Of the three big first parties, Xbox is the one that feels like it has changed the most when you compare it to the end in early 2020. Xbox Series X has finally been fully unveiled and released, along with its more economical partner in the Series S. Game Pass and xCloud are trying to redefine the whole way we handle our games. The most anticipated Xbox game of 2020 has become the most anticipated Xbox game of 2021. The gap between Xbox and Sony’s first party games was just as big as ever, but it’s clear that this will soon change thanks to Microsoft’s unprecedented studio acquisitions. In fact, Xbox’s 2020 was less about what was contained in the year itself, and more a mission statement for the entire decade ahead.
The road to Xbox Series X began in 2019, with the teasing of “Project Scarlett” at E3, followed by the unveiling of the console’s real name and design at The Game Awards in December 2019. However, COVID-19 throws a key in Microsoft’s 2020 plans, with events at GDC and E3 both canceled. Instead, we got a handful of blog posts and feeds, including console specs showing in March and some digital events in May and July showcasing some of the games. The July showcase was especially important to give us our first full look Halo Infinite in action, and this is where Microsoft’s launch strategy will eventually turn very heavy.
In 2020, Sony seemed to be hosting a major first-party game every two months, including Dreams, The Last of Us Part II, Ghost of Tsushima, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, en Demon’s Souls. And while Microsoft is a well years it certainly could not match Sony’s greatness. despite Ori and the Will of the Wisps, which remains one of the most beautiful and best games of 2020, we have seen much smaller versions in the form of Roadblocks, Based, Gears Tactics, Wasteland 3, and the wonderful Rat 5: Hivebusters mini-campaign. The PC front also offered Microsoft Flight Simulator, which was an absolutely astonishing achievement that Xbox owners will be able to experience in 2021. On their own, these games were all solid, but it was a tough look along with some of the massive games from Sony’s most talented first party studios. for Xbox.
Natural, Halo Infinite wash suppose Microsoft’s tent game of 2020 to be. The plan was that the sequel from generation to generation would return to the series’ roots when it began with the launch of the new hardware in November. But after the July unveiling, everything changed. While the demo exhibited what was obviously a real game that listened to the original in every way Halo: Combat Evolved, the footage was definitely missing; nothing screams like ‘next generation’.
Shortly after the demo comes some big announcements about Master Chief’s latest adventure. The first was that the iconic multiplayer of the game would become free for the first time in series history. It felt like a direct response to how shooters have evolved in recent years Call of Duty: Warzone and Fortnite with such prominent success and mindshare. The second and much bigger announcement was that Halo Infinite would be delayed until 2021, leaving a fairly large gap in the Xbox Series X’s launch series.
It is now clear that the delay was the right step. Anyone who has been in the past month of Cyberpunk 2077 drama knows that launching a highly anticipated game before it’s ready can cause a business to lose years of accumulated goodwill. It is also becoming increasingly clear that the global shift to remote work in 2020 has strongly influenced the development in the industry, as evidenced by the delays of numerous games over the past nine months, of some of 2020’s biggest games such as Marvel’s Avengers, The Last of Us Part II, en Cyberpunk 2077, expected 2021 games like Far Cry 6, Deathloop, en The medium.
But throughout the turbulent year, Microsoft has made a series of big profits, not from individual games, but rather strengthening its growing ecosystem. These include Project xCloud, which launched in September for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers and will grow in 2021 on Apple iOS platforms and Windows computers, which are two major markets. It’s part of Xbox’s growing strategy to democratize and decentralize the gaming experience, and open up the next generation of games to a new audience of hundreds of millions of people. And at the heart of this is Xbox Game Pass, which is still the best offering in games that only get better thanks to Microsoft’s impressive acquisitions and partnerships.
Microsoft has done a wonderful job of correcting the drought of the first party by acquiring a myriad of large studios over the past few years, including developers such as Double Fine, Obsidian, inXile and Ninja Theory. But none of this could prepare us for September, when probably the biggest game news of 2020 was when Microsoft entered into an agreement to acquire Zenimax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks. It didn’t just include Bethesda Game Studios and its properties The Elder Scrolls, Dropout, and the coming Starfield, but also developers like Arkane, Tango Gameworks, MachineGames and id Software, who are behind beloved franchises like Disgrace, The evil inside, Wolfenstein, en Doem.
