Wake Up, Xbox Fans: Halo Infinite’s Backward Compatibility Is a Good Thing
The beloved science-fiction shooter is headed to Microsoft’s current and next-generation consoles. Despite the online fan bickering, this is a smart move.
Matt Booty, the head of Xbox Game Studios, recently revealed to that for the first year or two of the Xbox Series X’s existence, first-party titles will not be exclusive to the platform. That means the highly anticipated Halo Infinite, Microsoft’s flagship next-generation title, will also appear on Xbox One, Microsoft’s current video game console. This news has set a portion of the Xbox fan base ablaze with anger, as many gamers expect a new console to launch with unique first-party games that cannot be found on the previous system. The rage was expected, if a bit shortsighted.
Microsoft plans to release Halo Infinite to all its platforms, which includes Xbox One X, Xbox One, and PC (and possibly the Project xCloud streaming platform), letting gamers play as they see fit. It’s an incredibly consumer-friendly move that ought to receive as much praise from Xbox fans as Microsoft’s Backward Compatibility, Game Pass, and Play Anywhere initiatives of this console generation. Allow me to explain.
Shaking Up the Scene
Traditionally, a new console’s arrival meant casting the old one aside. If you wanted to play New Game X, you’d have to purchase the new console. This is the rumored approach that Sony is taking with its upcoming PlayStation 5. Microsoft doesn’t quite see things that way. It has a vision where everyone plays, regardless of the device.
“As our content comes out over the next year, two years, all of our games, sort of like PC, will play up and down that family of devices,” Booty explained to MCV Develop. “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.”
The PC comparison is a potentially apt one. After all, gaming PCs have no set hardware. For example, my rig packs an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics card while my good friend is awaiting Cyberpunk 2077’s ray-tracing support after purchasing an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super GPU. Though my homie will enjoy a graphically superior Cyberpunk 2077 playthrough, I can also explore the dystopian, body-enhanced future.
And, honestly, one needn’t venture to the PC platform to understand this cross-generation release advantage. After all, Microsoft had multiple console iterations this generation that offered increasing power: the vanilla Xbox One, the upgraded Xbox One S, and the newest machine, Xbox One X. A game runs on all three boxes, but depending on how it’s programmed, it may deliver better performance as you move up the Xbox console ladder.
“Our approach is to pick one or two IP that we’re going to focus on and make sure that they’re there at the launch of the console, taking advantage of all the features,” Booty said to MCV Develop. “And for us that’s going to be Halo Infinite, which is a big opportunity.”
Business Challenges
Is there a potential downside from a consumer’s point of view? I don’t see one. That said, Microsoft may risk slow Xbox Series X sales for the first year or two. After all, if Lil Timmy owns an Xbox One and can play Halo Infinite on it, he may have a hard time convincing his folks to plop down a few hundred dollars for the Xbox Series X. Microsoft needs clear, precise messaging regarding Series X’s capabilities to sell people on the box-something Microsoft didn’t do when it unveiled the original Xbox One in 2013.
On the other hand, the cross-generation releases only apply to first-party games; a third-party publisher is free to release its latest and greatest exclusively to the Xbox Series X if it so chooses. Still, some may take a cue from Microsoft and push their games across platforms to attract as broad an audience as possible. It’s a delicate dance Microsoft is performing.
Awaiting Launch Day
Xbox Series X will soon be upon us; its “holiday 2020” release date is just a few months away. Regardless of how Microsoft’s cross-platform vision plays out for Halo Infinity and other first-party titles in terms of Xbox Series X hardware sales, Redmond is doing the right thing in terms of giving all of its customer base Master Chief goodness.
Instead of complaining and gatekeeping, the Microsoft fans who dislike this approach should consider Halo Infinite on multiple Xbox types a thank you for enduring a generation in which Xbox first-party titles didn’t hit quite as hard as expected.
Originally published at https://www.pcmag.com.
