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[Angel_DvA]

Most people buying console had nothing to do with fan of which exclusive game(s).
And what "it's over for Microsoft", the hell?

What ? I can guaranteed you that people are getting platforms because of their exclusives as well, there is no reason to get a Xbox One over a PS4 now, especially if you don't care about exclusives...

Why do you think people still get Nintendo products if it's not for their exclusive ?

I think the Xbox brand is in a difficult position and Scorpio won't save the day if Microsoft doesn't have something to feed the console with, I'm sure the budget for the Xbox division is pretty tight right now and if Scorpio fails, I can see Microsoft taking radical decision over the Xbox brand as a console manufacturer.

 

[Bluth54]

You jest, but I can actually see this (or something like this) happening.

Yeah even though I said it as joke I could actually see it happening.

 

[samuraidino]

Most people buying console had nothing to do with fan of which exclusive game(s).
And what "it's over for Microsoft", the hell?

While I wouldn't go as far to say it's over for them, the Xbox division needs to turn itself around in a major way if it's to justify its existence.

Falling console sales, their biggest pillar franchises dwindling in terms of sales and (if going by perception and reviews) quality, their inability to create the next new IP that'll reach the Gears of War or Halo level of mass appeal, their continued non presence outside of the UK and US, the lack of investment in new first party efforts and studios at a time when it's harder and harder for them to court publishers and developers for third party exclusives.

As much as a best selling console* PR release likes to give the impression that the Xbox is doing super well,on the grand scheme of things the division appears to be struggling this gen in a fairly major way.


*For the last 3 months in three countries

 

[Rad-]

I'm really surprised MS just seems fine to let Fable die and sit unused.

At it's height, Fable 2, the franchise almost sold a million in a single month.

This is what I have been wondering. Fable 2 sold really well (I remember it sold at least 3.5 million at some point) and Fable 3 sold okay as well even though it had pretty disappointing critical reception. I guess they just didn't want to continue the main series without Molyneux.

 

[Kssio_Aug]

What ? I can guaranteed you that people are getting platforms because of their exclusives as well, there is no reason to get a Xbox One over a PS4 now, especially if you don't care about exclusives...

Why do you think people still get Nintendo products if it's not for their exclusive ?

I think the Xbox brand is in a difficult position and Scorpio won't save the day if Microsoft doesn't have something to feed the console with, I'm sure the budget for the Xbox division is pretty tight right now and if Scorpio fails, I can see Microsoft taking radical decision over the Xbox brand as a console manufacturer.

In the case of Nintendo is because their 3rd party support is just plain bad. No one would buy a Nintendo console if they plan to play CoD, BF or Destiny.

I think that in fact most don't look TOO MUCH into the exclusive stuff. If there's a franchise or another they like and there's Call of Duty, Fifa, Battlefield and their friends play there as well, they will be satisfied. In that case, if MS can keep this player base interested in Gears / Forza / Halo, they're quite safe for a while. I have 2 cousins that owned PS1/PS2/PS3 and now owns XB1... they don't miss pretty much anything cause they play mostly GTA V and Fifa.

The problem is that without diversity they won't call new players. And among the old players, when they get burnt from these same franchises they're gonna jump to a different platform wich offers the same big multiplatform games and something else aswell.

 

[jelly]

Fable would probably cost a fortune to do again and top quality. Witcher for example but that team push well above normal and at a decent budget. Microsoft could never match that and actually need a developer to do it which they don't have. Obsidian got knocked back so.....build a studio is the other option, they closed Lionhead. The buy in for a new Fable would put them off.

 

[Maximilian Kolbe]

What ? I can guaranteed you that people are getting platforms because of their exclusives as well, there is no reason to get a Xbox One over a PS4 now, especially if you don't care about exclusives...

Why do you think people still get Nintendo products if it's not for their exclusive ?

