Free Multiplayer Games
Say what you will about Fortnite, the trend of free-to-play has improved games immensely. Gamers have rightfully decided that multiplayer by itself has no value. Especially since they’re stuffed with microtransactions anyway no matter what the base game costs. Now, when paid multiplayer games come out, they always flop with rare exceptions. Free multiplayer is also good because we already pay for internet AND console players don’t have to subscribe to an online service to play them. You can play Fortnite, Rocket League, and Halo Infinite without Xbox Live.
Remaster/Remake Collections
Crash Bandicoot kicked this trend off and suddenly every company realized that people like playing old games. Mass Effect, Batman Arkham, Spyro, Klonoa, Megaman, Sonic, Halo, Rare, Devil May Cry, Assassin’s Creed, Gex, Metal Gear, Yakuza. There are so many old games being remade and remastered for modern hardware that makes them easily playable and endlessly enjoyable. On top of that, there are also entire consoles and arcades being ported to current systems. It’s vastly better than having old games slip into obscurity, forcing gamers to pirate them on their own. And meanwhile the publishers get the money, so everyone wins.
Backwards Compatibility
Yes, this is reliant on the good will of the company to provide this feature to very specific games. But that’s much better than not doing it at all. You can’t play EVERY OG Xbox or 360 game on a Series X. Far from it. But at least you don’t have to rebuy all the available ones you currently own. Much like remasters, this is a nice feature that gives players a reason to NOT pirate and emulate games on their own because they’re easily available for purchase. If you don’t like new games, that’s fine. There are entire generations of old games still available to play on new systems.
