Analyst Explains Why Xbox One Is Struggling With Lack of New IPs, Single Player Games A Riskier Bet

Microsoft’s had the worst luck as far as their first party initiatives go this generation- multiple of their anticipated games in development have had troubles and met with cancellations, such as Scalebound and Fable Legends, their major first party franchises are beginning to feel tired and losing their selling power in the market, such as with Halo or Gears, and their new efforts have all failed to stick- such as Quantum Break and Sunset Overdrive.

[UCForce]

This is why I really think MS need to have more faith on SP games. It’s not about freaking logic that Gaas is a future. It’s about something that is so important for many people who adores SP games. If Gaas is the main future of gaming, then it would be unbalanced. Online gaming is fun, but not everyone have their taste on it. Often time, people prefer play game on their own without being interfered. Digital isn’t the future. Because not everyone have a strong internet connection. For me, Physical and Digital Games are need to coexist.

[IGiveHugs2NakedWomen]

Microsoft has their own ideas of what they think gamers want and that is the source of their problems. They think that most gamers want open worlds, first person shooters, multiplayer, and games that minimize story telling while prioritizing gameplay. Clearly, Microsoft's ideas aren't working but do they try to change and make games that feature story telling, exploration, discovery, and gameplay that's driven by a narative? No. They want to move towards a games as a service model where the games they create are sold to gamers in bits and pieces or creating games that have a subscription based service like WOW or Guild Wars. The problem with those ideas is that consoles usually don't have enough power to support Massive Multiplayer Online Games. If Microsoft doesn't pay attention to the majority of console gamer's spending habits (See games like UC4, Horizon Zero Dawn, Bloodborne, The Legend of Zelda, Mario Kart, etc) Xbox is going to get left behind and eventually, forgotten.

[Godmars290]

That's why they hedged their bets with PC. They want XBL as a pure subscription service. Was likely their day one plan and certainly what they wanted with always online.

[denawayne]

50 million Xbox Live subscribers
-Let's cut that in half for paid subscribers
$60 per year
-Let's cut that in half to $30 per year

That's $750,000,000 per year revenue on Live alone.
It's not always games or consoles sold.
Xbox isn't going anywhere

[yellowgerbil]

@denWayne
You realize that Microsoft has lost 10s of billions on Xbox. 5 billion alone back when the red ring happened. The x is sold at a loss and isn't bringing in NEW users so is money thrown away.
There comes a point where it's stupid to continue ( and that point was June 2013)

[bolimekurac]

yellow you do realize they are worth over 90 bill. they didnt feel the loss at all.

samsung lost a lot more wit the note 7 fiasco, they didnt even blink, its nothing when your worth over 90bill for these companies

[jukins]

@bolimekurac you must be young. Just because theyre worth so much by no means do they not feel losing billions.

[DarkZane]

@denawayne Yes they are. The PlayAnywhere feature isn't a gesture of good will or a way for Microsoft to be nice. They're preparing a way out for themselves so they can move on to PC gaming exclusively and stop making consoles.

The only reason they still make consoles is to milk those gold subscriptions for as long as they can. The 360, which was Microsoft at their best, couldn't beat Sony with the PS3 at their worst. It's pretty obvious that Xbox simply will never beat Playstation. Anyone who thinks Xbox has a chance to win is seriously delusional. The PS5 will beat the next Xbox by at least 2:1 and that's with them launching at the same time. Sony went cheap with the Pro because they could launch nextgen earlier and go bigger.

6 TFLOPS from the Xbox One X doesn't matter when Sony launch a PS5 with 12 TFLOPS for $399.99 in 2019 at the minimum. Microsoft can launch something more powerful later, but that's gonna do nothing. Unlike what Sony did with the PS3, if Microsoft launch later, they're done because Xbox is simply too small of a brand to catch up with Playstation if Sony launched first.

Then there is the other fact that even if it's more powerful, unless Xbox can offer 8K, it won't matter because they will both offer native 4K at 30fps. Yes, 30 fps because developers will always prioritize graphics over framerate because graphics sell better. So you're barely gonna see the difference, so people will just go where the games are and with the bigger brand, which is Playstation. People have been burned twice now. The 360 had almost no games at the end of its life and now the Xbox One has almost no games. More people are gonna go with Sony next gen because who would be dumb enough to get fooled 3 times?

