Yes, it’s another edition of Patch Notes about Xbox. It seems that Microsoft’s gaming division couldn’t get out of the headlines these days if it tried — not that it seems to be trying very hard. Last week was dominated by the news of more layoffs and the shocking transfer of Halo to Activision. The week before, Xbox floated like a mildly threatening specter behind the scenes of a good but slightly desperate BlizzCon.
This week, perhaps in an attempt to wrest control of the narrative (from itself), Xbox fielded CEO Asha Sharma for a New York Times profile. But the unfortunate takeaway from that interview was that Sharma was forced to deny that the platform-holder was for sale. Good to know, but unfortunate that she has to say it.
But I’m not being strictly fair. This wasn’t really the big Xbox story of the week. There were quite a few, and in a shocking turn of events, most of them were good news. The review embargo lifted on Gears of War: E-Day — not just the return of a fan-favorite and very Xbox-y series, but the flagship for Sharma’s partial return to making console-exclusive games. And it’s good! With an 87 on Metacritic, it’s one of the better-reviewed AAA games this year. It’s also as full of gory action and manly emotion as you could want a Gears game to be. (And hey, Minecraft Dungeons 2 is pretty good too.)
This isn’t all, though. When she was appointed, Sharma made a point of promising much-requested platform updates to keep fans happy. We got a couple this week, both motivated (in different ways) by comparisons with Xbox’s rivals over at PlayStation. Testing began for Mythic Achievements, Xbox’s extremely belated answer to Platinum Trophies. I can see why fans care, but they don’t add anything new to the landscape. The other new addition, though, is something else.
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