What does Microsoft need to do to make Xbox successful again?

For me, they need to diversify their exclusive games. I don't care about the vast majority of MS's exclusive games they're currently offering.

When I was debating between the PS4 and XB1, the biggest reason I opted for the PS4 was for games like Uncharted and The Last of Us. Sony is releasing games that I'm interested in and want to play.

With 3rd party games being pretty much the same between the two consoles, it's due to the exclusive titles and Sony is winning in that dept for me.
 
This January to March period really should have been Horizon Zero Dawn versus Zelda Breath of the Wild versus Halo Wars 2. Each company basically had one internally-developed 1st party game.

Uh... Sony also had Gravity Rush 2 and MLB: The Show. Nintendo had 1-2 Switch.
 
1) Not Trump (I hate the slogan)
2) Bring in some 1st party RPGs
3) More diversity in games that are AAA 1st / 2nd party
4) Better support for other countries than US and UK
 
- Make Fable back into the franchise it once was.
- Resurrect Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey.
- Crimson Skies 2
- Make a new Perfect Dark
- Give Forza a break
- Have Remedy make a game instead of a TV show
- More new ips
 
Xbox is at the top of the game in regards to features and soon hardware, i think alot of Phil's work was putting infrastructure and system specific changes in place, now that it's there, they need the games, BIG games, show off the hardware and services they've invested in.

I honestly think play anywhere, backwards compatibility, Azure services, Xbox controller API and more recently ID@Xbox is great for Devs and goodwill building, but this all now needs to convert into a product, Phil should focus on games and content. E3 is make or break imo.
 
Price Scorpio at $399

They need to hit that price, without question.

That said the moment they do Sony will drop price on Pro, making it really tough for them. sure Scorpio is more powerful than pro, but if pro is at 350 or 299 it's a tough sell when the PS4 catalog is so much more diverse.

They really need to crush it at e3, showing some must have exclusives (presumably Crackdown 3 and Sea of Thieves?). At the moment the must have games are all on other platforms, and it's hurting them a lot.
 
Scorpio is in the right direction. They should aim to always have the best performance and online for third party since their first party is so weak.

Let studios make mistakes and then make sequels. Sometimes an IP needs two iterations to become good.

Scalebound looked like trash though. Keep that canceled.

Make sure that they moneyhat better projects
 
Of course, this will only matter for MS if it's an exclusive. They also mentioned it will be a different studio, so I'd expect them to still pump out Forza Horizon every 2 years.

Of course! That's their money maker. They'd be stupid not to.
 
They need to make a games console and not a multimedia center.

Make the console look nice.

I think games are fine as is and they shouldnt take too many risks. Just gotta be smart in what you invest in.
 
2. Push the medium forward. Microsoft hasn't made a game that has pushed the industry forward since Halo. It needs to foster creatives like Sony has—and it needs Naughty Dog calibre studios in its arsenal that can use a longer-term focus to create revolutionary pieces of art that shake up the industry.
Wut? They had Gears, which shook up the industry, and that Naughty Dog tried to copy it's tps mechanics with uncharted.

Far less games tried to copy uncharted and the biggest one that does manage to outdo them spectacularly on the gameplay, and no one but Sony seems to be chasing The Last of Us.

Edit: And you picked the worst time to say their lineup isn't trying to push the industry forward. There was nothing like Scalebound, there's nothing like Sea of Thieves and Crackdown 3 is also doing stuff no one else is. How's that not pushing forward and how often can a publisher say it had 3 games coming out in the same year that was unlike anything else?
 
Investing in first party studios is what Microsoft should have done years ago; unfortunately that strategy will require 4-5 years to pay dividends, so it's not appropriate for the Xbox One. In terms of short term fixes:

1. Make online play free on Xbox.
2. Offer moneyhats to third party developers for exclusives (true exclusives; don't spend anything on timed exclusives). It'd probably be better to have 20 Shovel Knights than 1 Grand Theft Auto V. Throw some money at those guys who made the Metroid 2 remake, and see what they can come up with.
3. Improve backwards compatibility, and use it smartly. Like The Witness? Try Braid. Like Nier: Automata on PS4? Try the original on Xbox One.
 
Take some chances.
Not cancel games.
Invest in new IPs and not cancel them. Stop converting entire studios into single-IP factory lines.

Pretty much this. I can't speak for anyone else but myself, but Scalebound's cancellation is what is keeping me from purchasing an Xbone and there really isn't a whole lot Microsoft can do that could convince me to change my mind at this point.

