Microsoft Needs To Do Better In 2018

2017 hasn't been the best year for Microsoft. While EA has repeatedly shot themselves in the foot Microsoft doesn't have much to show this year, with Sony and Nintendo leaving the Xbox One in the dust. The PlayStation 4's library of exclusive games continues to grow, with the recently revealed Catherine: Fully Body and Nintendo's recent success with not only the Nintendo Switch but SNES Classic has propelled the company back into the hearts of the gaming community. Microsoft did deliver steady updates for Gears of War 4 and Cuphead was an amazing success, selling over 2 million copies, but compared to Sony and Nintendo has done little this year.

[Aceman18]

Until they show me they are serious about varied 1st party gaming I'll save my $$$$. So M$ I think it's time to hop on the good foot and get it together.

[notachance]

they abandoned the last 3 years of 360 only to produce mediocre offerings for XB1, not a single new flagship title either from this gen. I don't think XB is the right console if you're looking for exclusives..

bear in mind Halo and Gears of War were initially bought too, that's 2 out of 3 flagship franchise they have that's bought. MS was never great about making new IP... it's hopeless to expect differently except they changed somehow, most likely if there's any new flagship this gen it will either be bought or comes from Playground.

[trooper_]

Exactly.

[Vasto]

2018 here we come!

https://twitter.com/twitter...

[DialgaMarine]

Talking about how dull it is*

[Cyborgg]

Yes here we come 😁😁

[FITgamer]

Fortunately the had enough games delayed that they actually have something for 2018. If wasn't for delays they wouldn't have 2018 line-up currently.

[rainslacker]

To be fair, Sony has had some better line ups in following years due to delays also. They still have a decent number of exclusives each year though.

[The Wood]

That's the point, even with delays, Sony's years have still had a fair balance of releases. I've seen that used as excuse why Sony has so many releases. . . Like. . You kinda have to have games for a game to be delayed. . . or you could go the cancellations route 🤔

[Kribwalker]

sony’s entire spring lineup this year except for MLB the show were delayed from last fall. And since multi-plats don’t count as games, they really only released TLG to close out last year....

[Relientk77]

That won't be hard because Microsoft didn't do much in 2017

[DreadGara]

Lol exactly, and that's what pisses me off because Phill promised 2017 will be the year of the Xbone. What a douche...

[King_Lothric]

Microsoft needs to do something very fast as Playstation is not now their only problem and Nintendo having more momentum and success has complicated their scenario even more.

The supposed "true power" is not helping. Nintendo has very low hardware power and yet they are having best results. I think Xbox needs new management.

[rainslacker]

I think at this point, there isn't much MS can do for the rest of the generation. We already know what they have for at least the first three quarters of 2018, and I don't see more than one unknown game for the holiday...possibly 2 if you include Forza. In 2019, I can see the next gen either coming or looming from Sony, and Nitnendo's Switch should be in full swing, and in 2019, I can maybe see a couple new games from MS, but people will be ramping up for the next gen, which MS won't really have an answer for unless they push it too fast, and move whatever they're working on now to an Xbox2.

About all MS can do this gen is try to ride it out to start with a clean slate for next gen. But I think next gen, their biggest problem is going to be consumer faith, because they certainly aren't doing much to show they deserve it this generation. It's worse than the tail end of last gen, which they were heavily criticized for, and that became more of a problem due to MS screwing up their reveal. I doubt they're going to get much love going forward unless they manage to have the next 2-3 years packed with amazing games which are hard to ignore. The 360 gained most of it's fame by delivering games that were hard to ignore. MS just needs to get back to that and keep things interesting. New hardware is a passing interest to most, and really only that impactful to the hardcore.

[RauLeCreuset]

I can't think of a good reason Sony would want to usher in the next gen. Why? Both MS and Sony are already pushing it with these iterative consoles. MS in particular just launched a $500 device. It wouldn't be wise to announce a next gen Xbox anytime soon. PS4 had their own fairly recent launch of the pro, is killing the competition in sales, and is having it's best year of sales if I'm correct. Nintendo is not launching another console in the foreseeable future, and must be happy with the Switch, a system that won't be threatening to overtake the PS4 soon, if ever, and won't do so by being more powerful if it does. So what compelling reasons are there for Sony to launch a next gen?

