Titanfall, Sunset Overdrive, Dead Rising 3, Ryse, Scalebound - All 'exclusives' all made by other studios with no input from MS other than money.  Now Tomb raider can be added to the list.

The majority of MS's first party studios are doing the same things they have been doing for a decade - Halo, Forza, Gears, Fable and more Halo.  Black Tusk where making a new IP,then got shafted and are now working on another Gears game after MS bought the rights.

Nintendo and Sony also have third party exclusives, but not to the same extent as MS, and a lot of the time they are also involved with development, like Studio Japan with Bloodborne and Nintendo with Hyrule Warriors.

If MS are as committed to the Xbox brand going forward, why don't they spend some money on another first party studio or two, instead of paying developers not to release games on other systems?  Is this an admission they cannot compete on a first party level? And if not why aren't they even trying?

Admission? It's common knowledge where they stand in the 1st party studio rank.

To us it is, not to them

When some people occasionaly call for Microsoft to abandon XBox, there is always one counter-argument: Competition is good for gamers.

Sure, it's good when competitors strive to be better, more innovative, more competitive, more diverse.

Right now, competition obviously means that over 50% of gamers get screwed over by a corporation with too much money and no ideas at all.

i think this whole gamescom event showed that, MS is sure as hell trying to fund any big game they can get their hands on, and while thats not bad for xbox owners, it does not give me faith in future support. seems like the 360 scenario all over again.

It's more of an admission that they want something to counter Uncharted.

I completely agree with the last point.  Why another third person shooter, it is hardly filling a gap in the Xbox portfolio is it?

Without Microsoft, the psn would still be horrid... Competition is still and will always be good!

Thought Quantum Break quality should be good enough to compete with UC4??

You dont know how involved they are in development.

The majority of Sony first studios are doing what they have been for nearly a decade. God Of War, LBP, Uncharted, Gran Turismo, Infamous, Killzone.

Its not paying developers to release games on other systems, its paying them to develop for their systems.

I make the arguement that buying up studios is worse than paying a studio to make an exclusive because you take a whole 3rd party away from the other system.