With all the studio closures, cross-platform releases, and just general tone-deafness that's been coming out of Xbox, I think it's time Microsoft put forth a roadmap of where it sees itself in the coming years.
I think it owes consumers an unfiltered explanation of intent to all of this chaos. Creating the "biggest generational leap of any console" isn't going to mean a hill of beans if the Xbox community has totally lost faith in the brand due to the sheer amount of perceived absurdity that has struck Xbox these past few days.
We need to know the good, bad, and ugly of the situation so that consumers can make informed decisions going forward. I am not saying that Microsoft needs to divulge all the hardware details of its next console - assuming that is even still on the cards with the way Xbox is seemingly imploding in front of our eyes - or show us every game it has in the pipeline, but I think people need to know Microsoft's direction for Xbox.
Is it planning to go full-on third-party publisher who just happens to make hardware, but with scaled-back hardware sales expectations and manufacturing?
Is it really planning on ditching the traditional console strategy completely and migrating to PC ecosystem?
Is Game Pass really the future or is Microsoft going to scale things back due to lack of growth?
Is Phil Spencer on the outs?
For all the love I have for the hardware and feature set of the Xbox Series X|S, as well as the services Xbox provides, it's clear that it's not doing as well as Microsoft would have hoped, nor are these decisions doing Microsoft any favors in swaying people to purchase the console. While it's certainly not the disaster that befell the Wii U, it's probably not a bad idea for Microsoft to set its sights on the next-generation (perhaps even shorten this generation like Nintendo did with the Wii U).
At this point, it doesn't matter what that roadmap looks like: whether Microsoft really is "bowing out" of the console market, or simply scaling back hardware focus, I think the Xbox community just wants to understand the endgame. From my perspective, all the community sees is Microsoft Corporate takeover of Xbox to simply make money rather than a gaming division doing what it should be doing: making great games and providing a solid means of playing these games. And if that really is the case, be up front about it (well, maybe in not quite so "corporate" terms)
I don't think even the June Showcase will provide much excitement or move the needle in Xbox favor with everything that's going on with Xbox right now. Sure, we'll see upcoming games, but it all feels like the ship is taking on water with no boards in sight to patch up the holes, so the games are just more cargo to fall to the bottom of the ocean when everything sinks!
The only thing that Microsoft should do is give us the facts. The 100% pure, non-corporate PR spin of the direction of Xbox Game Studios. We need answers. We don't need "we have exciting things planned", we need to see the high-level version of those plans so that we decide if those plans are exciting - after all, Xbox doesn't exist without our excitement!
Unless you are a stockholder Microsoft doesn't need to do anything to be honest. What does it matter? Either you are going to support them or not and if your not they could care less there's millions of others who will.
So they closed a few studios, every company does, whether it's Nintendo, Sony, Tencent, EA etc. People need to get off their high horse. Honestly this who reaction from the gaming community this week towards Xbox just makes me not be a part of the gaming community. I honestly don't know what has happen to the gaming community as a whole this last few years, they act like privilege little kids and it needs to stop.
Do we need a road map when GM decides to close a plant, or when McDonalds closes a few restaurants?
Xbox doesn't need to do anything business is business.
RetiredPush Square Moderator and all around retro gamer.
@Tasuki It's more than just some closures, though.
There are just weird things coming out of Xbox lately that is a little bit concerning for the community. What's worse, is there is zero context to anything going on.
Close a studio that made an award winning game and then turn around and say "we want smaller games to win awards"?
Giving Arkane Austin one chance - even after Phil Spencer admitted that Xbox should have been more helpful with the development of Redfall in favor of focusing on Starfield.
Releasing and then pulling tone-deaf ads?
High-level staff within first-party studios basically publicly swiping at the parent company?
Zero statement from corporate figureheads?
Sort of going multi-platform, but not exactly - we'll wait and see?
It's like the entire company doesn't know which way is up, anymore. Clearly, changes are happening, but these changes publicly look less about making top-tier games and more about biting off more than Microsoft could chew.
I would think that a consumer who is invested in a business - and I think corporations and shareholders forget that it's the consumers...consuming...that lines their pockets - should be worried that the business they invested in is acting...bonkers!
Entitled or not, people are less willing to consume the Xbox brand. And it seems like daily, things look worse and worse. That's a problem unless Microsoft is just purely honest about its future in some high-level capacity. Be a little transparent for a change! Be different.
