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VG24/7: 2 years in, the Xbox Series X/S still lacks even one killer exclusive

the exclusives are why xbox is even here to begin with
And why they get crushed by Sony and Nintendo.

Apart from Halo, Forza and Gears, MS never really had those must-have titles Sony and Nintendo have.

The "big" Xbox-titles happened to stand-out because there were so little exclusives, if they weren't mediocre to begin with.

Curious to see how MS will handle future games from recently bought studios.
 
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64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
And why they get crushed by Sony and Nintendo.

Apart from Halo, Forza and Gears, MS never really had those must-have titles Sony and Nintendo have.

The "big" Xbox-titles happened to stand-out because there were so little exclusives, if they weren't mediocre to begin with.

Curious to see how MS will handle future games from recently bought studios.
no shit? whats the point you're trying to make here
if it weren't for those 3 games, Xbox as a brand would not exist in the modern day.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
And why they get crushed by Sony and Nintendo.

Apart from Halo, Forza and Gears, MS never really had those must-have titles Sony and Nintendo have.

The "big" Xbox-titles happened to stand-out because there were so little exclusives, if they weren't mediocre to begin with.

Curious to see how MS will handle future games from recently bought studios.

Username certainly checks out 😀
 
And why they get crushed by Sony and Nintendo.

Apart from Halo, Forza and Gears, MS never really had those must-have titles Sony and Nintendo have.

The "big" Xbox-titles happened to stand-out because there were so little exclusives, if they weren't mediocre to begin with.

Curious to see how MS will handle future games from recently bought studios.
xbox HAD some good exclusives back in the day. Crackdown, Fable 2, Saints Row, TitanFall, Mass Effect, Alan Wake, Ninja Gaiden II, Dead Rising, Shadow Complex, Braid, State of Decay, Limbo etc....
Its just dried up every year since the 360 days
 

Fafalada

Fafracer forever
But Sony’s list is also punctuated by God of War Ragnarok, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Horizon: Forbidden West, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Gran Turismo 7, and even Astro’s Playroom – a pretty strong sextuple of first-party hitters for PS5’s first 24 months.
Returnal robbed :/

GAME PASS™
The odd bit is - people do unironically invoke GP as a supposed hw-seller, which always struck me as odd.
In history of monetization, I can't recall any examples of 'subscription' being a 'product seller'. But there's many, many examples of 'product' being a 'subscription' seller (ie. mobiles, cars, and countless other examples).
 

DeaDPo0L84

Member
I’m not sure if it’s a comprehension issue, but the discussion was whether Xbox had any killer exclusives. Not whether or not these games had the mass appeal of Ragnarok.

The article cited games like Rift Apart and Returnal that are significantly less popular than even FH5. An even if Flight SIM is relatively niche, it’s an extremely high quality game that’s easily worth buying the console for.




They didn’t ‘buy exclusivity rights’ for Starfield. They own Starfield. It’s a first party game. Surely even you should not get that wrong?



MS first party now boasts a deep talent pool, with some of the best devs in the business. and there’s certainly no indication that ‘poor leadership’ is a major issue at XGS. This just reads like standard issue console wars talking points.
No comprehension issue, except maybe a reading one on your end cause I was originally responding to some saying that because FH5 has high scores Xbox essentially has games as big as GoW:R. I was just speaking to the obvious, or obvious to most at least that the market for these games are entirely different and sales speak to that. This is coming from someone who plays the hell out of the Horizon series, currently going through the Hotwheels expansion at the moment.

You positioning MSFS as a system seller is only confirming the questionable reasoning Xbox fans have that I was speaking to. I literally said people are not lining up for MSFS like they did in the past for Halo or Gears. Not sure if you recall how massive those launches were and how much Xbox did to ensure their launches were as extravagant as possible.

Regarding Starfield you're just playing word games. Okay fine they purchased Bethesda outright and Starfield is a 1st party game. A game that Xbox itself literally had fuck all to do with. They bought it, plain and simple, their own 1st party developers did not have the talent apparently as proven over these last console cycles to produce a game of Starfields scale. Again a game I'll be playing but on PC.

Regarding talent their newest talent pool is literally just publishers they outright purchased. It's not homegrown or established Xbox developers that found their footing with great leadership and went on to make games outside their bubble. Hence why they have a Halo developer, a Forza developer, and a Gears developer. None of these were pushed to create an entirely new ip and take risk, it was always the safest path forward that they've taken.

