Xbox Head on How Games in Early Development Could See Delays Due to Coronavirus

Xbox’s Phil Spencer has commented on some of the unfortunate realities and challenges game developers are likely facing during the COVID-19 pandemic, which could lead to some development delays.Speaking on Talking Games With Reggie & Harold, hosted by former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime and journalist Harold Goldberg, Spencer followed up on some recent comments and said that projects earlier on in development may see the worst of the production setbacks.

“Any of the functions that actually require physical collaboration, things like motion capture, things like symphonic capture… some of that is put on hold,” Spencer said. “I think on the games side, things that are pre-content-complete might be impacted more than things that are post-content-complete.”Spencer added that Microsoft has had to find new ways to distribute quality assurance kits for the new Xbox Series X. Despite these challenges, Spencer said Microsoft still feels good about the Xbox Series X launching later this year.

“We’ve had to work through some challenges, but feel good about timelines, feel really good about this holiday,” Spencer said.

These comments echo from Spencer’s thoughts earlier this month, when he said that the Xbox Series X launch is “in line with where we thought we would be,” but that game production is the “bigger unknown” moving forward.

9 New Xbox Series X Images

Finally, Spencer reiterated that Microsoft is still aiming for a worldwide launch for the Xbox Series X.

Earlier this month, Xbox showed off 13 third-party games coming to Xbox Series X, and Microsoft has said we can expect news on first-party Xbox Series X games in July.

For more, take a look at every game confirmed for Xbox Series X so far, and which Xbox games you won’t need to buy twice thanks to Smart Delivery.

*Here’s how you can help and stay safe during the COVID-19 outbreak.*

Logan Plant is a news writer for IGN, and the Production Assistant for Nintendo Voice Chat, IGN’s weekly Nintendo show. You can find him on Twitter at @LoganJPlant.

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