Last 2 Xbox generations, we had some crazy huge first party offerings that were new, fresh and became massive ip's. Halo, gears, and then Forza. Amazing experiences that continue to live on, even if it feels milked at this point.
But, where is this gens new massive ip? 3 years in and there's nothing comparable in sight. That's what's so upsetting.
What we want is the next Halo/Gears/Forza that we can add to the mighty trio in some form of first party greatness. Ryse and Quantum didn't hit the mark. Most of the other new first party stuff was much lower production value than the mighty 3. I've not much hope that pirate game will be comparible. I was hopeful for phantom Dust and Scalebound, but those got hosed.
To me, that's the issue this gen.
That's part of the problem, for sure. I really loved the first Xbox, the 360 was my first HD console. I don't own nor currently plan to buy a Xbone (unless they come out with 100% backwards compatibility for first Xbox since my old Xbox is not going to work forever).
Usually, for all you can criticize Sony and Nintendo, they do the following things right:
- Offer continuations of big IPs while also releasing new franchises with huge marketing. To be fair, Microsoft tried with Quantum Break and Re:Core, but failed for several reasons.
- Allow franchises to evolve to something new and radically different (thinking of upcoming God of War 4 and Zelda BotW, for example). Halo is moving away from what many fans liked about the franchise to begin with, Forza has been consistently great but it is not without alternatives on other consoles, Gears of War should have been over tbh with the end of the main story ark and the devs allowed to tackle something new (like Naughty Dog)
- Getting a lot of goodwill by press and gaming enthusiasts for smaller, more niche exclusives which might not be blockbusters but add to catalogue and perception of "you can have it all" to customers. Cuphead could have been that for MS, it is a critics darling and has a very strong look, but it has taken too long to release and it is one game vs. dozens like this on other platforms.
- Build a strong brand identity and deliever an idea (not neccesarily the truth
) to your potential customers. Sony bas it ("Diverse gaming portfolio" "Storydriven games wiith great narratives" "Art and style"), Nintendo has it ("Multiplayer for everyone, local and online" "Here's your favorite retro franchises with great new ideas and high level of polish" "Play everywhere and play whether you're 10, 30 or 50 years old"). MS is... shooting and racing? Before, they've been "We have the best online!" or "We have the best tech!" and "We will surprise you with strong blockbuster games".
The sad thing is, Microsoft had it all during mid-360 era, and lost too much of it. So I can see why the strongly push the ideas of "Play everywhere" and the idea of Win10 and X1 gaming being two sides of the same coin. They want to be an overarching platform of gaming, with the Xbox brand not exclusively restricted to hardware, but software over several devices. I wish them luck on that, a lot of things they do (like allow multiplayer over different platforms, BC for 360 and Xbox, in general their skills with software, interfaces and OS) I like and it would be sad to see them leaving the console space. Especially since Sony in the lead with no real competition isn't great for the medium, either.
So, yeah, a push for some more exclusives would help a lot, especially with Scorpio where the bank everything on "3rd Parties will look the best on our platform". Which will probably be true, but they're still roughly the same experiences found on PS4 and PC.
