Of the top three partners, Xbox is what seems to have changed the most when you compare it in early 2020 with the end. The Xbox Series X has finally been fully revealed and launched, along with its most economical partner in the Series S. Game Pass and xCloud are trying to redefine the whole way we interact with our games. The most anticipated Xbox game of 2020 has become the most anticipated Xbox game of 2021. The difference between the Xbox and the original Sony games was greater than ever, but it is clear that this will change soon thanks to studio acquisitions. unprecedented Microsoft. In fact, Xbox 2020 was less about what was contained in the year itself and more of a mission statement for the entire decade that followed.
The road to the Xbox Series X began in 2019, with the provocation of “Project Scarlett” at E3, followed by the revelation of the console’s real name and design at The Game Awards in December 2019. However, COVID-19 gave a key word of mouth on Microsoft’s 2020 plans, with events at GDC and E3 canceled. Instead, we received a handful of blog posts and streams, including console specs being shown in March and some digital events in May and July that featured some of the games. The July showcase was particularly important in providing our first complete look at Halo Infinite in action, and that’s where Microsoft’s launch strategy would turn strongly.
In 2020, Sony appeared to deliver a great original game every two months or more, including Dreams, The Last of Us Part II, Tsushima’s Ghost, Spider-Man: Miles Moralesand Demon’s Souls. And while Microsoft had a Good year, it certainly couldn’t match Sony’s greatness. Besides Ori and the Will of the Wisps, which remains one of the most beautiful and best played games of 2020, we saw many smaller releases in the form of Battletoads, Grounded, Gears Tactics, Wasteland 3, and the wonderful Gears 5: Hivebusters mini-campaign. The front of the PC also offered Microsoft Flight Simulator, which was an absolutely amazing feat that Xbox owners will be able to experience in 2021. On their own, these games were all solid, but kept alongside some of the massive games from Sony’s most talented primary studios, it was a difficult appearance for Xbox .
Sure, Halo Infinite was supposed to be Microsoft’s most famous game in 2020. The plan was for the sequel between generations to return to the roots of the series when it arrived with the launch of new hardware in November. But after that July revelation, everything changed. While the demo showed what was obviously real gameplay that referred to the original in all aspects Halo: Combat Evolved, the visuals were certainly lacking, none of them screaming “next generation”.
Shortly after the demonstration came a couple of important announcements about Master Chief’s latest adventure. The first was that the game’s iconic multiplayer would become free to play for the first time in the series’ history. It seemed a direct response to how snipers have evolved in recent years, with Call of Duty: Warzone and Fifteen days having such outstanding success and knowledge. The second and much bigger announcement was that Halo Infinite would be postponed to 2021, leaving a considerable gap in the Xbox Series X launch line.
It is now clear that the delay was the right move. Anyone who followed the last month of Cyberpunk 2077 The drama knows that releasing a long-awaited game before it is ready can cause a company to lose years of accumulated goodwill. It is also becoming increasingly clear that the global shift from 2020 to remote work has strongly impacted development across the industry, as is evident from the delays of numerous games in the past nine months, of some of the biggest games of 2020, such as Marvel Avengers, The Last of Us Part IIand Cyberpunk 2077, for early 2021 games like Far Cry 6, Deathloopand The medium.
But over the course of the tumultuous year, Microsoft had a series of big wins not in individual games, but in strengthening its growing ecosystem. This includes the xCloud Project, launched in September for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers and will continue to grow in 2021 on Apple iOS platforms and Windows PCs, which are two massive markets. This is part of Xbox’s growing strategy to democratize and decentralize the gaming experience, opening the next generation of games to a new audience of hundreds of millions of people. At the heart of that is the Xbox Game Pass, which remains the best gaming business that is only improving thanks to Microsoft’s impressive acquisitions and partnerships.
Microsoft did a wonderful job repairing its initial drought, acquiring a wide variety of major studios in recent years, including developers like Double Fine, Obsidian, inXile and Ninja Theory. But none of that could prepare us for September, when arguably the biggest gaming news of 2020 came when Microsoft signed an agreement to acquire Zenimax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks. This included not only Bethesda Game Studios and its properties, but The Elder Scrolls, Fall, It is the next Starfield, but also developers like Arkane, Tango Gameworks, MachineGames and id Software, who are behind beloved franchises like Dishonored, The evil within, Wolfensteinand Doom.
