Cognition Dissemination: Xbox Got Games

Xbox has a software problem, particularly with console exclusives.

New releases for the Xbox Series of systems started off encouragingly enough with games like Forza Horizon 5 and, largely, Halo Infinite. Those games also released for Xbox One, but those who didn’t play PC games (I know that’s a big caveat these days) could only get the best versions of these games on the Xbox Series systems — particularly Xbox Series X. But console-exclusive releases slowed to a crawl, to the extent that the general gaming audience took notice. Obsidian Entertainment’s Pentiment is by all accounts a quality title, yes, but not the kind that catches enough eyes to sell systems.

This is, perhaps, the reason why Xbox Series hardware sales were down year-over-year, according to Microsoft’s newest financial report. It accounted for a fraction of the reason why overall Xbox gaming revenue was down 13 percent in 2022 compared to 2021, from $5.44 billion to $4.76 billion. It is, to put it succinctly, not a good thing when hardware sales for a new console are down this soon in the lifecycle. The reasons for this are either the aforementioned lack of exclusive software titles, or the widely-available Xbox Series S being undesirable despite numerous discounts last year, or both. The latter, at least, has an easy solution, once Microsoft starts distributing enough Series X systems to meet demand.

Software issues were unavoidable thanks to how long it takes to develop modern big-budget games and the Covid-19 pandemic’s brutal effects on development, but the fact remains that Microsoft needs incentives to sell consoles. The recent Developer Direct was the start of Microsoft reversing the “Xbox has no games” narrative. The start.

The key title shown was Hi-Fi Rush, a surprising project for multiple reasons beyond its existence leaking mere hours before the stream started. A rhythm-driven action game with a lighthearted sense of humor and cel-shaded art style representing a fusion between comics and anime styles was not the kind of game expected for Tango Gameworks’ next project. The developer’s had a proclivity for horror and horror-style games like The Evil Within series and Ghostwire: Tokyo, after all, and it’s remarkable that their next project was shown less than a year after the last game there released. (Ghostwire: Tokyo should arrive on Xbox consoles soon, with the PlayStation-console exclusivity period ending.) This was the project director John Johanas has been working on following The Evil Within 2. More surprising was how it launched mere hours after the stream ended, for at least $29.99 by itself and on Game Pass.

Xbox needed games quickly, and a shadow-dropped project with a mid-to-high-level budget was just what the systems needed. It shows the versatility Tango Gameworks is capable of; the reception I’ve seen for it should establish them as more than a horror or horror-lite developer. This also represents the type of games Microsoft (and Sony, really) will need going forward: Smaller games to occupy the space between the AAA and AAAA games that take around half a decade to make.

 

Hi-Fi Rush should be enough to hold Xbox owners off for that next big game, Arkane Studios’ Redfall, planned for launch on May 2nd. Arkane creative director Ricardo Bare mentioned in an interview with GamesRadar+ that the game was less like Valve’s Left 4 Dead games and more like Ubisoft’s Far Cry titles. No one could be blamed for the L4D comparisons given the tones of the first two trailers.

The gameplay demonstration showed how the game takes Far Cry’s style and blends it with urban horror elements and expanded multiplayer options. This particular gameplay demonstration didn’t dispel any potential fears of the mission design being as rudimentary as those in Ubisoft’s franchise, nor will the game itself win any points for innovation, but future gameplay demos could show more variety to dispel the former while the latter is hardly necessary considering the games that tend to be most popular with audiences. With this game due for release in a little more than three months, they’ll ideally get on showing more mission variety soon.

 

The new Forza Motorsport title will also be important for Microsoft’s lineup, as shown through the demonstration that focused on how this title will be more immersive than previous installments. The cars will look better than ever, and feel more realistic thanks to adjusted physics. No release date was provided beyond a “2023” timeframe, but one will ideally be announced soon. Don’t be surprised if it’s no longer due in the spring.

Both Minecraft Legends and new The Elder Scrolls Online content look good, but neither will help Microsoft bolster the Xbox console-exclusive library since they’re not Xbox console-exclusive titles. Minecraft Legends, like previous Minecraft titles, will release for every console that can run it when it arrives on April 18th, while ESO is already available for multiple platforms and all will still receive updates. Don’t take this as me undermining the potential enjoyment both could provide, please.

This showcase alone wasn’t enough to fully assuage concerns about the future of Microsoft’s exclusive lineup. Instead, Microsoft will be doing that through a series of presentations. Bethesda’s Starfield will be one of the biggest Xbox console-exclusive games released this year, if not the biggest, which is why it will get its own showcase in the near future. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s pushed out of the first half of 2023 at this point, notably. Seeing Senua’s Sacrifice: Hellblade II again would be nice too. But it would be more welcome for the sake of Microsoft and Xbox owners if more smaller games are dropped suddenly like H-Fi Rush, assuming this little experiment worked out for the game’s sales and popularity.