NeoRatt

This is very sad. Vince was an inspiration in an industry that is often stale and built on sequels.

My condolences from my family to his.

Obsidian to me is a shining light and was a steal for XB to purchase. They have delivered nothing but solid games since joining XB and I think the financial backing of XB has helped them really grow.

I don't really care what MS financial targets for XB are. I care only that they are:

1) Committed to gaming on XB.
2) Make great games year after year.
3) Provide a great gaming network/profile/achievements.
4) Are committed to a strong entry of next gen console(s).
5) Their prices for consumers are in line with other publishers, console manufacturers, and subscriptions.

I have always preferred Forza Motorsports and Forza Horizon over the GT games. But it has been disappointing to hear the downsizing of Turn 10 and the fact they are no longer focusing resources on Motorsports. It makes me feel like they don't care about its future.

And given that they have made zero announcements about the future of Motorsports with a reduced size to Turn 10 and nothing new coming I think they will just let it die.

Like others, I think Fable has the most potential. Gears E-day may take some awards around art and sound. Forza Horizon will probably dominate the racing category. Halo has potential in the shooter category if it is done right but I have not seen it as much different then an upgrade from the original yet.

It will be a good year for XB gamers, but at the same time I don't see a ton of creativity yet and taking the games to a next level deserving a GOTY win. Might get nominations, but no win.

The wild card might be Activision and Zenimax studios. None of their games have been featured yet for 2026. There may be a hidden something in the next CoD or Blade if they both come out next year.

@IronCrow86
Blizzard has never been known for timely delivery. Whatever project they embark upon it gets done when it gets done at Blizzard.

It took 11 years to deliver Diablo IV after III was released. How many studios get 11 years to work on and release sequels? I know of only GTA as a series that gets as much or more leeway.

I like Spencer. To me, he is breaking down barriers for gamers. Under Spencer's leadership XB has focused on accessibility, delivery of the Series X and S consoles which I felt did a lot to create an enthusiast and entry level market again, and acquired/built XB Studios into one of the largest set of studios in the world.

Yes, XB has changed directions a few times, downsized studios, and has gone multi-platform. Gaming studio downsizing has happened with every publisher so this is not new. The direction changes I think were inevitable, and let's face it, XB alone could not fund all the studios they have and the regulators who approved the deal XB made for Zenimax and AKB would have taken action had XB made all those titles solely exclusive to XB.

At some point XB has to stand on its own and Spencer has made that happen through the changes made. I expect that after the next gen starts Spencer will step aside and allow someone else to stay on a stable course he is creating.

I was disappointed PD was cancelled. But at the same time, I doubt the people seeing and playing what was developed were saying, "this is a complete innovative master piece". I would suspect that there were problems and to fix the problems would cost significant sums of money just to release something that was probably average.

I want PD back but I also want it to be special.

Lot's of good stuff coming and lots of studios that have not revealed upcoming titles. I like that a lot. Let the studios do the work quietly until they are truely ready to share within 6 months of release.

@Balaam_
I think the quality was there. I enjoyed all the first party releases this year. I would not say any were average or below average. I don't think any were exceptional either though. I would rate everything on the whole as very solid.

I think they should have more campaign stories set in different eras to rotate through rather than just Modern Warfare and Black Ops. They need to get more creative on what story to tell and how to tell it.

@themightyant
I don't see what is wrong with calling it the best graphics. To me, there is graphics and art direction in games. You can have amazing graphics but not the best art direction. And that appears to be what you are saying. Graphics is technical, art direction is more lighting, mood, ambiance, and subjective.

Best technical achievement would be more than just graphics to me. An example, for a future technical achievement would be to have every single building, room, and object in a game set in a city to be fully interactive like the real world. Games aren't there and can't get there today, but that would be something else if they made that happen.

@GuyinPA75
Agree completely and I did see the MMO screenshots.

To me, mistakes were made on both sides. MS should've let them make an MMO, but I think Bungie was too quick too jump away as well. Kind of like the kid that takes the ball away and won't play.