Which is now why they're buying as many publishers as possible cause again it's the safest path forward cause they didn't internally foster a creative environment. I'm only saying this based on what I can see, I'm not sure what else you need than to look at the output and see they haven't developed a major AAA game from within their own studios that is now an established ip. It's factory assemble line output year after year. The only one spouting console war nonsense are those who can't see and understand this.

Remember Bungie wanted to develop Destiny while still being a Xbox exclusive developer. At the time they said "fuck that make more Halo!". Now look at the current model and see how perfect Destiny would be for the platform while Halo is floundering. They even tried to do Destiny like things in Halo and nobody gave a shit.

I'm not saying this is entirely Phil Spencer's fault either. This is a systemic issue regarding Xbox as a whole . They rode success with the og Xbox and 360 and fell off after that when comparing current output to what was once available.
 
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Fredrik

Member
They have Forza Horizon 5, highest rated racing game serie for three generations. But other than that I agree. I don’t understand how they have managed to stumble so badly this generation. And they’re doing a terrible job in getting people excited for the future too with their strategy to only show games coming within 12 months.
 
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poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Returnal robbed :/


The odd bit is - people do unironically invoke GP as a supposed hw-seller, which always struck me as odd.
In history of monetization, I can't recall any examples of 'subscription' being a 'product seller'. But there's many, many examples of 'product' being a 'subscription' seller (ie. mobiles, cars, and countless other examples).
You think all those FireTV sticks and Rokus and AppleTVs were sold to people as hardware and then everyone just waited to see what streaming services would be added?
Roku was so succesful because they had all the streaming services when the streaming wars were taking place and they were the only agnostic device that had all the services available.
 

azertydu91

Hard to Kill
They have Forza Horizon 5, highest rated racing game serie for three generations. But other than that I agree. I don’t understand how they have managed to stumble so badly this generation. And they’re doing a terrible job in getting people excited for the future too with their strategy to only show games coming within 12 months.
Maybe they wanted to avoid showing CGI's and focused on what could be shown and what could be shown was mostly 2023.Maybe Ms learned from their mistakes from 2020 and if that's so, that is commendable.Even through it raises the question of what will they have after and when if nothing else could be shown.
 

ChiefDada

Gold Member
For a forum that is cracking down hard on console warring I'm curious to know how a thread like this is even allowed. It's classic xbox has no games trolling.

It's impossible to take the "console warring" label seriously especially on the heels of the Xbox CEO himself admitting that they've done a poor job with their 1st party output. As a PS player, I would hate to take part in a forum that disallowed negative discord about some of Sony's practices, such as $10 unpcharge for earlier cross gen games. These types of consumer complaints have been effective in changing company behavior for our benefit.
 

Fredrik

Member
Maybe they wanted to avoid showing CGI's and focused on what could be shown and what could be shown was mostly 2023.Maybe Ms learned from their mistakes from 2020 and if that's so, that is commendable.Even through it raises the question of what will they have after and when if nothing else could be shown.
The problem here is that if people don’t know what’s coming and roughly when then they don’t know if they should buy Xbox Series X or some X/Pro update or the next Xbox.
I’m not feeling any hype besides Starfield.
Wasn’t there supposed to be some Xbox event in late 2022?
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
And why they get crushed by Sony and Nintendo.

Apart from Halo, Forza and Gears, MS never really had those must-have titles Sony and Nintendo have.

Microsoft owns Minecraft which is far bigger than anything Sony has. They just don’t make it exclusive, but they certainly could take it off Sony’s console if they chose.

Same with recent updates of earlier Quake and Doom games. They never had to put them on Playstation but they did.

Microsoft owns far more than just Halo and Forza. I think it’s time they start taking these games off PlayStation.
 
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I’m PC only. If anything I always preferred Sony’s games.

But I’m also not blind to reality and will call it like I see it. That’s something fanboys can’t do.
The fact is that Sony does one style of game these days. If you weren’t around to see the Sony of the PS2 and PS3 eras then you wouldn’t understand. Back then Sony made games in all kinds of genres.
“One style of games”: Demon’s Souls, Miles Morales, Astrobot, Ratchet & Clank, Returnal, Gran Turismo 7, Destruction Allstars, Sackboy, God of War Ragnarok, MLB The Show. All in a span of 2 years.

10 games, one style :messenger_smiling_hearts:
 

Topher

Gold Member
I’m not going to include games that aren’t playable on the console without a $600 accessory.

So add a baseball game, vehicle combat, and a platformer to the list. Cinematic action games are by far what they make.

