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Microsoft Studios (& Partners) Current and Future Landscape

U

Ushay

Member
StoOgE said:
I have to say, I think MS has a fundamentally different view of the console space than Sony does (or Nintendo, but they are their own deal).

Microsoft seems really content to make a platform, own the platform, release profitable games on said platform and allow 3rd party content to exist on the platform and profit off of having a really good interface and online connectivity.

I think yesterday was really indicative of this. They were very content to announce first party games that look like they will be financial successes. They were very happy to show off a really nice looking set of kit with the best version of games.

They do not appear to be interested in engaging in a war to "win" E3. I don't know if this is good or bad, but I think MS is generally attempting to align as a platform creator who makes profitable content, but loss-leaders seem to be a thing of the past.

I think this explains why they are pushing Xbox 360 and OG Xbox BC. They want players to view the Xbox platform the way you view your Iphone. Everything you ever have bought or ever will buy will continue to work, so every 3-4 years you will upgrade your Xbox when the new shiny one comes out and keep on playing and buying content.

They largely don't even seem to care that Sony is locking up 3rd party games for their E3 presentation tonight. They did in the 360 days. They wanted to be the team that showed you the big yearly games on stage. They certainly had several big games on stage, but Sony seems to have 70% of them at this point, and MS seems to not care or mind because they know they will get the game on their platform. And the games will sell, and they will make money.

I think this is a mistake, but maybe that's me being a console fanboy coming out.

For the life of me I don't know why they can't go to Sega and pay for a new Jet Set Radio game. I don't know why they can't go to EA and fund a KOTOR sequel. I don't know why they can't go to Bethesda and pay for an updated Morrowind with 4K HDR graphics. I don't know why they can't go out and create a studio to create new AAA first-party only games. A new Alan Wake? A new Sunset Overdrive? There are a lot of moves that Sony makes at these shows that garner them lots of goodwill and buzz (and obviously the impression that they are THE platform for gamers) even if the games are niche as hell and won't wind up being profitable investments.

And we all sort of know that Psychonauts 2 and Shenmue 3 are going to wind up being niche products that Sony didn't even fully fund and will probably be on Xbox at some point. We all sort of know that a new JSRF game will probably bomb. But man, can you imagine the pop that would happen in the audience?

I think what we are seeing right now is 15 years of Microsoft doing all those things at their show and not having any metrics that show there is any sort of ROI at all. Gears of War 4 seems like a dud. All the games they have tried to get buzz going with (Tomb Raider, etc) fell on their face. Maybe they have figured out that IPs lose value over time and that they are better off letting software companies (ie 3rd parties) make those investments for them and just sit back and turn a profit.

It's frustrating to all of us. And I was sort of lukewarm on yesterdays presentation.

That said, I'm buying a Xbox One X, and I'm going to have a lot of games to play this year, and they will look really really nice on my LG OLED in HDR with 4K resolution.

So, maybe at the end of all of this, viewing the Xbox merely as another platform where Microsoft can sell you other peoples software (and their own software that is profitable to them) is the mindset that console companies should have taken decades ago for financial stability.

Maybe Sony has "won" this generation because the Xbox One was overpriced and had shitty always online requirements at announcement.. and was less powerful for more money. Maybe the reality is simply that the Xbox 360 was successful the last generation not because of Gears of War and Halo 3 but because Microsoft had the best versions of most games for less money than Sony did. And Microsoft is content to sell a million Xbox One X's this Christmas and slowly drop the price over time so that more casuals gamers transition over to it and Xbox One X2 comes out in 4 years when the Xbox One X is 250 bucks.
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Pretty much my thoughts as well. I'm a little disappointed in the 1st party showings here, and hope they have multiple projects in the works at the moment after all the downsizing they did.

I'm a bug 3rd party gamer and will be plenty busy when I get an Xbox One X this year. But the thought will linger u till next year.
 
S

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
jeffram said:
You lost me here. There hasn't been a successful console that didn't go out there and make moves to gain market share.

In today's business, if you're not growing, you're dying. Microsoft gives what 8% dividend on it's shares? xbox needs to GROW to not get cut.
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I think Microsoft would argue with that.

They invested HEAVILY in big exclusives early in the Xbox One days. This is really the first year that you are seeing them not doing that.

