Senior director of Xbox platform marketing Cindy Walker has been talking to the New York Times about the release of the Xbox Series X this November, telling the outlet that Xbox isn't reliant on "massive launch exclusives."
Walker was speaking specifically about the delayed release of Halo Infinite, explaining that while 343's game would have been great as a launch title, players will still be able to enjoy thousands of great titles at launch:
“Having Halo at our launch would have been tremendous. But we are not reliant on massive exclusive titles to drive console adoption. Our players will have thousands of games from four generations of Xbox available to play on launch day.”
Microsoft has already noted that it's planning to have over 60 brand-new launch titles available for Xbox Series S and X, along with 40 older titles that have been specifically optimised for those systems.
In terms of backwards compatibility, the company has confirmed that all non-Kinect Xbox One games are expected to work on its next-gen consoles, while all current backwards compatible Xbox 360 and original Xbox titles will be available as well, bringing the overall total to over 3000 playable back compat games.
What do you make of Walker's comments on launch exclusives? Give us your thoughts down below.
[source nytimes.com]
Comments 37
Damage control. If halo infinite wasn’t delayed, Xbox wouldn’t be saying this. This is what I meant when I said that Xbox took their eye off the ball on 1st party games.
Easy to say when you have none. They were trumpeting the importance of Halo day one when they had it.
Not that Xbox consoles have any exclusives at all.
@TheNewButler I’m meant 1st party games during this currant gen. I agree apart from that everything does look rosey. But for me, I’m not a fan of subscriptions. I’d rather see what the 1st party studios are making & releasing. This is the reason why I won’t be buying a series x on release. My one s will do everything that I need it to do for now. There’s no reason for me to move onto the series x. But when the Xbox 1st party studios do get release games, then I will def get the series x. Only thing that worries me is that Xbox whole push towards game pass, is if most of the Xbox 1st party games will just end up being gaas or a standard campaign, boosted with multiplayer added to it. I’m not a fan of multiplayer games. Again, what Xbox are doing is great, for the people who want that. But for me, I can wait for the 1st party games.
No doubt about it that this is damage control. It was all Infinite and now that's gone it's all backwards compatibility.
Also I find it crazy that for next gen, Xbox are pushing current gen. I mean, my brother has a one x, for him there’s no point getting a series x. Obviously the series x will look better & run faster, but at the end of the day, they will play the same games.
I know for most this isn't great but I'm personally just jumping into the Xbox ecosystem so the game pass library of old games is all new to me and it's absolutely fantastic! All the Halo and gears Games will keep me busy for months alone. Ryse son of Rome is also very interesting to me. Hopefully I get a pre order of an X next week.
@Cyrus29 Honestly no one expects true full-fledged next-gen games than cannot run on previous gen except the “tech demoes” until atleast 1 year after launch period. Same thing happened in early previous gen. Things are only bound to get further delayed for pandemic now.
@Z3u5000 I understand that. But look at halo infinite. That was supposed to be released in November. No it’s been pushed
till net year because of the backlash. If Xbox didn’t show gameplay till the series x release, Xbox would have still shipped Halo infinite. This is what I meant when I say Xbox and taking their eye of the ball with 1st party games. The whole scenario with Halo Infinite was a mess, I mean Halo is Xbox crown jewel. You wouldn’t imagine Sony doing it to Nathan Drake or Nintendo doing that to Mario or Zelda.
@Cyrus29 I’m talking about the games which your brother won’t get on One X.
@Z3u5000 ok. My brother will do the same as me, wait till the 1st party release proper games in a year or so. At the moment, there’s no reason to get a series x at the moment. It offers great value with game pass, but we won’t be missing out on anything really. My one s & my bro’s one x will play everything that the series x will play. Until next year or so anyway.
Right sure and Series S wasn’t delayed because of Halo :/
Look, I’m in the ecosystem but the eggs were in the Halo Basket.
@mousieone hey they totally handled the whole Halo thing absolutely horribly. All marketing tied to the game and they didn't know it had issues until the fan backlash? Definitely failures at multiple levels going on there and covid had nothing to do with it. They would have been releasing a sub par game without covid with a ton of effort to get it there. That aside I'm pumped for series x
Don’t forget to tune in tonight at 9pm
To see how next generation is done correctly
I can see their point - Halo wasn't going to be a Launch exclusive to sell Series S/X as it was also releasing on current gen and PC too. Its not like Spider-Man Miles Morales for example where you do need to buy a PS5 to play.
If you wanted to play Halo, there was no need to buy a Series S/X at all. There are other games coming on Launch day - like Gears Tactics and of course Assassin's Creed: Valhalla. There are 'reasons' to buy Series S/X in terms of what enhancements they offer over Current Gen and those would still have applied IF Halo was releasing at launch too but you still didn't have to buy a Series S/X to play it.
