Microsoft’s Director of Program Management, Mike Ybarra, doesn’t feel that the upcoming Xbox One X needs to launch with several “system sellers” specifically made for it.
In the past, new console’s launched with various exclusive games that were intended to sell the system. Among others, the Halo franchise has always been a system-seller for Microsoft, but being a mid-cycle console refreshment just like Sony’s PS4 Pro is, the One X won’t release with a set of exclusives intended to sell the system. According to Ybarra however, the current Xbox One X lineup is strong, and he isn’t sure whether people would even still want several exclusive titles for just one console.
“Any exclusive gets people excited. Of all those games, I think all of them will have an interest to people, whether they say 'wow, I'm going to buy an Xbox One X' is up to them”, the Microsoft executive told Eurogamer in a recent interview.
“Bluehole's announced an Xbox One X-enhanced version of PUBG on the console which I think gives people a lot of confidence. I think our line-up proves itself out. And when I look at six months beyond December, I see Crackdown which has a lot of excitement and I'm happy with the reaction to the delay - people saying 'quality is what we want, take a few more months'. State of Decay 2 is coming. I like what that next six months looks like past December.”
Ybarra continued, “X is designed for the hardcore gamer who wants to play the best versions of those games. When I look at the Xbox family I don't feel like we have to come out with six new games just for X, it'll play everything that's come out, back compat will work on it, elements like that. I don't know if we're still in the world of having to have big, exclusive titles just for one box, versus the promise that games you buy will work and look even better on X. It's up to the user to choose. And for us it's more that choice element, rather than holding an exclusive and throwing it out with a console there.”
Do you agree with Ybarra on this? Does the Xbox One X need games exclusive to the console in order to sell? Hit the comments below.
