Xbox Series X will have ZERO exclusive Microsoft games until 2022 – but PS5 will get Sony titles at launch
GAMERS picking up the new Xbox won't have any major exclusives to play when the next-gen console launches later this year.
That's because the Xbox Series X will be Microsoft's first console without any exclusive "first party" games – those made by Microsoft or an affiliated studio.
Instead, new entries to big-hitter series like Halo and Gears of War will be available across several Microsoft platforms, such as the Xbox One and Windows 10 operating system.
The shock revelation was made by Microsoft Studios head Matt Booty last week.
He told UK gaming site : "Over the next year, two years, all of our games, sort of like PC, will play up and down that family of devices.
"We want to make sure that if someone invests in Xbox between now and [Series X] that they feel that they made a good investment and that we’re committed to them with content."
Most new consoles come with a handful of exclusive launch titles in a bid to woo gamers who are on the fence about which machine to buy.
The Xbox One, for instance, hit shelves in 2013 alongside exclusive titles like third-person slash-em-up Ryse: Son of Rome and "exergaming" flop Xbox Fitness.
While a few first-party exclusives might help the Series X fly from the shelves when it launches in time for Christmas 2020, it seems Microsoft would rather its new games straddle multiple console generations.
Booty did seem to suggest that first party games only playable on the Series X would make their way to the console about a year after launch – so, sometime in 2022.
Halo: Infinite, the next game in the massively popular Halo series, was already confirmed to run on both the next-gen Xbox and Xbox One.
We don't know much more about first party titles coming to the Series X, but it's safe to assume Microsoft has a handful in the works.
Rather than new games, Microsoft's focus appears to be on backwards compatibility for the new console.
The company has gone to great lengths to ensure its digital library is packed with old 360 titles, as well as a range of classic and indie games.
Xbox Series X news and rumours – what we know so far
Here's what we know about the next-gen Xbox...
- Microsoft's next-gen Xbox will come out towards the end of 2020
- It was officially unveiled in December 2019 after months of rumours and speculation.
- Dubbed the Series X, Microsoft referred to the console under the development codename 'Project Scarlett' for several months
- As with the next PlayStation, it's going to use super speedy 'solid state' storage to drastically reduce or even totally eliminate loading times
- This means your games should start up almost instantly, and there won't be lengthy pauses between scenes, or when moving from one part of a game's world to another
- It's going to be able to play older games too, with Microsoft making big promises about backwards compatibility
- "Thousands of games across four console generations will look and play best on the Series X," they say, referring to the original Xbox, the Xbox 360, the Xbox One and the new console
- The third area where they matched Sony is the chips at the console's heart - the brains of the Series X is the same AMD Navi technology at the heart of Sony's next console
- It's not quite identical to the PlayStation chips, as both are custom-made for the companies in question
- AMD promised Sony's "special sauce" was built into their chips, while Microsoft describe the core of their new box is a "custom-designed AMD processor"
- Xbox boss Phil Spencer also revealed that processor would have hardware dedicated to ray-tracing
- Ray-tracing is a new technology just making it into the most expensive gaming PCs that makes lighting and sound incredibly realistic by calculating the exact path of each ray of light or sound wave through transparent objects and off reflective surfaces
- This gives you much more realistic lighting and reflections as well as much more natural looking materials and objects
- Sony has confirmed the next PlayStation will have something similar, but hasn't revealed if the console will have hardware specifically dedicated to it
- Finally, Microsoft also revealed that Halo: Infinite, which is first revealed at the same briefing last year, is going to launch with the new Xbox
- The latest chapter in the story of Master Chief will release alongside Series X devices in time for "Holidays 2020", meaning around mid-November
Microsoft confirmed last month that it would release the Series X in time for "Holidays 2020", meaning October or November this year.
The new console will apparently run games at 4K resolution - double that of HD - with the possibility of running 8K.
It will also process games faster so as to "eliminate" loading times.
Halo: Infinite and Hellblade II: Senua's Saga will be among the first games available on the console.
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Microsoft unveiled its upcoming console last month.
Read our round-up of the latest rumours about the Xbox Series X and PS5.
And find out why both of these consoles could be the last you ever own.
Are you excited for the new console? Let us know in the comments!
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