How long do you think it will take for MS to rebuild their first party?

MS only has 3 studios that make AAA games and they're all tied down to 1 IP each. It will take longer than 2-3 years.

Where's the "Don't care" option?

Seems like it would take more than 5 years if they could ever do it , hypothetically. That's a legit studio purchase per year on average , and it would take years to actually put games out and they'd have to deliver. And they'd have to manage everything they do already have properly.

As of right now, I don't give a damn! I have too many games to play then to worry about some company who can't seem to get there shits together.

Rebuild?

Microsoft NEVER had a strong first party!

They still need to build one first.

Where are the signs they are rebuilding one ?

All I see is MS courting developers for a one and done deal:

Insomniac, Crytek, Comcept, Creative Assembley, Remedy, Relic

Microsoft is more interested in third party games and XBL than studios and IPs. That's why they partner with and fund games like PUBG, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Dead Rising and Titanfall that eventually come to other platforms

They had a strong first party on the Xbox 360. One that Sony tried to keep up with but failed on every attempt to match what MS was doing.

Pretty much.

10 days :-p

https://www.ageofempires.com/games/aoe/

5 months, 3 weeks, two days, 3 hours, 11 minutes, and 35 seconds.

I also think they're more interesting in distribution than studios/ips. They want to be the next Valve.

XBX being my main and only gaming device atm I am 100% conent with Xbox's current first party status. I had a PS4 and it felt like playing on a garbage 3rd world device that was made in a Chinese sweat shop employed by child labor who were trying to copy XB. If i was given every one of the hyped up exclusives for free sony the ponies tout, i'd trade every one just to play state of decay 2. I owned every PS gen and the 3rd and 4th gen i sold in a matter of months. We all know PC rules the gaming world but in the landscape of consoles MS is KING. As far as Nintendo is concerned i'd only be interested in Zelda so all their other exclusives are not for me and seem to appeal to a completely different kind of gaming market, just like android games do.

Cows have turned into ticks that are latched on to this subject holding on for dear life, but they are trying to draw blood from a dead horse. They do this cause its the only thing preventing a mad cow epidemic. It's the only thing keeping them sane. Multi plates are better on XBX, MS has quality instead of quanity exclusives, better services, etc. If they don't keep telling themselves lies that MS has no games they'd have to face the truth. I have over 250 games on my xbox library and I still have games i want to buy. I guess ignorance is bliss.

Toplel dude. You're perfectly reasonable and certainly not biased.

Unsolid is fast becoming the worst thread creator on this site.

Let that moo flow through you :)

Stalker confirm!

Get away from me you weirdo XD

@foxhound_fox: Sony had an overwhelming lead by the end of the gen.

Personally I'm quite pleased with their current 1st party output, it covers several of the genres I enjoy a lot and has delivered GOAT-caliber series with Forza Horizon & Ori(from my perspective anyways, some people might add FM7 to that list for Simcade racers).

Looking forward to titles such as State of Decay 2 and Sea of Thieves for more variety. As for the people who want more solo adventures, they have the upcoming action rpg being developed by legendary studio PlayGround games to look forward to, and we don't have a release date on that yet but I'm thinking not before 2019 at the earliest.

Not really. Halo and Gears were just relevant at the time. They never had much of note beyond those. Now that no one cares about those 2 IP anymore everyone realizes how bad MS's first party is.

Quick moo man jump in the moo mobile

and drive away LOL.

Oh boy here we go again...

MS's 1st/2nd party output isn't as bad as everyone makes out. They just need a couple more high-profile games (like the rumored Fable reboot) to add abit of diversity to the lineup, to compliment Halo/Gears/Forza Motorsport/Forza Horizon/Crackdown, Sea of Thieves/Ori/State of Decay, Recore etc. I think over the next 2 years we'll start to see these games.

Why should they rebuild their exclusive lineups, when Lemmings only defend MS for not having any. It's pretty obvious that lemmings don't care about exclusives any more, and only care about Multiplat games that are played at 12fps.

Considering MS was talking about the hundreds of millions they were investing at the start of this gen, I wouldn't hold my breath that this changes any time soon if ever. Maybe ask hermits how long MS said how important PC gaming was to them and were working on big things.

Never. It seems like MS only invests in something if they think it's going to be a annualized cash cow or helpful to their game as as service motto. The problem with that is that not many games can achieve such a goal meaning MS will have 2-3 franchises in circulation for a few years until they get stale. Then they will repeat the whole process again.

