Xbox Exec Wants Fans To Keep Developer Direct Expectations In Check

Oh boy… now is the time to wow us, not ground us… we’ve been waiting for this year for far too long, don’t ruin it by being underwhelming yet again!

Yikes this just sounds like a... get ready for disappointment 😥

Edit : Everyone here seems like we are expecting more than the original 4 games. I'm happy if thats all they show.
However what I'm reading into the statement is... "dont expect any specific release dates and certainly not any time soon releases for the four games on show"

Looking forward to Redfall, so the more information about it the better

Slightly poor timing alongside their mass layoffs, they really need a distraction from that. A banger of a direct would go a long way to helping put minds at ease but it sounds like we’re not getting any big shocks.

Oh dear. He we go again. 2023 has to deliver for Xbox.

I feel like Xbox have been pretty upfront about this particular presentation; so people wildly speculating is their own fault. This is the devs talking through those 4 games. The only thing i’m really hopeful for beyond what they have promised is the release dates of said games.

And the Starfield presentation will be about Starfield; but i’m sure people will get overhyped about that too.

All that said; Xbox do need to do a proper showcase with surprises and looking beyond June 23.

@themightyant I agree with you to a point altought this month has been quite big in terms of the games added to GP (not in numbers but in quality)

Just like me and a few others were saying in the previous threads. It's crazy the expectations people still have when they announced what they would be doing from the very start. Its the developers showing off the games, it's not a state of play or an e3, and was never meant to be. They already announced the games up until the summer, so I fully expect their next big show or announcements to be around E3, same as always

4 Games reported to 2024 due to développement diffuculties explained in full details during 10 minutes each with a 3 minutes apologies at the end.

Xbox always do this…hype up their event for weeks prior and then last few days tell it’s starving fanbase to keep expectations in check. It’s a lovely dance.

A few weeks ago he said Xbox would have an incredibly exciting 2023.

@themightyant Elder Scrolls Online might seem pretty niche if you're not a player, but there's a reason they keep featuring it in their E3 presentations and this dev direct. It has like 200k daily players and something around 20 million total. It's still quite successful, AND it's coming up on its 10-year anniversary, which is likely why they're building hype for an announcement right now.

I don't know what fans expect from a Developer Direct that specifically mentions the first party games that are coming out in the coming months and shed light on it. And this games need promotion apart from ESO. To build up hype around them. I'm still curious as to how Redfall will play out. And as a big strategy fan Minecraft Legends also intrigues me. But I'm not into Minecraft so let's see how it pans out. That being said Mojang might be the least interesting studio in Xbox first party lineup. They're too lazy in my opinion. But why won't they be they make a ton of money by doing nothing. Also hopefully FM is a banger as FH5 really put the bar up high.

Xbox is the definition of disappointment.

Excited to see more Minecraft Legends, the Pikmin genre is underserved.

Nothing here is news, they said exactly what would be in this show before. Some of these comments are real head scratchers.

These are not going to be nintendo direct style shows (despite the name). E3 will still be the place for new announcements. They are info dumps on very near games we already know about "direct" from the developers themselves.

I expect a lot of talking about the 4 games with gameplay and release dates. Maybe a short gamepass ad where we see a few smaller titles coming soon to GP. Literally nothing else.

So, yeah. I'm already disappointed!
This is very little after an empty Xbox year in 2022. We need more.

Lol.

Xbox “Manage your expectations”

At least the PR is starting to match the delivery. Before it was “we are making so much money from GPU, people who put their games on GPU make so much money:.. we have so many exclusives coming….”

They sack thousands of staff and say manage your expectations…..

After the last 18 months my expectations have been well managed indeed.

I was already expecting what they told us, to see more of games they already announced. No need to think anything else.

@somnambulance to be fair that is mostly the games journalists fault. Aaron Greenberg or Phil will tweet something like "I'm excited for xbox in 2023" and websites will be like "Aaron Greenberg builds MASSIVE HYPE for the upcoming show."

It’s a little amusing seeing this article directly under the piece from the other day talking about it being Xbox’s “big” event. I don’t blame Pure Xbox of course — every website, podcast, and YouTube channel had similar content because MS hyped this up — but it’s a testament to the chaos over at MS HQ.

