Xbox Series X will launch without first-party exclusives

[mongeese]

Bottom line: The go-to console of each generation – because historically, there can only be one – is usually the victor because it has the games players really wanna play. The exclusive titles that make you shudder at the thought of missing out on, you know those ones? Yeah, well the Xbox Series X isn’t gonna have any.

Microsoft is throwing the rulebook out the window with this one, without even having read it. Microsoft won’t be producing any titles for the Xbox Series X that won’t also play on the Xbox One and PC, leaving you with fewer reasons to upgrade than you’d normally expect at a new console launch.

“As our content comes out over the next year, two years, all of our games, sort of like PC, will play up and down [the Xbox] family of devices.”

In an interview with MCV, Microsoft Studios chief Matt Booty said that Microsoft “wants to make sure that if someone invests in Xbox between now and [Series X] that they feel that they made a good investment and that we’re committed to them with content.”

From a consumer perspective, this is brilliant. I’ll be doubly pleased playing Microsoft’s new titles without paying for a new system. And they’ll have quite a few, one out every three or four months according to Booty.

Microsoft’s recent round of studio acquisitions brought their total up to fifteen, including some big names like Obsidian, who recently published The Outer Worlds.

That brings us to an interesting point; will Microsoft restrict first-party titles to PC and Xbox only, or will they be open to sharing with Sony? The Outer Worlds launched on Xbox One, PC, and PS4 simultaneously and even a Switch port is in the works. Microsoft also brought Cuphead and Ori and the Blind Forest to the Switch.

Putting competition with Sony aside, Microsoft’s decision seemingly makes the Xbox Series X a less appealing buy for Xbox One and PC owners. Just about the only reasons to get the Series X for Xbox One owners is the inclusion of fast SSDs, more raw horsepower, and potentially, ray tracing. Every gamer considers ray tracing a must-have, Nvidia tells me, though I do have my doubts.

Whatever Microsoft’s thinking – good. They’ve made the Xbox Series X launch awesome for their fans on every platform because Microsoft is still releasing epic launch titles like Halo Infinite, but now we won’t need to hand over a stack of cash to play them.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/83508-xbox-series-x-launch-without-first-party-exclusives.html

 

[bviktor]

I'll just quote myself:

So you're telling me they actually learned NOTHING from current-gen? Bravo. Both consoles provide pretty much the same perf and exp, so Spencer, PLEASE tell me how I'm gonna make the decision to pick one?

YES, based on exclusives! It's not that hard, dude! The only exclusive I needed this gen is TLOU, so naturally, I went PS4. If MS had a tempting enough exclusive, I'd have gotten an Xbox too. But they didn't, so I didn't.

That's it, end of story. Why is it so hard to grasp. Blows my mind.

 

[darkzelda]

"Microsoft’s decision seemingly makes the Xbox Series X a less appealing buy for Xbox One and PC owners"

Actually, I don't agree with this. I've been a PC gamer for over 10 years and I love PC Gaming, but this Christmas I bought a Xbox One S to my sons, the reason? It was a lot cheaper, since with the Game Pass ultimate I don't even have to buy them games and we can play together online, it's been really fun. Next year I'll build a gaming computer for my older daughter and buy an Xbox Series X to my son, actually, the Xbox Series X is the only console I'm considering to buy.

 

[Hardware Geek]

I don't I think it will be less appealing to consumers who have the hardware to take advantage of it and cash to buy the console. The console itself has to be at least $500 if not 600. Having a cheaper option play the same games and potentially knowing you can upgrade in the future and get a free visual upgrade as well, gives gamers who can't afford to buy it right off the bat and opportunity to buy it down the road. Presumably new games will be enhanced for the series X, and if Microsoft offers similar visual updates on older first party titles, that gives consumers and incentive to buy the new console if they already have those games, assuming they don't charge for the update. Seems like a solid strategy, although that's with a lot of ifs.

 

[m4a4]

I'll just quote myself:

So you're telling me they actually learned NOTHING from current-gen? Bravo. Both consoles provide pretty much the same perf and exp, so Spencer, PLEASE tell me how I'm gonna make the decision to pick one?