I think the Xbox brand is in a difficult position and Scorpio won't save the day if Microsoft doesn't have something to feed the console with, I'm sure the budget for the Xbox division is pretty tight right now and if Scorpio fails, I can see Microsoft taking radical decision over the Xbox brand as a console manufacturer.

And since when Nintendo and Microsoft are same type? it's fine you think how it is and it should be, but in the end there is no Xbox exclusive anymore since last year, so Scalebound cancellation happened or not, it won't change something big because it still sells.

 

[Endo Punk]

So Fable, Phantom Dust and Scalebound; From my understanding these are traditionally SP or envisioned as SP games. So the issue lies with the online elements that MS wants to add to these games, these features appear maybe too ambitious thus the troubled developments. Does MS see value in the traditional SP model anymore?

 

[Maximilian Kolbe]

While I wouldn't go as far to say it's over for them, the Xbox division needs to turn itself around in a major way if it's to justify its existence.

Falling console sales, their biggest pillar franchises dwindling in terms of sales and (if going by perception and reviews) quality, their inability to create the next new IP that'll reach the Gears of War or Halo level of mass appeal, their continued non presence outside of the UK and US, the lack of investment in new first party efforts and studios at a time when it's harder and harder for them to court publishers and developers for third party exclusives.

As much as a best selling console* PR release likes to give the impression that the Xbox is doing super well,on the grand scheme of things the division appears to be struggling this gen in a fairly major way.


*For the last 3 months in three countries

Nah i agree about diversity(they 100% need more and more different genre games develop by 1st part), i'm replying about "exclusive" itself, there is no exclusives for Xbox anymore even their 1st part studios have every different genre of games.

 

[KORNdoggy]

But it seems like they haven't even tried. Fable III may have failed, but then their next entries were Kinect games and they almost released Fable Legends (which no one asked). If they invested more money and supervised a Fable IV instead I believe they could have come with something pretty great! Such a shame it never happened.

I have some friends that are big Xbox fans since ever, and I think none of them were excited for Fable Legends... it's like after Fable III they threw in the garbage bin and only used it's name to try some new experiments.

this is sadly quite common i feel. and worse is that the failure of fable kinect will have made MS think there wasn't enough demand for a new, big budget fable. when reality is there was just no demand for a new fable KINECT game. even when that isn't the case though and a sequel doesn't do as well as expected i think sony seems less trigger happy about shutting studio's down.

take team ico. the games they make are hardly massive sellers, and yet we got 3 games out of them, one taking a ton of time and no doubt a ton of money.

or look at evolution. motostorm apocalypse failed (largely no fault of their own, just bad timing), they were given a chance with the digital release motortorm RC which did really well, and then driveclub came, which again, failed to stir up much interest or sales. that's 2 extra chances after apocolypse. if that was a MS franchise i would have expected the studio to be closed straight after that initial misstep.

MS come across as a company who want every game they fund to perform on the same level as their top tier franchises. and if they don't...bye bye. which i'm sure makes a ton of business sense. but it builds up a bad reputation for the xbox brand and doesn't develop a stable foundation of IP's. sony isn't innocent in all this either. i doubt we'll ever see an order 1886 sequel for instance. but generally in-house stuff always gets the benefit of the doubt. at least a second chance to prove the worth of the IP.

 

[Tecnniqe]

What ? I can guaranteed you that people are getting platforms because of their exclusives as well, there is no reason to get a Xbox One over a PS4 now, especially if you don't care about exclusives...

Why do you think people still get Nintendo products if it's not for their exclusive ?

I think the Xbox brand is in a difficult position and Scorpio won't save the day if Microsoft doesn't have something to feed the console with, I'm sure the budget for the Xbox division is pretty tight right now and if Scorpio fails, I can see Microsoft taking radical decision over the Xbox brand as a console manufacturer.

At least I can watch bluray on the Xbox.

