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Five Things Microsoft Needs to do for the July Event

Zahi AR. from Link-Cable writes: "After a long week of press conferences and shows, with more on the way, we’re reminded of the disappointing first event that Microsoft had when they showed off the first snippets of “gameplay” on their Xbox Series X. So let’s take a positive step forward and look at five things Microsoft needs to do for the July event to be a success."

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CaptainHenry9162153d ago (Edited 2153d ago )

Quality exclusives. I wanna see a game that will potentially be better than Halo and a new face for Microsoft. I don't want to hear about FPS all the time.

AngelicIceDiamond2152d ago

Ubisoft takes center stage to announce Splinter Cell: Final Mission exclusively for Xbox Series X.

russo1212153d ago (Edited 2153d ago )

They should stop talking and show the goods! This second attempt must be good.

DJStotty2152d ago

This will be Microsoft's 1st attempt at showing their games.

The other event was for 3rd party.

2153d ago
ABizzel12153d ago (Edited 2153d ago )

While their exclusives are console exclusives they are still system sellers, however, they have to show off the 5 unknown games from their first-party studios considering we already know what 10 of the 15 are working on. They need New IP's to get New gamers on board. Halo, Gears, and Forza already have their audiences, and none of the other games from their first-party are huge system sellers currently, some of which are sequels to multiplatform games (Hellbalde 2, alleged Outer Worlds 2 based on job description), and some of which are still going to be multiplatform games (Psychonauts, Wasteland, RayTraced Minecraft).

So the 5 games from Playground Games, The Initiative, Compulsion, Undead Labs, and Obsidian (if it isn't Outer Worlds 2, but it's almost certain to be), have to really impress.

The Series S and price announcement could be a huge boost as well, but I don't know if they want to release it this soon, as they try to clear out Xbox One X inventory, but honestly, they need it if they want to be competitive in market share because PS5 is more than likely going to come out the gate with the price advantage. Their console is realistically cheaper to purchase than the Series X since the GPU and likely memory cost less, and they can nearly guarantee a contract to purchase up to 100 million units while Xbox can't.

They also have a fight with PC gaming coming to their hands hardware-wise, especially if cross-play becomes the norm, as I've seen a fairly decent uptake of gamers looking into buying and building gaming PC's for the first time, considered all the Xbox exclusives are coming to PC. A few of some of the former most diehard Xbox guys I play with on my friend's list finally bought a PlayStation 4 after going the entire PS3 generation without one and half this gen without the PS4 and they love the exclusives, even though Xbox is still their primary console for their friends. These same people are now asking me about what parts do they need to build a gaming PC, and honestly by this holiday season a $700 - $800 gaming PC will be able to go toe to toe with the new consoles but have the added benefit of guaranteeing a +60fps mode in every game depending on the resolution you play on, mods to give your games a significant boost to replayability, and lower price software, better streaming tools, emulation if that's your thing, and significantly more diversity in usage.

This show will either bring Xbox back into the fight, or continue on the trend from the end of the last generation.

2153d ago
ABizzel12152d ago

I clearly said Hardware-wise. PC does nothing for the hardware sales of the Series X, the Series S, the Xbox One X, or the XBO. They are supporting PC with software and trying to make headroom in the market front on PC, which isn't going to happen. People will play their exclusives there and use game pass which is what MS wants, but as far as Xbox, that does nothing for them.

Yes, there are millions of gamers who are console only, but there are still millions who are open to going to PC as well, and there are millions of gamers who prioritize PlayStation and Nintendo as their main platforms, who now have the option to make a PC instead of ever having to buy an Xbox console.

Those who are spending $700 - $800 on a console are getting console-level performance as of this holiday. Not everyone has a budget constraint, and for those who do, you have the option of buying a console or simply building a used or cheaper PC. This holiday $400 - $500 gets you a new PC on par with the rumored Xbox Series S / Xbox One X, and going with used parts here and there can get you performance between Series S and PS5 (but still closer to to the Series S). No to mention that once again this is buying this holiday season, if you're getting a console at launch and decide 2 - 3 years later you want to build you gaming PC then, then obviously you're going to get hardware that's easily 50% more powerful than the Series X for that same $700, or get a console that's on par with the consoles for around $500.

