I think the launch lineup is definitely lacking, but there is a lot I’ve missed out on having a 1S and base PS4. Jedi Fallen Order, Control, RDR2, Ori2, etc. Then add CP to that list, and I just want good solid frame rates with future capabilitiy. Add the BC part for my 360 games like Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, and I’m good to go. But yes, the launch lineup for those looking for “new” experiences is definitely shaky
Counterpoint:
MS will be able to market XSX in the following way, most likely…
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Most powerful box, plays best versions of the biggest multiplatform games, including big 1P stuff an XSX console exclusives @ launch
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Walk into a store, do quick credit check and leave without dropping a dime. Ya come out with XSX + Gold + xCloud + 300 games available on day 1. Monthly payments of $35/mo for 2 yrs. Play all your existing games, use existing controllers, play the GP games and others to come on any PC, Xbox console, or on your mobile phone using xCloud. One sub, no hassle.
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Replace XSX with XSS and change it to $25/mo.
…I think the convention wisdom is that MS markets this like every other box (and like PS5), where the value on offer is to get XSX + a couple major games for $60 each + cost of Gold, for many hundreds of dollars. I don’t think they are gonna market it that way though. I think lots of ppl might even get a PS5 and impulse buy an XSX on the spot with All Access.
It should be noted that the rationale of ‘exclusive top tier content winning out over disruptive convenience’ is something that many other entertainment industries quickly discovered was wrong. Instead what happens usually is the disruptive convenience factor wins early and then uses its successes to reshape the industry and grows enough to build its own exclusive content that locks ppl in.
Maybe this time will be different. I personally don’t think it will, but we will find out in a few yrs. 
I’m betting Cyberpunk is far and away the biggest game on both consoles this holiday. Like, I bet it won’t even be remotely close. The best playing version of that is something MS will be able to market and launch quality on both platforms in terms of next gen exclusive stuff will become less relevant than ppl think atm.
Don’t agree much with the OP but glad @Carpenter made it since the topic kinda bleeds over into other threads constantly now.
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Everyone will form their own opinion on what compels them to dive into next-gen and whether or not it’s worth investing in at launch. Certainly, the loss of Halo Infinite at launch is a blow to the value proposition of the Series X for Holiday 2020, but it was never going to be the only quality game playable on the console at launch. You can play Yakuza Like A Dragon, the Medium, and Tetris Effect: Connected at launch (all either exclusive or timed exclusive Series X). Microsoft has not confirmed which games they will be releasing at launch or during the launch window. I at least expect Remedy’s Crossfire X campaign game and another Xbox Game Studios title at launch or shortly thereafter. Maybe they’ll sneak out the Series X update to Minecraft with the ray tracing before the year’s end. Plus, there’ll be plenty of third party support and backwards compatibility. For some, this will be enough, for others perhaps waiting until 2021 to buy a Series X will be a wiser decision.
I think Microsoft’s overall strategy for the Series X is not focused as much on launch at this point and is more of a long game. I believe they ideally wanted to have more first party games ready for the launch window but COVID-19 disrupted those plans. However, that’s throughout the industry. Neither Sony nor Nintendo have announced strong first party titles for the holiday season. Sony has Miles Morales but that’s about it. Ratchet and Clank won’t likely drop till sometime early next year. I believe Xbox Game Studios has a very strong development slate throughout their studios which will eventually churn out Halo Infinite, Fable, Avowed, Forza, and other such exclusive Series X titles which will likely be system sellers that show the power and value of next-gen, but they won’t get here until 2021-2022. Microsoft knows this, which is why they are pushing GamePass and the Xbox ecosystem more at this point.
How about we all wait until the console launch dates, prices, and actual launch games are set before we do all of this?
I don’t think Sony or MS has confirmed any games are 100% launch day.
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To each their own but I’ll never understand the whole launch thing. You are buying technology that will last for some years. That’s the main focus, the games will come when they come. The Series X is super impressive.
When I upgraded my video card some years ago, I didn’t have a single game in mind, I upgrade for the tech. Then one of the first things I do is load up a game that I could not play at Max settings and max it out. I dunno how many times back then I replayed Half Life 2 or Bioshock, good times. Now it’s games like Hitman 2 and any of the Xbox games on PC.
In any case, I’m Day One and I know my current library will carry over and get “enhanced”. Heck, it’s because of this I stopped playing games like Doom Eternal, etc.
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I would say the root of your concern is the lack of a killer app on gamepass. My take is that they don’t have a killer app YET. These things take time and it can almost be random in what games grabs attention of the general public. No publisher could predict the success of PubG or more recently fall guys. They just have to keep their foot in the peddle and keep giving devs resources. It eventually will happen.