They created a massive new team and spent big to bring in Gears of War 4. They spent big on Quantum Break. Sunset Overdrive got a massive marketing push and was a big get. Dead Rising 3 and 4. And don't forget Ryse and Titanfall.

The industry has shifted a lot. Cost of development is massive. Exclusive games make less and less sense and I don't think there is a strong argument for spending money on unproven concepts.

I think the Xbox One X speaks more to moving the biggest spenders over to Xbox and off of PS4. "Whales" if you will who buy 20+ games a year who used to live on the 360.
 
B

BleedOrange

Banned
StoOgE said:
snip
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Excellent analysis. Two thoughts:

1. It kills me that the bets they placed on Sunset Overdrive and Tomb Raider (to a lesser extent) would have most probably succeeded had they not been tied to a poisoned platform (at the time).

2. I don't see the Xbox division as a whole making tons of money. They may be profitable, yes, but I have to imagine that being a secondary console for most people probably doesn't net them the majority of the 'services' revenue. Why would I rent a movie on Xbox when I can rent that same movie on PS4 which is on all the time? Why would I buy that third-party indie game on Xbox when I can get it on Playstation and maybe play the multiplayer with my buddy, who almost assuredly also has a PS4?
 
B

BleedOrange

Banned
jeffram said:
You lost me here. There hasn't been a successful console that didn't go out there and make moves to gain market share.

In today's business, if you're not growing, you're dying. Microsoft gives what 8% dividend on it's shares? xbox needs to GROW to not get cut.
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v5STCvU.png


:(
 
B

BleedOrange

Banned
StoOgE said:
I think Microsoft would argue with that.

They invested HEAVILY in big exclusives early in the Xbox One days. This is really the first year that you are seeing them not doing that.

They created a massive new team and spent big to bring in Gears of War 4. They spent big on Quantum Break. Sunset Overdrive got a massive marketing push and was a big get. Dead Rising 3 and 4. And don't forget Ryse and Titanfall.

The industry has shifted a lot. Cost of development is massive. Exclusive games make less and less sense and I don't think there is a strong argument for spending money on unproven concepts.

I think the Xbox One X speaks more to moving the biggest spenders over to Xbox and off of PS4. "Whales" if you will who buy 20+ games a year who used to live on the 360.
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Again, Sunset Overdrive would do SO well if it was released on PS4 on October 28th, 2014, or on Xbox One (S/X) on October 28th 2017. I'm convinced the reason it didn't work was because it was released on a poisoned platform at the time.

Theres a confluence of factors at play here. Platform health is one of those factors.

Microsoft went through so much work to fix their hardware and software platform, and now they've given up on first/second-party AAA exclusives at precisely the WORST possible time.
 
U

Ushay

Member
StoOgE said:
I think Microsoft would argue with that.

They invested HEAVILY in big exclusives early in the Xbox One days. This is really the first year that you are seeing them not doing that.

They created a massive new team and spent big to bring in Gears of War 4. They spent big on Quantum Break. Sunset Overdrive got a massive marketing push and was a big get. Dead Rising 3 and 4. And don't forget Ryse and Titanfall.

The industry has shifted a lot. Cost of development is massive. Exclusive games make less and less sense and I don't think there is a strong argument for spending money on unproven concepts.

I think the Xbox One X speaks more to moving the biggest spenders over to Xbox and off of PS4. "Whales" if you will who buy 20+ games a year who used to live on the 360.
Click to expand...

Its true MS has become reliant on its dedicated fanbase, but I don't think that is enough at this point.

They managed to overcome the stink of the 2013 launch tremendously well, now they need to show it wasn't for nothing. We need to see this whole 'restructuring' of first party Spencer spoke of in March. Right now I'm seeing the best version of 3rd parties at a very high bar (price and the cost of a 4k set).

I realise Scalebound has made them wary, but Sony has the right formula. People want to see a clear road map of what's coming, not everyone can play Bethesda and launch their games within a years time after announcement.
 
U

Uno Venova

Banned
Nightengale said:
My annual Xbox first-party (+ lifetime/major 3rd-party timed exclusive) chart that looks specifically at the announcement line-ups, updated with the latest E3 announcements.

Xbox FP 2017 in summary? The emperor has no clothes.

