Sony is not "gobbling up third-party exclusives, it's buying them," says Phil Spencer

The PlayStation 4 impressive sales numbers don't mean Sony is getting exclusive third-party content easily, according to Microsoft's Phil Spencer.

Sony has been expanding relations with third-party publishers left and right, leading to co-marketing promotions, exclusive in-game content, and other benefits to PlayStation 4 owners. This has led some to believe that third-parties are the ones chasing Sony for exclusives, given their market share.

Not the case, according to head of Xbox Phil Spencer. "So, they [Sony] don't 'gobble' the deals up. They buy them," Spencer told Gamespot in an answer to whether or not it's harder for Xbox to get third-party content.

"You know, I read the same things you do, and I know some people think it's somehow less expensive to sign third-party exclusives if you have a bigger market-share. I can tell you, it has nothing to do with market share."

Spencer added that making deals with third-parties mean different things to different publishers, as they are the ones that get to determine the market value of their games.

He also reiterated earlier comments that Microsoft is investing more and focusing more on first-party IPs, new or otherwise. Which, as he puts it, is "creatively more difficult" than signing deals.