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No Delays Expected for Xbox Series X But First-Party Games Might Be
Phil Spencer, Microsoft's Gaming division VP and Xbox's prodigal savior, says that while no delays are expected for the launch of the Xbox Series X due to the coronavirus pandemic, things are way more up in the air as far as it concerns first-party exclusive games. That should come as little surprise since this year's spate of delays came before global quarantine measures made video game development even more difficult than usual, but prospective Xbox Series X early adopters will be happy to know the console's production is on-track.
For as long as the mass-market gaming machines have been around, exclusive games developed in-house have been the single greatest selling point for console manufacturers to point to when asked how their product is unique from the competition. Amid an unprecedented pandemic that has made logisticians' worst nightmares into reality, not even a cancelled E3 press conference is stopping this week's imminent Xbox Series X games showcase. Critical launch titles may end up delayed by a few months while developers struggle to remotely piece together multi-million dollar pieces of interactive media, but Xbox is assuring fans that the console itself will be on shelves on-time.
When asked by Jon Fortt of CNBC's Squawk Alley about potential delays of the Xbox Series X launch, Phil Spencer shared that the Xbox hardware teams are "keeping our hardware on track" in spite of "some impact to schedules." Regardless of the obvious difficulties associated with the development of a physical product while observing social distancing guidelines, Spencer confidently stated, "Overall, I think we're in line with where we thought we would be." Maintaining his usual transparency, though, he admitted that Xbox Games Studios and other developers making games for the next-gen console will be harder-pressed to stay on-schedule, saying that "the bigger unknown is probably the game production." It's no formal blanket announcement of game delays, but players should be prepared for the possibility.
Although an increasingly platform-agnostic approach to development and release gaining steam in the gaming industry could spell an eventual end to the importance of console exclusives, that scenario is still far from realization. However, if Spencer's apprehension about every Xbox Series X releasing on time as scheduled turns out warranted, it would only be indicative of his and other Xbox leadership's respect of employee health and safety, which is far preferable to the alternative. There seems to be every sign that Xbox Game Pass will make the cross-gen jump from Xbox One to Xbox Series X, so there will plenty of excellent first-party titles to play whichever way this pans out.
Game development has quickly ballooned into a wildly expensive and labor-intensive process, so game delays are always something that players should anticipate (that goes double during deadly global crises). The real takeaway is that the Xbox Series X is still looking to hit its holiday 2020 launch window, a major factor that potential buyers will factor into their decision if the yet-announced price point is right.