 

[PanicFreak]

So Fable, Phantom Dust and Scalebound; From my understanding these are traditionally SP or envisioned as SP games. So the issue lies with the online elements that MS wants to add to these games, these features appear maybe too ambitious thus the troubled developments. Does MS see value in the traditional SP model anymore?

Fable Legends was a 4 v 1 multiplayer game with micro transactions. Phantom Dust was MP only as well (at least initially).

this is sadly quite common i feel. and worse is that the failure of fable kinect will have made MS think there wasn't enough demand for a new, big budget fable. when reality is there was just no demand for a new fable KINECT game. even when that isn't the case though and a sequel doesn't do as well as expected i think sony seems less trigger happy about shutting studio's down.

take team ico. the games they make are hardly massive sellers, and yet we got 3 games out of them, one taking a ton of time and no doubt a ton of money.

or look at evolution. motostorm apocalypse failed (largely no fault of their own, just bad timing), they were given a chance with the digital release motortorm RC which did really well, and then driveclub came, which again, failed to stir up much interest or sales. that's 2 extra chances after apocolypse. if that was a MS franchise i would have expected the studio to be closed straight after that initial misstep.

MS come across as a company who want every game they fund to perform on the same level as their top tier franchises. and if they don't...bye bye. which i'm sure makes a ton of business sense. but it builds up a bad reputation for the xbox brand and doesn't develop a stable foundation of IP's. sony isn't innocent in all this either. i doubt we'll ever see an order 1886 sequel for instance. but generally in-house stuff always gets the benefit of the doubt. at least a second chance to prove the worth of the IP.

Kind of like how Rare was shut down after Kinect Sports Xbox One version bombed. Yup totally agree.

 

[Maximilian Kolbe]

Fable Legends was a 4 v 1 multiplayer game with micro transactions. Phantom Dust was MP only as well (at least initially).

That's why i found some of the insider info from twitter is strange, like the reason of Phantom Dust remake cancelled wasn't because MS want to add MP, it's because MS want to add 30 hours long story mode(without adding budget), which seems conflicted.

 

[120v]

So Fable, Phantom Dust and Scalebound; From my understanding these are traditionally SP or envisioned as SP games. So the issue lies with the online elements that MS wants to add to these games, these features appear maybe too ambitious thus the troubled developments. Does MS see value in the traditional SP model anymore?

my armchair guess is they're moving onto a "different model" when it comes to 1st party stuff. wouldn't be surprised if their next round of announcements are a bunch of dota/overwatch type of ventures

probably going to be super selective about greenlighting SP AAA stuff going forward

 

[Rymuth]

That's why i found some of the insider info from twitter is strange, like the reason of Phantom Dust remake cancelled wasn't because MS want to add MP, it's because MS want to add 30 hours long story mode(without adding budget), which seems conflicted.

Things change. What MS wanted in 2014 may not be what they want in 2017. Skullgirls dev noted how they seemingly change what they demand on a whim.

MIcrosoftMexicanStandoff.jpeg

I think Phantom Dust was not cancelled at 2014?

It's an example. Point still stands.

 

[PanicFreak]

That's why i found some of the insider info from twitter is strange, like the reason of Phantom Dust remake cancelled wasn't because MS want to add MP, it's because MS want to add 30 hours long story mode(without adding budget), which seems conflicted.

I'm of the opinion that those games were cancelled because they weren't turning out how they wanted from a quality perspective. In the case of Scalebound, they would have probably had to delay again and market the game with tons of cash. That probably wasn't worth it. I'm the case of Fable Legends, there was a beta out, the game was finished and the engagement numbers they had were extremely low. If they had realeased it, it would have been one of those things where they supported it for three months before shutting it down like the MMOs of old.

 

[Maximilian Kolbe]

Things change. What MS wanted in 2014 may not be what they want in 2017. Skullgirls dev noted how they seemingly change what they demand on a whim.

MIcrosoftMexicanStandoff.jpeg

I think Phantom Dust was not cancelled at 2014?

