Phil Spencer compliments DualSense, suggests Xbox could update his controller

Xbox director Phil Spencer praised PlayStation’s DualSense controller and suggested it could inspire Microsoft to add functionality to its own controller.

Microsoft has stuck with a familiar design for its Xbox Series X / S pads, making only minor design changes and improvements under the hood. In comparison, Sony chose to completely redesign its controller with new features such as haptic feedback and adaptive triggers.

Speaking as part of the latest Kinda Funny Gamescast (currently only for subscribers), Spencer said Xbox likely won’t release major bespoke accessories like VR headsets in the near future, but suggested that a controller updated was much more likely to occur. .

“When I think about our material roadmap, I really like the evolution of Liz Hamren’s team and the work they have done,” he said.

“We’re definitely thinking about different types of devices that can bring more games to more places. There is probably some work we will be doing on the controller. I think Sony has done a good job with their controller and we are looking at some of it and [think] there are things we should go and do.

“But [we’re] probably not in the more bespoke accessories business right now, ”he added. “We just look at what’s going on in Windows and elsewhere and see if there is a unique opportunity for us. At the moment, I don’t think there is anything obvious to me.

Earlier this year, Microsoft used a customer experience survey to ask Xbox Series X / S owners if they wanted to see any PlayStation controller features made available for its consoles.

Asked specifically about the likelihood of the Xbox entering the VR or AR space with its own peripherals, Spencer told Kinda Funny that this was “not really” something he was planning.

“We are looking at what is happening on PC,” he said. “When it comes to VR specifically, the best experience I’ve seen is Quest 2 and I just think it’s not tied down [and] ease of use in its capacity just doesn’t require me to be connected to an Xbox in any way.

“So when I look at a scenario like that, I think of XCloud, I think of the Xbox Live community, I think of other things about how we could bring content to a screen like that. Whether we do something like that through first-party or third-party partnerships is kind of a second step, to think that the games that we currently have that we can run on our platform would work there.

Speaking in February 2020, ahead of the Xbox Series X / S launch, Spencer said Microsoft has no plans to support VR devices with the console.

Months earlier, the executive had drawn criticism with comments he made about virtual reality, which some saw as dismissive of the technology. He called virtual reality a relatively niche and “isolating” format that does not match his view of gaming as a “communal” pastime.

The Xbox manager then clarified his comments, saying he “likes” the games industry to be pioneering in different areas, while noting that virtual reality “is just not our goal.”