Will Xbox Get More Exclusives To Have An Edge Over Playstation?
By: Erik Ruof
Tags: Culture, Games, Technology, Gaming

Photo by Ammar ABU-ZAiD on Unsplash

The Console Wars have been an arduous 21st century battle between two juggernauts of the gaming industry. Microsoft’s Xbox lineage and Sony’s Playstation lineage have been pitting against each other for decades by supporting nearly the same features, all the while Nintendo practices innovative isolationism on the sidelines.

The two consoles have comparable specs: both are sleek in design, identical central processing units, similar storage space, familiar frame rates, and the same likelihood of a 12-year-old tauntingly teabagging your character post-headshot.

Considering these shared features, brand loyalty condenses down to whichever one you have more friends on. As much as gamers are seen as anti-social cyberslackers, it is a highly social form of entertainment.

You virtually interact in teambuilding environments with multiplayer games for so many hours that time seems to dissipate. Or you may be going on your own independent adventure in a single-player game that will be the talk of the town among your buddies.

Outside of the social aspect, there is another motivation that explains the behavior of the brand loyalists: exclusive content.

Playstation was ahead of the game with exclusive content considering that the first Playstation came out well ahead of the first Xbox, which debuted alongside the Playstation 2. Developers flocked to Sony with their video game ideas, seeing it as liberating and edgy compared to the Nintendos and Ataris.

Microsoft had to catch up since Sony had the advantage of a longer market presence. By the time the Playstation 3 was coming out, Microsoft didn’t want to seem like they were behind their competitors by simply naming their next system the Xbox 2. In effect, they abandoned a chronological counting system in exchange for geometrical jargon and thus spawned the Xbox 360. And their counting system ceased to make sense ever since.

While Playstation garnered a list of exclusives over its years of being active, Xbox made a significant impression with the eclipsing impact of the Halo series as well as offering such exclusives including Forza, Fable, and Gears of War.

While these titles made Xbox a fierce competitor for the Playstation, each incarnation of the Playstation still managed to outsell each Xbox. A trend that is still continuing.

In order for Xbox to have an edge over Playstation, Microsoft will have to make a different impression on the gaming market. They are, without a doubt, the larger company with more resources to enhance the performance of their gaming system.

In October 2020, Microsoft was able to acquire ZeniMax Media, responsible for Bethesda Games Studio, for $7.5 billion. This may end up being a move to make popular game series Elder Scrolls and Fallout exclusively available for Xbox and PC, despite studio director Todd Howard’s desire to maintain access from all platforms.

The details of the deal have yet to be ironed out, but it will no doubt give Microsoft a competitive edge. Under its wing, Bethesda will be able to become a better developing company than it already was. Starfield, the interstellar RPG that has been discussed for years, can be pulled out of development hell and brought to development heaven by Microsoft.

The general consensus among the gaming community is that each sequel of acclaimed games Microsoft pumps out fosters fatigue. The newest Halo and Gears of War titles haven’t stirred excitement while new Playstation titles have been making good impressions on the public with God of War, Last of Us, and Uncharted.

Taking on original titles is a risky venture. Considering how many Avengers and Fast & Furious movies there are, the motion picture industry is well aware of this as well. But in order for Microsoft to officially outsell Sony, it’s going to have to bring more titles to the table.

The people are ready to try something new. Even if it does end up being Fallout 76.

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