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Microsoft Studios (& Partners) Current and Future Landscape

Trago

Member
You mean, they worked with Bandai Namco, the game's publisher - not From Software. Bandai Namco & MS do have a good relationship, but MS/From Software? Whole other story.

*ahem*

otogi-us.jpg

otogi-2-immortal-warriors-xbox-pal-medium-poster.jpg

Tenchu_Z.jpg

214439-ninja-blade-xbox-360-front-cover.jpg
 
You mean, they worked with Bandai Namco, the game's publisher - not From Software. Bandai Namco & MS do have a good relationship, but MS/From Software? Whole other story. And MS has been doing co-marketing deals with Bandai Namco for Dark Souls since its inception. Microsoft had the perfect opportunity to work with From Software a long time ago. Sony had dropped the ball when it came to the Souls series - choosing not to publish Demon's Souls in the US, thinking it wasn't that good, letting Bamco strike deals for the series' future - and instead of MS coming in & seizing the opportunity, they let Sony repair the relationship and ultimately are going to be getting 2 exclusives from them this gen. MS could've been in there day 1.
While BB2 would be a beast, I kinda want it to be a new IP too! I'm torn!
 

Was talking more specifically about post-Dark Souls, but that collection actually reinforces my point further - they published their titles in the past extensively. Souls was hitting big over a long time - no reason they couldn't have secured their own Souls-like exclusive.
 

Trago

Member
Was talking more specifically about post-Dark Souls, but that collection actually reinforces my point further - they published their titles in the past extensively. Souls was hitting big over a long time - no reason they couldn't have secured their own Souls-like exclusive.

Actually, I agree.

Although we should consider that From are done with Souls for now. I'd love to see them collaborate with Microsoft again.
 

Trago

Member
It's bizarre how Microsoft completely abandoned Japanese development. They used to be so good in that area. The list of Japanese exclusives from Xbox and Xbox 360 is astounding.

Oh definitely. The reason I made a thread asking if they should establish a Japanese studio was because of the lack of Japanese partnerships this generation. I mean, we god Crimson Dragon, D4, aaaaaand that's it? We need something.
 

Zukkoyaki

Member
Phil and his team aren't stupid. They're no doubt aware of the concerns surrounding the Xbox brand, specifically its ecosystem exclusive content (guys like IGN Podcast Unlocked have asked Phil about it pretty much directly). But these concerns, at least in their current almost rabid form, are really only about a year old or so. This time last year everyone was focused on the great 2016 line-up of Gears, Quantum Break, etc. It seemed like business as usual for Xbox. The weariness really seemed to start with Lionhead and Press Play's closures and exploded with Scalebound's cancellation.

So even if we assume that they're respondig to this in a big way and assume there are a lot of wheels turning behind the scenes to secure new, compelling exclusive content, it's probably too early to expect to see the fruits of their efforts.

Let's say in the aftermath of their high-profile cancellations and closures, Phil and his team decided to take some big risks and fund a huge new project or two. Well then we would be talking about something that's been in development for less than a year. So unless they want more teasers of games that are like three years away, we probably won't see anything huge, new and exciting at E3 aside from the obvious like Halo and Forza.

Anything new and significant would have to have been kept tight under wraps for years. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any indication that that is the case (though it's possible).

I expect E3 to be a solid but business as usual show this year that will satisfy fans but do little to quell the concerns of the soft Xbox fans and other enthusiasts.

Assuming there are big things in the works at Microsoft Studios, next year is when we could realistically start to really see what they have up their sleeves.
 
Phil and his team aren't stupid. They're no doubt aware of the concerns surrounding the Xbox brand, specifically its ecosystem exclusive content (guys like IGN Podcast Unlocked have asked Phil about it pretty much directly). But these concerns, at least in their current almost rabid form, are really only about a year old or so. This time last year everyone was focused on the great 2016 line-up of Gears, Quantum Break, etc. It seemed like business as usual for Xbox. The weariness really seemed to start with Lionhead and Press Play's closures and exploded with Scalebound's cancellation.

So even if we assume that they're respondig to this in a big way and assume there are a lot of wheels turning behind the scenes to secure new, compelling exclusive content, it's probably too early to expect to see the fruits of their efforts.

