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Microsoft Studios (& Partners) Current and Future Landscape
- Thread starter Banjo-Kazooie
- Start date
MosquitoSmasher
Member
Ah yes, that must have been the launch exclusive stuff. They don't show that in the trailers on Xbox One.
Either way, not a fan of MMO myself but Black Desert looks damn good to me. We don't have release dates of these games yet, right?
Really doesn't surprise me because the latest trailer looks fantastic in so many ways.
Poodlestrike
Banned
I'm not surprised the games play better than they show. None of them are the kind of cinematic or visual showcase type experiences that really blow the doors off a conference, but they all seem rock solid gameplay wise.
Liabe Brave
Member
We know definitely the following:
Xbox and PC
Crackdown 3
Cuphead
Forza Motorsport 7
Ori and the Will of the Wisps*
Sea of Thieves
State of Decay 2
Super Lucky's Tale
Game Preview exclusive
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
Timed
The Artful Escape
Ashen
Black Desert
The Darwin Project
Deep Rock Galactic
The Last Night
Tacoma
This adds up to 15 titles, so there are 7 games unaccounted for that have some kind of exclusivity. These must be among the 19 ID@Xbox shown in montage, but there was no onscreen banner for these individually. You'd have to do research to figure out which 7 they are, and what type of exclusivity they have. This is the list they're in:
Battlerite
Brawlout
Conan Exiles
Dark and Light
Dunk Lords
Fable Fortune
Hello Neighbor
Minion Masters: Forced to Duel
>Observer_
Ooblets
Osiris: New Dawn
Path of Exile
Raiders of the Broken Planet
Riverbond
Robocraft Infinity
Shift
Strange Brigade
Surviving Mars
Unruly Heroes
*I'm guessing on this one. Oddly, this was the one game shown separately where there was no indication of its status, either with exclusivity or how it'll be enhanced on One X.
Banjo-Kazooie
Member
Robocraft Infinity is Xbox One/WIn 10 exclusive
Path of Exile has so far only been announced for XB1, so probably timed
Ooblets has only been announced for XB1/PC
Fable Fortune is coming to XB1/PC/STEAM only (MS IP)
Conan Exiles is timed exclusive thanks to game preview but it IS coming to PS4 in 2018 full launch
This is my take on Microsoft, Phil Spencer and 1st-party:
I think Phil is a genuine guy and wants Microsoft and Xbox to be great. But his soul was killed when Scalebound didn't turn out the way he envisioned. Cancelling it has left a black mark on Xbox 1st-party and a black mark on Phil's pride too.
So my theory is that we are never, ever, ever going to get a 1st-party announcement again unless the game is close to shipping.
I'm fine with that. As long as they actually have secret games brewing. The problem is, we will be completely in the dark until E3 2018. Maybe even E3 2019 depending on how badly the last two years have been managed.
If E3 2018's only 1st-party AAA announcements are Halo 6 and Forza Horizon 4 then we know Microsoft has fucked 1st-party permanently.
What hurts me though is I can't reconcile the above hope (that maybe they are working on secret games and they absolutely will not reveal anything, no matter how awesome it is, until it's close to release) with the fact that they have closed down Lionhead, Press Play, and broken their relationship with Remedy and Twisted Pixel.
Imagine they still had Press Play making indie puzzle games for them.
Imagine they still had Twisted Pixel making quirky XBLA-type games for them.
Imagine Remedy working on Alan Wake 2.
Or Lionhead working on Fable 4.
I think Phil is a genuine guy and wants Microsoft and Xbox to be great. But his soul was killed when Scalebound didn't turn out the way he envisioned. Cancelling it has left a black mark on Xbox 1st-party and a black mark on Phil's pride too.
So my theory is that we are never, ever, ever going to get a 1st-party announcement again unless the game is close to shipping.
I'm fine with that. As long as they actually have secret games brewing. The problem is, we will be completely in the dark until E3 2018. Maybe even E3 2019 depending on how badly the last two years have been managed.
If E3 2018's only 1st-party AAA announcements are Halo 6 and Forza Horizon 4 then we know Microsoft has fucked 1st-party permanently.
What hurts me though is I can't reconcile the above hope (that maybe they are working on secret games and they absolutely will not reveal anything, no matter how awesome it is, until it's close to release) with the fact that they have closed down Lionhead, Press Play, and broken their relationship with Remedy and Twisted Pixel.
Imagine they still had Press Play making indie puzzle games for them.
Imagine they still had Twisted Pixel making quirky XBLA-type games for them.
Imagine Remedy working on Alan Wake 2.
Or Lionhead working on Fable 4.
Nightengale
Member
I don't expect Halo/Gears to be announced 18 months in advance anymore...
