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Xbox One’s Rough Start
As anyone who has been following the Xbox One this generation knows, Microsoft has had a very rough time with the console. The third generation Xbox got off to a bad start with its initial plan of always online and heavy digital rights management practices.
Though the console has pivoted and recovered greatly from those early missteps, years later the presiding issue that currently plagues it is the lack of quality exclusives.
The quality exclusive game problem has been exacerbated by the phenomenal production of exclusive games from the xbox’s biggest competitors, the Playstation 4 and the Nintendo Switch, who have enjoyed much success in the exclusive games arena over the last few years.
For every Quantum Break there has been a Horizon Zero Dawn, every Sea of Thieves, there has been a Super Mario Odyssey. Even the Microsoft exclusive games that have been fairly good, such as Gears of War 4 and Forza Horizon 4, have came and went without a whole lot of fanfare.
Forza and Gears are tried and true fan favorite franchises, games that have given their fan bases more of what they expect. The problem however, is that these franchises themselves have begun to suffer from fatigue.
While still being quality games, the same Xbox franchises have been relied upon for nearly a decade and in the world of gaming, new intellectual property helps to keep gamers engaged and interested.
So yea, we know it’s been a rocky console generation cycle for Microsoft and many gamers are left wondering where is xbox going from here? With talk about gamepass, X Cloud, Play Anywhere, and games as a service, there is lots of speculation about what exactly Microsoft’s future is and if the Xbox will even have a place in that future.
I have had an Xbox console since it first launched in November 2001 and as an xbox fan as well as gaming enthusiast, I myself have pondered what the future of Xbox will be . I think that if we take a closer examination of Microsoft’s recent moves we can see exactly where it is they want to go.
Xbox this Generation and it’s journey to find an Identity
Since Phil Spencer became the head of the Xbox Division in 2014 he has been slowly pivoting the console in a new direction. What started out this generation as an all encompassing entertainment box, built to be the focal point of the living room, has been carefully transitioned into a lean mean gaming machine.
With what seems to me, a very limited budget for actually producing games, Phil Spencer spent what money he did have wisley The goal was to make the Xbox One a consumer friendly console for gamers by giving it quality of life features, and listening to the desires of Xbox consumers.
In 2017, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella decided to make an internal shift in the company and he elevated Phil Spencer to the title of “Executive Vice President of Gaming”.
With the new title came more power as Spencer would now report directly to Nadella himself. Judging by the moves Phil Spencer made soon after, I have to surmise that with this promotion the budget for producing games had drastically increased as well.
While before the promotion Spencer was head of the Xbox division, the severe lack of exclusive first party games was likely due to the fact that the higher ups at Microsoft didn’t believe in them.
AAA games take a lot of money to make and new intellectual property can be hit or miss. It’s essentially a major risk and Microsoft didn’t see the value in taking that risk. Spencer did all he could to make the Xbox brand more appealing while his hands were financially tied.
With the budget he had, he couldn’t make great games so he strengthened the Xbox’s position where he could, scoring little wins along the way.
Haven proven himself capable and valuable despite the budgetary limits that had been pressed upon him, Spencer finally got the financial green light to do what the Xbox brand needed the most, make first party games.
As many of you are probably aware, Microsoft has gone on a spending spree in the last 18 months acquiring several new game development studios. This is a clear indication that they are ramping up games production and in a big way. Buying several studios and potentially producing several new IP is a drastic change from where they have been in the last 10 years.
As mentioned earlier in this article, Microsoft has been very conservative when it comes to first party games, relying almost solely on their big three franchises (Gears, Halo, Forza) while also sprinkling in exclusive third party deals. The initial reason for the change of heart may seem obvious, they simply need more games to compete.
And yes, that is indeed true but I’m going to tell you that there is more to it than that. This is where Phil Spencer’s biggest gambit comes into play. The concept that I am dubbing the “Trojan Horse of video games.” Xbox Game pass.
Xbox Game Pass Changes Everything
It is my belief that game pass is the tool Phil Spencer used to finally convince the powers that be that Microsoft needs to get a lot more serious about producing games.
Microsoft likely saw games as too expensive, not worth the financial investment. For several years after all, the xbox 360 saw a lot of success even with a lack of fist party games.
