Microsoft 'Doubling Down As A Game Producer' After ActiBlizz Deal, Says CEO

It’s simple, just make some big AAA games up there with TOTK and GOWR or even Mario Wonder and Spider man 2.

If you want gamers and general public to snap up your consoles and game pass there’s the bench mark right there for game quality etc.

@OldGamer999 I'd argue that Microsoft already does make "big AAA" games. It's not as if Microsoft doesn't spend money on its games.

Whether you like the genre is another thing.

When I see this type of comment, I see: Microsoft, make third-person action/adventure titles (preferrable of the cinematic spectacle type).

Microsoft doesn't want to be Nintendo or Sony. Microsoft wants to make games like Microsoft to differentiate itself from Sony and Nintendo.

@OldGamer999 my concern is ,they have so many studios how are they gonna allocate their gaming budget,which studios are going to get the big money ,and which are going to be relegated to make game pass fodder, there must be this fear amongst the devs.

@GamingFan4Lyf 100% this. They even won publisher of the year in 2021 with the highest metacritic average ever, I think people forget that

@OldGamer999 xbox hasn't made games to that standard for a long time foza horizon and halo infinite were close though in my opinion I loved both I can't say the same for forza motorsport and starfield though they aren't even finished games

@GamingFan4Lyf they are doing Thier sit back and let other platforms make money on games for them while ppl with gp get them all get out on the service, makes business sense , I don't know about anyone else but I feel gd that ppl that aren't in to the Xbox ecosystem are still paying microsoft and me as a gp subscriber reap the benefits , so the next time a ps fan tells me Xbox fans don't buy games my answer will be some don't but they don't have to other systems pay for our enjoyment

@Sakai that was because of forza and halo the exclusives since have been hopeless

I hope they continue to take creative risks personally which I think GP allows them to do. Yes I say that knowing we’ve had Redfall this year but we’ve also had games like Grounded and Pentiment from Obsidian.

@Dan1283 to qualify for publisher of the year you have to have released atleast 5 distinct titles that year, so it's not just down to 2 games

@GamingFan4Lyf in an interview with kinda funny games, matt booty stated he wants xbox to make games like Sony makes ,so he very much would like to make games,of the quality of Sony exclusives.

@Sakai no I know but they were the best for me that year and Microsoft flight simulator and a few others were there as well

@Mephisto2869 after seeing the bugs on Spidey 2 I wouldnt say quality as yet but hopefully fix's come soon

@Dan1283 people have different tastes and opinions. What you think is hopeless, could be gold to somebody else. And what you love, somebody else might not like at all. 2021 was great for MS games, but 2022 was awful

@OldGamer999 if I wanted Sonys samey single player games I would of bought a PlayStation, as for Spiderman thats the only Sony First Party game for the whole year and lasts less than 17 hours (including boring cutscenes) and no replay value for £70! No thanks, as for quality are some people not seeing the same bugs that are being reported?
https://www.reddit.com/r/SpidermanPS4/comments/17bguqs/sm2_bug_megathread/

@Sakai fully agree about 2021 and 2022 was a terrible year

@Sifi I've been hit with a lot of bugs myself on spider man 2 they really should have kept working on it till it was done so what ppl will have to wait ? I'm waiting now for the fixes so makes no difference only on them getting paid quicker

Honestly I think MS/Xbox just need a little better QC to get the extra 5% out of their games. For example Xbox thinking Redfall would get double digit better ratings etc.

@Martsmall I haven't experienced any bugs apart from when I fell through the world one time,I have seen other people though, which is always the case I feel ,didn't really have that many on starfield to be fair ,but they where frequent on the old interweb, games are a personal experience people should judge them as such ,we shouldn't get bogged down with review scores,because isn't that what they are.