On to your other points, I to am disappointed that I haven’t been able to fawn over the games or hardware that I’ll be getting this November, but it’s still months away. I deep down hope that they are just trying to follow the Apple or Samsung template of announcing everything around a month before launch to try to build hype and quickly capitalize. We will see I guess.
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This is the sort of thing that makes me think things ARE desperate. I’m really not trying to be negative, but that Yakuza game is on X1, PS4 and Pc. A timed exclusive in that they’re keeping it off Ps5. If that is what passes for an exciting line up…
Yes, I hope that they’re negotiating something special, to be honest, at this point I’d think a download code for Cyberpunk would be a great idea, if the SeriesX patch was coming at launch.
Yes, I’ve been holding off on that too, that’ll be one I’ll play on next get hardware, as will Cyberpunk when the patch rolls out.
@NerfedLlamas, sorry if this comes off as harsh, I didn’t mean to be. Obviously if you’re looking forward to those games, who am I to say different.
I don’t view the shared information as desperate. It is the only information we have at this time. It’s not like the PS5 is in a much better position for exclusive launch content: they have only confirmed Miles Morales, Astro’s Playroom, and Godfall so far. The rest is all multi-platform third party stuff that will be on both next-gen consoles, so they effectively cancel each other out. Both Microsoft and Sony will give us more definitive information on launch titles and exclusive content when they eventually share their alleged September next-gen video presentations. Until then, we can only work with what little info both companies have given us.
Oh I agree, I’m not excited about the PS5 line up (and won’t be getting one). It doesn’t mean the bar has been set for what’s good or not.
It reminds me a little of the Xbox One launch (which was definitely far worse) where I was thinking “how much worse can this get?” I wanted the Xbox One to be great, but every little bit of news was another reason why I shouldn’t get one, even though I wanted to. When they announced that they wouldn’t be packing in a headset, because everyone could use a Kinect I was like “I think that’s it, I’m out” (they did a u-turn and packed one in) at that point it felt like there was nothing they could do to make it worse. At that launch I was into the idea of something or other that was coming out, I wanted to play Battlefield on next gen and I wanted to play Dead Rising 3, I picked up a couple of other things too, but I can’t remember what they were now. Forza5 for sure, and I was hyped for Titanfall which wasn’t a launch title but I was really excited about it nonetheless (and it was amazing, preferred it to the sequel).
With this launch it’s more like I need one good reason to go for it, I want to want it. With the last console, I was already sold on it (much as a few people here must be) and I just wanted them to stop talking me out of it. This time around, the power is excellent news, the BC is also great, even better with the enhancements, those are big things for me. But I need something to feel hyped about playing! It feels like I’ll get this beast of a console home and the best that I can imagine is playing Gears 5 again amped up a little more and Control a current gen game getting a lick of paint.
For me, that’s The Medium. I love just about everything I’ve seen about the game: the atmosphere, the visual design, the dual worlds, the soundtrack, and no load screens. Honestly, no load screens is gonna always get me hyped about next-gen.
I’ll also be playing Yakuza Like A Dragon, as a huge fan of the series, and am hopeful to see what next-gen improvements are made on the Series X.
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If you’re not hyped for any game on either console, then maybe you need a new hobby or a break from gaming. I’m hyped for all 10 games that I will be buying/playing at launch plus I already have a few games in early 2021 to look forward to. That doesn’t include current generation games like Wasteland 3 or The Outer Worlds which I will be playing via Game Pass. Also, I want to play through the entire main series of Halo.
As for delaying the consoles, FUCK NO!!! It’s not going to happen regardless but nevertheless, if you’re not hyped for next gen, then don’t buy either console at launch but millions of gamers will be myself included. I’m super hyped and buying both day one with Xbox Series X being my primary gaming console for next generation and the tech alone, im hyped for. This doesn’t even include Microsoft’s exclusives down the line and the long term excellence that I will be getting from them.
I suggest you look into more games (exclusives and multi-platform) to see if you can get hyped for a few of them or something. Other than that, I don’t know what to tell you.
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Every Fall, Gamepass gets a huge first party marquee title and with Halo being delayed, it definitely hurts the attention that it would have gotten. Not the value, the value has always been good.
The rumour that Cyberpunk 2077 would hit GP was squashed thoroughly and it doesn’t seem like there’s any chance of that happening. But that was before Halo Infinite’s delay. I think this needs to be revisited for a 3 month launch window deal for GP. If visual upgrades are coming months later, maybe not.
