Microsoft's Exclusives Have Apparently Let Xbox Gamers Down

Amaury · Oct 11, 2011

According to this article, Microsoft has apparently let gamers down.

Eliminate PC from the equation and unmatched online capabilities and superior multi-format game performances have made Microsoft's console a resounding success. Even the Red Ring of Death debacle couldn't put the brakes on Uncle Bill's impressive second assault on console gaming.

But Microsoft do have a problem and it's a big one: they haven't got the system exclusives to match their exemplary third-party support. Yes, genre-leading titles such as The Orange Box and Bayonetta run markedly better on 360 than they do on PS3 and we should be grateful for that, but weigh up the major first-party titles and Microsoft's kahunas are relatively small.

Nintendo have Mario, Zelda, Metroid and PokÃ©mon while Sony's first party properties include Uncharted, Killzone, LittleBigPlanet, Resistance, Gran Turismo, God of War, InFamous, WipeOut, Motorstorm, Sly Cooper and Ratchet and Clank.

HD remakes? They've got those in abundance too, along with the 'true' Metal Gear Solid titles, Yakuza and Heavy Rain.

What do Microsoft have? Halo, Gears of War, Forza and Fable, plus Kinect. There's Alan Wake, of course. Or is there? Microsoft are deferring all studio questions straight to Remedy themselves, distancing themselves from the developer.

It's no wonder Microsoft Games Studios vice-president Phil Spencer claimed, "if we lose our way with Halo, we lose our way with Xbox," at E3. Without Halo, Microsoft's exclusive offering is next to nothing: Gears 3 had to be shifted from an April launch to September, just to bolster the sparse Christmas line-up.

And while Halo and Forza are miles ahead of Killzone and Gran Turismo, 'quality-over-quantity' isn't a claim to be wheeled out in defence, given the overwhelming glut of high quality games on rival platforms.

Microsoft have let major exclusives slip through their fingers. One-time exclusive Bioshock eventually found its way onto PS3. Far worse was the situation with Mass Effect, which saw what is arguably now the biggest brand in sci-fi gaming also journey over to Sony for games two and three. True, we've acquired Final Fantasy and Resident Evil in return, but in this generation neither series has been anywhere near their best.

While Sony are continuing to buy up studios - they snapped up InFamous developers Sucker Punch in August - Microsoft are showing little ambition outside of Halo super-studio 343 Industries. Losses such as Bizarre Creations still hurt, while the under-use of Rare is borderline criminal.

Gamers who are desperate for more Perfect Dark and Banjo-Kazooie are instead seeing Rare work on Kinect Sports Season 2, and even then the classic company is working in the shadows of BigPark: the unproven team behind the abysmal Kinect Joy Ride.

Doom! Gloom! Well, not quite. For as lacking as Microsoft's first-party support may be, this console cycle has seen a new type of exclusive come into play. Looking back it seems petty to boast about how COD DLC arrives on Xbox long before anywhere else, or how we'd all played and forgotten about GTA IV's expansion packs before our sister PlayStation mags could even preview the content.

Likewise, Live Arcade titles like Braid and Limbo launched on our console so far ahead of PSN they were but distant memories when it came for their Sony releases. Nowadays timed exclusives matter, and combined with the brilliance of Live Arcade and its increasingly AAA output, the Xbox 360 is no stranger to outstanding and unique properties. There are dozens of reasons to love the 360, but there should be more. It doesn't matter that Nintendo pretty much only rely on first-party support, or that in the head-to-head battles Sony's games can't match Microsoft's for quality.

Stack the three first-party outputs side by side and Microsoft's slender offering looks pitiful. It's essential they look towards studio acquisitions and franchise building if they're to maintain their domination of the console market in the next gen.
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Personally, from what I read at another place, the gamers are pretty much happy with these and don't agree with this.

Thoughts?

libregkd · Oct 11, 2011

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Amaury · Oct 13, 2011

To avoid creating another thread, I'll just post this here, which relates to Microsoft.

Anyway, it seems that Microsoft has bought the Indie Developer, which I guess can be compared to Sony buying Sucker Punch Productions.

After developing games exclusively for Xbox 360 and PC, it's fair to say that indie dev Twisted Pixel has been going steady with Microsoft. Today, the two have finally tied the knot as the Redmond corporation announced that it has purchased the Austin studio.

That may be terrifying news for fans of the dev, which has built games like 'Splosion Man and The Gunstringer around its scrappy DIY aesthetic. But Matt Booty, general manager of Microsoft Studios, told Joystiq it's exactly that character that the company hopes to preserve after the sale.

"Microsoft's a very big company, and you've got Twisted Pixel, a relatively smaller developer. We're very invested that they get to stay who they are, and they get to retain the magic they've got as a smaller indie developer," Booty said. "We'd like to leave the golden goose alone, so to speak."

Phil Spencer, Microsoft Studios' corporate vice president, admits there have been some rocky acquisitions in the past for the company's game publishing arm (nÃ©e Microsoft Game Studios). But he says the company has learned from its missteps.

"I lived through the integration of FASA, through Bungie, the integration of Digital Anvil," Spencer said. "I can go through the list of studios we've worked with. I can honestly say we've become better at working with partners and keeping them what they are," Spencer said. "In the beginning, it was 'everybody's got to move to Redmond, kind of integrate completely into the Microsoft process,' and that doesn't always work for every culture. I think you have to keep to the core of 'What is this partnership about?'"

Analyst Michael Pachter said he believes Microsoft when it says its ready for a more hands-off approach.

"I think Twisted Pixel is the poster child for the new Microsoft Studios," he told Joystiq. "Microsoft doesn't want to screw up a good thing, and I think they are serious when they say they want to allow Twisted Pixel to keep their identity. Phil Spencer seems completely realistic about the value added by this acuisition, knows that Twisted Pixel is a supremely talented group, and doesn't want to screw up a winning formula."

Twisted Pixel CEO Mike Wilford said the main thing changing for the studio (which will keep its Austin location) is the scale of future projects.

"Ever since the very beginning we've done things our way, with our own sense of humor," he said. "I think you're going to see more of the same type of approach to our games, but with greater resources and time. You're going to see us be able to make bigger games and richer games going forward."

That doesn't mean the developer is abandoning digital distribution -- even now Wilford says that the team has ideas best suited to XBLA. But it does mean that individual games will have a bit more room to breathe during development, according to Twisted Pixel chief creative officer Josh Bear.

"Comic Jumper's a perfect example," Bear said. "We wish we had more time on that game, but being an independent studio and the things you have to go through to make sure that works ... I mean, I'm really proud of that game, but it didn't quite get the time it needed to flesh it out into what we wanted it to be."

So, what's the first title to get this greater level of Microsoft-bolstered TLC?

"We've been talking with them about this IP they have called Halo that hasn't been doing too well, we told them we could help them out with that some time," Bear joked. "Live action, Mad Dog McCree-style Halo, coming soon."
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Microsoft's Exclusives Have Apparently Let Xbox Gamers Down

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