[rainslacker]

I think you're right. Here's my view

Sony would want to ride out the gen as long as possible to maximize profit and not disrupt PS4 sales with a new gen if they can help it. While Switch is selling well, it's catering to a different market overall, and it's a supplimental system to Sony IMO. Not that it isn't a factor in Sony's decision, but I just feel they compete on different levels than you see between Sony and MS.

MS itself may have the most desire to start a new gen and start anew, but with the launch of the X1X, I can't see people being too keen to give them support because it's about the only way MS may be able to start competiting. I think they'll want to try an ride the X1X as long as possible, let Sony make it's move, then try to one up them. On the flip side, since Sony can ride it out longer because they're doing so well, they can maybe handle the next gen at the same time as MS did like we saw this gen.

Nintendo obviously wouldn't be ready for a few years or more, particularly with the Switch doing so well. So long as they can maintain that, I can't see them coming with something new. More likely would be an itterative version of the Switch...kind of like the New 3DS, but hopefully with the mid-gen paradigm.

[Cobra951]

Finally someone says it. Consoles have never been primarily about power. They're about the games, convenience, ease of use and affordable price, with power bringing up the rear. The SEGA Master System was more powerful and colorful than the NES. The CPU in the SEGA Genesis was the awesome Motorola 68000, twice as fast as the SNES CPU. Power was not the defining console parameter 30 years ago, and still isn't.

[KickSpinFilter]

Ya think it's to late at this point for MS. Just put their head down and get to work on those exclusives that are mind bending, much like Sony did with PS3 with Uncharted, Indy's, and TLOU at the end of the PS3 cycle. That's what helped propel PS4 at the start. Hearts & Minds, Cost and what was to be... or if you like... "Greatness Awaits". Sony set ground work and exclusive trajectories and that usually takes about 3 years, and we started to see that come true in 2016 and full force in 2017-2018. And from 2013-2016 had and still do have major deals with AAA 3rd party games to fill in the lulls. MS just seems like it didn't get that in place, it's almost five years in, should be like domino's at this point.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Considering AAA's exclusives is the only thing left they need to release, They fixed the OS, the console now all is left is the games. They're fixing their in house 1st party management because its apparent MS in house teams and management hasn't been redone or touched up or any significant changes since the OG Xbox days the only reason why MS had "So many exclusives" or "Stealing Sony's games" was because third party publishers saw 360 was easier to develop for and sold really well. MS even back in the days when you had gamer focused suits and execs still didn't think expanding its in house offerings was something they needed to do. That's why Sony thrives now because they were more prepared for the future, the long run that's why at the end of the day there never a shortage of AAA games.

Its very telling that MS has there eyes on the games if you just look back at E3. Their first party clearly isn't ready or up to par that's why they showed all those PC games coming to Xbox. Think about it if MS wasn't at least focused or had their eye on games they wouldn't have shown next to nothing similar to their horrible E3's back in 2011 and 2012, Kiddy Kinect game after Kiddy Kinect game, Tv, Media functionality etc. Honestly we would at least be seeing continued focused on tv, media Sports NFL etc if they saw games as a second option as they once did.

MS focus going forward shouldn't try and match the output of games as their competition (that's impossible as of now) but to focused on making that big must buy AAA blockbuster game.That same quality that Halo and Gears were for their time. Have 343i and Coalition do brand new projects 2 huge new games from well respected devs will put MS back on the map that's a must let Halo and Gears breathe let the devs have creative freedom. Forcing those two studio's to do the same games over and over only creates staleness and will NEVER be as good as their earlier predecessors mark my words its already happening now. Look at GG's they have a game of the year contender and sold extremely well because of that renewed sense of freedom, fresh start to something new. I won't be surprised if Sucker Punches Ghost Of Tsushima is also a GOTY contender of 2018 or whatever year it releases in. MS can learn tons and tons from its competition all they have to show is what's coming next, what's coming next in a huge way.

