Lets be real. This year has been awful when it comes to exclusives this year for the Xbox One. Halo Wars 2, Fable Fortune, 2 remastered original Xbox games and some other indies have been all MS has been able to show for 2017. The rest of 2017 isn't looking much better with Cuphead, Forza 7, and Super Lucky Tales. Hardly anything to brag amount. I would say this is MS worst year ever for exclusives between all their consoles. 

MS woes with exclusives didn't magical start this year, but has been a problem this generation. Lack of first party developers has shown. Games being cancelled like Scalebound, Fable Legends, Phantom Dust, and Lionhead closing has put MS in some bad light. I personally don't think Sony's first party has been heaps better than MS this generation, but with the PS4 being the lead console they've recieved most of the exclusive 3rd party support. 

The reason I say MS would would be in a really nice position is because of everything else they have done right this year. MS continues to support 360 BC games for the XBox One, and now they will release OG Xbox games later this year. Xbox Gamepass is a great deal for new Xbox owners. The Xbox One X will be the most powerful console on the market when it releases and it's easy to develope for. MS continues to have great 3rd party support going into the Xbox one X launch with over 100 enhanced games. Games With Gold continues to deliver great games. They are open to cross-play more than ever. Xbox Play Anywhere continues to grow and is a great service. MS is always updating and fixing the UI.

It sad seeing MS in this situation because of everything else they've done right. Next year does look much better. MS will actually have a spring lineup of games and should have Halo 6 and Forza Horizon 4 in the fall. Past that, I'm not so sure. If MS wants to be more successful next generation they will need more first party developers. 

Not that I'm that bothered as more of a Sony loyalist in this industry, but the answer is simple for microsoft; Stop closing all your studios, and allow them to work on their games.

I'll disagree with you on the note you make about Sony's first party output not being great, because actually if you look at it objectively it's been pretty great because of the variety they offer with their first party games and exclusive titles on offer, where as Microsoft only has a vested interest in Halo, Gears and Forza sequels at the moment. The games they have cancelled this gen have been surprising, as they looked to offer the variety that Microsoft's first party offerings have been sorely lacking.

I may not like the Xbox, but was massive fan of Ensemble Studios work for Microsoft on the Age of Empires series and look what they did to them, 2009 realistically Ensemble were at the top of their game, just finished off AoE3's second big expansion not long before and had just put out Halo Wars to decent critical praise and fan fare on the 360, yet microsoft closed them down and I have no idea why, any sane person has no idea why they did that.

I think people on message boards make a bigger fuss out of exclusives.

Truth is I don't think much of the PS/XBox buyer base gives that much of a crap, they are buying those systems for the big gun third party IPs -- your CODs, GTAs, Destinys, Maddens, NBA2Ks, Battlefield, Star Wars Battlefront, etc.

XBox One X will have all of those on top of being the most powerful system by a good margin, those are more key. The price point being a bit high I'd say is the bigger issue, but looks like early adopters are pre-ordering the thing like crazy.

The crazy thing is : I actually got duped into buying an Xbox One BECAUSE I thought it had way more exclusives than PS4

Back in late 2015 I was desperate for games to play, I pretty much had nothing the entire generation up to that point. I switched from 360 to PS4 and I was very unsatisfied with the Playstation 4 as a platform. The third party games just sucked and there was hardly any first party. So, I got an Xbox One bundle in fall of 2015. I got Halo MCC with it, and then got Gears of War Ultimate Edition when it came out. Ironically, I'd argue Gears UE is still one of the best exclusives of this gen. This might have seemed naive, but just look at how much has changed since fall 2015 :

-I thought Crackdown 3 would release 2016
-I thought Sea of Thieves would probably launch sometime in 2016
-I thought Scalebound would come out in 2016
-I thought Quantum Break would be good and exclusive
-I thought Fable Legends would release 2016
-I thought Cuphead would release 2016

To be fair I don't think Microsoft ever hinted or announced a 2016 release for Sea of Thieves, but so much has changed and it's honestly crazy. To be fair a lot of this was consumer ignorance on my part .. but it's just so ... disappointing. 2016 COULD HAVE been the best year for Microsoft exclusives ever.

