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2015 Microsoft E3 Conference

How many shirts will Phil Spencer wear?


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rrc1594

Member
Thats not really true, in fact its kind of the opposite really.

This conference was specifically for people who have not bought an Xbox, or have not become invested in the Xbox (console and windows).

In terms of a brief overview: This conferemce had
  • A Look at Microsofts Core exclusives - Basically an update on the reliable brands and where they are headed
  • A look at what services you have when buying an XBox One eg EA Access
  • Intersting new games that are comming out (such as Sea of Theives and ReCore)
  • New accessories to convince Pro Players
  • An extremely important demostarion on the importance of HoloLens (which is less about Xbox and more important in terms of convincing people to become committed to Microsofts prodcuts in general)
  • A focus on building a strong 2015 Portfolio, as well as begining to address the future
  • Collections and Remasters to draw on nostalgia (Such as the Rare Collection featuring N64 games)
  • Finally Backwards Compatability. This is the most important aspect, because it smoothes over any attempted transition to the Xbox One from the 360, is a great PR coup and also works if someone had primarily been, say, a Playstation or Wii gamer all their life then they will now have access to all the exclusives (which are now cheap) that they missed last gen

Yes there was some familiar stuff, but there needed to be. This E3 was above all else a presentation on What the Xbox One currently is, why you should buy now or why you could buy it later.

Plus Backwards compatibility and Hololens were both major surprises.

Everything you said is on point. E3 is about 2015 while Gamescom is about 2016+ I like that strategy.
 

g0dofwar

Banned
How do you lose the biggest game in the world and still win E3? People bought the Xbox thinking that they would have all the DLC first on Xbox One because "Sony will never outbid Microsoft" but that's what happened. Sony must think they have walked away with the Crown jewels after this E3
 

GHG

Member
How do you lose the biggest game in the world and still win E3? People bought the Xbox thinking that they would have all the DLC first on Xbox One because "Sony will never outbid Microsoft" but that's what happened. Sony must think they have walked away with the Crown jewels after this E3

Sony probably didn't outbid Microsoft. The sell price was likely lower for them due to the global sales situation.
 

Ape

Banned
Sony probably didn't outbid Microsoft. The sell price was likely lower for them due to the global sales situation.

probably true. I'd also guess that MS didn't see a great return if they didn't re up the map packs. MS always makes the right business move with things like this, and if they don't get a return it's fucking over. They most likely figure Sony can try to make something out of nothing with exclusive map packs for a few days at millions of dollars asking.
 

kinoki

Illness is the doctor to whom we pay most heed; to kindness, to knowledge, we make promise only; pain we obey.
Thats not really true, in fact its kind of the opposite really.

This conference was specifically for people who have not bought an Xbox, or have not become invested in the Xbox (console and windows).

In terms of a brief overview: This conferemce had
  • A Look at Microsofts Core exclusives - Basically an update on the reliable brands and where they are headed
  • A look at what services you have when buying an XBox One eg EA Access
  • Intersting new games that are comming out (such as Sea of Theives and ReCore)
  • New accessories to convince Pro Players
  • An extremely important demostarion on the importance of HoloLens (which is less about Xbox and more important in terms of convincing people to become committed to Microsofts prodcuts in general)
  • A focus on building a strong 2015 Portfolio, as well as begining to address the future
  • Collections and Remasters to draw on nostalgia (Such as the Rare Collection featuring N64 games)
  • Finally Backwards Compatability. This is the most important aspect, because it smoothes over any attempted transition to the Xbox One from the 360, is a great PR coup and also works if someone had primarily been, say, a Playstation or Wii gamer all their life then they will now have access to all the exclusives (which are now cheap) that they missed last gen

Yes there was some familiar stuff, but there needed to be. This E3 was above all else a presentation on What the Xbox One currently is, why you should buy now or why you could buy it later.

Plus Backwards compatibility and Hololens were both major surprises.

That's a nice list. Microsoft still did nothing to me as a potential consumer. They did the same old. I still think that Halo has seen its prime and its downhill from here. Gears as well. Backwards compability is only for a certain few. I'd just buy a 360 if I wanted to play them titles.

Hololens still has some convincing to do. Heck, I'm not even sold on VR as the next big thing either. Morpheus, Vive and Rift are all unproved properties to my eyes. I'd like to try them first. Hololens looks the least convincing. But I wouldn't say no if they asked me to try them.

It's really nice if you're already sold on the brand. They did nothing to win in new markets. The fact that they've lost Call of Duty and aren't the official promoters of Star Wars this season is a huge blow to them since they want to be the safest of the mainstream with a few select niche titles (Minecraft being their indie of choice) to keep the hardcore satisfied.