In this case they were probably threatening to shut down the studios so the leadership bought the studios and are going to run them as indies.

To me, Bungie died when they left Microsoft. They were the ultimate Halo studio. Both handled this wrong. MS should've gave them more creative freedom (ironically they do that with their studios now), and Bungie should've realized that they were most in their development comfort zone as a Halo developer.

I have enjoyed Destiny, when I play it, but I feel like it should be a Halo game with Master Chief. Just swap all the character models with Halo character models! LOL. I would totally play any Destiny game as a Halo game.

I would also expect that MS legals made sure that Bungie would in perpetuity ship their games on XB as long as MS has XB around on day one. I find it hard to believe they would've allowed Bungie to leave without still supporting their platform.

This is a feature that should've been here a decade ago when cloud saves started.

@swedetrap
I agree.

Launch games are an introduction to the new features and capabilities that will be available in each generation. Perfect Dark Zero showed how shooters were going to evolve on consoles considerably (Co-op, graphically, sound, and game mechanics). Ryse, showed how action-adventure games were going to change in the XBO generation.

Were they perfect games? No. But they both were very good launch games that got me excited about what was coming in the generation. I also felt Kameo was under-rated. Playing co-op Kameo was a really fun experience for me and one of my friends.

To me this is all about choice. I travel a lot... Play anywhere helps me play on the road and on all the different devices I own. You may or may not use it, but it is to me a very important feature as I play on PC, XB, and my ROG Ally X.

I saw nothing wrong with his post. Gaming has got to stop bing like Highlander where there can only be one... Sony, Microsoft, Nintentendo, Epic, Steam, etc. Let them all fight for our dollars. It would be sad at the end of the day if there was no real choice. And just because XB only has 30 mln gamers does not mean it should die.

@80sGamer
I would've thought there would be at least a high and low level configuration for the Steam Machine. That's all I was really thinking with my post.

Given that the Steambox is releasing this many years after Series X/S I would've thought the specs would be significantly better across the board.

I am happy with my ROG Ally X but I think there is room for significant improvement in the experience as a mobile console device.

I know the price is steep, but I would still recommend it to people that would play quite a bit on mobile such as me.

@dreadful
I will agree that XB lost the console war. That happened when they revealed XB One. So no surprise.

But, I do agree not winning isn't a big deal either if done properly. There are many brands that do not lead in their category but have carved out a loyal following that is very happy with the brand.

My advice to XB:

1) Continue releasing games like this past year.
2) Have at least one new solid IP per year.
3) Continue to release gaming hardware on both the premium and lower end side to lower barriers to entering gaming and to provide enthusiast gamers with a strong hardware experience.
4) Partner with other PC gaming device manufacturers to release the same hardware under their brand to make gaming hardware more of a commodity item.
5) Continue to provide solid gaming services like GamePass and a strong gaming Network/profile.
6) Mold the console and PC gaming experience into one platform to lower the barrier to make games for XB by developers.

Obsidian is one of my favourite studios. They seem to always be pumping out new content. They may not ship every game as a 10 but their games are generally solid and fun to play.

I felt the story line with Cortana deteriorating was OK, but I did not like that she appearred to die in the game. To me Cortana and Master Chief have been hand and hand in the series. Having her separate from Master Chief I feel was not all that great.

The gameplay itself was fine but the story brought the game down in my eyes.

@Romans12 I think gamers should get used to longer times between releases.

Most games now have a live service component that makes them last at least 5-8 years. And with development costs as high as they are, I could see companies wanting their games to last at least 10+ years.

Gone are the game releases that happen every 12-36 months. Really the only game that is able to do this now is Call of Duty and they dedicate 3-4 studios to make this game happen every year.

I have enjoyed all the Gears games except Judgement which I felt was just a milking of the franchise.

But, I am even happier that Gears E-Day is going back to the roots and going to be a more horror experience. I have always loved that aspect of Gears.

Gears 4 and onward was trying to appeal too hard to more people. Sometimes what makes a game good is that it knows its fanbase and caters to it rather then trying to expand the fanbase with less grit and more politically correct stories/characters.

