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Microsoft Touts the Biggest Xbox Milestones of 2018

EssKayZee

EssKayZee

Member
Source: Thurrott, Xbox Wire

Here are some of the highlights.

Xbox Game Pass
  • Microsoft added 116 additional game titles to its Xbox Game Pass subscription.
  • There are now over 65 game makers participating in Xbox Game Pass.
  • 17 games launched day and date in Xbox Game Pass
First-party content
  • Microsoft acquired or otherwise brought seven game studios in-house in 2018, including Playground Games, Ninja Theory, Undead Labs, Compulsion Games, InXile Entertainment, Obsidian Entertainment, and The Initiative
Backward Compatibility
  • In 2018, the firm added over 100 new titles to Backward Compatibility, bringing the catalog to over 550 games.
  • 57 of them are specifically Xbox One X Enhanced.
ID@Xbox
  • Microsoft’s indie game developer program saw its 100th title published in 2018.
  • Gamers spent over 4 billion hours playing ID@Xbox games last year.
Cross-network play
  • Microsoft teamed with Epic to provide cross-network play in Fornite, which impacted almost 80 million gamers.
  • Microsoft teamed with Nintendo last year to bring Minecraft cross-play to Nintendo Switch, Windows 10, Xbox One, and mobile. This community boasts over 90 million players.
Popular games
  • Forza Horizon 4 is the highest-rated Xbox exclusive of this generation (meaning both Xbox One and Windows 10).
  • Sea of Thieves was the first Microsoft Studios title to launch day and date in both Xbox Game Pass and retail.
  • Microsoft says it was the fastest-selling new Xbox intellectual property of the generation.
Mixer
  • Microsoft’s gameplay streaming platform [...]saw its active monthly users jump from 10 million in January to over 20 million [six months later].
Looking Ahead
  • Releases of Crackdown 3, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Gears of War 5, Gears Pop!, and Minecraft: Dungeons.
  • "The Arena" an all-new competitive game mode content update for Sea of Thieves in early 2019.
  • ID@Xbox titles like The Artful Escape of Francis Vendetti, Tunic and ATLAS
Detailed articles at Thurrott and Xbox Wire
 
DonF

DonF

Member
Pretty bad 2018 I say. The acquisitions are interesting, but we will see nothing out of it, at least for 3 years.

I applaud the backwards compat and the x enhanced games, thats fantastic and must be commended .
 
mejin

mejin

Member
What I'd like to know is how better they did in 2018 compared to 2017 (sales wise).

Anyway, they are in right path now. Things just take time. Years of doing nothing did this.
 
nowhat

nowhat

Member
EssKayZee said:
Sea of Thieves [...] was the fastest-selling new Xbox intellectual property of the generation
Click to expand...
I can't help but to think of one Mad magazine I read as a kid, where there was a merit of being "the best bullfighter of Iceland".

(don't get too worked up, it was a joke, but without actual numbers such statement is quite meaningless)
 
DynamiteCop!

DynamiteCop!

Banned
For the platform side of things they knocked it out of the park, their infrastructure and backbone is becoming iron clad but the complaint that remains is still the game issue. It's not like there are none but there needs to be more compelling options from them, third party is strong but they need to stop riding on them.

I will say I have been happy with them in 2018, and with my Xbox One X.
 
Shin

Shin

Banned
They are working hard to earn that money, it's a great setup for Xbox as a whole moving forward.
BC, GamePass, new studios, crossplay (indies and mixer if you're into those), it just seems so balanced.
I hope they keep it up and are rewarded for their efforts come next-gen or at the very least not so one-sided as the current one.
 
Vasto

Vasto

Member
Thats pretty good for 2018. Now lets start off 2019 with Crackdown 3 being really good and worth the wait. :messenger_winking:
 
JohnnyFootball

JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
2018 was definitely a very good year for MS as this is the first year of the generation where they were the undisputed best platform for 3rd party content.

My two complaints:
1. This was probably their worst year ever as far as 1st party content. Their one major title Sea of Thieves didn't exactly set the world on fire.
2. I wish they would have done more to push the X as the best gaming console by pushing out more X enhanced patches of older X1 games.
If you look at this list, very very few of the games came out prior to 2017. Witcher 3 is the biggest game to get patched and it was absolutely breathtaking on the X1X. Games like Metro Redux and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided would very much benefit from being patched. Considering that Sony has done just as poor a job pushing their Pro model, I feel that MS missed an opportunity here.
 
