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[SegaShack]

Full disclosure, I'm not a fanboy of corporations and had all 3 consoles this last generation (as well as PC).

With the generation ending, I was reflecting on Microsoft's exclusive output.

At the start of last generation (2013-2014), Xbox to me had so many great exclusives. Killer Instinct, Titanfall, and Sunset Overdrive were fantastic.

Master Chief Collection (although broken at first) and Rare Replay were fantastic collections.

Then it seemed like MS stopped caring. A few decent first party games came out like Sea of Thieves and ReCore over the years.

Other exclusives like Crackdown 3, Crimson Dragon, and Halo 5 were huge disappointments.

It's sad for me to say that XB1 really let me down with the exclusives last generation. The system really became a Forza and Gears machine in its later years, which is definitely a downgrade from what I was looking for.

Was anyone else let down by Microsoft's Exclusives this last generation?

 

[Chiggs]

It was the running narrative for the past 4-5 years, so I’m not sure how you think you’d think you’d be alone.

 

[reforen]

Seems that you miss the xbox has no games thingy the last 7 years

 

[teezzy]

I think pretty much everyone was.

 

[DigitalScrap]

I agree. I was disappointed in their output, but I also don’t care very much about exclusives - I simply want to play games.

That said, MS’ output was definitely subpar for those who care about exclusives. I guess I don’t really understand the infatuation with exclusives since I have bought all consoles every generation ever since I was purchasing myself (since 4th gen I think).

 

[turtlepowa]

I'm glad that seomeone finally mentioned it here an GAF. Thanks for this thread.

 

[Craig of War]

Yes they are missing the single player story driven story games that why they went out and bought a bunch of studios.

 

[MasterCornholio]

They did much better with the 360 gen than the X1 gen. They should have spent last gen improving the output of their studios. I know they bought alot of them but they need to make sure the quality is on par with the competitions despite the games being day one releases on gamepass.

 

[SegaShack]

I agree. I was disappointed in their output, but I also don’t care very much about exclusives - I simply want to play games.

That said, MS’ output was definitely subpar or those who care about exclusives. I guess I don’t really understand the infatuation with exclusives since I have bought all consoles every generation ever since I was purchasing myself (since 4th gen I think).

To me, like yourself owning multiple platforms, exclusives are what I buy multiple platforms for.

It's sad to me that my launch day XB1 spent the last 5 years or so to me as a glorified media player.

Heck, MS even downgraded the media capability drastically to give a slight performance boost (no more snap feature or kinect hand controls).

As a gamer it's sad that each E3 MS always talks about how "this year will be all about games", the fails to live up to that promise.

 

[Deleted member 471617]

Xbox One exclusives for me -

1. Gears 5 - 9.0/10
2. Gears 4 - 8.5/10
3. Quantum Break - 8.0/10
4. Ryse: Son of Rome - 7.0/10

I do have Halo 5: Guardians in my backlog. Overall, great quality but disappointing in a quantity aspect but it was my secondary gaming console of last generation so I honestly didn't care. After all, there's reasons why it was secondary for me. I am expecting Microsoft to give me 15+ exclusives for Xbox Series X with the quality and quantity easily surpassing Xbox One.

 

[SegaShack]

Yes they are missing the single player story driven story games that why they went out and bought a bunch of studios.

I mean even early on last gen they bought some studios and still have little output to show for it. I'm really surprised.

It's too bad that Phantom Dust and Scalebound never were finished.

How do you go from awesome games like KI, Titanfall, and Sunset Overdrive to just making yearly Forza games? It's crazy.

 

[Bridges]

I really liked Crackdown 3, and there's been some other good stuff here and there like Gears Tactics

Plus some good smaller titles that got torn to shreds despite being fun (Battletoads, Bleeding Edge)

I'm hoping/expecting a big step up this gen, seems impossible to get any worse after buying so many new studios

 

[Shivvy24]

I can't say for forza since I don't play much racers, but besides sunset overdrive, their output has been sub-par to trash. Honestly there was absolutely no reason for me to even own one last gen. Compared to ps4 which was pumping high quality exclusives time after time. Hopefully they turn them selves around with the new acquisitions but it just looks bleak for the next few years.