[Emme]

Wait, Alan Wake, Quantum Break, Fable 3, all storydriven. Sunset Overdrive is crazy over the too action, Dead Rising a coop Zombie Game, Cuphead a thrilling shmup, Halo Wars a nice rts, reCore a cool scifi action adventure, Luckys Tale a family friendly jumpnrun..there IS VARIETY within MSs game portfolio.

[denawayne]

@DarkZane

Business 101 - Losing to your competition BUT still turning a profit does not mean you are losing. Otherwise, every market (ex. automobiles, fast food, cell phones) would only have one company in business.

[denawayne]

@DarkZane

Read this
https://nowloading.co/p/xbo...

[WilliamSheridan]

You had me until you said Microsoft isn't paying attention to the majority of players spending habits. After you said that, you banned UC4, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Bloodborne. The first 2 being great games, the third being an ok game. But no matter how you slice it, they aren't representative of the majority of spending. The majority would be games like GTAV Online, and all the much much much bigger titles. SP games such as those mentioned are a drop in the bucket compared to the sales of online games. You could easily argue that unfortunately Microsoft IS following the majority of sales. I think, however, that one cannot rate the value of exclusive SP games just by their sales, as the identity of a console and console sales that come with them cannot be measured just by game sales...

TL:DR Microsoft IS following majority sales but it's probably not the smartest thing to do...

[LateNightThirst]

What? Lol the most popular games are MP ones look at Overwatch, NBA 2K, COD, those games hand in hand sell more than any of the games you listed and even on just PS4 alone. SP games def have their market, but lets not act like its what most gamers consume

[Nodoze]

Sorry but I have to respond to William Sheridan on this:
you banned UC4, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Bloodborne. The first 2 being great games, the third being an ok game.

Bloodborne is more than just an OK game. Have you played it? Sorry, but BB is fantastic. A game that requires your full attention. I find it more engaging than Dark Souls and the universe is ripe for another title. The setting is fantastic.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Is that why the Coalition and Playground are making a new IP and an RPG respectively?

[343_Guilty_Spark]

@yellowgerbil

You do realize Satya said they are committed more than ever to Xbox and just recently launched the Xbox One X which they already knew would be sold at a loss. You act like they don’t have teams of shirts calculating this stuff and planning for long term.

If they wanted to axe it they would have asked it just like they did GROOVE, Windows Phone, etc etc.

[rainslacker]

MP games may have higher user counts, but all those SP games that do well, when added together, are still the majority of games sold. It's not like MP gamers don't also play SP. In fact, I'd say it's much more likely that the MP gamers also play SP games, than it is that the SP gamer may play MP.

MS focusing on GaaS, if that's what they're doing, is the wrong approach, because it limits the people that are interested in your system. For instance, I can't imagine any Otaku gamer who would ever consider the Xbox as a viable platform to provide for their needs.

Having all those SP games which may not do well just attract more players overall. Having all the popular MP games(or most of them) attracts the MP/hybrid players as well.

Basically, with MS maybe going after GaaS, they're looking at what can potentially return the most money with less risk. They may not be happy with selling a couple million of a high quality SP game which would make a return on investment, because it's just not enough for them. But this approach means that they are chasing the money, and not the player.

[Cyborgg]

They're learning the hard way 😁

[Destiny1080]

if Microsoft want to pursue an always online fps games with no story and micro transactions, that's fine by me

its what there good at

no wait they suck at that too

[IGiveHugs2NakedWomen]

I wouldn't say that they suck at it, it's just that it appears that most gamers aren't interested. The negative reactions to games like Star Wars Battlefront II and Evolve you would think they would begin to re-evaluate their so called "vision" for gaming, but they haven't. It looks like they're actually doubling down on their "vision."

[AngelicIceDiamond]

List these games with MTX, no story and always online from MS. List 5 of them I'll wait.

[TheCommentator]

Which 1st party "always online FPS games" have no story? I'm just curious because it seems to me like almost all of the MS exclusive games, regardless of genre, are story driven and most of their exclusives aren't even FPS.

[rainslacker]

MS MP games are actually alright. Both Gears and Halo are highly rated and well received. Forza's online is solid enough. Even Fable Legends was alright, although kind of bare.

MS also is capable of making good SP games. I just feel that they put too high an expectation on how they'll perform....particularly new IP's...and when they fail to really light a fire under the consumer, they tend to act like that would be true across the board. MS tends to be very reactionary in their business when things don't work out how they want. They don't accept that they haven't fostered the community with enough SP games with enough variety to make them do really well. It takes time to actually do that, and MS just seems to have given up during the 360 days. I feel part of the reason the 360 did so well was because they had a lot of great content across a good variety of genres and that appealed to a lot of different kinds of people. The X1, not so much.

