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[lightskintwin]

Don't understand microsofts attitude to be honest . Any generation the hardware is going to very close between themselves and Sony . One might be slightly more powerful but it's not going to be huge .

The difference is first party games as we can all play the third party stuff on each console . Why they don't invest more into this is beyond me .

Because they're probably of the belief that giving up the power advantage now that Sony created a console that was easy to develop for along with their "always online" gaffe is what significantly impacted the outcome of this generation's console war, and not the output of their first party or third party exclusives.

I can't say that they're wrong.

 

[maverick40]

Don't understand microsofts attitude to be honest . Any generation the hardware is going to very close between themselves and Sony . One might be slightly more powerful but it's not going to be huge .

The difference is first party games as we can all play the third party stuff on each console . Why they don't invest more into this is beyond me .

Cheaper is buy times exclusives like Rise of the tomb raider maybe?

 

[Donniewahlberg]

Great thread! The thing about Microsoft's current model is that, outside of the few core studios they own, many of their exclusives are of the nature of owning the IP but having an outside studio chosen to dev (or paying for timed exclusivity but let's not go there haha). Makes it hard to keep a track of their stuff in a way it isn't so much with Sony, until they officially announce something. Who knows if they've handpicked a third party studio to prototype a new Fable for example. As it stands though, I think they have some great stuff coming up this year looking forward to Scalebound and Below especially. Hope e3 treats us to Moon Studios next project too if it's with MS. Definitely keeping an eye on Crackdown and State Of Decay 2 as well.

 

[Bits N Pieces]

Thanks for making this thread Banjo, very much appreciated

The studio closures and the fact they haven't really replaced them certainly leaves gaps in there first party output but I suppose MS have always courted working with external dev teams over growing there own first party and this can be seen with Scalebound, SoD2, HW2 and Crackdown 3,

This is a trend I expect to see continue though I do think if they want to continue regaining the goodwill of gamers they have since the disastrous XB1 launch then an acquisition or two would be a great thing to do, especially with Scorpio on the horizon it would lay down a marker to show that they are focussed on outputing more content and showing off the new hardware for all to see.

They don't need to do any of the above and they can continue with the tentpole studios and franchises they have and keep working closely with second party devs on collaborations but it would show a commitment to the brand and also stop a lot of the negativity (unfairly or not) they get online.

2017 is a big year for them though, it has to be. I expect at least 5/6 brand new games, ones we dont know about to be revealed this year.


One last thing, are Lift London still around?

 

[HeisenbergWW62]

Wow 343 is huge, would like MS to allow them to try something else besides Halo. They have enough people to do Halo 6 and something else

MS REALLY needs to improve their future output. Right now there's not a single upcoming game I'm interested in, despite how much I was excited about at one point about Scalebound

 

[Strootman]

What are people's opinions on Scalebound? The gameplay demo I saw looked pretty rough. Has it previewed well?

Sea of Thieves...does this have a single player campaign, or is it all multiplayer/co-op stuff?

It's unfortunate that Crackdown 3 seems to have disappeared? That's a single player open world game with destructible environments?

When is We Happy Few releasing? Do we know the scale/size of that game?

Is State of Decay 2 still going to be viable single player or is it all multiplayer/co-op focused now?

Sorry for the all the questions. As a new Xbox One S owner who is only interested in single player games, I'm trying to get a feel for which games to get excited about. The lineup is looking a little light at the moment.

Scalebound previewed very well at gamescom 2016. If you search on the internet there are articles you can read.

Sea of thieves only multiplayer. But you can play alone too apparently.

For Crackdown 3 there is a multiplayer video showing destruction. We still have no footage about single player campaign.

State of decay 2 is like the first one. They just added 4 player co-op.

 

[LordRaptor]

One last thing, are Lift London still around?

Lift London have always been mobile / tablet focussed, and presumably now hololens focussed given the state of Windows Mobile.

 

[shingi70]

So what are you guys expecting for new announcements this year. I'm hoping we see Recore 2 and either Fable or a new WRPG IP announced.

Here's hoping Microsoft is rebuilding their first party up behind the scenes.

 

[jelly]

I would like to see an action adventure that brings something new to the table. That's one hole they've never filled.

