JetSetRadio
Banned
Add an extra balloon.
What does Microsoft need to do to make Xbox successful again?
- Thread starter Montresor
- Start date
DriftingSpirit
Member
Do they? Sony and Nintendo don't seem to need to rely on service based software. Sony just released a big new IP that was completely devoid of service based material and Nintendo launched Zelda without any of that either.
I don't think they need to catch up because they aren't headed in that direction with their software. Instead, they are complementing the rest of the industry with big single player games without MP, microtans, etc...
lol
Fresh studios, fresh talent, more freedom to developers, less rigid adherence to the 'core' IP's (Halo/Gears/Forza).
It'll take a few years a least for them to even make this transition, but that's what they got to do if they want to realistically improve their first-party output. They need to stop breathing down the neck of these devs and figure out their strengths and ambitions instead of trying to squeeze them in the mold that Bungie left behind for Halo, or Epic left behind for Gears. Let these guys create their own IP's.
It'll take a few years a least for them to even make this transition, but that's what they got to do if they want to realistically improve their first-party output. They need to stop breathing down the neck of these devs and figure out their strengths and ambitions instead of trying to squeeze them in the mold that Bungie left behind for Halo, or Epic left behind for Gears. Let these guys create their own IP's.
TheChewyWaffles
Member
Scorpio will make me go back to Xbox for all multi plats. The way God intended things to be.
I agree with you, honestly.
¡HarlequinPanic!
Member
have software that makes people excited, gears is pretty much done.
The difference between MS's first party successes and Sony's is that Sony has emphasized single player experiences at the core of all their big IPs. Sony can afford to change God Of War around to this new direction because people play it to see what happens next in Kratos' tale: While Halo's world has a mythology, they can never get too ambitious with the title as at the end of the day, the multiplayer experience is what they are beholden to. This may sound like a folly at the end of the day: The Last Guardian, Infamous Second Son were both relative disappointments saleswise, and even Bloodbourne has underperformed next to it's sister series, but the fact remains that these are still engaging experiences that put out the statement "You can't play this anywhere else". This is the reason that years later, people still bring up Sunset Overdrive as a must play.
This puts them MS in a precarious position: most other companies have caught up in the shooter space with enticing multiplayer shooters on console. Sure, you can only get Halo on xbox, but does that really matter if you have Overwatch, Battlefield, or Call of Duty on your machine? This is where a title like Fable can be important, but they spent years trying to make an interesting sounding, but shallow multiplayer title (which frankly describes Fable as a whole).
They need to take a long study at the successes they have had this generation, the things that energize the fringe fans the most, the fans that bought an xbox because they loved their 360 but are now finding themselves wanting more outside of the big 3. Learn what made KI successful and energized fans about it, make the rest of your first parties play Forza Horizon 3 and ask themselves "What makes this so exciting?" Give Fable another shot maybe (though I can't really say I'm excited about this).
Yes, the launch window exclusives were mostly duds like Crimson Dragon, Fantasia, D4, SSO, Max and the Marker, Lococycle, Ryse, but they learned the entirely wrong lessons with them.
The Coalition should probably work on a new IP, but I'm of the mind that if you took a job at 343 or Turn 10, it's because you want to work on the best installments in the genres that they make games for: you wouldn't take a job at Polyphony if you hated cars, for instance.
Sea of Thieves looks like a great game, but also a lot of work to enjoy fully, you need a dedicated squad of friends, or be willing to buddy up with strangers. It's important to explore online space and offer something truly new like this, but I think they need to keep in mind that single-player is once again alive and well: the biggest titles of the past few months have been Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, and Zelda, leaving MS's first party offerings looking extremely lacking in comparison.
For what it's worth, my xbone is now a forza machine, and while I"m satisfied with that, I can see a lot of other people not feeling the same way.
The difference between MS's first party successes and Sony's is that Sony has emphasized single player experiences at the core of all their big IPs. Sony can afford to change God Of War around to this new direction because people play it to see what happens next in Kratos' tale: While Halo's world has a mythology, they can never get too ambitious with the title as at the end of the day, the multiplayer experience is what they are beholden to. This may sound like a folly at the end of the day: The Last Guardian, Infamous Second Son were both relative disappointments saleswise, and even Bloodbourne has underperformed next to it's sister series, but the fact remains that these are still engaging experiences that put out the statement "You can't play this anywhere else". This is the reason that years later, people still bring up Sunset Overdrive as a must play.
This puts them MS in a precarious position: most other companies have caught up in the shooter space with enticing multiplayer shooters on console. Sure, you can only get Halo on xbox, but does that really matter if you have Overwatch, Battlefield, or Call of Duty on your machine? This is where a title like Fable can be important, but they spent years trying to make an interesting sounding, but shallow multiplayer title (which frankly describes Fable as a whole).
