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Microsoft’s E3 2014 press conference is looking really bad in retrospective

Dance Central Spotlight

Irrelevant. Kinect is dead.

Project Spark

Dead. The Conker DLC was never released.

Sunset Overdrive

Commercial flop. A successor is very unlikely.
Ignoring the fact that the Conker DLC did actually release, these are very strange points to make about the other two games. Sunset Overdrive is my favourite game of this gen next to The Witcher 3, its commercial success has no bearing on my enjoyment.
 

daTRUballin

Member
Maybe in retrospect, the conference doesn't seem all that great. But at the time, it was a pretty hyped conference with high expectations. You have to remember this was Phil Spencer's first E3 as head of Xbox, the Kinect had just been dropped, and the future looked promising as the Xbox division was leaving the "dark" Mattrick era behind and was going to be all about games. That was the big thing at the time.

Obviously things didn't really work out the way gamers would have wanted in the long run, but that was all in the future. I'm sure E3 2014 left a better impression on gamers than E3 2013 did. Now THAT was a really bad time for Xbox in retrospect.
 

wapplew

Member
How long it takes to make CGI trailer like Phantom Dust or Scalebound?
I wonder when was those titles got greenlit, before Don or after.
 

Jumeira

Banned
Thanks for the biased and politicised list OP, to put Sunset Overdrive, PD (reboot turned into a well received remaster) and Crackdown on a list of lost causes isn't suspect at all.
 

Jumeira

Banned
You want him to be handcuffed for saying it was "commercial flop [and] a successor is very unlikely?"

Both of which are true.

What has that got to do with MS conference being bad? it was a critical hit and beloved by the fans. It's not MS fault of it wasn't lapped up, they pushed it hard (white Xbox console). Since when do we review conferences based on commercial performance of games? The only goal of Devs is to make a great game, they did.
 

jayu26

Member
What has that got to do with MS conference being bad? it was a critical hit and beloved by the fans. It's not MS fault of it wasn't lapped up. Since when do we review conferences based on commercial performance of games? The only goal of Devs is to make a great game, they did.

The point is that promise of that conference didn't quite pan out. It is retroactive study. Other conferences have gotten similar treatment. People were already doing this one year after the Sony "holly trinity" conference.
 
Project Spark

Dead. The Conker DLC was never released.

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Bioshocker

Member
Really hard to see how Rise of the Tomb Raider being time exclusive to Xbox One could have been a negative for that E3 conference. It was hardly those buying Xbox One who complained.
 

Rockandrollclown

lookwhatyou'vedone
Real shame about Sunset Overdrive. It was a fantastic game. One of the main reasons I bought a OneS as my 4k bluray player instead of a standalone unit. It really is a shame MS isn't doing better with their exclusive output, because I like their ecosystem as a late comer to the XBone. I only bought 3 games, but I have a library of dozens thanks to backwards compat, game pass, and EA pass.
 

NolbertoS

Member
Good thread, we must learn from our past mistakes to make the future better. MS under Phil Spencer has fully gone 360 now. Doubt will ever get exclusive reveals soon.
 

Wedzi

Banned
Xbox isn't in the greatest of shape but threads like this with misinformation and downplaying great gameplay successes like Sunset Overdrive don't help at all. I'm all for expecting better of MS but come on man.
 

Fox Mulder

Member
Was so excited for Project Spark and used it quite a bit at launch. Even made a few basic games.

What killed it for me more than anything, even more than glitches, was the lack of tutorials on how to do anything. The tutorial included was basic as fuck and the devs response to more tutorials was to check YouTube for some man made tutorial videos.

That shit pissed me off beyond belief, even more than the DLC pricing and technical issues.

Interesting.

It was all the forced tutorials at the start that turned people off. You had to play for awhile just to be able to play the conker stuff and I said fuck it even after buying the dlc.


Xbox isn't in the greatest of shape but threads like this with misinformation and downplaying great gameplay successes like Sunset Overdrive don't help at all. I'm all for expecting better of MS but come on man.

