Xbox One
The newest iteration of the Xbox One released during Q4 2017. Known as the Xbox One X, it is the most powerful video game console on the market. It still cannot challenge the graphical prominence that PC has held onto for years, but it’s the first time one of the big three has ever made a true stride towards 4K gaming. For that alone it outpaces the PlayStation 4, but it still falls short of the rest of its competition for its lack of quality exclusive titles.
The Xbox One has been outpaced by the PlayStation 4 and Switch all 2017 when it comes to exclusives. Q4 should have been the shining moment for the console. The Switch only offered two triple-A exclusives going into the holiday: Super Mario Odyssey and Xenoblade Chronicles 2. The PlayStation 4 was content to sit back and let their Q1-Q3 games feed their holiday sales. Meanwhile, the Xbox One went into the holiday season with the best iteration of their console to date. With a few quality exclusives, the console could have easily dominated Q4. Yet outside of Forza Motorsport 7, the Xbox One didn’t offer gamers much of anything.
Super Lucky’s Tale could have been a decent game to challenge Super Mario Odyssey. The two are both 3D platformers, and the former plays more like a successor to Spyro than to 3D Mario. However, the Xbox One let Super Lucky’s Tale release quietly without much hype. The game’s creators seemed content to let the game fall victim to Super Mario Odyssey’s shadow. Because of their decision, the game never stood a chance. Games that were hyped up on the other hand, like Hello Neighbor, released to general disappointment. Q4, like Q1-Q3, was not good for Xbox One’s game library.
Xbox One’s biggest success in Q4 is finally answering a question it’s been struggling with the past few years. The console has never really seemed to know what it wanted to be. Players know PlayStation 4 is the place to go for powerful narratives, and the Switch has carved a name for itself as the console with titles that celebrate innovative mechanics and gaming on the go. It was never very clear what the Xbox One wanted to be before the Xbox One X. Now, the Xbox One finally has a rallying cry to get behind: a console with graphical power.
If a player wants true 4K gaming and a way to play Blu-ray in native 4K HDR, then they have to rely on Xbox One. It’s the only console that offers anything comparable to a PC without actually buying or building a PC. That’s a message that the console can get behind to help promote itself back to the top of the food chain. It’s still disappointing that Xbox didn’t take advantage of the temporary void of exclusives from its competitors in Q4 2017, but at least the company used these past three months to finally give their console an actual agenda to follow. The Xbox One can become a contender for the throne again because of it.
