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E3 2021: Xbox has everything to prove, it's time to show off the fruits of its software investments and there's little margin for error

Zeroing

Banned
Not all of us fans have enjoyed the conferences. IMO the last few have been bland, underwhelming and shit. Three friggin Gears games in one conference? F’off.

You know they have been shit when the usual zealot or phoney starts a reaction tweet with “anyone who thought that was meh is getting unfollowed, you’re not a fan “ and rubbish like that.

I’m glad Halo Infinite got delayed because if some had their way with the routine damage control , the game would of released in that state last year.
I understand your situation. What I’ve been seeing is just fans happy but on the flip side of the coin, if you dare to be critical of MS, people will get very angry! It is possible to be critical of something you like.

I still think things will continue like they are. This E3 will not change anything. Most fans will be happy and other people will not get any good reasons on why they should get an Xbox.
 

Papacheeks

Banned
It actually sounds like it's going to be a pretty good mix of Bethesda, Xbox, and Xbox Publishing. All three should be announcing new games and showing gameplay.

Don't expect much from internal studios. From what We have heard maybe we get a new trailer with some snipets of gameplay. But to have a full on demo of Avowed, Perfect Dark, State of decay 3, Everwild, Fable isn't happening from what we are hearing.

Maybe we see some updated trailers that are not full on CGI trailers, but I highly doubt we see anything from those projects with any significance. I'm expecting halo multiplayer, a bunch of third party, exclusive gamepass stuff, and a lot of reveals from Bethesda.

If we see any of those games in a meaningful way I'll be shocked. I do expect to see some surprises though that people wont be expecting.
 

Coolwhhip

Neophyte
That is the problem of people who dont know business. Nothing comes out over night. every thing needs time.

Yeah that's it. Not that this has been going on for about 10 years now for Xbox or anything...

So when can we expect all these stellar first party games on Xbox, mr business?
 

Stuart360

Member
Yeah that's it. Not that this has been going on for about 10 years now for Xbox or anything...

So when can we expect all these stellar first party games on Xbox, mr business?
They also had only 5 or 6 studios until the last couple of years, now they have 24. Yes its still going to take more time, but the 'Xbox has no games' style posts are going to look silly soon enough.
 

Raekwon26

Member
in term of output xbox has alot of games coming in. not to mention, Some of those games are regarded are great by the 3 players (pc, PlayStation and xbox). As of now, Sony has the lead. but it wont be that way in 2022+. Not to mention, they are still going for spree, and are planning to buy bethesda purchase again.
Tell me what these 40+ games are please.....
 

Coolwhhip

Neophyte
They also had only 5 or 6 studios until the last couple of years, now they have 24. Yes its still going to take more time, but the 'Xbox has no games' style posts are going to look silly soon enough.

Once Xbox starts pumping out first party hits you are right. I'm sceptical still though. MS has a bad track record with studios they bought so far.
 

quest

Not Banned from OT
I understand your situation. What I’ve been seeing is just fans happy but on the flip side of the coin, if you dare to be critical of MS, people will get very angry! It is possible to be critical of something you like.

I still think things will continue like they are. This E3 will not change anything. Most fans will be happy and other people will not get any good reasons on why they should get an Xbox.
Depends what you want to be critical on. For not cleaning house at 343 yep that is fair. For the screw ups of the slow roll out of GDK and direct storage on PC hell yes they dropped the ball. For the controller issues dropping connection yep. Wasting money on a stupid atmos money hat yep. For Obsidian and other studios purchased in 2018 not having next-gen games for launch nope. Those studios deserve a full cycle to release polished games.
 
I understand your situation. What I’ve been seeing is just fans happy but on the flip side of the coin, if you dare to be critical of MS, people will get very angry! It is possible to be critical of something you like.

I still think things will continue like they are. This E3 will not change anything. Most fans will be happy and other people will not get any good reasons on why they should get an Xbox.

I’m only criticising because I want them to do better and when I see people having a go at others for this , particularly with the haters jibe or not being a “true fan” it does piss me off on occasion, it shouldn’t of course, I let my passion dictate at times. At this stage I sometimes question why I care so much as I always get the Sony , Nintendo systems of each gen also anyway.

I get it people troll , take the piss and the internet is a cesspit so things can take a turn for the worse I guess ha ha.

By the way, the F’off in my previous post was a scoff at Xbox not you in case you may of thought that mate.
 
