havoc00
Member
My son is all-in on Xbox. On the TV he only plays Xbox. He prefers the Xbox UI and services (not that he'd use that term, he's not a robot), the Xbox controller, and the fact that he has Game Pass on there. He has multiple Xbox hoodies and bemoaned the lack of an Xbox birthday cake in the supermarket that was selling a PlayStation-branded one. When I ask him if he thinks he'll prefer PlayStation one day, he's typically pre-teen: "Why would I?" he replies as if talking to the world's dumbest man. He's not a console warrior, but it's fair to say that Xbox is his life.
My feelings on Xbox change every time I attempt to figure out what my feelings are. I've stared at that sentence on and off for a week or so, wondering if I can just stop there and publish, letting people think I've made a highly intellectual point and didn't in fact just have a jumbled mess of thoughts stuck in my head.
I want to say something about the present and future of Microsoft's gaming division, but what exactly, and where do I possibly start? As someone with more fondness for Xbox than the average person (no doubt why my son is so keen on the console that "has no games") I find it bizarre in the extreme that we are entering what might be the best period for Xbox-published games of all time while the uncertainty over the future of the company's console business and general public sentiment has never been rockier.
I'm not going to suggest Xbox is safe because my son prefers it to PlayStation, but he's clearly not the only person who thinks this. There's always a running commentary alongside video game consoles that is desperate to declare winners and losers - I know this as I've been part of that group. If we're talking about Xbox vs PlayStation, well, PlayStation has won. Simple. Add to this the fact that there are no "red lines" for Xbox games coming to other platforms now, and it's easy to see where the doomongering comes from.
Xbox has always struggled to gain a strong footing outside the US and has underperformed in Europe. My view is that you either like Xbox because of its hardware and functionality, or you dislike it because it hasn't had enough/any big exclusive games - the latter usually being too much of a mountain to climb for most people. The notion that the major reason to buy a console is to play the games exclusively available for it has gone out the window completely at Xbox. In fact there aren't any windows at all, or a ceiling, or walls. Xbox is essentially an idea floating around now, uncontained, and that's hard for people to pin an allegiance to - and allegiances do matter.
So does Xbox, the console/box/machine, have a future? Sorry for being that guy again, but I think it all comes down to Xbox Game Pass. Ever since Game Pass promised Day One games from Microsoft it felt like an unbelievable service, one that I expected people would be all over. It reminds me of the summer I got a cinema pass and would watch two or three movies a day over the school holiday. I felt like I'd found a loophole akin to carrying in a bottle of coke and a packet of Minstrels under my coat. Why not watch Toy Story 2 a second time, followed by Gladiator? For me, Game Pass worked. I was sold on Xbox and I enjoyed the games. But what if you didn't think much of the Xbox line-up because it was missing the blockbusters? I can see how that is a big problem. A U-571/Frequency double bill isn't for everyone, even if you've already paid for the tickets.
www.eurogamer.net
My feelings on Xbox change every time I attempt to figure out what my feelings are. I've stared at that sentence on and off for a week or so, wondering if I can just stop there and publish, letting people think I've made a highly intellectual point and didn't in fact just have a jumbled mess of thoughts stuck in my head.
I want to say something about the present and future of Microsoft's gaming division, but what exactly, and where do I possibly start? As someone with more fondness for Xbox than the average person (no doubt why my son is so keen on the console that "has no games") I find it bizarre in the extreme that we are entering what might be the best period for Xbox-published games of all time while the uncertainty over the future of the company's console business and general public sentiment has never been rockier.
I'm not going to suggest Xbox is safe because my son prefers it to PlayStation, but he's clearly not the only person who thinks this. There's always a running commentary alongside video game consoles that is desperate to declare winners and losers - I know this as I've been part of that group. If we're talking about Xbox vs PlayStation, well, PlayStation has won. Simple. Add to this the fact that there are no "red lines" for Xbox games coming to other platforms now, and it's easy to see where the doomongering comes from.
Xbox has always struggled to gain a strong footing outside the US and has underperformed in Europe. My view is that you either like Xbox because of its hardware and functionality, or you dislike it because it hasn't had enough/any big exclusive games - the latter usually being too much of a mountain to climb for most people. The notion that the major reason to buy a console is to play the games exclusively available for it has gone out the window completely at Xbox. In fact there aren't any windows at all, or a ceiling, or walls. Xbox is essentially an idea floating around now, uncontained, and that's hard for people to pin an allegiance to - and allegiances do matter.
So does Xbox, the console/box/machine, have a future? Sorry for being that guy again, but I think it all comes down to Xbox Game Pass. Ever since Game Pass promised Day One games from Microsoft it felt like an unbelievable service, one that I expected people would be all over. It reminds me of the summer I got a cinema pass and would watch two or three movies a day over the school holiday. I felt like I'd found a loophole akin to carrying in a bottle of coke and a packet of Minstrels under my coat. Why not watch Toy Story 2 a second time, followed by Gladiator? For me, Game Pass worked. I was sold on Xbox and I enjoyed the games. But what if you didn't think much of the Xbox line-up because it was missing the blockbusters? I can see how that is a big problem. A U-571/Frequency double bill isn't for everyone, even if you've already paid for the tickets.
It's taken eight years, but finally Game Pass is positioned to save the Xbox console business and give Xbox a point
Is Xbox dead? It doesn't have to be, and Game Pass might be the thing that makes owning an Xbox console something more and more people will want to do.
www.eurogamer.net
I got it on my pc and my Xbox