 

[etta]

I want a Rare Fable.

 

[Hoo-doo]

One of the easiest fixes Microsoft could do is partner up with Mistwalker again with a multi game deal and produce AA to AAA JRPGs for their console and Windows 10, and fill a hole in their genre software lineup.

Sure, if they like pissing away money. This approach didn't work with the Xbox 360 when they were on top, why would it change anything now.

 

[wapplew]

Sure, if they like pissing away money.

Pissing money away is how you build diverse first party portfolio.
You use 2 profitable titles to fund 8 risky titles. First party is not like other publisher, they don't need every game to be winner.

 

[Hoo-doo]

Pissing money away is how you build diverse first party portfolio.
You use 2 profitable titles to fund 8 risky titles.

Obviously. But Xbox is in a tough spot now that their flagship moneymaker franchises (Halo, Gears) are seemingly on a downward trajectory.

I think they need to invest in new big western IP franchises to get the money and sales train rolling again before spending significant funding on genres or franchises that have a very limited audience on Xbox anyway.

 

[TylerDurden4321]

As someone who preferred Sony's exclusive last-gen and Microsoft's exclusives this-gen, I have to say...
this doesn't look so good. More diversity and smaller games, maybe one big new franchise and some bigger changes for Halo would be nice to see. Even something that always sells its 2-3 million units every year like Forza should switch up the formula some more than tic-toc with Horizon.

 

[LukasTaves]

Wasn't there a rumor that 343 was working ok a new IP?

Obsidian already nearly went bankrupt when Microsoft cancelled their Xbox One exclusive RPG (Stormlands).

That says the game was canceled on the last greenlit meeting, meaning it was a project which still had a high cancellation chance. What killed them was that besides that project they weren't be able to strike deals with any other publisher for a while.

 

[tearsintherain]

I thought Turn 10 makes only mainline Forza games (Forza 4, 5, 6, APEX) and Playground Games makes Forza Horizon games. Playground Games is based in the UK and has over 100 employees according to wikipedia. They are not owned by Microsoft and are independent but I believe they are the only ones who worked on FH2 and FH3.

 

[lightskintwin]

Sure, if they like pissing away money. This approach didn't work with the Xbox 360 when they were on top, why would it change anything now.

I think Microsoft should have some games they already know aren't going to make their money back but diversifies their lineup in order to make their console appeal to a broader audience, and more importantly their ecosystem. Plus it's not as if those Mistwalker JRPGs sold terribly.

 

[LukasTaves]

Lift London have always been mobile / tablet focussed, and presumably now hololens focussed given the state of Windows Mobile.

IIRC, they canceled all HoloLens games and shifted the studio towards other stuff when it was decided that HoloLens wouldn't be a consumer oriented device for a few years.

 

[IncognitoPanda]

Well... MS have the rest of those European billions they can't bring back into the states without paying tax on, and Crytek just unloaded a bunch of studios.

Time to do some shopping me thinks.




Also, would someone please... for the love of god.... get working on a 3rd person, splinter cell style, Perfect Dark game.

I've been saying the same thing! Or you could mix it with mirror's edge.

 

[Hoo-doo]

I think Microsoft should have some games they already know aren't going to make their money back but diversifies their lineup in order to make their console appeal to a broader audience, and more importantly their ecosystem.

Substantially broadening the Xbox audience by courting AAA JRPG's is not realistic. The majority of that audience is elsewhere.

Xbox needs to capitalize on their strengths before trying to put an ineffectual band-aid on their weaknesses. Where's the next big western IP similar to Gears/Halo? They can't simply keep coasting on those two, that much is obvious.

 

[lightskintwin]

Substantially broadening the Xbox audience by courting AAA JRPG's is not realistic. The majority of that audience is elsewhere.

Xbox needs to capitalize on their strengths before trying to put an ineffectual band-aid on their weaknesses. Where's the next big western IP similar to Gears/Halo? They can't simply keep coasting on those two, that much is obvious.

Damn, can't argue with you there. I think the first thing is making certain their platform is the best place to play the biggest third party games like Madden, Fifa, Cod, Assassin's Creed, and GTA which they plan to fix with Scorpio.

