All the Power but Nothing to Play: An XBox One X Dilemma
Microsoft has survived three generations of gaming hoisting the silver medal, never managing to be in first place for long. After a very rough start getting wrecked by the Playstation 2 (honestly Halo saved the original XBox), the XBox 360 became the most successful American-made console in the history of video games. It was the top-selling system until the tidal wave of WiiMania overtook the industry and transformed the way we look at games. Similar to how the mammoth success of Yahoo and AOL got avalanched by Google and an evolving internet, Microsoft pulled out all the right moves and still wound up being behind the pack. It was by no means a failure, as it outsold the PS3 in the United States by over 20 million copies and even the Wii by a few cool million. Nonetheless it couldn’t resonate quite as well to Europeans and the Japanese, which is where the competitors excelled.
Now we have the XBox One, a good machine that survived a terrible marketing campaign and a very rough launch to nab 29% of the market share. Even more frustrating is that the XBox One is losing to the Playstation even in the United States, the final battleground it had territory. So second place around the world and then Nintendo staging a comeback of epic proportions with the Switch, how can Microsoft gain any ground whatsoever? Instead of aiming towards gimmicks or different ways to play, Microsoft is going the classic route of becoming the most powerful system on the planet.
The XBox One X when it releases will be the most powerful console ever made. Between the specs, the processing, and all the intangibles the One X is a beast of a machine, and makes it seem like we are entering the ninth generation of gaming even though we remain somewhere between the eighth generation and some awkward 8.5 place with the PS4 Pro and Switch released recently. To add to that, we also have the XBox One S which is also an upgrade but cheaper and less powerful than the X edition. To finalize it all, Microsoft tossed in PC gaming as part of the massive XBox family that will connect each system together and will (as of now) release games that cater to each machine. XBox One X will not be receiving exclusive games (as of now), maintaining a step away from forcing gamers to convert and upgrade.
The entire list of options through hardware alone is a good concept for gamers willing to stick to Microsoft or move to XBox territory while selecting an option that best matches their gaming desires and budget. A shift in outlook of this magnitude could create waves in the industry, and could steer the ship in their favor. But there’s one massive problem that remains:
The XBox has a huge IP problem.
Back in the seventh generation totally dominated by Nintendo, Playstation 3 took a dismal hit when it started losing some of its usual exclusives to Microsoft. Final Fantasy, Grand Theft Auto, Guitar Hero, Kingdom Hearts, Crash Bandicoot are just a few examples that went from exclusive to Sony in the PS2 days to multi-platform in the following generation. Then third-party companies were bailing to make cheap Wii games after seeing the Wii doing better with third-party games like Sonic and Guitar Hero. Sony would rev up its first-party lineup and delivered excellent game after excellent game to overtake the 360 towards the end of the PS3 lifetime like The Last of Us and Uncharted.
Fast-forward to today. As of now, we are seeing nearly 30 exclusive PS4 games in 2017, not including the indie games. As for the XBox One? Five. Merely, five major exclusive titles---and they technically aren't even exclusive since they are also for PC. In the E3 presentation tons of time was spent on Anthem, this awesome-looking game from the makers of Mass Effect. But guess what, its also coming out on the Playstation 4 in 2018. Microsoft has been riding on the coattails of its first-person shooters but remain quiet dormant on all the other genres. In the meantime, Sony gives us RPGs, adventure games, action games, exclusive sports games, the works. To make matters worse, Sony has been outbidding Microsoft on the exclusivity of third-party franchises like Street Fighter. And let’s not even dwell on Nintendo’s notoriously invincible first-party IP options.
Having the best machine, the most powerful console out there does nothing if your lineup of games is exactly similar to that of the competitor and then you have to toss in a price tag that’s $100 more at least. How can you convince a PS4 owner to get an XBox One if you can’t toss anything else besides another Halo? How can you convince a gamer that hasn’t invested in this current generation to toss $500 to a new powerful console when there’s a console that can be portable, has way more games, and is $200 cheaper? Games. Games is the solution, and they need to start reorganizing their release lineup.
Superior hardware has been defeated because of lack of software. Ask the Dreamcast, Gamecube, and Game Gear. Microsoft has yet to spend more on software, on making deals with game developers, and maybe even purchasing a couple second-party companies to bolster its lineup. Microsoft to this day has barely nipped the surface of the Rareware franchises it still owns. One of the biggest disappointments in all of gaming is the lack of Rareware reboots and sequels like Blast Corps, Jet Force Gemini, Battletoads, Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazzoie, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Cobra Triangle, and it bears repeating: Banjo-Kazzoie.
A true-blue Banjo-Kazzoie would take on Super Mario and LittleBigPlanet, with Conker being the antithesis of the platformer genre. Jet Force Gemini would take on Metroid and would be one of the rare (pun not intended) third-person shooters you really don’t see often. Blast Corps would be an awesome test of the graphical power of the XBox One while you spend the game blowing up everything. Perfect Dark would tap into the female heroine market while also providing the espionage we haven’t seen much of since Splinter Cell. The IPs here have great variety and great range and would potentially collect more fans along the way. But something needs to be done.
Especially after E3 was dominated by Nintendo and their plethora of upcoming games and surprises, Microsoft can’t just have the best piece of hardware in the market, it needs the software to support it. Otherwise, we are looking at a replica of the WiiU: good technology, good console, no games, no forward momentum whatsoever.