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Xbox's evolving first-party strategy

Chief marketing officer Mike Nichols explains Microsoft's "forward-leaning pivot" in how it has viewed its game studios this generation, and why it just added five more to the operation.

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gamesindustry.biz
SpaceRanger2918d ago

They showed teasers with no gameplay, they back tracked previous statements and are living off of Halo/Gears/Forza, and they showed a bunch of third party stuff. I honestly don’t see how this differentiates this E3 from their previous ones?

“We don't have any plans specific to Xbox consoles in virtual reality or mixed reality.”

So false advertising last year? And less gaming options for their fanbase. Not sure how people are ok with them backtracking on that too.

Gazondaily2918d ago

The reason why I think peoole are okay with them backtracking on VR is, watching the VR space right now, few people actually give a shit.

I still believe in VR and mad props to Sony for trying, but to me that stuff is obviously at its infancy. I don't see a compelling reason to jump in and no one hardly talks about it and no clear killer apps exist for it.

As for E3, well MS smashed it even in terms of the quality of those usual 3 titles. The halo engine looks mad impressive, Forza looks even more impressive and best in class by miles and Gears looks especially great.

Then of course you have the 5 studios and whatnot. It was a great E3 for me.

SpaceRanger2918d ago

“I don't see a compelling reason to jump in and no one hardly talks about it and no clear killer apps exist for it.“

That’s why Sony is in the place it’s in now with leading 1st party in quality and quantity. Many studios being supported by the current fanbase now on PC and/or PSVR will make bigger and better games next gen...some exclusive obviously.

And we all only saw gameplay for Forza, which was really cool, but that’s literally it. Can’t play announcements or engine rendered cutscenes. But I guess that’s the cup of tea MS knows it’s fanbase would enjoy at E3. To each their own.

SpaceRanger2918d ago

And with PSVR, Oculus and more being so successful in their “infancy”, I’d say plenty of people give a shit.

DivineAssault 2917d ago (Edited 2917d ago )

Ok i agree that VR might not have enough interest for another company to risk diving in. However "smashing it in terms of quality of those usual 3 titles"???? How bro? Seriously they didnt show ANY gameplay of Halo or Gears at all. Halo might not even be a FPS for all we know. Its not Halo 6 so we dont know whats going on with that. Just a trailer. Gears is likely using the same engine as part 4 so why wasnt there any gameplay of that either? I dont understand how you can think they killed it. As far as acquiring Ninja Theory, thats up in the air for most people because of what MS did to Rare. The other studios they bought were mostly 2md party to them anyway. I dont see it but if thats exciting i guess man.

rainslacker2917d ago (Edited 2917d ago )

So, MS only cares if it means they can make money? Let others lead the way, MS can jump in later?

You're comment may come off as credible, but didn't they also falsely advertise Halolens for Minecraft the year before that? You know....to detract from VR that Sony was releasing, that people were excited for?

MS didn't pull out because of lack of interest, it's because they knew they wouldn't sell enough consoles to support third party hardware.

Before MS pulled the plug on 3rd party VR support, I recall how many people were so hyped for the much better hardware, and Sony's hardware was pre-school in comparison. But now it's all about how VR is not that desired....yet more big developers are making VR games. More people are buying VR. There are tons of games available on VR, and they aren't just demo experiences anymore.

Forza on the X1X, with VR, would be awesome. Driving in VR is a whole new experience. But I guess not enough people want that.

