REACTION - Xbox needs to be crystal clear with their new roadmap, or the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat
Piddler on the roof.
By Jonathan Garrett
05/02/24
Whatever plastic box you arbitrarily preach allegiance to, the fact remains that we all want great games. Whatever wacky subscription or console hardware we play them on, it’s always ultimately about great experiences to be discovered and shared. Given the rampant increase in “insider scoops” in recent months surrounding possible Xbox first party ports on rival platforms, it was all but inevitable that Microsoft would have to comment on them eventually.
Cut to Phil Spencer promising to outline “their vision for the future of Xbox”. So much to read into here, with no clear indication of what this all means. A Sega / Dreamcast situation where they go third party? A more robust attempt to get Game Pass on rival platforms? A move away from dedicated console hardware?
Whatever the end result, I want all these developers to continue to be empowered to make ambitious and unique games. But this does feel like another “one step forward, two steps back” moment for the brand, where inconsistent messaging that relies too much on damage control after the fact is required to keep things moving.
TARPS?
At the bottom of some of our articles, you’ll see a series of absurd looking images (with equally stupid, in joke laden names). These are the TARP badges, which represent our ‘Totally Accurate Rating Platform’. They allow us to identify specific things, recognise positive or negative aspects of a games design, and generally indulge our consistent silliness with some visual tomfoolery.
