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E3 is a console show and not right for Windows PC

Xbox boss Phil Spencer said absence of Windows gaming talk at E3 2014 this year wasn't an oversight because for Microsoft, the retail show is all about the console market.

No PC? Oh God. How could you?

Speaking with Polygon at the conference this week, Spencer said just because Microsoft chose not to discuss PC gaming doesn't mean it's not "critical" to the company's success.

"I'm head of gaming at Microsoft," Spencer said. "When we're doing gaming strategy, gaming focus inside the company, that's my job. I think in a lot of ways, you could argue gaming on Windows has never been more healthy in that the biggest of the big franchises, League of Legends, World of Tanks, those things dwarf a lot of what we're doing in this console space in terms of users and monetization. They're all on PC.

"E3's a retail show. It's a retail show, it's a console show, so it didn't really feel like the right place for us to talk about Windows, but Windows and gaming on Windows is critical to Microsoft's success.

"For us, E3 is a console show and an Xbox show, and for us as Microsoft, Xbox is our gaming brand, and it's the thing we can fill an arena like this, we get millions of people to watch us on TV and we show our games and it's a brand that people care about."

Spencer said eSports events might be better suited for PC game to be shown off, as many of the championships tend to focus on titles, such as the aforementioned.

"Well they do these huge world championship events and they fill up arenas," he said. "I do think there could be a space there."

Considering many games shown at E3 this year, and every year, are cross-platform titles one can kind of see his point. However, sometimes, it feels as those the format gets lost in the shuffle when the Big Three console manufactures seem to draw the biggest headlines.

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Stephany Nunneley-Jackson

News Editor

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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