Xbox Series X Not Having Exclusives Early on is Great

January 13, 2020 at 3:44pm
By Jason Stettner

Recently it was announced that there will be no Xbox Series X pure exclusives for a year or so after the release of the next generation console. From a consumer stand point this is actually a great thing. It adds value to those that don’t make the jump, while also making gamers comfortable with purchasing games as they know it’ll look better when they move towards that next console.

In the past you’d have to re-buy games during the break in generations, which grants a boost here or there. Now, you’ll just get the same version but with boosted visuals when you do head over onto the next generation of consoles. There will be no extra cost, or barrier and that’s great. I'm sure Halo Infinite will be a big example of this process.

At the same time, there will definitely be some limiting factors to the games due to this split. That of course being when it comes to the processor, but keep in mind it’ll only be a limited number of exclusives that will face this development choice.

I could see third party games also relying on updates, as opposed to selling another version of their game like they would in the past. It’s an interesting transition industry wise, and I feel this is generally a good thing to have for people out there. There really isn’t a reason to re-buy games, and on the other hand it adds extra value to those that bought into the Xbox One ecosystem.

It’s less of a pressure to move onto the latest console, but still keeps people playing the games. Some individuals also lag behind by a lot, and this will help feed into the player bases for those big exclusives. You have the existing Xbox One players, the included Windows 10 community and finally those that end up with the special Xbox Series X. It’s less about splitting the player bases now, and more about options from Microsoft.

You’re seeing that with the growing Xbox Game Pass, the move to building Project xCloud and it’s becoming less about the box you’re on. It’s more about experiencing those games, with many options to do so. I really don’t want another situation where I have to buy games multiple times like I did with Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty: Ghosts as examples.

While those were minor extra charges, you can make that comparison example to the generation prior to it. Having these games not be exclusive might introduce some scaling elements that hurt those new games to display their full potential on Xbox Series X, at the same time they might not. There is of course that powerful cloud that’s been sitting to the side, aside from Crackdown 3’s integration. We’ll have to wait and see what they’re able to do with the hardware, and what the third party titles will be doing when it comes to the release.

There’s still a long time to wait, and it’s always fascinating to think about what’s to come down the road. The bridge between generations is always a fun time, and it’s great to dig into the elements that surround this big shift within the gaming ecosystem. That’s it for now, read our thoughts on the mystery of the Playstation below or check out the Xbox Series X hub for additional coverage.

Read our The Mystery of the PS5
View our Xbox Series X Hub