After that, yeah you're probably right that they need to find or create their next biggest IP for their platform.

But in the meantime, they could do something smaller like fund another Mistwalker JRPG. LOL

 

[Magic Mushroom]

Still excited about Scalebound and whatever Moon Studios is working on and I can't wait to play Cuphead, but that's about it for me.

 

[Theorry]

Dont know what MS needs to do. Its not that they are not trying new IP's. They just dont take off. Think most off the Xbox gamers are just fine with it being their, Madden, NBA, FIFA, Netflix machine every year.

 

[Bits N Pieces]

Lift London have always been mobile / tablet focussed, and presumably now hololens focussed given the state of Windows Mobile.

After a bit of Google searching I came across this article from July of last year on Lee Schuneman (ex Rare vet) who's is the studio head at Lift.

http://news.microsoft.com/en-gb/201...fxljo6zh6ejju5d2420oal750#C8BhCH6FIPY1OObd.97

Tell us about your current role

Lift is focused on innovating across Windows apps, devices and services, with a view to attracting a wider audience in particular millennials and Generation Z (eight to 15 year olds). There are three key trends we care about. First, 3D computing is going to be real, we just don’t know when. Secondly, changing the way we work. Everyone under 30 has grown up with videogames and online interaction and they expect work to be like that but most offices & tools today are based on a 60 to 70-year-old design. The workforce expects very different things from the workplace and the workplace is the one that has to change. The third trend is around “creativity is the new productivity”. The nature of work is changing, as artificial intelligence and machine learning improve. The need to be more creative in work will increase, but then you will also have more time outside of work and want to be more creative in general. Lift is on the sharp point of delivering products. We have to make something that hundreds of millions of people will love.

What are your aims?

You reach a point where you realise that everything you do is about helping people become better. That’s how I run the studio and the team. We have an empowering culture here that allows people to do their best work. I think, “here’s the mission, what are the roles that I need to complete that mission and then who are the right people to fill those roles”.

And

Finally, are there any exciting things you’re working on that you can’t talk about?

Yes, loads…

So it seems they might be working on games for a multitude of devices.

 

[LordRaptor]

So it seems they might be working on games for a multitude of devices.

That article suggests they're not making games at all, but are experimenting with creation tools like Googles Tilt Brush or Media Molecules Dreams.
Either way, if you are expecting games from them, you should be expecting Hexic rather than Fable.

 

[Exploratory]

I just want to hear more about State of Decay 2.

 

[Angel_DvA]

Because they're probably of the belief that giving up the power advantage now that Sony created a console that was easy to develop for along with their "always online" gaffe is what significantly impacted the outcome of this generation's console war, and not the output of their first party or third party exclusives.

I can't say that they're wrong.

That's a mistake, power advantage is sure a good thing but exclusives are the major problem of the Xbox Brand, why would people buy Scorpio ? to play the same game they can have on PC/PS4 ? lol

 

[lightskintwin]

That's a mistake, power advantage is sure a good thing but exclusives are the major problem of the Xbox Brand, why would people buy Scorpio ? to play the same game they can have on PC/PS4 ? lol

I think you're overestimating exclusives. If they were as important as you think they are then Nintendo would win every generation.

 

[VendettaRed07]

geez...

Considering how much they rely on Halo.. Man, the next game really needs to step it up. I don't think an e-sports arena shooter is big enough to fill the void with the lack of studios they have.

Really needs to be a bigger, pseudo destiny clone with tons of PVE content and yearly expansions to keep people interested and coming back.

 

[Hoo-doo]

I think you're overestimating exclusives. If they were as important as you think they are then Nintendo would win every generation.

Maybe we should be looking at the total package.

Nintendo (arguably) has the best exclusives but none of the third party titles.
Microsoft has third parties on board with a small core stable of exclusives that are slowly losing their shine.
Sony has the third parties and their big stable of first-party studios/IP's to leverage as well as broad japanese developer support.

geez...

Considering how much they rely on Halo.. Man, the next game really needs to step it up. I don't think an e-sports arena shooter is big enough to fill the void with the lack of studios they have.

Really needs to be a bigger, pseudo destiny clone with tons of PVE content and yearly expansions to keep people interested and coming back.