I'm glad you enjoyed it. For me as a potential consumer it just annoyed me.
 

g0dofwar

Banned
probably true. I'd also guess that MS didn't see a great return if they didn't re up the map packs. MS always makes the right business move with things like this, and if they don't get a return it's fucking over. They most likely figure Sony can try to make something out of nothing with exclusive map packs for a few days at millions of dollars asking.

So its a good business decision to lose COD to Sony the company that is destroying you in sales?
 

Linkified

Member
So its a good business decision to lose COD to Sony the company that is destroying you in sales?

Firstly it is just a Marketing deal and if it costs $x which you could potentially fund or at least use it to help 2-3 other games. Which one wold you prefer? Plus MS is probably betting on the fact that BC + Elite will convince the COD faithful that haven't upgraded to upgrade xbox one.
 

Ape

Banned
If Marketing deal costs $x and with that you could potentially fund or use it to help 2-3 other games. Which one wold you prefer? Plus MS is probably betting on the fact that BC + Elite will convince the COD faithful that haven't upgraded to upgrade xbox one.

Microsoft absolutely made the right call not to spend millions of dollars to have map packs days in advance for a declining franchise. Having it early this generation didn't help and now that the cod bubble is shrinking the move is even better. Put that money towards something that can make a tangible difference to the platform.

Sony should be crossing itself and saying a hail Mary hoping to God this is worth the money. They don't have much to throw around these days.

To be fair, Kratos isn't the smartest of people...

ha
 

rrc1594

Member
Eh, how do you know it's aimed at future projects? I guess it makes sense as 2015 is quite packed out as is.

From the looks of it

Quantum Break
Scalebound
CrackDown
ReCore

Will all be at Gamescom obviously they will show off more TR,Halo and Forza.

They had halo many years and still had toe COD deal though.

When COD was at it's peak, it sells better then most game but it's on the decline.
 

Azzawon

Member
Firstly it is just a Marketing deal and if it costs $x which you could potentially fund or at least use it to help 2-3 other games. Which one wold you prefer? Plus MS is probably betting on the fact that BC + Elite will convince the COD faithful that haven't upgraded to upgrade xbox one.

Yeah, I'm presuming Xbox re-evaluated the CoD marketing deal and realised it really wasn't worth it any more. They have their own shooters to tend to and are much better off going down that route as well as newer IPs. I was so happy that MS opened with Halo 5 for a change instead of the yearly CoD campaign gameplay.
 

Usobuko

Banned
I think Microsoft has a solid conference while still saving part of their lineup like scalebound, crackdown etc.

Btw, I also have the same opinion with Sony so I'm looking forward to Gamescom where they show more of what was missing in e3.
 
From the looks of it

Quantum Break
Scalebound
CrackDown
ReCore

Will all be at Gamescom obviously they will show off more TR,Halo and Forza.



When COD was at it's peak, it sells better then most game but it's on the decline.

it still sells better then every game on the market..it is still significant, lets not try to downplay it because sony now has the deal. A current gen only COD will move boxes, too bad it won't be until next year IMO,
 

rrc1594

Member
it still sells better then every game on the market..it is still significant, lets not try to downplay it because sony now has the deal. A current gen only COD will move boxes, too bad it won't be until next year IMO,

Not downplaying because it's with Sony, the series is on the decline
 

CLEEK

Member
Not downplaying because it's with Sony, the series is on the decline

Sales wise? Nah. It's bigger than ever.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_of_Duty:_Black_Ops_II#Sales_and_revenue

Sales and revenue
Activision believes Call of Duty: Black Ops II day-one shipments were the largest for any game ever. "The record number of pre-orders from last year's Modern Warfare 3 drove the largest day-one shipments in our history, and in the industry's history," said Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg during an earnings call on November 13, 2012. Hirshberg said more than 2.5 million people queued at 16,000 shops at midnight on Monday to buy Black Ops II, "making it the largest retail release in Activision's history and in the industry's history".