DCHcfMbVwAQ3sjo.jpg
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Had no idea it was this bad, I loved my 360 but got tired of it in the second half of last gen, and they really have done nothing to make me feel like I need to come back now or anywhere in the near future.
 
Salty Hippo

Salty Hippo

Member
Been calling all of this for exactly 2 years. Got a bunch of shit for it too. "Phil" is a complete farse and Scorpio is Microsoft's final, desperate punch. They are trying to make money with minimal effort (multiplats) and hoping it sticks. I hope the market responds super negatively.
 
M

MosquitoSmasher

Member
Salty Hippo said:
Been calling all of this for exactly 2 years. Got a bunch of shit for it too. "Phil" is a complete farse and Scorpio is Microsoft's final, desperate punch. They are trying to make money with minimal effort (multiplats) and hoping it sticks. I hope the market responds super negatively.
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Come on man, isn't that overly negative? Did people really (despite multiple people saying they shouldn't) expect huge surprises? From What studios? They only got so many and they are all working on something.

Yes it definitely sucks we didn't get at least one real surprise, well except Ori 2 I guess but I think we all knew it was coming. But this doesn't mean they are giving up. And maybe it's just talk talk talk but they did say they wouldn't announce games too far off anymore, although I'd argue Ori 2 comes to mind but my guess is they have all the faith in the world in Moon Studios that they'll deliver.

And of course the fact that they did say they would work on their first parties earlier this year. And I know they've been singing that tune for a while now but I guess I'm willing to give them a chance. I can perfectly understand the disappointment though and that people are losing faith. Can't deny that I am slightly losing faith as well but I'm choosing to just wait and see what next year E3 brings. Hoping they actually start to bother with improving their first party efforts or at least bring worthwhile exclusives, whether first party or third.
 
L

Linkified

Member
Salty Hippo said:
Been calling all of this for exactly 2 years. Got a bunch of shit for it too. "Phil" is a complete farse and Scorpio is Microsoft's final, desperate punch. They are trying to make money with minimal effort (multiplats) and hoping it sticks. I hope the market responds super negatively.
Click to expand...

Well get to tweeting his boss then the guy who controls the purse strings.
 
L

Leflus

Member
MosquitoSmasher said:
Come on man, isn't that overly negative? Did people really (despite multiple people saying they shouldn't) expect huge surprises? From What studios? They only got so many and they are all working on something.

Yes it definitely sucks we didn't get at least one real surprise, well except Ori 2 I guess but I think we all knew it was coming. But this doesn't mean they are giving up. And maybe it's just talk talk talk but they did say they wouldn't announce games too far off anymore, although I'd argue Ori 2 comes to mind but my guess is they have all the faith in the world in Moon Studios that they'll deliver.

And of course the fact that they did say they would work on their first parties earlier this year. And I know they've been singing that tune for a while now but I guess I'm willing to give them a chance. I can perfectly understand the disappointment though and that people are losing faith. Can't deny that I am slightly losing faith as well but I'm choosing to just wait and see what next year E3 brings. Hoping they actually start to bother with improving their first party efforts or at least bring worthwhile exclusives, whether first party or third.
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Well. A lack of first party studios is on them. They were onto something back in 2011-2014 with a number of new small studios coupled with the creation of Black Tusk Studios. Since then, they've retooled, parted ways with and shut down several studios that could have fleshed out their lineup.

And it's not like new first party games have to be developed by their internal studios. There are many studios out there that could potentially create games for MS if given proper funding.

I'm actually looking forward to several of Microsoft's games, so it's not all bad. It's just that they could do a lot better than what they're doing now.
 
M

michaelius

Banned
StoOgE said:
I think Microsoft would argue with that.

They invested HEAVILY in big exclusives early in the Xbox One days. This is really the first year that you are seeing them not doing that.

They created a massive new team and spent big to bring in Gears of War 4. They spent big on Quantum Break. Sunset Overdrive got a massive marketing push and was a big get. Dead Rising 3 and 4. And don't forget Ryse and Titanfall.

The industry has shifted a lot. Cost of development is massive. Exclusive games make less and less sense and I don't think there is a strong argument for spending money on unproven concepts.

I think the Xbox One X speaks more to moving the biggest spenders over to Xbox and off of PS4. "Whales" if you will who buy 20+ games a year who used to live on the 360.
Click to expand...