I stopped watching showcases long ago.

First, most games ship in a beta state so you have to wait 3-12 months to play a game with a solid experience from end-to-end. It is only worth seeing games that are shipping and whether they have a hope to be any good.

Second, you see games at these showcases and you get excited only to see them cancelled and they therefore were vaporware.

@LX_FENIX
I have no problem with them switching the game engine from proprietary to UE and remaking past Halo's in the new game engine to get familiar with the engine and to optimize it. Halo 1-3 were all great games at the time they were released. But, they have also aged and modern shooter campaigns have much better graphics, gameplay, and mechanics.

But, a large part of me also agrees with you. I would like to see a new Halo story. I hope they are working on that slowly in the background.

Peter has never really resonated with me. Smart guy I am sure but taking his ideas and realizing them into working games has never been his strong point.

It is easy to dream, it is not easy to take a dream and make it a reality.

@Lrapsody
I don't see the strategy changing as much as you do.

And I don't see anywhere where MS explicitly said they weren't going to do a handheld anymore.

There are the facts of what has been said then there is the media who take things and run with assumptions and evolve stories. I prefer to rely on facts in my decision making not the media assumptions and evolution of stories.

@HonestHick
This all goes back to if an MS employee says it, the gaming community starts with the assumption they are crazy, but if a Sony person says it the gaming community starts with the assumption it is fact.

@Vaako007
That is not true. There are a ton of pros and cons on your own engine vs an off the shelf engine. By no means is UE a Camry. It is a very good engine that many very successful games have used.

If you were talking Unity I might agree, but UE is a highly optimized engine that is very good at many types of games. Including Halo.

There is always a trade off.

You use a pre-built engine and you have to live within its constraints.

You make your own engine and it takes a lot longer to develop. Especially when you are making the graphical and visual effects leap we are seeing here.

For me, I prefer agility over customizability. I like they are using UE. They can focus more on the story and gameplay with UE rather then making tech in an engine.

@Lrapsody
Shareholders look at financials and quarterly reports, not the day to day news on gaming sites.

@Kaloudz
There is another thing. Release cadence. Gone are the days of a new game in a series releasing every 1-3 years. The cycle is moving to more like at least 5-10 years with ongoing content added once the game is released.

You look at Rockstar's success. And it is not just the quality and funness of their games it is also the fact that Rockstar fans are rabbid for their next game because there is a long timeline between them. People are starved for GTA VI.

@SodaPop6548
The selling point I think next generation is quality/security/broadness of the gaming network, broadness of games that it can play (PC, XB, Stream), being able to choose game stores, value of GamePass (Activision, Blizzard, Bethesda, and XGS), and hopefully the best platform, performance, and variety of hardware choice as compared to competitors.

Also, I could see the big gaming hardware vendors such as Dell Alienware, HP Omen, ASUS ROG, etc. all switching their gaming PCs over to the new XB hardware. Giving console gamers tons of choice on configuration of their devices and PC gamers a simpler PC to maintain.

@TheGameThrifter
Who says they are only come out with one model next generation? I was talking about would appeal to gamers wanting the latest tech. I am positive they will also have a lower range device for casuals.

You look at current console prices and with the new tarriff laden world created by the USA, I doubt we will see new consoles for anything less then $700 on the low side.

I should clarify that I am canadian and am talking in terms of Canadian pricing. Typically USA pricing is $100-200 cheaper.

I really like this approach. Halo MP and SP are really two separate games. I would really love this even more if they turn the campaign into a live service where each year or two they release an expansion... aka Halo 2, 3, ODST, 4, etc.

And also release spin off/prequel stories like they are with this one. All the while continuing to improve the underlying engine so that the whole thing keeps up-to-date with technology change.

People who love the campaign of Halo can continue to play the campaign, people that love multi-player can continue to play the multi-player. If you like both then download them both.

