What the Tech: Only Microsoft could release a console with no new games on it

November is a big deal for the human race. Covid-19 rates are rising, democracy is going down in flames, and somehow or another, we have next-gen consoles coming out from both Sony and Microsoft.

And yet, in spite of all the chaos happening around us, there’s something very different with the arrival of the ninth generation of consoles, and it’s not the absurd amount of space they take up around your TV set-up.

Early adopters of the PS5 won’t have the faintest idea of what I’m alluding to, and that’s fair, because they’ve got Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Dark Souls and Sackboy: A Big Adventure to keep them occupied. By comparison, Xbox Series X/S fans will have a grand total of zero new games to rummage through on launch day.

Vote: Which PS5 games are you buying at launch?

I remember a time when the most crucial aspect of a console launch was the games made available for said console. After all, if you don’t have something like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or Resistance: Fall of Man to pique your interest, then what’s the point of picking up a new console right away?

Speaking of Breath of the Wild, remember the hubbub surrounding the Switch’s launch back in 2017? That was a console with a brand new hybrid-style premise that had never been seen before, and yet people could not stop winging about the fact that it only had four games at launch.

Sure, one of those games was 1-2-Switch (to my dying day, I will say that title should’ve been bundled with the Switch), but one of them was Breath of the Wild. BREATH OF THE WILD PEOPLE! What I’d like to know is where all of those detractors are now, because I certainly haven’t seen them in the run-up to the Xbox Series X’s launch.

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Don’t get me wrong, I’m very much looking forward to picking up an Xbox Series X or S down the line (I am still an avid gamer after all), but if there’s sod all on the new console that I can’t just play on either my current Xbox One or PS4 – why should I fork out now for the privilege of early ownership?

Maybe Phil Spencer has put a spell on everyone, convincing us that we’ll all be content with playing Halo 3 for the 70^th time if it’s in 120fps. Personally, I’m content with getting through the ever-growing backlog of games I currently own. If my copy of Ghost of Tsushima gets any more dust on it, I might never find it again.

Sorry Spency, you might have convinced everyone else that new hardware with no exclusives is somehow a great way to spend one’s money, but not me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I just need to pick up my fifth Xbox Elite Controller – this new one has a slighter greyer d-pad!