[ApocalypseShadow]

It is interesting how things turned out and so quickly. Gamers laughed at Sony when 3rd parties went multiplatform to survive an economic recession. While Sony consolidated and focused on in house content and released so many quality titles to compensate.

Microsoft spent all their money buying 3rd party support last Gen, to slow BDVD, to throw a monkey wrench into the lawsuit immersion had with Sony about rumble,spent money trying to dilute the racing genre by making a racing game every year to try and overshadow GT. But the result was Sony winning the format war, gaining rumble,GT still being the leading racing sim and Microsoft losing every company that supported them including Bungie.

Instead of rising to the occasion like Sony did, Microsoft Is still trying to purchase 3rd party content which doesn't make sense. And tried to cash in on used games and advertisers with kinect. Also failing at that.

Turning things around would mean Microsoft spending actual money. Not on buying companies like Mojang that were already printing money. But on creating the largest software developing house to create games. I'm just not sure if they're interested in that and would rather be the hidden company in the background collecting royalty checks on 3rd parties, windows os and azure servers.

Consoles gaming don't seem to be a priority to them. Not unless it's easy money without risk.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

I definitely agree, especially on " collecting royalty checks on 3rd parties, windows os and azure servers." it seems MS is playing it safe and baking on, well, what they've always been banking on. Which is nothing new MS has always (and annoyingly) been playing it safe only taking real chances with OG Xbox and the only time they opened up studios. As I said before MS created this illusion of having all these games in the earlier parts of the 360's life. Only spending on 3rd party heavily. Though I have to admit Sony did the same thing with PS2 being world market leader when half the 3rd party games were only coming to its console. But I digress the point is if we don't see some big cash spending on in house 1st party ONLY, Not 3rd party, or outsourcing your ip's to some strange company no cutting corners then MS doesn't need to handle Xbox brand no longer. I am a Xbox fan but I rather see Xbox thrive just not with MS if they don't start taking chances.

Though Phil has said after E3 there are AAA projects in the works but they didn't want to show them off in some CG non gameplay video as it would be too early and disingenuous to show anything real. I give him that.

Sounds like I'm being hard on it but its the truth again I'm a fan of Xbox I just want to see MS treat it well.

[rainslacker]

Spencer has been saying how they're all about the games for 3 years running, yet they haven't really shown that they've managed to restructure their 1st party to a point where they can remedy their now apparent shortcoming of quality studios. At this point, I see MS doing more 2nd party games, which is alright, but if they've just gotten started this year, I don't expect it'll make much of a difference to Xbox as a whole, and given the likely generation change, they'll probably be on their next console.

It's hard to have faith that they're doing anything in this area, and given that the management in place is pretty much the same as it was when their 1st party output went down, I don't see how it's going to become better when there is absolutely no evidence that they are building or buying new studios, Spencer is in charge and did more to bring down their 1st party studios and has created nothing new under his reign, and no one else in MS has shown much interest in making it bigger going forward as their focus seems to be making MAU's across the Windows platform(not Xbox exclusively) instead of making and delivering exciting games.

The Honeymoon period for Spencer waned pretty quickly, and this past E3 showed that Spencer was no better than the prior management, and in fact, I think he's worse, because at least the prior management spent time making games to sell the platform. Every game that MS has announced now was started before he took the helm. The only thing he may be responsible for is the last Forza and likely the one for next year, and likely the next Halo which is sure to come.

[yumi76]

Well lets be honest here Phil said the best line-up ever was a year when they released 4 games....

[Rachel_Alucard]

@yumi
Some good advice about that statement. If a business tells you that their product is world famous, best in america, best in the world, or top of the food chain it's usually gonna be at the opposite end. Because if something is truly good or on top you wouldn't need to advertise that statement to people. Many of the local businesses pull that kind of advertising where I live so it's a common occurence.

[yumi76]

"Its very telling that MS has there eyes on the games if you just look back at E3. Their first party clearly isn't ready or up to par that's why they showed all those PC games coming to Xbox."