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Spidey Fan

Banned
Yeah that's it. Not that this has been going on for about 10 years now for Xbox or anything...

So when can we expect all these stellar first party games on Xbox, mr business?
Avowed isnt a game. Fable isnt a game. Perfect dark isnt a game. Project mara isnt a game. none of these are a game. only the great PlayStation have games.
 

djkimothy

Member
You are comparing 1 team doing work for 1 console, compared to other team who are doing work on 4 systems (x1, xsx, xss, pc). One team has advantage to utilize that console only. They dont need to worry about other thing. The other team has too much plate in their hand, and cant do their best on those 3 system at highest graphic.
There’s the Ps4 and the pro. Infinite should have still looked better than TLOU2 on PS4 since it was running on a PC. But whatevs.
 

reksveks

Member
There’s the Ps4 and the pro. Infinite should have still looked better than TLOU2 on PS4 since it was running on a PC. But whatevs.
Different world size, different target for frame rate and resolution. The world size is a massive factor in terms of fidelity.

Yes, tlou2 is a masterpiece in terms of fidelity but it has the right gameplay structure behind it
 
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Zeroing

Banned
Depends what you want to be critical on. For not cleaning house at 343 yep that is fair. For the screw ups of the slow roll out of GDK and direct storage on PC hell yes they dropped the ball. For the controller issues dropping connection yep. Wasting money on a stupid atmos money hat yep. For Obsidian and other studios purchased in 2018 not having next-gen games for launch nope. Those studios deserve a full cycle to release polished games.
yep, MS done a lot of things that doesn’t make sense at all but people still makes them as good things.

I’ve been the one saying games would take time to released but I was called a Sony fanboy, I like Nintendo!!!
And Nintendo barely does anything out of the box in terms of software. maybe I’ve just too critical of everything that deserves to be called out!
 

quest

Not Banned from OT
Once Xbox starts pumping out first party hits you are right. I'm sceptical still though. MS has a bad track record with studios they bought so far.

That was under old management that loved to micromanage studios and choose their projects. We have yet to see how the hands off give them resources approach of Matt Booty will work. I have a feeling we will see some special games from the likes of inXile,double fine, Obsidian and Arkane with this approach.
 
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Spidey Fan

Banned
There’s the Ps4 and the pro. Infinite should have still looked better than TLOU2 on PS4 since it was running on a PC. But whatevs.
1 system, aka 1 source dev code. Infinite is doing 4 dev code system. Pc, X1 dev system, XSX dev system, XSS dev system. That takes more time and more work, than only doing it for ps4 dev kit (design it for ps4 base, and do graphic upgrade for pro). that is less time for hassle, and more work for graphic.
 

Raekwon26

Member
2022 Avowed, Starfield, Hell blade 2, Forza motorsport. that is 2022 line up. not to mention, we have other project we havent heard about.
Sooooooooo., now you're lying.

Avowed has no release date or year
Starfield has no release date or year
HellBlade 2 has no release date or year.
Forza Motorsport has no release date or year.

Hell, none of these games even have a gameplay trailer.

I'm still waiting for these 40+ games.
 

djkimothy

Member
Different world size, different target for frame rate and resolution. The world size is a massive factor in terms of fidelity.

Yes, tlou2 is a masterpiece in terms of fidelity but it has the right gameplay structure behind it

That really shouldn’t explain why after 5 years in development “that” was what they wanted to show. All studios have feature constraints on them. But with a more powerful console compared to the playstation ones it’s makes no sense PS4 games looked better than a PC specked to a series X.

The point is MS has to hit a grand slam or they gain the reputation of poor project management at Xbox studios that Jaffe frequently mentions.

I want MS to succeed in this but they don’t do themselves any favour.
 
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Zeroing

Banned
I’m only criticising because I want them to do better and when I see people having a go at others for this , particularly with the haters jibe or not being a “true fan” it does piss me off on occasion, it shouldn’t of course, I let my passion dictate at times. At this stage I sometimes question why I care so much as I always get the Sony , Nintendo systems of each gen also anyway.

I get it people troll , take the piss and the internet is a cesspit so things can take a turn for the worse I guess ha ha.

