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Gamespot Xbox One 2018 Report Card: Year In Review


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Some Good Exclusives, But Not Enough To Compete


The divide in quality exclusives between Microsoft and its two main competitors, Sony and Nintendo, is a bit smaller this year than it was in 2017. But that's mostly because both Sony and Nintendo had fewer exclusive games this year. In terms of quality, Microsoft still feels like it's pulling up the rear.

 

It would have been difficult for Sony to match the number of quality exclusives that launched on the PS4 last year, but 2018 still saw a few Game of the Year contenders like God of War and Marvel's Spider-Man. Nintendo had some strong exclusives in 2018 too, such as Octopath Traveler and Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu / Let's Go Eevee, not to mention what looks like a very promising game in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Meanwhile, Microsoft went another year without a new Halo or Gears of War, and Crackdown 3 was delayed again. Halo Infinite and Gears 5 were at least announced at E3 2018, but we don't even have scheduled release dates for them yet.

 

2018 saw the release of Forza Horizon 4, as well as PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds leaving Early Access--both of which are pretty good games. However, Xbox One's other big 2018 exclusives, State of Decay 2 and Sea of Thieves, were not as well received, and PUBG has been overshadowed by the far more popular Fortnite and Black Ops 4 Blackout mode. Xbox One did have some good-looking console exclusive indie titles lined up this year, but for whatever reason Microsoft did little to market or push many of them. Games like Pit People could have done more for Microsoft's console with additional marketing, and titles scheduled for 2018 that still haven't come out and are probably being delayed to 2019--such as The Last Night--are an unfortunate loss.

 

True, in 2018 Microsoft did manage to secure ports of some of Sony's 2017 exclusives, like Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice in March and Nier: Automata in June. Getting more first-party titles would have been better than playing catch-up, but at least securing these games is a major plus.

 

 

 

#xboxhasnogames

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Between a handful of well-received exclusives, some big-name third-party releases, and Nintendo's continued support for older games, the Switch had another solid software lineup in 2018, although the lack of a true heavy hitter like Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey resulted in slightly slower hardware sales this year. The long-delayed Nintendo Switch Online subscription service is also fairly weak in its current state, but it has the potential to grow as Nintendo rolls out more classic games and exclusive offers for subscribers.

 

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