It was too little too late. Sony entered new generation riding the good will created from their second half of ps3 lifetime support while Microsoft was seen as Gears/Forza/Halo/Fable factory with a bunch of kinect casual titles/fitness games. So when they announced All in One Entertainment system with mandatory Kinect after Sony "for the gamers" machine people just rolled eyes and ignored PS4 weak first party launch lineup giving Sony benefit of the doubt.

Also Microsoft bet on wrong horses

Forza/Gears/Halo had 0 appeal to people who weren't x360 fans.
Ryse/Sunset/QB/DR were relatively smaller games with limited appeal.
Titanfall was good buy but lack of content killed it after few months
 
L

Leflus

Member
sam12 said:
To think this was an even worse conference than 2013. At least they had potential blockbuster games that year.
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2013's E3 conference was great. One of MS' best this decade.

Killer Instinct
Project Spark
Forza Motorsport 5 (only game that was known beforehand)
Ryse
Dead Rising 3
Halo (teaser for Halo 5)
Sunset Overdrive
D4

It had fresh ideas, established IP and revived IP. Very good conference overall.
 
M

MosquitoSmasher

Member
Watching day one of the daily show i just noticed how awesome a lot of things about Xbox has become. I mean for one they really listen to the people when it comes to the many updates to improve Xbox, but also requested things like BC for original Xbox games and it's all happening.

Then of course the fact that they are coming with the Xbox One X and the team behind it did one hell of a job (according to DF). What I'm trying to say is there is so much to love about Xbox right now in my opinion because they actually listen but that one thing, that one oh so crucial thing is still missing. But I still have a bit of faith that will change, because if they had really been starting to give up, why would they bother building and introducing the X? Why bother with OG Xbox BC? So in many ways I'd say Xbox has really picked themselves up, but there really is one thing left. Drastically improved effort to bring new exclusives to the system, games that make your draw drop when being shown for the first time on the X during future E3 shows.

We're all becoming like broken records now, but please team Xbox,listen to us. But if not, that would be terrible to be honest and I truly wonder if Xbox can survive that way. Time will tell but it sucks that we're here, while at the same time looking forward to a fucking awesome system.
 
S

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
michaelius said:
Ryse/Sunset/QB/DR were relatively smaller games with limited appeal.
Titanfall was good buy but lack of content killed it after few months
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I can't disagree enough with any of this.

Microsofts problem in the early Xbox One days had nothing to do with software. They absolutely had a better first 18 months of games than PS4.

Titanfall is still one of the *best* multiplayer shooters to ever come out. It's just fantastic.

Ryse - I think the problem with Ryse is that it is a bad game. So, fair enough. It was clearly a Kinect waggle fest that got turned into a Batman knock off. It's a totally fine 20 dollar game. But, it was a visual feast and served some function for showing off hardware.

Quantum Break is a *really* good shooter with an interesting story. If this was a PS4 game it would have sold like gangbusters. I'm not sure what went wrong here, but the pedigree and quality were both there. It just fell totally flat sales wise.

Sunset Overdrive - is a MASSIVE very ambitious open world game that should have appealed to anyone and has the pedigree of a studio who had two mega-hit franchises on the PS3.

Dead Rising - I don't disagree here. These are niche smaller games. But ironically seem to have sold better or at least turned a profit compared to the other offerings.

I think Microsoft has a real problem on their hands which is their landmark franchises are losing popularity pretty rapidly and they can't seem to develop new standout franchises that people care about.

Part of that problem is bad sequels. Gears of War: Judgement was a bad game. Gears of War 4 was actually pretty good, but fighting different bad guys and a section against machines that no one really wanted to start the game.

Halo has been in a downward spiral since 343i took over. Halo 4 and 5 are not what fans wanted. Period.

Forza seems like it's doing fine.

Forza Horizon is a lone bright spot as a new franchise for MS.

I don't know what their answer here is, but it seems Microsoft is not keen to resurrect older franchises at all. Phil has hinted about Battletoads and Crimson Skies and Voodoo Vince.. but the reality is they don't have a lot of pedigree in their OG Xbox offerings. They have a lot of niche games that people loved 15 years ago but didn't sell well. Same problem with Rare's old franchises.

