Xbox Platform Discrepancies
(Disclaimer: This is purely an opinion piece.)
I love the Xbox ecosystem and have been rocking it since the OG Xbox. I’ve written this from a place of love as someone who truly wants the platform to succeed. Bringing up and discussing issues is how we promote awareness and meaningful change. Xbox is great and has been doing wonderful for the most part, there are just a few nagging things holding them back from fully reaching peak.
Since the apocalyptic launch of the Xbox One, the Xbox brand has truly come a long way in restoring goodwill with the fanbase and regaining lost ground in the sales charts. Initiatives such as Backwards Compatibility, Play Anywhere, Crossplay, Game Pass, the Adaptive Controller, and xCloud have been revelations for the Xbox community. With Phil Spencer at the helm, their legion of First Party studios, and Microsoft’s full backing, many believe Xbox is better than ever before. Having said that, there are still some issues that flare up from time to time, things that detract from the progress and initiatives they’ve undertaken to get to this point. Seemingly, for every massive step they take forward, they have a couple missteps backwards. Below, I’ll discuss two issues that are related, yet different challenges to overcome.
- Lack of Game Pass and PC Game Pass Cohesion
Currently at the forefront of Xbox community angst is the issue of discrepancies between Game Pass for Console and Game Pass for PC. For a few years PC Game Pass was sorely lagging behind the console version, but that has flipped recently. I am a big fan of all that Xbox has done to make so many games playable. That said, the recent QuakeCon batch that brought a treasure trove of classic Bethesda titles to PC Game Pass, but completely ignored console Game Pass really rubbed fans the wrong way. While some of the titles never had console versions in the first place, there were a couple with older Xbox console versions, (Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Quake IV), that for some reason, have not been made Backwards Compatible for current gen or given ports. When a company has gone all in on the idea of a shared ecosystem, (the premise that what you can play on one you can on the other), this is a big discrepancy. Yes, Licensing is a thing, but First Party IP should not be hidden away from one of the platforms in a shared ecosystem. If it is a matter of not being able to do so technologically, then so be it. But, if it is simply a matter of not wanting to devote time and resources to get it done, this really does not sit well with the community, especially when it comes to First Party IP like Quake IV. Again, the community understands that some of these titles were made for PC and don’t have ports (Battlespire for example), and that is acceptable. The upsetting part is the ones such as Quake IV, that have actual console versions already in existence, but are not being brought over.
- Age of Empires Avoiding Console
Age of Empires historically is a PC franchise, and that is understood. RTS titles in particular, are games that many prefer to experience with a mouse and keyboard rather than a controller. But, when a company as a platform continues to espouse the virtues of a shared ecosystem for new games, (what is playable on one is playable on the other), this is a discrepancy. If it’s due to a policy about wanting all console games to have controller compatibility, then scrap the policy. Xbox already has mouse and keyboard support for a reason, so it seems reasonable to just port the First Party titles to console with support for that if controller compatibility is proving to be such a hurdle to overcome. RTS is niche, and a lot of console users aren’t that invested in the genre, or mouse and key titles, but if the tech exists, I think they should use it and make it accessible for those who wish to experience it.
Conclusion
Since Phil Spencer became Head of Xbox, the brand has done a great job of restoring their reputation and earning goodwill with the community. That said, they still have the tendency to stumble from time to time, taking one giant step forward, then back. The lack of cohesion between PC Game Pass and Game Pass, not all First Party games being playable across ecosystem, and the handling of mouse and keyboard titles for console are among the lingering issues. If Xbox could get their entire lineup of First Party games playable across the ecosystem, have parity among the Game Pass subscriptions, and bring more traditionally PC titles to console, it would really go a long way toward making the community happy.