Yes I know straight away some of you will be like
"Sony dominated this gen" & "Even the switch is outselling it"
But this isn't about sales. This is about my view on the xbox one and how for me it's a masterclass.
Origins
We all know the xbox got off to a bit of a rocky launch. Cries over forced drm, always online and no used games (not entirely true but not what I'm going into) but for me none of those rang hollow. To me they sounded interesting (mainly cuz I rarely trade/buy used games and have been online constantly since 2010) as it was changing how the industry worked. This obviously died as we know it but it has come back in slightly other forms (gamepass being the key example).
The beginning of the turn
Both consoles started off with a bit of a rocky launch line up. I personally liked Ryse but the rest were a bit meh
Then 2014 started with Titanfall coming to Xbox One (a pretty great game), fast forward to September and we had the next Forza Horizon (a pretty good game) and then November a pure delight for everybody Halo MCC, a superb value for arguably the best FPS series around (best overall series for me too!).
The first half of 2015 then was a bit meh (except the witcher 3 but that's multiplat and this is about xbox dammit!) but had stuff like State of Decay being remastered and released for XBO which delighted a good few I'm sure
2015 and beyond
In 2015 the legendary Halo series continued. I loved Halo 5 and was easily the best exclusive game released in 2015 (yes yes i can hear you already, but what about Bloodborne Podge, well I say pfft to that).
MS finally looked to be hitting their groove. They'd dropped the price, Kinect was being slowly but surely pushed to one side, and they were releasing quality games.
E3 2015 brought the news that MS were bringing in backwards capability to the delight of millions!
2016 brought us Gears 4, a series that was wonderful on the 360 and is getting better on the X1, and more Forza Horizon (it's better than the main series lets just all agree). Ori showed us that MS weren't all just massive AAA title but also could focus on indie like games. MS also started getting some of those previous PS4 exclusive games during this year to further reduce the difference.
Not to mention the tease of something bigger & better at E3 2016!!!!
UNLIMITED POWER!!!!!!!!!!!
2017 started off with a bang, the Switch was out and it was swinging hard with Zelda but Xbox already had an ace up it's sleeve. the Xbox One X was formally announced in June of 2017 and boasted a power boost nobody realistically expected from MS
Xbox One X was a beast. It put MS back at the top of power and performance. It also proved to the masses that MS was no longer trying to diversify it's gaming platform to everything (TV TV TV we all remember you!) but it was aiming to be the standard bearer.
2018 truely showed the gap. Games looked and played better on X1X, good news was coming out of the MS camp, devs being acquired showed MS's desire to push forward in the industry
Conclusion
I went on a bit of a ramble i'll admit.
For me Xbox One is the generational masterclass.
Yes they fucked the start and it hurt the sales but they bounced back.
They've released quality games that are best in class for me. I honestly think they're best in gen (yes yes bloodborne fans again and probably some BOTW fans will be baying for blood). They've released a console that's currently unrivaled in power. They've set themselves up to continue to push forward in gaming. They dont look like stopping.
"Sony dominated this gen" & "Even the switch is outselling it"
But this isn't about sales. This is about my view on the xbox one and how for me it's a masterclass.
Origins
We all know the xbox got off to a bit of a rocky launch. Cries over forced drm, always online and no used games (not entirely true but not what I'm going into) but for me none of those rang hollow. To me they sounded interesting (mainly cuz I rarely trade/buy used games and have been online constantly since 2010) as it was changing how the industry worked. This obviously died as we know it but it has come back in slightly other forms (gamepass being the key example).
The beginning of the turn
Both consoles started off with a bit of a rocky launch line up. I personally liked Ryse but the rest were a bit meh
Then 2014 started with Titanfall coming to Xbox One (a pretty great game), fast forward to September and we had the next Forza Horizon (a pretty good game) and then November a pure delight for everybody Halo MCC, a superb value for arguably the best FPS series around (best overall series for me too!).
The first half of 2015 then was a bit meh (except the witcher 3 but that's multiplat and this is about xbox dammit!) but had stuff like State of Decay being remastered and released for XBO which delighted a good few I'm sure
2015 and beyond
In 2015 the legendary Halo series continued. I loved Halo 5 and was easily the best exclusive game released in 2015 (yes yes i can hear you already, but what about Bloodborne Podge, well I say pfft to that).
MS finally looked to be hitting their groove. They'd dropped the price, Kinect was being slowly but surely pushed to one side, and they were releasing quality games.
E3 2015 brought the news that MS were bringing in backwards capability to the delight of millions!
2016 brought us Gears 4, a series that was wonderful on the 360 and is getting better on the X1, and more Forza Horizon (it's better than the main series lets just all agree). Ori showed us that MS weren't all just massive AAA title but also could focus on indie like games. MS also started getting some of those previous PS4 exclusive games during this year to further reduce the difference.
Not to mention the tease of something bigger & better at E3 2016!!!!
UNLIMITED POWER!!!!!!!!!!!
2017 started off with a bang, the Switch was out and it was swinging hard with Zelda but Xbox already had an ace up it's sleeve. the Xbox One X was formally announced in June of 2017 and boasted a power boost nobody realistically expected from MS
Xbox One X was a beast. It put MS back at the top of power and performance. It also proved to the masses that MS was no longer trying to diversify it's gaming platform to everything (TV TV TV we all remember you!) but it was aiming to be the standard bearer.
2018 truely showed the gap. Games looked and played better on X1X, good news was coming out of the MS camp, devs being acquired showed MS's desire to push forward in the industry
Conclusion
I went on a bit of a ramble i'll admit.
For me Xbox One is the generational masterclass.
Yes they fucked the start and it hurt the sales but they bounced back.
They've released quality games that are best in class for me. I honestly think they're best in gen (yes yes bloodborne fans again and probably some BOTW fans will be baying for blood). They've released a console that's currently unrivaled in power. They've set themselves up to continue to push forward in gaming. They dont look like stopping.