We still don’t know what it means for these games to finally appear on other consoles, other than the fact that Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo are still being launched in 2021 as timed exclusives on the PlayStation 5, thanks to previous deals. Leaving all that aside, there is a great chance that some of the upcoming games from the aforementioned franchises will be exclusive to Xbox, timed exclusive or feature some type of exclusive content related to Xbox. All the ramifications of the deal will be felt over the next decade, especially considering that the Xbox Game Pass promises to be the home of all Xbox Game Studios games on the first day.
In addition, 2020 saw a handful of massive game ads coming in, including rumors from Playground Games a long time ago Fable restart, the “AAAA” initiative of the Initiative Perfect Darkand Obsidian is very Elder Scrolls– dark fantasy RPG, Declared. It may have taken a few years, but we finally have a clearer picture of what the growing Microsoft studio corral is working on.
In addition to this wealth of new studios and own projects, Game Pass has grown even more with the partnership with EA Play, bringing games like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order for service. Recent rumors have pointed to a similar partnership with Ubisoft +, which again would dramatically increase the value of the already incredible service. In addition, Microsoft is still becoming home to fantastic indie games and minor titles on launch day, including Spiritfarer, Call of the Sea, Refuge, Carrionand Tetris Effect: Connected. Simply put, the Game Pass is a must-have subscription for anyone who owns an Xbox and, with the growth of xCloud, for millions of people who don’t. With all that said, Xbox Games with Gold kind of sucked in 2020 and is getting embarrassed by the free games offered on PlayStation Plus. With the new year, it’s probably time for Microsoft to end GWG and focus on a single service with Game Pass.
But obviously, the big Xbox event of 2020 came in November, with the launch of the Xbox Series X and S. Series S, which surprised me with how powerful it was for such a small and economical console. For $ 299, it’s an incredible portal for “next generation” games, a fantastic second console and an incredible channel for Game Pass. In the meantime, the X Series looks like future-proof hardware that makes me excited to see what a number of studios have in store once we get to the meat and potatoes of the console generation. The Xbox Series X is powerful, quiet and familiar. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but screw it if it’s not a beautiful and functional wheel.
Microsoft announced that the new consoles had the biggest launch in Xbox history, with the majority of sales going to the S Series. That said, we know that the PlayStation 5 outperformed the sales of the new Xbox in the UK, which in fact does not means a lot, except that the PS5 is also selling better on popular retailer sites. However, the Nintendo Switch outperformed the two new consoles in November, making it the best-selling console for the 24th (!) Consecutive month in the United States. It hasn’t changed much since the last holiday, but it looks like Microsoft is in a much better position than it was 365 days ago.
From a top-down view, the launch of the Xbox Series X lacked an exclusive next-generation killer like Demon’s Souls or something that showed why the hardware was special, like Astro’s Playroom made for PS5. In fact, two of my favorite experiences on my new Xbox were Call of the Sea and Gears 5: Hivebusters, both of which occurred weeks after the launch and with surprisingly little fuss from Microsoft.
Interestingly, when I logged onto my Xbox last month, most of my friends were playing third party games, like Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Fifteen days, or Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, while I see many of my PS5 friends playing Demon’s Souls, Miles Moralesand Astro’s Playroom. I’m sure it also doesn’t help that Microsoft has supported itself strongly Cyberpunk 2077The marketing of, which quickly transformed the post-launch into companies by publishing long statements and clarifying how people get reimbursed for the game.
Despite the relatively small line of 2020, the Xbox is about to perform absolutely stellar in the coming years. Of quantities known as Psychonauts 2, Halo Infiniteand Senua saga: Hellblade 2, for games with impressive 2020 reveals how Fable, Perfect Dark, Ark 2and Declared, for the entire herd of Bethesda Softworks studios, the future of Xbox looks bright. Combined with the incredible value of the Game Pass and the tremendous potential that xCloud has to totally change the way we play, the sky is the limit for the next decade on the Xbox.