You mean a bunch of timed exclusive indies that have been on Steam for months already? Yeah that was pretty telling alright... it told me they don't have anything at all worth showing.

"Have 343i and Coalition do brand new projects 2 huge new games from well respected devs will put MS back on the map that's a must let Halo and Gears breathe let the devs have creative freedom."

People keep saying the next Halo is coming next year so don't expect any new IP's from them anytime soon and the next Gears game was probably started right after the last one before Microsoft realized there was a problem with there gaming lineup this year. And talking about soon, even if these devs started new IP's this year they wouldn't be released for four to five years. Games started in 2017 are looking at a 2021 2022 release date.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Like usual ppl missed the point of my statement or hand picked what they wanna read from it. Its obvious MS has nothing to show that's why I said their first party isn't up to par, mediocre or lacking. But if MS wasn't wasnt at all center around games it would be continued TV, TV, multimedia stuff at E3 easily. A bunch of stream games does mean they're trying to put games on Xbox believe it or not if they straight didn't care we wouldn't see anything on it correct?

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Until they show a roadmap for games no thanks.

[FallenAngel1984]

Microsoft has done a poor job at building a foundation of new flagship first party franchises to carry themselves. The currently established flagship series are beginning to lose steam and the new IPs they do releasing have huge success.

[DialgaMarine]

It seems like they are really banking on Sea of Thieves, and given that there has been little to no feedback about that game, it’s unlikely it’ll be remotely successful. Crackdown 3 is probably going to be half assed and quickly forgotten, basically leaving the obvious Forza Horizon 4 and potential Halo 6 to give Xbone any identity next year.

[rainslacker]

To me, it seems MS is barely talking about those two games. I'm not sure they even have much faith that they'll do amazingly well. The marketing budget for the X1X alone dwarfs the entire marketing budget for every game they've announced, shown, or released since the X1X was announced.

Even the hype for CD3 was dwindled to practically nothing, while SoT is barely an afterthought to the community. IN fact, most games seem to be an afterthought to the community nowadays because all they can talk about is how exclusives don't matter, but how amazing it is to be able to play all these multi-plats the best way possible.

Its a sad state of affairs from the Xbox community, and an even worse state from MS which seems to be more than happy to do less than the bare minimum to support their user base who probably brought the system with the expectation of having plenty of great games to play and choose from.

[yumi76]

Sea of Thieves is the GAAS dream. I guarantee you that game is going to be a virtual currency storefront disguised as a game. The entire purpose of that game is to peddle micro-transactions. The only question is how intrusive and obnoxious will they be.

And Crackdown is just a joke at this point unless the delay turns it into a brand new game that game is DOA.

[TheOttomatic91]

Agreed

[BLKxSEPTEMBER]

They really do. MS can’t get by on power alone. I need new exclusives to keep me from turning on my PS more than my Xbox. I’ll always be a MS fan first but honestly when Sony has games like The Last of us 2 and GoW (even though the new god of war hasn’t sold me yet) It’s hard to justify buying a Xbox next year over a PS.

[DaGR8JIBRALTAR]

That's the problem I'm having...I'm still turning on my ps4 pro way more than the x.

[sk8ofmnd]

Its pretty much been like that for me since after the 1st xbox and halfway through the 360 gen. I loved the 1st xbox and the 360 until i realized id gone through 4 rrod consoles. And the 499 launch xbox1 with kinnect was a big pass from me. I purchased an xb1 slim to play a few exclusives and then sold it... sod was prob my fav xb1 game but then again look at the dev and the fact it was 3rd party... they need handfuls of 1st partys that are amazing

[WOLFofWALLSTREET]

Microsoft went full Wii U this year. You never go full Wii U.

[PhoenixUp]

Xbox One isn’t in a Wii U situation

[FallenAngel1984]

@ Was

Yet Wii U is dead while Xbox One lives. Why do you think that is

[Artemidorus]

Microsoft have no choice but to offer it's own experience otherwise it's just a decent 3rd party console.

And no we don't want to be told in 2018 it's comming in 2019.

