Xbox boss Phil Spencer skeptical of Metaverse and critical of “Play-to-Earn” models

However, Phil Spencer criticized the “play-to-earn” (P2E), claiming that they are creating a workforce from a type of player that needs to monetize the time spent playing.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer believes the metaverse has been around for some time.

The metaverse and its current designs have been the subject of debate and criticism. The current head of the Xbox brand and CEO of games at Microsoft, Phil Spencer, gave his skeptical opinion on how the metaverse, an alternative world, is currently presented. In an interview with Bloomberg, Phil Spencer said that the metaverse is nothing new and is related to what gamers have already been doing for some time. He explained:

My take on the metaverse is that gamers have been in the metaverse for 30 years. When you play games, these 3D shared worlds that people have been playing in for years and years, I think what we’ve found is that there’s more connection because we have a common goal.

In addition, Spencer said that gamers may be confused by the concept of a metaverse, because having an avatar in a game and being part of a virtual world where voice communication is available can be seen as inhabiting it.

Although Phil Spencer is personally skeptical of the metaverse, Microsoft and the Xbox brand have regularly used the term at various times. In January, when announcing the purchase of Activision Blizzard for nearly $69 billion, Microsoft said it would “accelerate the growth of Microsoft’s games business across mobile, PC, consoles and the cloud and provide building blocks for the metaverse.“

Critique of the “Play-to-Earn

While other companies in the industry have been more open to play-to-earn (P2E) models and the mechanics behind them, Spencer has been hesitant about this new trend. In the interview, the Xbox boss criticized the goal of “win-win” games.play-to-earn“, stating:

Play-to-earn is something I am wary of. It creates a work force out of players, so that some players can monetize.

However, Spencer believes there could be “interesting thingss” in the future use of these technologies. The technology, which has reached some degree of popularity with blockchain games like Axie Infinity, has not yet reached consoles like the Xbox or Sony’s Playstation 5.