Xbox Wants Diversity in its Games Lineup; It's Good for Gears of War and Halo Developers to Be Quiet

Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg talks about the importance of having a diverse lineup of games, and how it's nice for 343 Industries and The Coalition to be a bit quiet.

[Nyxus]

All nice words, now they need to be put into action.

[Abriael]

Well, IMHO they are. They've been trying to add more diversity in their line up, they got a MMORPG from Korea, lots of stuff from smaller European countries, quite a bit of Japanese games.

Of course, they still have less than Sony (I believe they have more diversity than Nintendo, tho) , but Rome wasn't built in a day and you gotta start somewhere. It's already good that they recognized that they needed work on that.

Of course, they need to continue and not make it a one shot like the Japanese push at the beginning of the 360 era, but it's a step.

[Nyxus]

Personally I need to see it before I believe it, because we've been hearing promises since the reveal of the Xbox One, and in my opinion the system far from delivered so far.

[PapaBop]

To be fair, Black Desert is a BIG catch. It might not be the most appealing game in the world to most people but those who get it, will absolutely love it.

[butchertroll]

Quote ;

but Rome wasn't built in a day and you gotta start somewhere. It's already good that they recognized that they needed work on that.

.....

Sure. And after 4 years where are the results? What the hell Phil's Japan trip brought to Xbone? Nothing!

[81BX]

Agreed. From The beginning of this gen to know we have seen a wider variety and more support for indies

[SilverDemon]

4 years and we still dont have a single first party RPG which is a huge genre
I remember a time when xbox offered RPGs(fable), JRPGs(lost odyssey) hack n slash(too human) horror (alan awake

now those genres are a bi hole in xbox exclusive line-up for the entire generation (if you are not a fan of shooters or racers ,like me, xbox doesnt offer you anything else)

[InTheLab]

"Rome wasn't built in a day"

They've had 17 years though....

I'd like to see something new but I doubt it. Nearing 6 straight years of relying on Forza, halo, gears. I don't see that changing anytime soon...

[TheColbertinator]

@Abriael

MS isn't building Rome though.

More like Atlantis or Pompeii,caked in ashes or sunk in the sea.

[freshslicepizza]

They have diversity, Halo Wars 2, Cuphead, Ori and the Blind Forest 2, State of Decay 2, Forza 7, Luckeys Tale 2, Sea of Thieves. They just need a lot more output.

[Bobafret]

One of which appeals to me personally. They need more story driven single player, period.

[kneon]

Their diversity is improving, but their marketing isn't. They need to stop focusing their marketing on the dudebro demographic if they are to grow their market position.

[MegamanXXX]

Whatever you say Phil

[gamer7804]

Fable fortune and path of exile the latter just came out. Both 4k on xbx

[Relientk77]

Or 343 Industries and The Coalition could make brand new IPs and give Halo and Gears a rest.

Just a thought...

[UCForce]

Unless Microsoft allow them to do it.

[Abriael]

They just purchased the Gears franchise, so giving it a rest after one game doesn't seem very realistic, to be honest.

[Chevalier]

Couldn't they continue then other new IP they had and do a short expansion like how Uncharted just released one? Just a thought.

[slate91]

I think that is what they are doing to be fair. Didn't hear from them at e3 2017 or gamescom. Expect new IPs from those two to be brought into the spotlight e3 2018. (I hope anyways).

[81BX]

I was impressed by the games ms showed at e3. Especially since it wasn't gears or halo

[gamer7804]

No, just build or acquire studios

[DaNineTwo]

You're right. Shoot, it worked for Guerrilla.

[PhoenixUp]

Their entire existence is to create more games in the series their studio' name is based on

You hardly even see Sonic Team developing non Sonic games nowadays like they used to in the past

[yeahright2]

Do they?
I mean I see them trying with recore, quantum break and such, but the second they don't pull in halo or gears numbers they seemingly kill them off rather than try to build something out of them.

[xX-oldboy-Xx]

you're absolutely right, not every game will be a mega hit. Take the good with the bad.

[Automatic79]

Recore is getting a definitive edition, Ori got a sequel. I think it's a combination of new and old games.

[rainslacker]

It's not even so much that they have to push these new franchises to the extreme. I mean, at this point, even if QB did exceptionally well, they wouldn't need to jump on a sequel right away.

To me, it seems they just need to take more risks, and not focus so heavily on one or two really big new things, but spread it out a bit more. have the big well-established franchise rotate in and out, give the Forza if they want, offer up something new in the AAA front(maybe not every year, but with an increased frequency). Offer up more mid-tier or compelling indie titles, and don't use them as a crux to fill in the lack of actual AAA-AA games.