They need to take a long study at the successes they have had this generation, the things that energize the fringe fans the most, the fans that bought an xbox because they loved their 360 but are now finding themselves wanting more outside of the big 3. Learn what made KI successful and energized fans about it, make the rest of your first parties play Forza Horizon 3 and ask themselves "What makes this so exciting?" Give Fable another shot maybe (though I can't really say I'm excited about this).
Yes, the launch window exclusives were mostly duds like Crimson Dragon, Fantasia, D4, SSO, Max and the Marker, Lococycle, Ryse, but they learned the entirely wrong lessons with them.
The Coalition should probably work on a new IP, but I'm of the mind that if you took a job at 343 or Turn 10, it's because you want to work on the best installments in the genres that they make games for: you wouldn't take a job at Polyphony if you hated cars, for instance.
Sea of Thieves looks like a great game, but also a lot of work to enjoy fully, you need a dedicated squad of friends, or be willing to buddy up with strangers. It's important to explore online space and offer something truly new like this, but I think they need to keep in mind that single-player is once again alive and well: the biggest titles of the past few months have been Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, and Zelda, leaving MS's first party offerings looking extremely lacking in comparison.
For what it's worth, my xbone is now a forza machine, and while I"m satisfied with that, I can see a lot of other people not feeling the same way.
Exploratory
Banned
Stop normalizing "make X great again".
Now remember this. When I said making good games, it was in quotes. Because a good game is, you know today it is different than good games. It is just a good description. But good games was in quotes. What Im talking about is getting strong exclusives.
wapplew
Member
New IP is not the answer. Great games is the answer. Bad game is bad new IP or old.
Uncharted 4 is not new IP but it win awards, sold a bunch. Forza Horizon 3 is not new IP but it's one of the best racing game,won awards and sold a bunch. Zelda is not new IP but it's fresh bold new direct and the best action adventure and it carry Switch launch singlehanded.
They just need to make great games that on top of the genre. Shooter is fucking crowded, multiplayer service game is getting crowded.
Their games need to be best quality to stand out, to make people notice new IP or not.
pretty done
Member
They need to invest in exclusive games that A) appeal to more than your average dudebro and B) aren't available on much better hardware.
If they had ANY exclusives I'd be considering one right now for a couple games and a 4k BR player to watch Planet Earth II on.
If they had ANY exclusives I'd be considering one right now for a couple games and a 4k BR player to watch Planet Earth II on.
FinaruDensetsu
Member
Can we not disparage the Xbox even more by using the fucking cheeto's favorite motto?
They just need to invest a bit more in exclusives. They're doing fine.
They just need to invest a bit more in exclusives. They're doing fine.
Write off this generation and spend spend spend on the next one
Spend on exclusives
Spend on new IP
Spend on something other than shooters Jesus Christ what's wrong with you people you may as well just make the next Xbox controller a lightgun at this rate
Spend on sequels to only marginally popular properties with growth potential
Spend on projects that developers are excited and motivated about but can't find the financial justification for, as opposed to games nobody wants to make but the check cleared (cough DEAD RISING 4 cough)
Spend on getting the best tech you can get and spend on selling it at as close to a loss as possible
Spend on beefing up Xbox Live and making sure it is a super-appealing service beyond just "I need this to play online"
As for the rest of the Xbox One generation... you're already lagging behind and the gap is unlikely to be closed. Take more risks. If people wanted Gears/Halo/Forza that badly they already would have bought Xboxes. Which means that 2x the amount of people who bought Xbox don't really give a toot about those.
And tell Remedy to stop basing their games off of bad TV
Spend on exclusives
Spend on new IP
Spend on something other than shooters Jesus Christ what's wrong with you people you may as well just make the next Xbox controller a lightgun at this rate
Spend on sequels to only marginally popular properties with growth potential
Spend on projects that developers are excited and motivated about but can't find the financial justification for, as opposed to games nobody wants to make but the check cleared (cough DEAD RISING 4 cough)
Spend on getting the best tech you can get and spend on selling it at as close to a loss as possible
Spend on beefing up Xbox Live and making sure it is a super-appealing service beyond just "I need this to play online"
As for the rest of the Xbox One generation... you're already lagging behind and the gap is unlikely to be closed. Take more risks. If people wanted Gears/Halo/Forza that badly they already would have bought Xboxes. Which means that 2x the amount of people who bought Xbox don't really give a toot about those.
And tell Remedy to stop basing their games off of bad TV
facetheslayer92
Member
June 11 can't come soon enough.
Jaguar Victory
Member
Doesn't your TV have one?
It's a simple answer, but it's the best one too. Bring the best hardware, bring the best games.
I'm confident they have the hardware part sorted with Scorpio, now they need to redouble their efforts in getting third party deals right and first party working in New franchises that will both reinvigorate their IP and breathe life into Scorpio as a platform.
