Microsoft
Who Has the Most to Prove For the Rest of 2018?
We’ve said for the past few years that E3 would be pivotal for Microsoft in the build-up to their conference, but this year really was a bit of a make or break moment for the company. There was just far too much negativity surrounding the narrative that the Xbox One had a poor library of exclusive games —compounded by the tepid critical reception to Sea of Thieves and State of Decay, the Xbox One’s most recent exclusives. The messaging had to be strong and convincing, and for the most part, it was. The Xbox brand looks to be on the road to recovery thanks to a decent showing of exclusive and timed-exclusive titles on their way to the console in the future. But just how near that future actually remains to be seen.
As of right now, Forza Horizon 4 is the only title launching in 2018. Even Crackdown 3, the long-awaited sequel title that promised to innovate a new cloud-processing design when it was first announced years ago, has been delayed to 2019. It’s looking like another lackluster year for the console with respect to new game releases.
At least Forza Horizon 4 is coming to Game Pass when it does arrive in October, and its services such as these with which Microsoft needs to double-down for the rest of 2018. If the slew of new games isn’t to arrive in 2018, its user-base will want to see a continued effort by Microsoft to deliver on its vision for both the subscription service and backward compatibility.