[IGiveHugs2NakedWomen]

@Shaggy

No one is denying the "popularity" of games like COD, FIFA, and Madden, (BTW your list is for digital games) what I'm saying is that companies like Microsoft and EA are completely ignoring the SPENDING HABITS of gamers. The MAJORITY of gamers are buying SINGLE PLAYER GAMES, which is why PS4 and Switch are selling and Xbox One isn't. Sure COD may sell 10 million copies across MULTIPLE PLATFORMS, but when a game that is only being sold on ONE PLATFORM sells 9 million copies over one year (Uncharted 4) that is something to pay attention to. Legend of Zelda BOTW sold more than 5 million on Switch ALONE. Spending habits are a much more important metric to measure than popularity. Just use UHD Blu-ray as an example. More people are streaming movies from services like Netflix and Prime Video than using UHD Blu-ray, but Microsoft chose to ignore that by trying to use it as a selling point for Xbox. I think there needs to be a clear separation between "Popularity" and "Spending Habits." They are not the same thing.

[notachance]

one thing publishers failed to realise is that online game takes up much of our time so that the average gamer can only invest in one or two games at once, not to mention because of its online nature it's kind of discouraging if you started to play late. It's different from SP in that the player is free to play it on their own pace, and games of similar type complement each other instead of forcing players to take side because of the investment needed.

I like RPG, and if 2 of them come out at the same time I'd be delighted because I get to play 2 games of my favorite genre back-to-back. It's a different case if 2 online games come out at the same time, with the time I have I can only focus on 1 of them, and I can't really play the other one too late because by that time most likely the majority of players already moved on to a new game and I'm stuck with loyal veteran who's already far ahead of me.

This means if you make all your games to GaaS they actually canibalize each other's player base, it's actually in a console's best interest to spread their offerings between SP and MP.

[trooper_]

XBox has absolutely no variety whatsoever.

It's sad, really.

To think I wanted an XB1 once for Killer Instinct but I'm not buying a console just for ONE game. For Microsoft's sake, they need to stop living in dreamland and come back to earth like the rest of us.

@denawayne
Do you play money or games? So what if they have money? It means nothing if they're not investing in variety to begin with. It's like whenever these articles come up, you guys scurrying to how much Microsoft is making and blah, blah, blah. If they're making so much, then why can't they give their fans what they want -actual games?

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Sea Of Thieves, Quantum Break, Ryse, Sunset Overdrive, Cuphead, Recore, Super Lucky's Tale, Crackdown, Ori 1, Ori 2, State Of Decay 2.

Phantom Dust reboot, Fable Legends and Scalebound couldn't be more different even though they're cancelled. MS failed attempts but you get the idea.

"Xbox has absolutely no variety whatsoever" You said VARIETY. I had to make it big so you can read what you said.and not twist it to some other way to fit your narrative.

[trooper_]

They're games we've heard about already and they're not exclusive to the XBox platform. And that's not variety.

Try again.

Don't make me embarrass you.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Embarrass who? Me? Oh please give me your best kid lol. They're games we've heard about already and they're not exclusive to the XBox platform." You said "NO VARIETY" read your own stupid comment don't twist and make excuses to fit your new narritive (Like I knew you would anyway) . Blah, blah, yadda yadda its on PC therefor they don't count save that tired argument Considering MS published half these games you can't get it on Nintendo or PS nobody cares Plus they're cross play titles and MS made feaure. Duh they're games we've heard about and I listed them. You said no variety and I listed the passed games that released. They look pretty varied to me. And if you can't see that your really stupid. "Its on PC therefor its not variety" dumb logic I'm embarrassed for you.

But please "embarrass me" this ought to be good.

[trooper_]

Sorry, I didn't read the wall of ignorance you posted there.

You're getting angry at the wrong person. It's not my fault Microsoft won't invest in real first party exclusives.

[Metroider]

Xbox just needs more "addicting" variety. The current rinse and repeat games this gen on all systems are causing burn out. Thank you for being you Nintendo.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

You made a stupid post. A post you can't even back up yourself. You said no variety I posted the games MS released, which is varied. I win, you lose.

You should think before you post next time. I agree MS needs bigger games. Going off recent rumors it seems MS is doing just that.

[trooper_]

Wow, you are way off base. But that's okay, that goes for most people who can't wake up and smell reality.

