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I want to get excited for the future of Xbox but Microsoft aren't helping

rockstars-agent-could-be-coming-to-xbox-360-2.jpg


Let's also not forget The Last Guardian was announced for the PS3 aswell.

TLG was actually a game though...

unlike Agent, which never really existed.
 

Comet

Member
Last generation I owned 76 Xbox 360 titles. That is an absolutely obscene amount of games for one system. All the heavy hitting multiplatform games were better there, the community was there, and there was still tons of first party options.

I now own 0 Xbox One titles. Somewhere between 2009-2011 MS decided that Kinect, cable television, etc. was more important than what made the 360 successful in the first place. From a higher corporate direction than the gaming division, it seems like MS just doesn't care too much about the Xbox brand going forward - or at least not enough to really reinvigorate a whole freaking industry the way they invested in the Xbox and 360 respectively.

Thankfully Sony has more than fixed their many mistakes from the 2006-2009 era of cockiness and has allowed for creativity to really shine on its console.
 

NOLA_Gaffer

Banned
It's fascinating how after only three weeks on the market some folks are starting to think that Nintendo is somehow going to take second place on the marketplace.
 

ianpm31

Member
It's unfortunate. It's like Sony and Microsoft flipped from last gen (or...Sony returned to form). My Xbox One S is a beautiful paperweight.

I'm hoping that e3 is software focused but I actually don't foresee that many exclusives coming to Xbox.

Yeah more like Sony returning to form. Every playstation dominated except ps3.
Ps4 is starting to remind me of the ps2 day's where they have so many great games of all genre's with so much diversity.
 
Last generation I owned 76 Xbox 360 titles. That is an absolutely obscene amount of games for one system. All the heavy hitting multiplatform games were better there, the community was there, and there was still tons of first party options.

I now own 0 Xbox One titles. Somewhere between 2009-2011 MS decided that Kinect, cable television, etc. was more important than what made the 360 successful in the first place. From a higher corporate direction than the gaming division, it seems like MS just doesn't care too much about the Xbox brand going forward - or at least not enough to really reinvigorate a whole freaking industry the way they invested in the Xbox and 360 respectively.

Thankfully Sony has more than fixed their many mistakes from the 2006-2009 era of cockiness and has allowed for creativity to really shine on its console.

nothing to brag about, bro
i own over 200 Xbox One game (including 360 BC)
and i'm mostly a PC gamer


the Kinect and Cable TV stuff being more important is long gone
if you still don't want to buy into the system, that is fine.
 

Markoman

Member
It's fascinating how after only three weeks on the market some folks are starting to think that Nintendo is somehow going to take second place on the marketplace.

Why? I'm not the biggest Nintendo fan, but I expect Switch to do at least 50-60m in 5 years.
Everything else will be a huge failure after 75m combined sales of WiiU and 3DS. So yes, if Scorpio doesn't set the world on fire, Nintendo should be able grab that second place easily.
Does it really matter, is a different story, though.
 

spannicus

Member
Why? I'm not the biggest Nintendo fan, but I expect Switch to do at least 50-60m in 5 years.
Everything else will be a huge failure after 75m combined sales of WiiU and 3DS. So yes, if Scorpio doesn't set the world on fire, Nintendo should be able grab that second place easily.
Does it really matter, is a different story, though.
Lol good luck
 

Comet

Member
nothing to brag about, bro
i own over 200 Xbox One game (including 360 BC)
and i'm mostly a PC gamer


the Kinect and Cable TV stuff being more important is long gone
if you still don't want to buy into the system, that is fine.

Ok cool guy. 76 games is a shit ton for most people and I'm sure eclipses the average gamer's library per console by a good 50 titles....

And yes the priority is no longer Kinect/Cable TV but their investment in that stuff for years has lead to this void in first party software titles (other than the guaranteed money making franchises like Halo, Forza, Gears). That's what's missing for a lot of people to pull the trigger. Me and my group of friends all went from 360 online gaming to PS4. That doesn't happen for no reason and in a thread dedicated to the state of the Xbox One, I find it relevant.