I think the problem is not just the amount of the exclusives but THE exclusives. Everyone has already mentioned this but at this point Gears and Halo just don't sell the same amount, and a lot of the sales eat into each other : If you play Halo you'll probably get an Xbox and play Gears, if you play Gears you'll probably buy an Xbox and get Halo, the games do not really cater to a separate audience and as such they don't attract different demographics of console buyers.

At this point though, I'm hopeful 2017 will be a great year. I'll probably just by MS games on PC, but it's still cool to see a company put some faith in smaller interesting projects.

Microsoft's big problem is the fact that they have barely any first party studios, and the few they do have are stuck making the same franchise over and over. They've been making new IP's such as ReCore and Quantum Break and others but having the development done by partnering with other teams to make them, which isn't a bad thing by any means since those games can still be good, but still it's not first party studios making them. Killer Instinct, Crackdown 3, etc are first party IP's of theirs but not made by first parties. 

Whatever first party studios they have are just locked down on the same franchise currently except for Rare.
The Coalition - Gears Studio
343 Industries - Halo studio
Mojang - Minecraft Studio
Turn 10 - Forza Studio
Rare - The only studio that is working on an entirely new IP in Sea of Thieves.

It especially doesn't help when they closed down 2 studios, Lionhead and Press Play, last year when they already didn't have many studios to begin with. 

It seems like they keep trying to balance putting out the franchises they know people that play Xbox love and expect such as Halo, Gears, etc but then because of how the few studios they have are working on those, they have nobody else to work on new IP's so they have to make deals with other teams to develop the new IP ideas they have for them. 

They just need to open more new studios and the problem wouldn't be nearly as bad. Either that or at least allow their current teams more freedom to work on other things along the IP's their already working on. I know doing that is easier said than done and even if they were to open new studios this year it may be years before we finally see any games come from them but it's a start at least.

This has been a really bad year for MS exclusives made to look much worse because Sony started the year with Horizon, GR2, and The Show. Before 2017 though their first party/moneyhat exclusive output were very close. I think people make a mug bigger fuss about it online than it is in reality. Microsoft has had many problems this gen, exclusives isn't close to the top imho.

But yeah, more games is always better.

Dont cancel games. Don't announce games early. Build new studios. Create or buy new IPs. Bring back fable. Iff MS does this i'll be happy.

Comparing Sony's first party last generation to this generation shows a difference in quality and quantity. Not what Sony has released has been bad, but besides Horizon, Uncharted 4, Infamous, and Until Dawn nothing has really stuck out. My opinion of course. 

MS closing Ensemble Studios was probably the most head scratching thing they have done. I'm happy Age of Empire is making a return but it would be much better if the original team was together. 

You're right, of course.

Xbox needs more/better exclusives.

The hardware is great, the controller is great, GWG is great, BC is super-great. But in terms of original library the XOne is lackluster. Step into the shoes of a console consumer. He sees two consoles: the Xbox One, which plays his favorite third-party games; and the PS4, which plays his favorite third-party games plus a lot of interesting first- and third-party exclusives. Since they cost about the same, it's a no-brainer.

While i somewhat agree, I also kind of disagree. It's not so much that casual gamers say "WOW this HAS x amount of exclusives and this has y!"

It's more that, the games they want are available on one platform, as well as some exclusives they might also enjoy. I honestly would not be surprised if a dad who barely plays games picks up a console for COD, but then sees Uncharted and picks that up. I wouldn't be surprised if someone that picks up a console for Fallout 4 ends up picking up a PS4 because it also has Horizon. Etc Etc Etc

It's also one of the benefits of making exclusives around single player experiences, because then you're not in direct competition with the third party games that support your console