Given that MS corporate has shut off the purse strings, it looks like the bet now is to treat the Xbox like a PC. A platform MS sells that offers the best experience of 3rd party games and hope that moves consoles while they continue to market Games as Services for their most popular brands to milk what hardcore fanbase still exists for them.

I don't own a PS4 because I'm pretty committed to xbox Live (though, most of my friends jumped over) and own a Switch. So, I'm not saying any of this to just be a negative nancy, but I think they hit a point where they gave up on spending 50 million plus to launch duds.

I think they made legit stabs in the early days of Xbox One and even over the last 12 months and saw no returns and had no real justification to keep throwing good money after bad.
 
C

Chris1

Member
^ I would put QB in part down to the reviews, it got shit on like a week in advance. Also it being like 5 hours long. There's just no room for 5 hour $60 games these days, if you're charging $60 you gotta be a good 12+ hours or have MP

Recore could have had potential but the $40 price tag raised suspicion and the game needed a ton of polishing. Also reviews for that one aswell.
 
M

MosquitoSmasher

Member
StoOgE said:
cut
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Your post makes a lot of sense and does look more and more like MS is heading towards this but that's goddamn same. It isn't all their own fault either, cause like you said look at Sunset Overdrive. Great game like but sold like crap and I'll never understand why. It was made by a loved developer but it really didn't seem to matter.

It isn't like MS hasn't even tried but giving up sure isn't the answer either. Don't they look at their competitors and think "damn, we really need to get to start working on this"? Shouldn't looking at a U4, TLoU part 2,God of War motivate them to bring something of that caliber? I don't get it because earlier this year there were articles where it said Satya Nadella really saw Xbox as a crucial thing to MS. Shouldn't this mean they want to do all they can or least do much better to improve offering first party games?

As you said it, their own well known franchises like Halo and Gears aren't exactly the insane sellers they used to be. What if sales after future Halo and Gears titles really decline, that can't be good. It seems clear they cannon rely only on those two games anymore along with Forza.
 
H

Hatefilled Vengeance

Member
I think MS has released a lot of great exclusives so far. Ori, Titanfall, Sunset Overdrive, and the Forza Horizon games especially are some of my favorite games ever released. Killer Instinct, Halo Wars 2, and D4 were really solid. Halo 5 multiplayer was great. Gears 4 was a great redemption for the series after Judgement. Even Ryse is better than people make it out to be. By comparison, (for my personal taste) I think Sony's output has been horrible. Horizon is the first game they released that got me interested at all (Spider-Man will be the 2nd probably).

I didn't have any huge expectations for this E3, but MS still managed to be a letdown though. Any indication that they were investing in the future would've been great. Even something as simple as announcing sequels to Killer Instinct or ReCore with a promise of more to come.

Phil has mentioned recently how they'll be giving the same attention to building out their first party efforts now that they've gotten their hardware and services where they want (which they've done an amazing job with). And I get that it takes time. They still should've at least given some signs at what they're working towards though. Waiting until next E3 to see what they have in the works (if they do have things in the works) is going to be rough. I want to believe him, because he's done amazingly everywhere else, but we'll see I guess.
 
Y

Yearsoflurking

Member
MosquitoSmasher said:
Your post makes a lot of sense and does look more and more like MS is heading towards this but that's goddamn same. It isn't all their own fault either, cause like you said look at Sunset Overdrive. Great game like but sold like crap and I'll never understand why. It was made by a loved developer but it really didn't seem to matter.

It isn't like MS hasn't even tried but giving up sure isn't the answer either. Don't they look at their competitors and think "damn, we really need to get to start working on this"? Shouldn't looking at a U4, TLoU part 2,God of War motivate them to bring something of that caliber? I don't get it because earlier this year there were articles where it said Satya Nadella really saw Xbox as a crucial thing to MS. Shouldn't this mean they want to do all they can or least do much better to improve offering first party games?

As you said it, their own well known franchises like Halo and Gears aren't exactly the insane sellers they used to be. What if sales after future Halo and Gears titles really decline, that can't be good. It seems clear they cannon rely only on those two games anymore along with Forza.
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2013 did them in, their still hasn't been a recovery from it. most online discussions about xbox games are usually pretry toxic unfairly so. microsoft is just going to have to continue to invest in both software and services with goodwill.
 