Seems to me regards to exclusives on gamepass the games are being released unfinished and put on gamepass starfield is full of bugs and unfinished and so is forza motorsport what's going on Sony and Nintendo make the best gmaes easily every other studio now including Microsoft are realising unfinished bugged games it's getting ridiculous and it's just laziness

@PsBoxSwitchOwner even if it was the best game ever they released ppl would still downvote the rating just cause , ppl do it on other platforms too ,it's stupid
,that's why I don't even read reviews I'll watch gameplay and see for myself if I think I'd play it or not

@Sifi Not everyone does see the same bugs, no. It happens with most major releases, some people seem to have no end of bugs and crashes and others get through the game with very little issues. I'm not disputing anyone else's experience and I can only go by my own person experience and after 11 hours of play I haven't had a single crash or encounters any of the bugs listed in that thread so far.

@Mephisto2869 on starfield I was hit with the not being able to progress the story glitch but thankfully they fixed it but only after I restarted the game ,on spider man I've fell through the map a few times ,got stuck in a building and couldn't get out of and for some reason I couldn't get past some Invisible wall that I had to restart the game, im waiting for a fix before I play anymore it's not like I haven't got other games to play lol

@Martsmall I seriously doubt spiderman 2 has as many bugs as starfield no way its the most bugged game I've played on xbox that's for sure

I really wouldn't want Microsoft making Sony-style games. Yeah, they sell, but I still haven't found even one I like.

@Dan1283 did I say it had ? And for me it is ,ppl showed a lot of starfield NPC's eyes wandering while they talking to you and it did it a few times on me , on Spidey I've had npc that were just a head

@Widey85 game pass is full of them ,and I found pentiment to be one ,once the novelty of the monty python style graphics wore off,I found it to extremely boring.

@Sifi well no, I haven't seen those bugs,and its a superb video game ,ive been playing for 16hrs and only just scratched the surface,if people want to spend 60 on a game and rush through it,its there money ,no need to put links to say there's bugs in a game ,people already know ,it didn't sell nearly 3 million copies in its first day for nothing.

There are indeed many great studios now under the team green umbrella. It should be important for every true gamer that MS nuture and support them to produce great games.

Some of these teams already have a high bar for quality, and a title like hifi rush is proof they can do it without support, but I would agree that a strong central QA team is now essential and they should be involved early. Quality is designed in, not added later.
With the talent they have, theres no doubt they could match the quality bar set by nintendo and sony and be top of the goty considerations with a touch more qa. Im hoping for real realignment of resources to ensure this happens going forward.
All true gamers should be hoping for this, and their continued success...

@Martsmall @Martsmall I'm just guessing though I've not played spiderman 2 yet I'm not that bothered about it to be honest either way its the same as the last game I bet so I'll wait I'm sick of sequels all the time and remakes of games we need new game series I will play it though its becoming a massive problem in the game industry now relasing games full of bugs shouldn't be happening not when people are paying 70 for a game

In October I have finished 3 games; Hi-Fi Rush, Ghostwire Tokyo and Deathloop. All first party and all on Gamepass. If you want awesome single-player experiences they are there. I feel like Xbox will keep Zenimax as their single-player dominant arm (perhaps especially after Redfall which I still need to play) and mostly exclusive. ABK will be their (mostly) multiplatform arm and XGS will carry on being rooted in their old IPs and games of all different sizes and scales (where you get things like Minecraft Legends, Sea of Thieves, and Pentiment).

@Mephisto2869 I do think Microsoft has a "quality" problem in that their games aren't quite as polished as they should be upon release. But I wouldn't say there is a "quality" problem in that Microsoft's games are garbage either.

Sure, I wouldn't mind Microsoft exploring doing a cinematic third-person action title or two. But I don't want Microsoft to only make them like Sony seems to be doing.

That isn't to say I don't like them, but I have a PlayStation 5 for that.

Tango Gameworks is a good studio for that with Hi-Fi Rush and Evil Within Seres. Double Fine also has a few of those types of games under its belt. Hellblade II is also on the horizon. Fable is in development as well. Plus, let's not forget about The Coalition and Gears.

So, it's not as if Microsoft doesn't have studios to handle those kinds of games.