[FilthyWeeb]

Picture the scene, it's 2013 and the Xbox One has been announced. Microsoft are pushing strong with games like Ryse and Sunset Overdrive while offering many of the games not previously seen on their systems like Metal Gear. Perhaps you're excited and decide to preorder the console, there's nothing wrong with being excited for something after all.

Over the next few years, the PS4 is enjoying quality exclusive after quality exclusive. The games you were once excited for? Scalebound, Crackdown, maybe a new Fable 4 in the works? Either cancelled, delayed or their studio shut down. Maybe you picked up a PS4 to enjoy some of the games that would never make it to Xbox One.
Over time, every game that was your reason for buying the Xbox One is being ported over to PC or their future titles will get a PC release. Titanfall, the shooter with massive potential? You can get that on the PS4 now.

Maybe you decided to invest in PC gaming, after all at this point you can play most the games on the Xbox One but enjoy free online, easier modding and nicer graphics. And maybe at this point you have no reason to ever really dust off your Xbox One.
Then 2017 rolls around, the year that offers so many amazing games. You enjoyed Persona 5 and Horizon on your PS4, you picked up Nier and Cuphead on your PC, and you even invested in a Nintendo Switch and enjoyed quality games such as Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey.
Only, there was no reason to ever turn on your Xbox One. After all any game that was worth even looking at was released on either the PC or PS4, offering free online or a stronger install base.

Microsoft are pushing a new console, the Xbox One X and marketing it to you. But why should this make you happy? You've heavily invested in the Xbox brand and they've barely given you any reason to enjoy your system. If anything this move should be an insult, shouldn't they have spent this amount of time and effort bettering the Xbox One exclusive library instead of releasing a new and more powerful system that makes your day one purchase look mediocre in comparison?

Then GOTY awards come, The Game Awards 2017 come, and out of all these shows they're all plastered with quality Sony, Nintendo and multiplatform games. The very few games that are available on the Xbox One that are nominated, are also available elsewhere such as the PC with free online. It really cements how little they tried this year, and it really cements how less and less they're beginning to care about your initial purchase.

Microsoft's 2017 wasn't a bad year, it was an insult to both gamers and loyal Xbox fans that will go down as quite possibly one of their worst years yet.
They don't need to try very hard to beat this year, all they need to do is care about their own fanbase in the slightest and release some games.

[dreue]

Man all you said was on point, thank you hope more people see this...

[DEEHULK88]

I guess when it comes to getting article clicks, all you have to do is see what everyone else is writing about and write the same thing. Third,fourth, maybe fifth time seeing this topic.

[Lightsbane]

It needs to be said now, while there is still time for them to change.

And oh boy, do they need some change..

[Foxhound922]

They could start by releasing more notable exclusives than 2. Stop focusing on BC and the short lived slight graphics bump that they have only for the next year and a half and focus on new experiences. BC and slight visual advantage is great, but if that's all you have for $500 dollars, there needs to be more.

[michellelynn0976]

I do have a clue. That is why I know mutliplats are the ps biggest sellers because Sony don't have the games to sell them. So calm down and stop insulting others.

[Foxhound922]

Is English your second language?

[Aenea]

Ehmm, this is the 2nd reply I see from you that is not an actual reply to what was written, what's up with that?

Anyways, what do you mean with Sony not having the games to sell them? Doesn't make any sense

[michellelynn0976]

Also, I never said exclusives don't matter. And I speak English fine.

[sizeofyou]

I think they should have more stability updates in 2018 too...
🤗

[MasterCornholio]

As long as Microsoft gives Xbox fans who as the they want that's all that matters.

[SpaceRanger]

That's all that matters to the hardcore fans, but it does a disservice to them and the general fanbase.

[MasterCornholio]

Like I said as long as they are happy with what they have I see no issues with what Microsoft does with the brand. Most Xbox fans are content with the brand.

[yumi76]

Thats all they have been doing all gen and they are getting outsold by there main competitor 3:1 in both software and hardware nearly every month and Nintendo is closing the gap every month as well....