When I mentioned variety, I meant first party games. What games does Microsoft have that suits every genre? Do they have more exclusives than Sony? Are they actually utilizing their studios to create first party games? They can't keep relying on Halo, Gears and Forza. They need to create first party games that people can get excited about. Can you honestly say that the games YOU mentioned will get anyone to buy an XB1?

I can tell you right now that God of War and Last of Us especially will move PS4 consoles, not to mention a new Uncharted, if Sony decides to create a new one but I like new IPs either way.

The issue is that Sony is bringing the variety.

Microsoft isn't.
You can't prove me wrong, which is why you called my post stupid.

That's okay.
At least I live in reality and not dreamland.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Well you changed your narrative once again. "When I mentioned variety, I meant first party games" How come you didn't mention that in your post earlier? Specifics is important. In house devs yes they lack variety.

"Can you honestly say that the games YOU mentioned will get anyone to buy an XB1?" Your original statement was MS having no variety. But in terms of big AAA's no they're games will pull little system sells if at all.

We know Sony has variety more then Nintendo and MS combined. Who would argue that? There's no dreamland over here you didn't make your first post clear at all. Other than that you're right I agree.

[trooper_]

Okie, I see that you are blind and out of touch with reality so it's like talking to a brick wall at this point.

Bai, bai!

[agent4532]

Digital is the future. Cheaper games, riskier games, more profit for game developers......

[rainslacker]

Digital games are cheaper? News to me, as they tend to be the same price on release day, and stay more expensive longer. They do get sales, but often, the physical version is cheaper long before digital.

Maybe some riskier games, and on that vein, more self publishing from indies.

But more profit? You mean to the publishers right? And also, how is cheaper somehow translate to more profit for them? A physical release cost less than $3 per copy. But on the digital store, how much cheaper are they going to be? More than $3 I bet. You do realize that those digital storefronts actually take about the same cut from the sale of the game as they give to retailers right?

[TheColbertinator]

As long we have the Xbox One X,power is our first priority. Gaming is a secondary concern.

We should be glad Microsoft is leading the 4K path first and multiplatform games are there too.

[UCForce]

No, gaming is priority. Remember PS2 Era, buddy ? The original Xbox didn’t surpass PS2 sales even the original Xbox was more powerful than PS2 because PS2 focused on game more than ever. PS4 is doing just like PS2 did. So go backwards with your brain logic for 10 seconds and think what made PS2 was special in first place. And @Kribwalker, try to think why competition is important for console gaming.

[uptownsoul]

@TheColbertinator - "As long we have the Xbox One X,power is our first priority."

While what you say is true about Xbox one X leading in power (& thus the best versions of multiplat games)...The problem is that Microsoft can't guarantee that they will always have the power advantage at all times.

Sony on the other hand can lean into power when they have that advantage, but can pivot to games when they see that as their advantage.

[SpaceRanger]

“As long we have the Xbox One X,power is our first priority. Gaming is a secondary concern.“

Bookmark it guys, he only speaks the truth for all Xbox fanboys!

[Elda]

Pretty much.

[Dark_Knightmare2]

lol sarcasm right because if not you're freaking delusional

[Elda]

That person is dead serious.

[tontontam0]

Lol everyone knows that 4k is inevitable, sony sells 4k Tvs making ps5 a true 4k will increase their tv sales.

Xbox one x is just a half assed attempt to steal userbase from sony. Xbox can't beat playstation so they need a headstart to be able to at least keep up with playstation

[Kyizen]

Power is everything that is why the Nintendo Switch is doing so well /s

[badz149]

I don't think I was dreaming when Nintendo fanboys are singing "most powerful handheld ever made" about the Switch. so yeah...can't say THAT is not about power

[Elda]

Games are a second priority? More jokes that make no sense & the sad thing most folks that support the X say this. Smh.

[outsider1624]

Lmao!! Bookmarking this.

[trooper_]

Are....you okay?

[UltraNova]

I cant even...do you even listen to yourself?

[MagicBeanz]

"Gaming is a secondary concern", for a gaming console, you're kidding right? smh

[Dragonscale]

So whats the point in the power then? Without gaming power is absolutely pointless. And if you were so concerned about power you'd get a pc tbh. Also that 4k path has done jack for xbox so far lol, the switch says hi in that regard. Your just damage controlling tbh.

[agent4532]

Please tell me you were.sarcastic.

[rainslacker]

I guess I'm glad they're leading that charge.

You know why?

