343 definitely screwed up, but nobody knows the quality of the game. It’s just that MS has no first party games that aren’t already released to market the new console, which is a shame for Xbox fans that want it to sell well. Personally, I’m thrilled Halo isn’t coming out because it will be easier to get the Series X with no showcase games. I need to replace my 1S
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Yes I agree, MS should make games that help the brand. But does simply copying other games really help? I think MS should find their own identity and focus on games their studios are good at. You can’t really force success in a creative field. Some things like Bleeding Edge fall flat, other like Grounded are a surprise hit. So please experiment more. And bring stuff back which gives a genre a different spin. Like 1 vs. 100 the OG Battle Royale.
Let’s say they did. Would it even be recognized as such? I legit feel like when the majority of 360 gamers migrated to PS4 as their first choice console, they decided they were tired of Halo/Forza/Gears and so no matter how great those games were they never had any chance of being as universally praised as a similar quality title on PS4. PS4 fans aren’t going to bother getting hyped up and excited for a game they can’t play.
XGS has made top tier games this gen. It’s just that the PS4 fans outnumber us 2 to 1 so they define what chatter propagates online. That is what causes ppl to view stuff like GoT with such rose tinted glasses imho. It makes pro-consumer moves like GP suspect somehow and offers defense for anti-consumer moves by Sony since ya know, they gotta console warz yo!
This mindset that Sony has untouchable first party is a complete myth. Every cinematic 3rd person game they make gets hyped up by Sony fans treating it like the next TLoU, regardless of how it turns out. There is this cycle of hyping stuff up, being let down on launch, then retroactively deciding it has the best visuals ever even when it very obviously doesn’t.
This kinda discussion isn’t just about irl game offerings or the merits of critical darlings or whatnot. It is about human psychology too and how ppl rationalize their purchase and exaggerate things.
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I should have been more specific with my initial post, I mean top tier games, not just quality as I’d consider games like Battletoads and TMW to be quality titles. Also no, just no, I don’t want MS to copy Sony. While I think they should allow their studios to make visually striking narrative driven action games if they want, especially since it would be a mistake to leave that market to one publisher, in no way am I saying that I want every game out of MS (or even Sony) to be that. Replace just Sony with Sony and Nintendo and what do they have in common? They generally produce polished, very well designed, presentation rich titles that stand above other titles on their respective platforms. 1st party is supposed to represent the best of what your platforms can do and we haven’t really been seeing that from MS and that’s been part of their problem.
Well you seem to have more faith in what they can show this year. IMO IF they could have had any kind of blowout, that should have been during the July showcase.
You’re correct that their games have seen success, I’m happy for the company and teams for that. Many of my responses are to the notions that people in the media have something against Xbox when it should be on Xbox to give these people a reason to talk about the platform. So when people ask why X person isn’t as excited about Xbox, well I’d say that’s more on Xbox than the person in question.
I completely understand and accept that MS doesn’t have anything for launch. I don’t think that’s even the most horrible thing for the launch. As long as they have good games at launch, they have good games. My concern is their lack of content to show in general. They have known about the console launching this fall and they don’t have anything to show off for their 2021 year? Everything they can show is “early in development”? These are the questions and concerns I have.
I don’t mean to frustrate anyone here, I’m just sharing a view to why some may not be as excited for Xbox as many of us here. You are partially right that I am holding MS to a different standard in ways because they have yet to prove themselves in the 1st party space like Sony and Nintendo have. So while I’m sure things will improve from them and we see signs of that already, I’m still waiting for them to live up to the “best 1st party organization” promise. In my eyes, I’m just holding them up to the standard they set themselves up to.
I also don’t care about being piled on. I don’t do it intentional, but my opinion sometimes goes against the grain, so me being the black sheep isn’t anything new. 
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They are, games take time to make though… And acquiring studios of course means something, these studios have good track records.
What? Wasteland 3, tell me why and battletoads are some of the most unique games this year… But you seemed to have changed the goal posts from “quality titles” to critically acclaimed titles.
