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DJjazzyGETH on 10 March 2017
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method114 said:
DJjazzyGETH said:

It's strange though, Microsoft's recent slowing of releases suggests otherwise, as you'd think they were ramping up for a new gen like Nintendo always seems to do. The future slate for Xbox looks absolutely dismal, but maybe they're holding on to announcements for E3 when the shades get pulled on this whole ordeal, or maybe there just isn't enough interest within the heads of Microsoft to keep going on in the Sony-dominated traditional platform scene. This will be a very interesting year to watch for the dynamics of the big two, as Sony will be quiet on hardware for a while, but guns blazing on software. My prediction? Scorpio will sell decently with a much more targeted marketing strategy than Sony ever seems competent enough to do, but won't turn the tide without exceptional software. Sony has won this round, it may be smarter for Microsoft to rebrand for whatever's next.

Not sure what MS can do at this point. The only thing I can think of will take years to implement and that's getting your own studios like Sony and releasing IP's consistently. Take some chances. One of my favorite quotes from Sony was how They said Uncharted and Last of Us fund all of their other projects that lose money. I love hearing that they are taking chances like that. MS wont do that. They'll find one game and throw out sequel after sequel and not let the studios do anything else. I'm almost positive that's Bungie left cause who wants to do Halo for the rest of their life.

I mean it makes business sense to create two studios that will exclusively work on two of what used to be some of the biggest franchises in the industry, but without the soul of the original creators, whatever Coalition and 343 make will always lack a certain sense of risk and personality. And with their popularity waning, MS basically has two studios that may not be equipped to do anything else. For all the shit that Sony deserves, they seem to know when a series is on its way out, and they put a lot of trust into the artistic direction of its studios (with exceptions of course!)

I think the innevitable end to this is Xbox being folded into the rest of MS's hardware line, basically being the TV desitination for Windows. Will that future even involve big budget games? Who knows, I bet there's growing pressure from the top of MS to abandon ship and pursue more profitable ventures, but we'll see. The Xbox devision has always seemed resiliant in the face of massive blunders.

And before anyone tries, I am not advocating for the death of Xbox, they do bring very valuable changes to the industry, and it would terrible if they lost their footing even more. I'm just not convinced Scorpio is going to turn this ship around.