 

[CalmYe]

Yes they are missing the single player story driven story games that why they went out and bought a bunch of studios.

Only reason keeping me away from Xbox. They seem quite pro-consumer and gamepass is killer but the PS IP is vastly superior and I personally have no interests in shooters or racing games.

 

[teezzy]

Only reason keeping me away from Xbox. They seem quite pro-consumer and gamepass is killer but the PS IP is vastly superior and I personally have no interests in shooters or racing games.

This gen may change that:

 

[Jedusable]

Anyway, they are planning some great stuff for years to come. Hopefully it doesn't end like Scalebound.
Really looking forward to Fable and other upcoming RPG by Microsoft studios right now.

Will Obsidian bring back Fallout from the graveyard ?

This gen may change that:

They just went from 6 studios to 20+ studios, so I guess it's irrelevant to say that Microsoft will do the same blank generation that they did those past years.

 

[Rikkori]

I enjoyed FH4 more than all of Sony FP output put together, so nah. Then again, I'm on PC so maybe it'd be more annoying if I only had an Xbox. I don't care about MS FP output for the most part either, but I do wish they'd do something more with Gears. Gears universe has so much potential but the games just end up being 'fine' then it's like 'whatever'.

 

[-Arcadia-]

Yeah, obvious answer.

I will say that Forza Horizon 4 may be, to me, reminiscent of their old exclusive quality. It’s just a really fantastic and fun racer, that completely shows off the hardware in every regard.

I hope that’s what future X|S exclusives are like.

 

[OrtizTwelve]

XBOX ONE in my opinion wasn’t a success for Microsoft, but more importantly it laid the groundwork for them to focus and retool their approach on the current generation of Series X and Series S, which I now think they have the right approach. They’re doing the right things now and are investing heavily into game pass — which will prove to be crucial and definitely set them apart. Include all the new studio acquisitions and XBOX is beefing up at the gym.

It was obvious from the start of their disastrous E3 2013 reveal that XBOX ONE wasn’t going in a good direction. That event would go on to haunt them for the rest of the generation because many people felt “what the fuck are they doing?!”, checked out, and went with PlayStation. I can’t blame them.

It was shocking because they were coming off the XBOX 360 generation, which was a huge success.

I think Series X and S will prove to be successful.

 

[OrtizTwelve]

This gen may change that:

LOL I always remember this and it’s truly awesome.

 

[LordCBH]

Other than Forza and Gears 5, I struggle to think of an Xbox Studios game this past generation I actually enjoyed. (Note, I haven’t played the Ori games yet). Sea of thieves interested me greatly when it was announced, but I was really turned off when it was just an online fuck around type game that had almost no content at release. I was excited for Crackdown 3 because I loved the first one (still so), but it did t capture that magic at all. I disliked it just like crackdown 2. Halo 5 was an absolute mistake. I wanted to like the State of Decay games, but they were just too jank for me.

Microsoft has a ton of great IP’s, and I really REALLY hope they can do something with them this gen, because they really need to wipe the awful taste of their last gen lineup out of my mouth.

 

[CalmYe]

This gen may change that:

They seem to be becoming THE PLATFORM for RPGs but I wished they got some games like GOW or Uncharted too as that's where my interest lies. Looking forward to the output from Initiative Studio as that has some devs that I feel could pull off something wondrous and something I love too. I feel hopeful for the XBOX brand not necessarily the console, I feel they are just compelled to be in the console business so that they have a safe home for their streaming service.

 

[LordCBH]

It was shocking because they were coming off the XBOX 360 generation, which was a huge success.

Personally, I wasn’t exactly shocked by their Xbox One reveal. They had been putting basically all their eggs in the Kinect and casual market for 3 years straight at that point, so I kinda saw it coming. I think the only shocking thing was how far they decided to go with the One before release.

 

[Hayabusabruh]

Oh whatever do you mean?

 

[Damian black]

It started sucking since ya boy phil got in charge of first parties.

 

[KingdomHeartsFan]

Yea their output was ass, I wish I bought it at the end of its lifecycle used and heavily discounted because I definitely overpaid. By far the worst Xbox console ever made.

