The state of Microsoft's 1st/2nd party

[Bitmap Frogs]

DMeisterJ said:
Microsoft is living exclusively off of third-party titles as of late. They have a few first-party franchises, but the majority of exclusivity for MS games is now third-party.

Unlike Sony and Nintendo which are well prepared for the eventual future that third-party exclusives will go the way of the dodo, Microsoft isn't. Hell, Nintendo practically carried itself first-party wise during the Gamecube era, and it looks like Sony is trying to do that this era, given exclusives for the triple are dropping like flies, Sony has made an effort to buy new Studios (evolution), and publish more games (LBP).

The state of the 1st, 2nd party of MS is pretty sad. And the glory days of rare are long gone. PDZ sucked, Viva Pinata and it's sequel, are okay at best, and Banjo: Nuts + Bolts is looking pretty "meh" at the moment. Ensemble is gone, Turn 10 is juggling two games, and Bungie is only cranking out Halo after Halo. how long until that franchise is like Madden?

It's pretty sad, I hope MS learns how to internally develop games.

 

All this first party/third party talk is just a fanboyish argument without any backing besides the interest on hitting a perceived weak spot on MS's strategy.

What's the difference between owning studios that might produce lackluster games that eventually get cancelled losing money in the process (getaway? eight days?) or listening to pitches by developers and cherrypicking the best titles to fund, publish and control the IP. The comparison is indeed slanted (don't bother to point that out) but it highlights that both approaches have strengths and weakness.

Of course, Sony goes for the first party route so the SDF boombox is here echoing the meme until it sticks.