By the way, the F’off in my previous post was a scoff at Xbox not you in case you may of thought that mate.
No worries I’ve spend time here, I know how things are. I just stopped caring :)
Let the company show you why you should invest in them.
Trying to stick around in hope they will turn things better for you! - not a good thing.
 

reksveks

Member
That really shouldn’t explain why after 5 years in development “that” was what they wanted to show. All studios have feature constraints on them. But with a more powerful console compared to the playstation ones it’s makes no sense PS4 games looked better than a PC specked to a series X.

The point is MS has to hit a grand slam or they gain the reputation of poor project management at Xbox studios that Jaffe frequently mentions.

I want MS to succeed in this but they don’t do themselves any favour.
Don't get me wrong MS needs a good showing but you can't compare a 1440p30 game with a largely linear world map where you can spend all of your time and effort on the assets in comparison to a 4k60 open world game with a much larger world size. It's just an unfair comparison. It's not about feature constraints.

I think Microsoft need to start showing some graphical bangers for a certain group of gamers. I don't know if FS and Motorsport is going to be enough for some people.
 
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Spidey Fan

Banned
Sooooooooo., now you're lying.

Avowed has no release date or year
Starfield has no release date or year
HellBlade 2 has no release date or year.
Forza Motorsport has no release date or year.

Hell, none of these games even have a gameplay trailer.

I'm still waiting for these 40+ games.
I tried. Its impossible to argue with you. Peace out.
 
Both critized the same day for things they can be critized for
It's almost a good day for game journalism.

It's GameIndustry.biz... they're the most reasonable and least shill-like media outlet in the games industry at the moment. Other than Game Informer and them, the rest can't and shouldn't be taken seriously at all anymore.

I agree with the article insofar as MS does have more to prove on the platform/ecosystem-exclusives (particularly 1P) front than Sony or Microsoft, even if they've had glimpses of that going very well with FS 2020, Gears 5/Hivebusters, and the Forza games in particular, because they do need some other type of games that'll catch the attention of more folks outside of the Xbox ecosystem.

But, the article doesn't really get into specifics of what they feel Microsoft needs to show at this E3 to make that happen. In other words they're too vague. What games do they need to show gameplay for? What games do they need to reveal? What exclusives do they need to release and when for the show to be considered successful? They don't mention any of that, it just lets them write a follow-up to go with the popular opinion afterwards instead of owing up to their earlier expectations.

That's what I don't like about these vague write-ups, they don't ever get specific about what particular games they want, what state they think they should show up in and what release windows they should drop in. It's usually just generic expectations.

Vague expectations are understandable though.

What wins E3 aren't the announcements and game reveals we know about and expect. What wins E3 are those "straight outta the left-field" announcements that crash forums, blow up twitter and generate successive weeks worth of youtube reaction videos.

By definition, you can't expect nor predict these things beforehand.

It's on the gaming companies to blow us away with their new stuff. It's not on us to tell them how.
 
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MikeM

Member
Xbox has absolutely nailed their hardware. GamePass has a lot of fans (but no profits it seems yet). Phil has changed the perception of Xbox, although that Gold price jump was a massive miss and a head-scratcher. All they really need is the most important piece- the big AAA games (which I call out on here much to the anger of mods).

I can imagine MS CEO basically saying to Phil "make this work this gen, or we are pulling the plug." I hope it doesn't though as all industries need competition to push investment into innovation.

**MOD DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT A CONSOLE WAR POST. DON'T SEND ME MORE WARNINGS**
 
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reksveks

Member
Xbox has absolutely nailed their hardware. GamePass has a lot of fans (but no profits it seems yet). Phil has changed the perception of Xbox, although that Gold price jump was a massive miss and a head-scratcher. All they really need is the most important piece- the big AAA games (which I call out on here much to the anger of mods).

I can imagine MS CEO basically saying to Phil "make this work this gen, or we are pulling the plug." I hope it doesn't though as all industries need competition to push investment into innovation.

**MOD DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT A CONSOLE WAR POST. DON'T SEND ME MORE WARNINGS**
Xbox as a division makes a profit though, I don't know what the operating profit and margin is but I can't see Nadella pulling it especially as the stock market loves their recurring revenue streams. Its why Apple is pushing their internal services so much
 

Ceadeus

Member
They really need to hit a homerun at E3

+ Show gameplay for your big games
+ Have good pacing

It's very simple but IMO they have more misses than hits when it comes to their presentations
Yeah, at this point releases dates and surprises is what they should be giving us this year. No compromise, less talking and new games!

