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[digoutyoursoul]

Will probably always have a soft spot for them, spent a lot of cash on the games, eco system etc but my enthusiasm has wained over the last few years. I don't like Halo, played enough Forza's and as much as I enjoyed the first three Gears games I have no desire to buy or play Gears 4. So I guess no. I always buy the gen systems anyway so I can play on something else. It's their business, their strategy, good luck to them.

 

[rochellepaws]

My view is that the Xbox audience is predominantly casual and are more influenced into their purchase through marketing than research into the depth of what the product offers. The games this sort of audience cares about are already multiplatform so I'd think the priority is that the likes of CoD, Battlefield, FIFA, Madden, Destiny, Assassin's Creed, GTA etc are available in their optimal state.

So yes and sadly the system would still be viable without offering any actual contribution to gaming software.

 

[ViciousDS]

no.....and I'm really close to just selling my S due to the fact its clearly all they really want.

All the smaller cool stuff they show.....my laptop can still even run.

 

[jdstorm]

No...

Heres why platform diversity matters. It matters because the 200k-500k that buy your niche IP add to the player population for the big 3rd party multiplater online games. Release 10 niche games and that could be 2M extra players you have attracted to play online.

Ultimately people most frequently buy the consoles their friends have. If the Trendy friend in the group buys a launch system for a niche IP, that could be 5 console sales lost if you dont have a similar proposition availiable on your system.

Eventually players will migrate to the most populated servers, if they dont have a good reason not to. Games like Sunset Overdrive, Scalebound and Ori are the reasons people buy an Xbox.

 

[PositiveGamer]

Judging from the sales of Gears and Halo..... NO

MS clearly needs new franchises or it obviously can't depend on these franchises.

 

[sirap]

I just don't get this sentiment. Yes, in some regards Halo 5 might be considered another step back (definitely with regard to storytelling), but the base gameplay and its MP is incredible and a marked improvement over Halo 4.

If they get their shit together with regard to SP, and build on Halo 5's MP foundation, Halo 6 could just be the best Halo ever.

That's my problem with Halo 5. The "rivalry" between MC and Locke was handled with as much elegance as a wet fart and the way they glanced over the reunion of Blue team really bummed me out.

Halo's multiplayer scene was never big in Asia so I never got into it.

 

[Clive]

Diversity is good but I imagine your average American gamer only buys the absolute biggest games which are multiplats and maybe Halo/Gears/Forza (or Uncharted, Gran Turismo and The Last of Us). If you have the big multiplats then you will appeal to the average western consumer. Microsoft does.

You might care about Nioh, Yakuza, Tales of Refesrgergesr and Nier but I can't imagine more than a tiny percentage does. If you have NHL, FIFA, Madden, GTA, Minecraft, Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty together with the other big multiplats then you will have a console that appeals to a large majority of the market. You will lose some consumers but not the most important group, average Joe.

 

[jelly]

If they actually did something fresh with Halo that would be something but Halo Wars is the only semi decent thing other than FPS.

 

[PeterGAF]

Sure it could be viable. Those three game series are very popular and usually high quality. There are a lot of people who play those games so I don't see why it can't be viable. The Xbox One is doing just fine right now and those are the three biggest games available for the platform. Obviously the Xbox would be better off with more games and it does indeed have more games than those three right now but again the question was "would it be viable" and the answer to that yes. For example, the reason I own an Xbox One is solely for Halo. That was enough to make me buy one. The rest of the games I really care about are multi platform. I'm not the only one like that.

It's also worth noting that there are reasons outside of exclusive games that people buy consoles. Most people play third party games which are available on both consoles. The best choice for them isn't always going to be "which console has the best exclusive lineup." The best choice for them might be "where are my friends playing," "what ecosystem am I more invested in," or "what controller do I prefer." Not everyone is going to answer "PS4" for those.

 

[DesertFox]

I get that exclusives are important for people. And in many cases it may decide which platform you buy. But my favorite games this generation have been third party. Nothing will ever come close to Witcher 3 for me, for a very long time. I could have played that game on anything.

Spoiler

Sorry Nintendo

edit: That being said, no. Doing a round-robin of Halo, Gears, Forza is only gonna last so long before people are tired of it. If they aren't tired of at least 1 of those franchises already.

