Arguably the publisher with the most to prove in the coming Years is Microsoft Studios. A lot of money is being pushed into 1st party development with Black Tusk and 343i. A lot of potential.
Rare have been more family focused this generation, which I dont like. The Kinect focus took away some of the core focus that the then Microsoft Game Studios had. This worked for the better though, really, as Kinect pushed the 360 into its best Years on the market.
I like Microsoft games. They have been fun and straight to the point. Gears of War as a series had me hooked for Years and Halo is as strong as ever. The problems for me come with the B-Tier MS games. Fable and Forza just dont do it for me. I loved the original Fable, but Fable 2 shook me the wrong way and Fable 3 didnt appeal to me enough to warrant a purchase after a short rental stint. Forza, I dont need due to other racing games covering that "gap". The C-Tier includes Alan Wake, which as far as Im concerened is an under rated gem.
All in all they did a good job over the last 7 Years. Somewhat reliant on Halo and Forza, but then again, why not keep pushing out games from successful franchises?