The problem is that PlayStation is now synonymous with gaming - to Sony's credit. But, when you really dig deep into the Microsoft catalog, there are a ton of amazing titles and they are all on Game Pass. Heck, you want Spider-Man on Game Pass? It's already there...it's called Sunset Overdrive!

@Sakai Prices don't make games that are epic, in my opinion they should just make games again like on og Xbox and Xbox360 awesome game times .

@Martsmall ive got about 5 broken quests on starfield ill go back to it once its fixed and they've got mods on xbox ,yeah too many games so little time....its annoying lol

@XBOX045 yeah,crimson skies, blue dragon, the original gears ,great games ,great times

@Microbius I dont really see any troll comments in this thread ,just different opinions ,not everyone who disagrees with you is a troll

@Mephisto2869 Sorry to give you the bad news, but you can 100% Spider-Man 2 in about 25h according to How Long to Beat (almost 400 players submitted their time) so you've scratched way more than surface and are just about to finish the whole game or maybe you're very very very slow player.
By the way the main mission has almost 5h of cinematics. That means that 20% of the game is not a game, it's a movie. Don't get me wrong, for me it's a fun game, but it's not a 90+ in my opinion.

@Microbius always the same usernames with the same comments ad nauseum. Pure xbox, the home of concern trolling

@GamingFan4Lyf yeah sunset is ok its not spiderman though,I agree with you for the most part ,ms have loads of franchises id love to see resurrected, I also hope they go back to gears horror routes as the last two where crap ,and gives us the tight small mp maps that made the original so great,make an evil within 3 for gods sake.

@Foxx_64740 ive just finished coney Island, so yeah I've got loads left ,I always play my games a certain way ,I never rush through them,there's no wrong or slow way to play a game,ive got 100hrs on ff16 and still haven't finished it,clocked 140hrs on starfield,you may not think spiderman 2 is worth the score ,I and many others do,its just a superb video game ,you should understand this,I hate soul games ,think there overrated ,but I understand why people love them so much.

@Sakai just scroll past ,who cares

@Sifi
It wasn’t about those particular games I was coming from an overall quality point of view.
So for reference Starfield as it’s own game but at the overall level of TOTK for example.

@Dan1283
And that is my point and why Xbox doesn’t get the love and momentum and sales the other two do.

@GamingFan4Lyf
I agree but Xbox need to make them at the overall quality level of TOTK or GOWR and not slightly sub par like Starfield and Forza.

How do you think the general public and masses see Spider man 2 and Mario Wonder compared to Forza and Starfield.
Forza and Starfield are micro dots in the gaming world compared to those other 2 giants.

Xbox has an exciting future. So many great games coming.

@GamingFan4Lyf sadly thats how most community think...oh xbox sucks because they dont have cinematic games...and attack almost any xbox game overlooking how great they are in their genres...like psychornaut 2 forza horizon hifi rush even halo infinite is now one of the top3 shooters in the market but people just love to hate on it, this + hating on starfield for being a "another bathesda game"

the thing is i really really dislike those cinematic go there go here press O press X cool cutscenes games!!!! if i want to watch something cool i will watch a movie or anime, what i want is a game with maximum freedom and character build and lot of choices on how i want to do my missions

...whe i was a kid iwas so impressed with CGI trailes GMV videos and cool cutscenes....not anymore

@TakeItEasy pychonauts 2 isn't an exclusive its still a great game though so is forza horizon and halo infinite minor a few glitches in the campaign its still great though starfield on the other hand is a broken mess of a game at the minute it is it has the potential be great in the future if they keep patching it

@themightyant
Thank you that’s exactly what I meant and also games that get the mass public all excited and worked up kids and teens and mum and dad buying games or game pass, Xbox consoles.
Xbox needs those big games to get anywhere really against the other two. How do it so perfectly in different ways with different games.

Some said on YouTube the other day Sony has their thing, Nintendo has their.
Xbox thought game pass was theirs but it hasn’t worked, it’s all about the games.
They selling less than last year console wise overall.