Maybe it’s because I have a similar role for another large tech/entertainment company (outside of games though) but I do nott understand Greenberg’s comms strategy. They had to know the Xbox fans are starved for something, anything. They had to know the growing frustrations with lack of GP drops. They had to know that them hyping this event up and then staying silent for weeks would lead to rising hopes and expectations. And you’d think they’d know that suddenly pulling the rug out a little over 48 hours from the event would douse any growing enthusiasm.

Why was this “manage expectations” clause not included in the original announcement, or even in the following days? And when can we get excited for this big year that MS has planned?

@Widey85 Perhaps Xbox being my secondary console colors my expectations and feelings, but I'm pretty much set with the console. I completely understand anyone not liking what they're seeing on the exclusive front if Xbox is your go-to. Plus, we don't know how we'll feel after the presentation. What they show could blow us away.

Welp, it is what it is, I suppose. Hoping 2023 shakes out to be a decent one.

I have a feeling this might not be "my faith restored" kind of event. Hopefully I'm wrong

I am not 'expecting' much - I know what games are being discussed in depth, I know which 'interests' me and I want to know more about, I know roughly the length and that the Devs themselves will be talking about their games.

I am NOT expecting to hear or see anything about Starfield, so if they do announce when the Starfield showcase will occur, that's a bonus. If they show some montage of 3rd Party games coming to Game Pass (Lies of P, Atomic Heart etc) Bonus...

I am NOT expecting to be interested in ESO or Minecraft, I don't 'expect' Forza to suddenly be 'amazing' and like 'nothing' else we have seen/played before. As for tyre physics, that's something you need to 'feel' as visually you can't tell the difference. Its a Racing Sim so will have the 'typical' Racing Sim Game-play loop - Cars, Tracks, career/MP modes and Customisation - like EVERY Forza and/or racing Sim. Redfall though is more an unknown and I want to see more, especially the SP experience...

They’ve said from the very beginning the four games they would be highlighting. I don’t know how much more transparent they could be. Everyone saying this is the “definition of disappointment” clearly can’t read. This is likely just the beginning of these types of events and I’m excited for it and the rest of 2023!

"anything else would be a bonus" - still doing it. It's just the FOUR games.

so i dont need to watch as im only interested in learning about redfall.

i absolutely do not need 10 minutes on forza and ESO. everyone knows what they are.

regardless of people saying they only ever said these 4... fans need more, a surprise or two perhaps.

people keep telling me Phil is a gamer, but he clearly doesnt know what his consumers want

Anyone else notice that some Xbox executive says this before EVERY EVENT? I'll say it again:

This had better be good.

@stvevan it's not just Phil. Xbox has been poorly managed for most of its existence.

To be fair, they did call it developer_direct and they did also say we will show 4 games. So expecting anything else is your own fault.

I'm not even going to bother watching it live because it's most likely going to be boring, I prefer to see the Gameplay only and not the developer interviews. Honestly if you were expecting Xbox to show you Fable, Avowed and whatever else then that is your own fault.

Sounds like this event isn’t the reason the Game Pass announcements have been very odd since early December.

I'm glad they're setting expectations here, I just wish they did that consistently and not when they feel like it. Most recent example being the no-show at the Game Awards, a heads up was definitely due on that one imo.

As far as people being concerned about GamePass drops not being included, tomorrow is Tuesday so maybe they’ll announce drops in parallel with this event.

I'm disappointed already.
Probably gonna unsubscribe from Game Pass, as I'm sure many others will do as they continue with the slow drops.
At least I hope people will, because there's no reason to support it if they suddenly changed in December and then keep it that way while being silent on the issue.

@IronMan30 yes but to see "more of games they already announced" is a huge scope, so its reassuring they've clarified and reset expectations.

@Sebatrox because they've been unusually silent since December, and people want answers and for it to go back to a steady stream of games on GP.
This event would be a good platform to talk about that.

@somnambulance when "we are very excited to talk about these 4 games" turns into countless articles and videos asking "will xbox reveal more Avowed (fable, perfect dark, etc) at the upcoming show?" you kind of need to reiterate what to expect. I don't think they are suggesting people should not be excited for Forza, Redfall, minecraft, ESO but saying don't expect much outside those games.

