Xbox One
To say that Microsoft and the Xbox One were silent during Q1 2017 may be an understatement. It’s been made increasingly clear that the company has been betting heavily on the latter part of this year. Project Scorpio will hit markets during the holiday season under some new name, a bunch of long-awaited titles will finally get release dates, and the Xbox One will once again be an earnest contender in the current battle for console supremacy. While that sounds all well and good, it didn’t do Microsoft and its home console any favors over the past three months.
The Xbox One has been just rolling with the current for the time being. As far as major games go, it’s taken full advantage of the influx of major third-party titles to keep content on the system. Mass Effect: Andromeda, Ghost Recon Wildlands, and Resident Evil 7 have provided plenty of hours of fun. However, on the exclusive side of things, the offerings have been lackluster at best. Halo Wars 2 was the biggest title of the first three months and while solid, didn’t do anything to blow fans away. Plus, as an RTS spin-off, it wasn’t exactly the Halo title that the console needed right now.
Normally, a lack of exclusives during a short period isn’t a big deal. This isn’t the first time that the platform has had a first-party drought, and the competition has faced similar predicaments. What works against the Xbox One, though, is the fact that its drought happens to be occurring at the exact same time as Sony’s rush of stellar exclusives. Gravity Rush 2, Horizon Zero Dawn, NieR: Automata (which we know is also on PC), and Persona 5 are all being looked at with reverence. Heck, some are even being considered Game of the Year contenders already. While these games may not necessarily appeal to all fans, it does put a magnifying glass up against Microsoft’s offerings.
There were also no hardware introductions or changes to pull the attention away from the lacking lineup outside of a few tweets from Phil Spencer, captain of the Xbox ship, regarding Project Scorpio’s good progress. To put Microsoft’s Q1 2017 in a nutshell, it was basically telling fans that there are some really cool things coming… eventually. Also, you can’t know exactly what they are yet.
PS4
We’re not sure what’s going on at Sony right now, but we sincerely hope that it continues to happen for the duration of 2017. Q1 2017 has been about games, games, and, you’ve probably guessed this, more games. The PS4 has had its ups and downs since launch (though none of those downs have broken its stride). There have been some absolutely stellar titles for the console, but there were also a few periods where nothing was rolling out of the numerous SIE studios. Yet, after 2016’s heavy focus on hardware – we received a slim PS4, a Pro model, and even a virtual reality headset – the company decided to double down on video game experiences, and anyone who happens to own a PS4 is in a happy place right now.
It seems as if every other week there is a new, must-own exclusive hitting Sony’s platform. Nioh mixed Souls-like gameplay with some Ninja Gaiden flair, NieR: Automata is a console exclusive that takes fast-paced action and a gripping story to create a top-notch game, and Horizon Zero Dawn showed just how cool robotic beasts and intriguing storylines can be. And that’s not even everything. Helping to bolster that lineup were some strong multi-platform offerings, especially Resident Evil 7 and its PSVR support.
If there is one thing to hold against Sony during Q1 it’s that it’s been incredibly safe. But to be honest, that’s hardly a complaint. They took quite a few risks late last year with the introduction of a VR headset and two new models for their home console. They fought through the flack they received for some choices and still came out on top at the end of the year. Now they’re just putting their software where their mouth is, and the PS4 is benefiting quite heavily from it.
The PS4 was getting all the attention for games for two whole months until Nintendo decided to shake things up, and that’s where Q1 got really interesting.
Switch
Nintendo was a big surprise in Q1 2017. We all knew that the Switch was coming, and we also knew that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild would be releasing alongside it. What we didn’t expect was just how good the game would be. It instantly became one of the top-rated games ever released and left fans and newcomers alike in complete awe at just how beautiful and engrossing it is. Everywhere you could see you could go, and you could play the game however you wished. It’s the biggest game Nintendo has put out in quite some time and it was so good that it made it possible to ignore the fact that there was virtually nothing else out for the new console.
Sure, there were other games on the Nintendo Switch at launch, but you’d be hard-pressed to find something that was really worth owning. In fact, if it weren’t for Link’s latest adventure, we’re not entirely sure if the Switch would’ve gathered any steam at all. It’s severely lacking in third-party support at the moment, and it’s best games outside of the first-party release are titles that you can get elsewhere either now or in the future. We’re also not going to see the other major releases promised for the Switch until the summer, the holiday season, and the following months.
Hardware wise, Nintendo’s latest console is proving to be more than just a hopeful concept. It works, and it works quite well. The transition from home console to handheld is seamless, the console is light but doesn’t feel flimsy, the controllers get the job done, and the visuals coming from the tablet are exceptional. As a new console with such a high profile title launching alongside it, Nintendo definitely hit the right note to kick off 2017.
However, this start to the year also came with as much worry as there was praise. Yes, Breath of the Wild is incredible, but what else are they going to use to keep the Switch as a contender? We’ve already seen AAA third-party titles roll out and get announced, all ignoring the budding console. Q1 didn’t completely instill faith that we weren’t looking at a Wii U 2.0, and that’s holding the hardware and the company back just a bit. It was certainly a good first step, because the Switch is undeniably fun to use, but we need to see more, and soon.
So Who Wins?
Taking a look at everything that each company did in the first quarter of the year, it’s interesting to see how they’re approaching their plans for success. Sony is leveraging all the hardware pushes of last year by giving its fans all the great games it possibly can. Microsoft is silently building steam in the shadows, waiting to unleash everything on the industry in the coming months. And Nintendo? They’re doing their own thing as always, putting out fun, colorful games that you wouldn’t normally find elsewhere and making use of the Switch’s unique features.
As interesting as it may all be, though, right now Sony and the PS4 are clearly ahead of the curve. They’re no longer in a proving stage, which allows them to focus on just delivering great content to keep the momentum of the PS4 up. The Xbox One can potentially shift back into high gear depending on how Project Scorpio is received after its full reveal, but Q1 2017 was just the beginning of what remains to be a very long wait. The Switch is off to a good start, but not many are willing to forget the previous generation. The Wii U had an impressive start as well, but died off quickly. There was nothing that showed the Switch will have any major advantages, so until that’s seen, it’s just cautious optimism surrounding Nintendo’s latest.
How do you feel about the big three after the first few months of the year? Let us know in the comments below.
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