XBOX needs to stop the forced and fake hype, stop hyping everything, including movie and CG trailers. Concentrate on delivering quality games. XBOX has changed the type of games they were known for. They've gone from lots of adult type games to titles like Super Lucky, Ori etc. That won't change their fortunes. Even though Kakuto Chojin on OG XBOX was not the best, I appreciated it as a fighter, it was a new IP and it had some unique features. You could play Ninja Gaiden on OG XBOX, you could play crimson skies, you could play the splinter cell series, you could play the Otogi games and DOA3 and so much more. There was a reason to own and OG XBOX, why? because of good exclusives....The fact that MS has been in PR defensive mode suggesting that exclusives don't matter is the furthest thing from the truth, the fact that people repeat and believe that PR is even sadder, because things their games fortune will never improve..
The trend of a lack of game quality will extend for many years to come based on the studios they acquired and the fact that they are about gamepass.....All your Inxile's, Rare's, Compulsion, Obsidian is only going to push gamepass quality content and their titles may be rushed, because if their top studios like 343 are behind the 8-ball, they would need new content to keep propping gamepass and they will need it in a hurry, so even their upcoming gamepass content will be less quality and rushed. Remember they said they need to have first party gamepass content rotating every 3 months, in essence new games for gamepass....
I think some are a bit too optimistic of gamepass fortunes. I hear people say, their AAA studios are not ready, but gamepass is great, no. If you see, they need their AAA studios to keep gamepass somewhat relevant, the smaller games wont keep people subscribed. People dollar subbed for Gears 5 and were banking to dollar sub for Halo Infinite, but if Infinite is delayed, it means there's even less traction for the service after it's revenue stream is already being heavily compromised through all these promotions....People feel it's doing well, but it's not and when MS's shuts it down, no one should be surprised and it's when you will get the real tea, that anybody who did business 101 can see through right now. In essence it's not a profit based business and it cannot sustain itself currently. MS is losing lots of money through missteps. 10 million gamepass subs are not people paying $15 a month, not even close, are not even active members.
XBOX should go back to working on new IP's, get their own, try something. Move away from Gears, Halo and Forza a bit unless they are rebooting these franchises. At least Sony rebooted GOW and GT and gave us a new racer in DC. They need to give people a reason to look at something from them that they can't get elsewhere and it's quality. Yet it looks like they are just not ready, if an almost 6 year old game in development is being delayed, then Playground is no where near releasing this Fable game, Forza does not look close to ready. Gears 5 if they don't improve this franchise, the next game will tank heavily amongst critics, there was no soul to any of the characters on Gears 5, story made no sense and graphics was overrated by a tech outlet which is cozy with MS. You need to have people who are normally against you to sing your praises, not vice versa, because it will be the equivalent of sweet nothings that does nothing to improve MS's fortunes...
At this point, MS came to the race and they have no shoes on. Lots of indie studios acquired in 2018, nothing to show. Gears team are not close to showing a game, hence why they are showing a 4K 60fps Gears 5 with a few tweaks. The Initiative always sounds to me like a studio where MS finally woke up. An initiative finally to bring some good AAA games, but with 40 odd staff members, there is no way that studio is going to measure up to Naughty Dog or any Studio from PS. The fact that turn 10 can't get something at launch, I think that was the biggest clue.....These guys have been at at it for over two years....and a no show on launch hardware? I mean we know 343 has been misfiring, but T10 is always there at launch.....So perhaps Schreier or someone has to break a story or perhaps Dusk Golem, because all these studios being unprepared when certain media outlets were ranting and raving on how prepared MS was, means somebody was straight lying and hiding the truth...
I'm not sure Microsoft has ever gotten it right.
Xbox had issues too, specifically around their contract with Nvidia which prevented them from being as aggressive with pricing and also cut the life cycle of the device short (not to mention making future backwards compatibility problematic). And while it wasn't as bad as DRE (Disc Read Errors) on PS2, the XBox used three different DVD drive manufacturers which resulted in variable performance and DDE (dirty disc errors). As much as I love the Duke, that controller design was a mistake. On the plus side, the hardware was really powerful and Micorsoft used their know-how in developing Xbox Live. It helps that they charged for the service and limited it to broadband connections only. Sony on the other hand went the free route putting a larger burden on developers and also supported dial-up. Having Halo revolutionize the console shooter certainly helps, but all and all they duked it out with Nintendo for a very distant 2nd place. A good first effort.
Bonus thought: The Rare acquisition.
Sony opened the door to Microsoft with insane pricing and continued down the path of Kutagari's eccentric hardware design philosophies. Microsoft countered with a more powerful, less expensive and easier to develop system and built upon their Live service which was miles ahead of PSN. It helps that they launched a year earlier. The issue is they also delivered what has to be the most faulty console hardware the industry has ever witnessed. After denying failure levels were above industry standard (3%-5%), they eventually extended the warranties on the 360 to 3 years. Sony managed to overtake them late in the generation but they finished a close 3rd and showed tremendous growth from the original Xbox. They also found success with Kinect and with the 360 always being connected, they could data mine how their console was being used (TV Apps). Combine the billion they sank in correcting their engineering follies and how their late success with Kinect/TV Apps led to them misreading the market and sabotaging the launch of the One. All and all it's their most successful foray into Xbox.
Bonus thought: Mismanaging their Bungie relationship.
Random: It will be interesting to see how Series X does. I'm not sure they'll ever make inroads into Asian markets which I guess makes the 360 performance even more remarkable.
Actually the percentage failure rate was 54%. I get that people felt 360 was successful and it certainly was moreso than OG XBOX, yet if you deduct that failure rate from XBOX 360's final tally you will get around 40 million units. Some people bought that console up to 13 times as they were heavily invested in LIVE, we know how devoted MS fans were to LIVE, their gamerscore, their controller and their friends, but in reality the actual installbase was much less due to the high failure rate. People forget that MS spent over 1 billion dollars to arrest RROD, which is a major loss from millions of defunct 360 units...
In essence, coming into this gen, people were misguided that XBOX would go to sell 80 million units, dis-regarding what really caused the spike in 360 sales and that's with them having better software support in the 360 days vs the XBOX ONE. People think it was because of DRM that MS is not pulling PS4 numbers, but fail to understand it's about brand awareness, PS exclusives and trust in Sony. People have no problem buying PS even in the last days till next gen, because they know the games and support will flow to the very end. MS has not proven that to gamers, so their playerbase will always be limited to the same hardcore crowd......I do think that their hardcore base will shrink even more next gen....but that's mostly on them and some of the fans who always commend them no matter what type of software they put out...who at the same time rail on 90+ Goty games, which review and sell a tonne to millions of people....Crying that your lesser games are fun and that the games which million more enjoyed are straight trash.....That is the mentality that the XBOX horde have to get over because they justify all the failings MS does over and over again, meaning there will be no change if they keep stamping MS's current output with their seal of approval....
