Xbox's Past and Future
There is a lot to look forward to in 2020, two new consoles are on the horizon, which means new titles for them, but as we get to the tail end of the two they are replacing, games are getting bigger and bolder, as developers have learnt how to leverage all the power and technical know-how from them, to craft worlds the demand to be enjoyed. So, let’s take a look at what we have to look forward to for 2020 from Xbox.
In 2019, Xbox had a quiet year, but an important one, not only did they finally slow down on their studio purchasing spree, they finally released Crackdown 3, after many, many delays.
The year started off with Crackdown 3, which sadly not even the power of Terry Crews could save, though it was fun to see him try, the game was not bad in any significant ways, it was just something we played a decade ago and sadly the visuals didn’t match what we had come to expect this console generation. For as long as we waited for Crackdown 3, it was out of collective minds in a mere heartbeat in comparison, which is never a good sign for any game.
That was their February release, their next exclusive didn’t come until September, but before then the formally Xbox exclusive Cuphead, had a fun filled romp on the Switch and while Xbox did not publish it, they did support the studio behind it. People went a little nuts that Xbox were bringing one of their games to another platform that wasn’t PC and it was quite the welcome surprise, but it was not the only one.
September saw the phenomenal Ori and the Blind Forrest make the jump to Switch as well, giving more gamers the chance to experience this visual masterpiece, with a series of enhancements, the game was the best version of it, but that was at the end of the month, the start of it saw the latest chapter in the bro-fuelled series that is Gears of War, or as it was released as Gear 5. This latest entry took you out of the boots of the military jock and let you take control of Kait, a character, that if I am honest bores and simultaneously annoys me. It was not just a new playable character, the game added some open world sections, letting you lose to explore the world for the first time, or at least some part of it.
The final releases for the year were both on PC, with the excellent remaster of Age of Empires II Definitive Edition and Halo Reach, with both games taking full advantage of the power of modern PC’s. If you are counting, Xbox only released 4 titles in 2019, 6 if you count the two Switch ports, which is not a lot of games, but they kept their services going.
Xbox Game Pass grew over the year, every few weeks it felt that there were more games being added, simply because there were, in fact there are over 250 titles available on the service, which is insane. But it was not just Xbox One owner that got the service improved in 2019, PC gamers got in to the action as well and if you have both devices you could combine the service for a nominal fee, the best part, you don’t stream the games, so no worry about the lack of speed on most Australian internet services.
2019 was a good year for Xbox, they did not release a lot of content, you can’t explain away four titles in one year, when two of them are remasters, but expect a lot of work in the background for 2020.
Xbox Series X is going to be their major focus this year, so expect to hear a lot about it, not only from Xbox themselves, but also 3rd party developers as more and more folks come on board. With the Xbox Series X launching in holiday 2020, there is still at least 10 months of the year that we have to fill and sadly, there is not a lot to expect.
Kicking off the 2020 release list for Xbox is Ori and the Will of the Wisps, the follow up title to the original, which as above came to Switch in 2019. The games director has touted the game as being Super Mario Bros 3, to the original games Super Mario Bros, so expectations are quite high, which given that people have wanted more Ori since the end of the first one, that is saying something. We know a fair bit about the sequel, so now it is just a matter of waiting to see how it is when it releases, which is not to far away, thanks to its early March release.
Another title that is releasing in March is Bleeding Edge, the 4v4 multiplayer brawler game, think Overwatch, but without the guns. The game is being developed by Ninja Theory and they have the pedigree, the question remains, will people care about a new online only title, this late in a consoles life cycle, which if Xbox have their way, might not be a big issue going forward.
Not long after that, we get another entry in the Gears universe, but this one is a little different from the normal shooters, instead Gears Tactics, combines the Gears world with combat similar to that of XCOM, which sounds like a solid plan. How this plays out in the long run is anyone’s guess, tactics games are extremely reliant on people enjoying their systems and if they are not able to deliver one that people like, it will take a lot of work to sell the game.
That is in April, at the end, but in April and another game releasing that same month is Minecraft Dungeons, the first full new title in the Minecraft universe since, well ever. Dungeons is best described as Diablo, just set in the worlds of Minecraft, with up to 4 players allowed to explore randomly created dungeons, in order to complete the grand quest that they are on, what that is is still unknown. The developers are promising some gameplay that feels familiar to those who play Minecraft, but with entirely new depths to discover, plus with planned cross play, there will never be anyone not to play with.
Past April, we know very little about what to expect until holiday 2020, when Xbox Series X is released, with Halo Infinite. What we know is that the story of Halo Infinite will focus back on Master Chief and that is about it, we are two trailers in for the game and we know almost nothing. There are plenty of rumours around, but until there is confirmation, we won’t speculate here, of course, we might see another game or two joining Chief, but we know it won’t be Forza.
Playground Games, creators of the Horizon series of Forza only just released their latest title Horizon 4 in 2018 and kept the content coming in 2019, we know they have a second team, but don’t expect whatever they are working on, to release in 2020, there is no chance, so anyone saying otherwise is just spinning fables.
Turn 10, the creators of the Forza series, as well as those who develop the Motorsport branch have already gone on record to say they were taking a year off and that was 2019, but they have not said that they will be back in 2020. Given how much fun can be found in the visuals that car games managed to showcase on any sort of new hardware. The Xbox One launched with Motorsport 5, so seeing 8 here would be nice indeed.
The rest of the Xbox Game Studios family are either actively developing content for already released games, like Sea of Thieves, or they have deals with other publishers, like The Outer Worlds or Wasteland 3. We know Obsidian, the developer behind The Outer Worlds is current at work on a new survival game, Grounded, but there is no date listed for it, as for the rest, Psychonauts 2 from Double Fine has been in development for some time, but again falls under the listing of another publisher.
E3 2020 is going to be a massive year for Xbox, not only will they get a chance to showcase what the new box can do, but also the games we can look forward to on it, now we just have to wait until June.
