The Best Xbox Games in 2020 Are Only on PC

August 20, 2020 at 6:11pm
By Jason Stettner

It’s been a rather interesting year, that’s for sure. We’ve started to see the Xbox Game Studios whirl to life as a number of games are being developed and also released. While you might imagine this would directly benefit console owners, the biggest titles are not actually available on Xbox One or Xbox Series X.

That’s right the biggest Xbox games to release this year have only been on PC, that being Microsoft Flight Simulator and Gears Tactics. Now, I know the games will come to the console family eventually. I imagine Gears Tactics in a month or two, and Flight Simulator much later.

It’s just really interesting to see these highly acclaimed offerings from the Xbox Game Studios collective, only on the PC platform. It’s not at all a negative factor, but I certainly see some disappointment being present if you’re on console and feeling a tad left out considering these PC versions of the games are doing incredibly well.

That’s not to say console owners aren’t getting their fair share of titles. There’s been Bleeding Edge, Grounded and some more on the horizon. That being Wasteland 3, Tell Me Why and of course the recently released Battletoads. The first two are yet to be determined scoring wise, but I can imagine some wonder in looking at these PC offerings and just how well they’ve been hitting the mark.

I should have also mentioned Ori and the Will of the Wisps earlier. That game was very acclaimed, and somehow slipped my mention due to how wild of a year it has been. That was a stand out on the console side of things and PC, that’s for sure. Anyways, carry on with the mentions I was making that still show two stellar games only on PC at the moment.

Especially with such a gap in exclusives over the past generation for the console. Match that with a Xbox Series X line-up that’s looking light without Halo Infinite, it’s a wonder why these two hitters haven’t been noted as arriving with that launch.

Again, I imagine Gears Tactics will hit consoles very soon and they’ll be accelerating Flight Simulator’s ports after its launch success. With the latter I’m guessing being a fair bit out at this point. Still, at the current time it’s a tad odd to look at a group that’s been console focused for quite awhile shift over more towards the PC space and actually really deliver.

There’s even the Age of Empires titles that are exciting to see return, and a brand new entry in that series down the road as well. I do feel like the console side also needs to see some more love, and higher tier offerings. Hopefully that’s the case with the recently teased upcoming games, if they’re matching the quality of the PC offerings that have come in 2020 then some good times are ahead.

It’s just rather interesting to see the push for cross-play, cross-progression and more through the Xbox Play Anywhere program. To see that be built up and then at times some offerings only being on PC and leaving the console space out Xbox wise. I do see the potential for great profit in that space, and it’s excellent to see growth in this way.

I think it’s a market that benefits from having Xbox Game Studios release exclusive offerings there, but I do want to see that benefit the console side of things too. Whatever the case, both of those games are great if you haven’t played them yet.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is one of the best games and experiences I’ve ever had. Gears Tactics nails the turn based strategy genre in some surprising ways. You can read our review of flying high in the sky below, or check out our platform hub for further coverage of the franchises that Xbox has to offer.

Read our Microsoft Flight Simulator Review
View our Xbox Hub