When I say that Sony games are better, it's going to be right when MS doesn't have anything to actually compare the Sony game to. Nintendo makes it more of a challenge.

So, MS can have power, gamers can battle it out between Nintendo and Sony about who has better games.

@others

Don't take Colbert too seriously. He's one of those joke troll accounts.

[SuperSonic91]

Do you even understand what you have just said?

[Moonman]

" their major first party franchises are beginning to feel tired and losing their selling power in the market, such as with Halo or Gears, and their new efforts have all failed to stick- such as Quantum Break and Sunset Overdrive."

TRUTH. And in the case of Sunset Overdrive (81 on metacritic), they could at least made a sequel for the fans who bought it. Everything doesn't have to sell 5 million out the gate to be a success over time. You build and build and allow it to grow over time...even 10 years, if it's actually quality with each release with a growing fanbase. One day, it might have a big audience. MS are just quitters. Buy our game right now or we will cancel it....crazy! That tells me you don't actually CARE about making good games, just the sales.

[nibblo]

MS doesn't own any of the IP's of those games. It seems that the Don Mattrick era Xbox didn't care much about owning IP's but Phil Spencer does as can be seen by Xbox under his leadership buying the Gears IP and keeping the Fable IP. Sony on the other hand will not publish a game unless it owns the IP and that is why they are more willingly to invest in their franchises because they know they will stay with them.

[rainslacker]

MS officially announced that they brought the GeOW franchise on Jan 27, 2014. It was announced Spencer was taking over the Xbox division on March 31, 2014.

Sorry, but Mattrick is the one that green lit the purchase, likely months before it actually was announced. Probably before the actual launch of the X1, probably when MS was trying to get another Gears game for the console.

[IGiveHugs2NakedWomen]

Sony has published many games without owning the IP. SEE NIOH

[nibblo]

@rainslacker
Mattrick was publicly kicked out at the beginning of July 2013 7 months before the GOW IP was announced by Phil Spencer. I don't think Mattrick was doing any deals after the 2013 reveal and it was likely that Spencer that pushed it through

[rainslacker]

You're right. Although, it's about 6 months, not 7.

Ballmer took over his duties until Spencer took over. It would be quite possible that Spencer made the suggestion even though he was still in charge of MGS at the time, because I'd imagine that to buy an IP of that size could easily take 3-6 months from idea, to approval, to negotiations, to final results. Obviously Ballmer would rely on those within the ranks to help him run the division on top of his regular duties at the time.

OTOH, it's also possible that this was something Ballmer thought was necessary or advantageous, because he knew how well received the series was on the Xbox brand, and he would want to repair all the damage left in Mattrick's terrible PR wake. It was said somewhere that MS wanted Epic to do another Gears game, which probably happened with Mattrick, and they declined, so this was a way for them to actually get the series for good.

[FallenAngel1984]

@ nibblo

“Sony on the other hand will not publish a game unless it owns the IP ”

Sony is publishing Death Stranding and they don’t own the rights to that IP.

[LP-Eleven]

Sony owns the Trademark (a type of Intellectual Property right) to Death Stranding.

Very few properties does Sony publish without trademarking (what people do in the industry when they secure rights to a property - something that is mis-perceived by many in the gaming community). Heavy Rain is the most recent example. They own the publishing rights, but did not trademark the property. Those rights remain Quantic's.

[rainslacker]

That's not always true. Sometimes they will publish a game that wouldn't be published otherwise on the system. They won't usually fully fund a game unless they own an IP.

[chiefJohn117]

That moment he realizes sunset overdrive is in the works lol

[Automatic79]

@UCForce

I think they have to start small and work there way up. Create Single player games like Tacoma, The Last Stand, Ori and Blind Forest, State of Decay, Cuphead, Ashen. Try to create Single Player narrative driven games with Xbox 360 graphics smaller budgets and depending on how they are received help them grown into bigger sequels. Xbox One has RYSE, Sunset Overdrive, D4, Quantum Break and Recore. While I believe they did well. They weren't commercial successful games. If they can go the route of Ninja theory and incubate solid narrative driven games with smaller budgets like Hellblade that would be fantastic for Xbox One library.

[ShottyatLaw]

I appreciated the Tacoma shout out. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Just wished it was longer.

[UCForce]

It has to be more than that. They also need a new AAA IP to surprise people. In my previous comments, I want MS to let 343 step out of comfort zone and try to create something new. Same goes with Coalition.

[chiefJohn117]

Coalition yes 343 no. I want my Halo it's the only fps I play.

