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[Dee Dah Dave]

I wouldn't expect 'megatons' at E3 this year. The focus will be on the 3 big games this holiday, Ori 2 and Sea Of Thieves. Something like that. Probably there will be one big exclusive announcement, plus all the 'filler' stuff. All that along with Scorpio will make for a solid E3.

Anyone expecting half a dozen AAA exclusives to be announced is unrealistic and setting themselves up for disappointment.

 

[JlNX]

Not really. Projects that are ''2nd'' party are not that different from the ones you are calling 1st party (in fact they really are the same for MS Studios). What varies is if they are internally or externally developed. A game like ReCore or Quantum Break lets say, is developed externally but MS Studios has internal producers in Redmond working on it too. You also have internal MS PR represantatives working on the game. So, if your source is someone within MS Studios (with considerable knowledge of course) you sure could get info on externally developed games, maybe even more than stuff from 343 or Coalition

Your source would have to be high up the food chain in that case which makes it very unlikely when most sources are developers on teams or community team. I meant due to the fact that Shanon Loftis made it sound like her team, which would include creative directors and producers as well as the 90 person MS studios development team only focus on second party projects and having nothing to do with internal. So therefore there wouldn't be much communication if that's what the team is dedicated to. While to MS every project is considered first party and second party as a term means nothing to them they are still handled by different teams and have different layers of access and knowledge.

 

[tiredheadcrab]

I wouldn't expect 'megatons' at E3 this year. The focus will be on the 3 big games this holiday, Ori 2 and Sea Of Thieves. Something like that. Probably there will be one big exclusive announcement, plus all the 'filler' stuff. All that along with Scorpio will make for a solid E3.

Anyone expecting half a dozen AAA exclusives to be announced is unrealistic and setting themselves up for disappointment.

I hope sea of thieves gets delayed honestly. The holiday timeframe is too fucking busy.

 

[gaming_noob]

Here's a tease.

Where is this from?

 

[Bits N Pieces]

Where is this from?

MS are buying Ubi.

We're going to get an Ori/Rayman mash up and a Splinter Cell Perfect Dark crossover for starters

 

[Poodlestrike]

I hope sea of thieves gets delayed honestly. The holiday timeframe is too fucking busy.

There is literally no way it gets a full proper release this holiday. Game Preview, sure. But retail? I really really doubt it.

Where is this from?

I'm pretty sure that ones' from Assassin's Creed 27: Assassin Harderer

 

[MisterJabo]

On the IGN podcast, Phil said if people are thinking I'm hiding a new AAA game in my pocket for this fall, that's probably not gonna happen but they will have other unannounced stuff.

He actually said it COULD happen, but it doesn't sound all that promising.

 

[Chris1]

He actually said it COULD happen, but it doesn't sound all that promising.

Yea, Also MS has announced at least 1 exclusive releasing that year for the past few years.

2013 loads, 2014 MCC, 2015 ROTR, 2016 DR4.

I think there'll be something 2017 too, but probably a remaster or a timed exclusive of sorts. Nothing to really build up hype about but it'll pad the exclusives line up a bit

 

[BleedOrange]

This is probably true. You could also say Sony doesn't have enough good multiplayer games. It's swings and roundabouts really and largely personal preference which type of games you prefer. Not that MS isn't short on a bit of variety, further highlighted due to their long running series IP's.

It's hard to make something new and great, and those 8 - 10 hour AAA single player games are probably the most risky type from a business perspective. Probably even more so for MS after Quantum Break.

I'd argue that the premise of Quantum Break had a strong chance to do very well if not hamstrung by:

A. Being released on unpopular platforms (Xbox One, extremely nascent Windows Store)
B. Having half of their production budget go into making an ingame TV show because transmedia was the zeitgeist at Microsoft at that point in time.

What I'm arguing here is that single player experiences don't necessarily underperform on Xbox for demographic reasons, but because nearly every time they've tried in the recent past the execution has been absolutely _abysmal_

 

[jbug617]

you guys think this is a game?

 

[black070]

Considering it's 343 Studio's & Halo 3's 10th anniversary, I could imagine an anniversary edition being Microsoft's 'releasing this year' E3 announcement.

 

[AAMARMO]

you guys think this is a game?

Yeah hopefully its Fable 4.

 

[black070]

you guys think this is a game?

Honestly, yes - it doesn't look good enough to be a tech demo.

 

[Papacheeks]

I'd argue that the premise of Quantum Break had a strong chance to do very well if not hamstrung by:

A. Being released on unpopular platforms (Xbox One, extremely nascent Windows Store)
B. Having half of their production budget go into making an ingame TV show because transmedia was the zeitgeist at Microsoft at that point in time.