So just appealing to the hardcore xbox fans hasn't really paid off so far and selling two or three consoles to the same people over and over isn't going to gain them actual market share.

[MasterCornholio]

Well as long as Microsoft are satisfied with the results i dont see the issue.

[yumi76]

That's such a cop-out answer...

Do you honestly think they are happy being outsold three to one in both software and hardware? Do you think that if they were confident they would hide their sales numbers?

[MasterCornholio]

@Yumi

Just going by what they are saying about Xbox it appears they they are happy with it. Maybe they are making plenty of money off subscriptions which is why they are more focused on MAUs than actual hardware/software sales numbers.

[yumi76]

Of course they say they are happy. You must have a lot of trouble shopping for cars and things if you just believe everything at face value.

This is Microsoft, their entire M.O. is to over hype everything to trick people into buying false promises. And no wonder it works when people like you can't even see though the basic statement when the facts are presented before you.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

I wanna see big AAA games on Xbox clearly but your obsessive, yes obsessive concern trolling isn't needed talking about sales this and that casual fans don't seem to care don't get all worked up over something that doesn't concern you especially if there's a console out there that support your AAA needs.

[Gemmol]

I disagree, the reason I disagree because Microsoft will get 3rd party games, just like Sony do, but the only difference Sony get Japanese support. Although Microsoft, will get some Japanese support it won't get all.

I know people will bring up exclusives as a main factor, but every sales report each month for NPD, and Europe sales chart shows 3rd party games taking up most of the spots from the top 10 games, so even if two spots go to Nintendo and one spot goes to Sony, the rest of the 7 games on the list are 3rd party games.

Xbox will be Xbox, it won't sell as much as ps4, but it will do fine on its own for those few customers who want true 4K.

Instead i think Nintendo have more work to do, although the handheld team and console team finally together where Nintendo can drop 10 games a year, i doubt they do that and follow this year schedule where they have months of their own and the other months to the 3rd party.

If the Nintendo direct announce some cool stuff from.january to June......and e3 announce some cool games from July to December then i think 2018 can be a solid year.

2018 already a solid year for me dragon quest, project octopath, are must haves

[yumi76]

This is the same old defense you guys always say. But as always you fail to understand that these 3'rd party games are also on PS4 and they are selling 2 to 3 times as many units on PS4.

And you talk about how most of the games are third party but if you look at the last reported week on vgcharts 5 of the 10 are exclusives. Three are Nintendo two are Sony and zero are Microsoft and these are the result during the holiday rush when all the years biggest games are released. There were many weeks and months where Sony had four or five or more games in the top ten last year.

You also talk about Europe but last year Sony had nearly 52% of all software sales in the UK, Microsoft's strongest region in Europe. So you can imagine how lopsided it is in Europe as a whole if UK went 52% for Sony.

Despite what people want to claim exclusives are a big reason why people choose a console. Having a variety of games will appeal to a variety of people. This is why PS4 has global appeal and xbox doesn't.

[Gemmol]

what are you talking about, vgchartz just post november 11 results, they did not reach black friday or december yet, now the NPD have data for november......and although I like VGchartz they are not 100 percent.......everything NPD posted show that

This is what NPD posted for November

Software
Overall

Call of Duty: WWII
Star Wars: Battlefront II
Assassin’s Creed: Origins
NBA 2K18
Madden NFL 18
Super Mario Odyssey*
FIFA 18
Need for Speed: Payback
Destiny 2**
Pokémon: Ultra Sun*

only exclusive is Nintendo

I do not have Europe numbers but I assume it be similar with one or two sony exclusive but mostly 3rd party taking the top spots.......

and you miss my part of where I said xbox wont sell as much, so that goes for games too, if people do not own the system then games wont sell well........I never once said it have to pass Sony......they can have their own spot like Nintendo just doing true 4k for those who want to play 3rd party games in the second best quality after PC

reply to my first comment so i can get the notification

[KickSpinFilter]

Exclusives do matter, look at it this way:

Exclusive Games: A1, B1, C1, D2, E2, F1

Multi-plat 3rd Party AAA's XX,

(clearly players bought more than one XX AAA game, but for this example just one is used)

Player 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

So All players picked up game XX

While Player 1,2,5 Picked up Game A1, B1 +XX

Player 6 picked up F1 +XX

Player 3 picked up only C1 +XX

Player 4 picked up D2, E2 +XX

Exclusive Games Key: Letter Number = Game, and Console 1 or Console 2

So while every player bought 3rd party game XX, most were steered in the Console's 1 direction due to the choices in exclusives. Sure they did not sell as much combined as the XX game, but there was choice, a diversity of exclusives on console 1 that led more to buy that system.

