The Current State Of Xbox First Party Games

We all know the success of the future of Xbox relies on the strength of the software to drive hardware and subscription services. Since yesterday, we started seeing things like this from devs. We were also told there would be no Series X exclusives for a couple of years. Well now it's looking like that may be the case because games like Forza are in early production...


Sea Of Thieves - 2017 and Ever Wild is still in pre-production

State of Decay 2 - launched 2018 and State of Decay 3 is in pre-production

Forza 7 - 2017 and the next Forza is in early production

Hellblade - 2017, Hellblade 2 in early production

Halo Infinite - Well between the current buzz of a GaaS campaign, no raytracing at launch and rumors of multiplayer NOT AVAILABLE AT LAUNCH... Not to mention the graphics

Can someone tell me why the Xbox should launch this year? They aren't ready! We are looking at Halo Infinite and an exclusive Tetris Effect update holding us over for holiday 2020... Wut?!?!?

Time to take chief out back, n put him down.

They need to launch alongside PS5 I guess.

Maybe they should delay Halo (despite it being 5 years since the last one) though. Or hand it to Playground Games, who are clearly their best dev.

Yeah, it's becoming a great big tire fire. Phil got undone on every lie he told recently in one day. I noticed the Xbots are running back to "B-b-b-but isn't Game Pass great?!" to save face on this sorry show. Alanah Pierce just made a great big weepy damage control video trying to deflect to GP and that we should forgive everything MS does because of this, and all I could do was sigh.

Last I checked, most of Sony's line-up is either TBA or not this year too. The only confirmed system-seller launch title seems to be Miles Morales, which is apparently going to be more like a standalone expansion pack.

Looks like this console generation is going to begin the same way as the last; bugger all in the first 2 years. At least they have backwards compatibility this time to tide things over.

Well, it really is. At least that part is true. Doesn't make up for the rest of it though.

Eh, I don't know. I agree Sony looks thin on software this year into next. That looked like a huge open door for Microsoft. But now we know Microsoft is even less prepared. Fable, Hellblade and Forza are much further off than GT, Horizon and Ratchet and Clank. We saw far more gameplay from Sony. If Halo didn't have a gameplay demo, that show yesterday would have been as bad as the first from Microsoft. Microsoft looks unprepared. "Bugger al in the first 2 years?" More like 3+ for Microsoft. That's scary

I get that making games is difficult, especially during a pandemic. Some of these games probably needed a hell of a lot of time to even be green lit and might require new or extensive updates to their engines.

I don't think MS does though. At the end of the day, I think they'll eventually delay their console launch. Not by a year but by a few months.

Both Sony and MS "true" next gen games are early in development. The main difference is that Sony doesn't have to prove anything.

I remember when people used to give Sony shit for the "Greatness Awaits!" slogan, and all I can think of with Xbox is, "Is Greatness Ever Coming?". Xbox Series didn't have to launch right now, considering the late acquisitions of their first party studios. They're still getting their shit together. But, since they're in this eternal game of cat and mouse with Sony, they're forcing these boxes to market out of fear of giving their rival a head start.

It could have released in 2021 with a more polished Halo to go with it, and then the wait for the other games wouldn't have seemed so far out. They're not ready for primetime.

@Zero_epyon: I think the problem is, MS doesn't want to fall behind Sony's PS5 and they always want to be first if possible. I'd prefer MS delaying XSX if it helps and I'm always supporting delays as it is. And while the Pandemic is a major issue, working from home, you are limited to the resource without studio hardware, its clearly all these gaming companies working at home is going to be a long time before every game gets iron out.

Horizon is supposed to release next year. I'm sure we'll see games like GT7 and Ratchet and Clank around the same time. Well, maybe not GT7 since they're perfectionists and don't like releasing anything.

But Phil Spencer says he’s not competing with Sony??

“When you talk about Nintendo and Sony, we have a ton of respect for them, but we see Amazon and Google as the main competitors going forward,”

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2020/02/xbox_boss_phil_spencer_doesnt_see_sony_as_competition_going_forward

@phlop_spencer: Phil says alot of things. The man loves to flip-flop every time.

@hardwenzen: Your scales are off. 😎

Not good. That Rare game (name escape me) was so early that they are still figuring out what the gameplay is going to be... I wonder how long it will take for these games to come out. Two to three years I guess? And given how Halo ended up looking are they worth waiting for?

I mean you can either put your faith in Sony, who are consistently delivering amazing games, or MS who consistently are giving empty promises of something, sometime in the future...

Feels like crackdown. Hopefully it won't end up like that game though.

Honestly not sure cows are in any position to brag about much, neither consoles have delivered any compelling reason to buy one at launch...

Only big titles are a cross gen fps that looks decent at best and a expansion to Spider-Man that by all accounts should have been on PS4!

