Phil Spencer: Xbox Series X won’t be delayed by coronavirus

The release of the Xbox Series X at the end of this year will not be delayed by the corona crisis, said Microsoft vice president Phil Spencer. He does expect problems with the release dates of games themselves.

Phil Spencer, the boss of Microsoft’s gaming arm, says in an interview with CNBC that he is not afraid that Microsoft will have to delay the release of the console. “Overall, I think we’re where we need to be now,” Spencer says. Despite this, the company wants to put employee safety first. “We’re not going to push harder if things aren’t quite ready yet.”

Spencer sees more obstacles in game development itself. That is ‘a greater unknown’. “Game production is a large scale activity, you get together with hundreds of people and have to be creative with each other.” As a result, the production of games could be delayed, Spencer warns.

The Xbox Series X should be released at the end of this year, about the same time as the PlayStation 5. An exact release date has not yet been announced. Although both consoles will not be delayed for the time being, this is already the case with some games. For example, The Last of Us Part II was delayed by three weeks, as was the samurai game Ghost of Tsushima.