But ideally new AAA IPs should if, at least if Phil isn't going to have another event where he could have a 12-month cycle instead of 18.
Like, it's still important to new IPs to be announced earlier than traditional franchise games so that a vision could be communicated, assessed and gauged for whether or not that vision resonates, what needs to be improved, tweaked for marketing before it's to be shipped in 1.5 years time.
Every conference with a new AAA IP not announced simply means next year ain't going to ship one, and that's disappointing.
But ideally new AAA IPs should if, at least if Phil isn't going to have another event where he could have a 12-month cycle instead of 18.
Like, it's still important to new IPs to be announced earlier than traditional franchise games so that a vision could be communicated, assessed and gauged for whether or not that vision resonates, what needs to be improved, tweaked for marketing before it's to be shipped in 1.5 years time.
Every conference with a new AAA IP not announced simply means next year ain't going to ship one, and that's disappointing.
Hatefilled Vengeance
Member
I don't think most of that matters, as long as they do the work and make good deals. Ori is a better game than anything Press Play or Twisted Pixel ever made combined. Something like Cuphead has the potential to be the same. And it probably makes more (financial) sense to make those deals instead of keeping teams internal and then getting stuck with shit like LocoCycle.What hurts me though is I can't reconcile the above hope (that maybe they are working on secret games and they absolutely will not reveal anything, no matter how awesome it is, until it's close to release) with the fact that they have closed down Lionhead, Press Play, and broken their relationship with Remedy and Twisted Pixel.
Imagine they still had Press Play making indie puzzle games for them.
Imagine they still had Twisted Pixel making quirky XBLA-type games for them.
Imagine Remedy working on Alan Wake 2.
Or Lionhead working on Fable 4.
Yearsoflurking
Member
after lococycle twisted pixel needed to die lol
Lococycle was awful, but if I were to make a "Best ten games of last gen" list, Splosion Man and Ms. Splosion Man would go on my "honourable mentions" list. Both developed by Twisted Pixel.
Those two games were incredible. I don't know why they chose to make a game like Lococycle after that, but I was hoping for a Splosion Man 2 announcement for awhile.
Nightengale
Member
As long as they make good deals.
That's the concern.
In terms of global publishing deals, except for Ori, name me one great deal that they've done post-2013.
Cuphead
There's no guarantee Cuphead will actually be good. It probably will be but you're jumping the gun a little
Nightengale
Member
Global publishing. First-party.
Cuphead is like Titanfall (or SFV for Sony), 3rd-party games they bought exclusivity of.
Ashen is lifetime exclusive not console, unless something changed recently
The quotes on the video said Launch exclusive. So something probably changed from 2015 to now regarding the exclusivity
Nightengale
Member
Changed to console launch exclusive.
MosquitoSmasher
Member
I highly doubt Ori 2 will come to any other systems but Xbox and PC but yeah agreed. It indeed didn't say exclusive huh.
As for Playerunknown's Battlegrounds, to have that exclusive as game preview is a pretty big catch, isn't it?
Nightengale
Member
They probably felt no need to emphasis Ori's exclusivity since it's taken for granted as a first-party game with MS IP ownership. Would've ruined the mood a bit too.
SEGAvangelist
Member
MS owns the Ori IP. It isn't being released on anything but Xbox/Windows 10 and maybe Steam.
MosquitoSmasher
Member
Possibly but it did say exclusive for State of Decay 2, Sea of Thieves and Crackdown or am I mistaken?
Yeah. It's bigger than it's made out to be. A lot of people don't have PC's and this is one of the hottest games out there. It's going to do great especially with the multiplayer centric crowd of the Xbox
MosquitoSmasher
Member
Yeah for sure. I keep seeing videos about it on YouTube on a daily basis really. However after it has gone from game preview and is finished I assume it can land on other consoles as well like what happened with Ark and Elite Dangerous?
SEGAvangelist
Member
Yeah, I see this game doing better than even Ark on XB1. People won't see it coming.
Hatefilled Vengeance
Member
No clue how they break down the deals they make/what division handles what, but Sunset Overdrive is a way better game than Quantum Break (and arguably anything Remedy has made). It unfortunately didn't sell well, but neither did QB. If you want "quirky" games, D4 was great. ReCore was at least better than anything Press Play/Twisted Pixel ever made.
Nightengale
Member
There's a reason why I said "post-2013"
MS, early this gen, is extremely impressive with first-party deals made with Undead Labs, Remedy, Insomniac, etc.
However, after their first round of external partnerships largely failed ( except for Moon Studios/Ori )... their next round of partners so far have been studios that aren't as strong as their previous partners, with the exception of Platinum... which still ended up getting cancelled.