M

MosquitoSmasher

Member
Hatefilled Vengeance said:
I think MS has released a lot of great exclusives so far. Ori, Titanfall, Sunset Overdrive, and the Forza Horizon games especially are some of my favorite games ever released. Killer Instinct, Halo Wars 2, and D4 were really solid. Halo 5 multiplayer was great. Gears 4 was a great redemption for the series after Judgement. Even Ryse is better than people make it out to be. By comparison, (for my personal taste) I think Sony's output has been horrible. Horizon is the first game they released that got me interested at all (Spider-Man will be the 2nd probably).

I didn't have any huge expectations for this E3, but MS still managed to be a letdown though. Any indication that they were investing in the future would've been great. Even something as simple as announcing sequels to Killer Instinct or ReCore with a promise of more to come.

Phil has mentioned recently how they'll be giving the same attention to building out their first party efforts now that they've gotten their hardware and services where they want (which they've done an amazing job with). And I get that it takes time. They still should've at least given some signs at what they're working towards though. Waiting until next E3 to see what they have in the works (if they do have things in the works) is going to be rough.
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Maybe Gamescom? Although I doubt they will have one. The daily show made it clear that games like Crackdown will be there but probably on the show floor. I don't think a press conference.
 
A

Azerth

Member
i think the reason why they didn't tease or announce new first party ips is part to them not wanting to announce game to soon so they got caught in a transition phase. i think if they dont announce anything next year then ill start worrying about them not having anything.
 
M

MosquitoSmasher

Member
Azerth said:
i think the reason why they didn't tease or announce new first party ips is part to them not wanting to announce game to soon so they got caught in a transition phase. i think if they dont announce anything next year then ill start worrying about them not having anything.
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Yeah that's what Spencer has been saying in interviews. However Ori 2 DID get announced without a release date. I'm happy they did, but they could do that for other games as well then.

Xumbrega said:
I just wanted to see some new western RPG from MS, man I really miss Fable
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Yeah or at least some JRPGs. I seriously was expecting a few Japanese games to be announced. Already released ones on PS4 as a result from that Japan trip but nope nope nope. Odd because Spencer tweeted that a lot of JP publishers were excited about Scorpio. And he promised Japanese games would come. Well...... ok.


It's not even only exclusives right now that is the issue, Xbox is missing out on too many third party titles as well for God knows what reason.
 
W

Wozman23

Member
Here's an interesting alternate timeline:


  • The original announce of the Xbox One is more in line with the current Xbox One, is priced competitively, and avoids all of the anti-consumer negativity.
  • The system sells comparable to the PS4, so the early games sell better.
  • Bungie stays with Microsoft and Destiny is an Xbox 360 / Xbox One exclusive.
  • Titanfall 2 doesn't go multiplatform.
  • Destiny 2 is an Xbox One exclusive and gets a huge push during E3.
  • Cliff Bleszinski and Microsoft maintain a good standing relationship so LawBreakers is on Xbox One instead of PS4.
  • Fable Legends continues development and a release date is announced.
  • Scalebound continues development and a release date is announced.
  • Thanks to a more successful launch, Sunset Overdrive gets a sequel, or Insomniac partners with Microsoft for a new game.
  • Ryse 2 releases this year.
  • A Recore 2 trailer debuts.
  • Twisted Pixel announces a new exclusive indie game.
  • Coming off of the success of Quantum Break, Alan Wake 2 is teased.
How much better shape would the Xbox and Microsoft be in, and how much better would this and past E3s have been...?
 
M

MosquitoSmasher

Member
Hopefully someone tweets Phil Spencer soon about the Japanese games. Maybe he can give an honest answer about it, some clarity. Because apparently JP publishers were excited about Scorpio, yet we barely have had any announcements about JP games releasing on Xbox One. NNK2 for example, I for one would buy this in a heartbeat if it were to release on Xbox as well.

I probably should just give up hoping for any of that and just accept I'll be getting all of that on Pro when I get one next year.
 
Azelover

Azelover

Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
I just got to watch Micrososft's Conference, and I have to say I'm amused. It's funny, do you guys really get excited about the things they were talking up there?

"It's 50% more powerful, you can barely see a difference, but it's THE...MOST...POWERFUL...SYSTEM..

