When it comes to the competition, it’s always nice to hear good words. That’s exactly what Microsoft’s Phil Spencer has done, stating he believes that Nintendo’s first party IP catalogue is amazing. Spencer also had nice words for Sony, admitting the company has done a nice job with the direction of the PlayStation 4. Here’s what Microsoft Studios VP had to say about Nintendo:
“Nintendo, I think – and there’s some argument about this – that their first-party is such an amazing asset. Their first party studios and IP can lead what they do as a company and the platforms are almost in service to the IP – not in a bad way.
They have such iconic stories and this will seem somewhat random, but when we go back and do something like Killer Instinct, a little bit of the history of your franchise can actually be important part of people feeling connected. Obviously the history of Killer Instinct isn’t a history on Xbox, but it’s Rare’s history and I think the reaction when we announced it on-stage at E3 showed that playing to the people’s heart, I think Nintendo does that as well as anybody in terms of hitting the franchises and having huge success with them.”
Of course, the Killer Instinct tie in comes from the original release of Killer Instinct on the Super Nintendo, back when Rareware was a second-party developer for Nintendo before Microsoft bought them out. It’s nice to see Spencer acknowledge that Nintendo has some of the best IPs in the gaming industry, though.