 

[teezzy]

They seem to be becoming THE PLATFORM for RPGs but I wished they got some games like GOW or Uncharted too as that's where my interest lies. Looking forward to the output from Initiative Studio as that has some devs that I feel could pull off something wondrous and something I love too. I feel hopeful for the XBOX brand not necessarily the console, I feel they are just compelled to be in the console business so that they have a safe home for their streaming service.

Their best bet is further differentiating themselves from the PS brand in an attempt to showcase to their customers why an Xbox may also be worthy of their time/money.

If you prefer third person action, you're probably best off with PS unless you're super into Ninja Theory

For me though: the WRPG, FPS, and Racing game markets are much more my speed

 

[dwish]

Isn't it the same every generation? After a few years they start looking forward the next gen instead, lowering the quality of current gen games

 

[Trimesh]

I thought the selection was a bit slim early on - but after the One X came out it settled into a comfortable niche of being generally the better choice for multiplatform titles. So it didn't feel like a waste.

 

[Megatron]

Yes, you are the only one OP. Just like I am the only one who thinks playing games online shouldn’t be behind a paywall.

 

[Team Andromeda]

I just think this is a broken narrative pushed out by SONY fans pretending to be impartial when MS exclusives weren't much different on the 360 and also then it was mainly about Halo, Gears and Forza
Actually, I rather liked Xbox exclusives myself. Recore is an overlooked and underrated gem with also features a fantastic musical score, I really enjoyed Quantum Break, Forza Horizon 4 is something else and for me, Gears Of War IV was the best in the series I and loved it, same goes for Forza 6 which I felt was the best in the series I also really enjoyed Ryse it was like a massive AAA Golden Axe and was splendid fun and speaking of fun that's exactly what Crackdown 3 was super fun and I never got the hate. Sea of Thieves, Halo V, Sunset Overdrive didn't do much for me mind.

My biggest issues with MS is not the lack of exclusives but more it doesn't give any new IP it makes much of a chance to developed and be improved if it doesn't millions of copies in the 1st week like for IP's like Kameo, Recore, Ninja Blade (well I loved it) Alan Wake Ect....

 

[Coolwhhip]

MS was getting ready for the next gen, you can see the results of that now.

 

[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

Quantum Break was their best exclusive and personally one of the best games of last-gen.

 

[The_Mike]

Bought the Xbox One because of the exclusives back at the release. I love their Gears, Forza and Halo franchise.

I bought a PS4 for the last of us remastered. Didn't even complete 50 percent of it.

To me, personally, Xbox had more interesting exclusives compared to ps4. I prefer action games more than heavy story driven cinematic experiences, which is what sony heavily uses.

However, I really don't see a reason to own a xbox series X. Why? Because all their exclusives comes to my pc anyway, except of course pure console exclusive games. I love the bc on the Xbox, but I can use my one x for that so it doesn't really matter to buy the new console.

Same with Sony. They have no games that cater to me. Their driving games are inferior, and they focus a lot on single player, where I'm more an online player.

Just because someone has more exclusives, doesn't mean they cater more to everyone. Especially when its primarily single player online,abd you prefer online gaming.

With that said, I grew tired of Gears with 5, not really interested in 6 unless something drastic changes, and I suffered racing fatigue with Forza. Only thing I'm really interested in is Halo, even with Craig.

 

[eyesabitdull]

I just think this is a broken narrative pushed out by SONY fans pretending to be impartial when MS exclusives weren't much different on the 360 and also then it was mainly about Halo, Gears and Forza
Actually, I rather liked Xbox exclusives myself. Recore is an overlooked and underrated gem with also features a fantastic musical score, I really enjoyed Quantum Break, Forza Horizon 4 is something else and for me, Gears Of War IV was the best in the series I and loved it, same goes for Forza 6 which I felt was the best in the series I also really enjoyed Ryse it was like a massive AAA Golden Axe and was splendid fun and speaking of fun that's exactly what Crackdown 3 was super fun and I never got the hate. Sea of Thieves, Halo V, Sunset Overdrive didn't do much for me mind.

My biggest issues with MS is not the lack of exclusives but more it doesn't give any new IP it makes much of a chance to developed and be improved if it doesn't millions of copies in the 1st week like for IP's like Kameo, Recore, Ninja Blade (well I loved it) Alan Wake Ect....

