Sony and Nintendo have been killing it lately by releasing many great exclusives for their respective PS4 and Nintendo Switch consoles. Many people expect the two companies will have a lot more to share at E3 2018 because even more games are expected to be revealed and announced.
While Microsoft attends E3 every year, the company needs to step up its game at E3 2018 to look impressive compared to both Sony and Microsoft. With the Xbox One X already out, Xbox gamers need more exclusives to justify the purchase as right now all of the good games on the system are either older games or third party video games.
2017 was not really an eventful year for the Xbox One platform aside from Cuphead and the release of the Xbox One X console. Forza Motorsport 7 was good, although it’s not a new IP and non-racing fans aren’t going to like it. The only other notable games out last year were only Halo Wars 2 and Super Lucky’s Tale and that’s about it.
What Microsoft truly needs to do is invest in some high quality single player experiences much like Sony and Nintendo have been doing. Zelda, Mario, Horizon Zero Dawn and the recently released God of War are just some examples of why the Switch and PS4 consoles have been selling well. All four of the games I have mentioned have sold millions of copies thanks to good reviews and excellent word of mouth.
Aside from Cuphead, Microsoft has not released anything close to the quality of the games I just mentioned recently. Microsoft tried its best in 2016 releasing new IPs such as Recore and Quantum Break, but both games turned out to be average at best. Due to the lackluster feedback that both games received, it’s unlikely we’ll ever see a sequel from these franchises.
More recently, Rare released Sea of Thieves earlier this year and the reception was largely negative. Many people said the game lacked content and it was similar to the underwhelming launch of No Man’s Sky. Not to mention Sea of Thieves was not as fun as the games Rare used to release when they were with Nintendo back in the N64 era.
The other thing Microsoft should do at E3 2018 is concentrate on actual first party exclusives that have a strong single player narrative. In the past, Microsoft has relied on timed exclusives but they have done nothing to push the tide. Sure Rise of the Tomb Raider is great, but it eventually got released on PC and PS4 a year later. This was the same deal for Dead Rising 4 too.
Microsoft tried this again making PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) a “console exclusive” at the moment, but that has not brought over gamers to buy an Xbox One or Xbox One X either. This is mainly thanks to the fact Epic Games released Fortnite Battle Royale for free on all major platforms including the PS4. With PS4 owners enjoying Fortnite Battle Royale, there’s no incentive to go out and buy an Xbox One just to play PUBG.
Anyway, hopefully Microsoft surprises everyone at E3 2018 by announcing proper first party exclusives and possibly some games that appeal to gamers in Japan. The strategy that Microsoft is adopting now is not working as nobody wants to see “games as a service” or multiplayer only video games. Sony and Nintendo have both shown us that single player games are still important and are able to sell millions of copies for their respective consoles.
Microsoft also needs to invent new IPs that will blow gamers away. Relying on Halo, Gears of War and Forza all of the time is not working. Even though these game franchises are fun, they don’t really offer anything innovative or groundbreaking anymore.