@themightyant the bugs I have encountered have been with me not seen on a yt channel , it is bad for a high priced game , like I've said in another thread , we as consumers have done this to ourselves, they all know no matter how bugged a game is we will still go and buy it in droves

@themightyant @OldGamer999 I get what you're saying. Super Mario Wonder is a brilliant game - I love it. Tears of the Kingdom is by far my GOTY - truly incredible from start to finish.

Spider-Man 2, while I will get it eventually, feels like it's boosted because of the IP, not so much the game itself as it's basically beating up bad guys to get to the next (long) cutscene. There is nothing wrong with that (even I enjoy it while it lasts), but Sony is selling you a Marvel movie, not a game.

It's all subjective. And any game that isn't a Nintendo game or a cinematic third-person action/adventure title is entirely a gamble - heck, the Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom formula was entirely a gamble since it completely went away from the Zelda formula and yet it panned out to critical acclaim. I do think critics look at Microsoft titles and compare them to Nintendo and Sony and if it's not a Nintendo or Sony game, it gets docked points.

"Do what Sony and Nintendo do" is just...I don't know...not a quantitative metric to go by without completely mimicking exactly what both of those companies do. That doesn't mean there is a lack of quality from Microsoft's studios.

Also, the requirement that everything needs to be in the 90's is just silly. Everyone wants to gauge games by what they are not rather than what they are. There is absolutely nothing wrong with first-party studios making games in the 80's (even the most brilliant Sony and Nintendo game can be in the 80's).

I don't know if it's just a "console mentality" but Microsoft moved well beyond the console. Selling more consoles != success. Selling/playing games is the success and games should be taken as a single entity rather than comparing them to other games.

Perhaps people are getting tired of the Bethesda game formula, which is why Starfield didn't resonate like previous games, but that game had years of development under the belt to really reset from scratch. But it's still a game in the 80's! Maybe Bethesda does need to go back to the drawing board for ES6, but that's years away at this point!

Microsoft is a multi-trillion dollar company, it's not going anywhere.

Also [expletive] Metacritic scores!

@GamingFan4Lyf this is where I think many gamers (not necessarily yourself) get mistaken. Nobody is saying Xbox need to make cinematic games. Is what people want is for them to have better quality control.

3/4 releases this year have had issues with bugs. (Redfall was riddled, Starfield gets a let off because “it’s Bethesda” and there are plenty saying there are issues with FM) that’s not to say Sony/Nintendo release bug free because well they don’t, but over time they have built a reputation for solid and generally finished releases. Xbox needs to build this up, that’s where for me personally they lag behind.

This afternoon is the quarterly financial report. All will be revealed - successes and failures at 530 EST.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner I agree with that statement. There needs to be better QA from Microsoft. I even stated as such that Microsoft needs to do better ensuring games are fully polished (or as polished as absolutely possible).

I think Microsoft should look to Nintendo on that as Nintendo has come out and said it doesn't worry about deadlines, it just wants the games to be "done."

@GamingFan4Lyf I agree about the scoring. All Sony has to do is put one tear-jerker moment in their cutscenes and they will get a higher metacritic score. Also a linear cinematic game is using a lot less complicated systems than something like Starfield; so can be polished to a different degree.

I remember back on PS2 most of my fun was through games like the Dynasty Warriors series. Which always got trashed review-score-wise but I loved it and bought every single one because to me it was fun. Somehow people are just more obsessed with scores these days. We are all so dialled in it’s crazy. I have had more fun with Starfield and Hi-Fi Rush than anything else this year. Their Metacritics are in the 80s; I played them as part of my subscription and loved them. Late last year I bought God of War Ragnarok and got extremely bored I dropped it after 7 hours even after spending £50 on it. That got a 94. I also dropped The Last of Us Part 1 after a couple of hours as it was even more boring. I’m starting to think what makes these games a 90+ is not what I want from a game. The whole system just seems to skew in favour of PS.

@K1LLEGAL @GamingFan4Lyf, guys, I love Starfield. I've spent about 200h in it. But I think it received about the Metascore it desearved. It's an 8.5/10 game for me. It has potential to evolve to something truly special if it gets supported for several years, but right now, it has flaws that cannot be ignored.