And while you’re scrounging for other genres to add, I didn’t even list every genre Microsoft has released games in.

There’s nothing “console warrior” about the list. The console warrior is the one getting upset.

Nothing I've said suggests a $600 accessory is needed so no idea where that comes from. But yeah, resorting to list wars is already console warrior nonsense as it is. Creating a disingenuous list and you are checking all the checkboxes. If you can't see your own post for what it is then there isn't much more to say.

Awkward John Krasinski GIF by Saturday Night Live
 
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Ozriel

M$FT
It's impossible to take the "console warring" label seriously especially on the heels of the Xbox CEO himself admitting that they've done a poor job with their 1st party output. As a PS player, I would hate to take part in a forum that disallowed negative discord about some of Sony's practices, such as $10 unpcharge for earlier cross gen games. These types of consumer complaints have been effective in changing company behavior for our benefit.

The argument for that label would probably be with you deliberately misrepresenting what Spencer said. Phil’s clearly saying it’s been a while since their last AAA release in Dec 2021…and that’s due to the delays for Starfield and Redfall.

I’m also not sure what ‘change‘ you imagine you’re pushing for. Delays for both those AAA games are in line with the rest of the industry and are COVID related. Is he expected to go back in time and stop the Pandemic? Or release Starfield on 11/11 despite gaps in final polishing?

Pretty much the only action that could have covered this gap would have been him paying for exclusivity for an AAA game or two. Was that the outcome you wanted? Perhaps Phil putting down $100mil to delay Callisto Protocol on rival consoles?

Comparing this to the furore over the $10 upcharge or even when MS foolishly hiked prices for Gold makes no sense.

Microsoft’s first party output was significantly lacking last gen, and they’ve solved it by acquiring a metric ton of studios + significantly expanding their publishing efforts. I don’t need to see the output in 2022 to know things are trending towards an exponentially better generation for xbox first party.

2023’s just around the corner. In the meantime, lots of games to play on GP and my PS5.

Edit: Hey Ezekiel_ Ezekiel_ you missed this one 😀
 
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Fafalada

Fafracer forever
You think all those FireTV sticks and Rokus and AppleTVs were sold to people as hardware and then everyone just waited to see what streaming services would be added?
No - they were sold as a *very* cheap way to turn your TV into a 'smart' one.
Which for many meant ability to use their *existing* subscription on a TV instead of just the crappy phone/tablet screens, but also get access to casting *any* media from said devices (and available local storage, among other things) to the big screen - without having to mess about with cables or other complicated methods of data transfering.

So no - I don't think people bought those devices because they wanted to buy a new subscription.
But it's very likely that some bought new subscriptions as a result of buying said device.
 

ChiefDada

Gold Member
The argument for that label would probably be with you deliberately misrepresenting what Spencer said. Phil’s clearly saying it’s been a while since their last AAA release in Dec 2021…and that’s due to the delays for Starfield and Redfall.

I’m also not sure what ‘change‘ you imagine you’re pushing for. Delays for both those AAA games are in line with the rest of the industry and are COVID related. Is he expected to go back in time and stop the Pandemic? Or release Starfield on 11/11 despite gaps in final polishing?

Sony had to navigate through the pandemic as well. Microsoft's anemic first party output was an issue long before the pandemic, which is why they continue to get flack for it. No one is discounting the impact of the pandemic, but when the competitor is able to manage the difficult environment much better by still finding ways to launch multiple 1st party titles with critical/commercial success, criticism is both justified and inevitable.

Microsoft’s first party output was significantly lacking last gen, and they’ve solved it by acquiring a metric ton of studios + significantly expanding their publishing efforts. I don’t need to see the output in 2022 to know things are trending towards an exponentially better generation for xbox first party.

Unfortunately, no, they haven't solved much. You can say they have plans/strategies in motion to address first party issue, and hopefully they yield great results, but until they actually deliver games it's plain wrong to state that this longstanding problem of theirs is "solved".
 
Microsoft’s first party output was significantly lacking last gen, and they’ve solved it by acquiring a metric ton of studios + significantly expanding their publishing efforts. I don’t need to see the output in 2022 to know things are trending towards an exponentially better generation for xbox first party.
They haven't solved anything, and based off of their track record I don't really have much faith in the future either. I love a lot of Xbox games and would put Forza and Halo in my favorite franchises of all time but the output is shit. I'll only go in on those two.