[UCForce]

@chiefJohn117 No, I want both of them to step out the comfort zone.

[madforaday]

I been saying since Bungie was still with MS and Epic was still doing Gears. I imagined Bungie talked to MS about making a new game because Bungie talked about a new IP for a while but MS always said no. When that contract came up, I am sure Bungie got up and left (the people who wanted to still work on Halo stayed). Just imagine if MS said YES to Bungie and renewed their contract and Destiny 1 AND 2 were Xbox exclusives!? If they really wanted to have another Halo, just add more employees to Bungie or create a new studio (343i).

[agent4532]

I am glad I can play all those games on PC 😎

[rainslacker]

They kind of have to make games across a wide swath of development scopes. The small games are good. The mid-tier are good. The AAA are good. They won't strike gold with all of them, but when they do strike gold, it'll probably be big.

Consider that going into the big new franchises like Uncharted, GeOW, Halo, Horizon, or whatever, that there was no gaurantee of success. Uncharted for instance could have flopped big time, as it was something kind of different, on a system that didn't have a huge user base at the time of it's release. But it did well, and now Sony has a high profile IP in their portfolio.

Sony once said that it loses money on something like 8 out of 10 games they make. It's those big games that make them their profit. I think that was a while ago though, as they seem to be more tactful with releases now, and they did have a lot of other smaller games which likely wouldn't do well, like Puppeteer for instance. MS has the money to spend, or at least they should. They just have to leverage that to impress the consumers to buy the console. Once they sell the console, they have the player. But it's important to keep supporting the player. They didn't do that for me, and I am very critical of them now because I actually invested.

[-Foxtrot]

"their major first party franchises are beginning to feel tired and losing their selling power in the market, such as with Halo or Gears"

Well that's what happens when you rely on them all the time without mixing it up.

Uncharted was peaking...they changed IP to the Last of Us
Killzone was getting a little stale...they started working on Horizon Zero Dawn
LittleBigPlanet was getting too restricted...they moved onto Dreams
God of War was getting samey...they changed tone, direction and setting to keep it as fresh as they could
Infamous was loosing steam...they are making Ghost of Tsushima

You get the point...dosen't mean those old games won't come back but you need to mix it up.

[Araragifeels]

Amen to that.

[nibblo]

Killzone, Infamous and LittleBigPlanet were never near the type of popularity and sales of Halo or Gears so you can't compare them. God of War from what I have seen is still God of War just move the camera closer to Kratos, give full movement and make it about Vikings. The only valid comparison is Uncharted which I give dues to Naughty Dog and Sony for letting them end but lets face it had limited options on where it could go from the last one especially compared to Halo which has so much world building from books (and to a lesser extent Gears with it's comics) that it still has a lot of room to move and expand..

[UCForce]

But you should know that Sony give these studios to step out their comfort zone.

[tontontam0]

Then go ahead and be happy with your halo and gears every year.

That is exactly what is wrong with xbox right now ms will only make aaa games that will sell millions and millions.

[chiefJohn117]

Facts, homie compared kill zone to halo lol and said they changed to tone of God of war and LBP too restrictive smh. Foxtrot your whole comment is made of crap with those. If you consider GOW a tone change then Halos tone has changed too. Any and every argument you can make for GoW tone change you could make for Halo down to the story, theme, gameplay, etc

[IGiveHugs2NakedWomen]

There's one thing you left out of your comment. Sony allows there devs to come up with new ideas, Microsoft doesn't. When games aren't going the way that Microsoft wants them to go, they cancel them or shutter studios.

[joeorc]

And which market is that in reference too?
The market of the west is not the only market that matter, you have to be a world wide brand in not just in marketing, but show the market on a world wide scale that you are also there in the market to make sure the games are there for them as well.

Both Nintendo and Sony exclusive games may not exceed the number in only one market region very well as say the US, but the fact is by doing well all around the glove they do well enough to warrant to build up on its success on a much larger world wide scale.

That is why in Japan and Asia both Nintendo and Sony pit stops Microsoft in the market by a very considerable margin.

[FallenAngel1984]

How dafuq was LittleBigPlanet 3 getting to restrictive

[badz149]

kinda scratch my head over that one too. out of all the games in the market, the only game that might have more freedom to it compared to LBP is maybe...Minecraft.

the things you can do in LBP since LBP2 are amazing

[-Foxtrot]

Because there was hardly a jump in the third game like there was in Littlebigplanet 2

Dreams is full on 3D, sculpt, build, create. Compared to LBP that game looks limited now. It had its own set style unlike Dreams....it was becoming restrictive

[agent4532]

Agreed

[PhoenixUp]

Why would single player exclusives be such a risky move on Xbox platforms when there’s an abundance of successful ones on competing platforms?