Right now, their entire exclusive line up consists of Forza, a AA game in DR2, a couple mid-tiers, and a ton of indies which are mostly timed exclusives.

Just filling out the year a bit more, and providing a nice steady stream of content which appeals to a wider base would do wonders for their brand appeal. Not everything they make has to appeal to everyone, but at least try to cater to as many people as possible, and give that stuff that isn't as much in the mainstream more attention so people know it exists....which they are doing better with now, but I think that's only because they don't have something really big to hype up.

[EatCrow]

They dont kill them off. Gamers do. Simply because they dont score as good or sell as much as the ones you mentioned.

Ori is getting one. There you go.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Like Ori 2
And Recore DE?

[yeahright2]

An indie game and a rerelease? Not exactly big risk taking now is it? No, I'm talking building a franchise to a level where it becomes the next gears or halo. I'm talking quantum break 2, sunset overdrive 2, and recore 2.
Let me put it this way, the original xbox brought you halo. the 360 brought you gears. throughout the Xbox's and 360's lives they built up forza. What has the xbox 1 brought you on that level?
"stay the course Phil, whatever you do is great and I'll defend it." that mentality won't help xbox.

[cfc83]

I guess they have diversity. Just not enough 1st party diversity.

[marquisray]

So if they have diversity then all of would buy?

[Benoski]

I'll believe it when I see it.

Xbox is in dire need for a variety of exclusives. They need to look at the stuff they released on the OG Xbox and figure out how to revitalise them for modern audiences.

Halo, Gears and Forza make a lot of money, sure, but nobody's gonna support Xbox if that's all they make for it. What about games like MechAssault? Brute Force? Crimson Skies?

[BLKxSEPTEMBER]

God I loved brute force. I was trying to think of the name of that game a few days ago. I'd love it on BC.

[GrimReaperGamer]

You've had 4 years to do this and have continuously failed. You might also want the Forza developers to be quiet also. Hate to break it to you, but you can only drive a car around a track so many times before it becomes extremely boring.

Where is Blinx 3, Brute Force 2, Unreal Champion 3, Steel Battalion 3, Phantom Dust 2, Panzer Dragoon Orta 2, Outlaw Golf: Insert Title, Phantom Crash 2, NightCaster 3, Metal Wolf Chaos 2, Mech Assault 3, Mad Dash Racing 2, Gunvalkyrie 2, Deathrow 2, Conker Live & Reloaded 2: Insert Title, Crimson Sea 2, Carve 2, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Insert Title, Breakdown 2, Blood Wake 2, Azurik: Rise of Perathia 2, Amped 3, Serious Sam 3, Warpath 2, Sudeki 2, Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse 2, Pariah 2, Jade Empire 2, Gun Metal 2, Grabbed By the Ghoulies 2, Call of Cthulhu 2: Insert Title, Advent Rising 2, Armed and Dangerous 2.

Hell if Microsoft don't want to make sequels for the IPs they own or have the rights too, then at the very least make a remaster from the ground up because if there's one thing the original Xbox had, it was diversity of games.

[Shadowsteal]

That's the thing I find funny. Sony is embracing the opportunity to remaster a plethora of games from Wipeout to Heavy Rain and even The Last of Us.

Not sure why Microsoft don't as well, we just got Gears UE and MCC. What about a Fable Remaster or whatever?

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

A whole bunch of those games, you listed aren't MS IPs, the company has no control over them.

[Benoski]

Microsoft doesn't own a bunch of those IPs, like Jade Empire, Pariah, Unreal or Panzer Dragoon. We also already have Amped 3, which was a launch title for the 360, so it's more like Amped 4 we would want.

[xX-oldboy-Xx]

They are on a roll, just keep saying all the right things MS.

[CaptainObvious878]

https://uploads.disquscdn.c...

You're right, they say all the right things to keep delusional fanboys, delusional.

[-Foxtrot]

"of having a diverse lineup of games"

https://www.photofunny.net/...

[Bobafret]

They did say they "want" diversity", not that they had it dopey. Same goes for the genius below.

[-Foxtrot]

Oh they "want" now...they already said they did

http://gamingbolt.com/peopl...

But I guess that must just be my "dopey" self...

[HeisenbergX]

Ugh god whenever MS starts talking about "GAMES" i cringe so bad my face hurts.

And now diversity.. lol oh boy

[Automatic79]

If you look at E3 2017 they have 22 console exclusives from E3 2017 to E3 2018. Many don't give the Xbox team credit but looking at all the games coming they have diversity.

[Razzer]

How many of those are times exclusives again?