Of course its still disappointing that a big franchise that people were looking forward to won't be releasing alongside the release of the console and of course that is a 'loss'. There are a lot of fans of Halo though that also feel 343 are on a 'last chance' to try and get Halo right and its more important they do rather than kill the franchise and potentially impact on the Xbox brand. There are a lot of people who also feel that MS has become too reliant on Halo, Gears and Forza but that's a different topic.
As someone with no specific allegiance to either Sony or MS, I am going to pre-order a Series X. I don't have to buy ANY games at launch or extra peripherals either and with my backlog, wouldn't need to buy games at all for years. I will have numerous games that will be significantly enhanced by Series X - inc Gears 5, Forza Horizon 4 etc as well as new games like Cyberpunk so the loss of Halo at launch is really not going to be felt.
As I said above, IF Sony had to delay any of their 'Launch' window exclusives, that would have a bigger impact as they are exclusive to PS5. Games like Halo are not. Its still a loss to those PC and Current Gen gamers who weren't likely to buy a Series S/X at launch anyway and games like the Medium, Scorn, STALKER2, Warhammer etc, games that ARE exclusive to next generation Xbox, are more important than Halo in my opinion because they are games that you will need to upgrade from current gen consoles to play.
Tbf, most launch lineups aren't very good. Most people complaining about Series S/X at launch just get amnesia or are too young to know that. Or they're trolls, which there is no shortage of on the internet.
Nice damage control lol
@Cyrus29 Right now, there are several games that are NOT coming to current gen Xbox consoles - games like the Medium, Scorn, STALKER2, Warhammer Darktide, Fable, Forza Motorsport, State of Decay 3, Suicide Squad, Resident Evil Village etc and I know that 'some' are not Launch Window titles and I know that some will release on PS5 too BUT these are games that are NOT coming to current Gen hardware.
On top of that, there are numerous games that are releasing that will look and/or run better on next gen hardware, target much higher frame rates as in at least 'double' that of the Current gen. For example, Assassins Creed will run at 60fps on Series X, 30fps on current gen, Dirt 5 at 120fps on next gen. Numerous games you already may own (or may now consider) will be getting next gen patches/updates to enhance your gaming experience - Gears 5 has a list of enhancements and 120fps MP, Forza Horizon 4, Cyberpunk (enhanced at launch but a bigger update later with RT support) - so even if you can play those games on your current gen console, you won't be playing them at the same visual or performance quality. Along with that comes 'enhanced' input lag - just playing a game at 60fps instead of 30fps significantly reduces input lag so will feel much better, more responsive to play.
If that isn't enough, then of course you also have added benefits, not having to wait a minute or so to load up a game, to 'fast travel', to get back into playing after death etc. Able to jump from one game to another in seconds with quick resume etc.
Its all well and good buying a 'new' console because it allows you to play 1 or 2 games you couldn't otherwise, but the vast majority of games that you will buy, will look and run better. There wasn't many games at launch of the XB1 that you 'had' to buy an XB1 for - Ryse, Forza 5, Dead Rising 3 - but the vast majority of releases were ALSO released on 360 - AC4, CoD: Ghosts, Battlefield 4 etc and these looked and/or ran better on next gen. BF4 had 30vs30 too which last gen didn't. Titanfall too also released on 360. The PS4 had Knack and Killzone with Infamous coming months later. These also didn't have BC at launch, didn't offer free upgrades - if you bought AC4, CoD, BF4 etc on last gen first, you had to rebuy on next gen.
There will be a LOT of new games coming around launch that will be much better to play on next gen for 'numerous' reasons and whether you can play some on your Xbox One or not is not the point. There will be games coming to Series S/X in the launch window, some maybe a little later that you will NOT be playing on your XB1 (or PS5 either if you go that route), maybe not 1st party games but still 'next-gen' exclusive, and there are numerous 'game-play' advantages coming too - like lower input lag and higher frame rates, much shorter loading times etc. Visual enhancements too - like better draw distances, better lighting, faster streaming (so less pop-in of textures/assets)...
Plenty of reasons to upgrade!!!
@BAMozzy at the moment I’m just using my one s for the backwards compatibility. I know that the series x will enhance them better, but personally for me. It’s not worth buying a series x just to play better versions of my 360 games.
@Cyrus29 True, and they did. Especially with 343i. God knows I've been one of the biggest critics there.
That said, as a gamer, I'm completely over exclusives and FOMO inducing AAA (soon to be AAAA) titles. The one thing I've actually been jealous about PC gaming is the 'evergreen' nature of the platform.
If xbox becomes the platform where you can just pick up hardware and software as and when you want, no limited availability BS, being able to pick up 20 year old titles for dirt cheap (oh, hello Mario 3D All Stars.) then I'm all for the change in mentality.
The more I read the comments the more I feel MS has designed this gen for PlayStation owners. Getting nothing truly ‘next gen’ and only a quicker loading ‘last gen’ must be hugely disappointing for current Xbox owner but for me as a PS4 owner it’s perfect. It gives me an opening to jump into the MS ecosystem and play all the old games that you guys have all played and hopefully I’ll be ready in a few years to pick up next gen games once they are next gen exclusive, which I reckon will start with a new rockstar release in 3 years time....watch this space!