 

[Fuchsdh]

People who want a red ocean competing Nintendo - as in making GC style consoles that are broadly in line with the competition in power terms and capable of receiving third party ports by default - inherently want an Xbox division competing and being profitable on its own merits, not competing on Papa Microsofts multi billion dollar bail out money safety nets.

Well, I think most people want a vibrant and competitive console space. (Then again, they also will bitch a blue streak that some games don't come to their chosen console, but such is life.)

 

[Theorry]

Diversity is good but I imagine your average American gamer only buys the absolute biggest games which are multiplats and maybe Halo/Gears/Forza (or Uncharted, Gran Turismo and The Last of Us). If you have the big multiplats then you will appeal to the average western consumer. Microsoft does.

You might care about Nioh, Yakuza, Tales of Refesrgergesr and Nier but I can't imagine more than a tiny percentage does. If you have NHL, FIFA, Madden, GTA, Minecraft, Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty together with the other big multiplats then you will have a console that appeals to a large majority of the market. You will lose some consumers but not the most important group, average Joe.

Jup. Third party is more important to the normal market wich is the biggest.

 

[farisr]

Diversity is good but I imagine your average American gamer only buys the absolute biggest games which are multiplats and maybe Halo/Gears/Forza (or Uncharted, Gran Turismo and The Last of Us). If you have the big multiplats then you will appeal to the average western consumer. Microsoft does.

You might care about Nioh, Yakuza, Tales of Refesrgergesr and Nier but I can't imagine more than a tiny percentage does. If you have NHL, FIFA, Madden, GTA, Minecraft, Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty together with the other big multiplats then you will have a console that appeals to a large majority of the market. You will lose some consumers but not the most important group, average Joe.

The thing is, the core is important as they're the ones who more often than not, end up setting the narrative, and starting trends. They're the ones average Joes go to for advice on which console to purchase, they're the ones whose comments average joes see online talking good or bad about specific consoles. Keep giving the core, games they're interested in (a diverse selection of exclusives), and they'll keep on generating good word of mouth that ripples out to the average Joe's who in turn cause their friends to buy the same system that they got and so on and so on.

 

[Steroyd]

I think it's the Windows 10 cross platform that will nerf it as a viable platform, I'm just not seeing why a Scorpio arms race is a thing when your games are going to be on PC anyway.

 

[Theorry]

I think it's the Windows 10 cross platform that will nerf it as a viable platform, I'm just not seeing why a Scorpio arms race is a thing when your games are going to be on PC anyway.

Because some people dont like to play on PC.
But there are tons of threads about this discussion. Not really want to start another one haha.

 

[krang]

Because some people dont like to play on PC.

Or build or buy PCs. To the casual gamer, the choices can be intimidating. Even if you're buying a preconfigured one, there's thousands to choose from.

 

[Sethista]

still viable, but not for the amount of success the ps4 has been enjoiying.

Microsoft already split interest by making games avilable for PC, and with the scorpio this year it will only get worse in that respect. They really needed a very diverse first party lineup to compensate.

I guess thats not happening. So for me, I had the 360 only last gen, and I was a lock for the xbox one. Hundreds of rock band songs even, over 50 games, the works.

Bought a ps4 and did not regret it so far.

 

[Jotaka]

Sadly yes... to many diehard fanboys

 

[breveglieri]

Isn't that the case now?

 

[ironcreed]

Due to multiplats and Xbox Live... yes. But they will have more games here and there. I'm not worried about it.

 

[sense]

Begun, the list wars have.

Why does lists bother you? It is a valid point right?

 

[Gestault]

still viable, but not for the amount of success the ps4 has been enjoiying.

Microsoft already split interest by making games avilable for PC, and with the scorpio this year it will only get worse in that respect. They really needed a very diverse first party lineup to compensate.

I guess thats not happening. So for me, I had the 360 only last gen, and I was a lock for the xbox one. Hundreds of rock band songs even, over 50 games, the works.

Bought a ps4 and did not regret it so far.

Honestly, for a one-and-done, the PS4 has been the choice to make this gen. Aside from a few genres being thinner than others, not a whole lot to gripe about.