[WePlayDirty]

Many of those are console launch exclusives. I'd be astonished if they were permanent.

[Automatic79]

Does the Label really matter. You won't be able to play those games on any other platform for some time. Look at Crash on PS4, and how well that has done. Look at Ark Survival, Elite Dangerous, Minecraft etc. All those games released on Xbox first and went on to be successful. If they go multi platform that is a win win. To sit there and say Xbox needs diversity or they do not have enough games is wrong. I do think they need to strengthen 1st party. I also see they are strengthening Asian support with Code Vein, Dragon Ball Z, Black Desert Online, Attack of the Titan 2, Sword of Art online, Fatal Bullet etc.

[rainslacker]

I'm not going to put down the games they've shown because I respect smaller games and developers. But lets be realistic here. When we talk about exclusives, and talk about games, in general, it's usually about the big high profile titles. There are tons of smaller titles available. small indie to mid-tier is readily available. But we rarely drone on at length about those kinds of games. Things like Rocket League are a fluke when it comes to discussions.

How many big AAA games did MS show exclusive for their system?

The answer is 1. Forza.

If MS has all this big content coming, then this past E3 would have been the time to announce it. It would have served their brand a lot more than trying to convince people they had tons of meaningful exclusives by throwing up the term in front of every indie game they could muster. Despite MS saying they don't want to announce too early, they're only hurting themselves by trying to convince people they should be taken seriously. It's one thing when a company with a proven track record for delivering makes a statement that they have a lot in the works, but aren't ready to show it. But it's quite another when a company that is coming under fire for their lack of delivery and empty promises tries to do the same thing.

At this point in time, I'll give the Xbox team for the things they actually deliver. I won't give them credit for securing exclusives which probably started that way anyways(all those indie games). I won't give them credit for MAYBE having something we'll see in a couple years, because I have no idea if what they're bringing will be good or not.

I WILL give credit for getting BC working for both 360 and OGXbox. I will give them credit for Play Anywhere. I will give them credit for achieving some success with cross play titles, even though it's still early. I did give credit to MS earlier in the gen when I thought they were going to bring content for the long term, and even brought their system. Since then, they've gone backwards in a big way, and all I'm seeing is the typical MS(as a whole) approach of floundering around, stating they are the best, while disregarding what people are actually saying about them while they try to change the narrative with distractions which make it seem like they're listening, but only end up showing they don't comprehend(or care....which is the usually case if I had to guess).

[Automatic79]

@Rainslacker you seem open minded. I see your point about large triple AAA games. I guess I see it different than most I am looking forward to Darwin, Black Desert Online, The last Night, Ashen, Deep Rock Galactic, Cuphead and many other games. To me games are games. Love Xbox Live Arcade , and I remember when people felt Xbox 360 had no games, to me it was the opposite. It's the same way I feel with Xbox One.

[rainslacker]

I'm looking forward to some of those smaller games too. But generally, I wouldn't worry about a console purchase for playing them. They're those filler games between the big things we look forward to, and are used to round out a line up, not be the things used to distract from almost a year of no big releases.

[Automatic79]

That's probably my biggest wall. I own an Xbox and don't look at it from your perspective. I actually think that Xbox had some huge games this year like Resident Evil 7, For Honor, Ghost Recon, Injustice 2, along with the great ID@Xbox content.

[Destiny1080]

Microsoft buying a bunch of indies as a timed exclusive, just goes to show how desperate they are

Greenberg mentioned that crackdown was moved to spread out Xboxes line up, which if true tells me that 2018 is going to be just as bad as 2017 for xbox

[StormLegend]

How many of those are indies?

[CaptainObvious878]

Ummm... yes, Auto, the label does matter.

A timed exclusive means I'm going to be able to play it in the future not needing an xbone.

There's a very BIG difference between a timed exclusive and a real exclusive.

[KickSpinFilter]

As it should, plus high quality! One of the main reasons why PS4 has been so successful. Diversity in games

[Aenea]

Actions speaks louder than words....

[MegamanXXX]

They can't comprehend that unfortunately

[thisismyaccount]

"It's Good for Gears of War and Halo Developers to Be Quiet"

... hmm my english is a bit rusty. Translated this sounds more like "... those 2 developers better STFU!"¿ Was this just poorly worded or did he mean something else? "it is good for those to shut the fuck up?" Darn it monday ... having a hard time to understand that :lol:

[rainslacker]

It's quite funny that a lot of people say the same about Greenburg.

At least when Halo and GeOW people talk, they talk about the games they're making specifically, as opposed to saying, "Oh, hey, we got some game we're making, but we can't show you yet....teehee, we're such a tease".

