IO Interactive Purchase
As pointed out, one of the weaknesses that has kept Xbox from continuing its dominance this generation has been the perception that Microsoft doesn’t have the first-party firepower of their competitors. Thankfully for them, a major opportunity recently opened up with Square Enix looking to get rid of Danish developer IO Interactive. If Microsoft scoops up the Hitman developer, and makes a shocking E3 announcement saying so, they’ll get one of the best gaming developers (who arguably put out 2016’s best game), and will have another heavy hitter creating exclusive content for Microsoft’s gaming ecosystems.
Secure Third-Party Exclusives
In the past two years, Microsoft have managed to snag some timed-exclusivity deals for some huge sequels in some of the most beloved franchises in gaming. Both Rise of the Tomb Raider and Dead Rising 4 served their purpose of delivering another great game to flesh out an otherwise lacking holiday line-up, and it would make sense for Microsoft to go back to this well again. Expect another out of left field exclusivity deal that’ll bring a solid looking sequel to Scorpio later this year.
Announce Funding of Japanese Ports
PlayStation 4 owners have had a much better early 2017 than their Xbox One counterparts, and this can be boiled down to one simple reason: many Japanese developed titles have not been coming to Microsoft’s system. This isn’t due to any brilliant deal by Sony, but due to publishers not getting the support from Microsoft that they need. It’s time for Xbox to fix their damaged relationships, and start convincing publishers (through funding or advertising deals) to bring their future titles to Xbox One. While not every Japanese game will do gangbusters, and it’ll take time to build that consumer base, there’s no denying that something like NieR: Automata could find an audience outside of PlayStation.