YES, based on exclusives! It's not that hard, dude! The only exclusive I needed this gen is TLOU, so naturally, I went PS4. If MS had a tempting enough exclusive, I'd have gotten an Xbox too. But they didn't, so I didn't.

That's it, end of story. Why is it so hard to grasp. Blows my mind.

You realize that they don't make money on the hardware, right? It's about the sale of software that they make their money. If they sell on Xbox or PC, they still make money (something Sony is not exactly setup for).
And then not leaving Xbox One owners behind generates good will (they'll be more likely to buy said software).

If you want a PS4 exclusive, good for you! But you're not seeing the bigger picture lol

Edit: And remember, they might not have Xbox SX exclusives, but they'll still have MS exclusives (available on Xbox and PC), still driving software sales only on MS platforms.

 

[Evernessince]

I'll just quote myself:

So you're telling me they actually learned NOTHING from current-gen? Bravo. Both consoles provide pretty much the same perf and exp, so Spencer, PLEASE tell me how I'm gonna make the decision to pick one?

YES, based on exclusives! It's not that hard, dude! The only exclusive I needed this gen is TLOU, so naturally, I went PS4. If MS had a tempting enough exclusive, I'd have gotten an Xbox too. But they didn't, so I didn't.

That's it, end of story. Why is it so hard to grasp. Blows my mind.

I would have to disagree. The gaming market has been trending towards multi-platform for a long time now. People want to play with their friends, regardless of the device they are using.

 

[Skjorn]

Good news for friends who are on different platforms. Im glad Microsoft has combined its console gaming and PC gaming crowds.

 

[numnumnum]

So, it will be whole series of consoles from Xbox this upcoming gen, also everything is available for entire gaming ecosystem xbox-windows, which is nice and all, but I see here how Microsoft tries to kill console idea and merge it with PC.

Also by seeing what's going on with gaming industry with all that online grinding/lootboxing stuff I guess I will go with Sony and their exclusives with rich story, as for myself I prefer to play 2-3 good games a year. Of course unfortunately in that case I am a bad customer if I will not donate on a weekly basis for some skin in yet another grinding game.

Hopefully Xbox exclusives could change my mind, when they'll be released, but for now I just can't see any competitive advantages except game pass. So in the end I see quality vs quantity competition.

 

[hellomoto]

"Microsoft’s decision seemingly makes the Xbox Series X a less appealing buy for Xbox One and PC owners"

Actually, I don't agree with this. I've been a PC gamer for over 10 years and I love PC Gaming, but this Christmas I bought a Xbox One S to my sons, the reason? It was a lot cheaper, since with the Game Pass ultimate I don't even have to buy them games and we can play together online, it's been really fun. Next year I'll build a gaming computer for my older daughter and buy an Xbox Series X to my son, actually, the Xbox Series X is the only console I'm considering to buy.

Sure, people will buy the new Xbox, but there will still overall be less sold than if there was a super compelling exclusive tied to it. MS is essentially making the XBO “forward compatible”.

You’re gonna have a lot of people keeping their Xbox One since they can still play new games OR buy the cheaper console because they can still play the same games. There are people of course who will want the best of the best but there’s still no denying they will sell less consoles going this route.

 

[dreew]

You realize that they don't make money on the hardware, right? It's about the sale of software that they make their money. If they sell on Xbox or PC, they still make money (something Sony is not exactly setup for).
And then not leaving Xbox One owners behind generates good will (they'll be more likely to buy said software).

If you want a PS4 exclusive, good for you! But you're not seeing the bigger picture lol

The bigger picture if your the consumer is playing games not concerning yourself with how a company is structured and how they make money. Though as you say if you only want multi platform games and not the additional great library of PS4 exclusives, good for you! Though the companies big picture aside, not the consumers, your actually missing the point lol

 

[numnumnum]

You realize that they don't make money on the hardware, right?

