1. Microsoft
Microsoft may not have had as impressive of a year for software as Sony or Nintendo, but they’ve continued making a name for themselves as the most approahcable of the big three. The year started out strong for Microsoft, as they announced all of the big AAA games from them will make their way to Game Pass on launch day. This is a huge deal, as Sea of Thieves arrived first on the program, and the next Halo, Gears 5, and Forza games will all be available on it from day one. This change is incredibly practical and offers the chance for a massive amount of Xbox One owners to try out and get into all of the system’s big games. To add onto this, Microsoft has been expanding Game Pass to include even more titles from the Xbox One and Xbox 360, and they’ve continued to greatly expand their catalog of backward compatible titles.
Sea of Thieves and State of Decay 2 were both met with mixed critical reception, but have done fairly well with fans, with the latter even being the best-selling game of May 2018. Microsoft, like Sony, has also stepped up their game with Games With Gold, offering big titles like Superhot, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, and Metal Gear Solid V on the service.
Even with all of this though, the best thing Microsoft has done this year is the Adaptive Controller. This incredibly cool piece of tech is built specifically for gamers with disabilities and contains a host of features to make the Xbox more accessible. The pad itself can be hooked up to various external switches and mounts, and the different pieces of the controller aim to let anyone play without running into the normal physical limitations of a gamepad. The inclusiveness of the device is a huge step forward for gaming in general, and Microsoft wants to make the Xbox even more accessible by introducing the Idea Drive, a program based around user suggestions to make the console easier to access.
Microsoft certainly has a problem with not having enough exclusive titles on their system, and a lack of variation in those titles, and this was only highlighted by their recent E3 conference. However, no matter how you feel about that problem, you can’t overlook the strides the company has taken this year in terms of accessibility and ease of use. They’re making a name for themselves as the most user-friendly console, and they’re doing a bang up job of it.
