Xbox's Phil Spencer: Toxicity is a Threat to Our Entire Industry

Xbox head Phil Spencer called out Internet toxicity today, saying that games have a duty to be inclusive in his opening remarks at DICE 2018.

"Toxicity is a threat to our entire industry," Spencer told the assembled executives and developers at the Las Vegas convention.

With the audience for video games expected to grow to 2 billion players in the next three years, Spencer said that developers have an increased responsibility to make games for everyone.

"How do we transform our culture to accomodate games from different cultures, different backgrounds?" Spencer wondered.

In discussing the increased responsibility developers have to make games for everyone, Spencer referenced how Harry Potter has helped to change the cultural landscape when it comes to discrimination.

Reading Harry Potter is "proven" to make audiences more empathetic to minorities, Spencer said, as they sympathize with the struggles of Harry, Ron, and Hermione against discrimination.

Spencer believes that games can have similar power.

His remarks come in the wake of the success of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, which has sparked a debate over representation in historical RPGs.

Keep an eye on USgamer as we continue to cover DICE 2018 over the next two days.

Reporting contributed by Matt Kim.