Activision reported sales figures for Black Ops II in the U.S. being more than 7.5 million copies sold on launch day[14] and grossed over $500 million, in the US alone in its first 24 hours, making it the biggest entertainment launch of all time until the record was surpassed by Grand Theft Auto V in September 2013. It is the fourth year in a row that the Call Of Duty series has broken the same record. 2011's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 grossed $400 million on one full day; 2010's Call of Duty: Black Ops grossed $360 million on day one; in 2009, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 brought in $310 million.[12]

The title grossed more than $800 million globally in its first five days of availability, exceeding the $775 million record set by 2011's Modern Warfare 3, the $650 million set by 2010's Black Ops and the $550 million one achieved by 2009's Modern Warfare 2. To be exact, it has beaten theatrical box office, book, and video game sales records for five-day worldwide sell-through in dollars.[citation needed]

Black Ops II went on to gross $1 billion in the first 15 days of availability, beating Modern Warfare 3's record of the first 16 days.[89]

According to NPD Group, Black Ops II was November's biggest selling game of the month in the U.S. Black Ops II sales surpassed first-month sales of 2011′s Modern Warfare 3 by 8 percent, and sales for November sit at around the 10 million unit mark
 

rrc1594

Member
So Halo is going to outsell CoD? Ha Ha More people are going to play Halo than CoD?

That's not what he's saying. After Halo 4 and Halo MCC. Halo isn't in the best spot right now, so instead of MS giving money away for another FPS that they don't own. They should focus on Halo.

Sales wise? Nah. It's bigger than ever.

I may be wrong, but every COD after Black Ops 2 has sold less the it's predecessor
 

Ushay

Member
From the looks of it

Quantum Break
Scalebound
CrackDown
ReCore

Will all be at Gamescom obviously they will show off more TR,Halo and Forza.

That makes a lot of sense. Hoping they don't show TR or Forza again. I'd rather they focussed on the others, Halo could definitely use another demo though, this time with Chief as the lead.

I'm surprised to see Recore is coming back at Gamescom, are they showing the trailer again?

Also what are your thoughts on Phantom Dust, possible announcement of which studio has the reins this time?
 

CLEEK

Member
There is ZERO chance that CoD going over to Sony was something MS wanted. They were going to market the living fuck out of Halo 5 regardless, so it's not like they "needed to focus" on it.

CoD is the biggest console FPS brand by a considerable margin. They would love to continue partnering with Activision. But Acti always go where the market share is.Hence the Destiny and CoD partnering with Sony.
 
From the looks of it

Quantum Break
Scalebound
CrackDown
ReCore

Will all be at Gamescom obviously they will show off more TR,Halo and Forza.

Gamescom seems to be their international studio show now. Press Play were teasing something for E3 and they deleted all those tweets. I wouldn't be shocked to see them show up at Gamescom as well. Lift London as well.
 

CLEEK

Member
I may be wrong, but every COD after Black Ops 2 has sold less the it's predecessor

No, you're right. I dun goofed.

I care so little about CoD, I though that BLOPS 2 was the most recent.

Google tells me there has been Ghosts and Advanced Warfare since, and sale have been on a downward trend. It's still a sales force to be reckoned with, but down from its BLOPS 2 peak.
 

leeh

Member
That's a nice list. Microsoft still did nothing to me as a potential consumer. They did the same old. I still think that Halo has seen its prime and its downhill from here. Gears as well. Backwards compability is only for a certain few. I'd just buy a 360 if I wanted to play them titles.

Hololens still has some convincing to do. Heck, I'm not even sold on VR as the next big thing either. Morpheus, Vive and Rift are all unproved properties to my eyes. I'd like to try them first. Hololens looks the least convincing. But I wouldn't say no if they asked me to try them.

It's really nice if you're already sold on the brand. They did nothing to win in new markets. The fact that they've lost Call of Duty and aren't the official promoters of Star Wars this season is a huge blow to them since they want to be the safest of the mainstream with a few select niche titles (Minecraft being their indie of choice) to keep the hardcore satisfied.

I'm glad you enjoyed it. For me as a potential consumer it just annoyed me.
Obviously you have a lot of opinion in here, so you're allowed to think what you want, but:
  • Halo 5: The alpha was well received and considering it's probably the largest evolution of the franchise, I'd say that's a big compliment. It feels like a good evolution of Halo.
  • Gears: The last true Gears, 3, was arguably the best in the franchise. With a lot of important members of the Gears team in the Coalition, I have faith that franchise can have a X1 sequel which revives the series. In all fairness, the GoW Ultimate Edition just reminded me how addictive and competitive Gears is a multiplayer game.
  • Hololens: I don't think it's ever intended to be the 'next big thing in gaming' rather a new standalone device which can be used for a lot of applications, including gaming. Imagine playing AoE on your dining table! I wouldn't compare it to VR also, as they're completely different. Hence the MS partnership with Steam/Oculus. They recognise that themselves and don't have a VR solution.

With your post, I can't understand how you'd feel annoyed?
 

rrc1594

Member
That makes a lot of sense. Hoping they don't show TR or Forza again. I'd rather they focussed on the others, Halo could definitely use another demo though, this time with Chief as the lead.

I'm surprised to see Recore is coming back at Gamescom, are they showing the trailer again?

