The biggest exclusive for the Xbox One that is announced and lined for release this year is Crackdown 3. Originally announced all the way back in 2014, and slated for release far earlier than this year (seeing multiple delays along the way, including one late last year, after it had been announced to be accompanying the Xbox One X launch), it’s, hopefully, finally hitting store shelves later this year.
But how will it do? According to Michael Pachter, analyst at Wedbush Securities, assuming it is good enough, it should actually drive console sales.
“Crackdown is an amazing series, and if Crackdown 3 is good, it’s going to drive console sales,” Pachter said in an exclusive interview with GamingBolt. “That is really a good franchise. But again, it’s not for everyone- super hard. But it’s a great game experience, and I think it will do well. I think it and [State of Decay] are the things I am looking forward to most on Xbox… I’m a fan of Halo and Gears, but Gears 5 and Halo 6? Okay… I’d much rather play Crackdown 3 and State of Decay 2.”
I’m not fully sure Crackdown 3 will do that- the series seems to lack the cachet with the mainstream, and unless it’s a 90+ Metascore (which it might be, but which seems unlikely, given its troubled development cycle so far), I don’t know if it will suddenly broaden and expand its appeal… that said, I still think it should do well enough. Even Sea of Thieves managed that.