As we tick past the midway point of 2018, it’s safe to say that we’re in the midst of another great year in the gaming industry. Perhaps not quite the vintage caliber of 2017, but there’s certainly been plenty to enjoy across the big three’s gaming platforms, and plenty in the pipeline based on what we saw at E3.
It doesn’t really feel like this console generation is winding-down at all, despite a few whispers here and about possible release dates of future platforms. Perhaps that’s because the strange mid-gen console refreshes we’ve had from both Sony and Microsoft and Nintendo’s abandonment of the Wii U for an all-new platform has muddied the timeline. The big three all seem to be in different market spaces right now, with their efforts spearheaded by entirely different strategies: Sony’s software, Microsoft’s focus on user experience, and Nintendo’s unique hardware.
Of course, they’re all enjoying various degrees of success in the process, but who has the most still yet to prove for the rest of the year? It’s time to forecast the tail-end of 2018 and analyze which company should be most invested on upping the ante.
Sony
Who Has the Most to Prove For the Rest of 2018?
With 80 million PS4 units sold and a fast-growing reputation for quality first-party games, Sony has never looked more indomitable. Their approach to E3 this year felt almost like cruise control, showcasing a handful of previously announced games in more detail without feeling the need to unveil any major new projects to win over the crowd. And to be fair, it worked. With regards to the immediate future, at least, we’re far more excited about the prospects of PS4’s upcoming software than we are of any other platform. Microsoft’s admittedly substantial line-up of games look an age away, and we’re more or less in the dark about anything for Switch outside of Smash Bros. and the upcoming Let’s Go Pokemon games.
Sure, 2018 looks like it will just yield Spider-Man as a sole fall AAA exclusive for PS4, but that’s a pretty substantial offering. You’d have to say that its recent library of acclaimed games have been so plentiful and so well received that there’s no rush to deliver the rest of its big guns. As it turns out, leveraging its talented first-party studios as a catalyst for PS4 success has and continues to look like a strategy that will see the company continue to dominate the rest of this year and generation.
Perhaps Sony’s only weakness at the moment might just be the very success that has elevated it to such prestige. Is the company getting a wee bit too comfortable? We’ve seen overconfidence from Sony before (think PS3’s absurd price point), and their reluctance to play ball when it comes to Fortnite crossplay has a slight air of superiority about it. Yes, it makes sense for business, but when a company is happy to make decisions to the detriment of user experience, it isn’t likely to go down well. Sony’s big challenge for the rest of 2018 is making sure it continues to win the hearts of gamers as well as the industry mind-share. They would do well to remember that the goodwill of Sony’s “for the players” in the face of Microsoft’s botched Xbox One launch was a huge part of their early success this generation.
Microsoft
Who Has the Most to Prove For the Rest of 2018?
We’ve said for the past few years that E3 would be pivotal for Microsoft in the build-up to their conference, but this year really was a bit of a make or break moment for the company. There was just far too much negativity surrounding the narrative that the Xbox One had a poor library of exclusive games —compounded by the tepid critical reception to Sea of Thieves and State of Decay, the Xbox One’s most recent exclusives. The messaging had to be strong and convincing, and for the most part, it was. The Xbox brand looks to be on the road to recovery thanks to a decent showing of exclusive and timed-exclusive titles on their way to the console in the future. But just how near that future actually remains to be seen.
As of right now, Forza Horizon 4 is the only title launching in 2018. Even Crackdown 3, the long-awaited sequel title that promised to innovate a new cloud-processing design when it was first announced years ago, has been delayed to 2019. It’s looking like another lackluster year for the console with respect to new game releases.
At least Forza Horizon 4 is coming to Game Pass when it does arrive in October, and its services such as these with which Microsoft needs to double-down for the rest of 2018. If the slew of new games isn’t to arrive in 2018, its user-base will want to see a continued effort by Microsoft to deliver on its vision for both the subscription service and backward compatibility.
Nintendo
Who Has the Most to Prove For the Rest of 2018?
I alluded earlier to a resurgent Nintendo in the wake of the Switch’s fruitful year-one, and there’s still a palpable momentum to the console 18 months later. Nintendo’s new hardware has been successful on two fronts: the merit of its hybrid functionality, and quality games spanning both beloved hallmark franchises and new IPs. The combination has seen it already eclipse sales records for the Wii U after just a quarter of the time on the market, and Nintendo remains bullish that sales will continue trending positively. You wouldn’t bet against them.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t still questions yet to be answered moving forward, though. Although we’re definitely seeing a much-changed Nintendo, it still seems to have one foot firmly planted in the past with respect to online functionality. Later this year we’ll see the release of their much anticipated online service, and despite our many predictions as to what innovation might be at its forefront, the reveal back in May was somewhat underwhelming. It wasn’t dismal by any stretch, but it was rather bland –a cheaper version of PSN and Xbox Live, and minus any voice chat or interesting features to give it a point of difference. Nintendo might not be done yet, though, after the company alluded to having “a little more” to talk about. Whether that means additional functionality or is in reference to other free games included with the service, we’ll have to wait and see. It’s in these sorts of announcements that we’ll see whether Nintendo will continue to build on the notion that the era of the Switch is a new-leaf for the company.
Having enjoyed such a stellar year-one games lineup, there was never any great expectation that Switch would be able to keep that sort of blistering release schedule up for long. And there’s plenty to play on the console anyway thanks to the incredible amount of third-party indie titles, and increasingly, AAA third-party games, too. But that doesn’t mean we’re willing to wait too long for announcements forecasting the consoles roadmap over the next 12-18 months. There’s a slight danger things could dry up moving forward, and while that isn’t likely to impact the consoles commercial performance too much —there’s too much interest in its current library for that to happen— it’s in Nintendo’s interest to keep driving home the message that a substantial flow of significant new games is a policy moving forward rather than a one-off.
So Who Has the Most to Prove
Who Has the Most to Prove For the Rest of 2018?
Despite riding a wave of positivity after a great E3 presentation, there’s no question that Microsoft and the Xbox One brand is still under the most pressure to deliver for this generation. At the end of the day, a press conference boils down to a lot of flashy trailers and posturing. Without the substance to back it up, this potential left-turn in the fortunes of the Xbox One isn’t going to actually materialize. Is this likely to actually start happening in 2018? No, probably not in any significant capacity, but Microsoft can’t simply stay quiet for the rest of the year. It needs to do its very best to recover from what has been a lackluster last few years and an underwhelming first six months of 2018.
As for Sony’s PS4 and the Nintendo Switch, their trajectories remain firmly trending upward, albeit at completely totally different ends of their life-cycle. Both companies can remain confident that they’ve already showcased enough in the first half of the year that they aren’t in need of any major announcements or new agendas to push their brand forward. Operating in the same industry but targeting different markets, they hardly need to worry too much about competition from each other, either. How many PS4 owners will purchase a Switch to play games-on-the-go or Nintendo exclusives and then hop straight back on PS4 for their fix of major third-party AAA titles? Plenty, you’d have to wager.
The question is how Microsoft works its way into that equation. It is they with the most to prove, who desperately need to win-back some mind-share and maintain confidence amongst its audience that the Xbox One is a platform with a bright future.
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