ReBurn
Gold Member
It's really not offensive.
therealbigrich
Member
Think Scorpio is good for the power needy console guys and number 4 is basically the whole problem imo. Get 3rd party support and it's almost a non issue
SlickShoesRUCrazy
Member
Games. Good/great games. Whether new IPs or ones they own that aren't the usuals.
They are hurting in that department.
I loved sunset overdrive but I bet we won't get a sequel because it didn't meet expectations. That makes me sad.
They make/fund games with a lot of potential, but once it doesn't do well, give up on the franchise.
They are hurting in that department.
I loved sunset overdrive but I bet we won't get a sequel because it didn't meet expectations. That makes me sad.
They make/fund games with a lot of potential, but once it doesn't do well, give up on the franchise.
Two problems I see:
Scorpio, assuming it's not much more than just a beefier system, doesn't help their software problem. A high TF count doesn't making games magically more fun.
New IPs and development take a lot of time. If they have started on a lot of fresh ideas yet, I'm not sure where they'll be in 3 years.
Scorpio, assuming it's not much more than just a beefier system, doesn't help their software problem. A high TF count doesn't making games magically more fun.
New IPs and development take a lot of time. If they have started on a lot of fresh ideas yet, I'm not sure where they'll be in 3 years.
therealbigrich
Member
Great point . The whole new IP thing sounds good but just good games in general is best thing to do
pretty done
Member
SpinningBirdKick
Banned
I get the impression that Phil is a caretaker for a slow winding down of the hardware division where Xbox will just become the brand for Microsoft's PC based gaming.
Wheel Phil out now and then to offer a few platitudes when the userbase begins to get restless and all too aware of the thin release schedule. All the time while division budgets are slowly and surely reduced.
A handful of new titles isn't going to turn things around for Xbox. This is especially true if they look like more of the same.
To me current actions look a lot like damage limitation. Churn out the bare minimum this generation to prevent current owners abandoning the platform until Microsoft are ready to kill it themselves - sooner rather than later.
Microsoft have been ruthless in killing projects that under perform financially. I don't think they have the stomach to invest the cash needed to turn around XBone. They'll do a quick mid gen reset with Scorpio and if that is weak out of the gate the gaming division's days are numbered.
Spyder_Monkey
Banned
-Fucking stop with the obvious PR statements and actually show shit.
-Invest in partnerships that will last for more than one game.
-Stop working on the three same IPs and invest in new ones that will last just as long (even fucking Nintendo is better at this)
-Get people who actually understand the creative process and let them make games.
-Invest in partnerships that will last for more than one game.
-Stop working on the three same IPs and invest in new ones that will last just as long (even fucking Nintendo is better at this)
-Get people who actually understand the creative process and let them make games.
semiconscious
Member
basically, a miracle 
...
...Microsoft is doing fine just because your competition is doing better doesn't mean suddenly you're in the struggle and need to make drastic changes.
IMO Microsoft just needs to continue providing great services and features like they did with BC and LFG. Continue to make great games that define their genre and make improvements to their platform on PC and with that they will be just fine.
IMO Microsoft just needs to continue providing great services and features like they did with BC and LFG. Continue to make great games that define their genre and make improvements to their platform on PC and with that they will be just fine.
CrimsonGun
Member
Everything that made the Xbox 360 great has now become an industry standard. So it's kinda hard.
Jack The Nipper
Banned
But just making destruction isn't good enough. It needs to affect mission structure and still need well crafted missions. If it's just point to point missions Sq ions with falling buildings I don't see the point so much.
That's where. Lot of these games fail and I'm not honestly expecting much from this game. Maybe it's cool, neat and fun and I even enjoy dangerous golf now. And it's destruction is just ok, with hitting a golf ball. But it has levels and love on to the next. Even with destruction you can still have bad missions and level design and that is my biggest worry. I could not play crackdown, gta etc as they were always tedious and exhausting to me.
Ennosuke
Member
Exclusive Games.
I was a total fanboy during 360 and I bought the XOne for launch. But since I have my new PC and my PS4 I am barely using it for playing games. I use it for Netflix, Anime and Youtube. I would love to play games again, but I lost my love for MS.
Also this OS and it's layout does feel bad, not like for a home console, instead more of a media center with lots of ads.
I was a total fanboy during 360 and I bought the XOne for launch. But since I have my new PC and my PS4 I am barely using it for playing games. I use it for Netflix, Anime and Youtube. I would love to play games again, but I lost my love for MS.
Also this OS and it's layout does feel bad, not like for a home console, instead more of a media center with lots of ads.
CoolNumber9
Member
Good point! And considering the better exclusives are elsewhere......yep kinda hard!
Nameless
Member
I think it starts with software and not just the 1st party output. There are tons of Japanese/indie/mid tier games that don't make their way to the console. This needs to stop.