I'd also like to add that maybe take a chance or two on IPs that they have been sitting on for a long time. I mean, Killer Instinct was extremely successful for them despite the franchise not being touched in fifteen years and not having that sort of brand recognition that Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat enjoys. You'd think that maybe they would take a hint and try to do something similar with some of the other Rare properties. Some of those franchises you don't even need a huge triple-A budget to make a great product, I am sure you could do an awesome Battletoads game on a low budget and sell it for 10-15 dollars.
 
Debatable if the Xbox brand ever was great. The only time it looked good was by comparison during a dark period for gaming where Nintendo was obsessed with motion control and Sony was suffering the most horrendous launch crisis imaginable. I don't think they'll be granted that sort of opportunity again.
It has its niche for the casual, male American gamer and I'm sure they'll continue to do reasonable from that.
 
I agree on the Halo RPG but it should not be made by 343i. They either need to get a new team to work on it or see if somebody like Bioware or CDPR would be interested in doing it.

In all honesty. MS needs new IP akin to Horizon Zero Dawn/Last of Us. It needs to be entirely single player/narrative driven because the Multiplayer market has been swallowed up by the third party and long gone are the days of Halo or Gears having any significance in that market. MS needs to build a roster of characters. Currently it has Master Chief and Marcus Fenix. Both are decreasing in popularity and relevance with each entry. I would love to see what a Studio like Turn 10 or Playground games could do if they were put onto one of these projects. That also leads me to my next point. Forza should not be an annual title. It is quickly becoming a diluted brand that already has an equal number of mainline entries into the series as GT despite being around for a much shorter period of time.At worst they could revive the Project Gotham series which IMO was always more enjoyable than the Forza games.

I was always very intrigued by games such as Kameo Elements of Power but it seemed like MS never went all the way with them and you had a cool concept delivered half baked.Blinx was the same. Commit a top studio to a prject of that ilk and see where it goes.
 
Iam expecting this E3 to be the first year of Phil Spencer's era of Xbox where they won't look like they are rebuilding a disaster. From the interviews the past couple months it looks like he's dying to pull back the curtain. If they fail to win over all gamers this year they are doomed.
 
Let 343 make a new IP.
Let the Coalition make something not Gears of War.



No point in just funding random new IP from random developers then wondering why it failed. If you want your next mega IP then get your biggest, most talented teams to do it. Treat it like the big event it is and hope for success.

Any big brand will wain and fade away with time. Nothing is popular forever no matter how hard you try Its happening with Halo and Gears. Accept it and start preparing.
 
I agree on the Halo RPG but it should not be made by 343i. They either need to get a new team to work on it or see if somebody like Bioware or CDPR would be interested in doing it.

In all honesty. MS needs new IP akin to Horizon Zero Dawn/Last of Us. It needs to be entirely single player/narrative driven because the Multiplayer market has been swallowed up by the third party and long gone are the days of Halo or Gears having any significance in that market. MS needs to build a roster of characters. Currently it has Master Chief and Marcus Fenix. Both are decreasing in popularity and relevance with each entry. I would love to see what a Studio like Turn 10 or Playground games could do if they were put onto one of these projects. That also leads me to my next point. Forza should not be an annual title. It is quickly becoming a diluted brand that already has an equal number of mainline entries into the series as GT despite being around for a much shorter period of time.At worst they could revive the Project Gotham series which IMO was always more enjoyable than the Forza games.

I was always very intrigued by games such as Kameo Elements of Power but it seemed like MS never went all the way with them and you had a cool concept delivered half baked.Blinx was the same. Commit a top studio to a prject of that ilk and see where it goes.

Isn't FH3 their biggest seller? I'm pretty sure it is so that doesn't really jive with what you wrote.
 
Drop Xbox One - the platform is tarnished. Start again - new name, new console and secure a fresh bunch of compelling Xbox-only (no PC) exclusives.
 
Let 343 make a new IP.
Let the Coalition make something not Gears of War.



No point in just funding random new IP from random developers then wondering why it failed. If you want your next mega IP then get your biggest, most talented teams to do it. Treat it like the big event it is and hope for success.

Any big brand will wain and fade away with time. Nothing is popular forever no matter how hard you try Its happening with Halo and Gears. Accept it and start preparing.

That would go completely against the reason why those studios exist in the first place.
 
