Will The Outer Worlds 2 Actually Be An Xbox Exclusive?
That said, I’m excited to play The Outer Worlds 2, even if it ends up launching a full console generation after it was announced. I loved the first game (it took the second spot on my 2019 GOTY list), and I’m eager to see what Obsidian is able to accomplish with a)Xboxmoney, b) more experience with making first-person games after the first Outer Worlds and the upcoming Avowed, and c) with a longer development cycle that will hopefully allow some of the first game’s rough edges to be sanded off. The Outer Worlds had some obvious cut corners, and I’m hopeful that more time to cook means a more complete sequel.
Byzantium, in particular, felt undercooked with a ton of unopenable doors. Despite its reputation as the wealthy capital city of Terra 2, there just wasn’t much to explore.
I’m also hoping that The Outer Worlds 2 having been in development for a long time means that it comes out at a point when Xbox has fully given up on competing with Sony. The cracks are already starting to show as Microsoft has ported former exclusives like Pentiment, Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves, and Grounded to other consoles, and, to mix metaphors, I’m ready for Xbox to rip off the Band-Aid.
The Blessing And Curse Of The Xbox Ecosystem
I’vewritten beforeabout how I’ve been holding out on buying anXbox Series X or Sbecause I can typically play everything that Microsoft releases with my aging gaming laptop and my Xbox One S. The problem is, we’re getting to the point where that strategy isn’t really working anymore. I couldtechnicallyplay Starfield on my PC, but the cities — which were a big selling point for me — were frame-y as hell despite my little-laptop-that-could’s attempts to keep up. That game is also available on Xbox One via streaming, but my wifi isn’t up to the challenge, so I ended up dropping it to focus on playingBaldur’s Gate 3.
I don’t really want the same thing to happen with The Outer Worlds 2, so I’m finding myself in a game of chicken with Microsoft. Is Xbox going to continue to exist as we know it, as a console manufacturer with first-party developers making games for its hardware? Or is it going to go the way of Sega, closing up the hardware shop, and pivoting to publishing games on other consoles? I can’t see Xbox sticking around for another console cycle after,by its own admission, decisively losing back-to-back generations. Barring a miracle, the Xbox Series X|S is not catching up with the PS5 or the Switch. It’sbarely beatingtheMeta Quest family of headsets.
Microsoft has increasingly pitcheditself as an ecosystem since the launch of Game Pass in 2017, and it’s easy to see it phasing out console manufacture entirely. The question I’m asking is: will that happen before or after an Xbox exclusive I really want to play comes out?