To be fair, sunset overdrive was a failure. So was something like quantum break. MS has just had bad luck with the new exclusives they have tried.

They even gave sunset overdrive away with Gold and still must have numbers showing it's not worth a sequel.
 

Mesoian

Member
Okay ? I don't care if the games are available on other platforms...

They are games that appeal to my tastes and I can play them on Xbox One.

I mean...sure.

I guess the best we can say about this situation is that it's really nice that the 3rd party situation is still healthy on Xbox. If you bought into the ecosystem expecting grander things that fizzled out or are still MIA, you aren't automatically burned.

But when you ask the question: "What is there to be excited about from MICROSOFT on the XBX going forward?" That answer is a lot tougher unless you're really into Forza.
 
I mean...sure.

I guess the best we can say about this situation is that it's really nice that the 3rd party situation is still healthy on Xbox. If you bought into the ecosystem expecting grander things that fizzled out or are still MIA, you aren't automatically burned.

But when you ask the question: "What is there to be excited about from MICROSOFT on the XBX going forward?" That answer is a lot tougher unless you're really into Forza.
A lot
Superluckys tale
Recore definitive edition
Cuphead
Ori 2
Forza 7
State of decay
Crackdown 3
Sea of thieves
Gears 5
Halo 6
And so on. You can even play these games on pc!
 

Mesoian

Member
A lot
Superluckys tale
Recore definitive edition
Cuphead
Ori 2
Forza 7
State of decay
Crackdown 3
Sea of thieves
Gears 5
Halo 6
And so on. You can even play these games on pc!

Well, that certainly is a list...

I will admit, I keep discounting Cuphead. That game looks like it's going to be stellar.
 

Wedzi

Banned
what misinformation?

Saying the Conker DLC was never released, Rise of the Tomb Raider exclusivity wasn't announced till Gamescom.

To be fair, sunset overdrive was a failure. So was something like quantum break. MS has just had bad luck with the new exclusives they have tried.

They even gave sunset overdrive away with Gold and still must have numbers showing it's not worth a sequel.

Sunset Overdrive is one of the very few critically well received games Microsoft Studios has produced this generation. Just writing it off as being a commercial failure and nothing more is completely forgetting about why we even care about gaming in the first place.
 

nekkid

It doesn't matter who we are, what matters is our plan.
A lot
Superluckys tale
Recore definitive edition
Cuphead
Ori 2
Forza 7
State of decay
Crackdown 3
Sea of thieves
Gears 5
Halo 6
And so on. You can even play these games on pc!

And presumably Forza Horizon
or PGR pls MS
and if this potential other Playground game amounts to anything.
 
A couple of days ago I read an interesting article on an Austrian gaming website about the press conference from Microsoft in 2014.


Dance Central Spotlight

Irrelevant. Kinect is dead.

Fable Legends

Estimated production budget of $75 million Canceled.

Project Spark

Dead. The Conker DLC was never released.

Scalebound

Canceled, too.

Sunset Overdrive

Commercial flop. A successor is very unlikely.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection

A lot of annoying bugs in the online multiplayer mode prevented it to become this gen's Orange Box.

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Great game, but a lot of people complained about the exclusivity. An improved version with PSVR support was released one year later.

Phantom Dust Reboot

Guess what? Canceled.

Crackdown 3

Disapppointing E3 2017 trailer. Was postponed to Spring 2018.

Ori and the Blind Forest

Beautiful little game. Probably the only title of the show that exceeded expectations.

Here a link to the (German) article:
http://mag.shock2.info/kolumne-microsofts-katastrophale-e3-2014/


To put it in perspective. This was the first year Nadella as president. Coincidence?

It is sad that the MS new head honcho doesn't have the vision and will not pump money into the Xbox brand any longer. Fuck this guy.


P.S. Tomb Raider wasn't announced at E3 as Exclusive. It was actually announced at the following Gamescom.
 

Severianb

Member
Not only is Fable Legends dead, they canned the whole studio, Lionhead.

