I talked recently about XBOX needing to find the ‘right balance’ for them as a platform a few articles ago. I think with the initiative that they announced today with disc to digital, they’re certainly stepping in the right direction. And that’s a direction where fans are heard even if the overarching statement is that we’re not going to be able to avoid digital as that is going to be the way that the industry moves forward together.
This initiative at least makes you feel better than the alternative platforms out there. It’s an alternative to the ‘one store’ portfolio that Sony wants us to have where you’re very restricted. I just think at this point if you’re not buying your third-party games on XBOX at more sensible prices then you’re getting a bad deal. Especially when at the forefront of all this, XBOX Play Anywhere has a big future, which I suggested it would when going into the next generation.
Today it was announced that all the benefits of your XBOX physical game collection will be future-proofed in a digital format. This makes sure that there is still use for those Series discs yet. It also goes to prove to me at least that the decision I made in terms of moving platform was the right call. Game preservation is really important and the fact that our games will be moving forward with us in such a favorable way is only going to improve what everyone thinks about trusting XBOX as a place to play going forward.
It’s a move that has listened to the fans by putting them front and centre but it also shows an attitude where game preservation should be taken seriously by everybody. Sony didn’t want to hear the call of the fans, but with XBOX they very much have met the fans in a way that provides a level of balance that you want and should have in the industry. It might not be the answer that we needed, but any company that takes some sort of initiative to meet the consumer half-way. Well, to me, that’s at least ‘something’.
Craig Clark
From gaming industry headlines to all things Manchester United and entertainment, Craig covers the stories everyone's talking about — alongside his own published works.