More Exclusives
Let’s get the most obvious issue the Xbox One currently has out of the way: in 2017, its lineup of exclusives was pretty poor. Not in terms of quality, though. After all, we got the excellent Forza Motorsport 7, more RTS Halo action in Halo Wars 2, and a great little indie experience in the form of Cuphead. Alas, outside of these three core titles, there wasn’t a whole lot else on the Xbox One’s exclusive calendar for 2017, and now that Microsoft has the most powerful system on the market, that needs to change.
Sure, we know that Crackdown 3 and Sea of Thieves should (hopefully) finally be arriving in 2018, and we’ll possibly get something from the Forza Horizon developer Playground Games in 2018, too (though maybe not what we’re used to from them). State of Decay 2 and The Last Night are also slated for 2018 release dates, but without a date set in stone, these are always subject to change.
Regardless, you only need to look at the lengthy list of PS4 exclusives from this year to see that the Xbox One’s exclusive offerings are a little lackluster. Nier, Nioh, Persona 5, Horizon Zero Dawn, Gran Turismo Sport, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, Gravity Rush 2, a couple of Yakuza titles, and a ton more. You get the point. With the Xbox One X arguably the best console for all of your multiplatform needs, a solid roster of exclusives for 2018 and the years ahead would certainly put the Xbox One in a far more competitive position.
Make the Most of the Xbox One X’s Power
November saw Microsoft really turn up the heat on the competition. Last year, Sony released its own souped-up console, PS4 Pro, a 4K-capable machine that marked a reasonable upgrade over the original system, but in terms of raw power, the Xbox One X has since blown it fresh out the water. Its 12 GB of GDDR5 RAM, 6 TFLOP GPU, and 4K Blu-ray player essentially make it the most comprehensive 4K media system you can get today. Now what we want to see is all of that power being put to work.
After its first year on the market, the PS4 Pro enhancements we’ve seen have been a little hit-and-miss. On one hand, Bethesda’s Prey was literally unplayable afters its proper PS4 Pro support was implemented. Meanwhile, the likes of Horizon Zero Dawn was truly at the cutting edge of console visuals. If the Xbox One is to improve in 2018, it needs to ensure that the Xbox One X’s third-party support is of a consistently high quality, continuing the solid run we’ve seen since its release just last month. If third-party games don’t consistently perform significantly better on the Xbox One X compared to the competition (or even just the One S), justifying the extra cost for this more powerful system starts to become difficult.
Fewer Delays
The Xbox One certainly isn’t alone when it comes to this one, but perhaps its delays are even more apparent considering the lack of other exclusives hitting the platform. While third-party delays are something out of Microsoft’s control, it can do something about ensuring fans aren’t disappointed when games seemingly just keep getting pushed back.
Let’s look at Below, for example. Yes, Capybara Studios’ game does actually still exist. Following its reveal back at E3 2013, we’re still waiting on it, and 2017 brought a year of complete silence while the studio focused on getting another title, OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes, out of the door. While Below definitely has us intrigued, releasing potentially five years after its first reveal seems a little too long, especially considering this isn’t being made out as a system seller.
Elsewhere this year, Sea of Thieves, Crackdown 3 and State of Decay 2 were all supposed to release sometime in 2017 and all got pushed back to next year. We get the need to raise interest by showing off what you’re working on, but announcing release dates early doesn’t take into account unforeseen circumstances in the development process, and this becomes a much larger problem when delays can push major titles a year or two back. Here’s hoping for far fewer delays in 2018.
People love indie games. They often offer an entirely unique experience or just a fresh take on something tried and true. All you need to do is take a look at just a handful of the awesome games that have made their way to the Xbox One through the [email protected] program to understand their importance.
That rings particularly true for the Xbox One after the mass success of its [email protected] title, Cuphead. Despite facing a handful of delays, Cuphead’s charm stole the attention of the world when it released a few months back. Its visuals were unlike anything we’d ever seen before, its gameplay was hard as nails, and it was dripping with serious style. What resulted was one of the toughest and most enjoyable platformers of the year, as well as one of the Xbox One’s top-rated exclusives on Metacritic, too.
There’s clearly potential out there, and [email protected] did a great job in picking up Studio MDHR and working with them to create a fantastic title in Cuphead. With the most powerful system now at its disposal, Microsoft needs to nail down yet more promising [email protected] projects and really make a song and dance about them.
Better Games with Gold Offerings
Xbox Live has long been an annual subscription necessity if you wanted to play online with your friends. Microsoft eventually opted to sweeten the deal, however, packing in a few free games each month for subscribers to download and play to their heart’s content. This is a great way to pack even more value into fans’ subscription fees, but this year at least, the offering hasn’t been mindblowing by any means.
Taking a look at 2017’s free Games with Gold titles, a majority of the headline games by this point were a good few years old. There’s nothing wrong with old games, but the competition did manage to drop some pretty massive games including a number of PSVR games all less than a year old, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, and a bunch of neat indie experiences to boot. Neither Microsoft or Sony’s offering of free games was its strongest, but with the generation now four years in, here’s hoping the number of incredible titles hitting these services continues to rise.