However, I do think that if Starfield received a 90+ Metascore, the discourse would be that this game was long in development before the acquisition of Bethesda and all that big bad Microsoft did was to take this gem away from Playstation gamers.

If Starfield received a 79 or lower metascore, then of course that failure would be all thanks to Microsoft, who ruins every studio it puts it's filthy paws on.

Since Starfield sat somewhere in the middle, the default discourse is that Xbox cannot make 90+ games. Either way, Xbox cannot win.

But fear not. There are dozens of games cooking at Xbox Game Studios-Bethesda-Activision-Blizzard-King, and one of them ought to break the glass ceiling.

@themightyant
I have both family and friends that only know about game pass because I have told them.
Else it would not even exist to them.

@Dan1283 i said xbox game didn't i? so if its not exclusive then its not a xbox game? its made by an xbox studio isn't it? do i miss something

@GamingFan4Lyf
Ok taking Starfield I have put 30 plus hours in.
But I can do see why it just doesn’t resonate with a mass audience appeal.
The game has some great points but it’s like dragging yourself through a game with old systems in place and not very intuitive.
It even makes my series x look old and slow and unpowered, when we know the series x is not.

Xbox just have not found their zing at all really this new generation.
When kids and teens and adults in the general public are smiling and going ooooo rrrrrr at Spider man swinging around and Mario jumping on blocks.

@TakeItEasy @TakeItEasy no you didn't my mistake there sorry

I like that there are bigger games like Halo, Doom etc, then you have smaller games like Pentiment, Hi Fi Rush that suit being on Game Pass

I've played over two days worth of gameplay on starfield it's a lot of things but not to buggy at all fallout elder scrolls games were worse with bugs at this stage unless I'm an isolated in being bug free

Well I would say that we live in intresting times..

I would like them to continue to make smaller games, games that don't take too long to make. With a good story and doesn't have to be long. I'm not into shooters tho, so I would prefer a third person, action RPG. I like team based rpgs tho, with support roles. I like to be a healer sometimes.

If they could get a small team to make a game like that. I'd be happy lol.

@Moonglow
'Exactly, most people have little knowledge in game development and are unaware Sony makes "easier" to develop games.'

Id like to know what game dev knowledge you have that gives you this special insight? Because you are completely wrong and your simply making this statement to be dismissive of their success in making popular well recieved games.
I have 20 years experience as a developer of AAA titles having made titles for Sega, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, Sony and Microsoft, among several others. Doesnt mean my opinion carries any more weight than anyone elses, but it means I can smell fanboy BS when its stated as fact.

@Moonglow not sure why you're so gassed over all those IPs. Those numbers don't matter. They say It's quality over quantity. And not a single one of those games have appealed to me. Nintendo has one series I like, Xenoblade Chronicles, it's not that good but I like it. And Sony has one game that I like, Ghost of Tsushima.

So yeah, xbox doesn't really have games that appeal to everyone, maybe they do to a majority of xbox owners, but a minority of xbox owners don't like xbox first party games. Or maybe it's just me lol. I don't really care about first party games tho. Wasn't why I got an xbox.

in the end this is mostly for mobile and metaverse reasons as phil and others stated last year

whoever makes a metaverse that sticks controls reality itself

the games are the cherry on top mobile is the icing and the metaverse is the cake and main reason

@themightyant I'd say any cinematic third-person action title is all about getting to the next cutscene - doesn't matter who makes it. Sure it's fun, but also incredibly shallow. I'd say the same thing about Hellblade II.

Personally, after playing Tears of the Kingdom, most game feels incredible shallow from a gameplay perspective. I can still have fun with shallow games, though - heck I actually liked Duke Nukem Forever!

I played the demo for Final Fantasy 16. "Played" feels incredibly generous as the majority of my time in actual gameplay paled in comparison to the time I spent watching cutscenes.

