Xbox Series X: for Phil Spencer it's time for truth - editorial
Yet, until now, no stumbling block has been able to erase the smile from the face of Phil Spencer, the man who has had the difficult task of picking up the car and restoring it piece by piece, a bit like several generations of Americans use to do with old Cadillacs in their garages.
Spencer is a concentrate of Americanism but it is also true that the American - as Americans define their own culture - never managed to break through the world of video games. Spilling lectures on concepts such as "most powerful console" and "best place to play" did not help an Xbox sales department that is preparing to close the generation with an estimate of 50 million pieces sold compared to the 110 placed by the unreachable PS4.
But the most interesting data is what emerges from the sales data of Switch, a console that has exceeded 55 million copies distributed in just over three years, demonstrating once and for all that the "horses" they have a relative weight in video game parlors.
The Xbox Game Studios are born with a difficult task. But it will be up to the challenge? Will each element to give the best of themselves? Difficult, but not impossible. Phil knows this well, although it is true that he deviated from the track of the power to embrace concepts of inclusivity so innovative as to create small fractures within the fanbase. Play Anywhere, cross-play, and services like Xbox Game Pass and xCloud, the Adaptive Controller: there is not a single initiative of the team, which is not commendable in the light of the consumer experience, by far the best in the panorama of the medium.
What still needs to change, and, most importantly, what you can't afford to make mistakes Xbox at the dawn of the ninth generation? "But it's obvious", you think. "Xbox should submit to exclusive the height of competition". And this is indeed true, because the weight of the big exclusive productions is now under the eyes of all, and Microsoft has pointed at the first person on the foundation of the new Xbox Games Studios, investing Matt Booty of a huge responsibility, and that is to compete with the market leader.
But it really exists, in the stable of Xbox, even a single study that is realistically able to compete on an equal footing with the software house of the likes of Naughty Dog and Sony Santa Monica? Waiting to be proved wrong on Thursday, it is very difficult to support this thesis. The Chicago Bulls have had the skill, but above all to the enormous dose of luck required to gather under the same banner coach Phil Jackson, Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman and Scottie Pippen.
Not only do young promises: to stand out you have to locate the next Curry. In today's Xbox Game Studios, the eyes remain focused on The Initiative, the super-studio that should break the limit of the videogame YYYY, but many are put hopes in Playground Games, which has matured to the point that you can afford to set aside even the beautiful Forza Horizon to pursue, finally, a small statue, perhaps through a new chapter in the Fable.
The only Halo Infinite is not enough to sustain on his shoulders the entire weight of a leap of generations, especially one of this magnitude. Among other things, it is possible that Master Chief could win a GOTY? Because in the end, what serves the Game Studios is a work, even one, is able to bring home the Xbox prize for Game of the Year, a result that was unapproachable in the course of a decade dominated by victories badged Nintendo, and Sony. In this regard, God of War has shown that an ancient series of flag can be reborn from the ashes until you are back at the top, and it is perhaps now that Halo: Infinite or the next Gears of War to attempt to follow the path of Kratos, breaking the chains of repetition.
What the management must not absolutely wrong, regardless of any future awards, is the definition of the new line-up of productions. No matter what you reveal or not the new Skyrim but the next project of Obsidian, to name one at random, he must necessarily be a great RPG in the single player, a title that can give light to all the quality of the study.
there is No more space for the Bleeding Edge, ended the era in which the cancellation of Scalebound could be considered a blunder, we're far from the time when a disaster like that of Crackdown 3 could afford to fly under the radar. There is need of great adventures, and scripts-and the impactful, no matter if in a huge RPG, or in experiences that are story-driven, just that the case of projects that aim at the summit of the industry.
in addition to this undeniable need for camps to re-establish relations with certain fabrics creative people who were inexplicably excluded from the radar of Microsoft. The first, needless to say, is one of the developers of the eastern, historically reluctant to publish on the Xbox; in recent times, Phil Spencer has conducted several trips to Japan to cement the relationship, but the fruits of this marriage - except for the Yakuza - still remain a mystery, while the hardware has not yet managed to penetrate the region.
Xbox Game Pass is without a doubt the best service ever emerged in the world of video games. But you can do even better? According to Spencer, you can, through xCloud and, perhaps, the All Access Pass. The same is true of the panorama of the MMORPG, which for some is still a small niche, but that is proving to be an interesting trump card in the hands of the Xbox. Only in the last half of Phantasy Star Online 2 and Bless: Unleashed started out on Microsoft's console, but a titan in Final Fantasy XIV this hardware Playstation is still missing. By the way, Blizzard Entertainment has recently announced support for the gamepad for its World of Warcraft, by gallop in the imagination of the fans.
But the story of One is not only made up of niches to be filled and cracks to be welded: at the dawn of next-gen we'd love to see the renewal of the commitment in respect of independent development. The incubator, Microsoft has given birth to jewels of the likes of Cuphead, has made masterpieces such as Outer Wilds of debuting on a console, and Spencer has always demonstrated great interest towards the innovation brought by small studies.
it Is a trend that deserves to be cultivated next to the one that, without a shadow of a doubt, it was the best service ever to debut in the world of video games. We are obviously talking about the Xbox Game Pass, an initiative that was comparative in terms of "value for price", making available to millions of players, tons of titles-exciting, by the labors first party up to dozens of exciting projects that without a boost would have passed unnoticed.
Is eye-catching also the possibility to see the Xbox All Access will also arrive on the european banks, an offer from time, active in the United States that allows, by paying a monthly fee, to receive the console and all of its subscriptions, exactly as happens in the mobile phone market.
The livery of the console, refrigerators, it seems to have convinced everyone. In short, if Microsoft is in a position of absolute leadership in the segment relating to the services, we would not mind seeing her double on the whole line, maybe crafting an all-inclusive offer, able to respond to every need of fans. Xbox Game Pass will include xCloud, streaming that said Spencer will soon see the light on all the screens, and in the Ultimate version have the much-coveted formula all-encompassing, but we're sure that Redmond can still pull out some ace from his sleeve.
last, but certainly not least, there is the price of the console. The launch price of the Xbox One at $ 499, including the Kinect, has been identified by various analysts as the main obstacle to the first ascent of the machine, so much so that it took only six months to attend to a cut needed more than ever.
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it Is possible that the violent burn and is still burning between the halls of Redmond, and it's even more likely that the division the Playstation is well aware. It is not a coincidence that the parts of Sony to proceed with the hand brake pulled when it comes to pricing, because the leaders of the japanese house must have smelled the willingness of Microsoft to appear on the market at a very competitive price.
A situation of this kind can do for our happiness, indeed, that of our portfolios. The ninth generation will be a good time to be gamers, not only because the two giants of the industry, it will be a battle of the big productions, not only because it will witness the birth of a new dynasty of the console, determined to take the distances from the mere improvement in the chart.
it Will be a magical moment because, finally, the end user is going to be the center of gravity of the market, pushing Sony and Microsoft to adopt policies that just a year ago would have been considered utopian.
Accessibility, inclusiveness, support to the industry, new ways of fruition of the video game: the truth is that we have many of these quality, just the commitment of Phil Spencer, an american 'doc', in this round, you may be able to transform his old Cadillac in a brand new car.