I think it is a bad name choice to include direct in the title because people are expecting the typical nintendo show where it is game reveal after game reveal ending with a big "one more thing" moment. It will be much closer to the directs where they dedicate an entire 20 minute show to explain the story mode of Mario Tennis.

I think they should just drop 4 separate videos to YouTube, one for each game, instead of a "show" to avoid this nonsense about expectations.

Its already been stated that the 4 games announced for the Direct will be the main focus, so the people who were expecting new first party exclusives and then complain it doesn't happen only have themselves to blame.

It’s been known the entire time that four games were going to be shown in more depth, and that’s it. For those complaining about that and expecting more, it’s their own fault. Unfortunately, websites need to get traffic, so they will post articles and take polls asking the audience what they would like to be shown, and it turns into an unrealistic hype fest.

This upcoming Xbox-style direct specifically mentioned discussing games that are releasing in the next few months. Moreover, Starfield will be getting its own show.” People need to stop being so dramatic; we are going to get our Game Pass announcements and so forth as we always do; it just won’t be at this “direct” more than likely.

@awp69 The upcoming Direct could show off more gameplay, finally announce release dates and Game Pass drops, people here will still complain about it.

@Solidchief Sadly true.

@Solidchief Exactly. I don’t understand some people’s line of thinking. It also doesn’t help that some websites will ask the audience what they hope to see at the show; they already know what’s going to be there. It’s poor journalism.

@Solidchief I’ve always said this: Some people aren’t happy unless they are complaining about something.

@BBB So, you’re now expecting no release dates because someone said keep your expectations in check? They are referring to more games being announced rather than the four specific games mentioned being at the show from the very beginning. Furthermore, in the original articles releasing information about this upcoming direct, there are several sentences that say “details about these games that are releasing in the next few months.” We will more than likely get dates for these games.

Let's not ignore the reality of what matters this month. Gaming right now is pretty much "xbox direct blah blah, redfall forza blah blah, eso, forspoken blah blah psvr2 kinda cool, toothpaste-chan seems cool.....HOGWARTS IN 3 WEEEEEEEEEEEKS YOOO!"

I think the messaging as been decent enough for this direct, they even used a different term to highlight that this isn't a showcase like event.
That being said the messaging has had some wiggle room, they haven't explicitly said only these four games will be shown and "unwarranted hype" will also exploit such an opening

@BlackMayge You're right about some people aren’t happy unless they are complaining about something. A lot of people were complaining about Xbox doing a no show at the Game Awards, not showing any gameplay for the upcoming games and begging for an Xbox event.

The day comes Xbox announces a Developer Direct event that will show off gameplay for the upcoming games and the people that wanted it are still complaining regardless even before watching the event. It doesn't matter what happens certain people will never be satisfied.

If this ends up being more delays, Xbox Series has no first party games, still… or not many. I won’t be happy, we are in year 3 now right of this gen? Half way through….

Honestly dude, I’ve no expectations for Xbox anymore…

@Fishticon people don't want answers. They want product.

Surprised that Nintendo hasn't wagged their fingers at MS for calling the presentation a "Direct"

@Widey85 what are you talking about? We just got some good GP releases.

@Somebody those 20 minute specialized Nintendo directs were usually Treehouse things. i can't remember what the full name for those shows are

Seems like it's a big divide in folks either only expecting what they have said would be at the show or expecting a January E3. I think it's just going to be what they promised with some GP titles announced for February as well. It looks like they will be trying this direct format for 2023 to see if more frequent shows about upcoming launches will work for them like Sony and Nintendo with hopefully a good E3 for initial announcements. I'd rather more frequent shows with some small surprises in them vs just one big show in June.

@Jark they are the game title + direct + date. The animal crossing one was just "Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct 2.20.20" mario tennis was "mario tennis:aces - nintendo direct 3.8.18."

Definitely branded as directs, even has the same narrator and template.

Yeah, I’ve learned not to get hyped about anything with Xbox the last 7-8 years. Anything good that might happen is just a welcome surprise.

