Halo and Forza look fantastic. But they needed these games to come out yesterday. Sony already has Astro, Returnal, Miles, Demons Souls and Ratchet and FFVII Remake DLC out. Next up is Kena, Deathloop(timed but still 6months before MSFT)Horizon and GoWR? All shaping up to be bangers.
So far, without seeing their event for this year:
Meanwhile Xbox only had The Medium, The Ascent, Gears Tactics and Forza Horizon 5 drop in it’s first year.
The difference is that for me personally, since E3 2018 when Microsoft finally acquired 4 studios, founded 1 and talked about their next generation consoles (Series X/S), I have always looked at them being all about what is now the current generation and knowing how game development works, how long games can take, etc. I was never expecting anything major or massive until 2022 and that was before Covid19. So my expectations are way different than most. The only game I honestly expected was Halo Infinite at launch but im happy it was delayed because it needed to be. Plus, I had other multi-platform games to play which im trying catching up on so I didn't need it at launch and more importantly, knowing it needed to be delayed, wouldn't have wanted it anyway.
I don't include timed console exclusives because well, they're not exclusive. They're basically multi-platform games in which one of the three console manufacturers paid for in order to get early access to it for their platform. I have never counted these games and never will. You're also looking at it in a general sense which means nothing to me because the games that are timed for PlayStation, the only game of any interest to me is Kena which I know is coming to Xbox next year so im not worried or concerned about it. I can easily wait. Plus, I want to make sure the game is actually great or better.
Microsoft barely has any consoles to sell and when they do, they all sell out everywhere immediately so it doesn't matter what games they had for the first year which is nothing outside of Gears Tactics. People can constantly bitch about Microsoft's lack of exclusives since launch but if you're someone like me who's actually been paying attention, then you would already know this. Like I said earlier, I have known this since E3 2018 and my expectations have been low in regards to actual game releases because I have researched every studio that they've acquired since then and I know what they're all basically doing and how long they're taking. Also, several studios like Obsidian, InXile, Double Fine and others had already released a game around E3 2018 (like Rare with Sea of Thieves and Undead Labs with State of Decay 2) or afterwards like The Coalition with Gears 5. And of course, including some of the studios I mentioned, they had existing contracts like Obsidian or InXile and first things first, they needed to complete those contracts first so they can completely move on.
The PlayStation 5 games you mentioned are of no interest to me excluding Miles Morales (already completed and moved on) and Ratchet which I will wrap up today or tomorrow and then move on. So yeah, Sony had the far better launch and launch year (I won't argue that) but it doesn't matter. Xbox One had the better launch and launch year....how did that work out? Also, excluding Ratchet, the other three games I care about are all cross-gen which is a fucking joke. I hate cross-gen to begin with when it comes to the hardware manufacturers. Difference with Microsoft is that cross-gen for Xbox Series X/S ends with Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5. If God of War Ragnarok releases in 2023 which is highly likely, it would be over 2 1/2 years after launch that Sony is still supporting cross-gen.
Granted, the games will still be great but just like Halo Infinite, how much greater would they be if the development studio didn't have to design the game around as of now, almost 8 year old tech? UGH. Miles was great as is Ratchet but all I have left is Horizon 2 in most likely February 2022 and God of War Ragnarok in most likely Spring 2023.
For Xbox, I had Gears Tactics which was great but would have been better for me if those side missions weren't mandatory. Halo Infinite is going to be great as well at least campaign wise. I don't care about online MP. Forza Horizon 5 is easily the best looking realistic game I have seen thus far and it's a massive open world. I don't even care about sports/racing games but im definitely playing through the story campaign in it because it looks too damn amazing to pass up.
As of now, I have 2 future exclusives for PlayStation 5 while I have a whopping 12 for Xbox Series X. Avowed, Contraband, Fable, Halo Infinite, Hellblade 2: Senua's Saga, Indiana Jones, Perfect Dark, Redfall, Starfield, State of Decay 3, The Elder Scrolls VI and The Outer Worlds 2. Best of all, this is literally less than half of what they have for this generation with a shit ton more incoming.
On the PlayStation side, Jim Ryan didn't greenlight Days Gone 2 from Bend Studio which was my #1 most anticipated sequel which would be far less of a risk than a new IP but whatever. Sucker Punch is rumored to be working on an online MP game of some sort which I hope is not true because a sequel to Tsushima or a new game in that franchise is my #2 most anticipated sequel which as of now, I may not get either. So basically, both of these studios can be for me what they were pre-Days Gone/Tsushima respectively - dead.
Guerrilla has Horizon 2 which awesome, im day one but their team is working on an online MP game which I don't give two shits about. Santa Monica has GOWR which like Horizon 2, im day one and another title which I have to wait and see what it actually is first and if it's for me. I don't care about Media Molecule, Team Asobi or Polyphony Digital so eliminate them. I have no idea what London Studio, the Malaysia Studio or PixelOpus is doing so these three are all a wait and see.
Naughty Dog seems to be working on the TLOU Remake which I don't give a shit about and their TLOUP2 online MP factions game or whatever that ends up being which I don't care about. So they're pretty much non-existent for me. By far their best studio at least for me is Insomniac. Miles was great, Ratchet is great. I know they're working on Spider Man 2 which is day one. I'm expecting another Ratchet game probably near the end of the generation and hopefully the return of Resistance but this remains to be seen.
Then we go to their contracted games. Jade Raymond has done anything in like a decade and her studio isn't even complete yet so that's like 5 years away and their game may not even be for me. The two other studios they signed recently (the ex-Destiny and ex-COD guys) are making online MP games so eliminate them for me. They have a few Indies which again, I don't care about so eliminate them.
I already said how I view timed exclusives but even if you want to include them, I only care about Kena which I will wait for on Xbox next year and Forspoken which could just be a Final Fantasy type game which if true, that game will be eliminated from my list. Have to see much more on that game.
Simply put, where Microsoft gave me only 5 exclusives for Xbox One and Sony gave me a whopping 20 (even though it's more like 4 and 14 because I can easily knock out 7 games looking back and nothing of value would have been most) exclusives for PS4. This generation, it's going the opposite way. At least for me anyway. Everyone should simply look at it in regards to what they want, prefer and what's best for them. For this generation, it's all about Xbox Series X and the exclusives Microsoft give me. Whatever I end up playing on PlayStation 5 is just an extra added bonus. But to each their own.