Also, I sense a theme with the games. It's Uncanny Valley LAND. Everything attempts to be way more serious than it should.The voice acting of most of the games, the dialog. All belongs in comedy and even then it wouldn't be so strange.

I'm convinced, you have to be brain washed into this stuff to really enjoy it. I just wasnt' used to it. I'm never gonna be a consumer of top tier games, otherwise select ones that come from Japan.
 
R

Roberto Larcos

Member
StoOgE said:
I have to say, I think MS has a fundamentally different view of the console space than Sony does (or Nintendo, but they are their own deal).

Microsoft seems really content to make a platform, own the platform, release profitable games on said platform and allow 3rd party content to exist on the platform and profit off of having a really good interface and online connectivity.

I think yesterday was really indicative of this. They were very content to announce first party games that look like they will be financial successes. They were very happy to show off a really nice looking set of kit with the best version of games.

They do not appear to be interested in engaging in a war to "win" E3. I don't know if this is good or bad, but I think MS is generally attempting to align as a platform creator who makes profitable content, but loss-leaders seem to be a thing of the past.

I think this explains why they are pushing Xbox 360 and OG Xbox BC. They want players to view the Xbox platform the way you view your Iphone. Everything you ever have bought or ever will buy will continue to work, so every 3-4 years you will upgrade your Xbox when the new shiny one comes out and keep on playing and buying content.

They largely don't even seem to care that Sony is locking up 3rd party games for their E3 presentation tonight. They did in the 360 days. They wanted to be the team that showed you the big yearly games on stage. They certainly had several big games on stage, but Sony seems to have 70% of them at this point, and MS seems to not care or mind because they know they will get the game on their platform. And the games will sell, and they will make money.

I think this is a mistake, but maybe that's me being a console fanboy coming out.
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I know this sounds boring, but I'm totally okay with this right now.

I have a limited amount of time for gaming, there's always enough for me to play. Am I cut up about not being able to play Uncharted 4? Not really - I've only just started The Witcher 3, and have GTA V, Diablo III, Wolfenstein, Far Cry 4, Forza Horizon 3, Resident Evil, Dead Rising 3(!), Oblivion(!!), Dragon Age Inquisition, Guacamelee, AC Black Flag and Unity, Lost Odyssey, Ori, Outlast, Rayman Legends, Sleeping Dogs, Sunset Overdrive, Valiant Hearts, Child of Light and The Crew all ready to play afterwards. I have genuinely not finished one of these games, and have only put a couple hours into a couple more. Even if I had played all of these, there are still a ton of fantastic games being released consistently that I can play if I want to enjoy myself.

As a result, games themselves aren't really the differentiating factor. It's ease of use, features, community. Knowing most of my friends are on Xbox. Using the Xbox as a TV guide, listening to music, watching YouTube videos, Netflix, Prime Video, iPlayer. Using my Xbox to play DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Being able to play Minecraft cross-platform by the way will actually be a big benefit to me personally too.

I'm here for convenience and comfort - games that look fine and play well, and a decent price. I think 5 years ago I would have hated myself for having this opinion, but games really aren't central to my life in anyway - they're something I do when I'm bored. In that scenario, convenience will always win.

Azelover said:
Also, I sense a theme with the games. It's Uncanny Valley LAND. Everything attempts to be way more serious than it should.The voice acting of most of the games, the dialog. All belongs in comedy and even then it wouldn't be so strange.
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I think this is a little unfair. Of their big exclusives, neither Sea of Thieves nor Crackdown 3 are taking themselves seriously at all. The rhythm platforming game looked dope too, some really great vibes there.
 
M

MosquitoSmasher

Member
Well after the Sony show we can add Monster Hunter World to the list of Japanese games also coming to Xbox and I'm happy about that.

So we now have Code Vein and Monster Hunt World. I wish we could add NNK2 to it but alas.
 
R

Roberto Larcos

Member
MosquitoSmasher said:
Well after the Sony show we can add Monster Hunter World to the list of Japanese games also coming to Xbox and I'm happy about that.

So we now have Code Vein and Monster Hunt World. I wish we could add NNK2 to it but alas.
Click to expand...