Microsoft just hates producing a lot of games that don’t encourage people to subscribe to Xbox Live.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Mr Analyst is out of touch

[Nyxus]

"At the end of the day, I kind of don’t blame Microsoft for focusing on partnerships that involve multiplayer like PUBG. That’s where the esports wave is going and that’s where the monetization tail can last for year and years. Single player games are great but they’re star is fading broadly simply because they’re a riskier bet."

Good lord.

[Godmars290]

Think you need to flesh out your response a bit. I mean its certainly amazing that such in the mindset of many AAA publishers, but a console maker?

[corroios]

SP games takes much more time to create and its much more difficult to put microtranscations then MP games. Its just that. Nothing more. Money rules.

[Godmars290]

Think whoever they got a quote from misses the point in that MS had nothing to do creatively much less production wise with Minecraft. They only bought it well after it was a proven success with a massive user base. Likewise Gears was a 2rd party, Halo something in development before MS got into consoles, and both of them have lost appeal in the wake of studios being made to keep them going.

[plmkoh]

These Analyst types really need to learn fast that making 'exclusives' for your platform is not about making money but to build brand and good will. You make money from consumers coming onto your platform and buying games from other companies whilst you roll in the cash you made from commission fees.

[TheOttomatic91]

sometimes higher risk = higher rewards, something Sony and Nintendo know all to well.

[chiefJohn117]

I see the same old Zelda and Mario on Nintendo.

[LP-Eleven]

Yeah, which continue to be major success stories critically and commercially.

[ninsigma]

Nintendo are more risky with their machines than their games and to be fair, even though I hated the zelda, it was a risk to change up its formula like that.

[chiefJohn117]

.....okay, I still see Zelda and Mario lol.

[LP-Eleven]

I see it too. You're not making a point.

[joeorc]

And yet in Japan Nintendo knows their market just like Microsoft does in the united states. Here is a real difference, both Sony and Nintendo make their games for world wide market, while Microsoft really only makes their games for main The Market of really English speaking gamers mainly..nothing wrong with that but both Sony and Nintendo are more world wide market consoles than the Xbox platform is.

[Tazzy]

Thats not true Zelda changed as did Mario Nintendo goes out and adds new ways to play with their games and both those games have sold fantastic Xbox does the same thing Gears of War 4 sucked Forza is the same year in and year out. Phil Spencer said they don't rely on Halo Forza or Gears of War when they do if they didn't they would be putting new ips out and they're not they do the same thing Nintendo does but at least Nintendo switches the way to play up. Nintendo even takes chances on new ips ARMS Splatoon are all new from Nintendo Microsoft hasn't done it in years don't say one thing about a company when Microsoft does the exact same thing.

[Nodoze]

More dudebro shooters are on the horizon. Hang tight.

[Elda]

SP exclusive experiences is a must.

[tdogg]

the thing with me about xb1 this gen is... og xbox there was halo...xbox360 there was gears of war..xbox one there was.......??? where is the ip of this gen for xb1? i mean i liked ryse enough to want a sequel but crytek owns that..quantum break was ok but would've rather had alan wake. i still enjoy my xb1x but if i dont see something this E3 then farewell xbox

[chiefJohn117]

For me Ori has that potential. Seriously if Ms was smart they'd get behind that game 100% and make it a face of Xbox. Best platformer I played all gen and in the pass decade+. Give Mario some competition

[DanteVFenris666]

Microsoft is stuck. They’d need to put up several games like quantum break before I buy an Xbox. Problem is Xbox fans don’t buy experimental games as much as it’s marketed as a bro gamer console. Bro gamers buy the generic titles.

People who like experimental titles and new ups are going to get a PlayStation or pc for the indies. Too move me away from that Xbox would have to have the same force of ips.

Or they could also just use there rare ips and actually use them to make good games. Then there is fable. An actual good fable game id buy an Xbox for alone

[chiefJohn117]

For me personally I get why, cause I only buy SP games when they become cheaper and they probably see that other see doing the same. SP games have to include a mp or be an open world with a lot of content for me to buy @ $60. Paying $60 for a 6-8 experience isn't worth it. I do enjoy them and don't want mp only to take over and rarely buy MP only games. It's about value for entertainment time. Quantum breaks #1 issue was that it was too short and had no other content outside of the story, no speed run mode, no wave round mode or mp. The story and gameplay was great but didn't have enough meat and toppings on the sandwich. (I'm trade marking that lol) which what many sp games have struggled with.