I almost pulled the trigger a while back on an Xbone with the Master Chief collection. And if I game as much as I did years back in college I'd honestly have one. But being a professional and a father means my gaming time is extremely limited so games have to be prioritized. I barely have room for two consoles (PS4/Switch) let alone 3. And I say that as a once avid PC gamer too. #dadlifeisdepressing
 

Markoman

Member
Lol good luck

Don't get me wrong, I think Switch sales will fall into deep hole at one point (maybe during this summer).
But, if Nintendo does some price correction to counter this, Switch will take off.

On the other hand are people really expecting that Scorpio will suddenly do PS4 numbers just because moah powah? Here's what will happen: Scorpio will have strong initial sales from Xbox fans -with many double dippers from US like last gen- and some jumpers. Then everything will go back to "business as usual" - Japan and rest of the world still won't care enough to make a huge difference. Scorpio might even win some more NPDs down the line, but who gives a shit about this anyways. Maybe I have missed the point of winning NPDs, does it improve the quantity and quality of games you can play on a system?
 

Aranjah

Member
I sympathize with you, OP. I originally got on the Xbox bandwagon during the peak 360 years after getting tired of seeing third-party devs pass the Wii by. Everyone I would want to play online multiplayer with was on Xbox, so of course I went with Xbox.

After having already invested in my account on that ecosystem and not really wanting to dump it and start over, and with everyone I'd want to play with still getting an Xbox One, I got an Xbox one this gen, too, and was hopeful that I'd still see the same kind volume and variety of games as before.

But I'm one of those mythical unicorns who's currently squarely in the Xbox camp while simultaneously preferring JRPGs, platformers, adventure games, etc. and not being a huge FPS fan. I don't care about Gears, Forza, or Halo (barring Halo's co-op campaign and Halo Wars 1/2). I don't do PvP.
I hate seeing Square Enix backtrack their Xbox support compared to last gen, hated having to buy NieR: Automata on PC, etc.

[BeatDeadHorse]The premise and potential of Scalebound looked amazing and I've been eagerly awaiting it since it was announced. Then its multiplayer stuff and that E3 showing happened and I was worried, but was going to buy it anyway to support Platinum and to support "that kind of game" on Xbox. Then it was canceled. *sigh*[/BeatDeadHorse]

I'm not really interested in Sea of Thieves. I can't be interested in Scorpio when there's nothing I care about that I'll be able to use it for other than the stuff I can already play on my current Xbox One, and I don't have a 4K TV. Not to mention I'll have bought a PS4 (caving at last) and a Switch by the time Scorpio releases and I don't have a bottomless wallet.

I want to be excited about upcoming Xbox things, because but it's pretty slim pickings as far as things that actually interest me.

I wish there were more people with my tastes on my platform so that developers would find it worth-it to release their games here. The "no one left to buy games like X -> devs don't bother making games like X -> people who like X go elsewhere -> no one left to buy games like X" cycle that the Xbox platform has been in for this entire generation (for some genres longer) saddens and annoys me, but there's no fast, easy, or cheap way Microsoft could break out of that cycle and I'm less and less convinced that they want to.
 

Theswweet

Member
I got an Xbone S in October, but I don't think I've used it even once this year so far. I too want a reason to turn it on, but MS really aren't delivering much right now.
 

v1ncelis

Member
Xbox 360 first few years were something. So many amazing new ip, exclusives, Live. Also helped that MS gaming division had a blank check to use but it seems it changed with Nadella taking over.
One thing that I still use my Xbox is for Forza. After Sony axed Evo and previously studio Liverpoll with Polyphony taking ages to deliver I need my racing sim/arcade games.
 

Izuna

Banned
You and me both OP, about Scalebound that is.

But it's okay, I'm finally getting a PC. Scorpio means nothing to me now.
 
Why? I'm not the biggest Nintendo fan, but I expect Switch to do at least 50-60m in 5 years.
Everything else will be a huge failure after 75m combined sales of WiiU and 3DS. So yes, if Scorpio doesn't set the world on fire, Nintendo should be able grab that second place easily.
Does it really matter, is a different story, though.

