One of the biggest draws for the PS4 during this past generation were the sheer amount of definitive, exclusive games only on PlayStation. Uncharted, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and most recently Ghost of Tsushima, just to name a few, helped define the PS4's success. Xbox One's biggest pitfall this generation was the console had very few exclusive legs to stand on, not to mention the console's initial marketing scheme favoring the "all-in-one" approach. Even with all the changes made in good faith by the Xbox brand, Xbox Series X may still need a bigger exclusive draw.
Even after casting aside the original foundation for Xbox One and gaining some ground with its "games first" approach, Microsoft's console pales in comparison to PS4. Some of Xbox's big ticket franchises like Halo came out to middling reception and then disappeared in the years since. The truth is that even with some of the benefits of things like Game Pass, Xbox Series X only has a few big exclusives from the mainstay franchises coming in the near future. Xbox needs more games to pull at the same exclusive draw PlayStation already has.
PlayStation Proves the Value of Exclusives
Even though Xbox is very much pulling the brand away from the traditional "console wars" era rivalry between it and PlayStation, it's still hard not to make the comparison. After PlayStation experienced a similar slump with the PS3 pricing fiasco, the PS4 made a huge comeback as one of the best selling video game consoles of all time. Xbox One's media center marketing strategy proved disastrous for the console's opening, allowing PlayStation to sweep the rug out from under them. Since then, PlayStation has capitalized on that momentum and success by championing some of the most technically impressive and successful games on PS4.
At first there were games like Infamous Second Son, The Last of Us Remastered, and Bloodborne that kicked off the PS4's exclusive offerings. While Second Son and The Last of Us Remastered served more as an early tech test of what the next-gen hardware was capable of, Bloodborne was the first true exclusive that justified the reason for owning a PS4. After that, high budget exclusive PS4 games started running away with success. Uncharted 4, Ratchet and Clank, Marvel's Spider-Man, Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, the list goes even further on from there. These games are some of the biggest reasons why players own a PS4, as they've become indicative of the best games offered on Sony's console.
Are Established Franchises Enough for Xbox?
Instead of focusing on standout Xbox exclusives, Microsoft is taking a different approach with Xbox Series X. While there are big ticket exclusives like Halo Infinite, Fable, Forza Motorsport, Hellblade 2, and more coming to Xbox Series X and PCs, many of these are entries in established games or franchises. There are very few big triple-A games coming to Xbox Series X that are completely new IPs, with the exception of Obsidian's Avowed and a few others. As much as Game Pass is one of the best deals in gaming, outside of the aforementioned first-party offerings, many of the third-party titles on the service have already been around for a while.
The truth is that, even with powerhouses like Halo and Fable returning for Xbox Series X, there just aren't that many new experiences coming to Microsoft's next console. Granted there's been some hints of another Xbox showcase happening later this year, but at the moment there just aren't that many new, big budget, triple-A IPs coming to Xbox Series X. Xbox is banking on the success of its established franchises without taking too many risks into unknown territory. Even in the face of the negative reaction to Scalebound's cancellation, one of the first new Xbox IPs to be shown in a long time, Xbox is still missing some of the new excitement and wonder from new franchises.
Xbox Needs to Reinvent its Lineup
Xbox's latest Games Showcase only technically showed off nine of the 15 total Xbox Game Studios, so there is potential for more new Xbox experiences coming soon. Plus there's a slew of old Xbox franchises like Perfect Dark or Crimson Skies that still lie dormant after several years that could come back for Xbox Series X. Either way, the Xbox brand is getting to a point where there just needs to be something new. There's signs of this effort already taking place with Obsidian's Avowed, along with the unannounced project from The Initiative studio still presumably in early development.
The problem is that comparatively the PS5 has plenty of new and returning franchises coming both at launch and in the near future of the console already. At the moment, Xbox Series X has plenty of established franchises making their long-awaited return, but at the cost of very few new experiences driving the console's value up. Game Pass and cross-platform releases to PC can only take Xbox so far. There needs to be more new games like the upcoming Avowed or the cancelled Scalebound that push Xbox's exclusivity value up. Perhaps another Games Showcase will give fans more of a glimpse at some of the new games coming to Xbox, but for now, a less-drastic version of last generation's events may repeat for the ninth console generation.
Xbox Series X launches this fall.