 

[Unity2012]

Yes, I'd still get it. I don't like playing Halo or Gears on PC to be honest; plus most of my friends are on XBL. I bought my PS3 and PS4 to play Uncharted and Infamous second son.
I agree that MS can use new IP's yes, all consoles in the market can; the thing we are ignoring here is that Sony has a lot of awesome promising new games coming up, again yes, but some of them we wont see for another year or two. Competition is healthy for business and for gamers, so I want both companies to stay on top of their games, literally.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Isn't that already the case? Halo, Gears and Forza are pretty much the only ongoing series for the Xbox One. They really need to build solid foundations for completely new franchises so that they won't have to rely on their old series and watch them score new lows.

What genuinely surprised me in all of this is how little has giving away their biggest exclusives to Windows 10 affected them. It really seems that most people prefer to play on Xbox.

 

[10k]

Outside of Nintendo consoles, which are the exception and not the standard, exclusives and first party games don't matter as much as third party games.

Xbox will always get the third party support from Western devs. It's the Japanese support they need to gain.

 

[family_guy]

Sure, but it's not even about those exclusives. There are people who only turn on their system to play sports games and Call of Duty. Xbox established itself as the go to brand last gen. It was some people's first console, so it's not surprising they would feel some allegiance to the brand. However they might find themselves in Nintendo's position where they become less and less relevant as their long term fanbase ages out and moves on so to speak. MS should just focus on profitability of the brand. It's like they have system sales for 6 months out of the year. They can't be making money on the hardware. I wonder what the software attachment rate is.

 

[watdaeff4]

The answer is it depends.

For me I'm fortunate enough to afford all consoles. So to pay for an Xbox to play Halo/Gears/Forza - three series I enjoy - it's worth it to me.

Not to mention there are quite a few features to the XB platform that I prefer over Sony's; external Hard Drive storage capacity a HUGE one as well as I prefer it's controller over the DS4 for certain games, shooters a big one obviously. These have led me to prefer it for a big number of multiplatform games as well.

So yes, I think it's very much a viable platform still.

Not to mention that as of this point, I have more faith in them having FC/BC currently and going forward than Sony.

Now if you are asking would it be viable if you could only afford one console? That's a different story, then it would all come down to do you prefer those three exclusives + multiplats over Nintendo (I'm not buying that the Switch will be an adequate multiplat machine) or those three exclusives over all of what you would get with Sony?

For me I would not buy an Xbox if I could only afford one console, but for some I could see that those three plus the multiplats being enough.

Would it be viable for a large portion of NeoGAF? No.

Would it viable for the average US and UK consumer? Maybe.

I would hope Xbox wants to expand beyond those two markets though.

This is actually the best answer to the thread question IMO. Except I would change that it would be viable for the average US and UK consumer to "Yes." (It may not be the "best" choice, but it would be a viable one esp if the price was right.)

 

[timberger]

"If"?

 

[LordRaptor]

Well, I think most people want a vibrant and competitive console space. (Then again, they also will bitch a blue streak that some games don't come to their chosen console, but such is life.)

I don't know, Nintendo are the only console manufacturer running their gaming division as their sole means of making money not as a trojan horse for other purposes and trying to bleed the competition out by outspending them, with the end result they are perceived to be over priced and under powered.

 

[BRocknRolla]

All things being equal besides exclusives? No.

3 of the same exclusive titles on a rotating basis would not be enough for me. I'm assuming they would also branch off with their Halo Wars and Horizon and whatever Gears spinoff they could make such that you'd get all 3 IPs every year in different forms, but honestly, that sounds terribly boring.

And while I've purchased all of these titles in their most recent iterations, my love for all of them is not what it once was. I'm not even excited about new iterations of them going forward.

 

[CouchMaster]

Bought Xbone for Forza 6/FH2 but I don't see buying Scorpio or Nextbox for Forza 7 and further, especially if they're also on PC.

 

[Megatron]

The Xbox doesn't even have that at this point. Forza and gears are both available on pc.

So I guess the answer is yes?

 

[hanspampel]

The Xbox doesn't even have that at this point. Forza and gears are both available on pc.

So I guess the answer is yes?

and the next halo will be on pc, too

 

[kubev]

I do think that Xbox would still be perfectly viable, as most of the people I know who've stuck with the Xbox ecosystem aren't even into Forza, Gears of War or Halo. I believe that Xbox could benefit from better differentiating itself from PlayStation, though. As much as I love my Xbox One, Microsoft's decision to back down from its original pitch essentially relegated Xbox One to being little more than a less-powerful PlayStation 4 in many people's eyes. While Microsoft's done plenty to improve the platform since launch, I don't feel that the company is doing nearly enough to get people to jump ship from other platforms or even considering Xbox One to be anything more than a secondary console.

