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Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida has described Xbox boss Phil Spencer as a reasonable, smart guy” and claimed his predecessor used to say some unbelievable things”.
Spencer took control of Xbox in the spring and spearheaded an apologetic and humble E3 2014 presentation that make big strides toward getting Xbox One back on track.
All of which has impressed the Sony exec – something that Spencer’s predecessor Don Mattrick seemingly did not.
"It was very interesting," Yoshida told Eurogamer of Microsoft’s E3 showing. "The attitude was great, like from Phil Spencer. I read and listened to his interviews, and he’s a reasonable, smart guy, compared to some other people who used to say some unbelievable things.
"My interpretation was the management change had really helped them to reset and re-sync everything. And since then they’ve been consistent."
The Sony development boss also claimed that PS4 is stretching its lead over Xbox One.
"There are shortages in many markets, and there have been complaints,” he admitted. It’s amazing. Of course we didn’t have much anticipation in terms of number of units that Xbox One would sell, but I understand they’re doing very well as well. Because PS4 is doing so well, the gap seems to be widening."
By the most recent numbers in April PS4 had sold 7m units while Xbox One had shipped 5m.
UPDATE: This story originally quoted Yoshida as describing Spencer as a "reasonably smart guy" but the exec took to Twitter to state he described him as a "reasonable, smart guy". The text has been amended to reflect this.
@eurogamer sorry, I meant to say "he is a reasonable, smart guy", not "reasonably smart guy". My English 🙁
— Shuhei Yoshida (@yosp) July 1, 2014
