The Xbox One is a paradox of sorts. It has bought at a miles quicker clip than old Xbox consoles, which should be celebrated. but it surely's also been outsold with the aid of as tons as 2-to-1 by way of the playstation four. So "fixing" the Xbox One in 2016 is complex: Microsoft will need to continue with what's working while making the platform more appealing to a wider audience.
I even have a number of options.
cost concerns. The largest takeaway from the Xbox One launch—which is sad, as a result of this turned into additionally the biggest takeaway from the ps3 launch years previous—is that expense matters. during this case, a far-too-high priced cost. The Xbox One launched at $500, entirely $100 more than the PS4, and whereas fans will argue that you received greater—e.g. the Kinect—for that fee, Microsoft eventually figured out that few individuals desired that, and made the Kinect optional. And, greater essential, decreased the cost. these days, the beginning fee of the Xbox One is $350, the equal as the PS4. and you'll almost always locate Xbox One bundles in the $300 range. This must continue.
We need another low-conclusion console. On that note, Microsoft's fresh choice to halt creation of the Xbox 360 leaves a gap in the low-conclusion of the market, and it will want an Xbox One console to fill that gap. There are other ways to reach at any such aspect—go the Apple route and simply offer refurbished/older console revisions, or depend on much less expensive new silicon to create a cheaper edition of the console. I vote for the latter approach, as a result of ….
We want an improved-conclusion console too. With Sony reportedly working on a PS4K that would ship this 12 months and present each 4K photographs first-rate and more suitable digital fact (VR) capabilities, Microsoft effectively ought to do the same. there's absolutely no reason why Xbox One video games can't ship with support for each consoles, and whereas existing video games would easily play unchanged on the brand new console, new games could offer each better pics and, when it makes feel, VR capabilities.
We need a living room answer. If there is anything else less productive for lounge enjoyment than the latest tank-like Xbox One mannequin, I actually have yet to see it. The Xbox One doubtless uses about a hundred times as an awful lot electricity as a Roku or Apple tv, even when it's not getting used. (And my own Xbox One's vigor supply is so loud—seriously, the vigor provide—that I mechanically unplug it just to rid my office of the regular ruh-ruh-ruh-ruh sound that greats me every morning.) We need a real living room answer.
We want a Cortana box too. and a few coming Xbox-primarily based living room leisure solution may also serve the equal purpose as Amazon Echo or Google home: a way to have interaction with Microsoft's (Cortana) digital very own assistant and its lower back-conclusion computer discovering capabilities without needing to escape a phone or other cellular machine.
consumer-serviceability matters. One factor that kills me in regards to the humongous existing-era Xbox One is that the user can't even substitute the interior complicated force. There's so much room in this box, and forcing us to make use of external storage is inexcusable. i might have long ago replaced the inner HDD with speedy SSD storage had Microsoft with no trouble allowed that. Which it'll have. i am hoping they achieve this with gen 2, and that i'd remind readers that the primary two Xbox 360 generations allowed such improvements. It was a fine looking dependent system.
performance concerns. i discussed the want for a more robust-conclusion console, but I need to name out a major difficulty with the existing Xbox one which we as Xbox or Microsoft fanatics are likely to sweep beneath the proverbial rug: The console effortlessly doesn't function straight away ample. and i'm now not speaking about online game resolutions or body charges, one more embarrassment, but somewhat just your fundamental UI velocity and responsiveness. Even with the huge replace from late 2015, the Xbox One UI crawls, and there's a pause or wait every time you do anything that isn't playing an already-loaded video game. Microsoft in fact must repair this.
i use the Xbox One day by day, and i choose it over the ps4 by using a reasonably wide margin. but there are such a lot of obvious areas to increase, might be too many. As I up to now said, Microsoft will announce new hardware at E3 next month, nonetheless it's not clear yet what that hardware may be. What it received't be, i suspect, is one or greater solutions to all of the concerns I've raised right here. but quite simply relaunching the Xbox One is in reality indispensable, and even Sony—which, once more, dominates this market—appears to be doing in order neatly. This isn't some type of capitulation, it's about Microsoft making use of its evolution in windows servicing to the Xbox as neatly. this is, just because outdated console generations labored a certain means, doesn't suggest that we have to maintain doing things the same means. It's time for a tremendous trade, and the simplest real question is how some distance the Xbox group is willing to head.
smartly, we're about to discover: Microsoft's E3 media exhibit is on June 13, simply three weeks from now. What we discover that week will outline the Xbox One console no longer just for the relaxation of 2016 but, I suppose, for the remainder of this console's lifetime.