 

[watdaeff4]

The Xbox doesn't even have that at this point. Forza and gears are both available on pc.

So I guess the answer is yes?

For those of us who don't like to game on PC (and there are several, this point has been beat to death on here), or actually can't play those games on PC (Mac house), then the Xbox still has that point.

 

[xabbott]

If MS can make a console thats the best console to play the majority of third party titles I'd be happy with that.

 

[Iced Arcade]

these threads lately wow

 

[GHG]

Xbox will continue to be viable as long as people keep on paying for XBL Gold subs.

 

[belteshazzar]

No... I like more variety in games. I really don't think three game series can keep a console alive, especially since people might not always like all three of them or if they already have a PC.

 

[Q8D3vil]

At this point Halo need to be reinvented in the vain of Cod to titanfall.
Putting the same game with the same year after year is not working any more.

 

[ironcreed]

If MS can make a console thats the best console to play the majority of third party titles I'd be happy with that.

That is what we are about to get as well. But beyond that, I know I am too invested into the ecosystem and Live to ever blow off Xbox. Even the Xbox One is a great system that I spend most of my gaming time on.

 

[galvatron]

I already saw Xbox as the Forza, Halo and Gears console, so no.

Add in Killer Instinct and that is my view as well. Once they announced KI for Win10, I had no interest in an Xbox One. I don't think they'd be too upset to hear that either, given the direction they want to take the Win 10 ecosystem.

 

[Drillary Clinton]

Absolutely not. No one cares about Halo any longer since they keep moving further and further away from the core elements of the franchise and continually alienate the fans. No to Gears because they don't do enough to shake up the formula and can't seem to launch a working game.

The only franchise of worth out of the 3 is Forza and a racing franchise is not gonna keep a system afloat.

 

[LukasTaves]

For people who support those types of investments by platform holders? Of course not.

But for those only interested in western third party AAA games? Yeah. Since that's all they cared about to begin with along with the 3 first party franchises.

People need to realize that the OP's scenario is basically the case right now, and Xbox still has a lot of players who just don't care about gaming outside of a very limited bubble.

You need to realize you are talking bullshit. That's far from the case right now, year after year ms has been bringing new and diverse games.

Far and away better than sony has this gen for my tastes.

 

[VincentMatts]

Absolutely not. No one cares about Halo any longer since they keep moving further and further away from the core elements of the franchise and continually alienate the fans. No to Gears because they don't do enough to shake up the formula and can't seem to launch a working game.

I love how you just contradicted yourself there and used that as the franchises 'decline'.

halo5: too different = failure
gears4: not different enough = failure

As for the question, no it isnt enough. It might have been at one time but it isnt anymore in 2017. You need diversity.

 

[Theorry]

Absolutely not. No one cares about Halo any longer since they keep moving further and further away from the core elements of the franchise and continually alienate the fans. No to Gears because they don't do enough to shake up the formula and can't seem to launch a working game.

The only franchise of worth out of the 3 is Forza and a racing franchise is not gonna keep a system afloat.

Wut?

 

[ironcreed]

Wut?

Yeah, I recently bought Gears 4 and it is actually pretty fucking great.

 

[watdaeff4]

I love how you just contradicted yourself there and used that as that for the franchises 'decline'.

halo5: too different = failure
gears4: not different enough = failure

As for the question, no it isnt enough. It might have been at one time but it isnt anymore in 2017. You need diversity.

Yeah I laughed at that too.

Plus Gears 4 works I have no idea what that comment is referring too

 

[FZW]

If Scorpio really is the most powerful console, then I'll buy it for multiplats only.

 

[Polygonal_Sprite]

From personal experience Xbox seems to be for more casual core gamers who buy the latest CoD and Fifa only each year so I don't think exclusives matter one bit. A lot of it is down to where their friends play, what controller they prefer and the experience they have with the online servers.

Personally I feel like Halo just isn't very good anymore and the Gears formula is getting very long in the tooth. Forza is the best racing game on any platform but I can just play that on my PC from now on.