"Feels Like 2000 Again!" - Father Of Xbox Wades In On Microsoft's Multiplatform Hoo-Ha

Blackley's enthusiasm seems misplaced at best and performative at worst.

Microsoft is in an impossible position unless it finally leverages all the talent it has purchased to create some exclusives that give the brand an identity. We've long passed the point of diminishing returns on hardware specs, no matter what kind of "technological leap" XBox supposedly has in store. This is an industry with a long history of big promises that don't deliver — I'd argue the entire current generation is one — and we should expect no different here.

Sony isn't winning because its hardware is measurably better. It's winning because it has high-value exclusives, and Xbox is really foundering in that regard. Starfield launched with a whimper. Indiana Jones could be cool, I suppose? But it's still an unproven entity while Sony is luring players with established brands that they spent the entire last generation building excitement around. It's hard to make up for a full generation of missed opportunity.

The XBox brand has no rudder. And that's a real shame, not because of exhausting console war nonsense but becuase it's important for consumers that Sony has competition in the high-end console space.

I look forward to seeing what might be in store for XBox, but this week's display looked like a company trying to play-act having a plan rather than actually having one.

And I reiterate what I said before, a huge amount of people just want the black and green glowy box that plays COD and GTA when you press the button.

Microsoft needs to release a handheld Game Pass system. I love my Steam Deck, but I want NHL and other console exclusives on a handheld. Easy money for Microsoft.

@Razieluigi “We've long passed the point of diminishing returns on hardware specs, no matter what kind of "technological leap" XBox supposedly has in store.”

This is right. Many gamers seem to not understand that the bottle neck is man power, not technology. Tech will continue to improve but graphics will only make modest incremental improvements from here on out. It takes far too many man-hours to make a AAA game. Therefore, every game is a huge gamble. Often these don’t work out and the result is rounds of layoffs, like we are seeing recently. Microsoft doubling down on tech/graphics should chill gamers blood, because it shows that this industry is on an unsustainable path and some kind of crash must be coming.

Now, to be fair, maybe they don’t mean what I’m assuming they mean. Maybe they have something other than just graphics that will make this a major “leap”, in which case my comments are off base.

@Razieluigi "This is an industry with a long history of big promises that don't deliver — I'd argue the entire current generation is one"

In terms of power, it's kind of what last gen should have been. PS4 visuals at a rock solid 60fps is about as far as graphics should ever need to go, in my book.

"Feels Like 2000 Again!" - Father Of Xbox Wades In On Microsoft's Multiplatform Hoo-Ha

this is one of those instances where apparently the word means something different in British English than it does American.

I worry the "unique" hardware will be a local/cloud hybrid system. It just seems (to me) that Microsoft wants to hold all the power (digital only games) and become the Netflix of gaming (GamePass). I loved the OG Xbox and 360, but have been feeling uneasy with them with the One and Series as it seems they want digital to be the main way to play and 'own' games. I hope I'm wrong though.

What game has Xbox released that has been a console seller since Phil Spencer took over?

And that is Xbox's biggest issue. They've not had one smash hit since Bungie left.

I don't see people thinking Microsoft has sold out if anything they expected more people to buy an Xbox for the Bethesda games they have kept exclusive and if anything it has had the reverse effect and people just haven't bothered. Taking a large third party publisher that's games sold well because they were available on multiple systems and not because they were system sellers is a huge gamble and if anything decreases their value that you originally paid for them. It can also come across like you are attempting to force people who played their games before to now have to buy your system.

That coupled with gamepass not helping to sell systems and it would seem that this generation hasn't panned out as well as they expected and while they may be making money none of it has really improved their market share. So it's definitely more of them now having to keep the value of their new assets high because keeping them exclusive long term will not be good long term currently.

@UK_Kev Both the Halo and Forza Horizon series has been selling well. Sony meanwhile did not have a proper GT game until GT7 while they killed off Killzone so they could pretend Destiny and COD are PS exclusive franchises.

@Razieluigi Oh, does that explain why Sony themselves are porting their first party exclusives to PC, with Horizon Forbidden West coming this month? You seem to ignore the fact that Sony had their own controversies, from blocking mods and crossplay, to censoring games and deleting purchased digital content.

You pretend that gamers buy PS5 entirely because of its exclusives, and not the fact that there are plenty of casuals who buy it only for a few rounds of FIFA or COD. Meanwhile not everyone is into Sony's ultra-cinematic single player adventures, and plenty of people still play Halo and Forza Horizon on Xbox, while millions of people still played Starfield in spite of its flaws. Furthermore Gamepass is a great deal that saves people hundreds of dollars and let them discover games they'd never have otherwise played, especially considering that games are getting more expensive every generation.

@PKDuckman
The fans of Halo and Forza have been disappointed with the later games. The Halo fans have been especially disappointed with with Halo since 343 took over the franchise. If the current fans are disappointed, it is hard to bring in new fans.

@UK_Kev I don't know what you're on about. Forza Horizon 4 and 5 are well regarded by the Forza community as some of the best open world racing games out there. And those complaining about Halo are a loud minority who don't want any change, and Halo Infinite is regarded by many as a return to form.

