The start of this year alone sure has been crazy for great games.
NieR: Automata, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Gravity Rush 2, Nioh, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild alongside the launch of the Switch, two Kingdom Hearts HD collections (I can’t get enough of that nonsense), Night in The Woods and, before too long, Persona 5.
There’s just one problem: none of these games are on Xbox One.
So what happened? Where are Xbox One’s great exclusives? Did the Xbox One become just a Halo box and what are they going to do when their new console Scorpio comes around?
All of Xbox’s problems in the now can be traced back to 2013, with the console firmly established as a second fiddle sales-wise, even if both launch lineups were equally mediocre, with promises of Halo and Uncharted down the line. Of note is how the Xbox One flopped spectacularly in Japan, unlike the 360 before it.
Unlike the 360, which dominated the last generation (after the Wii died), the One is adrift in a new market with more demand for bizarre Japanese games in the West, to the point that NieR and Persona are now considered AAA games in their own right, after being niche titles in the past. Heck, Final Fantasy even managed to escape the hole it had been in since the Final Fantasy XIII Trilogy.
In my opinion, credit for this shift goes to From Software’s Dark Souls series, sort of a half-step between Western and Japanese sensibilities. So, when Bloodborne, a Dark Souls successor exclusively for the Xbox’s direct competitor, it signaled to the mainstream that if they wanted stuff like that, PlayStation was the place to be.
Meanwhile, Xbox One continued to have Halo, but not all was sunny amid the gunfire. Microsoft had created a new studio just for the franchise when Bungie left, 343 Industries. Halo 4 arrived for the Xbox 360 in 2012 to great reviews and sales. It seemed as though things would be great until Halo 5 rolled around. While still reviewing and selling well, Halo 5 proved to be the Final Fantasy XIII of the franchise, replacing paid map expansions with microtransactions, removing the signature couch co-op that was the reason I always played Halo games, along with an overhyped narrative hook that left Master Chief with less than half of the total playable missions. An effort to lift mechanics from the modern Call of Duty games left the signature gunplay of the series less unique and without a place of is own.
But their true problem lies in a difficulty cultivating talent on all levels of their console business to compete with Playstation, best exemplified when their team-up with Platinum Games for Scalebound fell through. They had a game that was legitimately different and unique but they canned it before Platinum and Square Enix put out the equally different and unique NieR Automata on PS4 to great reviews. Even when they do have a game to put out, it’s usually playing second fiddle to whatever Playstation has at any given time. Quantum Break vs. Uncharted 4 for instance, and Halo Wars 2 vs. Horizon Zero Dawn. It’s gotten bad enough for them that they have to buy timed exclusives for a year to remain relevant, namely Rise of The Tomb Raider and Dead Rising 4.
Whatever Xbox has planned for the future, however, is beyond my sight. Will Sea of Thieves be any good? Will the Scorpio save the brand, or be a fancy console with no games? What games can they get to make the Scorpio relevant? Will people actually buy it? I probably won't.
Logan Graham is a junior studying media arts with a focus in games and animation at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Are you still playing Xbox? Let him know by emailing him at lg261813@ohio.edu.
