In November of 2016, Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) Classic console to the world — a miniature version of its original gaming system bundled with several of Nintendo's most popular classic games. This mini console was a massive hit, and it became clear that there was a strong market for them.
Fast-forward to 2018, and Sony has announced the creation of its own mini console, the PlayStation Classic. With both Nintendo and Sony creating a product within this niche, it begs the question: Should Microsoft follow suit and create an "Xbox Classic" based on the original Xbox? Here are some quick pros and cons of such a move.
Read: Biggest announcements from Inside Xbox
Xbox Classic pros: Collector appeal and classic games
One of the best things that the Xbox Classic concept has going for it is that it's almost guaranteed to make a profit. There are tons of collectors and fans who love things like this, as demonstrated by NES Classic and PlayStation Classic's tremendous success. Since the only job of Microsoft's engineers will be how to shrink a twenty-year-old system, I can't imagine Xbox Classics would be that expensive to make, either.
Another large point in the Xbox Classic's corner is that if Microsoft was to bundle the console with a collection of original Xbox games, it would be a viable option for people who want to play them for the first time. Currently, copies of original Xbox titles can often be expensive, with some games even costing as much as $80. If some of these were packaged in an Xbox Classic bundle priced between $50 and $100, fans could get access to these older titles for a lot cheaper.
Xbox Classic cons: Backward compatibility, priority issues
While I don't think it would be enough to prevent Microsoft from making money on the Xbox Classic idea, it is worth pointing out that Xbox One allows people to play several classic Xbox titles already if they have the discs. This is thanks to the backward compatibility program, which is arguably Xbox One's strongest features this generation. People lucky enough to own a copy of these games from 20 years ago would have no reason to buy an Xbox Classic, aside from collector value.
Additionally, it could be argued that a side console should be the last thing on Microsoft's mind. There has been a lot of disappointment in the Xbox One family of consoles due to a lack of exclusives, and I think if Microsoft tried to push the idea of an Xbox Classic, many people would simply get annoyed that the time and effort was used on it instead of acquiring more game developers and getting new intellectual properties.
Your thoughts
What do you think of the idea of an Xbox Classic console? Let us know down below.
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