We still do not know what this means for these games that will eventually appear on other consoles, except that Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo continues to launch in 2021 as exclusive timing of PlayStation 5 thanks to previous deals. All these things aside, there is a good chance that some of the following games in the above franchises will be Xbox exclusive, time-consuming exclusive, or some sort of Xbox-related exclusive content. The full implications of the deal will be felt over the next decade, especially considering that Xbox Game Pass will be home to all Xbox Game Studios games on the first day.
In addition, a handful of massive game announcements appeared on the pipeline in 2020, including rumors of Playground Games Fable reload, adopt the “AAAA” of The Initiative Perfectly dark, and Obsidian’s many Elder role-looking dark fantasy RPG, Blessed. It may have taken a few years, but we finally have a clearer view of what Microsoft’s growing coral of studios is working with.
Apart from this wealth of new first-party studios and projects, Game Pass has grown even further by partnering with EA Play, which offers games such as Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order after the service. Recent rumors have pointed to a similar partnership with Ubisoft +, which will dramatically increase the value of the already incredible service. On top of that, on launch day, Microsoft continues to make it home to fantastic indie games and smaller titles, including Spirit dangers, Call of the Sea, port, Bait, en Tetris effect: linked. Simply put, Game Pass is a must-have entry for anyone who owns an Xbox and, with the growth of xCloud, millions of people who do not. With all that said, Xbox Games with Gold sucked a bit in 2020 and gets embarrassed by the free games offered on PlayStation Plus. With the new year, it’s probably time for Microsoft to undergo GWG and focus only on a single service with Game Pass.
But of course, the big Xbox event of 2020 took place in November, with the release of Xbox Series X and S. Series S surprised me with how powerful it was for such a small, economical console. At $ 299, it’s such an incredible gateway to ‘next-gen’ games, a fantastic second console and a great channel for Game Pass. Meanwhile, Series X feels like future-proof hardware that excites me to see what different studios have in store once we get to the meat and potatoes of the console generation. Xbox Series X is powerful, quiet and well known. It does not reinvent the wheel, but damn it if it is not a nice and functional wheel.
Microsoft has announced that the new consoles have had the biggest launch in Xbox history, with a majority of sales to the Series S. That said, we know that PlayStation 5 has sold out the new Xbox in the UK, which actually does not mean much. , except that PS5 also sells better on popular reseller sites. However, Nintendo Switch sold out both new consoles in November, making it the best-selling console for the 24th (!) Month in the United States. Not much has changed since last holiday season, but it feels like Microsoft is in a much better position than 365 days ago.
From the top-down view, the launch of the Xbox Series X an exclusive kind of killer is missing Demon’s Souls or something that showed why the hardware was special Astro’s playroom for PS5. In fact, two of my favorite experiences were on my new Xbox Call of the Sea and Rat 5: Hivebusters, which came out both weeks after the launch and surprisingly little fanfare from Microsoft.
Anecdotally, when I logged on to my Xbox last month, most of my friends played third-party games like Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Fortnite, of Assassin’s Creed ValhallaWhile watching many of my PS5 friends play Demon’s Souls, Miles Morales, en Astro’s playroom. I’m sure it does not help that Microsoft leaned heavily Cyberpunk 2077‘s marketing, which quickly changed after the launch into companies issuing lengthy statements explaining how people get refunds for the game.
Despite the relatively small 2020 series, Xbox plans to have an absolute star for the next few years. Of known quantities such as Psigonaute 2, Halo Infinite, en Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, for games with impressive 2020 unveiled as Fable, Perfectly dark, Sheet 2, en Blessed, for the entire herd Bethesda Softworks Studios, the future of Xbox looks bright. Coupled with the incredible value of Game Pass and the tremendous potential that xCloud has to completely change the way we play games, the sky is the limit for the next decade of Xbox.