Bring back Don Mattrick

you joke

but at least under his time as xboss, they announced new ips that also actually made it all the way to release

stuff like quantum break, ryse and sunset overdrive

maybe he wasn't as bad as we remember him to be

events could be interpreted as mattrick being good at talking bullshit about media and services to placate the corporate overlords, while still delivering plenty of new games for owners of the platform

while phil is good at talking bullshit about new games to placate owners of the platform, while actually mostly delivering good services to please fans and corporate
 
Price Scorpio at $399

They need to hit that price, without question.

Scorpio is in the right direction. They should aim to always have the best performance and online for third party since their first party is so weak.

Maybe I'm just blind, but I'm just not understanding how the Scorpio is going to drastically change things. I'm not saying that's what you three are saying, but I've seen others act like this is what is going to completely turn the tides.

I guess what I'm asking is how is this going to be much different from the PS4 Pro? I mean I have no doubt that Microsoft will market the Scorpio far better than the Pro, but other than that, I'm not seeing much of a difference in how things will play out.

Like the Pro, the Scorpio will result in increased sales for a few months (around the fall/holiday season), where it+Xbone will outsell the PS4+Pro handily for a while (in the US/UK). But then what once the newness factor wears off? I assume the hope is that the power difference, along with improved system/software features no doubt, will help to shift perception? Because the Pro hasn't really resulted in increased baseline sales for the PS4. It's just another option for people.
 
I mostly think they're on the right track. Regarding cancellations: As painful as Scalebound's cancellation was to some, and as much as I love most of platinum's games, the game looked like shit in every public showing. It was going to bomb HARD. So was Fable legends. So was (is?) Phantom Dust. Microsoft took the feedback of not enough exclusives at the end of last gen, and was trying to rectify that. It's a shame that these games ended up being stinkers, but after two high profile failures of this type and the underperformance of both Sunset Overdrive (amazing game) and Quantum Break (decent/okay game), is it any wonder that they're going to continue to rely on their tentpole franchises? Forza is consistently amazing; Halo, despite losing market share to the slew of mega AAA shooter franchises, is still quality; Gears is still reliably making money, even under a new dev studio. They've still got some games in the pipeline, too... Next gen development takes time.

Overall, compared to the pre-release and early launch state of the platform, Xbox is already great again. Tons of indie games, great online sales at least monthly, and great QoL additions to the user interface have made it a great place to play.
 
Apart from Sunset Overdrive and Rare Replay all the big Xbox titles are the same, tonally. I'd imagine diversifying their line up would work wonders. Stop endlessly rinsing the same old concepts, get some japanese and indie studios on your portfolio and price your hardware competitively.

Realistically, I'd rather the Xbox brand just died and the whole division shifted their focus towards PC. Had a blast with my OG/360 but the bone is doing nothing to even captivate me in the slightest and I've purchased every single big system since the 4th gen without fail.
 
Drop Xbox One - the platform is tarnished. Start again - new name, new console and secure a fresh bunch of compelling Xbox-only exclusives.
Cant drop x1, too many people have one. They are doing the right thing with Scorpio allowing all games to be played across all consoles. E3 should explain where Xbox is going.
 
That would go completely against the reason why those studios exist in the first place.

Maybe creating a 1 franchise factory studio was a questionable long term strategy to begin with. Like I said, doesnt matter how hard you try, if you keep having regular releases for a thing eventually a franchises popularity will fade.


And Coalition wasnt originally made to be the Gears factory. They had a new IP brewing but when MS bought Gears they became the Gears house.
 
Pay for devs to make new IP and big budget games for a decade. A full decade, a whole gen and more.

Not for a hardware launch window and then dive out the window and let them fold like they have been doing. Show commitment to the games industry long term from small to mid-tier, not just big ridiculous Minecraft purchases. Blue Dragons, Sunset Overdrives, Otogi's, and so on all the way through without any sign of a wobble.

Also to be perfectly honest they'd have to un-cancel Scalebound as well to ever attract any Japanese games worth any salt. You don't get to operate like a legendary game director such as Kamiya isn't "good enough" and then keep on keeping on. If Platinum and Kamiya's games aren't good enough for your platform, your platform isn't living in reality.
 
Apart from Sunset Overdrive and Rare Replay all the big Xbox titles are the same, tonally. I'd imagine diversifying their line up would work wonders. Stop endlessly rinsing the same old concepts, get some japanese and indie studios on your portfolio and price your hardware competitively.