 

[Lime]

I sure hope so, waiting on Tomb Raider was not fun.

Neither was it for Crystial Dynamics or Square Enix who probably saw a lot less sales due to the timed exclusivity.

 

[Kssio_Aug]

this is sadly quite common i feel. and worse is that the failure of fable kinect will have made MS think there wasn't enough demand for a new, big budget fable. when reality is there was just no demand for a new fable KINECT game. even when that isn't the case though and a sequel doesn't do as well as expected i think sony seems less trigger happy about shutting studio's down.

take team ico. the games they make are hardly massive sellers, and yet we got 3 games out of them, one taking a ton of time and no doubt a ton of money.

or look at evolution. motostorm apocalypse failed (largely no fault of their own, just bad timing), they were given a chance with the digital release motortorm RC which did really well, and then driveclub came, which again, failed to stir up much interest or sales. that's 2 extra chances after apocolypse. if that was a MS franchise i would have expected the studio to be closed straight after that initial misstep.

MS come across as a company who want every game they fund to perform on the same level as their top tier franchises. and if they don't...bye bye. which i'm sure makes a ton of business sense. but it builds up a bad reputation for the xbox brand and doesn't develop a stable foundation of IP's. sony isn't innocent in all this either. i doubt we'll ever see an order 1886 sequel for instance. but generally in-house stuff always gets the benefit of the doubt. at least a second chance to prove the worth of the IP.

Yup! Also sometimes I feel like MS may force their biggest studios to keep doing their biggest games over and over without giving an opportunity to try something new. It's like 343 with Halo... It doesn't matter how much they try they're gonna be bashed over and over by Halo fanbase, so I think it would be a good idea if they try something their own and breath some fresh air. They've shown they're good at making action games in fact, so they might do something pretty great and new. But I guess MS feels that's just too risky.

If they managed to have a good ammount of studios working for them as Sony built over the years, they probably could afford 343, Playground or Coallition doing something new to see the results, or trying to build smaller studios with part of their teams for that same reason without dropping Halo / Gears / Forza Horizon development completely. But now, when that's pretty much all they got it seems a much more distant dream.

 

[erotic grandpa]

I hopped onto the Xbox One with the Sunset Overdrive bundle, excited at the time for both that game and Scalebound after that year's E3. It felt like MS was going to throw its financial weight behind some really cool and unique games.

Two years later and...yeah. Gears 4 was fun, Forza Horizon 3 is great, but the only thing I look forward to these days are the backwards compatibility announcements.

Sorry Phil. Talk is cheap, and it does ring hollow. I don't see how anyone can look to future exclusive announcements (outside of the core Halo/Gears/Forza slate) with any confidence of them making it to release.

 

[KORNdoggy]

Kind of like how Rare was shut down after Kinect Sports Xbox One version bombed. Yup totally agree.

Rare are a strange beast. and i still don't understand how that company has survived this long. if i were MS even i would shutter them, hell, i probably would have done after viva pinata. lol

 

[Kill3r7]

Rare are a strange beast. and i still don't understand how that company has survived this long. if i were MS even i would shutter them, hell, i probably would have done after viva pinata. lol

Rare was one of their most profitable studios because of Kinect. Plus some higher up must really like them.

 

[Dunkley]

I hopped onto the Xbox One with the Sunset Overdrive bundle, excited at the time for both that game and Scalebound after that year's E3. It felt like MS was going to throw its financial weight behind some really cool and unique games.

Two years later and...yeah. Gears 4 was fun, Forza Horizon 3 is great, but the only thing I look forward to these days are the backwards compatibility announcements.

Sorry Phil. Talk is cheap, and it does ring hollow. I don't see how anyone can look to future exclusive announcements (outside of the core Halo/Gears/Forza slate) with any confidence of them making it to release.

