Let’s start this article with a blunt statement: Microsoft is not doing the best right now when you look at its sales of the Xbox Series X/S or even some of the games on its platforms. It’s being blown away by the PlayStation 5, which it launched alongside, and is still being dominated by the Nintendo Switch despite it being seven years old! Microsoft has tried to “stem the tide” in certain ways, like by pushing the Xbox Game Pass, but even that is starting to show flaws. But its gamers are trying to hold onto hope, including by praising the console’s first-party titles coming in 2024.
If you were present yesterday during the Developer Direct, five games were shown off that were noted to be coming to Microsoft’s console, four of which were exclusive games. As one dedicated Xbox fan noted below on Twitter, at first glance, it seems like a solid roster of games:
On the one hand, we can understand their excitement for some of these titles, and compared to, say, last year, there are some standouts that you can be actively excited for and feel it’ll be more than a “one-game year.” Which, to be blunt once again, kind of happened to Microsoft last year after certain titles fell on their face.
But is the tweet accurate in that this lineup “brings the heat?” Well…no. For a few reasons. First off, putting a certain “flight simulator” into that lineup isn’t the best supporting argument. Yes, it’s one of the most popular simulator games of all time and is used in the real-world training of pilots, but it’s not exactly a “gaming title” in the overall sense.
Second, while games like Towerborne and Ara History Untold are exclusives, that doesn’t mean they will be “meaningful hits” on the platform. The latter is another in a long line of “creating civilizations as you live out history” kind of game, and there are plenty of options to do that already.
As for Avowed, while Obsidian Entertainment rarely misses with their RPGs, many still wonder if it will live up to the hype the company is building. Hellblade II is arguably the most “surefire” success on the “list” due to how big the first game was and how epic the sequel will be.
And while plenty of people like the character of Indiana Jones, there’s no way of knowing that his first game in MANY years will live up to the hype until we play it. So it’s unfair to say this lineup will “bring the heat,” but at least some gamers are excited for them.