Even if it is all, "just business", at least provide something to the people to explain why everything going on is necessary and what it will mean for Xbox going forward.
Corporate shareholders don't care they do what they want wether that makes sense or not. Heck they probably don't even know what they are doing. They just look at numbers and I can almost guarantee that the numbers they are looking at is the Fallout Mania numbers so they are probably thinking we need to push more out. Sadly that kind of thinking is what put people like Phil Spencer in a bad light because of his position and employment his hands are tied by the shareholders.
People just need to chill and let the shareholders do what they do there's plenty out there to play.
To be honest I rather MS focus on big budget games like Halo, CoD, Fallout, Spyro etc then small indie games but that's just me. I rather have good big budget games instead of the crap we have been getting the last few years. Broken half assed games. Perhaps by closing these smaller studios and merging them with the bigger companies like Bethesda, Activision-Blizzard etc we will get that.
RetiredPush Square Moderator and all around retro gamer.
I think it's pretty clear at this point that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing at Microsoft.
More specifically, I think, with Activision-Blizzard, too much money is on the line now for people above Spencer's pay grade to trust him with control of the gaming division. Whatever their 'road map' is, you can be sure it's dystopian enough that they'll never communicate it honestly with us.
@Ralizah Yeah, this has been a sad turn of events, honestly. You can almost see the "evil empire" hands choking the life out of Xbox right now.
I thought the whole point of these acquisitions was to expand Xbox portfolio, but now it seems like Microsoft wanted to consolidate manpower to focus only on the major titles. Sure, it may lead to better Quality Control, but it leaves things stale - especially when Microsoft can't/doesn't really do third-party exclusives the way Nintendo and Sony do.
I hope that all of this is just an over-reaction. Because I want to see new things like Hi-Fi Rush and Redfall (I liked the game, and it had potential to be something better) coming out of Xbox. I don't want to see all its studios become Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Halo, Gears, Forza, and COD factories.
There is a wealth of IPs that Microsoft owns, now. Give the developers a chance to breathe new life into them or start selling off IP to studios who will!
@GamingFan4Lyf I dunno. I think Xbox has been deeply mismanaged during Spencer's tenure, and several of their developers seem to just be spinning their wheels without proper guidance.
There's a lot of very talented people working for Xbox (or should I say "Microsoft Gaming?"). The problem isn't a lack of resources or talent. It's poor management and decision-making.
The loss of Tango sucks, but at this point, I'd like to see a change in management... which I think is happening, regardless of whether Spencer is kept on as a corporate mascot or not.
Unfortunately, with him will also go any pretense at consumer-friendliness.
@Ralizah I'd agree with that to a certain degree in that I think the "mismanagement" is more in the line of Microsoft giving too much leeway to its developers.
I wonder if Microsoft was trying to avoid looking like the tyrannical micro-managers to its developers and letting them breathe - with the unfortunate side effect that developers were too free.
It's like a parent who lets their kid do absolutely anything they want and being their friend rather than their parent.
It's biting them in the butt, now, and has to tighten the reigns (time is still money, after all) - which unfortunately means Microsoft is overcompensating in the other direction and becoming the tyrannical micro-manager Xbox never wanted to be.
I think there is a fine line between creative freedom and being realistic with expectations, and Xbox didn't walk the line too well as quality control suffered and delays are the norm!
@GamingFan4Lyf I'd agree with that assessment. Everwild is a good example. Rare worked on that for years, but had to reboot development because they didn't really even have a sense for what they were creating! That's a lot of time and resources down the hole.
Creative types are artistic and passionate, but not always pragmatic. It's the job of the managerial class to channel those energies in a direction that will lead toward a viable commercial product, to keep them on a timetable, and so on. When both sides are doing what they're supposed to do, you get great entertainment.
The intentions of the current Xbox leadership might have been good, but they clearly weren't up to the task of managing a gigantic gaming division.
@Savage_Joe I don't necessarily have a platform preference, I just know that Sony going "unchecked" in what is now being called the "premium console" market won't be good for anyone either!
Sure, Microsoft could go full on third-party and PlayStation would get all Microsoft games and I could end up saving money on multiple boxes, but at what cost?! Prices could skyrocket, service offers can drop, and game quality could take a nose dive.