Realistically, I'd rather the Xbox brand just died and the whole division shifted their focus towards PC. Had a blast with my OG/360 but the bone is doing nothing to even captivate me in the slightest and I've purchased every single big system since the 4th gen without fail.

That silly. It's still going to sell 40-50M consoles. You don't just drop that.
 
I'm fine with what they are doing in general. The Game Pass is a big step and good risk to take. The gold program has been good, sales are interesting, new indie games pop up often, open to MMOs and F2P games on Xbox.

As for studios, yeah I wish they had not cancelled games or closed them as often as they did, but that's just business. They need to foster a better network of studios and have more than just "halo or any other franchise" factories. Those just kill any innovation. Microsoft is wary of the bottom line, but they have a much better position to take those risks vs Sony and Nintendo where other business sectors are doing poorly or nonexistent.
 
Why would bnyone buy a xbox over a pc these days?

Just let Sony and Ninendo fight it out . These are the two true console greats
 
1. Find some talent for halo that understands it's core more.

2. Let 343 make whatever they want so they don't make anymore halos ever again. Don't even let them send any data or help period.

3. Use your ips and make original design choices. Don't make perfect dark like cod etc

Perfect Dark - great mix of sci-fi, and missions that are fun and interesting with a lot of physics based game play. Make the story simple but make it a little extreme and parody a bit. Don't make the levels too large, and mix of original pd and deus ex. Music needs to be banging.

4. Banjo three with a decent budget. Fix the gameplay to make the jumping more skillful. Don't just make large world's and say find this. Make progression make sense sense. Adventure and enemies that do something other than touch you or shoot at you. A mix of sly cooper one with some larger areas would work nicely. Not too large.

5. Get goldeneye port done. Make it happen.

6. Higher caliber arcade games including

Rc pro am
Battle toads with pixel graphics
Killer instinct four
Halo contra like shooter
Cooker kart racer


7. Kameo two with more diverse transformations and better combat

8. Xbox original support

9. Pc on Xbox support with teams creating controller support and some menu adjustments

Deus ex, max Payne, kotor, star wars games galore, splinter cell, horror games, arcade racers etc hundreds of classic games already ready to run great and open up to devs to bring thier games over. Make the games cheaper than steam and make it a big deal. We don't need as many Xbox originals in this situation.

10. Invest in bringing back new classic games and fund them well

Virtua fighter
Ridge Racer
Silent Hill
Condemned 3

10. Arcade zone - help emulate arcade boards to perfection and get companies to bring all thier games with cheap pricing. 2 to 3 dollars per title. Make collections a thing.

Sega all games
Capcom
Midway
Konami
Etc

I'd be flipping out as companies would have finally caught up to what emulation is doing but hopefully better emulation to make the costs owning thousands of games worth it.


Look at Sony and thier issues on bc, poorly optimized and pricing on SNK games and old arcade games. Microsoft could really set a big standard that I've been preaching for fifteen years.
 
Just follow the plan with the release of Scorpio and games like Crackdown, State of Decay and Sea of Thieves. All of those games looks like they are going to offer something you can't get anywhere else. It seems like they have a lot of unique games lined up for the release of Scorpio. Also games like Cuphead and Phantom Dust. It's a good strategy to not have a Halo, Gears or Forza main game this year.

I actually think Microsofts strategy this year looks really promising from a gaming point of view. Lots of unique experiences for gamers and a new console.

They just need to wait it out until E3 and show us Scorpio and the games. I'm not buying all this "crisis" talk on Neogaf.
 
As a longtime Xbox gamer since the OG big black box, I'd really like to see them succeed with Scorpio:

1.) Raw Power with Scorpio- even though I see the notion dismissed more now, we all remember the spec war when this gen launched. I'm hoping Scorpio is the Megaton we've all been waiting for.

2.) Halo - As a longtime player, MS needs to give us Halo 3 Anniversary to give time to really polish Halo 6. Halo 6 at 4k 60fps has to be the obvious hallmark on Scorpio, but local split-screen, co-op, and a more lengthly branching campaign where we can choose Chief or Locke or perhaps have the main-game focus on Chief and DLC be Locke focused. The current multiplayer gameplay is the best, but a larger focus on Big Team Battle maps could do wonders.

3.) Gears - the next gears has to be willing to take some risks point blank. Have a major catastrophe that brings the original cast back together and go balls to the wall. Gears 4 seemed so safe and tame, and not the blockbuster Gears was during its glory days.