And not to mention you can use do significantly more on a PC than just game, if you want to play at a guaranteed 60fps you can do that on your PC, if you want to mod your games you can do that on your PC, if you want full tracking VR you can do that on your PC (and eventually PS5), if you want to become a developer you can do that on your PC, if you want to do 3D modeling you can do that on your PC, if you want to edit video you can do that on your PC, if you want to create audio you can do that on your PC, if you want to learn Photoshop you can do that on your PC, if you want to learn Blender you can do that on your PC, if you want to run emulation you can do that on your PC, if you need Office or a just about any other program you can do that on your PC.

So let's not pick a small section of what I said, let's make sure we address everything, and the reality is for a lot of gamers who are also professionals, building a workstation gaming PC is becoming a more lucrative and enticing option which is why people are inquiring more about PC gaming.

DJStotty2152d ago

"we already know what 10 of the 15 are working on."

What are the 10 games we already know about?

DJStotty2152d ago

I'm sure them 15 studios will sort you out with more than 1 game.

ABizzel12152d ago (Edited 2152d ago )

They will definitely have more games eventually, but most developers release 2 - 3 games per generation. The game each of them show will be the game they have for the next 2 years at least.

And as for your question above:

Known
1. 343 Industries: Halo Infinite
2. The Coalition: Gears 5 Enhanced. Next game could be 2021 more likely in 2022.
3. Turn 10: Forza 8. Next game Forza Horizon 5 2022
4. Ninja Theory: Hellbalde 2
5. Xbox Game Studios Publishing: Flight Simulator
6. Rare: Battletoads & Everwild
7. Mojang: Minecraft RayTracing (multiplatform)
8. Double Fine Studio: Psychonauts 2 (multiplatform). Next game possibly 2022
9. Inxile: Wasteland 3 (multiplatform). Next game possibly 2022
10. Obsidian: Grounded releasing July. Outer Worlds 2 for 2021 - 2022 (based on job description)
11. World’s Edge: Age of Empires (this studio was made specifically to continue the franchise)

Unknown
10. Again, Obsidian's new game comes out in July, so they have time for another game.
12. The Initiative: ???, New AAA IP, most likely 2021
13. Playground Games: ???, New AAA IP, most likely 2021 (I hope it's not Fable, they need new games)
14. Compulsion Games: ???, New A - AAA Indie IP, most likely 2021
15. Undead Labs: ???, hopefully, New A - AAA indie IP, most likely 2021 (I hope it's not State of Decay)

That's their 2020 - 2022 first-party lineup. It's a good line-up for people who are already Xbox fans, but they really need The Initiative and Playground Games to blow it out of the park to make non-Xbox gamers want to buy their console.

DJStotty2152d ago (Edited 2152d ago )

2 : Gears 5 enhanced is not a new game
3 : Forza 8 maybe, Forza Horizon is not made by turn 10, but also playground games.
7: Minecraft Raytracing, again not a game.
11 : worlds edge:age of empires, again i will be shocked if a new age of empires is released for xbox.

I don't know why you included (multiplatform) when we know all MS 1st party will be available on Windows PC.

And also, studios normally have 2-3 projects at the same time, so do not count out something extra.

I think you may be coloured surprised with what is announced at the live stream, MS have already stated there is a lot of unannounced games to show.

ABizzel12152d ago

2. I never said Gears 5 enhanced was a new game, The Coalition, however, is spending development time and resources to basically remaster the PC version at max settings for the Series X as a free upgrade, but they are still spending time, money, and resources to get this updated, which is why I listed their next game could be 2021 or 2022.