Yeah, I mean I picked up an S for UHD and it's great for that, but the thing is there were also a few games that really had me interested. Sunset Overdrive is great, Rare Replay is great, Forza Horizon 3 is great too don't me wrong, but I admit Forza/Gears/Halo weren't any reason why I bought the Xbox One rather than the few interesting games they had out there.

I mean BC and Cuphead are still things to look forward to but with Scalebound out of the picture I admit the selection is thinning out more and more. If they wanna take risks, sure, I can dig it and I'd do my part supporting them trying to diversify their library, but as of right now they really couldn't be playing it more safe.

 

[Deputy Moonman]

Sea of Thieves, Halo Wars 2, and Crackdown all have potential to be good exclusives for 2017. It may not be exactly what some people were wanting but I grow tired of listening to people continually throwing around the xbox is only Gears, Halo, and Forza. And I feel like counting Ori and the Blind Forest and Recore games as non exclusive simply because those games are also on PC is a dudebro excuse. Quantum Break ended up being okay. Sunset Overdrive was fantastic. If you look at Nintendo, they didn't even release a Zelda game for the Wii U, nor a Metroid Game this gen, which are two of their more beloved franchises. Whatthehellisthat.gif?

Its silly to say the xbox doesn't have appeal when it actually does. The reality is that different people have different tastes. MS has had to overcome some massive obstacles after having coming out of the gates flat on their face with the xbox one. The position they're in now is pretty remarkable if you consider where most people thought they'd be. All that is to say is that I don't think it's as doom and gloom as some people make their situation out to be.

 

[otakukidd]

Correct, but just to put things into perspective, GG started working on HZD in 2010. So whatever Phil greenlights right now will take quite some time.

And my point is: If Phil actually initiated a couple of new games back then when he took over three years ago, then we should be able to see the results this year. But for all we know MS has nothing in the pipleline, except the usual suspects.

Well, I guess relying on the Halo-Gears-Forza trifecta could be called "risky", so that' that.

The problem is, is that he was the one in charge of all the first party studios from 2008 to 2013. I would say majority of the blame for the shitty tail end of the 360 should fall with him. I would also include the sad state of their current first party.

 

[Randomizer123454444]

Microsoft is a gaming company that tries to dazzle the gamers with impressive graphics and in-game spectacles. They try to make the gamers go "WOW!". Gameplay is only a means to experience that spectacle, and not really the focus of the games. From the very start Microsoft has tried to promote the experience of playing on Xbox One. The technical details of playing those games are not important, as long as "the experience" is spectacular. As opposed to Xbox being just a tool to play their amazing games.

Scalebound and its trailer with fight vs giant spider / scorpion thing is an example of this spectacle experience over gameplay. It was huge, effects were flying around and it was sparkly, but actually playing the game seemed slow, simple and clunky in that trailer. All of the effort and money seemed to have gone to make that spectacle happen.

I have this dreadful feeling that the next "risk" Microsoft takes will be the exact same attempt at making a sparkly spectacle experience where gameplay is just secondary. Yes, this kind of gaming has its audience. Many people like Xbox and its games, they are proof of that. But not everyone likes that, and as long as Microsoft keeps making this one type of game (just in different settings) they keep shutting themselves off from the wider gaming audience.

 

[The_Endgamer]

Random question but I wonder how much Microsoft senior (outside of Xbox division) would be willing to pump into the business compared to Nintendo + probably to a smaller degree Sony's warchests.

Nintendo looks like it might have Wii 2.0 (to a smaller degree) on its hands while PS4 is killing it everywhere. Xbox seems to be doing okay but outside of game forum peeps, I really don't think a Scorpio release will do much for the average consumer. (EDIT: Will the leap in power be that palpable and noticeable in real terms?)

Nintendo + Sony seem to have much more up their sleeve and much more breathing room financially and creatively unlike the next Xbox...

 

[Triggerhappytel]

At least I can watch bluray on the Xbox.