4.) Forza - I'm most excited to see the next entry on Scorpio. With the extra power, I'd love to see how it stacks up against Sony's GT Sport (still waiting for my beta invite). I always preferred the gameplay, sound, and ease of menus with Forza. The mainline and horizon series seem to be going in a great direction.

5.) Quality Exclusives- SUNSET OVERDRIVE 2?!?!?! Please please please MS give us this game! Killer Instinct Sequel, Battletoads, Perfect Dark spinoff, Scalebound reboot with new Japan team? MS needs to give us great exclusives to compete. Half-baked games like Recore will not cut it.

6.) 3rd Party Scorpio Benefits - for example with FFXV, let them launch the "high end PC effects and assets" version patch on Scorpio if it can handle it. Offer premium upgrades to titles that exceed what a Ps4 Pro can do.

Hopefully with the upcoming launch, we can see some of these changes.
 
I think they need to hire better producer. One crucial position that very underrated.
Like a producer that have good eye for talent, good at negotiating, will fight budget for the team, can identify development trap early and let creators feel confident and comfortable.
Could use a better marketing head too.
 
Maybe I'm just blind, but I'm just not understanding how the Scorpio is going to drastically change things. I'm not saying that's what you three are saying, but I've seen others act like this is what is going to completely turn the tides.

I guess what I'm asking is how is this going to be much different from the PS4 Pro? I mean I have no doubt that Microsoft will market the Scorpio far better than the Pro, but other than that, I'm not seeing much of a difference in how things will play out.

Like the Pro, the Scorpio will result in increased sales for a few months (around the fall/holiday season), where it+Xbone will outsell the PS4+Pro handily for a while (in the US/UK). But then what once the newness factor wears off? I assume the hope is that the power difference, along with improved system/software features no doubt, will help to shift perception? Because the Pro hasn't really resulted in increased baseline sales for the PS4. It's just another option for people.

It's not gonna change things, I said it was the right direction. Because they lack exclusives they need to rely on as much power as possible so people have a reason to buy their console. Sort of like the opposite of nintendo.

Which is why Sony succeeds. They don't have a deficiency in exclusives or third party games.
 
Just follow the plan with the release of Scorpio and games like Crackdown, State of Decay and Sea of Thieves. All of those games looks like they are going to offer something you can't get anywhere else. It seems like they have a lot of unique games lined up for the release of Scorpio. Also games like Cuphead and Phantom Dust. It's a good strategy to not have a Halo, Gears or Forza main game this year.

I actually think Microsofts strategy this year looks really promising from a gaming point of view. Lots of unique experiences for gamers and a new console.

They just need to wait it out until E3 and show us Scorpio and the games. I'm not buying all this "crisis" talk on Neogaf.

How are any of those games unique experieinces ? lol
 
Isn't FH3 their biggest seller? I'm pretty sure it is so that doesn't really jive with what you wrote.

Sure, it sells well. Now. But what exactly can FH4 do different to FH3 assuming it comes out two years after FH3? There will be series fatigue. Essentially MS would be turning the Forza series into an annualised Ip like Need For Speed. If they were to go for example; Forza 7 (2017), Project Goth Racing (2018), Forza Horizon 4 (2019) then that could help. You would have a sim racer, then an arcade racer and then the open world racer. Diversify the brand a little is all I am saying.
 
Hmm, xbox has never been great for me thinking about it. They just took advantage of Sony's fuck up for a year or 3 and that was it. At least we got Lost Odyssey out of the 360 though, and we got Sunset Overdrive out of the X1.
 
Why would bnyone buy a xbox over a pc these days?

Just let Sony and Ninendo fight it out . These are the two true console greats
Lol you assume every child and adult can purchase a gaming pc. Play great games for 200 bucks is a fkn no brainer compared to 1000+
 
Scorpio
Crackdown
A new Fable by whatever studio you want to make it
A new re-imagimg of halo, they could make it like Destiny and really explore the universe that is Halo. Shared open world PvP experience.

Those are just suggestions, I'll be happy with Scorpio and sea of Thieves.
Why would bnyone buy a xbox over a pc these days?

Just let Sony and Ninendo fight it out . These are the two true console greats
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Come on with this, people own consoles because their friends play on consoles, because they don't want to be bothered with upgrading PC's and consoles are just set up and go.

As far as that silly comment about Nintendo being a console great? Imo it hasn't been great since the game cube or the Nintendo 64.

Microsoft has enjoyed more success in the same amount of time. This weird desire to see Microsoft fail around here is a little unsettling.
 
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