It's a big blow to the Xbox line up. Honestly there's a serious lack of single player story driven games. Well, exclusive ones at least.
*snip*
What's happening now is the exact opposite of what Xbox fans seemed to want out of a Phil spencer leadership.
First off, I don't think its a very big blow. I don't remember seeing a lot of great response from fans when they showed off the gameplay way back when. This title had the markings of a game that didn't seem like it would be very successful in today's market. Granted, I'm just basing that opinion off of old gameplay footage but to be fair many people gauge purchases by that same measure.
I think Phil Spencer is doing a great job steering the ship. Fans WANTED Gears of War 4. I think the timing of the release worked against it as well as a hard push for esports which
never fucking works when you try to force that stuff. Aside from that, I think Gears 4 is doing pretty well and the issues the game has had post-launch (microtransactions and RNG pissing off the fans) are things they can fix.
Fans will
still want Halo 6 and Gears 5. I know I do. Granted they are in a very competitive genre and there are a lot of other games for fans to stray to, but there are people that want those games and it is on Microsoft to manage their expectations for success and adjust the development budget accordingly.
Having first party content is important, however the Xbox One is doing as well as it is in the US right now because it plays most of the games that the PS4 does and they priced it very aggressively this past season between all the bundles and deals they had going on. A good chunk of the consumer who buys videogames in this country will look at the price and say "Hey this one is $50 cheaper and it'll play Overwatch just like the PS4, plus it comes with these 2-5 games" and that will be all it takes to keep Xbox in the running. I'm with you in that I'd like to see them surprise us with some great 1st party titles this year, but I think maybe they are looking at their options at the moment and 2017 might be a slim year for exclusives, and that's okay as long as they get it sorted by 2018.