Xbox to Become a Console for RPGs

Following Microsoft’s acquisition of ZeniMax Media, GameSpot brings us this article that revolves around the idea that given Microsoft’s recently expanded developer roster, the next generation of Xbox consoles has a decent chance of becoming a bastion for role-playing games. Here’s an excerpt:

This gives Xbox something that it has long since lacked in terms of its first-party exclusives: an identity. Everyone knows you go to PlayStation for those single-player, blockbuster movie-like experiences, while Nintendo prioritizes making enjoyable complexity out of simple mechanics. Through Playground, inXile, Obsidian, Bethesda, and, in some part, EA and BioWare, I think Xbox can establish itself as a platform for different types of role-playing games. If your favorite thing to do in a video game is create a character and then live their life, it’s looking like Xbox is where a lot of the biggest names in the business are going to be.

And creating a space where RPGs thrive is only going to attract more of them. It’s a position that has worked for Xbox in the past–you had to own an Xbox or Xbox 360 in order to play Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (for a year–it eventually made its way to PS3), both Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 (for a period of time), Deus Ex: Invisible War, The Witcher 2, and the Fable trilogy on consoles. The Xbox and Xbox 360 made it possible to play a type of game that was previously exclusively made for PC, and Microsoft can do the same now with Xbox Series X/S and the studios it’s acquired.