@Jark The types of Nintendo Direct:

• Nintendo Direct - The big showcase which usually happens 3 times a year (last time was September 2022)
• Nintendo Direct Mini - Smaller showcase where there’s fewer 1st party announcements (last time happened in March 2020)
• Nintendo Direct Mini Partner Showcase - 3rd party games only but can include games using Nintendo IP that are developed by 3rd parties like Mario + Rabbids (last time was June 2022)
• Indie World - Indie games only, can include indie games featuring Nintendo IP and indie games published by big 3rd parties like Ori (last time was November 2022)
• [insert product] Direct - Focused on a specific thing. Game specific like Splatoon 3, franchise specific like Mario or specifically on something outside gaming like Super Nintendo World/Mario movie (last time was a Direct for the Mario movie in December 2022)

Treehouse Live is about live extended gameplay demonstrations, each segment being shown is for around 30 minutes and its main use was after the E3 Nintendo Directs. The closest Xbox has to that is Xbox Game Showcase Extended.

So, we will most likely get release dates for Forza and Redfall. Who honestly cares about the other two. Keep our expectations in check? Are you joking?

@Widey85 They spelled out it was a direct about these 4 games. The fact that they said you don't want to miss it, if your imagination ran wild with something more than these 4 games, that's no one else's fault. They were extremely clear that this show was about these 4 particular games.

This is going to be very interesting, and likely a no-win situation.

If they don’t throw a “one more thing”, sounds like there will be a lot of disappointment.

If they do, we will perpetually expect “one more thing” regardless how grounded they try to keep us.

@Widey85 I can say it, and I did. Game Pass is Microsoft’s most important service. Sure, the lack of announcements are odd, but they will more than likely be presented soon.

This is the problem with many gamers today—they are constantly wanting more. I’m not saying this relates to you; I’m talking just in general. We just received Persona 3/4 and Monster Hunter Rise. These three games are massive and a huge win for the service. Unfortunately, the attention span of some gamers is very little. For YEARS, people have clamoring for the Persona games, and now that we have them people are still saying, “It’s not enough; I need more.” It’s ridiculous.

We can safely say Forza, Redfall and Starfield are releasing in 2023. That's great. Three big, next-gen and exclusive games, right on time.

I'm glad they've stopped talking about games that are more than a year out. Here is the situation with the other big announced but currently MIA games:

Fable: As of 2022, still hiring people to develop "storytelling mechanics & systems".

Avowed: Currently a mystery but Obsidian are turning out games so I assume development is going okay.

Hellblade 2: The last update from their Twitter showed off their realistic bird poop simulation. Not a joke. (2026?)

Perfect Dark: The Initiative (Ti), formed in 2018, lost 'Design Director' Drew Murray 2021. That year Ti partnered with Crystal Dynamics and Daniel Neuburger took up the Director spot. He then left in 2022. By Nov 2022, Xbox was 're-building' the studio.

Everwild: Development began in 2014. Announced in 2019. Rebooted internally when Creative Director Simon Woodroffe left in 2021. Team is targeting 2024.

All I need is a deep dive of Forza and I'll be content, anything else is just icing on the cake, excited to watch!

@Widey85 I agree with you that they should explain the change in game pass additions that seems to have started last month but I don't feel it's related to this showcase of 4 first party titles. I don't know what's going on there, something is up.

They announced that this show would be about 4 first party games, and people are speculating all sorts of other things (including about game pass additions), so them telling people to manage expectations is perfectly reasonable if not necessary. If they do announce game pass additions then it's a surprise and it's out of the scope of what this show was announced as.

So tl;dr I agree with you that more games should be added to game pass this month, but they've said it now several times this show is about 4 games only and anything added will be a surprise/bonus.

@Chuffer
No, I think it is more the issue of media speculating about there being more like a Golden Eye release and stuff like surprise game announcements.

They are being prudent and letting people know that there is nothing else planned. And frankly I think the lineup announced for the dev showcase is a good start to the year. Hopefully, Starfield will be just as solid later this year. Add the typical Flight Simulator, Forza Horizon 5, Halo Infinite, and Sea of Thieves updates and this year is going to be a good content year for XB. Hopefully they do the same going forward every year after.

