A part of that winnowing process is deciding which games are going to make a can of money, and which are going to help promote Xbox 360 as a platform for everyone. Clearly, a policy of nothing-but-shooters would be bad for the brand, even if they all turned a profit.

He explains, “We want every game that we build to be a financial success. That’s part of running a games publisher. But as a first party we understand that our games have a role of also advertising the platform. A game like Lips is a big investment on our part both in the hardware and in the software and the relationship with licensing the music. It takes time and money. We’re big in debt but we hope it pays out well on multiple fronts down the road.

“We need to find the right balance. It is about entertainment for everyone; ensuring that the right games arrive at the right time in the console’s lifecycle.

Look at Lips

“Some people will look at a game like Lips and they will not think about how far in advance we had to start thinking about where the price point of the console would be [when it arrives]; trying to coordinate and orchestrate the console’s lifecycle both in terms of price and user base and the content. This is part of a strategy that has been thought out long in advance.”

I ask him if this process inevitably calls for a minimizing of risk; if  Nintendo’s jibe that Microsoft and Sony aren’t disruptive enough has some merit. He disagrees.

“One of the core differentiators for our platform is Live. We really believe that online community, online gaming, online entertainment is core to what consumers want today. That is where we are differentiating.

“We are making use of Live in everything we do; including in the ways our games play. Look at Fable 2; having the orbs that show your friends in the world and being able to dynamically co-op with those players. It’s a very cool core gaming feature and it’s just one example.

“Our announcements were not the ‘disruption’ of an add-on to our controller. Our disruption, if you want to use that word, and I don’t, is innovating in online both in the UI of the Xbox 360 itself but also the platform features of the games that follow that.”

My last question is about new IP. As a gamer and a journalist, I want to see more. There is never enough new IP. Spencer says, “I’m very proud of the new IP we’ve brought in the core gaming space specifically. Take Crackdown as an example because it was one of my favorite games. Look at Gears of War. People forget that it didn’t exist two years ago and now it’s one of the pillars of gaming. Continuing to bring new intellectual property, new core intellectual property to our gaming clients is definitely in our charter. In my heart I’m a core gamer, I enjoy that, and I think it’s critical to keeping the platform vibrant.”