And you think fans of Sony's exclusives don't have any complaints? Like GT7's microtransactions controversy? Or the anger over Last of Us 2's narrative decisions and charges to upgrade to the PS5 version? Or Destiny 2 adding a bunch of paywalls while removing old story content?

@PKDuckman
My original comment said, "They've not had one smash hit since Bungie left."

Halo Infinite has not been a smash hit. The Forza games have sold well but are not smash hits. When Phil Spencer took over, he had to try to regain ground on PlayStation. Xbox was never going to regain ground on PlayStation without smash hit games. (AKA console sellers.) Phil Spencer has had 10 years and yet has not produced one game to bring gamers back to Xbox. And that Woke Fable trailer from last year gives the impression they don't want to create console selling games.

PlayStation haven't been great themselves. But are dominating regardless as they have no real competition.

@UK_Kev LMAO again you prove that you have no idea what you're on about.

Halo Infinite has 87 at Metacritic
Forza Horizon 5 has 92 at Metacritic

Clearly plenty of people love the games and they did sell millions. You're adding a ridiculous arbitrary standard where every Xbox game is a a failure by default until the outsell the PS consoles.

And it's hilarious that you call Fable 4 "woke" as if it's a bad thing, when two of Sony's own exclusives, Horizon and Last of Us, thrives on it. And Fable has female characters since the second game.

@PKDuckman
Are you living in a different world? Halo isn't the same draw as it used to be. The early Halo games BROUGHT GAMERS TO XBOX. The later games haven't done that.

I haven't said the Halo games are terrible or haven't sold well. I have said they are not the same smash hits as they used to be.

Sony can produce Woke games and get away with it because they took a big lead and then have had no real competition.

"It's hilarious that you call Fable 4 "woke" as if it's a bad thing."
The reactions to the trailer said it all.

@UK_Kev LOL you're just lying now. If the original Halo and Halo 2 really sold like you claimed, then why did Xbox only sell 24 million console worldwide and nowhere near the sales figures of the PS2?

And you keep using that word yet you don't know what it means. Ever heard of the concept of a loud minority? If having an unattractive woman in a CGI trailer means it's "woke", then you clearly haven't played Fable 2 where any female hero that focuses on melee skills would end up with the physique of a female bodybuilder.

@PKDuckman
The original Xbox console would have failed without the first Halo. Halo: Combat Evolved sold the Xbox to a gaming public who had no interest in Xbox. I am going to guess that you were not around at the time.

The loud minority are Woke gamers. I have played Fable 2. (Fable: The Lost Chapters is still my favourite all time action RPG.) Politics didn't effect games back then. A physically strong female character was more realistic at the time.

@UK_Kev Irrelevant. Using your own logic Halo 1 and 2 are failures because they failed to make the Xbox sell PS2 numbers.

And you prove yet again that you have no idea what "woke" means, and the only minority here the ones crying about SJWs like you. Some of the most critically acclaimed games in the last decade, like Life is Strange, run with LGBT themes and sold very well, and even last year's GOTY Baldur's Gate 3 is full of same-sex romances.

You cry about politics in gaming, and against you have no idea what you're on about. Having a female character that doesn't look like a supermodel isn't politics, otherwise Dark Souls is also "woke" since it's almost impossible to create an attractive female with its character creator. Having military themed games that defaults to the US being good IS political even back in the 2000s, but since it sticks to the status quo apparently that's okay right?

And you're lying about Fable as well, considering that it is almost impossible to create an attractive female character in Fable 2.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Fable/comments/15sp6wb/i_would_hate_to_play_as_an_ugly_character_in_a/

@PKDuckman
That isn't my logic at all. Why not watch Xbox's own History documentary and see for yourself?

The original Fable had gay NPCs. No one cared because it wasn't political. You do realise that not all gay people care about politics?

I never said you can make an attractive female character in Fable 2. You are literally making up lies to win a discussion.

Xbox just needs to get it together and actually release games that'd draw us back to their console. A handheld release would also be nice, especially if it plays the games natively. I know a lot of people hate it, but exclusives are what draw people toward a service or console, and Xbox has been lacking for awhile now.

@PKDuckman Whoa, Nelly! You're being extremely defensive and I'm not sure why. I'm not anti-Xbox. I own a Series S and do not own a PS5. GamePass is fantastic. But the situation is what it is. XBox is clearly flailing and throwing all manner of things at the wall in the hopes that some of it sticks.

I don't think that Sony bringing some titles to PC has the same impact on the console industry as MS bringing their games to Playstation. Obviously there's some crossover, but PC is kind of its own animal. If we were seeing a game like Horizon on Xbox, then you'd have a fair point.

We get it. You love XBox and dislike Sony. And that's fine! Game how you want — I certainly do. But nothing you've written even pretends to explain why Sony has been absolutely cleaning XBox's clock this generation. And make no mistake, they are.

If it's not exclusives, what are you suggesting that it is? What is Sony doing that MS isn't? And what can MS do to fix the problem?