I believe the reason he said what he did was because MS want's to curb this narrative of only having Halo, Gears, and Forza. In this, I actually think he's not off the mark.

But, at the same time, I also believe that MS reputation is being more damaged by these constant promises with nothing to show for it for long periods of time afterwards. MS saying they have all these games in the works doesn't mean much to anyone criticizing them, because MS hasn't been proven to be able to readily deliver. It doesn't matter to the mainstream, because they're more about the shiny object they can see, and not the promise of what's behind door number 2, and likely won't even read his comment.

When you disregard the fan boys, this constant stream of criticism MS is getting trickles around and doesn't help put them in a better position. Their comments here and there aren't going to trickle down with the same effect. The longer people keep criticizing, the more people(potential customers or current user base), start to ask the same questions, and things tend to snow ball into being more of a problem. The Xbox fan boys, and even those content with what MS has to offer who aren't fan boys, are gradually becoming increasingly outnumbered. Some of this is due to the Sony dominance, thus having more fan boys on that side, but we aren't seeing a lot of reasonable explanations for why MS output is so low, so the MS fan boys aren't going to be able to change the narrative of what's happening, much less the perception. That's why they're clinging onto all these things which have nothing to do with MS actual game output, like the features and power.....because that's about all they have right now.

Anything Greenburg says right now is about curbing the criticisms that MS is getting. Every comment he's made since last week is directly or indirectly relative to some negativity that MS is faced with right now. Every answer to these things has been in the vein of, "Oh, no, we really do have something, you just don't know about it". And that's the problem....we want to know about it. If we knew about it, we could talk about that stuff, instead of going around asking MS WTF they're doing and why they can't seem to make any meaningful content beyond their three staple franchises. MS needs to give ammo to it's fans and fan boys. The power thing isn't going to last, and the features, while nice, aren't really all that much to make that much of a difference.

[Elda]

Show & prove,actions speaks louder than words.

[hamburgerhill]

Just bring back exclusives (the soul of a console) and bring Halo and Gears back to there roots with simple things like theme music which they removed. Just saw a Metroid trailer and could immediately identify it as Metroid game because of its theme music.

[UltimateRacer]

They'll never have a diverse line up on Xbone for many reasons.

1. MS won't take the necessary risks to create new IPs

2. MS don't allow for developer freedom, weather it's taking a current game in a new directions or building a new IP

3. Xbones poor sales in Japan means JRPGs and JP games are out of the question unless MS pays for Exclusives but it's not worth it for them

4. To much PR talk and BS from MS about wanting to create new IPs yet to this day they haven't created a great new IP unlike Sony who take the risk weather they work out or not, look at Knack for instance, it was an ok game that's getting a sequel, Bloodborne was an amazing game witch most likely will get a sequel and Driveclub was a good game also dispite reviewers slating it over its online server problems when it launched, play Driveclub now and it's brilliant. There the risks you have to take.

5. MS cancelling Scalebound was a disaster that really goes against all the talk about new IPs they want to create.

6. Closing 1st party studios, eg Lionhead Studios.

Agree or disagree thats up to you guys but they are the reasons I can see that have really lost this gen for MS.

[InKnight7s]

Why quiting? GG goes to create new IP new genre instead of creating Killzone spinoff or quit.

[EatCrow]

It should just aim for exclusives to be honest.

They dont have the studios to get to the point of aiming for diversity.

[StormLegend]

Then show us this "diversity" I haven't seen anything besides QB, Recore and sea of thieves. Indie games don't count, you can get hundreds of those cheap games so don't tell me Cuphead, Ori and Super lucky's tale is something new.

[FallenAngel1984]

What difference does it make if 343i and The Coalition are remaining quiet if we know what they're working on? There's no surprise to be had.

[-GreenRanger]

Exactly, Halo 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, so on and so forth are bound to happen. Oh and some spinoffs in between.

[DasTier]

If only that equated to them removing the forced diversity in the recent interactions of both franchises.

[OffRoadKing]

They've had years to get diversity into their lineup and if it hasn't happened yet I wouldn't expect it to. But this is Greenberg again so.............

[opinionated]

If they are insinuating that their first party studios are working on new IPs.... I'll believe it when I see it.

[Father__Merrin]

most of thier exclusives are now on PC they need to halt this cross play nonsense asap. Currently theres no need to purchase an X1 as all of its library is on PC

look how 360 was? a very unique console with its own library not found anywhere else

[QUIMICOMORTAL]

LOL they are supposed to have THOSE diverse games ready for when Halo and Gears are quiet...LIKE THIS WHOLE YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!