One plot mechanic could be a Stranger Than Fiction/Free Guy type thing, where the main character starts noticing weird things going on, and eventually realizes their life is being controlled by someone else. Then you have lots of options where to take that setup. Will they try to escape the videogame? Will they try to contact whoever is controlling them? Will they realize they live in a world with no actual rules? Etc.
Another direction is the Last Action Hero approach, where a Sims player falls into the world of the game, and have the full knowledge that heâs in a game but no one around him does. Will he try to get back home? Will he try to let everyone know theyâre in a game? Will he come to a crushing realization that all the screwed up things heâs done to his game world actually had lasting consequences for seemingly real people?
Thereâs tonnes of places they can take it. Just look at the Barbie movie for an example of what creative people can do with a very basic premise.
Xbox needed a game like Helldivers 2, not Hellblade 2, in order to give itself a serious boost.
By & large though none of this really matters because whatâs really going on is very simple: the console market (& associated demographics) are stagnating ergo itâs the brand with the smallest install base (Xbox) which feels the pinch first.
But this will happen to Sony down the line as well. Console players are simply getting older, aka thereâs a lack of renewal. This is not something anyone can actually âfixâ because it relates to societal trends & not the gaming market per se.
A bit like movie theaters, i.e. no matter how much fans of the movie theater experience shout âgo to the movies!â, it doesnât work. Itâs the same with consoles.
I still think its not just 1 game, but multiple. For example, Palworld went viral, but I donât think it impacted sales much.
Also, its deeper than the games itself because look how well received Sea of Thieves is on Playstation and that game has been a good state on xbox/pc for years.
If one company can figure it out itâs definitely MS. If they can keep all of the games backwards compatible through some layer and add all PC game compatibility at the same time and also become competitive in the PC handheld space, honestly if it fails at that point itâs definitely not on them as they would have the hardware, the ecosystem and the games. By then if they canât sell its definitely a problem with the user base more than anything.