Xbox Boss: Health Of Our Teams Takes Priority For Xbox Series Launch

Really isn't a big deal to me that there isn't much from 1st party yet, seen as it would most likely mean I'd miss out on playing certain games, but now it times nicely I am finishing up watch dogs, then there is Assasins creed, gears tactics and I'm picking up cod and then we have the Medium and Cyberpunk next month.

It’s damn annoying their are no games, but at the same time I can understand his stance on ensuring their health comes first, however.... Covid started this year, and the teams have had several others to make their games and what’s worrying is so many are only early in development.

I could do with a reveal of a AAA exclusive game that actually is going to hit us, say, Easter.
Obviously something that's not Halo Infinite

Love that he is concerned for the health of the teams, but lets not kid ourselves. If the game was serviceable or close, he'd have them crunching to get Halo out for launch. I'm wondering what it will look like when it's re-reveled after the staffing changes and when that is. Perhaps E3/summer games.

For people who go through games quickly i imagine it's a bit annoying and a reason not to jump in just yet but for me personally I'll have more than I can play so not adding any massive must play titles for a while is actually a bonus. I have always been natorious for not finishing games and I'm trying to fix that this time around. I already have like 5-6 games on the go even after i said to myself I'll do 2-3 only...opps

@Krzzystuff hahaha this is me too. Procrastination is my middle name...

The right choice but I do think Microsoft should've announced some games for 2021 rather than making it look like Infinite's delay is filling in a gigantic game drought.

In Phil we trust! 👍🏻

@KelticDevil I approve of this message..

@Grumblevolcano 2021 is going to be slow for new games. Likely why so many are being pushed out of late 2020 into 2021...games won't have much competition and should sell well. All mo cap was stopped for what, 4-6 months? People working from home definitely also slowed things down. 2021 will include going through gamepass and looking for them gems and working on your gamer score.

It kind of sucks we don’t have any 1st party games at launch, but what’s worse is that outside of Halo, I’m not sure if we’re getting anything in 2021 either. Psychonauts 2 is 2021, and I assume we’ll get MSFS on console, but what else? Maybe Starfield if it has a Fallout 4 style reveal and release.

@Bmartin001

Well played. Lol.

@Hypnotoad107

Like you said, maybe we see Starfield? And maybe Turn 10 cranks out a Forza towards the end of the year? And maybe Gears 6? And, of course, Halo. But I doubt they would release Halo & Gears in the same year. Who knows though?

What Microsoft needs to do is convert some of their PC only games over to Xbox. We’ll probably get Flight Sim next year. But I would love to see the Age Of Empires series on XSX.

@Krzzystuff I'd hope at the least that Microsoft brings back the backwards compatibility program that was put on hiatus in June 2019 to work on existing games being playable on Series X. Usually ports and remasters get used to fill droughts (look at the Switch lineup for 2018 and 2020 for example) though with how strong the backwards compatibility is for Series X/S, I don't see many happening.

@KelticDevil Forza Motorsport was in early development back in July so I doubt 2021, Gears main series is generally a 3 year cycle so Gears 6 would be 2022 if same pattern (could see later given how few multiplayer maps Gears 5 has gotten compared to previous games). Would be nice if in 2021 Microsoft put both PC and console on equal footing by releasing Halo 5 and Rare Replay for PC meanwhile console gets Halo Spartan Strike, Flight Sim and the Age of Empires definitive editions (1, 2 and 3)

@Grumblevolcano

I completely agree.

@Grumblevolcano thats one thing I don't get, constant remasters. Clearly they take time to do so why not just work on a new game. With the BC on the series consoles a lot of games get free remasters without any effort from the developers. Also people constantly talking about not playing old games buy paying full price for old games with some touchups are delusional...it's still an old game.

Doesn't bother me in the slightest. Of course it would of been nice to have an extra big franchise title at launch but I don't buy a console just for the exclusives and this generation is essentially launching with a LOT more games and the vast majority of those I already own. I could literally just buy the console and have a massive range of games to play day 1 - many of which will play and/or look better too. Add in Game Pass and I could literally never buy a game again and still have so much to play (more hours worth than I could actually spend gaming)

There are several games that are being enhanced and I have not 'fully' completed - Forza Horizon 4 being one and despite finishing Gears 5, I could play again on new game+. Even if games are not enhanced, some will be with auto HDR and obviously boosted by the console to run smoother - a lot of games in my backlog could benefit from that as well as benefit from running at higher average resolutions too. Makes a lot of 60fps game modes worth playing as they will actually run at 60fps instead of only hitting 60fps if you looked at the sky.

