Let’s hop in our magical time machine and head back to the Xbox One reveal 2013. It was a horrible moment in Xbox history to say the least. Announcing always online, some horrendous DRM policies & making TV a priority Xbox seemed to be completely disconnected from what gamers wanted. And as collective group gamers let Microsoft know exactly how they felt by not opening up their wallets to go out and buy the newest Xbox. Instead majority of gamers chose to go for Sony’s Ps4, a console that seemed to be dedicated to games and for the gamers.
Jump back into our magical time machine to present day 2017. This is by no means the same Xbox division from 2013. A change in bosses has brought on a big change in PHILosophy (yes, that’s a pun). Being completely dominated in the sales category by your rival will cause any company to shake things up and that’s exactly what’s happening at Xbox. Phil Spencer and company are really listening to the players and implementing some very consumer friendly features and products. And honestly, when you seemingly turn your back on consumers the only way to win them back is time and actually listening and fixing all concerns. Over the span of the last four years Microsoft has done just that!
At E3 2017 Microsoft revealed the highly anticipated Xbox One X console. This console is primed to move Xbox away from its “weak” tag that has plagued it since launch. As far as consoles go, this will be the most powerful and all multi platform games will look and run better on the X. The Xbox division has also announced digital refunds on games that you discover you actually should not have bought, granted you have not played the game more than two hours. I know I’m not alone in buying countless amount of games that I regret spending money on so this is an amazing feature. And just recently Mike Ybarra, the Director of Program Management for Xbox, announced on Twitter that the Xbox One store will “soon” allow digital game gifting. This was a highly requested feature from fans that Microsoft will be rolling out soon.
These a just a few examples of how Xbox is NOW For The Players. This is the Xbox that his healthy for gaming. If these moves continue combined with an assortment of new games there is now way anyone who jumped ship in 2013 wouldn’t return. Microsoft is giving gamers every reason to believe that have it figured out and will once again be a juggernaut in gaming going forward. We have the powerful console, we have the great features now bring on the games!