Also what are your thoughts on Phantom Dust, possible announcement of which studio has the reins this time?

Well in a interview Inafune(Head of the game) said we will see more in a few months, so I'm assume that's gamescom. Phantom Dust thing is really iffy Adam Isgreen Creative Director at MS still has Phantom Dust in his bio of games being worked on. If we don't hear about from now to next E3 then I think it got axed

There is ZERO chance that CoD going over to Sony was something MS wanted. They were going to market the living fuck out of Halo 5 regardless, so it's not like they "needed to focus" on it.

CoD is the biggest console FPS brand by a considerable margin. They would love to continue partnering with Activision. But Acti always go where the market share is.Hence the Destiny and CoD partnering with Sony.

I'm not saying that's what MS wanted, but with the state Halo is in now, and COD on the decline. In the long run it may not matter. That's just my opinion and how I see it.
 

g0dofwar

Banned
"especially when it needs more people playing it" That is what I am calling him on. So is Halo going to have more players than CoD?
 

Welfare

Member
So Halo is going to outsell CoD? Ha Ha More people are going to play Halo than CoD?

Ha ha read it again. Halo is in a rough spot now and needs more people playing it. Of course it won't sell more than Cod, but it needs more attention from Microsoft than what CoD would need right now.
 

rrc1594

Member
Gamescom seems to be their international studio show now. Press Play were teasing something for E3 and they deleted all those tweets. I wouldn't be shocked to see them show up at Gamescom as well. Lift London as well.

I'll be shocked it we don't see something form Twisted Pixel

Ha ha read it again. Halo is in a rough spot now and needs more people playing it. Of course it won't sell more than Cod, but it needs more attention from Microsoft than what CoD would need right now.

Sony should took that many to start a new Syphon Filter
 
No one who isn't already sold on the Xbox brand is going to look at what they announced and go "now is the time to jump in". It's just the same as last year and the year before that.

But that seems to underestimate those 360 users that haven't upgraded as yet. Every "kids" title seems to sell better on the 360 than on other platforms because of the sheer active user base.

IMHO some of the conference was designed to shift those people from 360 to XBO and BC is a big part of that for parents.
 

Alx

Member
Gamescom seems to be their international studio show now. Press Play were teasing something for E3 and they deleted all those tweets. I wouldn't be shocked to see them show up at Gamescom as well. Lift London as well.

I'm having high hopes for Gamescom now. Their E3 was solid on a purely strategic point of view (strong lineup of AAA games this year, BC for the 360 crowd and controller for the competitive one), but now I want more craziness.

But that seems to underestimate those 360 users that haven't upgraded as yet. Every "kids" title seems to sell better on the 360 than on other platforms because of the sheer active user base.

IMHO some of the conference was designed to shift those people from 360 to XBO and BC is a big part of that for parents.

Yeah I didn't believe in the benefits of BC at first, but thinking about it now it makes sense. There are many 360 owners that they want to prevent from jumping to the competition. That explains that new interest on BC and also the new improvements on the 360 dashboard (which may be a byproduct of their work on emulation, or just something to keep people happy with their old console)
 

kinoki

Illness is the doctor to whom we pay most heed; to kindness, to knowledge, we make promise only; pain we obey.
With your post, I can't understand how you'd feel annoyed?

I'm annoyed because it feels like the only reason there is a Halo 5 is because Halo was a success. The only reason Gears 4 exists is because the first game was a success. Fable, Forza, etc. it feels so soulless. They hire a Japanese dude every year to show off a CG video and it feels so engineered.

I get the feeling they want to profile themselves as the de facto standard with Sony and Nintendo as niche for the hardcore and I think they've failed. They have no clue what the standard is anymore; they did with 360. Now they're just mimicking themselves from five years ago. I have higher hopes for Microsoft. I want them to make the C#/.NET of gaming. That's why I'm annoyed.
 

Alx

Member
But by your logic displayed now, MS 2014 conference was pure shit? The biggest games were CG-trailers with no release dates to speak of.

Last year's impact was diminished by the fact that everything leaked months before because of ntkrnl. Otherwise it was a similar pattern : a strong lineup of expected popular licenses or known games before the end of the year (Forza Horizon and Halo MCC especially, those would have been a huge surprise without the leaks)
 

Ales

Neo Member
A conference with good content but too much attention to the pc and few real exclusive.With this conference MS has convinced more people that the pair pc + ps4 is ideal if you want to play all while x1 with the continued loss of exclusivity is becoming useless.Don Mattrick has dug the grave of x1 while Spencer is putting the last nails on the bar.
 

rrc1594

Member
A conference with good content but too much attention to the pc and few real exclusive.With this conference MS has convinced more people that the pair pc + ps4 is ideal if you want to play all while x1 with the continued loss of exclusivity is becoming useless.Don Mattrick has dug the grave of x1 while Spencer is putting the last nails on the bar.