3. Turn 10 has co-developed Forza Horizon with Playground Games on each one. Turn-10 has also hired several key developers from the Horizon team, as well as, open-world developers from RockStar who worked on GTA and Red Dead, which is pointing towards Turn-10 taking over both the Motorsport and Horizon IP, especially since Playground wants to make their New IP, and will likely spend time making sequels to that game instead of jumping back and forth to Horizon.

7. Minecraft, again I didn't say it was a new game, however, just like Gears 5 they are spending time, money, and resources to get the game updated for Ray-Tracing on Series X, which means they won't be releasing anything else for another 1 - 2 years.

11. The new consoles are coming with keyboard and mouse support so there's a chance it can come to Series X, however, even if it doesn't that's still what they're working on, so nothing else from them for another 2 years.

"I don't know why you included (multiplatform) when we know all MS 1st party will be available on Windows PC."

I listed those games as multiplatform because several of those games have already been confirmed by the developers to be coming to PlayStation still since those contracts were closed before Microsoft bought these companies, and Minecraft comes to every platform.

"And also, studios normally have 2-3 projects at the same time, so do not count out something extra."

That's not inherently true. Yes, studios can have multiple projects going on, but rarely does that transition into multiple IPs without there generally being two dedicated teams under the same banner. A perfect example is Turn-10 who went from just over 100 employees to now an alleged near 300, which again is hinting more and more towards them taking over both Forza IP's, because there is no point in growing your team that large that fast otherwise, so in their case, they likely have 2 projects and 2 IPs Motorsport and Horizon.

Then you look at 343i who has 450 employees and several projects, but if you look at their projects for XBO all of them were Halo games (mainly split between Halo Campaign and Halo Online). That's probably fine and great for Halo fans, but that's a perfect representation of the issue Xbox has as far as offering diversity in its first party. They're an entire generation behind on the dual team structure their competitor has.

That's why I'm excited to see what the Initiative and Playground games bring to the table. Compulsion and Undead haven't really delivered IMO, but I'm giving compulsion the benefit of the doubt with a larger budget and more tools / development time they might make a Bioshock level experience, but Undead has been with Xbox for years now and still produced average games with game-breaking glitches.

Xbox also has a few 2nd party exclusives like Scron, Bright Memeory Infinite (sort of, it's on Mobile and PC already, but getting a graphics update for PC and ported to Series X almost like Gears), The Ascent, The Medium, Call of the Sea, and Second Extinction.

That's almost 30 exclusives ranging from indie - AAA from 2020 - 2022, so they have the quantity they need for the next 2 years after launch, but they need to make sure the quality is there and that's where they also missed the mark this current generation.

DJStotty2151d ago

@ABizzel1

Like i said, as much as you "assume" these studios are tied up for the next 2 years, i think you will be surprised what is shown after watching the event.

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RaidenBlack2152d ago

Just multitude of 1P AAA and AAAA games.

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Max_Eckhardt2153d ago

I want to see AAA single player narrative driven games and Coop games from Microsoft.
They’ve been talking a good game for years, it time to put up or shut up.

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70°

Microsoft Gaming Revenue Drops 7% Year-on-Year, Content and Services Down 5%, Xbox Hardware Down 33%

Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.

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Jin_Sakai22d ago (Edited 22d ago )

Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.

dveio22d ago

To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.

Jingsing22d ago

The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.

Tanktopmaster9222d ago

Once they re-evaluate exclusive all will be fine….

S2Killinit22d ago

Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.

Jingsing22d ago

15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.

Tanktopmaster9222d ago

These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse

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50°

Report: Injustice 3 in Development at NetherRealm Studios

Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.

50°

Spiders Studio, Developers of GreedFall: The Dying World, Announce Liquidation of the Company

Spiders: "We're going to cut straight to the chase so you're not left wondering: After a long period without clear answers, we have received confirmation that Spiders is being liquidated.

What does it mean? This means the company as a whole no longer exists. We'll cease our functions immediately. The planned DLC will release via Nacon, and then-- well, that's it.

We're sorry that it's come to this and would like to thank each and every one of you for your support over the years.

If you have any questions or run into issues with your games, please contact Nacon directly as we'll no longer be able to reply."