What I'm arguing here is that single player experiences don't necessarily underperform on Xbox for demographic reasons, but because nearly every time they've tried in the recent past the execution has been absolutely _abysmal_

Pretty much my thoughts on it. When they try like when they came out with gears it was mainly a single player co-op game that had legs and created a good showing for multiplayer on top of that.

Look at how well mass effect, knights of the old republic did on xbox. Both single player. There are more that have both single/multiplayer and do well. Alan wake did well even though it was in development hell. Fable series did very well when MS treated it well. Chronicles of riddick did well on OG xbox. Farcry instincts was more known for it's single player. They expect instant sales or an instant hit. And that's why these games are failing. Sometimes you never get it on the first go.

Maybe if there wasn't so much pressure on Remedy and they had someone like Rod or Phil over looking that game it would have developed a lot better. Sunset overdrive should be a shoe in for a sequel regardless if MS fucked that game PR wise.
Their approach and how they view their division from a higher up stand point is to me the biggest reason they are having such a difficult time.

 

[MisterJabo]

you guys think this is a game?

Reminds me of Back to the Future

 

[farisr]

you guys think this is a game?

It's the new, lower budget, bioshock game.

 

[Dynomutt]

you guys think this is a game?

Yes. The Society: 1895. Game. Based on H.G. Wells daughter. She finds out that maybe her dad's stories weren't just stories...

 

[Rumblebones]

I'm 95% certain Microsoft has fuck all to show this year.

 

[BleedOrange]

I'm 95% certain Microsoft has fuck all to show this year.

Nah. They can show Sea of Thieves off to a wider gaming audience, reveal Ori and the Blind Forest 2 and State of Decay 2, show off Scorpio, show off Scorpio enhancements to games, and reveal some smaller unknowns.

The issue is they have nothing to surprise us with unless they want to show off a CGI trailer for a game coming out in 3 years, which they've said in the past they want to stop doing.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

I'm 95% certain Microsoft has fuck all to show this year.

They do but I suspect very few surprises which for me is the real sad part.

 

[JlNX]

I'm 95% certain Microsoft has fuck all to show this year.

Your perspective really adds a lot to the thread.

 

[Mosse]

I don't expect any surprises from microsofts first party studios. But do we have any list of available third party studios that doesn't have any games announced and could potentially partner up with them?

 

[JlNX]

I don't expect any surprises from microsofts first party studios. But do we have any list of available third party studios that doesn't have any games announced and could potentially partner up with them?

That's the problem any new IP's or new projects won't come from internal but second party and guessing that is near impossible. With MS's track record this generation with second party projects no one saw them coming, it's one of the reasons this thread is so dependant on E3.

 

[Poodlestrike]

you guys think this is a game?

I mean, the official line is that that's a tech demo, but like black070 said, it's really not that good looking? The KI gaffers suggested that it looks like a stage/intro for that, which is... not wrong. So it could be a new character for that. Or some smaller title we haven't heard word one of yet.

Or it's just a weirdly unimpressive tech demo! It happens.

 

[gamz]

I mean, the official line is that that's a tech demo, but like black070 said, it's really not that good looking? The KI gaffers suggested that it looks like a stage/intro for that, which is... not wrong. So it could be a new character for that. Or some smaller title we haven't heard word one of yet.

Or it's just a weirdly unimpressive tech demo! It happens.

Is it really a demo? I mean it's one single image.

 

[Poodlestrike]

Is it really a demo? I mean it's one single image.

It's supposed to be an image from a demo, from what I understand. Can anyone confirm I'm reading it right?

 

[Banjo-Kazooie]

Microsoft Ultimate Word Games (Windows 10 game) is finally in Preview! Microsoft Casual Games have been working on that for a while

 

[DriftingSpirit]

On the IGN podcast, Phil said if people are thinking I'm hiding a new AAA game in my pocket for this fall, that's probably not gonna happen but they will have other unannounced stuff.

Maybe he was talking about a really big AAA title because MS has announced and released AAA titles for the fall before. Dead Rising 4 is the most recent one.

I still think Sea of Thieves is getting pushed to next year so I wouldn't be surprised if they did do that.

I don't expect any surprises from microsofts first party studios. But do we have any list of available third party studios that doesn't have any games announced and could potentially partner up with them?

Difficult to say. I wouldn't have guessed that MS would have partnered with Amature, Platinum, Insomniac and Crytek before this generation started.

I don't know what developers are available but MS may have something up their sleeve. Quite frankly, they'll have to because their first party studios are already accounted for.

