Microsoft at Gamescom 2014: Predictable and lacking surprises

"Microsoft coasted at this year’s Gamescom show and it looks like the lack of any real surprises will leave them trailing in 2015."

Gameondaily discusses why Microsoft's conference left a lot to be desired.

[extermin8or]

Well the (timed?) exclusive of tomb raider was a surprise however otherwise they have a point.

[Bennibop]

Tomb raider was the only bombshell they dropped everything else was more of the same and a rollercoaster building game. And does anyone else think that Forza Horizon 2 sounds more like Driveclub more and more?

[Becuzisaid]

I was thinking the crew

[Convas]

Why would it sound like Driveclub when Forza Horizon 2 is open world?

They're simply building on what they did with Forza Horizon, which *GASP*, preceded both The Crew AND Driveclub.

[Haki1112]

Don't spit knowledge to the fanboys you know that don't fly on N4G

[GundalfDeGrej]

As someone who isn't super into driving games I think they're all starting to blend together. Nowadays it's all about being "social" and "connected" (yet none of them seems to offer the option to play split screen multiplayer funnily enough).

[Dudebro90]

Haha right. Because the biggest news on N4g is the announcement of Rise of the Tomb Raider being exclusive, possibly timed, so therefore there were no surprises.

I would bet this was written before the event and then modified after to reflect what was announced.

[imt558]

Tomb Raider exclusive is a surprise surely.

[Drekken]

Microsoft money hatting a 3rd party and not having anything 1st party to announce is definitely not surprising.

[Haki1112]

But let it be the other way around it would have been a celebration Rick James style.

[Drekken]

I don't see how a 20 year old MULTIPLATFORM game going exclusive can be a celebration from either side. It is just dumb.

[aviator189]

No surprises?
Surely, a certain game featuring a certain raider announced as an x1 exclusive (timed or not, we don't know yet) would qualify as a pretty big surprise?

[Spurg]

The first thing that came to my mind when it was announced was the legions of people who are gonna be pissed about that...even at the conference there was a moment of silence(Shock).

[mark3214uk]

surely a timed? how can you say no to a market size of 10 million+ ps4's? that would be crazy

[CannonB8]

Depends on how big a cheque MS waved under Square Enix's nose.

[aviator189]

Well, unless ms paid enough to cover development costs and whatnot. If the previous tomb raider sold so much on all platforms and still made an overall loss, this move would make sense.

[Manic2014]

I thought they had a pretty good showcase even though they just showed more of what they announced.

QB seriously looks amazing.

[Ninver]

So what ever happens to that Quatum gameplay?

[bcrazy18]

Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not but in case you didn't watch the media briefing, they showed a good amount of live QB gameplay lol. You should check it out it you didn't see it. Looks pretty bad ass.

[Haki1112]

It was there guessing you wasn't

[PlayableGamez]

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[Ninver]

I see, ok guess I missed it

[SliceOfTruth888]

tomb raider, pre downloads, halo channel and QB and everything else looked solid....happy xbox owner here....looking forward to sonys

[JeffGUNZ]

I was/am at Work and didn't get to see the show, what did they say about pre-load, when is it coming?

[Ausbo]

Its starting this fall with a few games. Forza I believe is included. Then it will start rolling out to all new games to preorder and predownload

[n4rc]

Ya.. Horizon 2 seems to be the first game with FIFA to follow..

Plus dnla finally coming tho they didn't say when exactly.. "Coming months.."

[RosweeSon]

Yeah everyone saw Tomb Raider! Going exclusive!? For now but still I think that was a bit of a shocker!

[Hk85karlsson]

Exclusive? You sure about that, Son?

[JeffGUNZ]

@Hk85Karlsson

Read what the head of the studio posted;

http://tombraider.tumblr.co...

Tell me where in there it suggests it could be timed? I feel the agreement at this point is just for this one game and not the franchise. At least that is what I got out of reading that.

[Hk85karlsson]

@JeffGunz The wording is careful. Its the exact same wording as it was with PvZ GW.

Anyhoo, SE/CD: U clearly don't need 9-ish millions of PS4 owners money if I'm wrong about this.
SO, take care.

[JeffGUNZ]

The only answer I can fathom is the money MS offered to help develop and for the rights was worth the tradeoff.

[Silly gameAr]

For some reason, i'm not even shocked about that. All it did was take Tomb Raider completely off my radar.

[Tedakin]

Tomb Raider exclusive was a bigger surprise than anything announced by anyone at E3 this year..................

[CannonB8]

Did I miss something? Since when did Tomb Raider become a system seller? Because that's what Xbox needs just now. A truly killer app.
That being said, my fingers are crossed that it's only a timed exclusive.

[PlayableGamez]

Square Enix's Tomb Raider was a great a game.

[CannonB8]

I'm not saying Tomb Raider wasn't a great game. Hell, I double-dipped and bought it for PS3 and PS4.
My point is that no-one will go out and buy an Xbox for this title alone.
Makes you wonder if MS contacted other studios before Square Enix with the same offer.
Can you imagine the sh1tstorm if Ubisoft made AC-Unity an Xbox exclusive?

[HugoDrax]

@CannonB8
"Hell, I double-dipped and bought it for PS3 and PS4."

Well I'm sure you're pissed about this announcement if you don't plan on buying an XB1. You said it yourself, you double dipped on the first game in this series. So I know you want to play the sequel? Rather it sells consoles or not, the fact XBOX will be the only place to play the Tomb Raider sequel is a huge win for Microsoft. I'm tired of reading the articles where some gamers are trying to downplay this announcement as if it's not a HUGE announcement. I'm sure if we go back to E3-2014, everyone on this site was posting how they were looking forward to the sequel. Yet, now that it's a MS Exclusive, those same gamers are acting like they don't care. The hypocrisy of some N4G members smh....