Dragon's Dogma is also coming to Xbox One. I know it was released on Xbox 360, but it still would have been very easy to skip.
 
element

element

Member
The mismanagement and lack of support for Sunset Overdrive is looking to be one of the biggest mistakes for Microsoft. They pretty much paid for the R&D on Spiderman with Sunset Overdrive and let one of the last premiere independent developers in Insomniac Games slip right through their fingers and go back to Sony to go on and make probably a +5m unit selling title with Spiderman.
 
B

BruceCLea

Banned
Wozman23 said:
Here's an interesting alternate timeline:


  • The original announce of the Xbox One is more in line with the current Xbox One, is priced competitively, and avoids all of the anti-consumer negativity.
  • The system sells comparable to the PS4, so the early games sell better.
  • Bungie stays with Microsoft and Destiny is an Xbox 360 / Xbox One exclusive.
  • Titanfall 2 doesn't go multiplatform.
  • Destiny 2 is an Xbox One exclusive and gets a huge push during E3.
  • Cliff Bleszinski and Microsoft maintain a good standing relationship so LawBreakers is on Xbox One instead of PS4.
  • Fable Legends continues development and a release date is announced.
  • Scalebound continues development and a release date is announced.
  • Thanks to a more successful launch, Sunset Overdrive gets a sequel, or Insomniac partners with Microsoft for a new game.
  • Ryse 2 releases this year.
  • A Recore 2 trailer debuts.
  • Twisted Pixel announces a new exclusive indie game.
  • Coming off of the success of Quantum Break, Alan Wake 2 is teased.
How much better shape would the Xbox and Microsoft be in, and how much better would this and past E3s have been...?
Click to expand...

too bad it'll never happen
 
E

ElBoxyBrown

Banned
element said:
The mismanagement and lack of support for Sunset Overdrive is looking to be one of the biggest mistakes for Microsoft. They pretty much paid for the R&D on Spiderman with Sunset Overdrive and let one of the last premiere independent developers in Insomniac Games slip right through their fingers and go back to Sony to go on and make probably a +5m unit selling title with Spiderman.
Click to expand...

They don't own Insomniac nor did Insomniac want to be owned.
 
B

BruceCLea

Banned
I'll get XBX because I have a ton of GameStop credit and I like some of MS's exclusives...it might also be my 3rd party machine if games run the best on the platform.

Man oh man Microsoft's showing was underwhelming...
 
S

SOR5

Member
Microsoft marketing head said during Windows Central interview that this E3 was about 2017

Seems they really really didn't want something to haunt them ala 2014
 
S

Simply Sami

Member
element said:
The mismanagement and lack of support for Sunset Overdrive is looking to be one of the biggest mistakes for Microsoft. They pretty much paid for the R&D on Spiderman with Sunset Overdrive and let one of the last premiere independent developers in Insomniac Games slip right through their fingers and go back to Sony to go on and make probably a +5m unit selling title with Spiderman.
Click to expand...

How did they pay for the R&D for Spider-Man? Pretty sure Sony paid for that or do people just like making shit up.

Funny how you criticise MS for not buying insomniac. Yet they made so many exclusives for Sony and you don't mention why Sony haven't bought them. So maybe because Insomniac want to remain dependant and don't want to be bought.
 
K

Keinning

Member
element said:
The mismanagement and lack of support for Sunset Overdrive is looking to be one of the biggest mistakes for Microsoft. They pretty much paid for the R&D on Spiderman with Sunset Overdrive and let one of the last premiere independent developers in Insomniac Games slip right through their fingers and go back to Sony to go on and make probably a +5m unit selling title with Spiderman.
Click to expand...

if anything insomniac slipped through sony's fingers to make a game they owned (which sony didnt wanted to give them) and then went right back

they were never expected to be part of microsoft and landing a game with them was already surprising and good enough
 
element

element

Member
ElBoxyBrown said:
They don't own Insomniac nor did Insomniac want to be owned.
Click to expand...
Where do I talk about ownership or buying Insomniac? My point is Microsoft could have signed a sequel to Sunset, making that team not available to work on Spiderman is my point.

How did they pay for the R&D for Spider-Man? Pretty sure Sony paid for that or do people just like making shit up.
Click to expand...
Core technology such as animation systems used in Spiderman were built originally for Sunset. It isn't like they start from nothing with each game. Also since Sunset was their first game of this generation there were tons of other changes to their technology to make it more open world friendly.
 
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