Destiny could have been that game that put Xbox back on the map. Didn't they have right of first refusal on that game?

 

[PanicFreak]

As others already pointed out, MS was never able to compete with the others in this field. But especially during the last generation they had 2 juggernaut IPs which sold extremely good (just remember that Greenberg tweet regarding Halo 3 sales).

This gen Halo 5 barely met expectations (sales-wise) and for all we know Gears 4 bombed. So people start looking at other exclusives from MS.

While MS has some interesting new IPs in the oven, SoT above all, there isn't a single worthy Halo or even Gears (sales) successor on the Horizon (pun intended).

Furthermore, MS seems to have no intention to give IPs which didn't have super satisfying sales numbers right from the start a second chance. It must be very inconvenient for XBOX players to see that exciting games like Quantum Break or Sunset Overdrive apparently don't get a sequel, while Sony fans get Knack 2.

To be fair, Knack apparently sold decently even though it was critically panned. From that perspective, Knack's performance was more in line with Ryse than the two games you highlighted. Microsoft tried to get a sequel to Ryse going but hasn't been able to.

That said, I would welcome a sequel for either QB or SO.

 

[pswii60]

Don't understand microsofts attitude to be honest . Any generation the hardware is going to very close between themselves and Sony . One might be slightly more powerful but it's not going to be huge .

The difference is first party games as we can all play the third party stuff on each console . Why they don't invest more into this is beyond me .

Investment in first party and IP also makes the Xbox division more lucrative and secure for the future too.

As an example, if Playstation suddenly failed dramatically and Sony had to pull out of the hardware race due to financial pressures, they'd be able to go third party and become a major publisher with a huge portfolio of developers and IP under their belt. Xbox would be left with very little in comparison, outside of Halo and Forza and a couple of studios.

 

[DriftingSpirit]

This one is kinda that

Thanks.

 

[lightskintwin]

Maybe we should be looking at the total package.

Nintendo (arguably) has the best exclusives but none of the third party titles.
Microsoft has third parties on board with a small core stable of exclusives that are slowly losing their shine.
Sony has the third parties and their big stable of first-party studios/IP's to leverage as well as broad japanese developer support.

I agree, but you talked about playing to Microsoft's strengths and it's always been being the best place to play big western IP games which they lost initially by an "always online" debacle and an underpowered system in comparison to PS4.

As long as Microsoft fixes that, they'll be fine.

 

[Salty Hippo]

As others already pointed out, MS was never able to compete with the others in this field. But especially during the last generation they had 2 juggernaut IPs which sold extremely good (just remember that Greenberg tweet regarding Halo 3 sales).

This gen Halo 5 barely met expectations (sales-wise) and for all we know Gears 4 bombed. So people start looking at other exclusives from MS.

While MS has some interesting new IPs in the oven, SoT above all, there isn't a single worthy Halo or even Gears (sales) successor on the Horizon (pun intended).

Furthermore, MS seems to have no intention to give IPs which didn't have super satisfying sales numbers right from the start a second chance. It must be very inconvenient for XBOX players to see that exciting games like Quantum Break or Sunset Overdrive apparently don't get a sequel, while Sony fans get Knack 2.

Microsoft DESTROYED Sony in terms of first-party + partnerships for the first 3 years of last-gen in my opinion. It's not that they don't have the means to do it, it's just that their gaming division is currently run by idiots who can't think long term. Everything went downhill after Peter Moore bailed.

 

[bidguy]

hoping they saved some stuff for scorpio but im not too optimistic tbh

 

[JlNX]

Some of you guys are missing the point, look at 3 years of releases.