Hatefilled Vengeance
Member
Fair enough. I just don't really see any reason to doubt that they'll still make similar deals going forward. I guess other than the fact most of those early deals, while resulting in great games, didn't really pay off for them financially. So there will maybe be less of those deals or they'll be smaller scale maybe.There's a reason why I said "post-2013"
Ori was a success though and we're getting a sequel. They're still working with Undead Labs. Given the fact they seem to be putting a lot of work into the Definitive Edition, there's probably hope for a ReCore sequel. They helped fund Cuphead to increase its scope. I'm sure there's other smaller stuff we just don't know about yet.
Even something like Halo Wars 2 and them working with a Sega owned studio on it shows me that MS will do what it takes to get games made.
Nightengale
Member
I don't disagree that MS can deliver. But as someone who cares about two key words "AAA" "new IP", I haven't seen the same MS of 2013/14 in the past 3 years, except for only Sea of Thieves.
I want to be wowed, and I'm still waiting.
Liabe Brave
Member
Yes, Game Preview has given Xbox One several sizeable timed exclusives simply by default.
Thanks to Banjo-Kazooie, an updated list:
Xbox and PC
Crackdown 3
Cuphead
Fable Fortune
Forza Motorsport 7
Ori and the Will of the Wisps (assumed)
Robocraft Infinity
Sea of Thieves
State of Decay 2
Super Lucky's Tale
Game Preview exclusive
Conan Exiles
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
Timed
The Artful Escape
Ashen
Black Desert
The Darwin Project
Deep Rock Galactic
The Last Night
Ooblets (could be Xbox/PC only)
Path of Exile (could be Xbox/PC only)
Tacoma
This adds up to 20 titles, so there are 2 games unaccounted for that have some kind of exclusivity. These must be from the ID@Xbox montage. Here are the 14 remaining candidates:
Battlerite
Brawlout
Dark and Light
Dunk Lords
Hello Neighbor
Minion Masters: Forced to Duel
>Observer_
Osiris: New Dawn
Raiders of the Broken Planet
Riverbond
Shift
Strange Brigade
Surviving Mars
Unruly Heroes
I don't know, I think lots of people see it coming. I heard multiple outlets predict ahead of time that PUBG would be on an E3 conference stage for its console announcement, because it's so popular and significant that platform holders would want to be associated with it.
Yearsoflurking
Member
PUBG is going to be huge im talking top 2 games played huge
Hmmm, maybe top 5. Destiny, battlefront, NBa2k18, Minecraft PUBG
Steelyuhas
Member
Yeah, Ashen looks great. Really excited for it.
I think they struggled a bit in the conference to show off games like State of Decay and Crackdown that don't exactly make for titles that are sold with a sexy trailer.
Crackdown in particular I was baffled at the E3 trailer and now that I've watched footage from the daily shows and other showings of it throughout the week, my confidence in the game has been restored. Sea of Thieves on the other hand, had a really good and well thought out demo in the show though.
They got a publisher, so I think that's probably why that changed. When they announced in 2013, I think they were independently publishing with an MS partnership IIRC.
Bits N Pieces
Member
I've now watched a lot of the interviews coming out of E3 and I'm going to be happy to play the games shown off at the conference throughout this year going into 2018. Then it'll be E3 time again and he has to show us what he's got cooking.
In all the interviews I've seen he reiterates time after time that when he got the top job he had three things he wanted to address: hardware, platform, games.
The S is out now and the 1X is coming later this year. Hardware gets a big tick. The platform is the best that Live has ever been through all the new features and services that are actually too many to list. Platform gets a big tick. Games..... they started off really strong but there is no denying the decline in first party output, as well as cancellations and closures. So games won't get a big tick or any tick right now, I'll not do that until SoT, CD3, SoD2, FM7, Ori, Cuphead are out and I see what's coming down the pipeline.
I genuinely believe they don't want to announce games too far out anymore and have a much shorter reveal/launch time scale and Phil does say he's signed a couple of things recently along with anything else that was getting worked on in the background, that gives me reason to just chill out a bit, enjoy playing some games im really looking forward too and then get excited about the next slew of games to be revealed.
Basically
lol
In all the interviews I've seen he reiterates time after time that when he got the top job he had three things he wanted to address: hardware, platform, games.
The S is out now and the 1X is coming later this year. Hardware gets a big tick. The platform is the best that Live has ever been through all the new features and services that are actually too many to list. Platform gets a big tick. Games..... they started off really strong but there is no denying the decline in first party output, as well as cancellations and closures. So games won't get a big tick or any tick right now, I'll not do that until SoT, CD3, SoD2, FM7, Ori, Cuphead are out and I see what's coming down the pipeline.
