570°

Microsoft Wants New Exclusives For Current, Future Xbox Generations

NowGamer: Platform holder looking to add 'new blood' to AAA stable.

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nowgamer.com
Hands Up For Games4553d ago

Get on it MS, the more (quality) Dev houses you have, the better the Games you can make.

It really is as simple as that.

NukaCola4553d ago

1. Don't put restrictions or stipulations on your devs.
2. Let devs be creative, even if it seems like a bad idea or your marketing gurus dont agree. Creativity is the answer.

Game13a13y4553d ago

I'm sorry to point this out, but MS and "creativity" have never really belonged in the same sentence, MS and "immitations" might sound more coherent

ApplEaglElephant4552d ago (Edited 4552d ago )

thats almost laughable as MS telling us how Kinect is hardcore.

yep. MS did actually tell us Kinect is hardcore.

Also, Gears 3 isnt owned by MS. EPIC owns them. MS just got exclusivity deal for first 3 Gears game.

Epic can now do w/e they want including making it multiplat.

snipes1014552d ago

Like I really have no idea where MS's head is at. Why the hell has it taken them so long to decide "y'know, maybe we will stand to benefit from more exclusive titles that aren't kinect related."

Good lord. I love their system but get real.

Skip_Bayless4552d ago

There needs to be more exclusives in general. I beleive all games should be exclusive to one system besides sports games. It makes for better games and increases system sales. The only benefit for multiplatform is the developer and publisher makes more money.

More money doesn't mean better games. It just means they get more complacent like Modern Warfare, Assasins Creed, Resident Evil etc. Instead of getting a 9 rating game we get a 8 rating game.

ZippyZapper4552d ago

@Game13a13y you mean like Sony imitated Live, achievments, video/music/game marketplace, arcade, dlc, in game texting (can't do cross game chat) Uncharted (Gears clone) and live console updates?

Gamer19824552d ago

Maybe they should finally pony up and talk to Sony? Imagine a console by both them companys? Somebody needs to take on the juggernaut that is Nintendo. They worked with big companys in the past like Nokia for example. They provide the software and Nokia the hardware. All Ms do with 360 is provide software they don't manufacture it. All hardware is from various other companys which Sony could provide. So then we could have 2 consoles. One for hardcore and one for the family gamer.

The problem right now is 90% of games released are on 2 consoles looking practically the same so consumers are going for the cheapest in most cases especially in US that's why MS sell so much. However without competition from Sony they could sell at reasonable price and not have to keep selling lower than ps3 just to keep up sales.

AngryTypingGuy4552d ago

Gears going multiplatform could happen but MS will most likely make it very worth their while for Epic to keep it exclusive.

BISHOP-BRASIL4552d ago

Creativity maybe is the answer for us, but not for MS. MS isn't really good in maintaining studios, just look at their backgroud this generation. What they are really good is at taking a game that someone else is doing, make an agreement for exclusive, market it, sells millions, order sequels... Rinse and repeat as far as it profitable.

When MS looks for new exclusives it doesn't mean they are going to invest in new studios, contract some key artists to realize their visions, nothing like that... It means Gears is now out of contract and MS is again on the hunt for publisher-free developers with potentially successfull game projects going on that they can buy exclusive distribution rights.

I'm not saying this is a bad business model or that MS is evil or whatever... As far as we know their extra support and budget for funding third party exclusives can very well improve a game's qualities... Just saying, don't expect MS to take the risk of a real creative route, it's not their stuff and it's better this way.

I mean, the problem with MS is that they never throw devs a bone... Look at Bungie, MS landed their eyes in Marathon in 1999 and they bought Bungie right away. Not long after that, Bungie would be creating Halo, which was basically an spiritual successor of Marathon. 10 years later and Bungie never got to work in anything else than Halo... Before MS came in, Bungie were a developer who worked not just on Marathon, but in many other franchises in multiple genres.

At least when MS buy exclusive rights to ONE game franchise, they are buying exactly what they want and the devs are free to do what they want the rest of the time. When MS buys a studio, this devs are forced to do only one game over and over again and the moment MS feels like the one game is no longer worth it, they close the studio (again, just look at MS background)... The only exception is Rare, which have varied games around, but 99% of their attention is in Kinect, which require a different approach, they probably would still be doing Perfect Dark games otherwise.

Silver_Faux4552d ago

I prefer my ps3 these days but you should never forget, Microsoft were involved with some truly fantastic games back in the day. Age of Empires and my personal favourite FREELANCER come to mind.