This is such a bitter, petty comment. Did you type this through streaming tears?!

 

[Dark_3nergy]

In the year and a half I had this console, it has only been used for 3 hours. Let's think about that for a moment.

 

[cLOUDo]

"risk"
is this the equivalent of apple's "courage" ?

 

[Seik]

Rare was one of their most profitable studios because of Kinect. Plus some higher up must really like them.

I can't understand how they're still there, post-kinect was radio silence from them...it's like a 'secret' trump card, with tons of IPs, but they use jack shit out of it, except with Killer Instinct, which wasn't even developed by them.

Sure we have SoT coming, but still there's nothing else, I assume they're a small studio now?

 

[flkraven]

* Make online multiplayer free.

* Shop around for more exclusives, not less.

* Team up with Team Ninja again for DOA7 and Ninja Gaiden 4 as Xbox exclusives.

* Buy some smaller great developer studios like the Ori, Cuphead or Inside devs.

* Increase Rare in size and make them do Nintendo-like single player platformers/adventures like they used too, and make sure that Sea of Thieves can be played in single player too.

* Release the PC versions through Steam with no Windows 10 requirement or better yet stop spreading out the exclusives to PC which will only make Xbox as a platform weaker.

* And make Minecraft 2.0 Xbox exclusive.

That's taking a risk that could help the Xbox brand. Canceling one of the few exclusives that looked interesting isn't about taking risks, it's the other way around. Check the forums, look at the world-wide sales, the Xbox brand gets weaker every day as it is. Maybe it's time to do something about that?

Exclusives, exclusives, exclusives. That's the way to do it. Scorpio won't save Xbox unless the groundwork for success is already in place, which it isn't today imo. Having the most powerful console later this year will be cool and all but you need exclusives too or it'll still just be the second best platform behind the PC.

Just my thoughts, nothing more, nothing less. I'm not PS4 fanboy, I'm just starting to lose hope on Xbox as a brand.

I was going to say "the bolded is never happening" but it turns out it's just everything. Everything you said will never happen.

 

[Movalpolos]

Let's see if he follows through this time. I'm guessing he won't.

 

[Crayon]

If gaf chips in and buys xbox division, do we get Phil with it?

 

[Tecnniqe]

This is such a bitter, petty comment. Did you type this through streaming tears?!

[IMG]http://i704.photobucket.com/albums/ww46/JennyOwnsBrielle/315620-20animated_gif20tagme20tears20waterfall.gif[/IMG]

Nah, but what is, is saying there's 0 reason over a playstation.

Regardless of games it's still like the cheapest bluray player so it does have great functions outside of that for home entertainment.

No reason to take poor jabs back super serious when everyone on this forum have no problem doing the same other way around, at least as of late with everyone laughing.

 

[watership]

So Fable, Phantom Dust and Scalebound; From my understanding these are traditionally SP or envisioned as SP games. So the issue lies with the online elements that MS wants to add to these games, these features appear maybe too ambitious thus the troubled developments. Does MS see value in the traditional SP model anymore?

Quantum Break and ReCore were single player only games I believe.

 

[krang]

Quantum Break and ReCore were single player only games I believe.

Did SO have much of an MP element? Ori didn't.

Seems like they've actually been quite SP-heavy on their exclusives, actually.

 

[BigPapi]

Random question but I wonder how much Microsoft senior (outside of Xbox division) would be willing to pump into the business compared to Nintendo + probably to a smaller degree Sony's warchests.

Nintendo looks like it might have Wii 2.0 (to a smaller degree) on its hands while PS4 is killing it everywhere. Xbox seems to be doing okay but outside of game forum peeps, I really don't think a Scorpio release will do much for the average consumer. (EDIT: Will the leap in power be that palpable and noticeable in real terms?)

Nintendo + Sony seem to have much more up their sleeve and much more breathing room financially and creatively unlike the next Xbox...