 

[Mass Effect]

What's Uber Entertainment doing these days? MS should contract them out to make Ultra Monday Night Combat. Xbox/W10, full CPP.

The original was by far most popular on Xbox (as opposed to Steam), and Super... well, it's unfortunate what happened to it.

 

[Salty Hippo]

He actually said it COULD happen, but it doesn't sound all that promising.

McCaffrey absurdly interrupted and answered the question for him with this "could happen" thing. Of course Spencer then went with the flow and repeated it. But judging from his initial tone, he was going to say "don't count on it".

Sea of Thieves will undoubtely be delayed, or released via Preview. So they're left with Forza 7, State of Decay and Crackdown for the holiday. One game in the first semester, 3 at fall. Par for the course for Xbox, it has been like that this entire generation.

Next year they'll have SoT on the first semester and Halo 6, Horizon 4 and something else for the fall. They arguably just need one non-Halo 2018 announcement at this E3 to be on their usual course in terms of output. That's what Spencer's job has been so far, maintaining the status quo. That's what I believe he'll keep doing.

 

[gamz]

It's supposed to be an image from a demo, from what I understand. Can anyone confirm I'm reading it right?

You said you were unimpressed with the tech demo. Did you see the whole demo or it in motion?

 

[JlNX]

I mean, the official line is that that's a tech demo, but like black070 said, it's really not that good looking? The KI gaffers suggested that it looks like a stage/intro for that, which is... not wrong. So it could be a new character for that. Or some smaller title we haven't heard word one of yet.

Or it's just a weirdly unimpressive tech demo! It happens.

Yeh, the lady bug demo looks like a tech demo. The steampunk lady looks like a game. Tech demos are suppose to look as good as a in engine realtime rendered cutscene, not actual gameplay, but the whole point of steampunk lady was to show of IQ of a xbox one game running on scorpio at 4k nothing else. So maybe that's what a tech demo optimised for xbox one hardware looks like? but even then the realtime Gears 4 cutscenes look incredible and a leap above this.

 

[Mosse]

Maybe he was talking about a really big AAA title because MS has announced and released AAA titles for the fall before. Dead Rising 4 is the most recent one.

I still think Sea of Thieves is getting pushed to next year so I wouldn't be surprised if they did do that.

Difficult to say. I wouldn't have guessed that MS would have partnered with Amature, Platinum, Insomniac and Crytek before this generation started.

I don't know what developers are available but MS may have something up their sleeve. Quite frankly, they'll have to because their first party studios are already accounted for.

Yeah that's why I think if there's any surprises, they would be from external partners. But many of the developers they've worked with have moved on to other things. Remmedy going multiplat, Insomniac doing spider man, Platinum probably don't feel like working with microsoft anytime soon, Crytec maybe? and Armature could possibly be available if microsoft feels happy about recore.

I don't think they will buy an exclusive from another publisher because of how the Tomb raider thing went and how Spencer talked about it. And I don't see them funding anything from any studio in Japan.

It would probably be a studio they haven't worked with so much, so E3 will definitely be interesting

 

[JaggedSac]

Yeah that's why I think if there's any surprises, they would be from external partners. But many of the developers they've worked with have moved on to other things. Remmedy going multiplat, Insomniac doing spider man, Platinum probably don't feel like working with microsoft anytime soon, Crytec maybe? and Armature could possibly be available if microsoft feels happy about recore.

I don't think they will buy an exclusive from another publisher because of how the Tomb raider thing went and how Spencer talked about it. And I don't see them funding anything from any studio in Japan.

It would probably be a studio they haven't worked with so much, so E3 will definitely be interesting

I heard part of the Office team is being sectioned off to make an RPG.

 

[DriftingSpirit]

Yeah that's why I think if there's any surprises, they would be from external partners. But many of the developers they've worked with have moved on to other things. Remmedy going multiplat, Insomniac doing spider man, Platinum probably don't feel like working with microsoft anytime soon, Crytec maybe? and Armature could possibly be available if microsoft feels happy about recore.

I don't think they will buy an exclusive from another publisher because of how the Tomb raider thing went and how Spencer talked about it. And I don't see them funding anything from any studio in Japan.

It would probably be a studio they haven't worked with so much, so E3 will definitely be interesting

Yep, I feel it will be a more obscure developer and I don't mean that in a negative way either.

 

[Mosse]

I heard part of the Office team is being sectioned off to make an RPG.

I guess that means the return of microsofts true mascot character, Clippy!

 

[JlNX]

Yep, I feel it will be a more obscure developer and I don't mean that in a negative way either.

Yeh, that's not a bad thing Double Helix did really well with KI.

