For those PS4 and Nintendo Switch owners out there, 2017 saw a decent amount of first-party exclusive games launched.
The case wasn’t so strong for Microsoft’s Xbox One, which saw key titles delayed, while others were also cancelled outright.
However, 2018 is shaping up to be a lot more exciting, meaning a stronger challenge for Sony PlayStation to face.
Games like Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2 and Crackdown 3 are on the way and could help to spice things up.
And even more big exciting projects are likely to be announced during E3 in June for the Xbox One and Xbox One X.
Fans may finally find out what Microsoft are planning to do with their mixed reality headset, and whether it might arrive this year.
We could also get news on new exciting exclusives, although they may well be for launch in 2019.
But while all this will prove great for Xbox fans, one of the year’s biggest news stories has already been revealed.
Microsoft announced this week that they are changing the way Xbox Game Pass works, which will likely make PS4 and Nintendo Switch owners a little jealous.
It has been announced that all new games published by Microsoft Studios will now be released onto Xbox Game Pass on the same date as their global release.
This means that when Sea of Thieves launches on March 20th 2018, it will be included on Xbox Game Pass for all members.
The plan will bring upcoming games like State of Decay 2, and Crackdown 3 to Xbox Game Pass at the same time as their global release date.
This will also apply to any future unannounced games from Microsoft Studios, including exclusive franchises such as Halo, Forza and Gears of War.
That’s huge news for Xbox One games fans, who may have been thinking about signing up to the monthly subscription service.
It may not mean new free games popping up as often as with Games with Gold, but it will mean access to some top titles.
Questions have also been raised over whether these new games could be removed at a later date, making it less of a great feature.
However, Xbox Live director of programming Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb has revealed that this won’t be the case.
Replying to fan questions on Twitter, Hryb revealed that the Xbox Games Pass titles would be staying put.
“In other words: Xbox One Exclusives will be a permanent part of game pass moving forward,” he explained.
And Microsoft have been backed to make the new offer a big success, with Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter sharing his thoughts on its impact.
“I don’t think it means anything for console sales,” he told Gamingbolt.
“It’s a clever way to give consumers access to a lot of content for a reasonable price, and nothing more than that.
“For the price of two new games per year ($120), a Game Pass subscriber can play all Microsoft first party content (at least two AAA titles) plus 100 more games.
“It’s a good deal if somebody intends to buy at least one Microsoft release per year, and with so many Halo, Forza and Gears fans, they should see a lift in subscriptions.
“I don’t see any correlation to console sales, but maybe this program will benefit them over the long run.”
It leaves a big question mark over whether Sony and Nintendo may do something similar for the PS4 and Switch.
While Nintendo are planning on providing classic games on their console as part of their new online subscription service, many of its feature still remain vague.
It appears the launch of which has been delayed and would really only be on the level of Games with Gold and PS Plus.
Sony, meanwhile, are known to be trying to boost their PlayStation Store sales and PS Plus concurrent usership.
This could prove the perfect feature, however, it could be awhile before we see something like this pop up in the future.