[KillBill]

Whenever I read "Analyst Explains" I immediately hear "Ancient Astronauts Theorists" spoken in the voice of the narrator from "Ancient Aliens".

[happy2b]

It's not rocket science why xbox is struggling they're idiots.

[Aenea]

How many articles is gamingdolt going to write from one interview with this 'analyst'??

[Tazzy]

No clue but he has fanboy written all over his articles his article about PS4PRO being a gimmick made no sense Xbox One X is an upgrade just like the PRO so there for its a gimmick. No clue how he has a job being an analyst he don't know much and it shows.

[Doomeduk]

The people saying Ms making billions just look at blackberry and Nokia, the whole world had a 3310 and they thought they were untouchable
They both thought they knew what people wanted and now look at them

[Father__Merrin]

Funny thing is n4g xbox fans are always claiming they don't need exclusives because third parties are more popular....

[Chevalier]

That's why PS4 having both is a huge advantage.

[gangsta_red]

Pretty sure you got it twisted what actual Xbox fans have said about this. I haven't read any real xbox fan say exclusives aren't important what I have read is that third parties make up the huge bulk of a system and continually sell the most.

Sony fans(boys) then like to take that and apply their own twist and say Xbox fans don't need exclusives.

[rainslacker]

And when MS finally has more worth talking about, they'll say that exclusives matter. What matters to the fan boys all depends on what is best for their arguments at the time.

@Gangsta

I've seen quite a few Xbox fan boys say that exclusives don't matter because it's all about 3rd parties as if that's all that matters.

What they're trying to say is obvious, because most of them explain it well enough to make it apparent that they don't think that exclusives are important so long as they can play the best version of multi-plat games, because that's apparently what the vast majority play.

[chris235]

i don't get why the focus on multiplayer is such a thing. other than it being a copy protection i can see no benefit. online games are most of the time shallow mmorpgs or coop based first person shooters. both can't be any more boring because humans are so predictable in their ways. i prefer AI any day over human players.

[TargusX]

I'm fed up with all this, I've gone back to PC gaming.

[PGRfox]

they need to hire better talent. Sony and Nintendo have much better developers in terms of SP

[masterfox]

"Single Player Games A Riskier Bet", of course is a risky bet if you lack creativeness and only you have mentality for multiplayer games only, just look what MS doing with PUBG it looks like they only care for this only game, with this kind of mentality if you ask them to do a Single Player game will most likely will be a mess or just simply like they say a "risk".

[Tazzy]

Single player games are fun they're not risky at all look at Mario Odyssey over 5 million copies sold its a single player game Zelda is right behind it its a single player game then Playstation has a ton of single player games out and more incoming same with Nintendo. If Microsoft is all about multiplayer they should just focus on PC games because they can't compete in the gaming world where Nintendo and Playstation are delivering hit after hit with their single player games.

[Nodoze]

If the future of gaming is GaaS across the board I think many will simply quit gaming. GaaS is nothing more than a monetization scheme and it is not favorable to the end users in any way.

[rainslacker]

There will be more of them, but SP isn't going anywhere. So long as there is a market for them, they'll get made. If some publisher doesn't want to capitalize on the SP market, I'm sure others will be happy to take the sales instead.

[LateNightThirst]

Its N4G so now all of a sudden we're gonna paint a picture as of SP games are the multi-billion dollar franchises in the gaming industry. When sales show that games like COD, 2K, FIFA, Overwatch and other ONLINE MP titles dominate the charts....but hey who am I to these arm chair engineers/business analysts

[343_Guilty_Spark]

The Coalition is working on a new IP.

Playground is working on a FABLE rpg

[Silly gameAr]

How far along are any of those games? Any idea? Could be years before they come out, unless MS rush them out just to say "we have games too". They dropped that little bit of news so people like you will be content, because it does't take much for you guys.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Like I would know. Could have started right after Gears.

[agent4532]

I say Microsoft ditches console hardware in favor of Xbox game pass combined with an improved Windows Store that allows mods, user servers, etc.

[Father__Merrin]

It's better for Microsoft to ditch console and go software only

[343_Guilty_Spark]

In your dreams

[2ndhandcorn]

Less singleplayer more co op .