Never. Microsoft isn't in the business of wasting money.

A lead in what? Console sales? Official numbers say the Xbox 360 is at 84 million and the PS3 is at 80 million.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_sales#Sales_by_region
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3#Sales_and_production_costs

Games then?

Xbox 360 90+ games on Metacritic: 54
PS3 90+ games on Metacritic: 53

Exclusives Xbox 360 90+ on Metacritic: 10
Exclusives PS3 90+ on Metacritic: 9

So what exactly did the PS3 lead again?

@i_p_daily said:

Quick moo man jump in the moo mobile

and drive away LOL.

missed opportunity for the moo mooblie, we got to step it up

Never. I don't see M$ coming back. I give them 1 more gen, and a half gen like the Dreamcast.

It's that what they're trying to do?

If I was them, I'd take my time, get the right talent and nurture them like Sony does. Build them up. Throwing money around isn't always the answer.

It takes around 3 years to build an AAA game.

This. And that's a favorable time frame for a new IP. It won't happen this generation if it does. If MS had any interest they would have already been making moves. This is why I think (never) is the most reasonable option given.

Not in time to steal attention away from the Switches rise to prominence and not in time to repair their dismal reputation when the PS5 launches. If Xbox has a road ahead, it won't be an easy one.

Microsoft doesnt have the in house talent to build great 1st party games or to compete with Sony or Nintendo

Rebuild would imply they have none, rather they need to expand. The MS hating everybody would have many believed Halo and Gears are in bad hands when that's completely wrong, the latest entries are strong quality titles and I definitely look forward to their next offerings. Forza is still a strong series.

Really what they need is to expand their current line-up, and not refuse to pursue partnerships based on whether the profits are as large as they want, if they are beneficial then they should see any game, large or small as something to stack the deck with. Also, Sony gets some exclusives not by partnership arrangements but by default. One issue brought up during Spencers trip to Japan is their publishing requirement of minimums, like games need to print X number if copies to be published on Xbox, which means paying advance royalties on games that they may never sell, and if they can change this aspect of publishing I think it would be more inviting to Japanese devs to test waters on Xbox market with multiplatform entries. That won't help Xbox get console exclusives but it might take some away from Sony.

@foxhound_fox: First party...you know the topic of this conversation. Nice deflection though.

Because 9 is a bigger number than 10 when it comes to 90+ exclusives on the two consoles.

90+ first party exclusives:

PS3:

• Killzone 2 (91)
• MLB 10: The Show (91)
• LittleBigPlanet 2 (91)
• God of War III (92)
• The Last of Us (95)
• LittleBigPlanet* (95)
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (96)

That's 5 different franchises across 7 games.

Xbox 360:

• Forza Motorsport 2 (90)
• Gears of War 3 (91)
• Forza Motorsport 4 (91)
• Halo: Reach (91)
• Forza Motorsport 3 (92)
• Gears of War 2 (93)
• Halo 3 (94)
• Gears of War (94)

That's 4 different franchises across 8 games.

No matter what your beliefs are about any of these game's overall quality might be, the Xbox 360 had the larger number of 90+ exclusive games, whether first party or not.

*Media Molecule wasn't acquired by Sony until 2010 and LBP was released in 2008, making it, technically, not a first party game at the time of release.

--

But keep denying the facts and live in your little world of delusion. Both the PS3 and Xbox 360 were fantastic consoles, and both very easily worth owning... much unlike the PS4 and Xbone.

Don't forget, even if they build their development resources, they still have the hard work of actually cultivating meaningful IPs, which takes years of hits and misses. Selling off their talent and closing doors during the 360 gen the way they did will set them back for a long long time.

lol, no they didnt. Most their 1st/2nd year "exclusives" like gears and Bioshock were made by 3rd parties. Sony took a while but completely destroyed MS (yes, even X360s early exclusive line up) after 3/4 years on the market

You missed Uncharted 3 , MLB 09 , and MLB 11. And Microsoft didn't own Epic either. Heck , they didn't even own the IP at the time.

Not sure how I missed them. Maybe I should finally get my new glasses ordered. The font on MC is really small, lol.

So I guess by your logic, Gears of war wasnt a first party game for the 360?

There's so much wrong in that post...