Where is it that Xbox "hyped this up" ? Not sure where that is coming from but it was pretty clear from their blog post what to expect.

Looking forward to some redfall info

@Sam_TSM get a Playstation 5!! Single player games that are on another level!!

As I mentioned on a post yesterday I expect this to be a thoroughly whelming experience. We'll see pretty much what we expect, but nobody will go rushing out to buy an Xbox. It's only a notable event as they've not had much else lately.

@themightyant you're not wrong that is somewhat niche and it would be allways good to sprinkle a few indies in the mix. I would argue that Monster Hunter is not an old game and it is the premiere on other consoles

Id still like to know to the "fun week at xbox" aaron promised us a couple weeks ago unless the fun he was referring to was at the xbox offices for phil spencer birthday...

@themightyant you're correct but we are far from getting third party AAA games day one on the system and these type of deals are the best we can get. I am particularly not interested in Monster Hunter but I played games like Jedi fallen order, guardians of the Galaxy or fenyx rising first on Gamepass and I am hoping they keep on coming at a regular pace as I feel most games are not worth the day one pricetag.

Don't worry, the last two years has led me to expect about nothing.

@Bleachedsmiles It's a tiresome dance many of us are getting fatigued from.

It's time for Xbox to put up or shut up. The one big, glaring lesson from Xone gen is a game console has to have games, even better for that console if you cannot find those games elsewhere. They're doing pretty decent this gen but coming off a very dry first party year they badly need to build some excitement. Otherwise imma start eying a steam deck as a portable gamepass machine and I'll get a ps5

Hope this ends up being a wind up and it’s an amazing direct so I suppose I’m still getting my hopes up but we shall see what happens.

Dejavu for the 20th time

@Benjamin you've left Project Mara off that list (which is also from Ninja Theory and probably further behind than Hellblade)

@Grumblevolcano and we need more of the latter format, not the others.

@somnambulance I don't think it's necessarily better knowing something is far off with a hard or soft release date, but still with a possibility of delay, than it is to not have an update at all and/or no release date.

The latter scenario is definitely worse when you've invested finances into a project (e.g. crowdfunding or irresponsible preorder system) or said project is extremely disruptive (e.g. like transit construction; see what's going on in the cities of Ottawa and Toronto, of Ontario, Canada).

Worst case example of the former case: Cyberpunk 2077 (delayed repeatedly, each time with rather hard dates; would've been better with zero promises)

Good example of the former:

• a bunch; many games announced at something like E3 have vague release windows and potential consumers aren't actually clamouring for news as if they have nothing to do or as if they bought the game already (it's just certain Xbox, Sony and most Nintendo ones that that is guaranteed to happen)

Worst case scenario of the latter:

• Zelda: TotK (people had kept expecting more announcements for this after its initial reveal in 2019 or 2020, and we finally got one trailer in 2021 and a revised release, trailer and actual name in 2022)

Good example of the latter:

• Wytchfire and other games that get one announcement and disappear for a long time (sometimes years). Works especially for new IP and new studios, and indies

@somnambulance You're kind of going both ways there. If you like having something to look forward to, that's fine but it ultimately holds no weight as a factor since you also say you could wait (and you also imply that you've got other stuff to do in any case). Waiting is much easier without a hard schedule that gets missed (and more will be missed as delays become common); it's also easier if you have something to do, as you'd agree.

Transparency is a tangential topic that shouldn't really apply here. We're not investing in these company finances, and they're not providing essential services nor in charge of anything robust (like the USA's SEC for example, which banks on being transparent because that agency makes other organizations enforce transparency).

We don't actually need or are entitled to know what they're doing, at least not as often as we'd like to be informed. They merely bring up new projects to generate marketing hype (sometimes even "pre-hype"), and to guage whether they're going to be true to a franchise's spirit or are in need of a course correction. They also need to keep up appearances in staying competitive and appeasing shareholders, and since most of these companies are public, they can't break news to shareholders without the public at large becoming aware of said news anyway.

At some point we gotta realize that we've allowed ourselves to become entrapped by the various industrial practices here, defining our realities by the surrounding walls (so to speak). We're only owed a satisfactory product for the purchases we've made. Nothing more or less than that. Everything else is fluff.