Xboxis one of the biggest gaming publishers on the planet, and has a significant amount of influence. With a wide variety of second party studios publishing flagship titles and newly released next-gen systems in the form of the Xbox Series X/S,Xboxhas grown astronomically since the release of its original console. However, a large reason for Xbox’s growth is due to its understanding of its competitors.
Japanese publishers like Sony and Nintendo account for millions upon millions of console and game units sold. In fact, in 2020 theproduction rates for the Nintendo Switch were higherthan they had ever been in the console’s lifetime. Although, it seems that Xbox had incorrectly predicted the release of a number of highly anticipated Nintendo titles.
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As part of theApple vs. Epic Games trial, a document was published by Xbox as evidence that features a rough outline of high-profile Xbox One titles releasing late in 2020, but what’s considerably more curious are the predictions Xbox made as far as its competitors release schedules. According to the document, Xbox believed thatThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2was releasing in 2020.
In addition toBreath of the Wild 2, Xbox also thought that widely anticipated Nintendo titles likeShin Megami Tensei 5, Bayonetta 3,andMetroid Prime 4would all be releasing in 2020. Obviously, there was no way for Xbox would know that these games would release in 2020, unless Nintendo somehow leaked it to Xbox. Perhaps this document refers to Xbox knowing of these titles being in development and assuming that they could possibly release during 2020.
It’s possible that there was a point where at least some of these games had intended to come out in 2020, but given how much the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted the world at large, the time-frame of these games' development had to be extended. Plenty ofSwitch games got delayed due to COVID, but then again none of these games were given an exact release date, so they were likely internally delayed.
In any case, it’s interesting to see thatXboxis fairly informed when it comes to its opposing publishers. From a business standpoint, it would be important to weigh in on what other studios are doing and work out release dates accordingly. If something likeHalo Infinitereleased on the same day as the long-awaited sequel toBreath of the Wild, then there would certainly be sales conflicts.