I went ahead and took a look at their most recent annual reports revenue is indication of investment, then Sony and Microsoft are in the same ballpark Sony reported a little over 13 billion revenue with about 800 million profit for their gaming division April 2015 to March 2016. Microsoft didn't report hard numbers specifically for Xbox division but reported 132 million revenue increase as a 1% increase for the division making overall revenue in the 13 billion ballpark profit was not listed though this for July 2015 to June 2016. For Nintendo revenue numbers were 4 billion in the same period as Sony, if I read the report right they posted a loss of 32 million for comprehensive income and a profit of 290 million in operating income main difference being that former includes unrealized investments.

 

[Suzushiiro]

Quantum Break and ReCore were single player only games I believe.

ReCore seemed to be a small enough project that it had the freedom to do that, and Quantum Break was a relic of their initial "TV TV TV" initiative, from what I gathered.

 

[Apathy]

* Make online multiplayer free.

* Shop around for more exclusives, not less.

* Team up with Team Ninja again for DOA7 and Ninja Gaiden 4 as Xbox exclusives.

* Buy some smaller great developer studios like the Ori, Cuphead or Inside devs.

* Increase Rare in size and make them do Nintendo-like single player platformers/adventures like they used too, and make sure that Sea of Thieves can be played in single player too.

* Release the PC versions through Steam with no Windows 10 requirement or better yet stop spreading out the exclusives to PC which will only make Xbox as a platform weaker.

* And make Minecraft 2.0 Xbox exclusive.

A lot of these things costs money that the division probably doesn't have (thanks NFL and tv), or actively costs them money (multiplayer going free). Live still makes them money, so really really doubtful they would change that model. Making rare be a platform company again is risky mostly because who even knows the market for platformers anymore. SoT as single player is really doubtful, as it's a game as a service and almost like an mmo. Steam without windows 10 isn't going to happen. The big company is all about pushing 10 as much as possible. The heads probably don't care about the gaming side unless it's pushing and helping their vision of 10. And to your last point, while it is a giant risk that may or may not pay off of minecraft were exclusive. Hell I'm more incline for them to go "windows 10 exclusive + Xbox" simply because of Microsoft's larger interest in pushing 10. Again, don't forget that the Xbox division is there to do what Microsoft as a while wants and it seems every department now has been told to push windows 10 as much as possible.

 

[watership]

ReCore seemed to be a small enough project that it had the freedom to do that, and Quantum Break was a relic of their initial "TV TV TV" initiative, from what I gathered.

Quantum Break's "TV" parts may have made sense to the MS TV plans at the time, but Remedy has wanted to blend TV/liveaction into their games for a decade. It was all over Alan Wake. There was even stillimage TV shows in Max Payne. It's a Remedy thing through and through.

 

[nynt9]

A lot of these things costs money that the division probably doesn't have (thanks NFL and tv), or actively costs them money (multiplayer going free). Live still makes them money, so really really doubtful they would change that model. Making rare be a platform company again is risky mostly because who even knows the market for platformers anymore. SoT as single player is really doubtful, as it's a game as a service and almost like an mmo. Steam without windows 10 isn't going to happen. The big company is all about pushing 10 as much as possible. The heads probably don't care about the gaming side unless it's pushing and helping their vision of 10. And to your last point, while it is a giant risk that may or may not pay off of minecraft were exclusive. Hell I'm more incline for them to go "windows 10 exclusive + Xbox" simply because of Microsoft's larger interest in pushing 10. Again, don't forget that the Xbox division is there to do what Microsoft as a while wants and it seems every department now has been told to push windows 10 as much as possible.

Funny you mention these can't be done because of the NFL/TV deals costing the division. You know who did those?

Phil Spencer. It used to be up on his bio proudly on Xbox.com stating he brokered the $400m deal, but they've removed it in the last year or so.

