We're now entering the twelfth year of the Xbox One's existence, and Microsoft's last-gen console continues to receive loads of new games on a monthly basis - an incredible feat for what eventually turned out to be an incredible system!
But at what point do you stop? That's the question that indie developer and publisher "HappyPlayer" asked on social media last week, pondering whether it's "necessary" to support the console with a new release called Idle Devils.
As you can probably imagine, this sparked an interesting discussion with multiple viewpoints shared - many people stating that Xbox One should remain a key focus for the team, while others advised ditching it for the Series X|S alone.
Here's just one example of an exchange over on Reddit:
In the case of Idle Devils, the developer is having an issue where the game is taking too long to load on Xbox One, and apparently Microsoft has a loading limit of 20 seconds in order to put the title on the market. That's the gist of it!
It remains to be seen what they'll do next, but in our view, it probably is worth the effort to try and push the Xbox One version over the line. Yes, it's an old console and many of us have moved on now, but the "Top Paid" Xbox charts are filled with "Xbox One" versions of games all the time, so clearly they're still managing to shift copies going into 2025.
What do you think about this? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments section below.
Comments 16
"He's dead Jim" - let it go
To be fair if it's easy to do and costs you little why not. But if, as in this case, it is causing problems with the conversion it probably isn't worth the extra effort, you likely won't see a return on that extra investment.
I would like a future where games aren't restricted to current gen just to entice you to move over there. If the previous consoles are capable for a particular game then it should be available there.
I kind of think this is where xbox is headed. A new "gen" in 2026 but all their games will still be playable on series x/s.
There is no way an indie game should be putting in the extra effort if it doesn't happen easily.
I can't imagine people who are still on X1 are also the ones going out and picking up the latest indie hit.
To be fair, I've only recently upgraded to the Series myself, so I can appreciate when devs do give the XOne some love! That said, it should really depend on the game - a lot of devs will still be targeting the Switch for at least a few years to come... and if you've got it on the Switch, there's no reason you can't put it on the XOne/PS4. But if it's going to be a struggle for the hardware, then just keep it to the next gen models?
I don't understand why there aren't more Gen9aware games, especially XB1 games - it gives the best of both worlds & utilises the Series X/S enhancements but does not need to be installed on the internal velocity drive
Why a basic game like Pinkman needs to be installed on the internal drive baffles me; the recent Assassins Creed Syndicate was a Gen9aware update & runs fine off an external drive
If it profitable for the company then yes if things are still getting released on the Xbox one system there must be enough players still kicking it old school on the xbone for it to be worthwhile so keep it going!
There's more people using an Xbox One than an Xbox Series X. I mean, let that sink in.
Xbox One sold around 58 million units, Xbox Series X/S split about 28 million units so far, so there's 14-15 million Xbox Series X consoles in the wild.
There's a reason MS says they have more console players than ever, it's because MILLIONS are still on Xbox One playing Fortnite, COD, Madden, Apex, Minecraft, Roblox ECT
Older people like myself still play on XB1 because there's no game that makes me wanna upgrade.
Also young kids play on XB1 because it's a hand me down.
Anything playable on Xbox One is playable on Series X/S... sooooo why wouldn't you?
@Medic_alert If it's available, I probably do. I bought Bomb Rush Cyberfunk on my One.
It's not just an Xbox problem, there are still TONS of PS4 users as well. These consoles will not die while receiving a steady release of games and the current gen systems only get a trickle of true generation exclusives. (Not referring to first party, just Series/PS5 only.)
I genuinely don't see an end to this until the next generation.
I think old gen has a place for some sales and low end development like Switch is which for Indies I think is fair.
Unless the game absolutely needs the power then sure but most games I think don't need it. Gameplay isn't being pushed just graphics, I want gameplay with such graphics/scale/level design of linear set pieces.
Like Ratchet Rift Apart was done on PS3 with Crack in Time and it did it better, nothing about Rift Apart is that great, oh it's faster at loading, so what, most of it is forced or invisible walls anyways, so who cares what you see if it's still smoke and mirrors I know it's not like I can't tell the segments, the skyboxes, how it all works of teleportation around different areas and Crack in Time had more of them it's like comparing crystal hunt levels in Ratchet 2 & 3, or Spyro 2 & 3 the level of detail with 2 versions of every level, besides the Spyro 3 sub areas (which Rift Apart also has the side rifts for platforming, how is this 'original' when it's been done for 20 years anyways), so it's how they went about them. I don't see any gameplay pushing hardware ideas happening in games today just graphics and it's so boring.
Give me dynamic levels, a hive mind AI that learns, forgets, copies the player or other enemies around them, sends it back to their hivemind network. Where is THAT video game. No one because no one will do it.
It's like Alpha Protocol who wants to write a story with a quick dialogue system (lot of effort of dialogue to write) and you fight a boss or ignore that fight to just play the level, you don't get that whiplash of possibilities by dialogue these days it's too heavily scripted and by the numbers boring. No surprising. It's no Mass Effect hit the reporter or call out the Citadel store is bad or other cool details of a dialogue system anymore either.
Possibilities in games are very limited and that's always been the case but they are so limited or so casual audience easy to understand but weak in excitement or wow factor. Premises maybe, but the execution is so boring and duller then PS3/360 gen offered of ideas and world details or just playing as a character is more boring now then it was 2 gens ago. Racing, shooters, platformers, all of them, per different genres, some better, some worse then others. It varies but they still suck.
I don't go back to old gens for nostalgia, I buy up games never played before for their ideas, it's worth it too. Inspires me where I think modern games lack not just some old ones being fair of execution besides their polish/old design differences. Some stuff still shines through and left behind.
Some sure like No Man's Sky after what Battlefront 3 tried to do or Haven Call of the King but even still. Most games are just so pitiful of gameplay that's typical of PS3/360 again and again but even safer mission design and safer movesets/abilities then PS3/360 gen had because playing them I'm like those I want to play for those mechanics and those ideas, not PS4/Xbox One or PS5/Series X gen games are more boring to interact with, it's so boring.
That and back compat so they still get the money/customers can still use the product.
The Switch 2 will likely match it in specs, so you can bet there will be a lot of XBone/PS4 ports down the road.
If they run on the Series X/S and PS5 anyway, why wouldn't you want the whole Microsoft/Sony family of supported systems in your sales? Not every game needs current gen specs to run and you can make current gen patches for those systems anyway.
@Elbow the ps4 is a totally different argument though. Bigger install base and more powerful hardware make the job easier and more likely to be profitable.
But you have also pretty much made my point for me in that you appear to be very much in a minority.
If they're struggling to bring the loading times below 20 seconds (which is literally on par with Sonic '06!), then it's probably not worth it. I've passed over many games on Xbone because of the unbearably slow loading. For an open-world game with streaming, 20 seconds for an initial load is more than fine. But if it reloads frequently (which this game probably does), just forget it.
PS: If there's a 20-second limit, then where do large, open-world games like The Witcher 3 fit in? Are there exceptions for games that rely on streaming?
Answer: .].................................................................................................djejri...................................................................................<..............................................No.
Kill it with a passion. It's called XBone for a reason. Also the reason 'Top paid games' has many XBone titles is its cheaper to buy the XBone version and get a free upgrade to Series version.
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