I like all 3 company but Microsoft havn't had major output for a long while , they really need to come back to what they used to be back in the og Xbox and 360 days.
 
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Shodan09

Unconfirmed Member
Bar a strong first party? They have more first party than Sony (almost double). The games are in development probably 40+ titles, it's Sony who are on the back foot now, they simply don't have enough studios to compete. They can't even put an E3 conference together.
I mean more in terms of critical and commercial success rather than sheer number of titles. I could have been clearer. There is serious potential but until they start seeing Sony level critical reception and word of mouth they're still facing an uphill battle imo.
 

Spidey Fan

Banned
I mean more in terms of critical and commercial success rather than sheer number of titles. I could have been clearer. There is serious potential but until they start seeing Sony level critical reception and word of mouth they're still facing an uphill battle imo.
Sony is single player, which is done after gameplay, compared to Microsoft gamers, which gave more than the story. Both are for different audience. I like games, which i have my own choices, so sony games arent for me. Microsoft games are the same, aside of the new output that is coming soon (starfield, avowed, fable, perfect dark. tes 6).

Sony had a head start, hence why their games are critically acclaimed. Flight simulator is a gorgeous game, that sony cant produce. But people dismiss it as a simulator game, since it doesn't have that cinematic feeling.
 
Once Xbox starts pumping out first party hits you are right. I'm sceptical still though. MS has a bad track record with studios they bought so far.

MS has experienced studios now that needs little to no guidance, just budget to make games.

ID Soft, Obsidian, Bethesda are completely capable of making great games on their own.

This is in contrast to, for example Rare, which needed "gentle steering" from Nintendo, that was not available at Microsoft, so it underperformed.

Microsoft isn't as much a game company as say, Sony or Nintendo. It just leaves developers to make what they want. That is a good thing for newly purchased studios as they will get true creative freedom.
 
The Fermi paradox kinda works for Xbox.

There are billions and billions of studios Microsoft has bought to make games, but WHERE ARE THEY?
Lol they havnt bought billions of studios. They've bought around 10 studios to a total of $7.5 billion.

When you buy studios it doesn't mean the games are automatically finished and released straight away.
 
Sooooooooo., now you're lying.

Avowed has no release date or year
Starfield has no release date or year
HellBlade 2 has no release date or year.
Forza Motorsport has no release date or year.

Hell, none of these games even have a gameplay trailer.

I'm still waiting for these 40+ games.
They have 23+ studios, if 15 of them have at least 2 games in development which is completely feasible that's 30 games right there. So 23 studios and I'm sure they have a few smaller ones as well, 40+ titles is a reasonable assumption. Sony have 25 in development from 12 so you do the math 👍
 

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
Yeah, at this point releases dates and surprises is what they should be giving us this year. No compromise, less talking and new games!

I like all 3 company but Microsoft havn't had major output for a long while , they really need to come back to what they used to be back in the og Xbox and 360 days.
I agree. Imagine the type of output we'd be getting if Sony was a trillion dollar company. I've never actually thought about it until now but it's interesting for sure
 

Spidey Fan

Banned
I agree. Imagine the type of output we'd be getting if Sony was a trillion dollar company. I've never actually thought about it until now but it's interesting for sure
PlayStation had full support of its parent company. compared to xbox at x1. 5 dev team was a joke at that time.
 

Three

Member
Those are the facts mate, like it or not. 12 studio's vs 23. You do the math, and no E3 conference and no show announcement outside of E3, yes or no?
Meanwhile those 23 studios have output nothing whereas Insomniac alone are pumping out quality game after quality game. The proof is in the pudding, xbox has output nothing.
 

Three

Member
PlayStation had full support of its parent company. compared to xbox at x1. 5 dev team was a joke at that time.
At that time at least they were outputting more games because they were paying the likes of Capcom, Crytek, Sumo etc to actually create some games.
 
Vague expectations are understandable though.

What wins E3 aren't the announcements and game reveals we know about and expect. What wins E3 are those "straight outta the left-field" announcements that crash forums, blow up twitter and generate successive weeks worth of youtube reaction videos.

By definition, you can't expect nor predict these things beforehand.

It's on the gaming companies to blow us away with their new stuff. It's not on us to tell them how.

I mean...they could try. We do it here everyday with those kind of wild speculations. Chances of a lot of them happening are almost zero but it's worth the try.