Also do what Netflix, Amazon, and Sony have been doing, license cool shit and give talented creators the time & resources they need to make cool shit while staying out of the way.
Also do what Netflix, Amazon, and Sony have been doing, license cool shit and give talented creators the time & resources they need to make cool shit while staying out of the way.
What if you dont own a gaming pc? What if you only own a laptop for school work. A console then becomes obsolete?
CoolNumber9
Member
Making exclusives available to PC gamers is great and all but really only benifits people who care to game on PC and I am not one of those folks. Zero desire on that front. I hate even having to boot my PC up let along play games there regularly.
I still don't understand how porting their games to another platform they profit off is somehow a signal that they will stop making consoles. They net gain sales no matter what.
Some people only see one side as if everyone owns a pc capable of running games at 1080p or above at a steady 30 or 60fps. I just built my first gaming pc 2 years ago at the age of 35 and thats only because i have a career that allows me to do so. For many console gaming is the only option atm. You can own 2 consoles for the price of 1 high end graphics card, not to mention all the other parts you need to reach what you are aiming for. For many thats too much work.
SavoyPrime
Member
One word. Games.
UpUpDownDown
Member
These last 4 years must have been hell for you lol.
MS needs to prove their relavence again. How, I don't know.
Maybe this, but the competition got feirce while they've been asleep at the wheel.
Way, behind.
wapplew
Member
About Japanese game skipping Xbox and brand global appeal thing. I suspect there are some language barrier problem.
Why Crackdown, a game didn't show up at conferences survive but Scalebound can't? I think communication is one of the problem. You won't get good relations if both parties talk different language.
Andrew house, Shawn, Mark Cerny all speak fluid Japanese, that help them build good relationship with Japanese third party, when all the higher up can speak directly to each other without the need to translator.
Maybe Spencer need to learn some Japanese before his trip to Japan.
Why Crackdown, a game didn't show up at conferences survive but Scalebound can't? I think communication is one of the problem. You won't get good relations if both parties talk different language.
Andrew house, Shawn, Mark Cerny all speak fluid Japanese, that help them build good relationship with Japanese third party, when all the higher up can speak directly to each other without the need to translator.
Maybe Spencer need to learn some Japanese before his trip to Japan.
Because at the end of the day, Crackdown 3 can be used at least as a tech demo for their Azure servers. Scalebound, at most, was going to have online co op and thats it.
Crayon
Member
My greatest wish is for gaf to buy Xbox. But how much can we really afford? I know some of us are rich. Not I.
Can you imagine gafbox? Where we discuss all the decisions right here in full view of the internet?
It may be the most spectacular exploding Trainwreck in console history but it would be ours.
Can you imagine gafbox? Where we discuss all the decisions right here in full view of the internet?
It may be the most spectacular exploding Trainwreck in console history but it would be ours.
Stilton Disco
Member
I honestly believe Microsoft have been an overall negative influence on the entire medium, encouraging the misogynistic 'dudebro' culture and toxic, uninclusive online communities, greater focus on violent, self aggrandising FPS's, over abundant DLC, the ever more shallow Skinner box like games as a service, and generally a very immature, America first and only approach to all aspects of gaming, particularly amongst the predominantly male teens it consistently appeals to first and foremost.
Saying that, the first half of last gen for the 360 was the best the brand has ever been, and it made what felt like a huge stride forward in appealing beyond the COD, FIFA and Halo devouring hardcore that seem to have been the only ones to have stuck around today.
They mostly need to focus on expanding their brand, appealing to a more diverse audience, especially outside America, and vastly diversify their portfolio with a far greater variety of games.
Saying that, the first half of last gen for the 360 was the best the brand has ever been, and it made what felt like a huge stride forward in appealing beyond the COD, FIFA and Halo devouring hardcore that seem to have been the only ones to have stuck around today.
They mostly need to focus on expanding their brand, appealing to a more diverse audience, especially outside America, and vastly diversify their portfolio with a far greater variety of games.
Zeus The Dino
Member
Get 343 the FUCK Away from Halo
Jawmuncher
Member
I think that's a good point. Even with translators, that's always gonna be an issue in some way. Hell they even have a Japanese division, but I couldn't for the life of me tell you anyone who works there, and what exactly they do aside from the commonstuff.
- Develop more 1st party studios.
- Allow 343 and The Coalition to make other games besides Halo and Gears. Assigning a studio to one franchise forever is just going to create animosity within the studio and the quality of the games will suffer.
- Stop cancelling games, especially if they seem far in development.
- Stop pushing games in the Fall. The entire year can be scarce, but then they'll release a bunch of games in the Fall, whether they're ready or not (Halo MCC, and Halo 5 seemed rushed in terms of the quality of the campaign.)