The Xbox One has been struggling in recent years. The PlayStation 4 has been dominating in sales and now that the Nintendo Switch is out, there is even more competition.
Despite the recent struggle for team Xbox, we think that 2018 could be the year that Xbox claws its way back to the top.
In this post, we take a look at some of the top reasons why Xbox has a chance to throw a few punches at both Sony and Nintendo.
Xbox Will Work On More Exclusives This Year
One of the biggest reasons why the Xbox One has struggled in the past is because Sony has absolutely dominated the field with their exclusive titles.
The exclusive Xbox One titles have been very limited in recent years. It looks like that’s about to change in the next couple years, however. Xbox is now working harder to get more Xbox One exclusives under their belt.
One of the top games to look forward to this year is Sea Of Thieves – it’s an open world seafaring exploration game created by Rare that’ll debut exclusively on Xbox One and PC.
Hopefully, we’ll see many more Xbox exclusives released throughout 2018 and we should get some good exclusive announcements at this year’s E3.
There are already a number of titles set to make it to Xbox One this year that are worth a mention too.
Typically, these titles are either already on PC are being released on PC alongside the Xbox One, but they aren’t available on any other consoles.
Black Desert Online is the first exclusive title that’ll be making its way to the Xbox One later this year. Ashen is an interesting action RPG title that’ll also be released at some point this year.
We are, of course, finally going to get Crackdown 3 this year after a very long wait. Both The Last Night and The Darwin Project look like interesting exclusive multiplayer titles coming later this year.
Xbox Game Pass Is Expanding
Xbox started the year by dropping a bombshell on its competition. The existing Xbox Game Pass will be replaced with a superpowered version this year.
For those unaware, the Xbox Game Pass is a subscription that lets players pay a monthly price to get free access to a library of games.
Currently, the Xbox Game Pass already gives subscribers access to over 100 different Xbox One and Xbox 360 titles.
However, in 2018, Xbox will start to add any exclusive Xbox titles to the Game Pass, which will allow those that subscribe to the pass to get free games the day that they launch.
This subscription method has been successful for music and movies, but it has yet to kick off with video games. With the Xbox Game Pass going the way it is, it might just become the first successful Netflix of video games.
Xbox Game Preview Is Bringing More Games To Xbox This Year
Following the trend set by PC gaming, Xbox is opening the gates to more early access games on their platform this year.
We already had Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds release under the early access Xbox Game Preview program late last year. This year, even more games will be added to the Xbox Game Preview.
One such game that has gotten some interest is DayZ. After being exclusive and in early access on PC since December 2013, DayZ will finally be launched on the Xbox One later this year.
We’re not sure how polished DayZ will be, but it will give players a unique hardcore zombie survival experience that cannot be found on any other console.
DayZ is unforgiving, brutal, and very hard to master. Playing DayZ is an experience that console players have missed out on, so it’s very exciting to see the game finally make it to the Xbox One.
The Xbox One X Is More Powerful, And We’ll See It In 2018
Whilst team PlayStation does have the PS4 Pro, there’s no denying that that team Xbox have the more powerful console with the Xbox One X.
With the additional power that the Xbox One X has, those developing exclusive titles for the Xbox will be able to add better graphics, 4K resolution textures, faster frame rates, and bigger open world experiences.
The extra power of the Xbox One X will also allow third party developers to turn on more graphics settings that would have otherwise been exclusive to high end PC systems.
The PS4 Pro, on the other hand, just doesn’t quite have the power it needs to render 4K resolution games at a decent frame rate.
Sony may end up releasing a reworked PS4 Pro to compete with the Xbox One X, but for the time being, the X is clearly the winning console. If you care about getting the very best experience, the Xbox One X
Xbox Knows They Need To Work Harder
I think one of the biggest things that’ll set Xbox apart from the competition will be down to their attitude towards any changes they make this year.
Xbox knows that they need to work harder to win over the love of the video game industry.
They know that they need to be focused on providing the best possible service they can to players, even if that means shelling out a lot of money for it.
This could be the year where Xbox pulls out all of their guns to get a bigger grip on the market. Honestly, I think there is a lot that Xbox has planned in 2018 that they have yet to share with the rest of the world.
We’ll have to keep an eye out on their social channels to see exactly what plans they have going forward.
Summary
Do you think the Xbox One has what it takes to claw its way back in 2018? Personally, I think Xbox is prepared to do all they can to win back their player base.
If you’re an Xbox player, you can be assured that you’ve got a great year of gaming ahead of you.