@djoffer123: I don't think you realize how much MS bombed yesterday. They gave up in 2015 and started buying developers to come up with THAT? This after Sony hasn't taken their foot off the gas all generation and were still more ready? MS was supposed to have Fable, Avowed, and a completed Halo around launch window. What have they been doing all this time? All you get is an incomplete Halo? Do Xbox fans have any standards?

LOL, no they weren't.

In one day MS got completely undone. Their own show has rekt them, lol.

You sure about that? Cows just got TLOU2 and Ghosts. Playstation fans have absolute faith in Sony when it comes to delivering high quality games.

MS has yet to prove themselves.

I don't know about that. We were all waiting for greatness for a long time on PS4. They weren't consistently delivering amazing games.

Well in terms of the 1st party as whole, people wanted a road map.. People wanted to know what's coming for the Xbox platform.. And during that show, they showed around 7 games from Xbox Games Studios that didn't have the words "Halo" or "Forza" in the title.. And that's only representative of 9 of their 15 studios.. That's a good look from first party and, other than more gameplay, I don't see how you could ask for much more from one show..

Beyond that, look at the 3rd party support.. There were around 8 third party games that were not only launching as console exclusives but also launching into Game Pass, day and date.. Much more than the OP tried to imply with Tetris.. So again, that's nothing but good news for the platform and the Game Pass service, plus is a smart strategy considering most of the first party is still in development..

But on the topic of first party being ready for launch, Sony isn't in a better position for the PS5 from what we've seen so far.. What PS5 launch titles have they announced?.. Spiderman: Miles Morales?.. A 5-10 hour standalone DLC pack?.. Say what you will about Halo Infinite but it's not standalone DLC parading as a launch title..

As far as Halo Infinite not being ready, I can definitely agree that the demo wasn't ready to make the full case for Xbox Series X.. There was a clear lack of graphical polish there.. That could be due to the pandemic but no excuses, they needed to nail the first impression for that game and they arguably didn't.. That said, I was extremely satisfied with the actual gameplay I saw and can't wait to dive in.. And rough build aside, the game is said to be 4K/60fps with Ray Tracing which wasn't shown in that build.. If that turns out to be the case, I don't recall seeing many open-world first person shooters this generation running at 4K/60fps with Ray Tracing.. So there's certainly room for them to impress later this holiday season but I can admit they didn't hit the homerun I was hoping for at the reveal..

TL;DR - Microsoft arguably showed a more extensive road map of what's to come for Xbox Series than Sony did for the PS5 and Halo Infinite is a more complete launch title offering than glorified Spiderman DLC.. I know Sony has less to prove here but there's certainly no cause for fake concern for Microsoft heading into this console launch.. If anything I'd be concerned for all games if working conditions can't change within the next 6 months to a year, particularly games that require extensive motion capture..

That would be an extremely arrogant and mistaken assumption on Sony's part. I do hope that's not their position.

TLOU2 and Ghosts were just released at the end of their console cycle. You think Sony is just phoning it in?

No. They do not.

@Antwan3K: Every single one of your responses is some long winded PR piece for MS man. It's like you just need to type out your own struggles as to how come you've been such a loyal soldier for xbox for so long. It's fascinating to see you rationalize your own bs.

TLOU2 and GoT at $60 a pop are your evidence for why everyone will be pre-ordering a PS5?

Crikey.

@hardwenzen said:

That took me a second. Then I lol'd.

Dude, that guy is indoctrinated. He's defending things from Xbox that they don't even stick by anymore themselves. He's the kind of soldier MS wants to create, an anti-Sony machine. It's much easier than creating games.

I would say that both the PS5 and XBox showings were laden with multiplats and delayed reward. That being said, I agree that the PS5 had numerically more interesting games, and more of the big hitters seem to be coming sooner. Who knows how it will really shake out, but I don't think this is the best look for MS who's got Sony on their heels with regard to power right now... way to miss with the knockout punch....

LOL, "we're in the middle of a pandemic" so shoddy games excused.

Yea I live in a little bubble world where I havent had a single day off nor been able to work from home, but I guess the "pandemic" isnt here, right? :P

Microsoft is at it again there saying the xbox series-x has the "greatest next gen lineup in history" in adverts on reddit

this is ridiculous that's not the best next gen lineup I've ever seen.

It's pretty crazy what XGS is putting out and think it was mentioned only 9 out of the 15 studios were repped at the showcase. So even more 1st party content coming that we haven't heard of. Then factor in Gamepass and Third Party Suppport, MS is really giving gamers a ton of content /variety that is unmatched.