This is not exactly accurate. That case with selling hardware cheaper than self cost was with PS3 for limited amount of time, but for some reason nowadays lots of people think that this is a standard

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Without Exclusives, Xbox just isn't worth buying into.

Especially now that I'm rocking this 2080Ti and playing PC games...

 

[m4a4]

The bigger picture if your the consumer is playing games not concerning yourself with how a company is structured and how they make money. Though as you say if you only want multi platform games and not the additional great library of PS4 exclusives, good for you! Though the companies big picture aside, not the consumers, your actually missing the point lol

I don't think I am. The point is that MS is actually making a good move (in the bigger picture), and it's also a good move for the consumer. Your points don't change that.

 

[m4a4]

This is not exactly accurate. That case with selling hardware cheaper than self cost was with PS3 for limited amount of time, but for some reason nowadays lots of people think that this is a standard

They're not making their money off of the physical sales of consoles. That's the point.

 

[Danny101]

It's basically a PC in a gaming format. Games will be developed for it and will be down stepped to be playable on the less powerful XBOX One. That explains why that XBOX was called the One, an apparent first in a series. PC gamers can probably skip this release since most of the games will also be available on the PC.

 

[Hexic]

They really uh, took the "box" part of Xbox to heart this go around with those aesthetics.

 

[primusautobot]

I'll just quote myself:

So you're telling me they actually learned NOTHING from current-gen? Bravo. Both consoles provide pretty much the same perf and exp, so Spencer, PLEASE tell me how I'm gonna make the decision to pick one?

YES, based on exclusives! It's not that hard, dude! The only exclusive I needed this gen is TLOU, so naturally, I went PS4. If MS had a tempting enough exclusive, I'd have gotten an Xbox too. But they didn't, so I didn't.

That's it, end of story. Why is it so hard to grasp. Blows my mind.

The bigger picture if your the consumer is playing games not concerning yourself with how a company is structured and how they make money. Though as you say if you only want multi platform games and not the additional great library of PS4 exclusives, good for you! Though the companies big picture aside, not the consumers, your actually missing the point lol

Stop saying PS4 exclusive - this is the only thing you guys says. MS has its own exclusives, guys like you just says that only PS exclusives are good. Most new ps owners didn't even plays those exclusives

 

[bas416]

Raytracing a must have, lmao.

 

[Milkyjoe]

Is this Xbox targeting midrange/highend pc gamers? if Microsoft could fit power on to an APU that could be cheaper than buying equivalent PC, that would be a good idea.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Console game expense is a deal breaker for me. Exclusive or not, I'm sticking to PC.

 

[Lounds]

I've been PC and playstation for a while now. Honestly I can't see any reason to own an Xbox.

 

[Irata]

Without Exclusives, Xbox just isn't worth buying into.

Especially now that I'm rocking this 2080Ti and playing PC games...

Good for you that you can spend thousands on a gaming PC and assume everyone else can (or wants to) do the same.

 

[Nobina]

Next-gen Xbox won't even have games. Gotta take risks.

 

[Burty117]

I've been PC and playstation for a while now. Honestly I can't see any reason to own an Xbox.

Same boat as you, I like the PC / PlayStation setup, best of both worlds!

 

[Vulcanproject]

While clearly a good short term strategy for software sales, it has obvious long term flaws. I would hope Microsoft understands that and after a couple years support for the old machines are dropped.

You shackle developers to the past.

At some point you have to deliver an experience that is not watered down for old hardware. You have to justify your new, more powerful hardware by producing games for it that go beyond someone sliding the resolution and filtering settings up a notch.

The danger is few people are interested in your new machine because it doesn't offer standout next generation titles that take advantage of your uprated SSD and CPU etc. So few people buy it. They stick to old hardware. The perception alone of not having next gen software hurts sales.

By the time you want to release games that exclusively run on your new machine you haven't got a big enough audience to justify the outlay or attract third parties again to target your newer console.

Backwards compatibility makes more sense to me even if in practice people don't use it that much. Having your new machine play all your old games is a shrewder long term option than scaling down your brand new games for ancient slow hardware.