Let's say in the aftermath of their high-profile cancellations and closures, Phil and his team decided to take some big risks and fund a huge new project or two. Well then we would be talking about something that's been in development for less than a year. So unless they want more teasers of games that are like three years away, we probably won't see anything huge, new and exciting at E3 aside from the obvious like Halo and Forza.

Anything new and significant would have to have been kept tight under wraps for years. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any indication that that is the case (though it's possible).

I expect E3 to be a solid but business as usual show this year that will satisfy fans but do little to quell the concerns of the soft Xbox fans and other enthusiasts.

Assuming there are big things in the works at Microsoft Studios, next year is when we could realistically start to really see what they have up their sleeves.

I agree. We won't see much of anything this year, especially since Phil said that he doesn't want to make the same mistake of revealing too early. I expect those resources from Lionhead, Scalebound, etc. to be reinvested into other first party deals.
 
they need to have some sort of studio that makes solid RPG og xbox had Kotor/Jade Empire/Mass Effect it was one of the huge draws towards the brand for me until it became third party they need solid Western RPG exclusive.
 

RoKKeR

Member
Phil and his team aren't stupid. They're no doubt aware of the concerns surrounding the Xbox brand, specifically its ecosystem exclusive content (guys like IGN Podcast Unlocked have asked Phil about it pretty much directly). But these concerns, at least in their current almost rabid form, are really only about a year old or so. This time last year everyone was focused on the great 2016 line-up of Gears, Quantum Break, etc. It seemed like business as usual for Xbox. The weariness really seemed to start with Lionhead and Press Play's closures and exploded with Scalebound's cancellation.

So even if we assume that they're respondig to this in a big way and assume there are a lot of wheels turning behind the scenes to secure new, compelling exclusive content, it's probably too early to expect to see the fruits of their efforts.

Let's say in the aftermath of their high-profile cancellations and closures, Phil and his team decided to take some big risks and fund a huge new project or two. Well then we would be talking about something that's been in development for less than a year. So unless they want more teasers of games that are like three years away, we probably won't see anything huge, new and exciting at E3 aside from the obvious like Halo and Forza.

Anything new and significant would have to have been kept tight under wraps for years. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any indication that that is the case (though it's possible).

I expect E3 to be a solid but business as usual show this year that will satisfy fans but do little to quell the concerns of the soft Xbox fans and other enthusiasts.

Assuming there are big things in the works at Microsoft Studios, next year is when we could realistically start to really see what they have up their sleeves.

This is a good post, and I agree with most of what you've said. I wouldn't be surprised to see at E3 - in lieu of a CG trailer announcement for a game years away (which Phil has said he wants to move away from) - announcements of new partnerships or even a new studio opened under the MS publishing umbrella. I would imagine they are in the thick of retooling their 1P structure at the moment, and that will take time.
 

FelipeMGM

Member
My wish list:
Machine Games - Perfect Dark
Yahct Club - Battletoads
Maybe a surprise deal with Ready at Dawn for a new IP? There's not many studios that they haven't already worked with. Maybe From Software?

Machine Games prob wont happen because they are not that big and are busy with Wolfestein: New Colossus, and of course they are owned by Zenimax. And if anyone is working on a exclusive game with Yahct Club my guess would be Nintendo.

RaD and From would be cool partners for Microsoft though

CA could be helping any number of studios in a secondary capacity, but they aren't shipping their next primary project exclusively for anyone.

yeah, thats why I didnt list them in first place.
 

Trago

Member
Now that we know Scorpio's specs I expect Microsoft to quickly get the name, date, and price out of the way before or at the beginning of their E3 conference. Hopefully this will give them time to focus on and announce potential new stuff.
 
Do we know how long this year's E3 conference will be?

They've been consistently 90 minutes long and I expect the same this year. I just rewatched their press conference from last year. They spent a pretty large amount of time on non-games. They had trailers for Xbox One S and Scorpio, a trailer for customized controllers, a bit of talking on Xbox Live features and a 5 minute Minecraft demo that was mainly about phone, tablet and VR features. I'm guessing they'll spend around 3 minutes on Scorpio to announce design and price, and about 2 minutes on just VR (not including games).
 

gatti-man

Member
It's bizarre how Microsoft completely abandoned Japanese development. They used to be so good in that area. The list of Japanese exclusives from Xbox and Xbox 360 is astounding.

Probably because they didn't see huge sales from these titles. The problem is even if they don't sell crazy numbers you still need them to prevent your console from turning into a Halo box which is what the xbone is to me. Meanwhile Sony just slays Microsoft with IP variety.
 

