Now Spencer calms Xbox console upgrade talk

Having distanced himself from comments made about the further merging of Xbox and PC, Phil Spencer has now watered down his stance about possible console hardware upgrading.

Spencer last week said that he wanted console hardware to be both backwards and forwards compatible, with Microsoft releasing new hardware capabilities during a generation”.

Now GameSpot reports that Spencer has countered those claims in the latest Major Nelson podcast.

"Am I going to break open my console and start upgrading individual pieces of my console? That’s not our plan," he explained. "There is something special about what happens with a console. You buy an appliance-like device; you plug it into your TV; it works when you plug it in. It’s not like I’m going to ship a screwdriver set with every console that comes out.

"What I’m saying is as hardware innovations happen we want to be able to embrace those in the console space. And make those available and maybe not have to wait seven or eight years for things to happen. But right now, we’re not announcing hardware.”

Spencer has also said that Microsoft’s current aim is to build a complete ecosystem” around its controversial new Universal Windows Application”, which itself has drawn some striking criticism. However, the Xbox box quickly moved to calm those concerns too, insisting that he wouldn’t say our strategy is to unify”.