Not for nothing but I love my switch hardware and zelda is great so far. But the os is bare and the content on the store and upcoming games list is bare as can be. Nintendo will need to step it up because it's pretty obvious the switch was rushed. The Wii was lightning in a bubble but alot of those gamers have since moved on to mobile and the WiiU was a dud and instead of trying harder they just gave up on it, leaving millions hanging. They will have to step it up to get back in the game. Can rely on first party and name alone anymore imo.

OT i bought an xbox one s for the uhd player since the ps4 pro doesn't play it but so far the only games got are Gears 4 which came with it and Quantum Break. Nothing in the near future excites me. Hope that changes after E3.
 

fireflame

Member
How can such a big company not invest the right amount of money to create ambityious studios that will make great ips? That is beyond me.
 
How can such a big company not invest the right amount of money to create ambityious studios that will make great ips? That is beyond me.
The higher ups probably don't feel the return on investment will be high enough to justify it, but also don't want to cut it just yet while there is potential to tie the Xbox brand to a broader audience still.

Consoles are just a side business for Microsoft. They started in it to get into the living room, because it seemed computers headed that way. Then after a few years, the market didn't really shift that way and they missed the boat on mobile.

So now they have this Xbox division, which has a worldwide brand but doesn't really fit into their company at all.
 

blakep267

Member
How can such a big company not invest the right amount of money to create ambityious studios that will make great ips? That is beyond me.
because, I'm pretty sure Phil has said this in the past, that it costs the same amount of money to get a 3rd party studio to make a game as it is to have a 1st party owned studio make the same game. I think people put too much emphasis on owned studios. Microsofts output isn't super behind Sony or Nintendo. You just see Japanese 3rd party support and add it to the first party stuff. Nioh, Nier yakuza aren't first party games. MS has put out 1 first party/funded game and Sony has put out 2
 

jelly

Member
How can such a big company not invest the right amount of money to create ambityious studios that will make great ips? That is beyond me.

They want mega bucks while keeping investment low. That might work when they are on top and their IP was at the top but take those two away and you see what happens. They want a massive return on Xbox but fail to invest enough in creativity and in the right properties. Xbox One originally was basically a gold mine for services and advertising, that was their dream, an always online connected media experience that profiles users and interactive for better ad engagement and give us 60 bucks for Gold. It was a billion dollar smart TV idea based in the 90s Windows bubble for the living room and home, no surprise there.
 

Crayon

Member
I wonder how aware the general gaming public is of these concerns? We are the core of the core, after all. How strong is the connection between the core enthusiast buzz an wider public perception? Buyers guides at the end of the year will say "you can't go wrong with either!", as usual.
 
I get what you are saying, OP. However, I think we are going to see some amazing stuff this E3. I believe they are going to blow us all away. I believe Nintendo will also have a killer show. Basically, both companies need to show up.

I wonder if Sony is going to have a somewhat weak showing. They don't need it as bad. I wouldn't be surprised if they were blown out of the water by the amazing showings from both Microsoft and Nintendo.

Sony had a great PSX and I felt like they were saving some of the best for that. I wouldn't be surprised if they had a weak E3. I thought their E3 last year was weak but it seems like Gaf unanimously disagreed with me.

As far as MS, I'm pretty sure they're saving everything for E3 and the Scorpio.
 

blakep267

Member
You mean, this year right?
Yeah quarter 1.

I wonder how aware the general gaming public is of these concerns? We are the core of the core, after all. How strong is the connection between the core enthusiast buzz an wider public perception? Buyers guides at the end of the year will say "you can't go wrong with either!", as usual.

The general public are buying Ghost recon and For Honor, as well as playing the older stuff GTA, 2k etc.

People don't care as much as these threads would have you believe
 

Figments

Member
How can such a big company not invest the right amount of money to create ambityious studios that will make great ips? That is beyond me.

They are and have been. No one's been buying them. Or they just conveniently forget that they exist.

Xbox One lacks games and identity, sadly. They are not like Sony who has one head in the West and one head in the East.

Hahahahahahah.

And the pendulum continues its descent back around.