I genuinely believe they don't want to announce games too far out anymore and have a much shorter reveal/launch time scale and Phil does say he's signed a couple of things recently along with anything else that was getting worked on in the background, that gives me reason to just chill out a bit, enjoy playing some games im really looking forward too and then get excited about the next slew of games to be revealed.
Basically
lol
I've now watched a lot of the interviews coming out of E3 and I'm going to be happy to play the games shown off at the conference throughout this year going into 2018. Then it'll be E3 time again and he has to show us what he's got cooking.
In all the interviews I've seen he reiterates time after time that when he got the top job he had three things he wanted to address: hardware, platform, games.
The S is out now and the 1X is coming later this year. Hardware gets a big tick. The platform is the best that Live has ever been through all the new features and services that are actually too many to list. Platform gets a big tick. Games..... they started off really strong but there is no denying the decline in first party output, as well as cancellations and closures. So games won't get a big tick or any tick right now, I'll not do that until SoT, CD3, SoD2, FM7, Ori, Cuphead are out and I see what's coming down the pipeline.
I genuinely believe they don't want to announce games too far out anymore and have a much shorter reveal/launch time scale and Phil does say he's signed a couple of things recently along with anything else that was getting worked on in the background, that gives me reason to just chill out a bit, enjoy playing some games im really looking forward too and then get excited about the next slew of games to be revealed.
Basically
lol
As a life long Cubs fan: "Wait 'til Next Year"
Xbox's World Series will be 2018! BOOK IT!
Poodlestrike
Banned
Because they're smaller titles that cater to a fairly different audience than the game they're paired with? Like, who is going to be going "hmm, Forza or Cuphead, Forza or Cuphead, I can only pick one..."
Huh? Cuphead is September 19, Forza is October 3.
Lucky's Tale and Crackdown 3 are Xbox One X launch titles.
CUphead is releasing on the early access date of Forza. Most people would buy the retail release. ALSO OTS 2 different genres
Crackdown and lucky tale are releasing on the launch of the X. In theory they are positioning them as the games you want to buy with the X(as well as Assassins creed probably). Luckys tale is a family game and crackdown is action etc
0ptimusPayne
Member
Yea I had my faith, but its reserved until I see the receipts. Don't @ me with that "wait till next year" speech. We hear this every year. Ive said this countless times in a few threads, but I was done after we got an emulated 17 year old version of crimson skies, when we could've gotten a blue point remaster or hell even a full fledge sequel running on 1x hardware. The 1st party AAA investment is still poor, and It doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon.
Still love my Gears though
OrbitalBeard
Member
Ashen would have been a great exclusive to have. If it's coming to PS4 later though, I'll probably just wait.
Right now, the only MS exclusives I'm looking forward to are Cuphead and Ori. I'm interested in Crackdown 3, but I don't have a good feeling about it.
Shin
Banned
If you're interested and have a decent PC you could give it a try.
Tried for a few days but it wasn't my cup of tea, too many menu's.
The game is beautiful as hell though that's for sure, experience may differ.
Putting Lucky on X date is a bad idea IMO, it's going to get drowned but I suppose that depends how much of a marketing push MS gives it, could do well for Christmas I guess.. Actually no Lego Superheroes 2 is out in November, parents would pick that up instead.
Crackdown makes sense at least and the destruction should do well to go along with the system (if it's as good as it's been shown)
Maybe they plan to put Super Lucky on Game Pass? Could make sense then since I assume all consoles will come with a month XGP
Sorry, I don't care if it's an exclusive or not. I was just talking about the game itself.
Hatefilled Vengeance
Member
Because they make lots of money by selling games on their store and Live subscriptions? Pretty straightforward.
Because they still make billions by havibg a home console.
There are more to games than just first party. I feel like that shouldn't even have to be explained
Lego comes out a week after the X launch. The point would be to have everything available on or before launch. Aside from Battlefront 2 most of the heavy hitters will be available day one for X. Madden, FIFA, COd, Destiny asscreed, Forza mordor Crackdown Minecraft W10 & Luckys tale. Regardless of it gets crushed or not you want to have it out before the X and especially before Black Friday.
Steelyuhas
Member
Yeah, Sony and Microsoft unquestionably make much more money on 3rd party games than they do on 1st party. There's just many more 3rd party games that sell much more than 1st party, and they aren't paying for expensive development of those titles. If you pay for marketing rights to a major 3rd party title, you have some sunk costs into that game, but it's still probably pales in comparison to the revenue they will generate from their cut of sales.
Investment in first party is important, and should continue to be so, but having a competitive platform to sell 3rd party is a huge part of the business.