Will be interesting to see how Sony counters cause they can't go into next gen same route as PS4 launch especially with the Pandemic, they need to start offering some value to its player base and build up an ecosystem like MS. They need to do more to keep you invested besides the exclusives. Pretty much Jacksepticeye summed it up, PlayStation only gets turned on for exclusives and then it's off. Sony needs to keep the players invested in a PlayStation eco system.

Maybe my only concern is with Halo, and not that 343 isn't up to task of making a great game, but again back to issues of the MCC, I worry getting all these games in the saga ready for PC and then troubleshooting them after launch has likely been an overly ambitious task that has likely taken vital resources away from making Halo Infinite the best game it can be. I don't think as many claim that 343 isn't up to carrying the Halo torch, but trying to get the MCC on PC is a task I can't imagine being a simply thing they are doing on the side. It was a monumental task just to get these games working right on XB1, and now they're doing it for PC and adding DX12 support, seems like something I can't imagine them not being bogged down by all of it.

Going in I thought MS looked more ready then Sony when it comes to next gen Launch. It turns out they were not as ready as I thought. Halo needed to hit big. I think Halo not hitting as well highlighted that both are mostly not ready. A slight edge to sony is they showed a bit more gameplay of there ps5 tittles. The ps5 console launch indies, Ratchet and even wait fore the next 10 years GT7. They both secured some prominent third party exclusive along with indies. MS with GSC and Sony with some suprise deals from bethesda.

Overall its a bit unfair for MS but there the competitors they needed to be more ready. I mean games exist for both if you want to do there PR. Technically they all have console launch exclusives especially from indies. Playstation looked a tad bit more ready because they showed gameplay. The Insomniac purchase paid of for them those f****** are pros. Again even if the funny thing is the next Forza is probably going to launch first then couple years later GT7 will launch lol. It was disappointing that Forza did not show cars on track.

To add on the GAAS thing yeah get used to it. MS model has to include these types of games. They have to have games that make money via Micro-transaction. Sony sneakily showed why they don't have to atm. You may have missed the reason why Jim Ryan opened with GTA5. If Sony keeps getting the biggest cut out of third party GAAS games they can pretend not to do those games. I mean that announcement was all for GTA5 whales. Sony basically said we will keep you nourish by handing out money until ps5 port is out. Stay on the ecosystem we will keep you nourish for now.

Of course it is when you have spinsters like Aaron Greenberg at the helm. I feel like he's the physical embodiment of every lem combined. PS i love your new avatar lol

So after this utter failure of an event, you somehow got lured back into the MS hype machine and think they are holding out?

and lol to your second paragraph. You feel that Sony would benefit from releasing some 'engagement time' bullshit fluff numbers? Let me help you out - if sony released numbers of people with their consoles turned on you'd see phil spencer weeping in his next interview.

Every single one of your responses is a barely coherent rambling that basically amounts to blind hate for Microsoft and Xbox.. Your username and avatar perfectly sums anything you're going to say on this forum.. I mean, what's actually fascinating is how a grown man can hate a piece of plastic so much..

I don't bash Sony or PlayStation.. on a forum called System Wars, I spend my time discussing the pros and cons of Xbox, not attacking the competition.. you don't find me in PlayStation threads or creating PlayStation threads like you guys do with Xbox.. Xbox seems to live rent free in your minds 24/7.. That's pretty sad to be honest and speaks volumes about the kind of "soldiers" you are..

they have some ok games,but all the new games they keep announcing suck asshole, i cant stand these lame artsy games i want some gritty shit.

I mean WTF did people expect from the showing?

We saw a bunch of games. Forza 8, Stalker 2, Psychonauts 2 are must-buys for me. Got my eye on Avowed, Everwild, and As Dusk Falls. Looks intriguing. State of Decay 3 and Fable don't look like my cup of tea, but still look high quality.

I think people keep expecting the next big "wow" moment or something. But like, I want to know what games I can play and what to look forward to.

It just wasn't next gen......thats what people have a problem with, i wonder if it had something to do with developers working at home due to covid...hmmm.

xbox brand should stop trying to appeal to these anime dorks that's the issue lol.

Pre production????

xbox's original fanbase came from like sega dreamcast and shit man, like sega.com used to have message boards for games like quake 3 arena/unreal tournament which were online for dreamcast, but alot of people i used to play online on sega dreamcast with and also met up with em on sega.com's boards we got xbox when it launched in like 2001 because of games like unreal championship back in the day example.

it was never about those anime dorks.

Both Microsoft and Sony should delay the new generation, but they won't, it seemed that Microsoft will start ahead of Sony because they were less secretive about their new console, but with the latest show it doesn't seem that way; both will have an unimpressive launch, but Microsoft is the one in the disadvantage because the PS5 is the successor of the succesful PS4 and as obvious as it sounds it is a great deal, because now Microsoft have to convince those PS4 owners to ignore the games they have and can be played in the PS5 and start from zero with the Xbox.