I wonder how aware the general gaming public is of these concerns? We are the core of the core, after all. How strong is the connection between the core enthusiast buzz an wider public perception? Buyers guides at the end of the year will say "you can't go wrong with either!", as usual.

They aren't. More than half the time I ask people if they've even heard of have the games GAF adores, they come up with nothing.

Nothing.

The kinds of games GAF largely loves no one outside of the industry gives a shit about.
 

Peltz

Member
It's fascinating how after only three weeks on the market some folks are starting to think that Nintendo is somehow going to take second place on the marketplace.

I think the Switch is a very strong product. I wasn't convinced until I got one in my hands myself. It's really impressive in person and a lot of people are hyped for it.

I don't know if could beat Xbox One, but I do think it will do well.
 
D

Deleted member 465307

Unconfirmed Member
I don't pay much attention to the Xbox brand, but from a first-party and exclusives perspective, recent months have reminded of how Nintendo treated the Wii U in 2015 (and maaaaybe 2016). Obviously Xbox has third-party support that gives their system momentum that the Wii U never got, but the exclusives seem to arrive somewhat infrequently and disappear from conversation rather quickly (even if they are good).

This makes me wonder if Xbox is building up behind the scenes for the Scorpio launch (like Nintendo was with NX/Switch) or if maybe their attention is placed elsewhere. Maybe it's just the result of poor management and the game cancellations and delays have resulted in holes in their release schedule. Or perhaps the GAF bubble is skewing my perception and Xbox actually has a healthy software library with ever-growing appeal.
 
How can such a big company not invest the right amount of money to create ambityious studios that will make great ips? That is beyond me.

Beyond that fact that it's incredibly expensive, it's also a very questionable strategic decision in an era where the broader market has been moving away from AAA exclusives.
 

Melchiah

Member
Microsoft used to have exclusives like the first Mass Effect and Bioshock that were dynamic, generation-defining games. Third-party titles that strengthened them as a brand and became associated with the platform.

Bioshock was a timed exclusive, which would have been associated with several platforms if access to it hadn't been restricted for a year. It's a good thing, that those kind of deals are seemingly becoming a rarity these days, when they don't have as much leverage as they used to.
 

Electret

Member
because, I'm pretty sure Phil has said this in the past, that it costs the same amount of money to get a 3rd party studio to make a game as it is to have a 1st party owned studio make the same game. I think people put too much emphasis on owned studios. Microsofts output isn't super behind Sony or Nintendo. You just see Japanese 3rd party support and add it to the first party stuff. Nioh, Nier yakuza aren't first party games. MS has put out 1 first party/funded game and Sony has put out 2

Frankly, I think this is off the mark. Game development is not a black box. Whether you commission a first or third party to do a game matters beyond the particular studio you've tasked to do it. I'd argue that the first party nature of Naughty Dog and GG are fundamental to the very existence of games like TLoU and Horizon. Assuming he had the wherewithal and inclination, Phil would have a tough time commissioning direct competitors with commensurate success by calling on third parties. I think MS would be in a far greater position had they maintained some studios with a longer leash. They'd help spell lulls in releases when your tentpoles are in decline and you can't rely on sheer market presence to obtain third party exclusives by default.
 

Salty Hippo

Member
MS have been published 3-4 AAA titles every year consistently. They will have maybe 2 unknown AAA for 2018 I think.
Depend on how willing they are to show 2019 games, we might see more than 2 big unknown titles this E3.
Not counting FH4 and Halo6.

SoT will undoubtedly get delayed to 2018 (or release in Early Access). + Halo 6, FH4 and the "AA" game I mentioned = 3-4 major games.

For the record, 4 AAA games a year between 1st and 3rd party exclusives is a laughable output.
 

Markoman

Member
because, I'm pretty sure Phil has said this in the past, that it costs the same amount of money to get a 3rd party studio to make a game as it is to have a 1st party owned studio make the same game. I think people put too much emphasis on owned studios. Microsofts output isn't super behind Sony or Nintendo. You just see Japanese 3rd party support and add it to the first party stuff. Nioh, Nier yakuza aren't first party games. MS has put out 1 first party/funded game and Sony has put out 2

No, as a fan of gaming in general you can't put too much emphasis on owned studios. They are adding to the overall amount of games. Moneyhatting is bullshit and "funding" is questionable in some cases (PR stealth moneyhatting like RotTR). How many devs for AAA titles are out there? When was the last time Ubi, EA, Activision did an exclusive title?