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2917d ago
DivineAssault 2917d ago (Edited 2917d ago )

I didnt see jack $h*t that made me interested in xbox. At least for this generation. They FN announced that theyre working on a new console(s). Why would i get xb1x or anything knowing that when nothing is even ready for a gameplay reveal? It was a fantastic presentation & great games by other companies. Thats not anything to be happy about in my eyes. 2.5D battle toads had a damn title screen & release date yet nothing with the engine or concept art or whatever for a game like that? They arent fooling me with promises ever again. If anyone really believes 343 are the right people for Halo after all this, fine. More power to you. I dont see anything about evolving 1st party at all. Ninja Theory is their best team they bought. The rest were already close partners with lackluster resumes

FallenAngel19842917d ago

So much for fanboys thinking that Microsoft was allegedly giving up on the Xbox brand

60°

Take-Two CEO Once Again Side Steps Grand Theft Auto 6 Price Point

Strauss Zelnick says price of GTA 6 is being carefully considered and that Rockstar is focused on "making the most spectacular piece of entertainment on Earth."

Kuma41d ago

If GTA 6 abandons everything that made GTA 5 great, it will crash and burn right out of the gate. GTA 5 was funny and not at all PC. My worry is that they will cave to the PC crowd and ruin the vibes.

Eonjay41d ago

They got freaking BBLs twerking on the top of trucks for the gram, the freaking Flordia joker, and dude running down the stree in their undies and you are worried about it being 'too PC'? The internet has runied gamers. It doesn't matter how non-PC they make the game, you will all listen to the grifters telling you not to believe your lying eyes lol.

gigoran841d ago

"Rockstar Games’ co-founder and former VP of Development Jamie King said he envisions GTA 6 as a game that’s “maybe not quite as edgy or quite as funny” as its satirical predecessors."

oh yeah, totally internet grifters spreading rumors...

blacktiger41d ago

That's part of the plan, they destroyed you but they need to destroy the shareholders? Only 1 shre holder is the true elite that don't care

1nsomniac41d ago (Edited 41d ago )

Meh.., if it’s above £55 I ain’t buying it.

Rockstar are genuinely not half the company they used to be. I was a die hard GTA fan I’ve purchased every game and expansion and spin off day 1.

My opinion of GTA6 is that I can take it or leave it. Not bothered. They burnt too many bridges.

DaReapa41d ago (Edited 41d ago )

So they're actually leaving the door open for an L.A. Noire sequel? Nice!

VaNdAl41d ago (Edited 41d ago )

He should just come out and say it already it's getting stupid it's going to be a 100 bucks $200 for the special edition🤡🤡; 29315;🤣♿

Storm2341d ago

I won't be getting this game until I can get it for $70. SHoot, I could wait for it to be even lower. I don't need the game that badly as my backlog is still huge and I am enjoying playing other things.

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40°

Talking Aliens: The Video Games With Author Mike Diver

Skewed and Reviewed have posted an interview with Author Mike Diver about his pending book on Aliens video games.

70°

Xbox boss: Memory crisis could impact next-gen hardware pricing

Xbox boss Asha Sharma has discussed how component shortages will impact the company's plans for Project Helix.

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gamedeveloper.com
Eonjay42d ago

When does this end? Its killing everyone. Consoles and PC. And for what? AI? The benefits of AI are completely outweighed by the negatives. And the government should have never allowed one company to buy up all the RAM.

Lexreborn243d ago

This kind of proves this is an after thought product, most products like this are in r&d 5 years before they start mass producing. So they typically have the cost of components and things worked out long before assembly starts.

This is an assumption still, but I wouldn’t be surprised if project helix is similar to Scalebound,perfect dark and sod3. They had an idea but no actual execution other than concept stage. Being impacted by the ram shortage likely would also put this device 3-4 years out.

I’m not even sure MS has that endurance with Xbox yet

Fishy Fingers43d ago (Edited 43d ago )

I mean.... what?

We're at a point that Samsung wont even provide their own phone department ram because they can sell it at higher prices to 3rd parties (AI). Its more profitable to sell the ram than make their own devices with it.

You think because R&D starts 5 years ago the 3rd party component manufacturers will honour that price? They'll sell it to whomever is paying the most today, not some gentlemens agreement they made years ago. AI farms will buy more volume at higher prices than any console manufacturer will. It'll be the same for Playstation.