+ Show (6) more repliesLast reply 4552d ago
saladthieves4552d ago

Why didn't they do this SOONER THAN LATER???

palaeomerus4552d ago (Edited 4552d ago )

Because it makes virtually no difference in sales. It's a waste of energy and resources to chase exclusives that might sell around 4 million IF you are lucky and are more likely to fight to get to one million. Exclusives are only good news for console fanboys and exclusivity nerds and press guys who need to have something like this to argue about to fill space on game sites and get requoted to the blogs.

Everyone else just wants good fun games to buy and doesn't get any enjoyment whatsoever from what platforms they conspicuously aren't on.

kikizoo4552d ago

yeah right paelomeryq, and without exclusives, it's probably smarter to buy a console without bluray, with no free online, etc ?

your statement is good, if only one console it's on the market (but i undertsand, like all the xfanboy since a few years without great exclusives, you have decided that it's not [email protected])

Biggest4552d ago

You asked and palaeomerus gave you the perfect example. Xbox fans don't care about exclusives. Why give them anything more than they want? Feed them sales numbers to ensure they feel validated in purchasing a console that has yet to match the value of a certain competitor. Afterall. . .

"Exclusives are only good news for console fanboys and exclusivity nerds and press guys who need to have something like this to argue about to fill space on game sites and get requoted to the blogs." Exclusives are not good news for gamers according to Xbox fans.

Why o why4552d ago (Edited 4552d ago )

Perfect pale...... Laud what you have, downplay what you dont. You are not ms or one of their shareholders so your angle of desire should be games.... question is are you a gamer or an accountant that trolls on game sites.

This is good news for ms. Its never too late to increase your capacity to make more games. Only a dcikhead would act like they dont want more...we all want more, its human nature. Furthermore what's wrong with wanting more of what makes us gamers. Some people baffle me

P_Bomb4552d ago (Edited 4552d ago )

Good games/good IPs are never a waste of energy & resources. They're what it's all about.

If you want a game on another system bad enough, you'll probably find a way to play it eventually, be it a friend's house or whatever. If not, you can still respect the dev's contribution to gaming.

Exclusives aren't all mad gambles either. Multiplats bomb all the time, critically and/or commercially. Most don't sell 4 mil' if they're lucky either. Neither Mass Effect game has done 4 mil' on *any* console. Should BioWare dump Mass Effect? Hardly. And neither should 1st party devs retire their LBPs or Forzas.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 4552d ago
Venjense4552d ago

I think I remember Cliffy B saying that he wanted to makes multiplats now which makes sense. I doubt a guy like that wants to be tied to one series for another 3 games.

JellyJelly4552d ago (Edited 4552d ago )

Looking at the sales and reception of Gears of War I wouldn't be surprised if he'd be pretty happy to continue.

gotgame19854552d ago

every interview i seen cliffy B in he always say in doesn't know what microsoft next move is so the don't know what theres will be, so that alone tells you that the two still have somthing up there sleeves. i think the game sony was making with them was canceled then again maybe not.

lategamer4552d ago

In the past five years, Epic (the company Cliff works for) has worked on the following games:

*Gears 1-3
*Unreal Tourny 3
*Infinity Blade 1 & 2 (with Chair Entertainment)
*Shadow Complex (with Chair Ent.)
*Bulletstorm

Epic, and Cliff are not "tied to one series". Furthermore, Gears is a very high profile title for the 360, and in collaberation with Microsoft (marketing, promos, etc.) the series (Gears) has sold over 6 million (Probably closer to 9/10 actually).

skyward4553d ago

Not sure about Ryse - although we haven't seen much of it to be fair. Do they need more shooters though?

iamnsuperman4553d ago

The thing about Ryse is all we have seen is a CGI trailer. Big questions like is it on rails? how well will the control be? have yet to be answered.

I think Microsoft need to deviate away from their traditional games. It is nice they want to make games for their fans but it would also be nice to expand.

saladthieves4552d ago

I love shooters, but please, god forbid the next gen isn't full of more generic shooters after shooters!!

WitWolfy4552d ago

"this is a shooter"

There fixed it for ya!

Noticeably_FAT4553d ago

Microsoft should do their own modern day first person shooter. I mean it would definitely sell. They bought Twisted Pixel recently, not sure there is a ton of inventive studios out there at the moment, but I wouldn't mind something new for the next generation. I don't think we'll get that this current generation though.

StrongMan4552d ago

"Microsoft should do their own modern day first person shooter."

http://www.metacritic.com/g...

Noticeably_FAT4552d ago

That's something with Kinect that was done by 505, I was thinking more along the lines of Modern Warfare type of game.

gotgame19854552d ago

you know I really have a feeling that twisted pixel will become Microsofts Naugthy Dog, 343 without a dout
will be there new Bungie. and one of the new studios they open up will also become big for them as well.