So yes, exclusives do matter quite a lot.

[rainslacker]

Considering that those exclusives make up less than 1% of the total games released each year, the fact they take up 10-20% of any top 10 chart shows that they have more appeal than some would give them credit for.

[TheColbertinator]

If anyone can surpass perfection,its Microsoft.

[sizeofyou]

IYO

[Elda]

Smh.

[Dannylew]

in 2018 ... the only thing that microsoft need ... is

CLOSE XBOX DIVISIONE AND DEVELOP what microsoft do better than others ... WINDOWS OS

[Officialxandr]

In 2018? They just need to do better, period.

[Max-Zorin]

Starting 2018, Microsoft need to fire the entire Xbox management team. Especially those alcoholics Philly Eagle Spencer and Aaron Greenblob.

[jznrpg]

They can do a lot better in 2018 and still have a crappy year , that is how bad 2017 was. It was almost Atari Jaguar bad , if not for MS fanatics Xbox could be dead

[2ndhandcorn]

Still playing Gears , Halo 5 and Forza 7 thank the gaming gods that it aint over in a play through.

[dreue]

i tell what MS needs to do,First stop talking about power alone,second start talking about bringing new games where i can only find on xbox one....and third be your-self MS stop trying to mimic sony,you cant.so bring to the table new games that you believe in....i dont hate xbox but i dont like Ms as a company,2017 was full of lies....

[mark_parch]

state of decay 2 and sea of thieves are some of my most anticipated games but they were supposed to release last year so if it wasn't for delays then 2018 would be looking pretty bleak

[The_Jackel]

They havent done much at all this gen. Only thing notable is new hardware, and imo so dont get to bent out of shape, thats a bad thing. Games should be the leading topic not a more beefed up console. That should be an added bonus to go with the games

[Elda]

That's the reason why it's not the worldwide leading gaming console,when it's all said & done it'll be in last place this gen.

[welly300]

Its pure greed simple as. Its a damn shame xbox one is a good console, the x is brill but when you have nothin that can showcase your console, you are going to lose. Every exclusive of sonys is going to look as good if not better then anything the x will do.

[LandoCalrissiano]

2 of their games won at the VGAs...

[MasterCornholio]

Most consumers don't care about the VGAs though. It's a nice sticker to put on a box but that's about it.

[obidanshinobi]

2018 should be a good year for MS - Crackdown 3, Sea Of Thieves, State of Decay 2 and hopefully Forza Horizon 4 with news on a new Halo and/or Gears of War.
I'm looking forward to Crackdown 3.

[SirBradders]

The problem with MS is their fan base don't care about exclusives most of them are either kids or people who play Halo, Forza, Gears and third party games that their mates are on. A lot of their new 1st party IP's didn't do well which proves this.

For them to make a AAA budget new IP becomes risky now, but in order to attract over some PS fans it needs to be done. Unfortunately they don't care so it is very unlikely we will see this happen.

[obidanshinobi]

What a load of judgemental rubbish. I know plenty of XB1 owners who don't give three shits about Halo, Forza and Gears. People buy certain consoles for a wide variety of reasons.

[SirBradders]

In London everybody out of my family or friends who own an Xbox are kids that own one of them games (or more) and COD. That is it. I am talking from experience and what i read in the news. All Xbox's new IP's this gen have flopped despite some of them being descent or good quality titles, Why is that i wonder? read the original post.

