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News video games 24 July 2020, 13:19

author: Bart Woldanski

Xbox Series X Exclusives - Confusion After the Presentation

Yesterday's Xbox Games Showcase conference was full of games, but contrary to what was announced, many of them are developed exclusively for the Xbox Series X (and PC). Thus, Microsoft may not have kept its repeated promises of several years' support for Xbox One.

However, it seems that Microsoft intends to lean more into Sony's path and focus primarily on games created for its next-gen console.

Microsoft has regularly promised that we won't need Xbox Series X for the next two years, because the games created under the Xbox Game Studios name are also to be released on current-gen console. The Xbox Games Showcase and the announcements of the so-called first-party titles (i.e. developed by Microsoft's internal development teams) suggest that things may not look so rosy. It turns out that these great promises will probably not be kept, as it has already been announced that games such as Forza Motorsport 8, Fable, Avowed, Everwild or State of Decay 3 are only heading for Xbox Series X and PC. They are created by Microsoft's studios, so theoretically we were supposed to play them on Xbox One, Xbox One S and Xbox One X as well. Just remember the words of the company's representatives from recent months - the best quotes are listed below.

Matt Botty, head of Xbox Game Studios, said in January that:

“As our content comes out over the next year, two years, all of our games, sort of like PC, will play up and down that family of devices. We want to make sure that if someone invests in Xbox between now and [Series X] that they feel that they made a good investment and that we’re committed to them with content.”

He spoke in similar words in March, claiming that:

"All our exclusive Xbox Game Studios titles that are optimized for Xbox Series X, including Halo Infinite, are committed to using Smart Delivery too. Gamers can have confidence when they purchase games in the Xbox ecosystem that your investments and progression move forward with you to the next generation."

The best summary of how Microsoft has been keeping its promises are the words of Phil Spencer, Xbox's boss, from last week:

"You won’t be forced into the next generation. We want every Xbox player to play all the new games from Xbox Game Studios. That’s why Xbox Game Studios titles we release in the next couple of years—like Halo Infinite—will be available and play great on Xbox Series X and Xbox One. We won’t force you to upgrade to Xbox Series X at launch to play Xbox exclusives."

Meanwhile, most of the games announced yesterday at the Xbox Game Showcase do not offer Smart Delivery, because there are simply no Xbox One versions planned. The situation was not improved by the fact that selected developers, including the creators of Avowed and Everwild, originally posted a mention of current generation console on their websites, these were quickly removed, which only introduced even greater confusion among fans. It could also be that none of the games announced exclusively for Xbox Series X, including Forza Motorsport 8, will be released before the end of 2022 to enable the company to "technically" keep its promises.

Microsoft has issued a statement for The Verge, stating that:

The above declaration does not really explain anything. We can only deduce from it that a given game will either come out on Xbox One or it will not come out, so all we know is that we know nothing. Also, the statement by Aaron Greenberg, head of marketing at Xbox, from Twitter does not make anything clearer. We learned from it that future first party titles are created first on Xbox Series X and it's the studio responsible for them that will decide whether they will also appear on the current generation console.

Below, for the sake of clarity, we have included a list of games with a list of the hardware platforms they will be available on, with the exception of CrossfireX, which only targets Xbox One and Xbox Series X without PC.

Games planned for PC and Xbox Series X:

  • State of Decay 3 - optimized for XSX, first-party
  • Forza Motorsport - optimized for XSX, first-party
  • Fable - optimized for XSX, first-party
  • Avowed - optimized for XSX, first-party
  • As Dusk Falls - optimized for XSX, first-party
  • Everwild - optimized for XSX, first-party
  • STALKER 2 - optimized for XSX, exclusive title
  • Warhammer 40,000 Darktide - optimised for XSX, exclusive title
  • The Medium - optimized for XSX, exclusive title

Games planned for PC as well as Xbox Series X and Xbox One

  • Halo Infinite - optimized for XSX and PC
  • Tell Me Why - n.a.
  • Grounded - optimized for XSX
  • Psychonauts 2 - optimized for XSX
  • Destiny 2 Beyond Light - optimized for XSX
  • Tetris Effect Connected - optimized for XSX, exclusive title
  • The Gunk - optimized for XSX, exclusive title
  • New Genesis Phantasy Star Online 2 - optimized for XSX, exclusive title

To sum up, the references to the Xbox One console on the websites of selected games were wrong - this was officially confirmed. Although it is likely that the promises made earlier will not be fulfilled, from the point of view of players who are expecting the progress brought by next-gen, releasing games only on Xbox Series X (and PC) is a good decision. The fact that the choice was left to the developers is also a good move by Microsoft. It remains to wait for the effects of the work and release dates of the announced games, but it looks like we will have to be patient, because for many of them we will have to wait maybe even a few years.