Salty Hippo

Member
Phil and his team aren't stupid. They're no doubt aware of the concerns surrounding the Xbox brand, specifically its ecosystem exclusive content (guys like IGN Podcast Unlocked have asked Phil about it pretty much directly). But these concerns, at least in their current almost rabid form, are really only about a year old or so. This time last year everyone was focused on the great 2016 line-up of Gears, Quantum Break, etc. It seemed like business as usual for Xbox. The weariness really seemed to start with Lionhead and Press Play's closures and exploded with Scalebound's cancellation.

So even if we assume that they're respondig to this in a big way and assume there are a lot of wheels turning behind the scenes to secure new, compelling exclusive content, it's probably too early to expect to see the fruits of their efforts.

Let's say in the aftermath of their high-profile cancellations and closures, Phil and his team decided to take some big risks and fund a huge new project or two. Well then we would be talking about something that's been in development for less than a year. So unless they want more teasers of games that are like three years away, we probably won't see anything huge, new and exciting at E3 aside from the obvious like Halo and Forza.

Anything new and significant would have to have been kept tight under wraps for years. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any indication that that is the case (though it's possible).

I expect E3 to be a solid but business as usual show this year that will satisfy fans but do little to quell the concerns of the soft Xbox fans and other enthusiasts.

Assuming there are big things in the works at Microsoft Studios, next year is when we could realistically start to really see what they have up their sleeves.

The point isn't really if they are stupid not to notice the shortcomings, but if they care. I don't think they do, I think they believe Scorpio is the answer to most of their problems. And you know what? They might be right. Unfortunately exclusives don't matter much for the vast majority of consumers. Unless you catch lightning in a bottle with a crazy new IP/concept, they only sell consoles to forum dwellers like us, who represent a tiny slice of the market. So why invest in 1st party beyond what is safe?

I still think it's bad for the long term business of Xbox (to gamers it's bad no matter how you measure it), but having just the best multiplats and not much else is a great way to keep selling a decent number of consoles with minimal investment and risk. I firmly believe that's the Spencer way and it's precisely why I don't like him.
 

blakep267

Member
They've been consistently 90 minutes long and I expect the same this year. I just rewatched their press conference from last year. They spent a pretty large amount of time on non-games. They had trailers for Xbox One S and Scorpio, a trailer for customized controllers, a bit of talking on Xbox Live features and a 5 minute Minecraft demo that was mainly about phone, tablet and VR features. I'm guessing they'll spend around 3 minutes on Scorpio to announce design and price, and about 2 minutes on just VR (not including games).
Depends if it's in TV or not. The 90 minute thing was because of spike. If it's not on Spike anymore, I'd say 2 hours
 

Mosse

Neo Member
They don't really need more then 90 minutes if the content is good and they nail the pacing. Wasn't Sonys less then 90 minutes last year? Something like that would be better then to drag it out over two hours, unless they have a huge amount of stuff to announce, but then it would probably be better to save something for another show.
 
Phil and his team aren't stupid. They're no doubt aware of the concerns surrounding the Xbox brand, specifically its ecosystem exclusive content (guys like IGN Podcast Unlocked have asked Phil about it pretty much directly). But these concerns, at least in their current almost rabid form, are really only about a year old or so. This time last year everyone was focused on the great 2016 line-up of Gears, Quantum Break, etc. It seemed like business as usual for Xbox. The weariness really seemed to start with Lionhead and Press Play's closures and exploded with Scalebound's cancellation.

I disagree to an extent.

From a portfolio management perspective, what is going on with Xbox in the past two years, even in light of issues with Scalebound & Fable; was not ideal to begin with. They've managed to have this pointed out to them due to their consistency of big major releases of tentpole games consistently, but if you lay out the announcement slate and what Xbox's post-2013 direction of a "lineup" looks like, it's been a long time coming that they're receiving these criticism.

kmsORk7.jpg


To me, it's stunningly clear that there is a shift towards a more narrow slate of products, as they become more focused on portfolio from a "key brands/key genres" perspective as well as making sure there's sufficient games during their favourite season of the year.

Mind you, it's not as if Xbox is suddenly releasing significantly less AAA games. All said and done, Xbox's AAA lineup has been close in quantity to what other platform holders are doing AAA-wise.