But I think we need to look at who MS is targeting here. Current Xbox owners? PS fans? People in the middle that didn’t buy an X1 after owning a 360 and moving to PS4?
I totally agree that MS should have created something like “next gen DLC” ready for launch with some of their existing IP using the same assets as a current gen game, much like Miles Morales. Gears and Forza Horizon being obvious candidates.
But we know that Gears 5 will be optimized for XSX, and may very well get the same visual boost as Miles Morales. For Xbox gamers, this isn’t something new in terms of content, but for PS gamers potentially crossing over, it can be a big draw if marketed right. Same with FH4. If these can be marketed like launch titles (contingent on whether they truly look next gen), it may not serve existing fans but can have an impact on the wider market, the market that doesn’t own an Xbox One but want a meaty 20-40 hour experience that looks next-gen. PC gamers who own both games can look at it and think “my PC can’t do that and it’ll take $900 in upgrades to look like that” it puts the XSX in a positive light.
The other thing that MS could lean into is now games are experienced on XSX. Going in between games during gameplay within seconds, game installs possibly being much smaller due to hardware compression, etc. are a few features that PC gamers won’t get. Why should you buy an XSX? The experience of going in between games, downloading games, and all that sounds like will be best on XSX.
So I agree, but there are opportunities here. Opportunities that would have been glossed over if Halo was a launch title. Sony is rightfully focused on their controller. I think they have great features that will be used in every single title through the life of the unit. The XSX has some of its own features that benefits every game and the experience overall.
Finally, MS needs to start dropping the “100+ games” on Gamepass and need to more accurately reflect that number. “250+ games” is true for console, not sure about PC.
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I think once we start seeing games from Xbox on a series x the narritive will fall back to microsoft. The only keeping it in Sony’s corner right now is Xbox because they won’t show gameplay. Kena is the new GI cover game and here is another ps5 game being shown off. These are the things that annoy me. Show some games Microsoft.
The fact is that the PS5 is launching with some compelling games - and MS doesn’t have Halo to turn the narrative. Worse, Halo looked pretty terrible when shown. You should know that Kena is a timed exclusive, and will eventually make its way to Xbox.
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Agree in a lot of ways OP. I don’t think they are in trouble yet but they need to stop leaning so heavily into Game Pass.
I believe many are grossly under estimating the value and importance of game pass, and I think it should be the center of why you want to get the XBOX console. With past generation, you would buy the console ($400-$500), then additional controllers, a couple of games (not many are that good, or crossgen) and suddenly, you’re walking out of store having spent north of $800/$900.
This generation, if you are already in Xbox ecosystem (ie own a X/S and/or have GP/U), you may only need to spent the $ on the console only, and you'll be able to play 200+ games on day one. If you use the payment system, you'll have all of these include (console + GP + Gold) for one low monthly cost. This is specially important during the holiday period when many families financial resources are stretched and for many it will sadly be worse this year.
In late 2021/2022, there will be lot of 1st party and more 3rd party content available when its more important to move the console during those periods.
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Gamepass has managed to sell xbox ones, which was condemned as a console not worth having. There were many countries where Xbox had almost 0 presence that reported big increases once gamepass was a thing. Not to mention late last year where the low price of the SAD console with gamepass also made a stellar holiday for xbone.
Imagine what will it do with a console that’s actually desirable? Or having a cheaper console right of the bat with Series S? Or having all access being extended to multiple retailers offering an incredible array of buying options for the consumers?
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My counterpoint to your theoretical argument is some anecdotal evidence: Game Pass already sold Xboxes to two of my friends. So apparently it can be a system seller.
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Nice! If I wanted to argue, I guess I’d need to ask all your friends who don’t have an Xbox but do play video games what made them make their choice and why it wasn’t an Xbox. 
But seriously, that’s cool, maybe it’s more of a system seller than what I’ve seen suggested. 
Surely Xbox One X and Series X are pretty much the same thing? One of them is just the newer version. They’re both more powerful than the competition, have the best version of multiplatform games, they play the same library of games (pretty much, bar a small number), have Gamepass, same controller, same dashboard, etc, etc.
For the record, I think One X was and is extremely desirable, I bought one straight away and think that it’s the xbox brand done right: most powerful, well engineered, good software. When you say that it’s not desirable, I kinda wonder why you think the Series X is desirable when the One X isn’t. My issues are with the launch lineup not taking advantage of the hardware or providing a compelling reason to buy one, not the hardware itself.
For people who didn’t buy the most powerful console on the market a few years ago, what’s different when the latest version of the most powerful console on the market goes on sale?