Clear

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
JohnnyFootball said:
2018 was definitely a very good year for MS as this is the first year of the generation where they were the undisputed best platform for 3rd party content.
Click to expand...

Only if you were an One X owner, which is a minority.

A new box is not a "magic bullet" that remedies historical performance inequality, its a whole new purchase.
 
Gavon West

Gavon West

Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
DonF said:
Pretty bad 2018 I say. The acquisitions are interesting, but we will see nothing out of it, at least for 3 years.

I applaud the backwards compat and the x enhanced games, thats fantastic and must be commended .
Click to expand...

This is wrong. We'll see at least a couple this year.
 
B

bumleforce

Member
I predict 4 to 5 more aquistions being announced at e3 along with 2 to 3 more being announced when they finally show the final scarlett hardware. I couple of these will be big ones as well. I also predict Sony to aquire a few studios as well but I think microsoft knows they are gonna do that so they are gonna get the right studios. Obsidian is the biggest one for me. I'll take one of their rpgs over any jrpg. Ninja theory is gonna make some magic as well. Playground makeing fable. Is gonna be great. Cant wait to see what the other studios do next as well.
 
Gavon West

Gavon West

Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
Yeah I think we'll hear about at least three acquisitions between now and E3, and probably one or two before Anaconda is revealed. I suspect there will be some pretty surprising studios announced at E3 seeing Sony wont be there -- MS will be looking to capitalize. The Xcloud streaming service (according to Brad) will be really, really interesting, too.
 
JohnnyFootball

JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
Clear said:
Only if you were an One X owner, which is a minority.

A new box is not a "magic bullet" that remedies historical performance inequality, its a whole new purchase.
Click to expand...
I never claimed it was a magic bullet, but it is now true that MS provides the best 3rd party experience for console gamers.

Quite frankly my hope was that MS would completely ditch the original model and have the X replace it. There was a rumor on DF that MS was silently switching all S model Xboxes over to GDDR5 since DDR3 is no longer in production.
 
Clear

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
JohnnyFootball said:
I never claimed it was a magic bullet, but it is now true that MS provides the best 3rd party experience for console gamers.

Quite frankly my hope was that MS would completely ditch the original model and have the X replace it. There was a rumor on DF that MS was silently switching all S model Xboxes over to GDDR5 since DDR3 is no longer in production.
Click to expand...

I was just pointing out that this improvement carries a hefty price-tag, which an awful lot of Xbox players wont want/be able to pay.

My thing is that its not just scoring a point over the opposition but over the majority of their own customers.

The honest truth is that I think performance differential, especially when in most cases its purely a matter of resolution, is severely overplayed as an advantage. It bothers me that it overshadows discussion to the extent that the S -which is a far from unsuccessful or unworthy device- is pretty much being written out of the discussion.

If I was an S owner, I'd be fucking livid. Especially if I'd already upgraded from a base One.

You can't extol the value of something like GamePass and BC on one hand, while ignoring the fact that dedicated Xbox owners will have been milked for up to $1200 dollars worth of hardware purchases in order to reach this point.

That's unprecedented.
 
D

Deleted member 471617

Unconfirmed Member
Microsoft should be giving actual solid numbers, not one-liner which for the most part is just fluff.
 
Calibos

Calibos

Member
TeamGhobad said:
No.



Noooooooooooooooooo.
Click to expand...


YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!


Ryse had a whole lot of great things going for it. Graphics, story setting and really only one negative. It was repetitive. The gameplay was cool, just not fleshed out and properly paced and varied. I think Ryse 2 with refined and improved combat could be stellar. The trouble is that Crytech and MS are rumored to hate each other.


On topic, I echo what others have said. Much like sports, this is a rebuilding year for MS. They had a couple star players launch like FH4 and Ashen, and a couple stars that didn't live up to the hype like State of Decay and Sea of Thieves, but they acquired some heavy hitting players for the future and shored up there office.
 
Klayzer

Klayzer

Member
Great rebound year for Xbox. Looking forward to Ori2 and some interesting new game announcements from their newly acquired studios. Very excited to see what Phil can do with the with firm financial backing from Microsoft.
 
NeonGhost

NeonGhost

uses 'M$' - What year is it? Not 2002.
That list of achievements is laughable compared to what the competition did in 2018
 
Gavon West

Gavon West

Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
wutnau said:
You do realize MS did give out sales numbers for the first year of One, when they were still pretty close to PS4? 2001 is not 2014 either.
Click to expand...
It's done. It's over with. They wont share them next gen either - even if they win the console war. Some of you guys hold grudges like women. FFS, get over it.

