14 DAY TRIAL // The Xbox One might be currently trailing in terms of sales when compared to the PlayStation 4, but Microsoft is already thinking about the fall of next year and about the many high-profile titles it plans to launch, some of which might have to be delayed in order to make sure that players are now overwhelmed.
Phil Spencer, who leads the division in charge of the home console, is telling Larry Hryb, aka Major Nelson, the leading community liaison, on his podcast, that the company is carefully evaluating which titles it will actually deliver to the market.
He states, "Next fall, I don’t… Honestly it’s not hype at all, I honestly don’t know that we can actually ship all the stuff that thinks it’s trying to ship next fall. It just might be too crowded and we might purposely try to move some things out to spread it."
The big 2015 launch for the Xbox One is undoubtedly Halo 5: Guardians, the game that will bring Master Chief and his universe to a new platform and will introduce a range of solid changes to the mechanics and an innovative story.
At the same time, the company has another exclusive in Rise of the Tomb Raider, which is being created by Square Enix, and it also has plans to launch Quantum Break, a new installment in the Crackdown series and it might also deliver Scalebound.
Xbox One needs titles for all months of the year
Microsoft, like all other video game publishers, has been focused on delivering big titles during October and November, in order to ensure big sales during the Christmas period.
But it seems that Spencer is looking to distribute releases more evenly in order to ensure that they are all visible and that gamers have a chance to see what each has to offer.
He adds, "I think as publishers and first parties have success at multiple points of the year it’s just a good thing for us, because having three/four great games ship all in the same week at the end of October, while maybe on some forecast somewhere it feels like that’s the right thing to do, just as an industry I think it’s much more healthy if we have more beats throughout the year where people can ship great games."
At the moment the Xbox One is lagging behind the PlayStation 4 in terms of sales and has managed to ship just 2.4 million units to retailers during the three months which ended on September 30.