With Astro Bot exceeding any expectations that anybody could have had for the game, Sony now has two exclusives contending for Game of the Year. Last year, it was Nintendo which turned in two IPs for Game of the Year.

While the Xbox has platformed very entertaining games on their newest consoles, most notably Starfield, Microsoft’s exclusives typically get left off of the Game Awards nominations list. Sure, one could reasonably argue that the quality of Xbox exclusives generally match their PlayStation and Nintendo counterparts, but they rarely captivate audiences in the way that God of War: Ragnarok and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom do.

In order to create an experience that stands out from the crowd, Microsoft is going to need to strike a perfect balance between niche, nostalgia and wide appeal, just as all the aforementioned games did. And what better way to do that than to continue the journey of everybody’s favorite profane alcoholic squirrel?

One issue that sticks out with the Xbox Series X|S is its lack of an identity. Make no mistake, I love Xbox games, but Xbox exclusives could benefit from having their own “feel” in the way Microsoft’s competitors have. In a way, however, that might not be such a bad thing, because Xbox still has time to dictate what an Xbox exclusive feels like to play. Historically, one strategy a company can successfully take to deviate from Nintendo is to produce more mature games. Sony has beaten Nintendo with that tactic, and before them Sega established themselves as competitors by presenting the SNES as a kids toy.

But when Sony releases a mature game, it typically falls under the mature category by way of being “gritty” (think The Last of Us). And while that formula has worked for PlayStation exclusives, it leaves other means of being mature up for grabs. Raunchiness, for example. Going for the raunchy route for anybody who does not own the studio with the rights to Conker’s Bad Fur Day would, admittedly, be a terrible idea. But the N64 gem not only has a cult following, but it also uses raunchy humor in a way that is genuinely funny. If Rare, and by extension Microsoft, can get some of the same writers to return and work on a brand new game, it’s bound to be a hit.

It is true that the original Conker’s Bad Fur Day was not exactly a commercial powerhouse, and that it might not have made a big enough impact at the time for the name to carry much weight today. And for the original game, maybe that would be the case. However, fans were reintroduced to Conker in the still-popular compilation Rare Replay, exposing him to a whole new audience of strictly Xbox owners. But even if fewer people remember the titular squirrel, a good and funny game will win over the public regardless of their knowledge of the source material. And if they didn’t know Conker then, they will by the time they play the new game.

Xbox is by no means in trouble during this generation, although the brand could certainly be performing better. Pushing through a unique sequel would not only juice sales of a new system, but also make the very loyal fans of the company proud to show out for the Series X|S.