Yeah, you're right, Phil has said this in the past. I'm not sure if that is still true now. Buying 3rd party console exclusives from EA, Activison, Ubi, Take 2 would cost MS a fortune. So who is left ?
 

Chris1

Member
No, as a fan of gaming in general you can't put too much emphasis on owned studios. They are adding to the overall amount of games. Moneyhatting is bullshit and "funding" is questionable in some cases (PR stealth moneyhatting like RotTR). How many devs for AAA titles are out there? When was the last time Ubi, EA, Activision did an exclusive title?

Yeah, you're right, Phil has said this in the past. I'm not sure if that is still true now. Buying 3rd party console exclusives from EA, Activison, Ubi, Take 2 would cost MS a fortune. So who is left ?

Since you included ROTR, PvZ? That was a year (?) long timed exclusive on Xbox. Also technically Titanfall but since MS funded/saved the game when EA wouldn't I wouldn't really count it.. but EA did publish it..

Ubisoft had Grow Home (Not AAA but still)

Activision maybe Crash remaster this year? probably not permanent but it seems to be at least timed exclusive.


I get what you're saying though :p
 

The Lamp

Member
Yeah more like Sony returning to form. Every playstation dominated except ps3.
Ps4 is starting to remind me of the ps2 day's where they have so many great games of all genre's with so much diversity.

Um the PS3 had plenty of genre diversity.
 
Beyond that fact that it's incredibly expensive, it's also a very questionable strategic decision in an era where the broader market has been moving away from AAA exclusives.

Sony and Nintendo are not moving away from it. That's their competition. Platform owners produce exclusives to add value to their platform. 3rd party has no such motivation to do so.

Microsoft is now putting their games on PC day one and still the output is anemic so the exclusivity excuse doesn't even apply.
 

Replicant

Member
What I still don't understand is why don't they broaden their appeal? Constantly relying on Forza, Gears and Halo must have converted by now everyone that was somewhat interested in those games - it's not like that tenant wasnt well-worn at the start of the generation already.

Because in order to do that, they have to be in it for the long term since it involves a lot of investment and I suspect MS has no intention on doing that.
 

Markoman

Member
Since you included ROTR, PvZ? That was a year (?) long timed exclusive on Xbox. Also technically Titanfall but since MS funded/saved the game when EA wouldn't I wouldn't really count it.. but EA did publish it..

Ubisoft had Grow Home (Not AAA but still)

Activision maybe Crash remaster this year? probably not permanent but it seems to be at least timed exclusive.


I get what you're saying though :p

Titanfall is a very strange story imo. I still don't get EA fully when it comes to this franchise.
It almost feels like EA was/is doing their best to keep Respawn down. After last gen, the pitch for Titanfall is not something that needed funding if you ask me.
I do believe TF2 was EA's pawn sacrifice/backup plan in case of WW1 not being cool enough compared to Future Cod.
 

MoonFrog

Member
Sony and Nintendo are not moving away from it. That's their competition. Platform owners produce exclusives to add value to their platform. 3rd party has no such motivation to do so.

Microsoft is now putting their games on PC day one and still the output is anemic so the exclusivity excuse doesn't even apply.
I mean, Nintendo doesn't really do the whole AAA thing. It does publish a lot of games for its platforms, which are all exclusive and often very strong products, but they don't tend to be AAA. Nor are the 3rd party exclusives on Nintendo like, say, your Atlus, SE, and Capcom products on 3DS. They all have a pretty contained budget relative to AAA.

Sony does push AAA exclusives, your ND titles, Horizon, and such. But it also puts out/courts a lot of more modest exclusives, which happen to make up a lot of what people are talking about in this thread. AAA multiplatforms might be the bread and butter of PS4 and AAA first party games might be the pride of the system, but a lot of the work in broadening and deepening the catalog is done by smaller budget games with lower sales targets, your typical Japanese game, indie, etc.