I'm not knocking any of the games, mind you. The cutscenes and the spectacle can be just as fun. And, yes, mindless mashing the attack button is incredibly fun (I come from the 80's era of single-button or 2-button games). But let's not kid ourselves here and realize where the AAA budget goes for most of these games.

I'd argue most games haven't left the PS2 era from a gameplay perspective - doesn't mean the games are bad or not fun, it just means not much has changed since then except the coat of paint the games use.

I still just don't understand what people mean when people say that Microsoft doesn't make AAA games.

Microsoft studios work just as hard, spend just as much, and have the same creative vision as others. It's just that, for whatever reason, their vision doesn't resonate as much anymore.

The QA Department definitely needs to be stricter, but overall, I'd say Xbox Game Studios are doing a good job.

The only way that Microsoft can make that next hit is to continue to do what it's doing and hope that the game resonates. There is plenty in the pipeline that could be that next hit.

Can one even quantitatively identify what a game requires for "mass appeal" that isn't a copy/paste of exactly what someone else does?

Look, I love all the platforms for different reasons. I like to see different game approaches to different genres from different developers.

Maybe Microsoft won't appeal to the masses anymore. Honestly, I think that's okay. Microsoft doesn't make "system sellers" because Microsoft isn't "selling" hardware anymore - it's selling games and services.

Sure, Microsoft provides a means to access said games and services, but its putting focus elsewhere. If a game happens to push console sales, awesome - win-win. If not, as long as the game is selling or is boosting service subscriptions elsewhere, it's, again, a win-win.

So far, it seems like the 80's games it's making is doing one or the other (and sometimes both). So, the strategy is working and money is being made.

I guess my point is that people approach these things like some kind of competitive sport rather than a club of people just enjoying what they enjoy.

Starfield shouldn't be compared to Spider-Man, Mario, or Zelda. Gears doesn't need to be compared to God of War or Metroid. Forza shouldn't be compared to Gran Turismo. It's okay to like both, even though one is "rated" higher than another.

Having the support of the parent Microsoft is a big deal. It is nice knowing that Phil Spencer doesn't need to beg for funding to the CEO like he was a few years ago. Xbox has never had the full backing of Microsoft before and that is exciting.

The first thing they need to do is get rid of the extra accounts. Why the hell do Bethesda accounts still exist? They've owned it for years. The only account I should need on Xbox is my Xbox account.

@Moonglow
Dont be rediculous, the comments section of a games news site is hardly the place to write a technical paper.
.. And this is no random news site, its part of a group of sites Im a supporter of and have gotten my news from for years.

If you genuinely wish to enlighten yourself about the work required to bring a decent single player title to fruition, theres plenty of resource available to provide insight if you wish to see it.
I'd suggest maybe looking at guerilla and how they brought Horizon Forbidden West to life, they have some decent insight into the toolsets they developed. Even a piece like digital foundaries insomniac interview today, has plenty of insight into the rendering pipeline used on spiderman 2 and the creative solutions used to ensure the could stream and dump fom memory withing a frame or two. Single player games also have creative systems, such as the traffic and citizens, and the reactive conversations generated wen the player is close. I doubt if you are genuinely interested, but I'd urge you to look. A game such as Halo will simply have different systems to build, and different problems to overcome.

@themightyant On a technical level, yes, I do think Microsoft needs to get way better on releasing "complete" games. A glitch here or there in completely weird "only some random gamer doing strange things in the game" could find is totally acceptable. But to have openly glaring issues staring you in the face day 1 is unacceptable.

But that's a quantitative metric to go by. That's something Microsoft can look at and say "Yes, we need to do better in this area".

But there are a lot who feel that Microsoft games just aren't enjoyable outside of the bugs. Unfortunately, there is no quantifiable way to measure that to achieve mass appeal other than throwing something at the wall and see what sticks. "Do better" isn't something that Microsoft can use for future games.