2015- 6 Triple AAA exclusives
-Ori (We couldn't predict because second party)
-Rare replay
-Gears ultimate
(Two games we couldn't predict because they were working on them as secondary games)
-Forza Motorsport 7
-HALO 5
-Rise of the tomb raider (We couldn't predict because it was a third party relationship)

2016- 6 Triple AAA exclusives
-Quantum break (We couldn't predict because it was second party and now we don't if remedy will work with Ms again)
-Recore (We couldn't predict because it was second party)
-Forza horizon 3
-killer Instinct season 3(we don't if iron galaxy is working on a sequel due to second party)
-Gears of war 4
-Dead Rising 4 (We couldn't predict because second party)

2017- 8 Triple AAA exclusives
-Halo wars 2 (We couldn't predict because second party)
-sea of thieves
-Scalebound (We couldn't predict because second party)
-Forza motorsport 7
-State of decay 2 (Kinda of hard two predict a Triple AAA sequel)
-Crackdown 3 (We couldn't predict because second party)
-Heavily rumoured Ori sequel (Kinda hard two predict because second party)
-Phantom dust HD (We couldn't predict because second party)

2018- 2? Triple AAA exclusives
-Halo 6?
-Forza horizon 4?

2019- 2?
-Gears 5?
-Forza motorsport 8?

The point here being you can't predict ms games each year because of reliance (if not dependence) on second party relationships. But one thing you can tell is since Phil has taken over number of exclusives and size of games are getting bigger and more second party relationships are being formed (that 14 games in development number.)

New ip this generation-
-Ori (We couldn't predict because second party)
-Project spark
-Quantum break (We couldn't predict because second party)
-Ryse (We couldn't predict because second party)
-Recore (We couldn't predict because second party)
-Scalebound (We couldn't predict because second party)
-Screamride (We couldn't predict because second party)
-Sea of thieves
-Sunset overdrive (We couldn't predict because second party)
-Crimson dragon (We couldn't predict because second party)
-D4 (We couldn't predict because second party)

Even the new ip's to look forward two cannot be predicted and this is only going to get harder with Phil spencer talking recently about quick announcement to release (within 12 months.)

 

[Sydle]

I have high hopes for most games in that list, but I have to admit it feels light. Hopefully there are a handful of new games announced this year beyond new Forza and Halo.

I'd also love to see MS do a better job promoting Crackdown, Scalebound, and Sea of Thieves. We've known about them for a long time but I feel we still know very little about them. I'm going to be sad if they send them all to die in the holiday window along side the likes of RDR 2 and Destiny 2. Those are going to suck all of the air out the room.

 

[DriftingSpirit]

I think MS is working on bringing back Fable.

 

[Bitch Pudding]

Microsoft DESTROYED Sony in terms of first-party + partnerships for the first 3 years of last-gen in my opinion. It's not that they don't have the means to do it, it's just that their gaming division is currently run by idiots who can't think long term. Everything went downhill after Peter Moore bailed.

XBOX360 initial line-up was indeed excellent and made me buy one. But after all it was just a straw fire, while PS3 got major exclusives like GT6 or TLOU in the later years as well. The big picture is that MS lacks resources (studios) to deliver a constant flow of major exclusives during the entire life-cycle of its consoles.

2017- 8 Triple AAA exclusives
(list)

I doubt all the games you mention here a AAAAAAAAA games.

 

[Donniewahlberg]

I think MS is working on bringing back Fable.

Here's hoping! I'm not sure they'd be interested after their run ins with high level projects in the past, but I think Larian would be a great match to re-imagine Fable. They have rpg chops and the right kind of humour.

The point here being you can't predict ms games each year because of reliance (if not dependence) on second party relationships.

I was trying to get at this with my prior post, it's how I see it too.It's makes it harder/less fun to speculate in threads like these, but remembering this is the case (and how great some of those games have turned out) should help stop alarm bells ringing. The hope would be too in a few years you can speculate about these studios though because MS will have fostered a relationship with the dev and the IP, hopefully with Moon Studios and so on.

 

[TM94]

Yep this thread has been needed for ages, thanks.

 

[Bits N Pieces]

I have high hopes for most games in that list, but I have to admit it feels light. Hopefully there are a handful of new games announced this year beyond new Forza and Halo.

I'd also love to see MS do a better job promoting Crackdown, Scalebound, and Sea of Thieves. We've known about them for a long time but I feel we still know very little about them. I'm going to be sad if they send them all to die in the holiday window along side the likes of RDR 2 and Destiny 2. Those are going to suck all of the air out the room.

I've actually been thinking about making a thread on that very subject. With Scorpio releasing this year its put everything up in the air.

Say Scorpio releases in November of this year, do Microsoft wait to put out SoT, Crackdown, Scalebound and SoD2 around release (very congested) or do they release those games earlier and lose immediate sales through people waiting to buy Scorpio and play those games on that machine (loss of revenue)?