But in terms of diversity, scope & how forward-looking those games are right now, it's a far cry from the picture Xbox presented itseld in the beginning of this gen.
 
As a One and probable Scorpio owner who likes Gears and Halo, their exclusives are weak asf. Those games are kinda anemic as well, they are technically tight but feel way less inspired and smaller scale than the OG ones done by Bungie and Epic.

If MS had at least one first party studio that wasn't focused on shooters or racing, or came up with at least ONE new IP this gen that could get to the size of Forza, Gears, Halo it would be a lot to ease my mind.

It makes me wonder if they had ponied up and somehow kept up their partnership with Respawn/Bungie, or gasp, talked to Kojima after he left Konami, how things could be.
 

Zukkoyaki

Member
You both may be right in this could just be what the Xbox brand is now for better or worse. Basically what I was getting at was that it's a little early to tell what direction they're fully moving in. They could be doing as you both say and taking a low-risk, medium-reward approach and focusing on Xbox more as a service. They could also just be in a transitional phase and don't have a lot to talk about.

This and next E3 will paint a much clearer picture.
 

Salty Hippo

Member
You both may be right in this could just be what the Xbox brand is now for better or worse. Basically what I was getting at was that it's a little early to tell what direction they're fully moving in. They could be doing as you both say and taking a low-risk, medium-reward approach and focusing on Xbox more as a service. They could also just be in a transitional phase and don't have a lot to talk about.

This and next E3 will paint a much clearer picture.

I agree that this E3 will tell. But I dont think they deserve the benefit of the doubt if the conference sucks again. I don't think this is a recent problem for Xbox, I think their previous two E3s were already weak as hell in terms of new game announcements. A third poor showing in a row, all of them with Spencer calling the shots, will be simply inexcusable. 2014 was great, but he was in charge for literally 2 or 3 months. It wasn't his show. The two bad ones that followed, were.

I also think Spencer is already making some excuses for a possible thin conference. He's stated a few times in the past couple of months that he'll be "wary of announcing things too early". We won't know until the show, but to me this hints at "don't expect too much in the way of game announcements".
 
It still seems really weird to me that MS didn't go for a Sunset Overdrive sequel (yeah, I know Insomniac is busy with Spider-Man now).

It's maybe not a great indicator since the game had a free weekend and was free with Games With Gold last year, but the top 10 played Xbox One games on True Achievements:

Titanfall (173,856)
Destiny (171,496)
Halo: The Master Chief Collection (170,259)
Sunset Overdrive (165,260)
Grand Theft Auto V (158,687)
Halo 5: Guardians (155,496)
Fallout 4 (151,640)
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (146,918)
Battlefield 4 (140,620)
Minecraft: Xbox One Edition (131,121)

For reference, Halo 3 is the most played game on the site with 276,356. Black Flag was also free with GWG.

Even if it didn't sell great, seems like a lot of people ended up playing it one way or another. Considering Insomniac seems pretty willing to make it, sucks that MS hasn't given the series another chance.
 

shingi70

Banned
I have a feeling we might see Fable at E3 this year.

This is Phil Spencer's put up or shut up year. Fable Legends and Scale Lund were clearly projects he wasn't a fan of so they were canned. We should start hearing announcements and the fruits of his labor and if his words translate into actions.
 

Sydle

Member
I have a feeling we might see Fable at E3 this year.

This is Phil Spencer's put up or shut up year. Fable Legends and Scale Lund were clearly projects he wasn't a fan of so they were canned. We should start hearing announcements and the fruits of his labor and if his words translate into actions.

There's no way they already found another partner to make another Fable and have something ready to show just a year after closing Lionhead. If they want to make a proper Fable sequel it will be years before we see it.
 
I have a feeling we might see Fable at E3 this year.

This is Phil Spencer's put up or shut up year. Fable Legends and Scale Lund were clearly projects he wasn't a fan of so they were canned. We should start hearing announcements and the fruits of his labor and if his words translate into actions.

don't listen to your feelings and seek other perspectives.
 

blakep267

Member
I have a feeling we might see Fable at E3 this year.

This is Phil Spencer's put up or shut up year. Fable Legends and Scale Lund were clearly projects he wasn't a fan of so they were canned. We should start hearing announcements and the fruits of his labor and if his words translate into actions.
Nah fable Ian unlikely. As it was only cancelled last year. Something wouldn't be able to show until at least 2018

I do think there will be at least 2 games we don't know about for 2018. If we assume they have Halo 6 and Horizon 4 for 2018, there's still plenty of space for a release.

