USD from Xbox this year. AMAZING SUPPORT! Thank you again and we will see you all next year #4TheKids pic.twitter.com/92dGfQGqqq

— Robeyonekenobi (@Robeyonekenobi) 1 December 2018

“Now I’d say most of our efforts and the reason why we like E3 the way we do – we could do this on our own or direct – we just think it’s an awesome and frankly convenient way for the fans to experience video games,” Spencer said around 4 hours and 49 minutes into the video linked above. “I think we do it because it’s a U.S. celebration in L.A where it’s easy for people in the U.S. to come to one place and just share their love of video games.”

As for the future of E3, Spencer said the convention likely has to change in some ways, but he hoped it continued to grow.

“My hope is that E3 continues to grow,” Spencer said. “I think it’s gotta change in some ways but I look at all these events like XO, E3, the FanFest that we do at Gamescom. While we were doing the fanfest in Mexico City, I think we also had one in Milan going on at the same time. We can reach retailers, we can reach press in so many different ways. We can reach retailers, we can reach press in so many different ways.”

Spencer’s take on E3 and other shows follows Sony’s announcement from November that it would not be attending E3 2019, a first in Sony’s and PlayStation’s history.

Posted: Dec 03, 2018 9:05 am
Related Forum: Xbox Forum

Source: https://comicbook.com/gaming/2018/12/02/xbox-boss-microsoft-committed-to-e3/