Redfall is a good example. Outside of bugs people don't seem to like it. Microsoft tried and it just didn't stick. I think it's getting better response now that there is 60fps on consoles, but outside of bugs, it no one could have predicted that the game wouldn't get mass appeal. Arkane Austin tried, and it didn't work. Sure, the bugs didn't help their case one bit, but some group of people found the gameplay loop to be engaging enough to continue development.

The Fable unveiling seemed to turn people off, yet, I found it to be very charming. Now, I have played the original Fable (and I think beat it...maybe?), but I haven't really played other Fable games to understand what Fable "is" and what it "isn't".

To me, Fable seemed like kind of a humorous action fantasy game with a choice to be good or bad as you progress. From the small amount of (HUD-less) gameplay we saw in that trailer, it looked like a Fable game.

Gears 4 & 5 don't seem to be as well received as the previous entries and I am not sure why. The gameplay loop is just as engaging as before. Cutscenes are of high quality. It had all the fun spectacle of a Gears title.

I found Halo Infinite to be good. It was a Halo game through and through. It felt no different than any other Halo I played except it was open world this time.

Maybe, in my old age, I am just more tolerant of changes to games and not so fussed about how a franchised game was before and accept how it is. Maybe it's because I don't spend hours upon hours on a single game to be able to understand that X mechanic was better in Y game and it's not as good in Z game. Or, maybe, I just don't feel the need to nitpick every little issue with a game, and just play it.

While I play a lot of games, I am probably more in the "casual" spectrum as I rarely Achievement/Trophy hunt or do a lot of side content. I also rarely buy DLC expansions. I generally get through the main quest and move on. As long as getting through that main quest isn't a total disaster, any smaller issues would probably go unnoticed.

I played a little bit of Forza Motorsport and I didn't notice any issues with it. I found it enjoyable and didn't notice any bugs. But, I'm also not a hardcore Forza gamer (or a racing fan in general), so any issues probably go entirely unnoticed to me.

So, to sum up: bugs are definitely an issue Microsoft needs to fix - I don't think anyone can argue that. Gameplay and artistic choices aren't so easily fixed. It's more a matter of throwing things at the wall and see what sticks - unless it's literally a copycat of something else more successful (which would get panned for copying someone else).

@OldGamer999 I think it is wrong and dismissive to say Xbox (or any other developer) has to make games exactly as Sony does to be considered "great." Gameplay is the most important factor in games. Sony focuses on presentation because they know the masses are simple. Sony Films, Sony TV, Sony Music. Twenty years ago, they decided to approach games the same way — like pop music.

The Getaway was the first to **ahem** "pay an homage" to popular IP. The push has continued to present day. The average person sees the graphics/cinematography and constant vocal performance. While nice or impressive, that is not a game. Gameplay is paramount.

What is funny is people being surprised that Sony would make a strong push for live service games now. They are running a business and the "movie games" have proven to be insufficiently profitable.

I hope this results in a large amount of AA games rather than one or two AAA flops a year.

@themightyant This is how I feel about Gears and Halo — the gameplay was so integral to the games that the devs cannot deviate from it. The audience threatens to riot at every little change. A comparison to Mario is unfair. Mario & crew are about the (hollow) characters — Nintendo could put them in anything. Mario Casino, Mario Chess, Mario Badminton. Kids are the target audience and even adults in their mid-to-late 40's grew up playing Mario.

Halo needs to make the logical transition from Halo 3, ODST, and Reach. Flesh out everything around the gameplay. Bump up the visuals, presentation, biomes, world interactions, and scenarios. Fight on crashing ships (that actually crash), bring back assassinations, and bring back distinct characters. Maybe use one of the books for the story and have you play as a squad, occasionally supported by Spartans. Either freshen it up or leave it dormant long enough to slip in gameplay changes.

Gears is an interesting one. G4 & 5 had some great gameplay, though I did not like the robots much at all. JD and young crew were boring. Kat was a little better in 5. I gave JD the ax at the end. The devs need to make more interesting characters (look at Yakuza: LAD bad guys). The original crew were good.