4553d ago Replies(3)
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240°

More Job Losses At Xbox, “There’s More To Come”: Paul Thurrott

Paul Thurrott in a recent episode commented on the on-going Microsoft fiasco hinting at more job losses and that "there's more to come".

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spieltimes.com
Sonic188111h ago(Edited 11h ago)

There won't be no more acquiring game publishers from Microsoft in the future . Xbox has to pay Microsoft back. It might take two decades to do that.

sagapo8h ago(Edited 8h ago)

I don’t understand what you’re saying. Xbox IS microsoft so there’s no “paying back “.
And MS gross profit in 2023 was over 140 billion dollars so forget your 2 decades.

Unless you mean the money MS invested in Xbox (acquisitions included) and the time it will take for xbox as a brand to gain that money back on it’s own, then yeah, that could take a while.

romulus232h ago

The better term to use might be return on investment, xbox is simply a division of Microsoft one that MS can easily do away with if profit margins are not met. So in that regard he's right, if xbox isn't showing the expected return on investment the higher ups are expecting than it's unlikely Microsoft will acquire any other studios any time soon, especially if they are spending billions buying developers just to shut them down in the end.

SonyStyled7h ago

“There won't be no more acquiring game publishers from Microsoft in the future”

No bro, there do be is for Microsoft not acquiring for what is now if not what it be is 😂

Ms3tjt5h ago

“ Xbox has to pay Microsoft back. ”

Aka

“I don’t know how business works”

Domkakop4h ago

You might need to take a good hard look in the mirror

Ms3tjt4h ago

Yeah I forgot Xbox is separate from Microsoft and Xbox borrowed the 69bn from Microsoft, and Microsoft didn’t get COD, Candy crush etc in return 😂😂👏

jwillj2k411h ago

There really needs to be a class action lawsuit here. You buy these companies just to put people out of jobs. And it’s not like something happened to derail their plans this WAS the plan. Microsoft has no business in this space at all.

franwex10h ago(Edited 10h ago)

Microsoft has been doing this for years. They simply want the IPs. Look at Nokia. Look at Skype. This time it simply expanded to games. Gaming is not as important to Microsoft’s executives as it was to the founders too. Bill Gates was willing to sell the og Xbox at a loss. Steve Balmer approved the red ring of death fiasco. This CEO isn’t really a gamer.

-Foxtrot10h ago

Maybe it's time though to put a stop to it and use a big giant like Microsoft as a huge example to the rest of these big companies.

There has to be a line drawn somewhere.

People like the FTC and the like went against Microsoft yet their Actvision deal was still allowed to go through yet look what's happened...it's not even Acitivisions studios aswell, it's Bethesdas.

RNTody10h ago

Ninja Theory, Perfect Dark, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Wolfenstein 3, Dishonored, Prey, Doom, Quake... something tells me that bad things are going to happen to these entities under Microsoft.

MrDead13m ago

ID software, the makers of Doom and Wolfenstein that have been with us since 1991 could be gone and MS will keep the IPs.

I hope some of these studios can buy their freedom from MS otherwise this is going to be even more devastating for the industry and gamers.

anast10h ago

Good thing the bosses of all those small studios made their money.

glenn19799h ago

they cant do it right now they will get burned

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90°

Microsoft Opening Xbox Mobile Game Store in July

The Xbox brand is expanding, as an Xbox mobile game store is opening this coming July where Microsoft will brings its "first-party portfolio."

Jin_Sakai2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

“Bond adds that they will start on the web”

This will go nowhere.

Nice knowing you Xbox. This is what happens when the house never gets cleaned.

MrDead2d ago

The only this MS is expanding is the amount of feculence it sprays on everyone who just want to enjoy gaming and make games.

The best thing MS can do for the gaming industry is leave and never return.

XiNatsuDragnel1d 23h ago

Good luck with this even it might not succeed.

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210°

Microsoft once tried to nab LittleBigPlanet from Sony after a few drinks

It turns out that many moons ago, Microsoft once had its eye on the Sony published LittleBigPlanet series.

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eurogamer.net
XiNatsuDragnel2d ago

Microsoft had a good idea but fumbled it again.

Cacabunga1d 12h ago (Edited 1d 12h ago )

Project Spark idea was decent but they quickly gave up ..
LBP was wonderful

ApocalypseShadow2d ago

Microsoft in a nutshell. Always tried to poach Sony employees, games, 3rd party games and devices like the depth camera that was turned into Kinect but was running on PS2 before Xbox 360. Wouldn't be surprised they wanted LBP. Just like they worked behind the scenes pushing the MLB to bring Sony's baseball game to Xbox instead of making their own.
https://www.playstationlife...

