While the Xbox One X release just a few days, one can’t help but wonder if too little is too late. The software release for Microsoft’s crowning achievement is sorely lacking in a time when other hardware companies are releasing a flurry of releases for their respective systems. Take both Nintendo and Sony this year. Sony has put out a plethora of exclusive content for the PlayStation 4 console, in addition to releasing the PlayStation 4 Pro. While it’s not as powerful as its Xbox Counterpart, the marketing was superior and it fulfilled the wish of gamers. The Xbox One X seems to have such an exclusive niche that it is hard to say that it will ever truly pan out, regardless of how much power the console can muster up. If anything, Nintendo has shown how power isn’t everything, especially in this day and age.
Microsoft’s first mistake was separating the Xbox One X from the rest of the Xbox One family. With a machine that is so high-powered, it should get exclusive content from the get-go in order to fully utilize the system’s potential, especially in the realm of VR. Instead, Microsoft has refused to do this on both counts. I understand wanting to be able to allow players with older models the opportunity to play current high-tech releases, but at the same time this may just dumb down the content and keep it from fulfilling its highest potential. There need to be Xbox One X exclusives, period.
Microsoft doesn’t have VR as part of their unprecedented console, yet, but the PlayStation 4 has beaten them to the punch, at least a couple years in advance. This is insane. I’m not even the biggest fan of VR, but fans dig it, and Microsoft would be fools to not enter the VR spotlight ASAP, especially given the sheer power of the Xbox One X. While the PSVR is coming out with DOOM VR and Skyrim VR, not to mention Resident Evil 7 VR. Microsoft is once again sitting on the sidelines. This isn’t good for the industry, as they could push this technology forward given the hardware they are sitting on. There is no doubt that eventually, Microsoft will venture into VR, but this should have been guaranteed after E3 2016.
The Nintendo Switch has proven that power isn’t everything. Nintendo didn’t dominate hardware sales in September otherwise. While the Nintendo Switch and the PlayStation 4 Pro may be technologically inferior to the Xbox One X, what it comes down to the at the end of the day is software. Power is overrated. Games like Super Mario Odyssey, Breath of the Wild, Horizon Zero Dawn, Nier Automata, and Uncharted: Lost Legacy dwarf anything Xbox has to offer in the near future. That doesn’t take into account The Last of us Part II, Spider-Man, and more revealed this week in Paris. It’s a shame. I can’t even name one Xbox exclusive coming out other than Sea of Thieves by Rare, which seems to be hit-and-miss.
It’s a dark time for Microsoft. They have the ability to bounce back, but they need to come out swinging next year if they stand of not being left behind by their competitors.
This is the time of the PlayStation 4 and the Switch.