Activision: "Xbox One is a games machine first and foremost"

Activision’s Eric Hirshberg isn’t worried about negative reactions over the Xbox One reveal’s lack of focus on gaming, stating that the console is a games machine first and foremost.”

The firm’s head of publishing spoke to VentureBeat about the backlash from core gamers and industry press following the Xbox One unveiling – specifically on Microsoft’s decision to showcase other forms of media over games for the upcoming hardware.

"It’s a game machine first and foremost," he said. [Microsoft understands that consoles] have to be great game machines first. I think that’s the tip of the sword. Everyone’s trying to own the living room and own the entire entertainment experience."

Hirshberg also believes there’s a ‘false divide’ that inaccurately implies hardcore gamers don’t enjoy other mediums of entertainment.

"I don’t think competition for different forms of entertainment in the living room is anything new. People can watch TV in their living rooms now. People can listen to music in their living rooms now.”

There’s a false divide that gets created in people’s minds sometimes, as though hardcore gamers don’t also consume other forms of entertainment and wouldn’t appreciate those things being made more seamless and more integrated into a more elegant experience. I think that’s all that you’re seeing here. To me, as a gamer, I’m excited by it.”

Activision’s Call of Duty: Ghosts was one of the few gaming highlights during the Xbox One event earlier this week.