They didn't spend years trying to develop their own baseball game. They wanted Sony's game.

They're scum.

Zachmo1821d 11h ago

Microsoft didn't force MLB on Xbox. MLB gave Sony 2 options either go multiplat or risk losing the license.

Rynxie1d 1h ago

And why do you think MLB said that? I believe Ms approached MLB.

ApocalypseShadow1d ago (Edited 1d ago )

Totally ridiculous comment.

The only exclusivity Sony had was to their own creation of The Show. Microsoft could have paid the MLB for the license just like Sony did and made their own baseball game.

Microsoft instead, groomed MLB for years in trying to poach Sony's game and bring it to Xbox. They're worth 3 TRILLION dollars. You think that's not enough money to make their own baseball game? Don't be delusional.

Microsoft spun it like they always do and told the media that they had to trust Sony with their hardware. After they put Sony in that position of not having a choice. Either go multiplatform or stop making one of their successful games. That's a no win scenario.

And what did Microsoft do? They didn't try to sell the game to the Xbox community. They put it on game pass to hurt Sony. Pushing the idea of why buy games that are $70 when you can play them in their cheap service for $10. It was a dirty tactic.

You fell for the Kool aid drink Microsoft served you instead of spitting it out. Hope it tasted good because you were fooled by Phil and the gang.

20h ago
Hereandthere16h ago

Xbox executive Sara Bond has told Axios that Microsoft spent a number of years trying to get MLB The Show onto Xbox consoles. And when it finally succeeded in breaking off PlayStation’s long-held exclusivity, the company had to “trust” Sony with pre-release Xbox Series X/S consoles.

Bond revealed that MLB The Show “always came up” in conversations between Microsoft and the Major League Baseball organization. “We always said, ‘We love this game. It would be a huge opportunity to bring it to Xbox.'” she recalled. However, when Microsoft’s efforts materialized, it put the company in an awkward situation where it had to send in pre-release consoles to a rival company.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 16h ago
Notellin22h ago

"Microsoft instead, groomed MLB for years in trying to poach Sony's game and bring it to Xbox."

Take a nap, conspiracies are rotting your brain.

20h ago
Hereandthere16h ago

Xbox executive Sara Bond has told Axios that Microsoft spent a number of years trying to get MLB The Show onto Xbox consoles. And when it finally succeeded in breaking off PlayStation’s long-held exclusivity, the company had to “trust” Sony with pre-release Xbox Series X/S consoles.

ApocalypseShadow2h ago

Lying to yourself is unbecoming.

Article link tells you all you need to know in Sarah Bond's own words.

Hereandthere16h ago

They were too cheap/inept/lazy to develop their own mlb game, so they port begged for years and bribed the mlb to make the show multiplatform. Like i said many times, xbox brought nothing to the table their 24 years, ZERO.

ApocalypseShadow2h ago

At least you and others get it. Note drank the Kool aid and asked for seconds thinking it was refreshing.

Most don't even know how it all played out but it's there in black and white for all to see. Microsoft brought it up for years until the MLB forced Sony's hand. It was a win win for Microsoft. Kill one reason to buy a PlayStation or kill the game by dropping it in a cheap service to kill Sony's sales numbers on PlayStation.

OtterX1d 14h ago

"However, Healey said Media Molecule wouldn't have felt right doing that, adding it would have been "morally corrupt"."

Major kudos to Media Molecule for being an upright studio with principles.

RNTody1d 14h ago (Edited 1d 14h ago )

Great, more stories like this please. Show the last of the zombies holding the line what we've been saying for years: Microsoft is anti competition, anti industry and has no interest in making games at all.

But hey, at least there's an Xbox Games Showcase to look forward to, right?

Inverno1d 13h ago

Well considering SONY just killed the series, LBP would've been dead by now either way. Though MM probably wouldn't exist by now either, so I'm glad they stayed with SONY, hopefully they don't get shut down any time soon or ever honestly.

Sheppard7t31d 11h ago

How did Sony kill the series?

Inverno1d 11h ago

They shut down the servers, that's millions of user created levels gone. That and dead are pretty much the same, it's also been years since 3 and they cancelled HUB soooo.

20h ago
fsfsxii21h ago

They shutdown the servers because no one was playing, no one in the community cared about the user created levels so why keep them up? Wtf you guys would never succeed in running a business.

Inverno20h ago

Yea dood no one was playing so they shut off the servers. Cause people with enough common sense can't just Google why they were actually shut of, right?

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