Xbox Series X - Microsoft Bait and Miss

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Image: Microsoft

Worldwide lockdowns have changed the way we work and interact with one another. As the months of this pandemic fly by, it makes me remember how different things were this time last year. Where I was, what I was doing and what was going on around me. Business has changed over the course of the last few months as work shifts to the home space. Microsoft are at the very front of keeping people productive and connected and has been pushing their Teams product as other conferencing applications such as Zoom gained traction. A couple of days back I sat through the ‘live’ reveal of Microsoft’s Xbox Series X gameplay reveal. I am a gamer at heart and I was most definitely excited for a glimpse of some next generation action.

The stream included words from various developers and an overall showcase of upcoming third-party games that will be ready for launch. With everyone working from home, the high quality reveals that we’re used to, went a little differently this time as various Microsoft spokespeople donned headsets and deliberately showed off the built in background masking feature. I got the impression it was an indirect message to not only promote Teams but also to show we’re all in this together at home too. Perhaps I’m thinking a little too much into that but I wasn’t tuning in for commentary, I was here for gameplay.

Overall, I wasn’t that excited about most of the titles, the chat kept throwing out barrages of “SKIP” demands and an overall sentiment of disappointment as gameplay was supposed to be the focus of this reveal. Remarkably, there wasn’t much gameplay at all (there wasn’t any). Coupling this with the fact it really didn’t look all that impressive over current generations, it’s raising many eyebrows. Showcasing game trailers isn’t a bad thing in itself, but the marketing team specifically announced this event as a first look at gameplay on the Xbox Series X.

I couldn’t help but feel a little click baited. There are a few months ahead of the console’s release and programmes such as smart delivery will help to maintain library continuity when gamers upgrade. Some feel this might be holding back the new generation of gaming and promotes laziness, but it remains to be seen how Microsoft play the persuasion game to retain and convert gamers to their platform. Value driven marketing plans are great but I am yet to see any evidence that the platform has something that makes me want to pre-order and try it out on launch. I’ll be keeping a close eye on exclusive first-party titles and perhaps some of them will hit PC too.

Check out the broadcast here:

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