MS usually has one game release in the spring and 3-4 release in the fall. If Halo and Forza are fall games, I'm interested in what the spring game would be
 
Well SoT strikes me as the type of game that's not gonna be a traditional release. I could see it releasing in game preview this year

Plus we should think of this game as a service model. ala micro-transitions so it could have a 'full' release this holiday with a whole year of updates laid out like what halo 5 did.

I just wonder what stuff they will have available (other than pirate clothes) as purchasable items in this mp game.
 

Dabanton

Member
So since we'll have no Gears or Halo this year do we think they'll put Crackdown in place of them? It's obviously going to be a showcase game for the Scorpio so putting it front and center seems like a good idea.

Fable could be nearer than we think a ton of work was done on legends and as others have said a traditional Fable game using those assets would be amazing.

I'm still betting we'll see some shenanigans with a new Splinter Cell game whether it will be timed or full exclusive like Conviction.
 

Theorry

Member
Atm i think. August State of Decay, September Forza 7, October Sea of Thieves for game preview, Crackdown for november. Although i wouldnt mind State of Decay 2 for Q1 2018.
 

blakep267

Member
Atm i think. August State of Decay, September Forza 7, October Sea of Thieves for game preview, Crackdown for november. Although i wouldnt mind State of Decay 2 for Q1 2018.
I'm thinking Forza 7 and State of decay in September and Crackdown in October. Both Halo and Gears got October releases this gen. SoT can release anywhere from July to December tbh.
 
I have a feeling we might see Fable at E3 this year.

This is Phil Spencer's put up or shut up year. Fable Legends and Scale Lund were clearly projects he wasn't a fan of so they were canned. We should start hearing announcements and the fruits of his labor and if his words translate into actions.
Announcing a proper Fable 4 a year after closing down Lionhead and cancelling the F2P Fable game that the fans didn't want would be such a slap in the face to Fable fans. Shit it would piss me off and I've never even played a Fable game

Agree with your second point. Phil's talked a lot about investing in first party and taking risks and everything, but has nothing to show for it other than Sea of Thieves (if he truly was the one who greenlit that), which is a promising game. Thing is, with the exception of State of Decay 2, all the exclusives we know about have been known for 2, 3, even 4 years in Below's case. This should be the time where we're starting to see the games Phil greenlit show up, and with what we know right now, he's done a poor job

E3 is coming up so hopefully they have some surprises, but given what various insiders including shinobi have said, I don't have high hopes. Fans have talked Phil up to be the savior of Xbox these last 3 years, and he's done an admirable job in turning many things around, but he has next to nothing to show for himself in the most important aspect of a gaming console: the games

In the 3 years since Phil has been head of Xbox he's been giving the same "we're committed to growing first party and taking risks" answers on Twitter, but we're still waiting to see any of this. Back when Scalebound got canned the response Xbox fans always gave when people mentioned their thin exclusive lineup was "wait for E3", but now I see people in this very thread saying that we should wait for next years E3 to see these investments, but I'm done waiting. It's been 3 years. "Wait until next year" can't always be the answer

This is the year where we should really see the games he's commissioned when he took over. If they show up at E3 with another thin lineup of announcements that consist almost entirely, or even completely entirely, of Halo/Forza sequels, then I think it's time that people admit to themselves that he just says what the fans want to hear. Phil's talked the talk, now it's time for him to walk the walk
 

Zedox

Member
Crackdown is going to the be game of November. Sea of Thieves is going to release at some weird time (I wouldn't be surprised if this game was apart of Game Pass honestly).

I do think that MS will talk about games for next year to hype up Xbox...basically going in between 3 year product announcements and "this year". That's the only way they can get mindshare that Xbox will have the console and the games that gamers want. Otherwise they will be waiting until next year to "give people a reason outside of Scorpio". I predict some teases for next year's big games and demos of all the games of this year.

Announcements I predict a lot of 3rd party AAA Xbox Play Anywhere titles, and OG Xbox BC or 360 BC for PC.
 
I don't want Fable unless Molyneux walks on stage and tells us about how it's going to be the bestest, most incredible, most gorgeous, emotional rollercoaster of an experience where you can literally do anything you can imagine.
 
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