 

[JaggedSac]

I guess that means the return of microsofts true mascot character, Clippy!

You are right on the nose. He will be on a mission to fight various Wizards that aren't actually helpful.

 

[Poodlestrike]

You said you were unimpressed with the tech demo. Did you see the whole demo or it in motion?

Nah, just the same screens as everyone else.

Yeh, the lady bug demo looks like a tech demo. The steampunk lady looks like a game. Tech demos are suppose to look as good as a in engine realtime rendered cutscene, not actual gameplay, but the whole point of steampunk lady was to show of IQ of a xbox one game running on scorpio at 4k nothing else. So maybe that's what a tech demo optimised for xbox one hardware looks like? but even then the realtime Gears 4 cutscenes look incredible and a leap above this.

Basically my thinking.

 

[Nightengale]

We knew of the Crytek partnership before this gen started because Ryse started out as a Kinect project.

And there are partnerships that I would say, are never surprising if it happens. Platinum are mercenary devs capable of AAA development with short dev cycles. Far and few in this industry. As much as their games bomba more often than succeeds, I don't think they'll ever not be in demand to an extent by 3rd-party or 1st-party.

 

[DriftingSpirit]

We knew of the Crytek partnership before this gen started because Ryse started out as a Kinect project.

And there are partnerships that I would say, are never surprising if it happens. Platinum are mercenary devs capable of AAA development with short dev cycles. Far and few in this industry. As much as their games bomba more often than succeeds, I don't think they'll ever not be in demand to an extent by 3rd-party or 1st-party.

Even so, MS working with a Japanese dev to build a big open world ARPG is not something normal considering MS' place in the Japanese market.

 

[Nightengale]

Even so, MS working with a Japanese dev to build a big open world ARPG is not something normal considering MS' place in the Japanese market.

I disagree.

In general, I think that even with a big step-back away from Japanese market and investment in Japanese devolopment, from a publisher mindset, they'll at least go for "one" big investment with a notable developer for a WW market to tick the boxes of :

- we have a Japanese AAA first-party game
- we have a game targeting the Japanese market
- we have Japanese game that's aiming the WW audience

This was back when the gen first started, mind. Back when MS was clearly aiming towards filling up their portfolio with games that they never really did last-gen.

 

[Xumbrega]

studios I could see working with Microsoft right now (just speculating)


Capcom Vancouver - Lost Planet Reboot
Frontier
Avalanche Studios
Armature - Recore 2?
Ghost Story Games
Turtle Rock


Also I was wondering..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everywhere_(video_game)

the new IP from Leslie Benzies fits the Microsoft portfolio, with the seamless coop multiplayer

"Multiple narratives are present in the game so that each given player can customize of their own volition. It is set in an open world and will feature seamless cooperative multiplayer."

what do you guys think?

 

[Mifune]

studios I could see working with Microsoft right now (just speculating)


Capcom Vancouver - Lost Planet Reboot
Frontier
Avalanche Studios
Armature - Recore 2?
Ghost Story Games
Turtle Rock


Also I was wondering..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everywhere_(video_game)

the new IP from Leslie Benzies fits the Microsoft portfolio, with the seamless coop multiplayer

"Multiple narratives are present in the game so that each given player can customize of their own volition. It is set in an open world and will feature seamless cooperative multiplayer."

what do you guys think?

I think that's a good list. Avalanche is a good one. I would add People Can Fly and Ready at Dawn. And we're pretty sure Obsidian is working on a console game so maybe, despite the whole Stormlands cancelation, them too?

 

[DriftingSpirit]

I disagree.

In general, I think that even with a big step-back away from Japanese market and investment in Japanese devolopment, from a publisher mindset, they'll at least go for "one" big investment with a notable developer for a WW market to tick the boxes of :

- we have a Japanese AAA first-party game
- we have a game targeting the Japanese market
- we have Japanese game that's aiming the WW audience

This was back when the gen first started, mind. Back when MS was clearly aiming towards filling up their portfolio with games that they never really did last-gen.

I see what you're saying but I still think Microsoft's situation in Japan is what makes it sound unlikely. I don't doubt those musings from devs and pubs though.

 

[Nightengale]

what do you guys think?

Agree on all as likely candidates except Ghost Story & The Benz.

Ghost Story remains a subsidiary of T2, and while it's not impossible (CA, belongs to SEGA worked on HW2) , I don't see the appeal of a 'indie-scale' team working on narrative games to MS, even with Ken Levine's name.

As for The Benz, if truly MS had secured him, I highly doubt they would had allowed him to openly talk about what he's working on already, and would had instead put him on 100% radio silence till E3, where they could drop the bomb that they've secured an exclusive publishing deal with one of the forces behind GTA and RDR.