[LAWSON72]

No one game is truly a system seller, the thing that sells systems is great features and a library of great games. Not many people spend $400+ to play just only one game

[lemoncake]

No one predicted tombraider as an exclusive, so it was neither totally predictable or lacking surprise. I am glad they stuck to games not too far away from release with some decent amount of gameplay footage.

[LAWSON72]

I got what I wanted, though sadly no Scalebound and I think MS did a good job at showing off their line up for 2014. They had a good showing that gave incentive to buy an Xbone with their great bundles and got Xbone owners a little more excited to own the system. Wish there were more surprises but oh well.

[HugoDrax]

I think Scalebound will be shown at TGS...

[Toiletsteak]

You guys do know Tomb Raider is being published by Microsoft Studios.

[Afterlife]

http://i.imgur.com/Y4q1KYx....

[BiggerBoss]

No it's not

[urwifeminder]

Loved the show only games I was not fussed on were Cod,Ori and FIFA everything else was great enjoyed the show Fh2 looks amazing. The show was not as predictable as this article on n4g is.

[Artemidorus]

Someone is butthurt.

[JeffGUNZ]

I was happy MS announced the big stuff before, gives incentive to watch. It seems now if something isn't a surprise it's not important then. Quantum Break gameplay was more then enough for me. The Tomb Raider deal was pretty big as well.

[Nine_Thousaaandd]

More of the same from E3! QB gameplay looked really good. And TR exclusive pissed me off of course. Other than that...showing off some bundles with CoD and SO...TR exclusive is the only surprise!

[46889337]

I love how the author didn't even mention the next Tomb Raider being a timed exclusive for Microsoft, when it was literally the biggest surprise out of the whole event. It's like he just slapped the some random thoughts together while the event was going on and didn't even bother to finish watching it.

[wolfcreek]

Ms has not made one game they announced, relies completely on 3rd party. It can say MS studios but they didn't make it .They rely on games that are on other systems.

[Dewitt]

Not sure if serious?

[Muzikguy]

IMO the "exclusive" TR thing did nothing but tell me to forget about the game. There will be plenty more games by then to play. Also I highly, and I mean highly, doubt that it will be no more than a "timed" exclusive. They were complaining about sales from the last game. Now they're saying this is the biggest game yet and want to limit sales by releasing on one system? I wasn't born yesterday

[Nine_Thousaaandd]

Exactly...

[NeoGamer232]

I don't think media should comment on stuff like this until they see what the competition offers ups.

I liked the games and additional xb feature announcements. It will be hard to top everything they brought to gamescom.

[EinRobot]

Wait, the bomb they dropped (TR) doesn't happen for over a year. I guess we have to have patience. They should have announced it at e3 next year.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

No, they announce immediately once they get it. We know a year ahead that TR is only coming to X1. Anyone who is maybe on the fence between consoles but really liked TR now has that added bit of info to help in their choice making.

[jts1891]

Ooookay? I was happy with what they showed. While I wish they would've come out swinging with some new IPs instead of expanding on already announced games, it was still pretty good. QB is shaping up to be amazing.

[Predaking77]

IMHO, I think the only big surprise in MS conference was Tomb Raider, it was so a shock that it left the other announcements in the dark. The new Tomb Raider would have sell 3 times more on PS4 and Square Enix knows that, that is why I believe it is a timed deal but they will not say is timed because it can affect xbone sales.

For me, is just good bye Tomb Raider, with so many good games coming, it is obvious I will not buy a xbone just to play Tomb Raider.

[n4rc]

Why would it sell 3x more?

I think you mean 40%.. And even that is a basic assumption based on console sales Right now, not when the game is actually release.. Who knows what the landscape will be by then

People need to realize these guys know a hell of a lot more about their business and industry then we do.. If it didn't make financial sense, they wouldn't have done it.

[HugoDrax]

"The new Tomb Raider would have sell 3 times more on PS4 and Square Enix knows that,"

So, and that means what? MS can easily just pay Square whatever amount of money they projected to make if the game was released on PS4 as well. Instead, it's XBOX Exclusive, guess you have a few choices....
1) Buy an XBOX ONE
2) Don't buy a XBOX ONE, and wait a year or two for a possible release on PS4.
3) Play the first game on PS NOW hahaha.

[Bellcross]

I'm glad it's Tomb raider and not a game I care about like Fallout or Mass Effect.

I couldn't care less about Tomb Raider to be honest.

[sprinterboy]

Tombraider has always been playstation from a gamers point of view from the beginning and crystal dynamics and Microsoft have just took a shit on playstation fans.

I personally am done with anything Microsoft related or crystal dynamics games, thus will further put a dent in xbone sales not increase them from playstation gamers who like me was thinking of buying a xbone in 2 yrs time, I am so angry right now.

[Goku781]

Nothing good came out of Xbox One announcements but the baffling decision of Tomb Raider.

[jts1891]

It was only a few weeks ago when Xbox fans were complaining about Bungie giving the PS4 exclusive Destiny content, and Sony fans were telling them to suck it up. Now the shoe is on the other foot when a historically PS-oriented franchise shows favoritism to MS. Now the PS4 fanboys are crying and swearing to never buy another TR game again.

[jerjef]

You're right, though a timed DLC is not quite the same as an exclusive game. Money certainly does talk and this is one ace in the hole MS has over Sony. All the same just because Rise of the Tomb Raider is an exclusive doesn't mean that Rise of the Tomb Raider: Special Spelunking Edition Black won't be on the PS4. It's all about semantics.

[mochachino]

Uhh, TR exclusive came as a surprise...but a bad one for all parties.