I own an Xbox One. Last year they had a fantastic year with releases such as Quantum Break, Forza Horizon 3, ReCore, Gears of War 4, and Dead Rising 4 to name a few. What happened? One of their major titles, Sea of Thieves, has been delayed. There has been no mention of Halo 6, and if that were coming out this year, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. In fact, I would argue it should have been shown at E3 2017. Yes, there is a new Forza game that was just released and Halo Wars 2 released earlier in the year, but besides that, there really hasn’t been much. It’s actually kind of sad, as I love my Xbox One. Frankly, there’s no excuse.
The Xbox One X is a powerhouse, but how many people (outside of hardcore gamers) are actually going to purchase it? Not to mention the fact that the naming of the console is so confusing that my local GameStop actually told me they had customers come in asking about the system and consumers were confusing the One S and the One X. This is unacceptable. In my mind, they should have just called it the Scorpio, which is a much cooler name and differentiates it from its counterparts. It feels like the Wii and the Wii U all over again.
Power is one thing, but will developers actually be able to utilize it? Microsoft has already gone on the record saying they aren’t concerning themselves with VR until it’s more viable (a huge mistake), even though the Xbox One X can more than easily handle it (it is the most powerful system to date). While Sony has come out with their own VR headset, Microsoft isn’t going down that route and is seemingly relying on third parties, such as Oculus. Now, I am very familiar with the Oculus Rift. The cords are a nightmare and to use this in a living room would be a nightmare. Microsoft should come up with their own VR headset for the Xbox One X, but aren’t (as far as we know). Again, a major mistake on their part. Sony is way ahead in this regard and there are even rumors that Nintendo will be coming out with VR for the Nintendo Switch. What’s the point in having the most powerful video console ever if you’re not going to utilize its power?
Another main point is that the Xbox One X isn’t coming out with any exclusives to the console; it will play any game in the Xbox One family. What is the point of this? If this is the case they should break from the Xbox One make it a brand new console altogether. While the performance may be enhanced on the Xbox One X from previous Xbox One games, and it may be noticeable, the average gamer won’t care. This is a system that is marketed towards the hardcore gamer and most gamers won’t see the upside. The human eye can only detect so much, so visually it may not even be as much of an upgrade as they claim. If they make a game that is optimized for the Xbox One X, just as Nintendo did with New Nintendo 3DS, they could have a disaster on their hands. There were a few games that could play on both systems (3DS), but they played horribly on the normal 3DS as opposed to the New Nintendo 3DS with all kinds of framerate problems.
Let’s be clear: I still have faith in Microsoft and the Xbox One to rectify the current predicament they are in. Things are not looking good though. If Halo 6 were coming out, that would be a different story, as that is their hallmark title (although after Halo 5, I would argue that Gears is). Instead of focusing on software, as Nintendo and Sony are with their respective consoles, Microsoft is focusing on hardware, which may be a downfall. The Switch is selling like wildfire and there is a chance that the Xbox One finishes last in this current console cycle.
Hopefully, 2018 will be a much brighter year for them and they can finally put forth some quality software that gamers actually care about.