That was a legendary studio, with good name recognition, stretching back to the days of Populous. When you get a studio like that, you are the caretaker for it, much like Microsoft is now the caretaker for Minecraft. You don't shitcan it if it's having issues, you fix it.

Microsoft has done a terrible job with it's game studios and it's the lauded Phil Spencer's responsibility.

They also should have improved upon what they had with Kinect, not abandoned it. They had the most advanced in-room device, microphone, ect. They could have spun off a standalone in-room mic, improved the motion controls.... instead they just abandoned all of it and let Amazon, Google and Apple take over that space in the living room.

Much of what Microsoft does is amazing, but they have a real issue with following through and maturing technologies. Instead they throw the baby out with the bathwater. Even the Xbox One is an example of that. They could have just built on what they had with the 360 and continued, but instead they started from scratch.
 

blakep267

Member
Not only is Fable Legends dead, they canned the whole studio, Lionhead.

That was a legendary studio, with good name recognition, stretching back to the days of Populous. When you get a studio like that, you are the caretaker for it, much like Microsoft is now the caretaker for Minecraft. You don't shitcan it if it's having issues, you fix it.

Microsoft has done a terrible job with it's game studios and it's the lauded Phil Spencer's responsibility.

They also should have improved upon what they had with Kinect, not abandoned it. They had the most advanced in-room device, microphone, ect. They could have spun off a standalone in-room mic, improved the motion controls.... instead they just abandoned all of it and let Amazon, Google and Apple take over that space in the living room.

Much of what Microsoft does is amazing, but they have a real issue with following through and maturing technologies. Instead they throw the baby out with the bathwater. Even the Xbox One is an example of that. They could have just built on what they had with the 360 and continued, but instead they started from scratch.
The Kinect and motion based devices had their time and place. The main issue was that it was force bundled and drove up the price of the console. The market decided that price was very important( seeing as how the Xbox in 2014 sold a ton with the cheaper price than the PS4 for the holiday)

Kinects still exist if enthusiast want to use them, but the technology was in no way similar to Amazon echo, siri or cortana at that point.
 
Ignoring the fact that the Conker DLC did actually release, these are very strange points to make about the other two games. Sunset Overdrive is my favourite game of this gen next to The Witcher 3, its commercial success has no bearing on my enjoyment.

May I ask if you'd enjoy a successor of your favorite game of this generation?
 

Cuburt

Member
I think doing a retrospective report card is not only fair but needed since we know many of these conferences tend to overpromise and hype trailers for games that may just be vaporware, but this is a year where, sure it's not all Microsoft's fault, but this was the first year of their new console and they basically sold people on a misleading promise. There was games but if people bought an XB1 with even a hope for a fraction of those games this year, they were sold something othet than what they got regardless of whether people liked the couple games from the conference that actually released.

It's bad enough that this is a common practice in the industry where consumers will defend this or shrug it off, even when it's a platform holder that has a lot to gain by misleading the public on how much exclusive content is coming to their platform, but it's especially egregious to look back on a conference like this and see just how lacking it would be if it only had the games that woukd actually release.

I mean how would you feel if you found out a few months later that so many games would be cancelled and not looking back at it 3 years later when many forgot and no longer care? It just bothers me that this is such a common occurrence.
 

watdaeff4

Member
I think doing a retrospective report card is not only fair but needed since we know many of these conferences tend to overpromise and hype trailers for games that may just be vaporware, but this is a year where, sure it's not all Microsoft's fault, but this was the first year of their new console and they basically sold people on a misleading promise. There was games but if people bought an XB1 with even a hope for a fraction of those games this year, they were sold something othet than what they got regardless of whether people liked the couple games from the conference that actually released.

It's bad enough that this is a common practice in the industry where consumers will defend this or shrug it off, even when it's a platform holder that has a lot to gain by misleading the public on how much exclusive content is coming to their platform, but it's especially egregious to look back on a conference like this and see just how lacking it would be if it only had the games that woukd actually release.

I mean how would you feel if you found out a few months later that so many games would be cancelled and not looking back at it 3 years later when many forgot and no longer care? It just bothers me that this is such a common occurrence.

