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Microsoft's Xbox One policy reversals prove it has the capability to "listen" and nothing more, says Spencer 

Microsoft Studios boss Phil Spencer has said the firm's policy changes with Xbox One prove the firm has a "two-way conversation" with its customer base, and nothing more.

Speaking with Eurogamer, Spencer responded to SCE president and group CEO Andrew House's gamecom comments by stating that "certain people" are trying to turn Microsoft's policy reversals into "something that is a bad thing."

Yesterday, during Sony's gamescom press conference, House pointedly said regarding Sony and PS4: "While others have shifted their message and changed their story, we were consistent in maintaining a message that is fair and in tune with consumer desires."

Spencer said it's nothing more than Microsoft proving it has the capability to "listen" and react to what its customer base wants.

"Certain people have tried to turn that into something that's a bad thing about what we're trying to do, and I just disagree," Spencer said. That two-way conversation with gamers has to be core to who we are as a platform.

"And if we don't have the capability of listening and reacting to what people are saying about our platform, then we're being too disconnected from customers who make investments in our platform and the games we build

"Now, we have a vision, and we've stayed on that vision around the digital ecosystem we want to put on Xbox Live. It remains a core philosophy. We heard people valued some of the existing generation's disc-based DRM, so we said we're going to add that to the digital ecosystem we're building.

"It meant some delays in some of the stuff around digital so we could fit in the time to get physical done at launch, but our vision remains the same."

Xbox One is slated for release sometime this November in Europe and North America, with possible delays in other markets.

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Stephany Nunneley-Jackson

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Stephany is VG247’s News Editor, with 22 years experience (with 15 of them at VG247). With a brain that lacks adhesive ducks, the ill-tempered, chaotic neutral fembot does her best to bring you the most interesting gaming news. She is also unofficially the site’s Lord of the Rings/Elder Scrolls Editor.
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