Lexreborn242d ago

Contractual agreements are not the same as “gentlemen” agreements. If you think that they work with their distributors a month before production then their entire business model is trash. They work with companies like nvidia constantly for building the graphics cards they need. They work with companies that build motherboards years in advance. This is what proper business planning does.

They are not buying components on a whim like a consumer. So again, considering the ram isn’t a singular module and is integrated into the motherboard I highly doubt they wouldn’t have a final schematic that they are supposed to be building around.

If they are delaying production another 3 years then it’s obvious again this is an after though project and is just trying to be responsive to their bad execution they had the last 14 years.

It also isn’t far fetched to use their failure to produce first party titles the last 7 years including the highly anticipated games I mentioned all being cancelled. That they would continue to you know… lie

Sitdown43d ago

You don't really know how this works huh?

Profchaos43d ago (Edited 43d ago )

Helix is going to be stupidly expensive

Instead of leaning into smarter upscaling techniques they're brute forcing hardware that will cost them dearly and it remains to be seen if it's genuinely going to provide a meaningful differential

I know in the oc.doace people like to brag about not using frame gen or dlss to get to high on a game but for the majority of players they happily use those technologies without a second thought

That's going to be ps6 vs Helix

Eonjay42d ago

Yeah with FSR 5 they should be able to offer a much cheaper version of Helix.

Eonjay42d ago

While this does seem to be the case, I am encouraged by the statement from Microsoft about wanting to provide affordable options. If this means a Series S style Helix, at least there will be something affordable being offered.

XBManiac42d ago

Series S is what has killed Xbox Series so... Will they dare?

blacktiger43d ago

It's called systematic inflationary. Yes we get it Microsoft, keep raising in the name ofall kinds of stuffs

pwnmaster300043d ago

Honestly if there was thing I learned from this generation is that new consoles arnt day one anymore.
I can wait 1-3 years.

DarXyde43d ago

Another important lesson from this generation: while Nintendo showed us that prices don't necessarily need to ever drop, we've now learned that waiting 1-3 years does carry some risk that prices increase. This generation is just bizarre in all the wrong ways.

LucasRuinedChildhood43d ago (Edited 43d ago )

The factors are largely external. Covid and Russia-Ukraine war causing inflation led to the first price increase in 2022.

Then we get Trump's tariffs increasing hardware prices, AI boom causing a RAM crisis, war on Iran causing a worldwide fuel crisis which impacts the cost of everything.

Gaming doesn't exist in a vacuum. The last few years have been a shitshow and lot of it was definitely avoidable.

DarXyde42d ago

LucasRuinedChildhood,

For sure. No disagreement on the external factors doing a lot of this. Where I have to gently push back however is on two fronts:

1. The pandemic definitely caused some issues: asynchronous development was a big issue and really complicated timelines and affected game quality. At the same time, when it comes to price hikes, it's really difficult to know what was genuine necessity and what was taking consumers for a ride. The pandemic brought about "stag-flation" which was increasing prices and stagnant wages, which was a problem caused by supply chain constraints. There was also "Greed-flation", where companies that were slightly affected or had no issues took advantage of the situation and squeezed everyone citing supply chain issues when there were none.

2. It's definitely true that the tariffs, AI boom, and RAM crisis were all things enabled by tech broligarchs throwing money at this caricature of a world leader, one of them being Satya Nadella. I don't think Sony and Nintendo have contributed much to this problem if at all, but Microsoft's Nadella I feel was instrumental in causing every one of those issues. Microsoft as a company contributed to both candidates (though they gave Harris 4x as much if I recall), but Nadella was all in on letting AI run wild. He paid for unregulated AI, and got a war that's not a war (even though Trump called it that at least five times on television) that screwed up helium access. So for me, I feel that one of the players in the gaming industry is a key architect of these issues, and for that reason I struggle a bit to think of it as "external".

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