The head of Xbox discusses how the outbreak of COVID-19 will impact upcoming releases and next-gen consoles.
Xbox Head Phil Spencer says to expect production delays for future Xbox Series X (and likely PS5) games in 2021.
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Spencer tells OnSmash that yearly titles such as FIFA, Madden, and NBA 2K are likely to be hit hard by the COVID-19 outbreak: “It’s really in those games like Madden and FIFA that were trying to finally get all their asset base together in terms of art production that they might have the biggest impact,” he explains.
Both Xbox and PlayStation say they are still in production for their next generation of consoles; however, OnSmash reports that analysts expect it will be difficult for both companies to fulfill consumer demand for Holiday 2020. They also suggest PS5 will be the harder console to get a hold of.
Check out Phil Spencer’s full statement below:
Through the summer, early fall? I feel pretty good about those games. Games that were targeting a year from now or beyond? There’ll be some impact, but they’ll be able to react.
Mocap is just something that’s basically stopped. We’re not going into mocap studios. If you had all your animation captured and you’re doing touch up in more individual art production and in areas like textures and other things, you’re in a better position.
If you’re waiting for a lot of either large audio work — when it’s with symphonies and other things — or mocap, you’re held up right now and you’re making progress in areas that you are.
It’s really in those games like Madden and FIFA that were trying to finally get all their asset base together in terms of art production that they might have the biggest impact.
Even though we’re obviously not traveling to China, we feel good about our progress on hardware. I’ve got my take-home console downstairs and I’m playing on it most nights, and I feel good about the software updates that we’re doing.
From the kind of pomp and circumstance around launches, you might find a time where there’s some impact, some things that were going to launch, and maybe they moved a little bit.
[Via]
