Xbox to Become a Console for RPGs
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Following Microsoft’s acquisition of ZeniMax Media, GameSpot brings us this article that revolves around the idea that given Microsoft’s recently expanded developer roster, the next generation of Xbox consoles has a decent chance of becoming a bastion for role-playing games. Here’s an excerpt:
This gives Xbox something that it has long since lacked in terms of its first-party exclusives: an identity. Everyone knows you go to PlayStation for those single-player, blockbuster movie-like experiences, while Nintendo prioritizes making enjoyable complexity out of simple mechanics. Through Playground, inXile, Obsidian, Bethesda, and, in some part, EA and BioWare, I think Xbox can establish itself as a platform for different types of role-playing games. If your favorite thing to do in a video game is create a character and then live their life, it's looking like Xbox is where a lot of the biggest names in the business are going to be.
And creating a space where RPGs thrive is only going to attract more of them. It's a position that has worked for Xbox in the past--you had to own an Xbox or Xbox 360 in order to play Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (for a year--it eventually made its way to PS3), both Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 (for a period of time), Deus Ex: Invisible War, The Witcher 2, and the Fable trilogy on consoles. The Xbox and Xbox 360 made it possible to play a type of game that was previously exclusively made for PC, and Microsoft can do the same now with Xbox Series X/S and the studios it's acquired.
