So, to say that the Xbox event that dropped today was “eventful” might be a bit of an overstatement for various reasons. One of those reasons is that nothing significant was truly revealed on the gaming side, and despite all sorts of “the sky is falling” statements about Microsoft going third-party, it didn’t happen. All Microsoft stated was that they wanted to “test the waters” by having certain titles go multi-platform despite being exclusive in the past, which is something numerous titles have done across several publishers. However, lost within that indecisiveness was a small glimmer of information that highlights the future of the company’s console brand.
Specifically, in the latter parts of the video below, the panel, which also had Phil Spencer on it, noted various things about the Xbox’s hardware and what it means for the future. One panelist noted that while they are focused on the Xbox Series X right now and getting their games to “as many screens as possible,” they’re also working on the “next generation” of technology. Specifically, she noted that they are looking to make the “biggest technological leap” gamers have seen on hardware. You can see the statement at around the 18:00 mark:
So, what does this mean overall? Simply put, it means that Microsoft isn’t going the route of SEGA or other developers who had consoles in the past and now only do software; they are invested in keeping their hardware plans going. But by that token, there is a problem.
Specifically, one of the reasons that both Microsoft and Sony are “struggling” with certain 1st and 3rd party exclusives is because they’re trying to have their developers “max out” the graphical and processing power of their games to make “grand experiences.” Yet, as many gamers know, that doesn’t always work out the way that they hope.
You can point to both publishers within the last year and see how their “graphical superiority” didn’t lead to “superior sales.” Instead, it was the games that had incredible gameplay mixed sometimes with stories that had the best results. In contrast, some of the “big heralded titles” had a hot start and yet fizzled out in various ways or shouldn’t have been launched in the condition they were in.
It doesn’t help that the Xbox brand has been more focused on “buying up companies” instead of ensuring that the games they were making were quality. So, while it’s “nice to know” they’ll be doing more hardware in the future, it remains to be seen if they’ll do anything meaningful with it.