1. Gears was made by a 3rd party dev and MS didnt own the IP at the time. If it counts then games like MGS4 should count aswell

2. You claim MM LBP shouldnt be counted yet you count Halo since, ya know, Bungie was never owned by MS

3. This is how the list would actually look like if we only count actual 1st party developed titles:

PS3

• Killzone 2 (91)
• MLB 09: The Show (90)
• MLB 11: The Show (90)
• MLB 10: The Show (91)
• LittleBigPlanet 2 (91)
• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (92)
• God of War III (92)
• The Last of Us (95)
• LittleBigPlanet* (95)
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (96)

X360

• Forza Motorsport 2 (90)
• Forza Motorsport 4 (91)
• Forza Motorsport 3 (92)

If you want to count funded titles made by 3rd parties then you may also add MGS 4 and Journey to the PS4's list

Also, only counting 90+ games is very selective. Now if we actually count good games from 70 or even 80+ scores then the PS3 completely destroys the X360

Umm, if the bean counters at Microsoft ever actually decided that building up good First party developers was a top priority, it would be done within 2 years. It's not like MS is lacking the resources to do it.

Unfortunately they won't, and they don't. So the real answer is, probably never. It's clear that strong first party isn't a part of Microsoft's strategy going forward.

Xbox: Halo, Forza, Fable

360: Halo, Gears, Forza, Fable

One: Halo, Gears, Forza

That is Microsoft’s entire first party for 3 gens now. They have NEVER built up a first party. They have relied their entire box on Halo for 2-3 gens straight. But with the Xbox One it is quite clear that Microsoft told everyone “No more making games/sell the one as a service box”.

Because THAT is exactly what happened.

Meanwhile Sony is pumping out NEW IP’s whether they are good or bad since the PS1 every gen. Sony even admits they take the money from successful IP’s to fund lower games that might not even make a profit.

The point is, Sony tries to grab gamers from EVERY genre of gaming. They are always evolving and give their studios freedom to try something new. It is why they win every single gen when it comes to actual game library which is all that matters.

Xbox360 fanboys can use revisionist history all they want but PS3 was great since Day one. They are just mad because they could not afford one for the first couple years.

Even though PS3 had tons of great games the first 1-3 years, Xbox360 fanboys dismiss them like they never existed.

This revisionist history I see on gamespot is hilarious.

I owned a 360 and PS3 both consoles day one. PS3 had tons of games the first couple years. I don’t know how many times we have to go through this. I have made millions of comparisons.

First year PS3: Resistance, Motorstorm, Folklore, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Uncharted, Ratchet and a bunch of others I am too lazy to google.

The spectacle of HD consoles were mind blowing....I get that, but the Xbox360 is so goddamn overrated especially by people who claim it won last gen when it lost. Sony PS3 outsold it by over a million consoles.

Let's see, late last year T10's phenom Forza Motors 7 and next month a spanking new Mighty Rare IP, Sea of Thieves hits the street. Seems MS's 1st party producing mooaar than the others.

False narrative is false. lol :P

I think never because they have pretty shitty taste and are chasing trends like gaas and MP-focused. They don't realize that exclusives need to offer something that you can't get anywhere else (aka not being trendy).

Their taste is also all around awful. I mean take Crackdown, Sunset Overdrive etc. Who the f* think they can match Spiderman, God Of War or Uncharted with that junk? Ryse was the right style of game they needed visually, but Crytek butchered the execution pretty bad. Anyway they need someone with taste at the top.

What's sad is the frequency of Halo and Gears has dropped off. Only 1 new Halo and 1 new Gears in 5 years - both rubbish. The only MS franchise left with any consistency is Forza... and if anything that might be running it's course. How many Forza games can they crank out?

It's really a joke that anyone is comparing Gears vs. Killzone and trying to rationalize the 360 vs. PS3. Gears was possibly the most overrated and overhyped franchise of last gen. Granted, Killzone is also overrated (and the PS4 game is even more garbage than Gears 4). But I'd probably take Killzone 2 and 3 over Gears 2 and 3, not that it's saying much.

I'd like to see that guys list with 80+ Meta-critic exclusives or 70+. 90+ scores don't tell the whole story.

This.

I'm sure they will try and push out another Halo and Gears.

But what they really need to do is create a new franchise that is actually good. Crackdown is garbage. I don't expect Sea of Thieves to be a homerun (though at least they are going for something different). With all the 3rd parties they are losing, they need this more than ever. Sadly, they might not longer have the talent to make it happen. So what they'll probably do is try and buy a 3rd party (like that lame ass move making Rise of the Tomb Raider a temporary exclusive).