Xbox One in January 2017
January didn’t start off the best for the Xbox One, with the cancellation of Scalebound and the realization that there’s not much in the way of exclusives for the console over the next few months. But consoles have managed without many exclusives in the past. Intelligent use of third-party agreements, marketing, and momentum are good methods of compensation. Unfortunately, if that is Microsoft’s plan of attack, there was no hint of it to kick of the year.
Game wise, the Xbox One relied primarily on whatever third-party developers decided to put out. Hitman: The Complete First Season and Resident Evil 7 did help when it came to having something to play, but it was hardly enough to really make the console itself stand out. This is especially true when you think about the Pro support and PSVR compatibility on one of those titles, it places the Xbox One into more of a shadow.
There was some good news in January, though. Phil Spencer did share that he tried some new games and even spoke about Project Scorpio, which is certainly exciting. But there was nothing to actually see, which isn’t doing Microsoft any favors. It does inspire hope for the future, but as far as January goes, it was lacking.
