Spade said:
I don't know why Microsoft is even in the console/gaming business anymore to be honest. I've been very patient with my series x, but I feel like I was lied to. I was given this false hope of a better tomorrow. So far, they have not delivered. Let's rewind to Xbox One reveal. TV, TV, COD, Kinect, Always Online, DRM, Sports, TV, watercooler, get a 360. Arguably the worst of Xbox's days right? Wrong. 2017. Cancelled games, studios, projects, etc. Scalebound, Lionhead, Fable Legends. Even before then, Halo 4 was the last game of the 360 that year, they put out nothing else... This shows that historically speaking they do not deliver when push comes to shove. They rest on their laurels, Halo, Forza, Gears; all three are currently in a massive decline. Halo, not even going to mention the problems with that. I'd need another 3000 characters probably. Forza is the same racing game with prettier graphics, yawn, and again, Gears has not been good since 3. Judgment terrible, 4 and 5, no real impact and dead player based games.
Looking at their studios they currently had were abysmal. They had 5 studios, mostly all on the decline. Halo has never recovered since Halo 3. Gears of War has never come close to its glory days since 3. Fable, still dead at the time. Forza Horizon? It's the same game with a new coat of paint. Motorsport has gotten progressively worse with microtransactions as well. Minecraft, they can't take any credit for that as it was already created. And MS just bought them out, shocked. Their other studios like Rare putting out SoT, arguably their worst game. Sure it has done well numbers wise, but that's because of PC.
Then you fast forward to the false good years I'll call it. All those studios they bought. What have they really done since? Obsidian. Grounded and Pentiment are small games with no real impact. Where are the AAA games from them? We are still waiting for Avowed, and ToW 2. Ninja Theory still working on Hellblade. I remember Xbox fans trashing games like Uncharted, but they seem to love a walking sim like Hellblade? Hmmmm. Compulsion hasn't done really anything of note, Inexile another one stuck in limbo rumor-ville. The Initiative ended up being a lazy studio that has to hire outside help. Double Fine nothing new, Psychonauts 2 has no MS credit. Undead Labs, still making glitchy broken game and still no word from SoD 3. Perfect Dark and Indian Jones have had no real substance in a long time, except fake news from journalists pretending to be insiders.
Then they bought Bethesda.. and what have they done since. Starfield delayed, mixed messages on exclusivity. They've pretty much rode on the success of their MMOs for player count alone... Using that player stat to buff up their investor meetings probably to make them look like they have higher engagement. Arkane was working on a game before MS bought them, same with Tango. So MS gets no credit. They end up getting "cuked out" and have to wait a whole year to even put the game on the game pass. Gamepass... been a massive let down tbh. Low meta, shovelware games. It's even more of a scam that once gamepass runs out, you can't even play them anymore. Like wtf. I'll touch on Japanese support which has been dry as well. Missing games to Stadia ie Trails of and Ys. Still no FF, and missing a lot of obscure games that just do not get the light of day on Xbox. Redfall another delay that looks like a bland co op Back 4 Blood clone. A bunch of 2nd party games from mid studios like Avalanche. Only good thing about Contraband was that song in the beginning. Nothing else shown either. Insider rumors on 2nd party games from IO as well. 2025 and beyond. I don't know what I'm doing in 37 hours, let alone 2025 for Project Dragon???. More rumors which end up being fake from games years away. This is MS' problem, they show these games so early and then have nothing to show for it and base hype around those rumors.
2022... Literally the only good part of 2022 could be argued was January. When they announced the purchase of Activision. They wasted billions on mobile gaming which does nothing for Xbox, COD which will remain on PS unless Phil lies again (FF 14 anyone?), COD support studios that haven't produced in years. Activision/Blizzard themselves which are a PR disaster that already happened. Mixed messaging on exclusivity as well. Is it coming to PS or is it not? Billions of that money could have been put into making their own studios. What tastes better store bought tomatoes from like Dollar Tree, or home grown delicious, ripe, juicy tomatoes that were made by yourself. The answer is obvious. Gamepass releases have been a disaster, as well as delays as well, which have plagued Xbox in 2022. 2023 doesn't look much better. Starfield will get delayed again and release in a broken state. You're better off waiting until 2024-25 for the full complete edition as well. Redfall and Forza, will have no real impact as well.
All in all, MS has gotten to where they are simply through spending money with no real talent to back them up. Their solution is to sell the people on false hope, waste money on studios because they don't have their raw talent to create things themselves (look at the initiative), and get people to worship false idols like Game pass. the cult of game pass is probably one of the worst things that have come out of Xbox. If any good could come from 2023, it will be MS getting denied their Activision deal, they lose even more consumer trust, and eventually are forced to adapt to change or fade to obscurity. |
