Microsoft kæmper lige nu med at overbevise fans om, at der fortsat er masser af store, solide eksklusive titler på vej til Xbox, men nu er en ny kritik så småt ved at krybe op til overfladen. Mange, på tværs af fora på internettet, har brokket sig over at Microsofts kommende liste af store titler, såsom Crackdown 3, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, State of Decay 2 og Sea of Thieves har alle enten et kooperativt eller multiplayer-fokus. De vil gerne forsikres om, at Microsoft fortsat er investeret i de hårdkogte singleplayer-oplevelser.
Det ved vi nu, at de er.
Faktisk er kritikken så offentligt kendt, at GamesIndustry spurgte Microsofts Shannon Loftis om dette, og her svarede hun først:
"Right now we are very focused on games that bring people together, who form communities and find ways to self-express."
Se, det lyder ikke som om at der er singleplayer-spil på vej, vel? Jo, for hun fortsætter nemlig heldigvis:
"No. There is a fun YouTube search that I like to do: 'Reactions to people watching the Ori and the Will of The Wisps trailer'. It is a blast watching their reactions and seeing them crying, good crying, over the game. Even the ability to share a reaction to a story, or to share how something made you feel in that moment, that is a viable social mechanic. There will always be a need to tell these stories, like Ori or like Zelda. Zelda is an incredibly social game, and just because you are playing it by yourself, doesn't mean that the entire world isn't sharing your experience.
The fact that we have the ability to share screens, share commentary, and groups, and clubs on Xbox Live... those are ways to bring people together around a game that is more story orientated.
Games that build community... these are games that people come back to again and again. And they come back as much for the social experience as they do the gameplay. I actually think that is for the greater good of society. Things that bring people closer together as opposed to driving them apart. There are a lot of things driving people apart right now, and I'm proud to be part of an industry that does the opposite."