Microsoft’s Cross-Generation Software Approach Shouldn’t Surprise Anyone
Cross generation games, titles released between two console generations, were more frequent than ever during the transition between the last generation and the current one. This was for good reason. Publishers didn’t expect every owner of a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 to transition to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One immediately. With individual game budgets and the resources required to develop them being high these days, and only continuing to ascend as graphics and asset fidelity improves, the need to sell games to as large an audience as possible increases. To no surprise, cross-gen games will also be there for the transition between this current generation and the next one starting at the end of the year.
There’s a key twist this time: Microsoft plans to get heavily in on the act. “As our content comes out over the next year, two years, all of our games, sort of like PC, will play up and down that family of devices,” Head of Microsoft Studios Matt Booty told trade magazine MCV UK. “We want to make sure that if someone invests in Xbox between now and [Series X] that they feel that they made a good investment and that we’re committed to them with content.”
This also isn’t surprising given the aforementioned knowledge about how expensive games are to develop, and considering that Microsoft previously announced Halo Infinite for Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC at E3 last year. But that was thought to be an exception thanks to it potentially being a live service game — hence the name “Infinite.” It’s now clear that this will apply to several games published by Microsoft, and it’s ruffling feathers.
There’s appreciation for this among those who clearly remember the cross-generation period the last time around, and plan on keeping their current consoles for a little while. They’ll wait on purchasing a Series X — especially if they own an Xbox One X.
But I’ve also seen comments from people very, very pissed off about this idea, which isn’t surprising either. They’d rather purchase a next-generation console to play next-generation games that take full advantage of the new hardware, and honestly, the reveal of some specs alongside the system last month played right into that. The system we’re currently aware of (this is part of a “series,” after all) will include a GPU that reaches 12 teraflops, to make it twice as powerful as the Xbox One X. Given how that system already costs $499.99 in a bundle, this new system could be the same price or higher. The people willing to buy a new system at a high price aren’t taking this well, but they might be in the minority.
This plan reveals two important strategies for how Microsoft will approach next-generation consoles and future software releases. For one, Xbox Game Pass will be very important, the ability to play Xbox games on several platforms through a subscription service. It provides a too-good-to-be-true amount of games for the monthly price. There were concerns about just how profitable this is for Microsoft and other developers, but it seems to be trucking along just fine if the company is comfortable with making games like Gears 5 and Crackdown 3 available on the service on day-one.
Microsoft is also thinking beyond the traditional concept of generations, and wants universal Xbox systems. This will include the Xbox Series X, a “series” of systems with potentially varying capabilities in terms of power. But Xbox One will be included among that series for a time. If you think this sounds like a series of gaming-centric PC boxes, they pretty much are; there’s a reason why the Series X system we’ve seen resembles a desktop. This is also a bet on Microsoft’s part that consumers will agree with them in thinking beyond the usual console generations, which will be determined through how good software sales will continue to be on XB1 into 2021 and slightly beyond. If they start falling, expect some cross-generation titles to be cancelled on XB1.
This will be a fun contrast considering that Sony will likely think in more traditional terms, by having only one PlayStation 5 console and PS5-only games right in the system’s launch window. It’s likely why they haven’t announced an exclusive title in two years — since Ghost of Tsushima for PlayStation 4 in October 2017.
The people who were extremely mad about the prevalence of cross-gen software between the last console generation and this current one are back and louder than ever. Microsoft is simply joining most third-parties that will, again, release a boatload of cross-gen software for the first one to two years of the PS5 and XSX’s lives, because the risks are too high not to. We’ll start seeing precisely which games Microsoft will release as cross-gen titles by the end of 2020’s first half, besides Infinite. We’ll also see the never-ending console wars heat up again, so strap in.
About The Author
Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