The common narrative is that Xbox has no games other than Forza Gears and Halo, and you basically said just that at the end, so....

No one is wrong.

Xbox simply doesnt have a strong output of games that they dont eventually force themselves back into relying on Forza Halo and Gears.

I wished they came out with a Recore sequel, or Alan Wake, or Quantum Break, or even Ryse 2.

But they generally fear the idea of nurturing new ips into sequels.

What was the last game that was a new IP, exclusive to Xbox, and was given a sequel?

Heres the answer:

Ori and the Blind Forest - which was definitely a well made investment.

 

[Murdoch]

It's impossible not to be disappointed in Microsoft's first party output last generation. That said, it also helped me decide to get an Xbox this generation

Gamespass + most of Microsoft's first party are co-op orientated helped me make that decision. Not many people discuss the fact that the ps5 has industry leading first party output... But only if you love playing on your Billy Todd.

 

[Team Andromeda]

The common narrative is that Xbox has no games other than Forza Gears and Halo, and you basically said just that at the end, so....

No one is wrong.

Xbox simply doesnt have a strong output of games that they dont eventually force themselves back into relying on Forza Halo and Gears.

I wished they came out with a Recore sequel, or Alan Wake, or Quantum Break, or even Ryse 2.

But they generally fear the idea of nurturing new ips into sequels.

What was the last game that was a new IP, exclusive to Xbox, and was given a sequel?

Heres the answer:

Ori and the Blind Forest - which was definitely a well made investment.

No, I didn't. The Xbox got plenty of games but it just seems sadly MS doesn't give other IP much of a chance to grow each gen, that's different to saying they are 'no' games.
Also why it ok for SONY to make sequels to its Big IP and not MS? and what Have Nintendo made that wasn't a sequel to Mario, Zelda, AC, Prime, Xeno In-House?

Here the answer:

 

[Roufianos]

It's straight-up trash. I made a post about this recently, if you take out Forza and remakes then the only new AAA 1st party releases to secure an 80+ on Metacritic were Gears 4, 5 and Halo 5.

That's a laughable offering for an entire generation.

 

[Evangelion Unit-01]

Absolutely. The gutting of MS' first party under Mattrick was brutal. Xbox's decline began in 2007 and by 2011 their fate was sealed.

Bungie, Lionhead, and FASA. Gone almost overnight. Rare was reduced to Kinect. Epic sold Gears to MS. Bioware went to EA after MS published Mass Effect. No more exclusivity deals on titles like Bioshock and The Elder Scrolls.

Past decade was a wreck particularly for the two big tentpole franchises. 343's Halos have been a series of disasters and a once great franchise has been reduced a C tier FPS and fans wallow in the misery of repeated disappointment. Gears has also fallen out of favor as The Coalition has struggled with their alterations to the classic gameplay. Unfortunately I don't see a comeback for either of these franchises unless they drastically reevaluate and take a look at why these games were popular to begin with. I think both are doomed to fade into irrelevancy.

On the bright side Rare found a great little niche with Sea of Thieves and Playground/Turn 10's Forza entries have all been excellent for racing fans. The acquisitions have been pretty monumental. I'm really looking forward to Fable, Avowed, Starfield, whatever is next from inXile, and the new entries in the Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and Doom series. I think these titles + Forza are going to be the tentpole franchises going forward.

That said, I remain unconvinced on some of the smaller acquisitions. Double Fine, Ninja Theory, Complusion, Undead Labs-all fine studios but I'm very skeptical of the scale and popularity of their next titles. I think their games will remain niche-nice additions to the exclusive line up but I think a lot of fans are looking for franchises comparable to God of War, Uncharted, The Last of Us, Spider-Man, and Horizon.

I'm also a little concerned about what's going on at Machine Games and Arkane. The last two Wolfenstein titles haven't been particularly good at anything and Arkane seems to be leaving behind the single player games they were known for after Prey bombed.

Overall I am optimistic that Xbox will have some heavy hitters in the future but I think they are also saddled by some serious dead weight with Halo and Gears.
---

Quantum Break was their best exclusive and personally one of the best games of last-gen.