I won't drone on about 343i but they are shit and have done nothing but release disappointing Halo games. Microsoft let them fuck up their most important franchise which says something. Infinite is middling.

I think Forza Horizon is amazing, but 5 is shit and the only game in the franchise I haven't put 100s of hours into.

I hope they can pull it all together because I would love for them to hit it out of the park but as it stands there isn't really any compelling reason to get a Series console. That being said though there isn't many reasons overall to own a "next-gen" console in general.
 
Well Forza Horizon 5 is not a game anymore?
Personally FH5 is the worst in the franchise if you look past the graphics. I just un-installed it yesterday after the super disappointing RT/DLSS update.

Every single bit of dialogue in FH5 is absolute cringe and just comes across like some shill ass influencer shit. The normal driving gameplay is still as great as ever but it also lost any bit of wow factor. Looking back at the FH4 showcase we have stuff like the Halo showcase, or the bombastic race against a jet. FH5 just gave us rehashed showcases without any of the extravagance. It's just all so dull in comparison. Horizon also has a problem with progression. You basically start in $100K cars and the entire game is basically tuned to match you. There isn't much point in even upgrading your car because everything just moves in parallel to you no matter what difficulty you have it on. They throw money at you so much that there is rarely ever a moment where you need to try to earn something to reach your goal unless its a $10M castle/mansion.

I was more hyped for FH5 then almost every game but every time I played it it felt like it was missing something until I sat down and replayed FH3/4.

This video actually does a really good job of getting across almost all of my issues with the game and does it in a better way then I ever could.

 
Returnal robbed :/


The odd bit is - people do unironically invoke GP as a supposed hw-seller, which always struck me as odd.
In history of monetization, I can't recall any examples of 'subscription' being a 'product seller'. But there's many, many examples of 'product' being a 'subscription' seller (ie. mobiles, cars, and countless other examples).
Every set top box and cable company of the last few decades says hello. They dwarf console numbers etc.

Commercial telecommunications companies also do this with business phone/security hardware discounts or free systems based on a conteact sub for years. There are more industries out there with subs being the product really and the hardware is the functional or value add aspect.
 
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Fafalada

Fafracer forever
Every set top box and cable company of the last few decades says hello.
You bought a cable-box in order to buy a subscription? Because the way I remember customer-experience the boxes are simply part of the package (with occasional tiered-options to pay more), and often not something you could opt out or even reuse if changing service providers (or at least - that's the impression average customer has anyway).
I'll agree there's a bit of gray area here because 'technically' it's possible to decouple subscription from the device. Although IME, most cases, that would just mean you have to buy the hardware twice - because subs would not be sold without charging you for some proprietary box anyway, so it's a bit of a false choice.

There are more industries out there with subs being the product really and the hardware is the functional or value add aspect.
'What's the product' is subjective to the business owner perspective and not the point (eg. to AT&T, sub is always the product, no matter how much consumers just fawn over a new iPhone). What we're talking about is consumer segment purchasing habits - which overwhelmingly steer towards products that they like, not services that support monetization (if any).
Eg. even when leasing a water-filtration machine, I would choose it based on the model/make/design - not the service & support behind it that I would actually end up paying for.
Obviously corporate model will tend to lean differently (or at least be more variable), but that's besides the point, unless we are in the territory of 'corporations are now legally recognized as people so there'.
 
It's impossible to take the "console warring" label seriously especially on the heels of the Xbox CEO himself admitting that they've done a poor job with their 1st party output. As a PS player, I would hate to take part in a forum that disallowed negative discord about some of Sony's practices, such as $10 unpcharge for earlier cross gen games. These types of consumer complaints have been effective in changing company behavior for our benefit.
You mean other than the fact that it has all been discussed ad nauseum? My point was and still is that nothing good comes of these type of threads. If the OP had simply started a thread stating the same things without the online article to reference they likely would have been warned and the thread closed. In this case, however, they conveniently used an online article to justify the thread, even though the end result is exactly the same. It's pointless other than to give literally every xbox hating troll a soap box.

If there is some new and amazing perspective or viewpoint that we haven't heard a hundred times I'd love to hear it.
 
You mean other than the fact that it has all been discussed ad nauseum? My point was and still is that nothing good comes of these type of threads. If the OP had simply started a thread stating the same things without the online article to reference they likely would have been warned and the thread closed. In this case, however, they conveniently used an online article to justify the thread, even though the end result is exactly the same. It's pointless other than to give literally every xbox hating troll a soap box.

If there is some new and amazing perspective or viewpoint that we haven't heard a hundred times I'd love to hear it.