Its a prickly situation to be in and honestly, I don't know the best way to deal with it?

 

[pswii60]

Microsoft DESTROYED Sony in terms of first-party + partnerships for the first 3 years of last-gen in my opinion. It's not that they don't have the means to do it, it's just that their gaming division is currently run by idiots who can't think long term. Everything went downhill after Peter Moore bailed.

RROD aside, Peter Moore era MS was the best by far. The first few years of 360 were incredible.

 

[Bgamer90]

Substantially broadening the Xbox audience by courting AAA JRPG's is not realistic. The majority of that audience is elsewhere.

Xbox needs to capitalize on their strengths before trying to put an ineffectual band-aid on their weaknesses. Where's the next big western IP similar to Gears/Halo? They can't simply keep coasting on those two, that much is obvious.

Exactly. Them doubling up on AAA niche genre exclusives isn't going to help. Third party games are selling consoles the most.

 

[JlNX]

Can we all agree that the best way to judge ms first party is by their releases rather than their hypothetical next 3 years. With Microsoft it’s best to only judge a year ahead after e3, Anything after that is impossible and inaccurate. And i don’t know about you but looking back at 2015 and 2016, looking at 2017 on the horizon i’m very happy with ms first party. If they keep the level of releases of 2017 up for the rest of the generation I have no problem.

 

[OrochiJR]

As an XB1 owner and potential Scorpio buyer, this list sucks.

Yup, pretty much sums up my point of view, and I am on board with the Xbox brand since 2002. Scalebound is definitely of interest to me, maybe Halo Wars 2 depending on how it plays with a controller. But it seems they have no real big guns for Scorpio's launch, besides Crackdown 3 for those who like that. And with development cycles getting longer and longer I doubt they are announcing something at E3 that will release at the end of the year. As of now, Scorpio has no real raison d'être besides powerful hardware. But hardware alone doesn't cut it without games. I am under the impression that they are content with just a few "exclusives" (not really since their play anywhere deal) and multiplats and lost their will to compete head on with Sony for that number one spot among consoles.

There are two possibilities that can happen at this point: Possibility 1 is they do have stuff in the pipeline that they are holding off on announcing until the hype over the Switch (pre-)release has calmed down to make an impact on their own.
Possibility 2 is nearly the same, only they announce at E3 that Scorpio is not really part of the Xbone "family" and gets exclusive games. This would make sense as they had to talk people into buying the Xbox One Slim at the time, so they may have tweaked the truth a little. They then go on announcing some new excusive stuff.

 

[N7.Angel]

Maybe we should be looking at the total package.

Nintendo (arguably) has the best exclusives but none of the third party titles.
Microsoft has third parties on board with a small core stable of exclusives that are slowly losing their shine.
Sony has the third parties and their big stable of first-party studios/IP's to leverage as well as broad japanese developer support.



Destiny could have been that game that put Xbox back on the map. Didn't they have right of first refusal on that game?

Exclusives aren't as important as they were years ago BUT they are definitley what defines the identity of the platform, the PS4 has everything the Xbox One don't: Real exclusives, "Exclusive" third party games, diverse IPs, Jap studio supports etc...

I can try to look at every angle, atm, the Xbox One is just a worst PS4 platform, it has less exclusive, less power, weakest online community and a blurry future.

 

[Hoo-doo]

Some of you guys are missing the point, look at 3 years of releases.

snip

The big movers for Xbox One were still Halo, Gears and Forza. And the problem is that not even these franchises are pulling numbers like they used to.
If Microsoft had their studios lined up for a handful of new franchises at the start of this generation, I don't think we would have seen this current level of apathy. They could have kept building and diversifying from there.

They have lost a lot in comparison with last generation, but they still have tons of space to maneuver. Hopefully they realize by now that doubling down on three core last-gen franchises isn't enough to keep a steady base of interest going. They need to go big and let their studios breathe and experiment with new stuff instead of leashing them to one franchise forever.

 

[labaronx]

I want a Rare Fable.

I agree. Thats the logical place to send the ip... dont expect it til 2019- 2020 though lol