Showcased Extensive Exclusive Library
To many people, the appeal of the Xbox One X relied heavily on the number and quality of exclusives that were revealed at Microsoft’s conference. While Microsoft repeatedly mentioned that titles were exclusive, there was very little on show that could be considered fully exclusive and there were no new AAA first-party IPs introduced.
While we had seen most of the exclusives shown off at the Sony conference before – at shows such as E3 2016 and last year’s PSX – the PlayStation 4’s exclusives line up is plentiful. During Sony’s 60 minute show, we saw God of War, Detroit: Become Human, Spider-Man, Days Gone, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, and a Shadow of the Colossus Remaster, many of which will release next year. Even before the show, we saw Knack 2 and Gran Turismo Sport, both of which are scheduled to release later this year. Yes, we knew about most of them before the show started but the sheer number of fantastic looking games is incredible. To strengthen Microsoft’s second half on 2017, they have Crackdown 3, PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds, Tacoma, Cuphead, and Forza Motorsport 7 which will show off the power of the Xbox One X.
However, If you then add The Last of Us Part II, Death Stranding, and Final Fantasy VII Remake (coming first to PS4) to the discussion, Sony has 2018 onwards covered. Aside from State of Decay 2, Sea of Thieves, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Black Desert and some indies including The Last Night and Deep Rock Galactic in early 2018, we do not know what Microsoft has planned for the second half of 2018 onwards in terms of AAA exclusives. Also, the majority of the games mentioned will be playable on PC, and some of them will eventually come to PlayStation 4. When you look at Sony’s list of high profile games from proven first-party developers, all of which cannot be played anywhere other than on PlayStation 4, they are clearly ahead of the competition. Sony focuses on their extensive exclusives line-up to emphasize why you should buy a PlayStation 4 over an Xbox One X, even if the latter is stronger graphically.
Both companies showed a lot of third parties in their conferences as well, suggesting they’ll both be leaning heavily on them this holiday.