Are you ok? Blink twice if Aaron Greenberg has you hostage. Did Phil threaten you? The police have been called. They'll be there soon. Just hang on a little longer.

 

[cireza]

Looked okay to me. I am not that interested in first party games most of the time, but I enjoyed Sunset Overdrive, Recore, Ori, Crimson Dragon and Halo MCC.

Third parties, including BC, are where I found my favorite games.

 

[MrFunSocks]

Nope, I thought they were amazing and to my tastes were much better than the competitions.

I don’t play single player. Could not care less about it, especially if you could use the word “cinematic” to describe the game. I play multiplayer. Microsoft delivered in spades.

 

[Topher]

This gen may change that:

Outside of the creation of The Initiative, to me the most exciting thing about the studio buildup at MS is seeing what the smaller studios like Undead Labs, Compulsion, Inxile, Double Fine, etc. can do with proper funding behind them. I'm really looking forward to seeing what comes out of those studios.

 

[whitesugar]

worst exclusives of any console i've owned. and i've only missed the Dreamcast since the NES.

I enjoyed playing the Forza games, and the old Halo and Gears were good to return to. Sunset Overdrive was good, the Rare Collection was cool. And that's it. Nothing else was particularly good, Halo 5 and Gears 4 were painfully average, Ori I found boring.

this gen will be different, but I;ll definitely be waiting until theres a good dozen or so exclusives that I want before buying series x

 

[Kokoloko85]

Has been the issue since 2010.
Forza is great, Gears is ok. And ori was amazing but the rest isnt on par with Nintendo or Playstation.

 

[ZehDon]

... have you ever seen a single person arguing otherwise? Maybe we can make another thread where you tell us about some hidden gems that don’t get enough love, like The Witcher 3 and Bloodborne.

Microsoft didn’t have a singular “game of the generation”, a home run, a massive hit - but they certainly still put out some absolutely terrific titles. Quantum Break was terrific, Sea of Thieves was and is one of a kind, and Gears Tactics is the first Tactics game to come within spitting distance of XCOM.
However, coming off of the Xbox 360, where they had an unbelievable lineup until Mattrick decided Kinect and Netflix was the future of Xbox, yeah - it’s disappointing. There was nothing on the level of the original Mass Effect and Bioshock or Oblivion - games that were once Xbox exclusives.

What I saw was Microsoft not invest in Xbox until towards the end of the generation. It was clear that with nearly half their market share eroded, Microsoft weighed its options.
To their credit, when they decided to stick in the game, they went big. This generation, their first party studios rival anything we’ve ever seen in the industry before.

Now, with Series X, they’ve got the hardware, they just need to deliver on the promise of all that talent.

 

[TheDreadLord]

I guess this is only relevante for those that do not have their own money (kids) or people in a tight budget. Therefore this exclusivity discussion is so boring.

 

[TheDreadLord]

Edit: duplicated post

 

[Estocolmo]

Its basically the only thing the gaming community has talked about the past half a decade now so. All topics goes back to "Xbox having no exclusive games"

 

[paypay88]

They were total shit , even good ones were just rehash of what's available in 360.

Gears 4 -5 ? Literally same structure-gameplay-weapons etc as Gears-1-2-3
Halo is again same

this is why people joke forza/halo/gears machine because those are only thing that they poured money/cared.
Look at killer instinct -> no budget

while sony got hit after hit. They are too afraid to take any risks , why not reboot Gears like God of War , but instead make a barebones sequel heh fans will come back

this is why they lost a lot blood. They are too coward tbh . Look at Sony poured millions into licensed IP that was kinda had trash reputation on gaming , Microsoft would never make a game like Spider-Man because they would just look results of Activision games and say nah.

 

[paypay88]

I really liked Crackdown 3, and there's been some other good stuff here and there like Gears Tactics

Plus some good smaller titles that got torn to shreds despite being fun (Battletoads, Bleeding Edge)

I'm hoping/expecting a big step up this gen, seems impossible to get any worse after buying so many new studios

gears tactics literally came this month , dont think its fair to assume its part of xbox one generation to be honest ( it runs like shit on xbox one)