LMAO okay...
 

Leflus

Member
But by your logic displayed now, MS 2014 conference was pure shit?
Microsoft had a bunch of 2014 games in their conference last year. Forza Horizon 2, Sunset Overdrive and TMCC. By comparison Sony barely gave attention to their 2015 games this year.

(I'm one of those who liked Sony's conference best this year. I'm just saying that it's a valid point to make against Sony's conference)
 

Ales

Neo Member
LMAO okay...

Spencer is good to promise on twitter but then do not follow the actions.

Xbox customers want to feel like they have an experience that is unique to their console,I understand (Phil Spencer 11 May 2015)

E3 2015 GOWUE,KI and Rare new IP on pc.LOL
 

Miles X

Member
Who else thinks their upcoming Gamescom conference has the potential to outdo their E3 one??

Crackdown gameplay reveal
Scalebound gameplay reveal
Quantum Break blowout

Updates on:
Halo 5
Tomb Raider
Gears 4
Forza 6
Fable Legends
Indies

Recore?
Sea of Thieves?

Press Play
Lift London
Twisted Pixel (thought these guys were suppose to be at E3 ...)
Decisive Games
Rare - Battletoads?

Killer Instince Season 3 (Lobb said they'd be at Gamescom)
 

jem0208

Member
Putting it out there; I'm a big Playstation-fan, and haven't really been into Xbox since the OG/early 360 years.

Just finished watching MS conference, and it was a solid show! 8-8,5/10 depending on what games you like. Lack of Scalebound and Crackdown hurt them, not that many "surprisemotherfucker.gif" moments in my o.
THE standout game for me was Forza 6, looks ridiculosly good, and I hope Polyphony was watching. Gran Turismo really should shake up its formula for GT7. Halo 5 propably looked good for the fans, but it looked a little tame. Or maybe thats just my preference, don't really know. Tomb Raider looks great, but the U4 demo outdid it by a mile. Cuphead though...has by far the most amazing art direction of any game this year (maybe tied with Horizon).
BC was massive, don't understand why anyone regardless of console affiliation would hate on this. Would love to see on PS4 as well someday, however I legitimately wonder how any company providing BC would solve the rights/licenses to deliver the biggest games of last generation. With all the publishers chasing that remaster $$$? However, we'll see some great Xbox 1st party classics, and that is more than enough in my opinion. Many old games that deserve some playtime now and again!

However, and I want to stress this: not taking anything away from MS' great showing, I don't understand how people can think this conference outdid Sony's? That was a ridiculous conference, the likes of which we wont see for a long time, nothing will come close to the megatons, until whatever conference has the Half-Life 3 announcement. To think we would've live in a world where TLG, FF7R and Shenmue III is reality was crazy just a week ago. That's fan fiction becoming reality, really crazy stuff.
In my opinion: MS' solid and pragmatic beats Sony in regards to release proximity, but to predictable, Sony's took E3 thanks to their "Believe"-Megaton carpet bombing.

And also, to all the posters complaining about no games being shown for 2015 regarding Sony, what were your reactions to MS conference last year? I have no problems with CG-trailers (even though i greatly prefer in-engine footage). But by your logic displayed now, MS 2014 conference was pure shit? The biggest games were CG-trailers with no release dates to speak of. And I, as the majority of gamers, thought MS outdid Sony last year; but then again, I'm consistent in my opinions even though I have a console preference. This blatant goalpost-moving that's being pushed so hard by some posters has to stop man.

I think it depends on the types of games you're interested in. Microsoft's conference was clearly aimed more at those who like western games, whereas Sony's had a lot of Japanese focus.

Personally I have no interest in any of the megatons Sony showed so to me they really weren't megatons for me. MS's conference appealed far more to me than Sony's.
 

Sydle

Member
Spencer is good to promise on twitter but then do not follow the actions.

Xbox customers want to feel like they have an experience that is unique to their console,I understand (Phil Spencer 11 May 2015)

E3 2015 GOWUE,KI and Rare new IP on pc.LOL

Examples?

The one you gave is pretty poor considering

EDIT: Don't remember hitting post on this. Let me finish...

The one you gave is pretty poor. He's delivered a lot of what he's hinted at or didn't flat out say no to, plus he announced a few Xbox One exclusives this year at E3.

Can you give some solid examples where he was explicit about something he promised and then didn't deliver?
 
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