I agree it would be fun if we did this more.

Personally I don't find it quite as bad as the OP. (The Dance Central, Tomb Raider, Sunset Overdrive examples are poor IMO) but it is interesting how many games from that conference are dead

EDIT: oh, I do disagree in your statement they sold people on a misleading promise. At that time their intentions were probably sincere....
 
Originally Posted by Gator86

Sunset Overdrive is the most underrated game this gen. It's one of the best games on the Xbone, without question.
Truth.

I really wish Microsoft would randomly advertise sunset overdrive and push puteither free dlc's or a 5-10$ dlc to keep it in the public mind.

a wonderful game i wish for it to get 4k hdr
 

Sponge

Banned
I learned a long time ago Microsoft was notorious for cancelling games after we found out about 10+ Rare games that Microsoft had canned.
 
Sunset Overdrive was amazing. The "2015 and beyond" segment turned out to be dismal. That's all I got to say.

I learned a long time ago Microsoft was notorious for cancelling games after we found out about 10+ Rare games that Microsoft had canned.

There is a difference between cancelling games and not greenlighting them. You seem to have the two concepts mixed up because the vast majority of those Rare games were never greenlit.
 

anothertech

Member
Sunset Overdrive and Ori were worth it alone. Arguably the best games on Xbone hands down imo.

But holy SHT that graveyard!! All our hopes and dreams dashed to pieces in one show. Dam
 

Cuburt

Member
I learned a long time ago Microsoft was notorious for cancelling games after we found out about 10+ Rare games that Microsoft had canned.
They've mishandled Rare as a studio so terribly.

They may not be what they once were, but it's really emblematic of how little MS prioritizes their first party development at this point.
 

watdaeff4

Member
May I ask if you'd enjoy a successor of your favorite game of this generation?

In contrast people rave about Sony's 2015 trio of dreams.

The Last Guardian - it's not a commercial success is it?

Shenmue - Will it be a commercial success?

I don't think it's completely fair to grade these conferences based upon commercial success. If that's the case we need to put the MCC into a "positive" for the OT despite it still being broken MP. And for the record IMO MCC should not be listed as a positive but SO and Last Guardian should be
 
It was essentially the Xbox version of Nintendo's Wii U Direct in January, 2013. Announce practically everything that's been greenlit in order to drum up some excitement.

The difference being that everything Nintendo announced actually came out. The one blemish on that event was Zelda U (BotW), which didn't launch until March, 2017.
 

Sponge

Banned
There is a difference between cancelling games and not greenlighting them. You seem to have the two concepts mixed up because the vast majority of those Rare games were never greenlit.

Canned in development or never greenlite, There's a good majority of titles that were cancelled completely. Sabreman Stampede comes to mind.
 
In contrast people rave about Sony's 2015 trio of dreams.

The Last Guardian - it's not a commercial success is it?

Shenmue - Will it be a commercial success?

I don't think it's completely fair to grade these conferences based upon commercial success. If that's the case we need to put the MCC into a "positive" for the OT despite it still being broken MP. And for the record IMO MCC should not be listed as a positive but SO and Last Guardian should be

That wasn't my intention. I think sales matter. SO is a perfect example for that. MS - and please correct me if you think otherwise - hasn't shown any interest in giving IPs a second chance which by all metrics failed sales-wise. It is sheer irony that MS cannot be bothered to announce a sequel of one of their most critically acclaimed titles this generation - and PS4 players get Knack 2.

Concerning their 2014 show, it was solid and yes, it's concerning that some games have been cancelled since then. But that wouldn't actually matter that much if MS had used the latest E3 shows to introduce proper replacements, besides the obvious trifecta IPs.
 

CaptainClaw

Member
"The Conker DLC was never released.

Sunset Overdrive

Commercial flop. A successor is very unlikely.


Rise of the Tomb Raider

Great game, but a lot of people complained about the exclusivity. An improved version with PSVR support was released one year later

Ori and the Blind Forest

Beautiful little game. Probably the only title of the show that exceeded expectations."


giphy.gif
 
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