I know its nice to have 'new' games but its also great to return to a LOT of games I abandoned because of performance issues. I have saved playing some games specifically too for the Series X (Borderlands 2 DLC packs for example) so I won't miss Halo Infinite - especially not after that game-play trailer - not when I have games like AC: Valhalla & Cyberpunk coming before Christmas, all the games in my backlog and even considering adding Game Pass Ultimate too - so who needs Halo which hasn't really lived up to the standards Bungie set. To me, Halo is becoming MS's Albatross...

It's okay that we won't be having any big first party games at launch, we rarely ever do, because there will be a lot of first party support coming down the pipe line soon. I think both the PS5 and Series S/X need a year or two to build a library worth buying the system for.

Although it sucks from the outside, it's truly a wise & thoughtful decision from Phil Spencer.

Don’t care. I have a second play through of The Witcher III lined up, plus I’ve just bought RDR2 dirt cheap on eBay and I’ve got a shiny new Game Pass Ultimate subscription. I’ll have more than enough back catalogue to keep me going for a while.

@Krzzystuff Plenty of reasons, here's a few:

1. If the system doesn't have backwards compatibility for a past system - The Switch started from scratch so ports and remasters allow people to experience games on the Switch that they wouldn't be able to otherwise (same logic applies to PS1-3 games on PS4 and PS5, OG Xbox and 360 games on XB1 before backwards compatibility was introduced, etc.)

2. An opportunity to bring games to PC - There's some Xbox 1st party franchises like Gears that have a long running story which goes through the full franchise but there's gaps in the PC experience. Ports and remasters would allow PC players to get the full experience (naturally if PC got a Marcus Fenix collection, so would console).

3. New can have less success than old. Halo's a good example here, a lot of the hype for Infinite seems to have died down as controversy after controversy happens (the most recent of which is seemingly colours being replaced by coatings with the purple coating costing $5) meanwhile all Halo hype seems to be on MCC nowadays.

4. Sometimes backwards compatibility breaks the game in such a way that only a port/remaster would make the game properly playable on the new system. Halo Reach is a very good example of this, the backwards compatibility version runs terrible on XB1 meanwhile the MCC version runs fantastic.

5. Sometimes backwards compatibility games don't get digital versions so you're relying on being able to find a disc copy which may be expensive or not an option for certain reasons.

Point 1 doesn't apply meanwhile points 4 and 5 are rare when considering Series X/S but when considering consoles in general, all 5 points are valid reasons.

I really believe in Forza for 2021, cause I think with gamepass growing up in popularity, the game will go "the service way" full speed.
It will be released with a limited number of cars and tracks, (but with awesome graphics) and more and more will be added every "season".
I really think there won't be another Forza game after that, not on this generation at least. It will be a self growing game, another way to keep gamepass users fed regulary.

And I'm totally cool with that !

@Bobobiwan yeah it's very interesting how gamepass will effect the industry. I literally have no need to buy any new games for a very long time. AC Valhalla and Cyberpunk are ones that I'm really interested in but I'll likely just wait for a bit and buy a used copy...why i bought the disk drive. For COD I'll just get a free rental from the library eventually and give it a go for a week and likely be done with it. Outside of getting a digital version of some sonic game for the kids (if i can't find a physical used copy...and if MS don't buy SEGA) I really don't see any new game purchases in my future...so will more 3rd party games be in gamepass in the future as a result? Now i know I'm not the entire market but i also know a lot of casuals will be in my frame of mind as well and i expect publisher's to feel the impact financially. Will it be enough to push them into gamepass? Who knows but if it's not in there and i want it I'll likely get it second hand and that's the same as a missed sale for the publisher.

Love games & gaming but rather developers and family be priority over gaming. So am good

@Grumblevolcano you seem to game across different systems so maybe it makes sense for you but realistically for an Xbox only player there really isn't any need for remasters. If they have small teams working on some optimization for the Series X/S then sure do that but right now I'd rather the focus be on new games. All upgrades are free anyways for MS studio games so it's just a patch in the end.

@KelticDevil Agreed. I think they shouldn’t be shy about putting M&K games on the console. Just make it very clear that it’s required for the game and let people choose if they want to do it. I don’t think they need to convert ALL their M&K games for controller functionality.

@Krzzystuff Well yeah generally go Nintendo + Xbox. Nintendo for Nintendo exclusives and 3rd party games when they run well enough (really dislike that Microsoft is ignoring gyro for yet another generation) and Xbox for Xbox exclusives and 3rd party games that either don't run well enough on Nintendo or don't come. Also native versions always over cloud versions so like if I was interested in Control or Hitman 3, I'd buy it on Xbox.