@Dezzy70
Xbox is doing a show today? Thanks for the heads up!
@StonyKL
It’s not hugely disappointing for millions of Xbox owners. Thx though.
@Dezzy70 The system that can't run launch titles at 60FPS in 4K is not next gen.
@Richnj I agree with this. I buy Playstation for exclusives (and to be fair, between 1st party and PS loyal Japanese devs there's more than a fair few.) I buy Nintendo for exclusives and portability. I buy XBox for everything else to be a "PC if I can't be bothered shelling out $1.5k+ plus all the maintenance and tweaking of a PC because I'm not 20 anymore." Microsoft brought the OG XBox out as effectively a "prebuilt gaming PC", then kind of dropped that ball until the 1S/1X era..... Them signaling that it's basically a prebuilt gaming PC and that's their entire platform purpose, I'm very cool with that.
@StonyKL Nah that's the beauty of what they're promoting as having all the generations at once. It's like a PC gamer buying a new video card. You don't need new games to make it exciting, it makes all your existing games and the ones you missed better. And you know next years games will require the new card anyway.... It's exciting for everyone!
@Darthroseman
Don’t forget it’s also the system launching with Spider-Man $60 DLC as it’s main game. Oh and maybe a Demon’s Souls remaster that was a PS3 game. Of course, that hasn’t been confirmed yet. 😴 Lol.
Nothing but damage control. Honestly no reason to get an S or X. That said I still am. Just like I build PCs for no game in particular I'll buy our Xs the same way.
@StonyKL the 360 games on Xbox one are gems. Gears & halo collection are truly gaming perfection for me. But then for me, the Xbox one 1st party’s have been mediocre to good. The only great game released on one is forza 4. An absolutely phenomenal game. I’m yet to play Ori, which I’ve heard great things about. For me Gears 5 & halo 5 were let downs. That’s why for me the backward compatibility is fantastic. I’ve been going through the games that I have missed out on(Xbox one s is my 1st ever Xbox console) Thts why for me the series x can wait. I will def be getting a series x in a year or so. Just at the moment I can’t justify paying a lot of money just to play prettier versions of my 360 games. Again that’s just from my point of view. Outside of that, game pass represents fantastic value for so many people.
@KelticDevil
@NEStalgia
😂🤣 Well played!!
@Cyrus29 that’s why I’m so interested in getting a series X. Yes backward compatibility is good but surely it can’t be as good as getting to play these games for the first time. I’d love to play my favourite games for the first time again and playing prettier versions just isn’t quite the same. Half life 1 & 2, last of us, Zelda OOT - I just haven’t done it on MS exclusives so hoping to get the experience fresh while I wait for the true next gen to kick in.
Will definitely take note of those you mentioned. I’d love an Xbox guy to pick up a PS5 and ask me what PS games to play as there are so many awesome ones that people may miss out on. I’m seeing it from the other side atm. Getting to play what I missed out on last time. Think I’ve convinced myself to get the series x! Lol!
Funny to see the usual clown fanboys on here. They must really love Sony, since all they do is mention it.
@StonyKL lol. If the series x would be your 1st Xbox console. I would def say to get it, to replay the backwards compatibility games on it will look stunning. For me the one s does that already, but I would def recommend getting a Xbox console buddy👍🏻
@KelticDevil
Being honest it does not need a big exclusive at launch, Sony has not really got one. But if Sony delivers next year 2021
Demon souls, ratchet and clank, sack boys adventure. Then the big guns Horizon zero dawn and god of war. That is when the Sony exclusives will come into their own and the gap will open up in sales between Xbox and PlayStation.
Depends on what Xbox bring exclusive wise next year as they need to be careful with Halo and after Halo I can’t really see any big guns.
Anyway time will tell and we shall see if history repeats itself. I think it will but may be a little closer this time round. A lot depends if gaming takes to the series s.
@KelticDevil Seems Demon's Souls will also be on PC and Forbes says it will also be on other consoles, but I don't believe the last part.
@Cyrus29 That's up to you - but that still doesn't mean that Series S/X doesn't have any reasons to upgrade as you stated. There are numerous reasons to upgrade.
The fact you have an Xbox also wouldn't affect whether or not you could have played Halo had it been launching and the 'reasons' to buy a Series S/X with Halo would be the exact same reasons you can apply to ANY of the new games coming - to play the games at higher visual quality, to play them at higher frame rates, to benefit from faster loading times etc.
Just because you are choosing to play 360 games doesn't mean that the Series S/X has no reasons to buy. I could accept that if you own a 'higher' spec PC or intend to upgrade that, the Series X perhaps doesn't offer any reason to purchase but there are reasons. Even if those reasons are not enough to justify the cost to you at the moment, there are still reasons...
@Krzzystuff same excited for the system. The marketing for the consoles has been on point eve after the leak.
But I feel like there is a disconnect with the games marketing.
I guess now the July showcase pushing Gamepass makes more sense than ever. They knew about the price hike.
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