And next gen its going to be more about player engagement and services even moreso - hardware, even less. The gaming landscaped has changed dramatically. The only ones still acting like we're in Gen-7 are the last dinosaurs of a bygone age. No offense.
 
nowhat

nowhat

Member
Gavon West said:
And next gen its going to be more about player engagement and services even moreso
Click to expand...
If that indeed is the case, then I'm happy to be a dinosaur of a bygone era. "Player engagement" can stick it where the sun doesn't shine as far as I'm concerned. But you moved the goalposts a bit from 2001 to 2014 - I guess if it keeps you happy, knock yourself out.
 
Journey

Journey

Banned
NeonGhost said:
That list of achievements is laughable compared to what the competition did in 2018
Click to expand...


2qqr2f.jpg
 
P

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
Clear said:
I was just pointing out that this improvement carries a hefty price-tag, which an awful lot of Xbox players wont want/be able to pay.

My thing is that its not just scoring a point over the opposition but over the majority of their own customers.

The honest truth is that I think performance differential, especially when in most cases its purely a matter of resolution, is severely overplayed as an advantage. It bothers me that it overshadows discussion to the extent that the S -which is a far from unsuccessful or unworthy device- is pretty much being written out of the discussion.

If I was an S owner, I'd be fucking livid. Especially if I'd already upgraded from a base One.

You can't extol the value of something like GamePass and BC on one hand, while ignoring the fact that dedicated Xbox owners will have been milked for up to $1200 dollars worth of hardware purchases in order to reach this point.

That's unprecedented.
Click to expand...
I get your point, if Sony released a PS4 ProForReal model tomorrow with 8 TFLOPS for $699 could they claim to have fixed the problem too? Still, Xbox One X was not supposed to fix Xbox One as a platform,’it was designed as a Hail Mary to win the performance crown at all costs. It did that to be fair.
 
Pejo

Pejo

Member
DonF said:
Pretty bad 2018 I say. The acquisitions are interesting, but we will see nothing out of it, at least for 3 years.

I applaud the backwards compat and the x enhanced games, thats fantastic and must be commended .
Click to expand...
Yep, agree on all points. The enhanced backwards compat games look fantastic, RDR1 for example.

The "we bought a bunch of studios" thing continues to be overblown though, IMO.

That's like me announcing to the world that I bought a screwdriver, so praise me for the house I'll build in 3 years. I genuinely hope something good comes out of it though (good games, hopefully).
 
Gavon West

Gavon West

Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
wutnau said:
If that indeed is the case, then I'm happy to be a dinosaur of a bygone era. "Player engagement" can stick it where the sun doesn't shine as far as I'm concerned. But you moved the goalposts a bit from 2001 to 2014 - I guess if it keeps you happy, knock yourself out.
Click to expand...
Riiiiiiight..... Lol

Enjoy your games
 
Deputy Moonman

Deputy Moonman

Member
Clear said:
I was just pointing out that this improvement carries a hefty price-tag, which an awful lot of Xbox players wont want/be able to pay.

My thing is that its not just scoring a point over the opposition but over the majority of their own customers.

The honest truth is that I think performance differential, especially when in most cases its purely a matter of resolution, is severely overplayed as an advantage. It bothers me that it overshadows discussion to the extent that the S -which is a far from unsuccessful or unworthy device- is pretty much being written out of the discussion.

If I was an S owner, I'd be fucking livid. Especially if I'd already upgraded from a base One.

You can't extol the value of something like GamePass and BC on one hand, while ignoring the fact that dedicated Xbox owners will have been milked for up to $1200 dollars worth of hardware purchases in order to reach this point.

That's unprecedented.
Click to expand...
I mean people are free to spend their money how they want. The One X was always going to be marketed toward a smaller group of people. Does it also bother you that Sony released the PS4 Pro? It's essentially the same thing as the One X. The One S was and still is a good system, but was especially needed once MS ditched Kinect, to free up some power. Which ditching Kinect is probably a more valid reason to be upset as an xbox owner imo. I dont' know anyone upset that the One X was released. I think the general consensus has been positive. Also, on Black Friday, the One X was being sold at $400. I'm still using an original xbox one. So if i ever did upgrade to the One X, I'd only be spending $900 dollars in hardware, likely only $800. But i still need a switch, so the One X is probably on the back burner for the foreseeable future, and 2020 consoles will be here before we know it lol.
 
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