 

[Banjo-Kazooie]

McCaffrey absurdly interrupted and answered the question for him with this "could happen" thing. Of course Spencer then went with the flow and repeated it. But judging from his initial tone, he was going to say "don't count on it".

Sea of Thieves will undoubtely be delayed, or released via Preview. So they're left with Forza 7, State of Decay and Crackdown for the holiday. One game in the first semester, 3 at fall. Par for the course for Xbox, it has been like that this entire generation.

Next year they'll have SoT on the first semester and Halo 6, Horizon 4 and something else for the fall. They arguably just need one non-Halo 2018 announcement at this E3 to be on their usual course in terms of output. That's what Spencer's job has been so far, maintaining the status quo. That's what I believe he'll keep doing.

Sea of Thieves should rightfully be "delayed". If it releases against Destiny 2, COD, Battlefront 2, Read Dead, MvC, and all the other fall games then that would be suicide. It would benefit greatly from an early 2018 release

 

[Salty Hippo]

Sea of Thieves should rightfully be "delayed". If it releases against Destiny 2, COD, Battlefront 2, Read Dead, MvC, and all the other fall games then that would be suicide. It would benefit greatly from an early 2018 release

Totally agree. Early 2018 might still be too early considering the game's slow progress thus far. Early 2018 in Preview is more likely I think.

 

[FelipeMGM]

studios I could see working with Microsoft right now (just speculating)


Capcom Vancouver - Lost Planet Reboot
Frontier
Avalanche Studios
Armature - Recore 2?
Ghost Story Games
Turtle Rock


Also I was wondering..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everywhere_(video_game)

the new IP from Leslie Benzies fits the Microsoft portfolio, with the seamless coop multiplayer

"Multiple narratives are present in the game so that each given player can customize of their own volition. It is set in an open world and will feature seamless cooperative multiplayer."

what do you guys think?

Capcom Vancouver: Its possible, they been partners with MS Studios a bunch of times
Frontier: They worked with MS in the past, but they found success self publishing their latest titles (Elite games and Planet Coaster) so I doubt it
Avalanche: is one I've been saying for some time too, and I think that one is sure possible and a great partner
Armature: sure I guess, if MS is happy with the work they did on ReCore (which seems that they are)
Ghost Story: is a 2K/Take-Two studio, so I assume thats a no
Turtle Rock: already has a publisher (Perfect World) for their next AAA game so Im going to guess no too, at least for now

There has been some indication that the Benz game might have copped some funding from Amazon (Amazon paying them money to use Lumberyard) so Im not to sure of this one

 

[W.S.]

Maybe he was talking about a really big AAA title because MS has announced and released AAA titles for the fall before. Dead Rising 4 is the most recent one.

I still think Sea of Thieves is getting pushed to next year so I wouldn't be surprised if they did do that.

Difficult to say. I wouldn't have guessed that MS would have partnered with Amature, Platinum, Insomniac and Crytek before this generation started.

I don't know what developers are available but MS may have something up their sleeve. Quite frankly, they'll have to because their first party studios are already accounted for.

Yeah that's why I think if there's any surprises, they would be from external partners. But many of the developers they've worked with have moved on to other things. Remmedy going multiplat, Insomniac doing spider man, Platinum probably don't feel like working with microsoft anytime soon, Crytec maybe? and Armature could possibly be available if microsoft feels happy about recore.

I don't think they will buy an exclusive from another publisher because of how the Tomb raider thing went and how Spencer talked about it. And I don't see them funding anything from any studio in Japan.

It would probably be a studio they haven't worked with so much, so E3 will definitely be interesting

There are more 3rd party developers for potential partnerships than people think, they may be lessor known or vary in size but they're out there. I've mentioned some of these before but I can see these particular studios work out partnerships with MS:

Splash Damage
BigRedButton
Airship Syndicate
Cyanide Studio
DONTNOD Entertainment
Ready At Dawn
Deck13

Ruffian Games & Certain Afifinity have worked with MS before on games (Crackdown 2 & Crimson Alliance) & Bluepoint/Nixxes can be contracted for some remasters. Heck even a studio like Dambuster whom are owned by Deep Silver aren't off the table given that MS worked with Creative Assembly.

studios I could see working with Microsoft right now (just speculating)


Capcom Vancouver - Lost Planet Reboot
Frontier
Avalanche Studios
Armature - Recore 2?
Ghost Story Games
Turtle Rock

Not a bad list, Avalanche & Turtle Rock are particularly interesting and could easily work out deals with Microsoft.