The beginning of the year was a bit slow. Ori and the Blind Forest was an early exclusive that showed that the Xbox could still provide a more than perfect platform for amazing exclusive indie games. But it wasn’t until late in the year that the AAA exclusive train got the ball rolling.
Some may try and say ‘too little, too late,’ but when you stop and look at the competition you’ll realize that nobody else was putting out anything exclusive. The PlayStation (both Nintendo and Xbox’s biggest competition right now) had a couple of re-releases in the same window, and the last great, new exclusive from Sony was Until Dawn and that released in the late summer. While the Xbox has the same solid AAA line-up closing out the year for them, that line-up was bolstered by some heavy hitting exclusives.
Rise of the Tomb Raider was a great grab, even if only temporary. It gave the console an action adventure game with a recognizable name and a huge following that couldn’t be found anywhere else for the holiday. Then you had Halo 5. Even if you aren’t a fan, there is no denying that it is one of the largest franchises in gaming, and one of the reasons many people buy a Microsoft console to this day. The train of exclusives will continue next year with numerous potential heavy hitters lined up.
These were all very smart moves that are starting turn heads and provide the Xbox One a much more even playing field as it goes into its third year against the PlayStation 4. It is still trailing quite far behind Sony’s platform, but there is no denying that it’s using its underdog status very intelligently. Phil Spencer knew that the Xbox One had a lot to prove, so he wasted no opportunity in shining a much more flattering light on his team and product as he consistently put pressure on the opposition.
There were a few hits to the brand, namely major franchises that were once part of the Microsoft advertising stable switching sides. PlayStation became the competition platform for Street Fighter, and even took the lead for Call of Duty: Black Ops III securing early DLC and advertising rights. That may not seem like a big deal, but it is something that the Xbox had to deal with as one of it’s money makers shifted over.
The platform also struggled heavily in territories outside of North America, namely Asia. The Xbox brand has never been big in that region, so it wasn’t expected to break records, but it has been doing very poorly. It has been selling less than every major platform in that market and hasn’t shown any signs of doing better any time soon. Microsoft’s commitment to trying to make it a success in that area is admirable, but they wouldn’t be blamed if they gave up altogether.
Delays also hit certain highly anticipated titles, both exclusive and third-party. The Division would’ve been huge, and many fans of Remedy’s lamented the delay of Quantum Break. That’s not to mention some of the other AAA games that were pushed from 2015 into the future. But, Microsoft has been dealing with the shifts and changes quite well and see well situated for the coming months, and that’s probably the biggest takeaway from 2015.
2013 was spent trying to force a vision without testing it out yet. That made 2014 an incredibly tough year. 2015 proved to be a year of proving the Xbox brand by having a game plan that allowed a bit of flexibility while never skimping out on quality. It might not have been the year where they made up for all of those lost sales due to a confusing message, but it was a turnaround for the company in its entirety. A complete commitment to the player and the player experience and that leaves the Xbox One and all of Microsoft wrapping up the year on a high note.
