The dire state of Xbox One exclusives, who's to blame?

Anything to do with games at all.

Who's to blame?

Satya Nadella
0
No votes
Don Matrick
13
81%
Phil Spencer
3
19%
 
Total votes: 16
NickSCFC

PostThe dire state of Xbox One exclusives, who's to blame?
by NickSCFC » Thu Aug 17, 2017 1:56 pm

Following the cancellation of Fable Legends, Scalebound and the delay of Crackdown 3, Microsoft's line up is now looking pretty threadbare.

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Third party exclusives look pretty anaemic too, Lucky's Tale anyone? :dread:

I thought Sega in 1998 were bad, and they still managed to publish Panzer Dragoon Saga, Burning Rangers, Deep Fear, Shining Force III and House of the Dead in that year.

Who's to blame, Nadella, Mattrick or Spencer?

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Last edited by NickSCFC on Thu Aug 24, 2017 12:35 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Peter Crisp
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PostRe: The sad decline of Microsoft Game Studios, who's to blame?
by Peter Crisp » Thu Aug 17, 2017 2:00 pm

I spied that quickly edited typo :slol: .

Mocrospft.

They'll be fine once the One X is out and people flock to it as the most powerful system.

Last edited by Peter Crisp on Thu Aug 17, 2017 2:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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jawafour
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PostRe: The sad decline of Microsoft Game Studios, who's to blame?
by jawafour » Thu Aug 17, 2017 2:01 pm

I suspect that MS are focusing their development resources on stuff for the Xbox OX. That machine will be their opportunity to wrestle back gamers from Sony.

Fake edit: I don't hold with the idea that all games will run exactly the same on the Xbox One and the One X. I expect MS to clearly demonstrate the improved power on offer with the OX.

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Peter Crisp
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PostRe: The sad decline of Microsoft Game Studios, who's to blame?
by Peter Crisp » Thu Aug 17, 2017 2:04 pm

jawafour wrote:I suspect that MS are focusing their development resources on stuff for the Xbox OX. That machine will be their opportunity to wrestle back gamers from Sony.

Fake edit: I don't hold with the idea that all games will run exactly the same on the Xbox One and the One X. I expect MS to clearly demonstrate the improved power on offer with the OX.


I hope so as the sony approach is frustrating as it hamstrings the Pro for no obvious reason.
I don't think Xbone owners are going to rise up and protest just because there's a new version of the system that can play the same games slightly better so why act as if the more powerful machine doesn't exist?

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NickSCFC

PostRe: The sad decline of Microsoft Game Studios, who's to blame?
by NickSCFC » Thu Aug 17, 2017 2:06 pm

Remaining internal studios:

343 Industries: Halo series
Coalition: Gears of War series
Turn 10: Forza series
Rare: Sea of Thieves
Mojang: Minecraft
Undead Labs: State of Decay series
Microsoft Casual Studios: Solitaire etc


Closed studios(this generation):

Twisted Pixel (The Maw, Splosion Man)- Parted ways in 2015, TP now independent
Press Play (Max, Kalimba) - Closed in 2016
Lionhead Studios (Fable) - Closed in 2016
Team Dakota (Project Spark) - Disbanded in 2016
Xbox Fitness Team - Disbanded in 2016
Decisive Games - Disbanded before being made public in 2016

jawafour
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PostRe: The sad decline of Microsoft Game Studios, who's to blame?
by jawafour » Thu Aug 17, 2017 2:10 pm

I suspect that Sony has an equally unenviable record for closing development studios. I feel that MS, recognising that the Xbox O has not been as big a success as they wanted it to be, is working behind the scenes to place the Xbox OX into a far better position. It'll be the top console technically and it's gonna be interesting to see how much money and development MS throws behind it.

Last edited by jawafour on Thu Aug 17, 2017 2:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Peter Crisp
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PostRe: The sad decline of Microsoft Game Studios, who's to blame?
by Peter Crisp » Thu Aug 17, 2017 2:10 pm

I think Lionhead are the biggest loss as I honestly think they could have gone onto bigger and better stuff while turning the Fable franchise around and taking it back to it's old timey charming English story roots as I still think that stuff sells when done well.

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Peter Crisp
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PostRe: The sad decline of Microsoft Game Studios, who's to blame?
by Peter Crisp » Thu Aug 17, 2017 2:12 pm

Is it just me who would like to see the internet explode if Microsoft decided to give Halo development to the casual gaming studio :slol: .

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KK
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PostRe: The sad decline of Microsoft Game Studios, who's to blame?
by KK » Thu Aug 17, 2017 2:15 pm

Well the blame lies with whoever's holding the purse strings and unwilling to invest. I mean someone has clearly decided their priorities are elsewhere, and believe having the most powerful system on the market, and in turn the best looking 3rd party games, will be enough.

But I'd argue the Xbox brand is currently the least relevant it has been in its entire history. Outside of the USA and UK, it may as well not even exist.

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NickSCFC

PostRe: The sad decline of Microsoft Game Studios, who's to blame?
by NickSCFC » Thu Aug 17, 2017 2:17 pm

jawafour wrote:I suspect that MS are focusing their development resources on stuff for the Xbox OX.


343 Industries and Coalition are the only two studios to have not announced their next projects, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out those projects are Halo 6 and Gears 4.

So where are these other development resources you speak of?

