Why cant Microsoft make good games?

Games are software and Microsoft are a software company. They also have a lot of money to invest. Yet most of their games are mediocre at best and gamers dont care about them. Halo used to be huge back in the day and was a genuinely incredible game, but thats the exception to the rule. I think Halo was a fluke to be honest. Their other games have been flops almost every time.

You look at Sony, who arent very good at software and who have been struggling financially for the past 10 years. Yet they still continue to make the best games and offer a great variety as well. New IPs all the time etc. They seem to know how to entertain people.

Is it a lack of talent or lack of commitment from Microsoft? Or they just dont care enough about gaming? I think they dont understand entertainment and only know how make boring office programs. What do you think?

They've made plenty

When did Forza and Gears become bad games? Fable 1 and 2 were great. Quit being a fanboy.

Sony premonitory make movies.

Even a terrible game like Halo, which ruined fps, is still technically a game.

I played the first Gears and thought it was boring as fuk. Still havent bothered with Flopza.

Forza Horizon 3 exists. /thread

Age of Empires 2 is a Microsoft game, and one of the greatest games ever made. Not counting Age of Mythology, Rise of Nations, Zoo Tycoon, Midtown Madness, the Forza Motorsport and Horizon games, Halo 1-3 and Reach, Project Gotham Racing, Fable 1 and 2, and so on.

They definitely have an issue with diversity in their portfolio- but not making enough good games is not the same as not making good games period.

@samfisher56: you said gamers don't care about them. All I see is one opinion. If gamers didn't care about them, they wouldn't be selling.

Another dumb thread made by some fanboy's alt account... yawn.

They pour money into making people say "epic" and "storytelling" a lot, rather than acquiring talent to develop new IPs.

I really like that unbiased opinion LOL

Compared with Sony and Nintendo their portfolio is embarassing. And when you take into account how much money and connections they have, its even more embarassing.

It's an account from 2005, hardly a 'fanboy's alt account'

I mean, I say it right there in my post- they haven't made enough good games. I agree with that, I wouldn't contest that at all. Speaking in absolutes and saying they don't make good games period, though, is fallacious and disingenuous, not to mention wilfully ignorant.

True... but still a dumb thread.

I mean, 99/100 threads on this board are dumb, at some point you have got to get bored pointing them all out.

@charizard1605: Circle of life of System Wars.

Troll threads vs Troll threads, with trolling from both sides.

That's strange op I recall a post you made about great series that started off exclusive and you listed halo.

So what? You got your flip flops on today?

Yeah I guess... what ever happened to that 500 post minimum to create topics? I had high hopes for that :(

It was not hard coded into the website, implementation was getting difficult, it was often unfair (long time users with low post counts would be unable to make threads), it would often, in combination with the no necro-bumps rule, mean that specific users couldn't have a discussion on some topic at all, and lastly, it was just stifling whatever little scope for discussion this board still has left.

I love Halo and I mentioned it in the OP. Its the exception to the rule.

btw i am not an alt and the thread is serious.

Hmmm fair enough.

@samfisher56:

The world does not evolve around u

@samfisher56: oh ok I just misread it.

Calling the best racing series currently out "Flopza" is serious? Wow.

You say you "played the first Gears and thought it was boring as fuk"... well that's your opinion & the series' review scores/sales beg to differ. Many thought the same of Uncharted 1.

Anyway, moral of the thread is that you don't like MS's games and like PS. Yay for you. Nobody cares.

I don't care about ps fan girls say about Microsofts franchises. I eat halo for breakfast, Gears for lunch and Forza for dinner.

Fortunately, your taste doesn't do much to sway the opinions of others. If you don't like a game, that's fine, but you are far from spouting gospel truth.

They can , some are great games. But I get the impression to them xbox and its games are just another product to sell. Hence why they have the least in house development and why they'd rather buy established ip rather than make new ones. They'd rather live off of gears, halo, and forza. They just don't have heart for gaming.

Lol Forza is anything but a flop.

If Microsoft didn't close the Lionhead studio it would of been fantastic to have Fable as a staple in the Microsoft exclusives. Sunset Overdrive was a hell of a game that didn't sell too well but I hope they don't scrap the future series of the game. I think exclusives are becoming less and less relevant to that of console sells. They don't sell consoles anymore like they used too. Remember when everyone bought Halo 2 and was the reason everybody got a Xbox. Well those days are sadly over. Exclusives are still important but they have become stagnant in the whole scheme of things.

all the good developers are following what Naughty Dog and FromSoftware are doing and joining Sony exclusives.

it's the smart thing to do now that games like NIOH are out, and the future looks very bright for Sony games like Horizon, Spiderman, God of war, etc, etc

@samfisher56: It's like they're not even trying anymore, Xbox was a great system up till Xbox One.

They used to publish good games but they suck nowadays, it's completely different people in the company now.

It's like ea, battle for middle earth is my favorite gaming series probably.

The current leadership really fucked over the brand. (maybe not phil spencer since he's just a political head)

@samfisher56

Microsoft has never been a gaming company they've always been a software company, what you consider boring is amazing for tech enthusiasts (X86 running on ARM) , so it makes sense for them. So it makes sense for them to focus on both Windows 10 and Xbox.

Not that the OP is worth half a flying ****, but I would definitely rag on them for this gen's output, especially as someone who's not a Forza fan. Their old hats have had some pretty mediocre to bad campaigns (Halo and Gears), they fucked up the MCC, and their new IPs I either didn't like at all (Quantum Mistake) or haven't exactly blown the roof off anything (Sunset Overdrive).

I blame the likes of @fpsgod for trash threads like this.

@Blabadon: I laughed at Quantum Mistake. I liked the game, but that was funny for some reason.

@primorandomguy: it's a name worth sticking with. At this point, my phone's keyboard automatically attaches those two words together.

@Blabadon: haha. I liked Alan Wake so much better, but QB was decent to me at least. And I agree SO didn't blow us away, but I think it's a great game, and a worthy addition to the X1 library.

Another trash thread

Microsoft has plenty of great games, only Sony fanboys say otherwise. Just like Sony and Nintendo has great games.

Age of Empires 2 and Age of Mythology are Ensemble Studios games. Rise of Nations was made by Big Huge Games and SkyBox Labs (who did Age of Empires 2 HD). Zoo Tycoon was made by Blue Fang Games and MacSoft Games. All of these studios were bought out and later discarded when Microsoft sold out to make mediocre console crap.

None of that talent exists at the company any more, it's all worthless executives and marketing garbage.

What do you expect? Microflop put all of their eggs into a media center console basket.

Shouldn't have spent all their money for the Bone division on NFL, television, and actually put money into games.

Kind of late now, they are beyond making this generation even remotely competitive.

@primorandomguy: I'll definitely try it out, haven't turned on the Xbox in a while otherwise. I enjoy Insomniac's games, and enjoy TPS games in general, so I'm sure it'll be my gig. The issues I did hear about it, the mission design, the humor... Those may get on my nerves. But we'll see.

Why can't Sony make games?

They just hire people.

Their latest achievements have been underwhelming, but to say as a whole they can't make good games is very harsh. They have created some absolute masterpieces. I'm sure they will get back to the top of their game in no time

they are selling because they are the only games available for xbowners

If MS was smart they would pay Bungie whatever it takes to get them to make Halo games again because 343 has completely ruined the franchise. Same with Epic/Cliffy B and Gears.

343 and Coalition may be talented studios but they should be doing new IP. You can't just slap a studio together from scratch and hand them flagship franchises and expect the same results as the original creators.