5 New Year’s Resolutions for Microsoft to Stick to in 2020

Continue to Learn from Past Mistakes

Let’s be real with each other for a minute. The Xbox One’s initial launch back in 2013 was pretty horrendous. The announcement of the system was met with muted enthusiasm, largely in part thanks to Microsoft’s insistence on sticking with the Kinect and the ‘all-in-one’ entertainment system vision.

All of this led to the Xbox One being priced significantly higher than the PS4. Its messaging was confusing regarding lending games to friends and always-online requirements, and basically flopped harder than a Lv. 5 Magikarp using splash.

Coming into 2020, Microsoft’s already set the stage for the Xbox Series X. While its name has already confused many and been clarified by Microsoft, this is a resolution to not make a similar series of faux pas with the Series X’s launch.

Keep the price competitive, deliver blistering performance, don’t throw any horrendous gimmicks in, and Microsoft will immediately be in a better position to challenge Sony this time around.

Continue Backwards Compatible Prowess

I won’t lie, backwards compatibility isn’t a massive deal to me, but it certainly is to a lot of others. While it’s not a system-selling feature to me, I can appreciate its significance and the level to which Microsoft have committed to it on the Xbox One so far.

It’s something that Microsoft shouldn’t sacrifice when transitioning from its current-gen system to the Series X. While the Xbox One now has its complete set of original Xbox backwards compatible titles, there are still some left to come on the 360.

Similarly, with the release of the Series X later this year, Microsoft can give itself a huge advantage by ensuring there’s a massive library of Xbox One and 360 games backwards compatible games ready and waiting to be played on launch day of the Series X.

Think about it, you get your hands on the new Series X, pick up the handful of new launch titles and make your way home. You head to the ‘My Games & Apps’ (or equivalent), tab and there you have all of your Xbox One and 360 titles staring back at you in the ‘Ready to Install’ section.

It immediately alleviates the issue of not having much to play on release date, and if Microsoft’s really clever, allowing Series X players to play with Xbox One players on these titles would be seriously impressive.

After all, nobody should be isolated from playing the same game with friends just because they don’t purchase a new system.

Even I can get behind that.

Keep Killin’ It With Game Pass

I won’t lie, I originally had a section in here to talk about how Microsoft could improve Xbox Game Pass and Game Pass for PC. On reflection, though, I honestly don’t have a whole lot of complaints about the subscription service.

For those unaware, Game Pass offers an enormous library of games that players can download and play as much as they’d like for the monthly fee of $7.99.

It includes every first-party Microsoft game on the day of release and almost all existing first-party titles, as well as a swathe of top-tier third-party titles.

In the past month or so alone, players have received Life Is Strange 2: Episode 5 (meaning the entire season is now available on the service), Untitled Goose Game, The Witcher 3 and Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition.

If anything, going forward I just want Microsoft to keep killing it with Game Pass, both on console and PC.

How the big MS is making this profitable I’m not entirely sure, but I’m not going to complain. Game Pass is a massive win for players who have struggled financially to keep up with their favorite pastime and I’d recommend it to any Xbox or PC owner.

Add Even More First-Party Studios & Support Them

Ever since big Phil Spencer rocked up, the world of Xbox has been a much cheerier place.

Spencer has come in, hacked off the gimmicky limbs of the original Xbox One, released the most powerful console possible, got backwards compatibility, Play Anywhere, and Game Pass initiatives off the ground, and has seemingly shifted his focus in recent years to first-party acquisitions.

It’s no secret that exclusive titles, or a lack thereof, were one of the biggest issues the Xbox One faced. After all, why pick up a system that only has games you can play on the PS4, which also had exclusives like God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, Bloodborne, and Spider-Man just to name a few?

The answer is, you didn’t.

Over the past two years, Spencer has begun to work on this. In June 2018, Microsoft announced the acquisitions of Ninja Theory, Playground Games, Undead Labs, and Compulsion Games at E3. A new Santa Monica-based studio, The Initiative was also announced.

Joining these mere months later were Obsidian Entertainment and inXile Entertainment, with Double Fine and another internal studio being announced the next year at E3 2019.

The search for exciting new talent shouldn’t end in 2020. While Microsoft’s first-party studio roster certainly looks far healthier, there’s always room for improvement. Here’s hoping for another handful of excellent acquisitions being announced throughout the course of the year.

Microsoft has bolstered its first-party studio offerings, but in the next few years, the publisher will need to support these new teams to ensure the end-products are worthy of the ‘Only on Xbox’ label.

Only these will make the Series X enticing enough to bring new and existing players into the Xbox ecosystem.

Games with Gold Improvements

Honestly, I don’t know what Microsoft is better doing at this point when it comes to Games with Gold. It goes without saying that the monthly drop of free games has been eclipsed by the value for money that the Xbox Game Pass subscription service now offers.

As a result of this, it certainly feels that Games with Gold’s offerings have suffered since the release of Game Pass, with higher-caliber titles going into the subscription service’s library rather than just being handed out for free.

On top of this, we’re still stuck with getting two Xbox 360 games a month alongside the Xbox One offerings. I’m sure I speak for most players when I say that cutting these two last-gen games each month in favor of slightly better Xbox One titles would certainly reignite excitement in Games with Gold.

I mean, let’s just look at some of the 360 games offered in 2019. Toy Story 3, Bolt, Meet the Robinsons, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2.

While there are better titles in Tekken Tag Tournament 2, or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night also in there, they’re hardly anything to write home about.

Considering the best Xbox One games to be given out free as part of Games with Gold in 2019 were arguably Celeste, Gears of War 4 (already on Game Pass), Forza Motorsport 6 (also on Game Pass), and Hitman: The Complete First Season, there’s definitely room for improvement here.

It also proves Microsoft isn’t fussed about overlap between the Game Pass library and the games offered out for free each month, so let’s cut the 360 games, and focus on bumping up our Xbox One game libraries ahead of the Series X later this year.

C’mon Microsoft, y’know it makes sense.