NickSCFC

PostRe: The sad decline of Microsoft Game Studios, who's to blame?
by NickSCFC » Thu Aug 17, 2017 2:22 pm

KK wrote:Well the blame lies with whoever's holding the purse strings and unwilling to invest. I mean someone has clearly decided their priorities are elsewhere, and believe having the most powerful system on the market, and in turn the best looking 3rd party games, will be enough.

But I'd argue the Xbox brand is currently the least relevant it has been in its entire history. Outside of the USA and UK, it may as well not even exist.


Nadella then?

He did state that under him they'd shift focus to areas where they lead the market like cloud and Office, I've witnessed him first hand slowly kill of Windows Mobile, even though he won't admit it.

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Photek
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PostRe: The sad decline of Microsoft Game Studios, who's to blame?
by Photek » Thu Aug 17, 2017 2:28 pm

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Gemini73

PostRe: The sad decline of Microsoft Game Studios, who's to blame?
by Gemini73 » Thu Aug 17, 2017 2:31 pm

KK wrote:Well the blame lies with whoever's holding the purse strings and unwilling to invest. I mean someone has clearly decided their priorities are elsewhere, and believe having the most powerful system on the market, and in turn the best looking 3rd party games, will be enough.

But I'd argue the Xbox brand is currently the least relevant it has been in its entire history. Outside of the USA and UK, it may as well not even exist.


Yep.

jawafour
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PostRe: The sad decline of Microsoft Game Studios, who's to blame?
by jawafour » Thu Aug 17, 2017 2:32 pm

NickSCFC wrote:343 Industries and Coalition are the only two studios to have not announced their next projects, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out those projects are Halo 6 and Gears 4.

So where are these other development resources you speak of?

I have no idea what MS are doing to bolster their development teams, but I don't feel it's too much of a stretch to imagine that they would have been working to re-gain some traction in trying to be the first choice for console gaming. They dropped the ball with the launch of the One and I'd be surprised if they hadn't learnt lessons from that. I expect the OX to initially be an aspirational machine but fairly quickly become a more attainable console for the mass market. If, roughly, 20% of PS4 purchasers are now choosing the Pro than it feels like there is a sizeable chunk of gamers keen to use the "most powerful" console available.

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Rog
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PostRe: The sad decline of Microsoft Game Studios, who's to blame?
by Rog » Thu Aug 17, 2017 2:38 pm

Who's to blame?

Microsoft

/end

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more heat than light
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PostRe: The sad decline of Microsoft Game Studios, who's to blame?
by more heat than light » Thu Aug 17, 2017 2:54 pm

Phil Spencer inherited a shitty situation to be fair, and while it's taking him a little longer than I'd like to sort it out, I do expect the situation to improve. Cancellations of Scalebound and Fable Legends have obviously had a massive effect on this year's output. Fable especially was practically finished, I do wonder if they wish they'd just let that release now.

EDIT - Looking at those developers Nick helpfully listed, I do wonder why we haven't seen the MS Casual Games make an appearance on XB1. It would hardly be a system seller, but they're all pretty decent time-killers on W10. Wordament would work pretty well I reckon.

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andythevillan
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PostRe: The sad decline of Microsoft Game Studios, who's to blame?
by andythevillan » Thu Aug 17, 2017 3:10 pm

more heat than light wrote:Phil Spencer inherited a shitty situation to be fair, and while it's taking him a little longer than I'd like to sort it out, I do expect the situation to improve. Cancellations of Scalebound and Fable Legends have obviously had a massive effect on this year's output. Fable especially was practically finished, I do wonder if they wish they'd just let that release now.

EDIT - Looking at those developers Nick helpfully listed, I do wonder why we haven't seen the MS Casual Games make an appearance on XB1. It would hardly be a system seller, but they're all pretty decent time-killers on W10. Wordament would work pretty well I reckon.

They have never recovered from E3 2013. Everyone knows a lot of X1 games are inferior to the PS4 and have stayed away. They have done some really good stuff eg backwards compat but when the console and to some extent the UI is borked it's difficult to turn it around. They can't just rely on Gears/Halo/Forza as they are getting a bit tired.

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CuriousOyster
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PostRe: The sad decline of Microsoft Game Studios, who's to blame?
by CuriousOyster » Thu Aug 17, 2017 3:13 pm

NickSCFC wrote:
jawafour wrote:I suspect that MS are focusing their development resources on stuff for the Xbox OX.


343 Industries and Coalition are the only two studios to have not announced their next projects, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out those projects are Halo 6 and Gears 4.

So where are these other development resources you speak of?


I don't think they'll stoop to remastering Gears 4 already. Never know though :shifty:

I welcome both a new Gears and Halo, still better than most stuff.

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Photek
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PostRe: The sad decline of Microsoft Game Studios, who's to blame?
by Photek » Thu Aug 17, 2017 3:22 pm

What's 2018 looking like Nick? Hmmmm... makes you think.

It's Xbox Ones worst year for exclusives but I don't see it as time for alarm.

Next year at least,

Halo 6
Forza Horizon 4
State of Decay 2
Crackdown 3
Sea of Thieves
Ori 2

I think thats rather impressive.

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NickSCFC

PostRe: The sad decline of Microsoft Game Studios, who's to blame?
by NickSCFC » Thu Aug 17, 2017 3:29 pm

Photek wrote:What's 2018 looking like Nick? Hmmmm... makes you think.

Halo 6


Where are you plucking Halo 6 from?

Surely if it was a 2018 title it would have been announced by now.

Let's stick to facts shall we.


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