Microsoft tries to diversify through smaller, more controlled budget games too. I just think a) they aren't getting as many exclusively from 3rd parties (atm a lot of that is Japan), b) they haven't put as many out themselves and some of the games they've been looking to get out have been quite slow coming or have been canceled all together, and c) this is the case as their core AAA experiences are flagging in the core gamer mindshare.

All of this is exacerbated by Sony's greater market share and core market dealings for some of the bigger 3rd party titles. MS wouldn't need to be on the top of the exclusives game if it had won the generation in the beginning and if it were the place to play the biggest third party games, but it often isn't seen as such and now I think it does need to start winning the exclusives game a bit if it wants to change the momentum going into the next console cycle and it definitely needs to be winning it, the marketing deals game, and the hardware messaging game at that point if it wants to retake the American/British market and make moves elsewhere.

Sure, Xbox One is a successful console. It gets the biggest third party games in the industry. It has sold well. The S had a good value proposition against the Slim, or at least convinced the market that it had such. But I do think Microsoft needs to start pulling in core consumers with exclusives if they have greater ambition for the platform in the future.

I also think it needs convincing exclusives for its PC initiative. They need to give people reason to use their store.
 

AU Tiger

Member
I don't understand the Xbone/PC cross over arrangement. Isn't that just giving gamers another reason not to bother with an Xbox?

Not at all. My PC has a 4770k and 980ti

It's right at that edge of performance where the Scorpio could match or beat it depending on what MS end up with hardware-wise inside the scorpio and if they end up with a Ryzen/Vega mic-drop at E3 or whenever they detail the hardware specs, I may just leave my PC as it is and use it for PC exclusives but just get a scorpio and play everything else on that.

I hate windows 10 for a number of reasons and would like nothing more than to roll back to 8.1 and just play most games on something I don't have to worry about drivers or weird work arounds to try and fix framerates or anything like that.

Edit: if it turns out the scorpio is running on old hardware, I may still get one but would probably sell my 980 and get whatever the next flagship card from Nvidia is (1180?)
 

Wedzi

Banned
Honestly, I'm in a similar boat. I got my first Xbox back in 2004 for Halo 2 and then transferred to the 360 after PS2 being my primary console. 360 carried me all through high school and partly through college. E3 2013 came around and I thought about switching but ultimately decided to stay mostly due to loyalty to the brand. Plus I like Halo, Gears and I was buying what Phil was saying about a revitalized first party (remember this was before he took over).

Now fast forward 3 years later since launch, Halo 5 was disappointing and sadly killed a lot of interest I had in the series, Gears of War 4 might as well have been Gears of War 3.5, but hey at least Forza has been great. Sunset was fun and there's something to build there but that's not going to happen anytime soon. Ori was great.

Now I'm looking at this year and really I can't get excited for anything Microsoft has. Never liked Halo Wars, Sea of Thieves seems too multiplayer and cooperative focused for me, thought the first Crackdown was novel but not much else. State of Decay could be cool but the technical issues of the first game kept me from enjoying it and I don't really care for zombies.

So take the uninteresting first party and add in that most of my friends are moving over to PS4, it looks like there won't be much reason for me to pick up an Xbox controller this year after I finish Mass Effect. Sad times for this Xbox loyalist. Maybe I'll get a Scorpio fall 2018 for Halo 6 if 343 finally figures it out.
 

MoonFrog

Member
I mean, we should remember that Sony had had its commercial flops, its critical flops, its studio closings, etc. It just has had more content, more content that captures core mindshare, and critical niche support for core mindshare.

GAF bounces back quite well from Sony's stumbles, whereas the ways MS has failed the core community are very much the central MS narrative on GAF, as is evidenced by repeated threads in this vein.

MS just isn't doing enough and what it is doing isn't panning out well enough to rise above the general doubt in their efforts and direction.
 

Formosa

Member
Xbox is pretty much dead. I don't think the Scorpio would save them. It's either PC, PS Pro, or the Switch for the next few years. Unless Microsoft comes out with some better exclusives.
 
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