Edit: ha, found it! Thanks archive.org: http://web.archive.org/web/20140729075638/http://www.xbox.com/es-CL/Press/Corporate/phil-spencer

Spencer and team led the development of brand new entertainment offerings including a landmark partnership with the NFL and collaborating with industry luminary Steven Spielberg to bring a new Halo live action TV series to life.

Curiously, his new bio doesn't mention this. Wonder why?

 

[CassidyIzABeast]

Risk seems to be publishing a bunch of games from Japanese studios that will flop something serious. Xbox would be flush in Good Guy Points and praying they could be converted to USD.

 

[Elandyll]

...

Regardless of games it's still like the cheapest bluray player so it does have great functions outside of that for home entertainment...

But... PS4s and PS3s play Blu Ray discs just fine?

/jk

I get you mean 4K BR.

This being said, it's already not true anymore, and likely will be less and less true as time goes by.

There are already 3x 4KUHD players at $229 on Amazon, and it's probably not the cheapest if you look around I imagine.
I could also see these being easily sub $200 by the summer, and some even around $100 during the 2017 Holidays (BF), unless the format collapses completely and nobody sees the point in competing.

 

[Suzushiiro]

The core problem with the XBox division is that the company-wide initiative that it fit into isn't really a thing anymore. The original idea was that it would basically be a trojan horse that would make MS producs how you consumed all of your living room entertainment. But now MS doesn't really give a fuck about that; their focus is on providing services like Azure and Office and they don't really give a fuck about owning the hardware and/or OS you use to access those services. In that sort of environment being in the console business doesn't really make sense- if the division was profitable or had a decent foothold in the market, that would be one thing, but it doesn't, so it's hard to justify keeping it around. Their attempts to focus more on "service" games, as well as to try and bolster the Win10 store with XBone ports, are basically all about making XBox align better with the direction of the rest of the company.

As a comparison, Sony doesn't have this problem because consumer electronics and entertainment products were the core of their business well before Playstation became a thing, so keeping that around will always make sense, even if it's struggling a bit (as it was doing in the PS3 era,) as long as people think it can make money. And of course video games have been the core of Nintendo's business for as long as they've been doing video games.

 

[TannerDemoz]

Hasn't he been saying that for years?

Yup and we're not seeing much progress!

 

[Nestunt]

Wild prediction:

They are going to try to nab Cyberpunk 2077 as an Xbox exclusive (and PC, like Rise of the Tomb Raider).

I could also speculate about Sakaguchi, but I don't think they believe his name can still be something bombastic to accompany Scorpio at this year's E3.

 

[nynt9]

Wild prediction:

They are going to try and nab Cyberpunk 2077 as an Xbox exclusive (and PC, like Rise of the Tomb Raider).

I could also speculate about Sakaguchi, but I don't think they believe his name can still be something bombastic to accompany Scorpio at this year's E3.

CDPR are funded by the Polish government so it would be difficult to lock down a game that has other financial ties.

 

[Suzushiiro]

Wild prediction:

They are going to try and nab Cyberpunk 2077 as an Xbox exclusive (and PC, like Rise of the Tomb Raider).

I could also speculate about Sakaguchi, but I don't think they believe his name can still be something bombastic to accompany Scorpio in this year's E3.

I don't think MS is willing to spend the amount of money they'd have to spend for someone to take that deal after what happened with their last two major moneyhats (Tomb Raider and Titanfall.)

 

[firelogic]

Wild prediction:

They are going to try and nab Cyberpunk 2077 as an Xbox exclusive (and PC, like Rise of the Tomb Raider).

I could also speculate about Sakaguchi, but I don't think they believe his name can still be something bombastic to accompany Scorpio at this year's E3.

It'd be pretty stupid for CDPR to hamstring themselves right out of the gate by shunning 50-60 million potential customers. Of course amongst those 50-60 million PS4 owners, there are those that also own an X1.

Edit: PS4 is at 53 million now so by the time the game comes out, they'll probably be at 60+ million.