MS is finding themselves back to the same situation they found themselves last year. One of my beliefs for why the Infinite demo fell flat is that, among other things, people were already coming off The Last of us Part 2 and Ghost of Tsushima and seeing what studios can do late gen. We don’t exist in a vacuum and the unspoken word was that the demo wasn’t as inspired as it could be as it didn’t even hold a candle to PS4 games. Again, there were other problems with the demo but i believe this just didn’t help their cause.

Fast forward to today and we’re back at it again with Ratchet and Clank clearly another grand slam by a sony studio. So yah. MS is going to have to come out with a banger with their titles at E3. And actually show something that wows everyone. This is a tough act to follow.

They can’t fall flat again they ran out of mulligans.

Dunno how planned Rift Apart's release was to E3 to counteract Microsoft's presentation, but I think it's probably being considered a nice convenience by folks at Sony, at the very least. My hope is that they might've pushed for this date out of having some knowledge of what Microsoft and their partners will be showing at E3 and it being so impressive in some way they want Rift Apart to take some of the shine away.

That's an optimistic view, and I'm an optimist, so this might be a sign they'll have a great E3 with something gameplay-wise that's just flat out visually arresting. It may not be Halo Infinite, it may not even be Starfield, but it may be something.


Once Xbox starts pumping out first party hits you are right. I'm sceptical still though. MS has a bad track record with studios they bought so far.

Can't say it's a "bad" track record tho when those studios haven't released anything new that wasn't already in development pre-acquisition...

...though that is indicative of a potential upper management issue, to be fair. Especially when you compare that output to, say, Insomniac's, who were also acquired in 2018 and have put out two new games plus a remaster (all of them fantastic games at that) in the span of only roughly three years.
 
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fart town usa

Gold Member
As someone who has never actively gamed on XBOX, I feel like they're doing just fine and honestly, they're the most exciting thing in console gaming right now. At least to me they are.

The BC functionality and upgrades, game pass, buying Bethesda. If I were an XBOX gamer I'd probably be incredibly happy with the future of XBOX.

This seems like an article that Michael Pachter would write.
 

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
PlayStation had full support of its parent company. compared to xbox at x1. 5 dev team was a joke at that time.
I hope they really are committed, buying those studios is a good start if they'll all have better funding 👍
 
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Shodan09

Unconfirmed Member
Sony is single player, which is done after gameplay, compared to Microsoft gamers, which gave more than the story. Both are for different audience. I like games, which i have my own choices, so sony games arent for me. Microsoft games are the same, aside of the new output that is coming soon (starfield, avowed, fable, perfect dark. tes 6).

Sony had a head start, hence why their games are critically acclaimed. Flight simulator is a gorgeous game, that sony cant produce. But people dismiss it as a simulator game, since it doesn't have that cinematic feeling.
Personally I prefer Microsoft's line up. I've put more hours in to sea of thieves than any other game. I just want them to see the same level of mainstream recognition that the Sony exclusives get. A modern perfect dark for example, should absolutely be getting mentioned in the same sentence as god of war and the last of us.
 

Fredrik

Member
I want Tunic, Ori 3 and Lost Odyssey 2.
Me too! But as far as I know Moon has been making a multiplat action adventure for awhile now, I don’t think their cords to Microsoft has been cut for good but this generation I think we’ll have to cope without a new Ori game. Theoretically I guess MS could let another dev step in and make another Ori but I don’t see who could pull it off. Maybe Team Cherry? (Hollow Knight)
 

Topher

Gold Member
Personally I prefer Microsoft's line up. I've put more hours in to sea of thieves than any other game. I just want them to see the same level of mainstream recognition that the Sony exclusives get. A modern perfect dark for example, should absolutely be getting mentioned in the same sentence as god of war and the last of us.

Perfect Dark is probably my most anticipated game coming from Xbox Game Studios the next few years. Followed closely by Fable and Avowed.
 

Mr.ODST

Member
Personally I prefer Microsoft's line up. I've put more hours in to sea of thieves than any other game. I just want them to see the same level of mainstream recognition that the Sony exclusives get. A modern perfect dark for example, should absolutely be getting mentioned in the same sentence as god of war and the last of us.
My friends started playing this on PC so I joined on my Xbox not played it for the last year but so many good content updates, hope there is a new major expansion adding in tons of stuff!
 
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