@Kaloudz
This may be true. But, it should be based on how many developers are needed to maintain Forza Motorsport, not keeping a studio around just to keep a studio around. Throughout gaming history there are zero gaming studios left from the 1970's and 1980's. There are not many left from the 1990's either. When you talk about studio longevity there has been constant change and revamp. I would bet that less than 15% of studios created have existed for 25 or more years.

Tuen 10's scale back was inevitable. There is just no demand for a new racing simulator every 3-5 years. Innovation in this space is next to zero. So, it is best that the team focuses on the live service they created and just keeps improving and adding to it.

I would like to see them add a few tracks every year going forward and add car packs each year while improving the experience in the current game. That is all they really need to do. We don't need another totally new Forza Motorsport anytime soon.

@BaldB3lper78
I don't know how how these execs are rubbish these days. It really depends the perspective you are looking at... If you are looking at people's time and what it is spent on these execs are spot on. More people spend more time on social media sites then on gaming. If you are looking at it from a pure gaming perspective, then you would be correct.

But, it has been pretty clear from the consistency of consoles sales the past two generations that console gamers have decided what platforms they will game on. The battle is to bring non-gaming people into each vendor's market share. In that case you are competing against media and entertainment outside of gaming. To me that is a fair assumption.

@SodaPop6548
It may or may not be dead. But finally the right thing is happening in gaming.

Buying hardware should not be about which games I can and cannot play. Buying hardware should be about the hardware specs and the platform services provided with hardware.

And honestly I don't think XB is dead. There is a loyal following to the console of about 35 mln gamers. With them including other stores in the future releases, I expect some of PC gamers to buy the next console too. If anything next generation, I expect a modest improvement on XB sales. As a PC gamer if you could get a mid-range gaming rig for $1,000 you would probably jump in.

I really like what they are doing here. It is nice they are bringing new content into the campaign. Also I think this maybe a way for them to turn the campaign into a long term live service where they just keep adding the rest of the Halo campaigns to it with additional branch off content.

I don't understand why this is even still a thing. MS has consistently been bringing games to PS and has stated that this is their direction. If anyone on the planet is surprised or suddenly disappointed they have not followed XB in anyway for the past two years. MS clearly stated that nothing is sacred when it comes to exclusives.

@DNortonX
There are a bunch of PC games that are XB games but cannot be played on console so under your definition not a single device currently available is an XB. Your definition is not supported by facts.

Must be a slow news day.

MS passing the buck on the hardware price.... Ummmmm what were they supposed to do? Tell Asus to sell it at $199 a pop regardless of the cost to build the hardware?

Of course it was up to Asus how much the device costs. That's what hardware vendors always do. They set a price of the hardware they sell no matter who they partnered with. Bond is just stating a fact. Nothing more should be read into it.

What a stupid article.

To me hardware are commodity items. The CPUs, GPUs, memory, I/O processors, etc. are all built asnd manufactured by other companies. The only thing is howthey are assembled on motherboards in the devices. That does not bring anyone an advantage.

The advantage is in the software that the device uses. The firmware/OS and apps. This is where MS should be focused and I am glad they are outsourcing hardware to focus on that.

I actually want a wide selection of XB hardware devices all under one easy to use software umbrella. That way I can choose my console/handheld device. And I hopefully they give me a variety of price points so that if I want and can afford a kick ass gaming console I can buy one, but if I am a casual gamer and just want a get in console I can buy that too. That's the beuty when hardware becomes a commodity, you get a variety of price points for novice straight through to expert.

I have the ROG Ally X. I completely like the concept behind what they are doing, but I think the execution still needs work.

The hardware is beutiful and perfect outside I would like more battery life.

The software though needs the work. If you are advertising this as an XB then it should feel as seamless as console. I don't get that feeling yet. I went to install Diablo IV, and then it said I needed battle.net first, then showed me the Battlenet install screens. Then, after some fiddling I got Diablo IV on.

MICROSOFT, IF YOU ARE GOING TO ADVERTISE SOMETHING AS AN XB MAKE IT AS EASY AS AN XB!

Sad day indeed. Time to go back and play some of his games in honour of him!