I argue that the only reason Sony is as strong as it has been is because the only place Sony has to go is "down" and Sony doesn't want to go "down".
Sure, there is Nintendo and PC, but the Switch success has more hinged on being an amazing secondary console with a unique feature set and PC is just way too darn expensive and not as user friendly.
So, in a way, we need a third contender in the market - even if its only purpose is to ensure Sony doesn't get its way all the time. If not Microsoft, then who?
@Savage_Joe Yeah, I think people overstate the costs of PC gaming partially because of how much coverage you see of higher-end cards. As someone with a thoroughly budget-build PC, I've yet to find a modern game that didn't run reasonably well on my rig at 1080p.
The Steam Deck will also run the majority of modern games and can be had pretty cheaply as well.
Console gaming, in terms of pure value per dollar, is still superior, of course, but paying a bit more is worth it to me for the freedom that comes with not being locked into a walled garden with censorship, expensive paid online, certain types of controllers, inferior sales, only one storefront to choose from, etc.
@Savage_Joe@Pastellioli I've been saying this for years. A while ago, too. Halo Infinite had all the money in the world and yet suffered from a long and troubled development and needed external assistance late in the development cycle, until it became the great game that eventually was. The Initiative has been arguing since 2018 and their project had to be rebooted by Crystal Dynamics. We can add Rare's Everwild or Arkane's Redfall. State of Decay 2 launched in bad condition, but became one of the best games of the last generation through the many patches. There are three negative consequences: games that launch in bad condition, studios that are not capable and years of wasted development and resources. The problem with some Xbox studios is the lack of proper hierarchy, management and leadership, but I also think that projects and IPs should be assigned. Otherwise, the studios might be working on new IPs each time, indefinitely.
@Ralizah Off-topic, but I’m curious how much you paid for your “budget-build pc”. Cost of hardware is definitely one factor that turns me off of PC gaming (not the only factor, but a big one), and I’m curious if I’m off-base in that regard or not.
@LunarFlame17 I carried over the power supply, so I think I ended up spending about $700 on it. RX 6650 XT, Ryzen 5 3600, 16GB RAM, 1TB Sata SSD, and a new mobo, because my old one wasn't compatible.
By no means a super computer, but at 1080p it gets pretty good performance in pretty much everything.
While my GPU has been good, though, you're better off getting an NVIDIA card like the RTX 4060 Ti, since DLSS produces nicer results than FSR in general.
@GamingFan4Lyf I just identified what pieces I wanted based on my budget and a little bit of research and the computer was built gradually. The new GPU was actually the last component, and I spent half a year with everything else installed.
You have tech literate friends, right? Ask one of them to build it for you when your components arrive. This is especially helpful if you flatter and bat your eyes at the men in your life.
@Patellioli You are right, but they announced certain games very early because people wanted to know what games will Xbox have on top of Halo, Gears and Forza. I think that's why they announced Fable and Perfect Dark, two games that people adore.
The uncertainty you talk about is also true and one consequence of the hands-off approach, that I insist is the only base problem that Xbox has and that triggers the rest. In that sense, the problem with Perfect Dark is not the long development per se, but that the team has no hierarchy, no leadership, no common goal and Microsoft had to bring Crystal Dynamics in, a consolidated studio that knows how game development works and what has to be done to make progress. That's why I said it's lack of efficiency and a waste of time and resources.
Rare's Everwild is made by a bunch of artists that are organised as if they were creating Disney's next classic. I still love Rare. I love Gregg Mayles and I want a new Banjo-Kazooie game. I don't mind if they hire Playtonic or work with Toys For Bob to make it, as long as Gregg Mayles is the designer and as much as possible of the original team is able to work on it. Gregg is the original designer. He has never left Rare. Composer Grant Kirkhope is a freelancer that would die for being on board again. Banjo-Kazooie can be made and Xbox needs that kind of games. Same can be said about Conker and Viva Piñata, the latter being one of the most original and charming games I have ever played. I also love Robin Beanland and he also works at Rare. There's a lot of magic at Rare, a lot, but maybe they need Playtonic or Toys For Bob. Playtonic because they still want to make that kind of games and Toys For Bob because they are technically good.
@Ralizah Okay, that is less than I imagined, but still more than I would want to spend, especially since I already have a PS5 and a Series X. Thanks for answering.
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Topic: It's time for a roadmap
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