The third party support and massive install base the Xbox 360 had during its lifespan, kept it as the console of choice for many gamers.
That is why for years, the first party titles were so few and far between. Microsoft simply didn’t have to invest in them, they had a massive user base and they had new more casual gamers buying in as well.
Why does game pass change all that? Because subscription services like gamepass are the future of console gaming and Microsoft wants to be the premier service when that future comes.
We are now in a consumer generation that loves the subscription service. Netflix, Hulu, Movie Pass, AMC A-List, Hello Fresh, etc. There are subscription services all over the place and when it comes to entertainment media, subscriptions are reigning supreme.
Xbox game pass is emulating this by offering over 100 games a month for people to play including all newly released Xbox exclusives. That means for 10 US dollars a month gamers can have access to seemingly limitless amount of games for as long as they are subscribed.
Now with game pass Microsoft has a real reason to get behind producing first party games. The goal is no longer simply about selling Xbox consoles, it’s about creating the most desirable gaming subscription available and gaining millions of subscribers.
Hardware sales are great but the real profit for console hardware manufacturers has traditionally come from software. With gaming subscriptions now being a factor, the potential for profits are higher than ever before.
Putting all their first party games on PC, creating Play Anywhere (a program that allows all first party digital titles to be played on Xbox or PC through windows 10), the upcoming streaming service X Cloud, rumors about game pass possibly going to the nintendo switch, all of this, is to push the Xbox brand into the future. A future that is much more expansive than what we have been accustomed to in the console realm.
The ultimate goal for Microsoft is to be the premier gaming company in the world and they want to do this by being the most established ubiquitous service available. Part of this vision for the future is streaming.
Game streaming has come a long way in the last decade. I was a member of the OnLive game streaming service when it started up in 2010, it was functional but not great.
I recently played Assassins Creed Odyssey on google’s project stream (now revealed to be Stadia) and I was blown away at how much better it was than what I have experienced through OnLive and other streaming services in the past.
That really shouldn’t have been much of a surprise to me. Major corporations with gargantuan power, Google, Microsoft, Sony, have all been dumping funding into honing and mastering game streaming.
We may not be there in five or even ten years but soon, very soon, console gaming as we know it will involve and possibly revolve around game streaming.
Microsoft is going to go heavy into gaming production. Over the course of the next generation, game pass and their streaming service XCloud are going to be an integral part of the next Xbox console and PC.
Game pass will attract consumers by offering them a plethora of games, big and small for a monthly fee. When Microsoft’s newly acquired studios are finally churning out critically acclaimed games the value of the subscription service will rise tremendously.
The aim is to be what their competitors are while at the same time being what they cannot be. XCloud will allow players to play these same games on numerous devices through streaming. Xbox games will have the appeal of the portability of the Nintendo Switch with even more flexibility.
The Future of Xbox is Games, Subscriptions, Content
The newly acquired game studios pumping out new game titles will give xbox gamers a deep diverse library of Microsoft exclusive games on a scale comparable to Playstation.
The flexibility of the cloud will allow gamers to pick up and play at any time on nearly any screen. As time goes on games are going to move further and further away from specific consoles and the new console gaming model will be more about the services and subscriptions you pay for and the software that they offer.
Some people still think that Microsoft putting games on PC is an indication that they are getting out of the console business, you know what, in the long term that’s probably true, but not because they are looking to put gaming behind them or they feel like they can’t compete.
They see that the battlefield is changing and in the future everyone will be out of the game console business. That’s hard to believe right now with ISP’s ,data caps, and the general state of the Internet in the US. And as long as those major barriers are around traditional consoles will still have a primary place but one day It won’t be about the hardware at all.
Everything will be software, the subscription service that a company is offering and the games that come along with it. That right there is the future for Microsoft and that’s the future for Sony, and Nintendo too.
The digital, streaming, nebulous gaming future Is not just where Xbox is going, it’s where everyone is going to wind up eventually, Xbox is just trying to get their faster.
If you are interested in hearing more about this topic and what the future of console gaming will probably look like, here are some interesting videos I have seen that follow my line of thinking on the subject. Okay Samurai’s video on game pass. Here Dealer Gaming also provides great content and talks about Xbox’s future plans.
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