Yes, because anyone who criticizes Xbox is an Xbox hating troll. Get your head out of your rear, warrior.
 

Three

Member
Everyone else has a variety.

Microsoft:
Battletoads: 2D Brawler
Killer Instinct : Fighting
Flight Simulator: Flight Sim
Minecraft: Sandbox/Crafting
Forza Series: Racing
Halo: FPS
State of Decay: Survival Horror
Minecraft Dungeons: ARPG
Ori: 2D Platformer

Sony
Gran Tusismo: Racing
Returnal: Action/Shooting
Ratchet and Clank: Action/Shooting
Spiderman: Cinematic Action
Days Gone: Cinematic Open World Action
Uncharted: Cinematic Action
The Last of Us: Cinematic Action
God of War: Cinematic Action
Horizon Zero Dawn: Cinematic Open World Action
The Order: Cinematic Action
These are some of the dumbest genres you've assigned that I've seen. If that shitty cartoon battletoads can be listed and under 2d Brawler then Spiderman is not: "cinematic action" just so that it fits your narrative. it's a 3D brawler that's 10x better than that shit you listed.
 
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levyjl1988

Banned
My Xbox Series X has been collecting dust. I’m using it more to stream Netflix than I do to play games. Xbox doesn’t have AAA games I want to play to be honest and Halo Infinite was so bad that I uninstalled it.
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
These are some of the dumbest genres you've assigned that I've seen. If that shitty cartoon battletoads can be listed and under 2d Brawler then Spiderman is not: "cinematic action" just so that it fits your narrative. it's a 3D brawler that's 10x better than that shit you listed.

2D brawlers or beat ‘em ups must be before your time. They’re a genre, where you’ll find games like Streets of Rage and TMNT.

Sorry, you don’t know this. And no, Spiderman isn’t a 3D brawler. It’s an open world cinematic action game.
 

Klosshufvud

Member
Personally FH5 is the worst in the franchise if you look past the graphics. I just un-installed it yesterday after the super disappointing RT/DLSS update.

Every single bit of dialogue in FH5 is absolute cringe and just comes across like some shill ass influencer shit. The normal driving gameplay is still as great as ever but it also lost any bit of wow factor. Looking back at the FH4 showcase we have stuff like the Halo showcase, or the bombastic race against a jet. FH5 just gave us rehashed showcases without any of the extravagance. It's just all so dull in comparison. Horizon also has a problem with progression. You basically start in $100K cars and the entire game is basically tuned to match you. There isn't much point in even upgrading your car because everything just moves in parallel to you no matter what difficulty you have it on. They throw money at you so much that there is rarely ever a moment where you need to try to earn something to reach your goal unless its a $10M castle/mansion.

I was more hyped for FH5 then almost every game but every time I played it it felt like it was missing something until I sat down and replayed FH3/4.

This video actually does a really good job of getting across almost all of my issues with the game and does it in a better way then I ever could.


I thought it was a ridiculous exposé on how vapid ADD-like culture has been etched in gaming and the game's super sensitive and trendy presentation just made me NOPE out. I wish Game Pass had a proper Forza Motorsport title. It's pretty dire situation on Xbox Series if you want something more sim-like and not this ridiculous toy car Adderall stuff.
 

Three

Member
2D brawlers or beat ‘em ups must be before your time. They’re a genre, where you’ll find games like Streets of Rage and TMNT.

Sorry, you don’t know this. And no, Spiderman isn’t a 3D brawler. It’s an open world cinematic action game.
They're not before my time. I've played streets of rage, Final Fight, and even Maximum carnage when they came out but the gameplay is no different just because it's in the 2D or 3D space. Your definition of genres are reductive and stupid. In Spiderman what's the difference between beating up a group of enemies with cutscenes inbetween in 3D vs a 2d cartoon brawler with cartoon 'cinematics' inbetween ?
Trying to categorise Spiderman a "cinematic action game" and saying it is no different to the other "cinematic action game" Last of Us is daft and you know it. Especially when you try to give a game that's 2d, similar in cutscenes and shite a different genre just because.
 
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bitbydeath

Member
2D brawlers or beat ‘em ups must be before your time. They’re a genre, where you’ll find games like Streets of Rage and TMNT.

Sorry, you don’t know this. And no, Spiderman isn’t a 3D brawler. It’s an open world cinematic action game.
Cinematic just means the graphics are AAA, it doesn’t need to be listed as part of the genre.
 
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