Microsoft is hiring a new team for AAA Xbox titles — is that enough?

[Al Sacco]

So yesterday news broke that Microsoft is looking to hire some new team members in California to focus on what some people see as its "Trouble with AAA Titles," or its lack of quality first-party big name games. It's tough to argue that the company doesn't have a problem there. It does. And this seems like a good first step. But there is a lot of work to be done, and I'm not sure Xbox should necessarily be optimistic at this point.

What do you think? Will this move solve the problem? Is this the start of something to be excited about?

 

[Golfdriver97]

It's a step in the right direction. I don't think it will be enough, though. To be fair, I am not sure what to suggest to level the playing field.

 

[Pacus1x]

Microsoft is hiring a new team for AAA Xbox titles — is that enough?

After playing the latest God of War for the PS4... i would say no, too little too late.

 

[Kieran Jeffery]

I think the problem is that PS has that lead, so even if a small percentage pick up these single player titles, it still may be profitable compared to that same percentage on Xbox. Which is a shame. The bigger problem is the fact this generation now has gone heavily digital. People having invested in that digital library of games are less likely to switch platforms. Having zero trade in value you can't take your console in with a bunch of games and swap it for an Xbox with a couple of good games.

You kind of have this issue where if you have an Xbox, buying a PS to go along side it to play their exclusives is a lot more viable than getting an Xbox to go alongside your PS4. MS need to churn out a AAA every couple of months and start right away. Problem is the development time of these games is way way too long to play the short game like that. Hopefully E3 will have at least three big exclusive announcements that aren't expected. Then have them all release dy the end of the year. Doubtful I know.

Bottom line. I don't think Xbox is dying by any means... I would say they are probably making a little ground on Sony right now. Certainly not loosing any. It's making MS huge profits. No one needs to worry for this generation.

 

[PLPW77]

Is Microsoft creating a new studio to develop AAA content enough? No. Microsoft needs to pursue exclusive content from third party developers as well. Exclusives are a big piece of the puzzle, and the more, the better.

 

[DRDiver]

I'm sorry, but Microsoft consistently fails. It's successes are far overshadowed by all the times to attempted something and either misread the customer or just did it half-way. As for consoles specifically, there's just nothing about console gaming that entices me, which is why I remain a PC-only gamer. As for games in general, I'm not a fan at all of the "exclusives". I feel the same way about apps. If a company really wants to hit as many potential customers as possible, you make your product or service available as WIDELY as you can. Having something ONLY on this platform or that is just stupid to me, and it doesn't make me want to go to that one platform just because it's an exclusive. In fact, exclusivity makes me immediately want to AVOID and publicly trash them. I am impervious to peer pressure, so there is absolutely no game, no app, no piece of hardware I "must" have...particularly just because my friends have something.

 

[DRDiver]

Well, given that a digital library is where things are, the whole "buy once, play anywhere" concept should be in even more demand. And it's why I'm totally against exclusive games. Make your game so it hits as many customers across as many platforms as you can. Have a BOPA price and a platform-specific price.

 

[PLPW77]

I think the solution is simple. Consoles rely on games to sell them. What’s pushing PS4 and Switch sales are games. Microsoft doesn’t have compelling exclusive games at the moment. Microsoft needs to step up their game and start selling games to gamers on game consoles if they want a game console to sell. They can have all the services in the world, and they’re useless without games putting controllers in player’s hands. Microsoft has the money to put forth a monster lineup of first, second, and third party content. If they do this, they can regain at least some of the ground they lost this generation, and restore some of the mindshare amongst the gaming community in time for the next generation.

 

[Guest_aotf]

I would say they are probably making a little ground on Sony right now. Certainly not loosing any.

Really? In what way? In console sales? Even when XB1x was released, the XB sold more poorly than the PS4 and that is MS's major market. I'm not even talking about all other market where the PS4 is dominating. Right now I don't see how they aren't losing ground. Let along making any...

 

[Ron-F]

Microsoft approached Xbox as a platform in which third party developers could bring their games paying a fee. However, third party games are published in all platforms and, thus, there is little to differentiate Xbox from the competition. The Xbox One X is fine but most consumers don't care for the more refined graphics over the Xbox One S or PS4, not tell the PS4 Pro.

The problem is that the platform culture of Microsoft is hostile to the idea of create content internally. We can only hope that Phil Spencer, in his new position among the upper management, can change it.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Well, given that a digital library is where things are, the whole "buy once, play anywhere" concept should be in even more demand. And it's why I'm totally against exclusive games. Make your game so it hits as many customers across as many platforms as you can. Have a BOPA price and a platform-specific price.

I want to add somewhat to the buy and play anywhere. I think both Sony and Nintendo would make money hand over fist if they had PC versions of games. If we assume that Nintendo offers to sell the same emulator program for say, $30, best selling games for $10 a piece and less popular games for $5 (thinking along the lines of classic NES) I could easily drop $300. Sony would be the same way. They kind of have a good idea for the streaming service for PCs, but at $10/month.... I'll pass.

Sony almost makes less sense when they don't sell software like that. Since the profit, if any, on the hardware is slim, selling me a game can only pad the bottom line.