Next Xbox Will Have a VR Focus As Acquisitions Continue, Says Analyst

The talk of what's to come continues as the next generation of gaming speculation grows with possibility. With Xbox boss Phil Spencer making big moves in 2019 to restore the brand back to its glory days while also making moves for a more immersive gaming experience with more RPG titles as a goal, 2019 is set up for some pretty incredible year for Microsoft. With so many studio acquisitions already, one analyst is saying that this is only the beginning and will allow the brand to focus on aspects of gaming that were previously not doable at the time.

With more and more VR headsets rolling out and more and more virtual reality-driven experiences swarming to the surface, it looks like the continued pursuit of more acquisitions can finally make Xbox a contender in the VR market.

"Well Microsoft doesn't still have as large a game developer base as either Sony or Nintendo even after these acquisitions, as far as I can tell," said IDC Analyst Lewis Ward to GamingBolt. "This is a signal that Microsoft wants to put out more exclusives for Win10 devices moving forward and we'll likely see more acquisitions as they continue to bolster their first party lineup by plugging "holes" in genres and subgenres they think will grow relatively quickly over time."

But what about VR? He added, "Microsoft wants to be more of enabler for other Win10-based hardware and software providers. There's no reason Xbox One X can't play Windows Mixed Reality games right now. I'm not sure why Microsoft hasn't pulled that trigger on that, but they'll very likely be in this space with their next-gen console. The bottom line is that while a lot of people are still down on VR, I expect 2018 global spending on off-the-shelf software, which is primarily games, on all platforms (consoles, PCs and mobile devices), to roughly double up 2017's spending total, and wind up in the $1 billion range this year."

Since this is currently a PC and PS4 market area, it would be interesting to see Xbox take this particular stage. I mean, could you imagine playing Halo in full-fledged VR?!

What do you hope to see from the next generation? Join in on the conversation in the comment section below, or hit me up over on Twitter @DirtyEffinHippy!