One thing that I wonder about concerning Gears 6; will the Coalition go for a more horror vibe and a little more realism, or stick with the silly animation & wall-bouncing nonsense? I feel that Gears would fare better altering the gameplay a bit...Better than Halo, anyway.

@theduckofdeath
I’m not saying anyway has to make games the same as Sony it’s about the pure quality of the game in all areas.
I use TOTK and GOWR as an example of the quality in all areas and the critical acclaim the games received.
I.e Starfield in its own right is a pretty good game but it could have been so much better and up with the best like TOTK and GOWR as a quality example in all areas.

@theduckofdeath
Let’s face it Redfall, Starfield and Forza are good in their own right and way but not up their with the best and that’s what Xbox needs, up there with best getting general public momentum and excitement about their games, consoles and gamepass.
Yes slight increase in series console sales September 2023 but still less than series console sales for the same time September 2022, now that is bad and shows Xbox three big games for 2023 did really nothing at all to gain general gaming public interest.
As for the other two companies, if we like it or not are knocking the ball out the park in their own respective way, even the old Switch for what it is.

@OldGamer999 I haven't played TotK, though I have seen BotK in person and...I feel the reviewers cut it a lot of slack because it is Nintendo, it is Zelda, and it is on the Switch. I know that in TotK you can teleport through stone ceilings and pretty much glue anything together, which seems like cheating, and some that could be in any game, but whatever.

I haven't played GOWR, either. I don't have much interest in it because I spent a ton of time completing GoW 2018 on PC last year. That left me with no desire to continue to the sequel, even it was available on PC. To clarify, the game looked great on PC. The presentation and cinematics were impressive, they put a lot of effort into them. I didn't like Atreus and I was never invested in the story.

What I truly did not care for was the gameplay. I played on "Give Me God of War" difficulty with no HUD for immersion. I feel as though the developers were tasks with making the most annoying enemies every conceived of. The playthrough was not enjoyable in the least and I completed it for the challenge (completing 2/4 dragons, and 1/4 valkyries). The story seemed to end pretty abruptly.

@OldGamer999 I would say that Redfall was a huge screw up. Yes, I had fun with it and completed it despite that. Somehow MS/Xbox took the blame and not Arkane or Bethesda. All MS could do is cancel it (a waste of money) or delay it another year (an even bigger waste of money).

Forza is a sim racing game on track. Most people can't keep their cars on the road, so they prefer Horizon. The are some bugs and improvements to be made that did not arrive in the first two weeks after launch.

I agree that Starfield could have done some things better or make improvements outside of bug fixes. What people disregard is in these comparisons is scope. GoW 2018 and GoWR are incredibly linear in story, capabilities and structure. Oblivion and Skyrim, too, have limited scope when compared to Starfield. This is something that I saw as an obvious concern years before release. "Nasa-punk" versus a terrestrial, familiar medieval fantasy land with no tech beyond forging swords & armor. To expect to a find Skyrim world on barren desolate planets is setting yourself up for disappointment.

@theduckofdeath
I only use TOTK and GOWR also because they sold consoles and get the general public high interest in the brand the same as Spider man 2 and Mario Wonder have.
And it is what Xbox needs in whatever formula of game it takes.
Had they developed Starfield and made it into a masterpiece so critically acclaimed and more modern systems etc it would have caught the eye of the general public more and helped push xbox, the same goes for Redfall and Forza. Instead we ended up with good games that us Xbox folk like, but they won’t get anywhere fast just pleasing us a bit.
They need to create masterpieces within their games not good average games that keeps the game pass gang happy.

I’m hoping they get their act together more and we see the 360 days back. They have enough studios and maybe they need some micro managing but just producing good average game pass games won’t cut it in todays gaming world.

Because spider man 3 and Mario kart 10 or Mario 3d do dar do, will continue to capture the general public and Xbox will stay a distant Xbox fan console as it is right now with some of the PC gang along for the ride.

Please get on with it, this gen is going to be at the end of it's cycle in a few years already and it feels like it's not really started yet.

@themightyant I saw the headline, I didn't get a chance to read the article though.