[YEP414]

Microsoft dont need 1st party exclusives to be successful.. 3rd party is bigger than ever... plus pug sold better than sony exclusives already... it dont matter period

[Keregan]

I'm personally more than fine with what ms has done this year. I was a able to revisit many of my games running better than ever and i can play all the 3rd parties at the best display console has to offre. I bought a ps4 pro last year and did all the catch up exclusive wise that i wanted To. So i'd say i have the best of the two world and i'm more than ready to enjoy all the great games 2018 has to offer. I'll let that ridiculous console war thing to child and mongrels alike. The only brand i don't bother with anymore is nintendo. Botw made me realize that i was done with them for good, my most disapointing game of 2017 by far.

[Tetsujin]

The biggest issue with Xbox I have; the games I want to play, are also on PC. So until Xbox has actual, console exclusives that aren't on PC, I'll buy the PC version of the titles I want to play.

[KickSpinFilter]

They got a winner this year with Cuphead. And PUBG will eventually be good, but right now just looks like a Beta test for the the PS4 for next year or whatever.

[mochachino]

People get the console their friends have so they can play online together. There's not much MS can do at this point.

This gen, more than any other, required a very strong launch. Unlike the 360/PS3 gen, online gaming had taken over by the time PS4/X1 released. The friends of the early adopters later bought the same console to play online together, then each of their friends, and so on the social cluster sales expanded until it snowballed into the unrecoverable situation for Xbox 1 today.

People that don't play online would get the console with the better SP exclusives, so Switch or PS4. Halo was once a very strong contender but MS would have to do something very special to bring it back into the spot light, and that would risk angering the decreasing long term Halo fans that staunchly resist change.

MS launched at a higher price with less power, focused on Kinect AGAIN, and had a very angry 360 early adoptor user base that suffered through faulty hardware, loss of exclusive dominance and exclusives new IPs all together, and witnessed MS completely turn away from core games to spend most of the game budget on Kinect and a failed attempt at chasing the Wii market - 350 million spent on Kinect marketing alone at a time when people wanted just a glimpse of an new IP....after having to buy Live Gold to access Netflix and even Internet Explorer lol.

All 5 of my friends had 360 at the start of last gen, some on launch day. All 5 had hardware issues and had PS3s at the end of the gen. Many of their friends that didn't even have hardware problems just switched to PS3 to play BF and Fifa together. Not a single one would consider buying an xbox this gen, all went PS4. Some have now gone PC gaming and a couple like the PS4/Switch combo.

[Eudave]

My only issue is that when the original Xbox one came out it was weaker than the PS4 and Xbox one games touted that graphics didn't matter it was about gameplay which is true, but now fast forward a few years later and now forget gameplay it's all about 4K HDR? I have both the PS4 and the Xbox one S but besides Cuphead I really can't vouch for the Xbox right now.

[FernDiggidy]

Revive scalebound and phantom dust. YOU DESPERATELY NEED THEM MS.

[SSmoke]

I have a OneX and honestly... not very happy with it so far, I could have done without.. Forza 7 looks ok but not a game changer in 4k, CODWW2 meh, Destiny 2 that would always look better on my ps4, assassin creed origin looks good. It plays UHD blue-rays that's nice but really Massivesoft, you guys can do better.. lets see what 2018 brings, lets see some Ace combat in 4k

[Morgue]

MS really needs to get it together and the beauty of " True 4K " can't hide the ugly fact that they are seriously out of their league right now in terms of quality 1st party support.

[Tross]

They need to realize that while hardware is important, it is games first and foremost that make systems worth owning. But, they never will.

[Eyeballs20]

I think a lot of people don’t realize some of the best aspects of Xbox. Console exclusives aren’t everything. How many of those are you actually going to play? I fire up my PS4 for Uncharted, Last of Us, and God of War, that’s about it. Once in a while I’ll get a new exclusive like Horizon.

One of the main reasons I keep sticking with Xbox is the social aspect. Most of the games I play are multiplayer and it’s a lot easier to find people to play with on Xbox, especially considering they have a built in lfg for every game.

I’ll give Sony the win on single player games, but Xbox is where it’s at for multiplayer games.