The upcoming release of the Xbox Series X (and, by extension, its direct competitor, the PlayStation 5) will no doubt be still a monumental event at the end of this year, despite all that is happening in the current global landscape.
In a recent interview with CNBC (via DualShockers), Xbox head Phil Spencer gave some good and bad news for prospective players of Microsoft’s upcoming latest flagship console. Firstly, he reassured that the Xbox Series X is “in line” to release in Holiday 2020, despite concerns that production might be pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, Spencer also cast some doubt over the games themselves being able to be put out at the same time as the console’s release. As game studios are still reeling from the effects of the global outbreak, he firmly stated that Microsoft won’t “push [games out] when things just aren’t ready”.
“I’d say the bigger unknown is probably the game production,” said Spencer. “Game production is a large scale entertainment activity now, you have hundreds of people coming together, building assets, working through creative.”
Though not much is known about the various first-party Xbox Series X games such as Halo Infinite and Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II and their respective statuses, it might not be far off to assume that the devs might be facing similar production issues to those in the PlayStation persuasion, with the likes of Ghost of Tsushima and The Last of Us Part II having to delay the launch of their games as a result of the coronavirus.
Despite all this, there is still some merit in purchasing an Xbox Series X should the games be delayed, as it does inherently support backwards compatibility, though how exactly it improves upon the hardware of the Xbox One with backwards compatible titles remains to be seen.
Marion has a serious RPG addiction. Sometimes it bleeds into real life; he forgets to sleep because he thinks he has a Witcher’s body clock. Forgive him in advance if he suddenly blurts out terms such as “Mind Flayer” and “Magic Missile”, because never once does he stop thinking about his next Dungeons & Dragons game.
Si Jia