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I’m not moving any goal posts. Top tier titles should be what 1st party titles are all about. Read what I elaborate further to get a better idea on my point.
Also Streets of Rage 4 is arguably better than Battletoads, Wasteland 3 is a Deep Silver title, and TMW hasn’t lit the genre on fire.
People are wondering why some aren’t excited about Xbox like others here are. I’m just giving you reasons.
Well if your not moving goal posts your viewpoint does keep changing,
It went from
“A consistent flow of quality games”
To
“Top tier games”
To
“What game did they release that stood out from the pack critically”
I just fundimentaly disagree with you or anyone on the quality of xboxs recent titles.
Metacritic scores
Flight sim: 92 Wasteland 3: 86 Tell me why: 79 Battletoads:74
Yes wasteland 3 is on other platforms but its free on gamepass which counts for something.
Its a very good portfolio of games, and we have known for ages that xbox studios need its fables, avoweds, hellblades etc and they are working on them so when people are like “ms have not proven to me yet they can do consistent top tier AAA” its beating a dead horse, and there motives maybe concern trolling or trying to smear xbox.
People make a statement by what they choose to say, even if what they say is legitimate.
For example I can make threads, memes, blogs etc about the PS5s weaker hardware and put a negetive slant on it, and while everything I say would be factual what would be the actual goal in doing that?
I dont think Keighley is doing this but reguarding the xbox games debate i would not be surprised if this is some peoples intentions. Im sure there are users with legitimate concerns and desires, but usually they are not framed in a overall negetive way.
Lol
Wtf,. Why isnt showing the picture?
I just discovered you can highlight a portion of a response to quote just that part of it, which is AWESOME! Totally by accident too. 
How about we actually wait to see what things look like in September since we know they had stuff lined up for August and pushed it back due to wanting to has a ‘response’ to Sony…? You keep pushing this ‘they have nothing to show’ angle but are ignoring contrary evidence to that narrative. Sony showed us gameplay for a whopping two 2021 titles (R&C and GT7). MS gave us gameplay for Halo (2021 now) and showed us in-engine trailer for Forza which is almost guaranteed to be 2021 too. They are both gonna hold back til a bit later to show too much 2021 stuff. Neither have shown jack shit for launch here in 2020. That sucks all around.
I just feel you are ignoring the reality that all AAA pubs/studios are holding back showcasing stuff due to COVID complicating things. Doesn’t mean the games won’t be great or arrive on time. Just means they aren’t ready to show off yet. Be patient. I’m sure we can all think up lots of ways for MS’s marketing to better service for the platform and studios the team there has put together. But let’s at least let them show stuff first to see how things go in September. If they show a bunch of great looking stuff this coming month than none of these concerns matter anyhow.
Thing is I’m not trolling or trying to smear Xbox. Also top tier games and games that stand out from the pack critically is the same thing.
Put it this way. Set aside your personal opinion of MS, Sony, and Nintendo games. Do you really think MS has measured up in this department? They may after time and I hope they do, but as of right now they haven’t. So I’m confused why some question the lack of media interest in the platform.
That is very fair and I really hope they come out swinging next month. They better because it could be their last chance to make a strong impression. I just want them to do better because every gamer that supports them deserves it. Until they can consistently prove to release top tier titles, I’ll continue to have a critical eye on their approach and I’m looking forward to when I can have the same confidence in them that I do in Nintendo and Sony.
Also please keep in mind that my comments on their current output stemmed from someone asking why Geoff seemed disinterested in the platform. If MS provided an awesome gameplay demo of a high quality game like Perfect Dark for example, I’m sure Geoff would have been more pumped.
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I never said you were trolling or smearing xbox
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Top tier games and games that stand out critically are not the same, eg sea of thieves is a top tier game for me, I had just as much fun and spent more time on SoT then tlou2,gow , gears 5 and Spiderman combined. Yet it got reviews in the 70s.
Do I think ms has delivered in games this gen? Well thats a different topic, but your further divergence from the topic in hand is puzzling.
If you want to deflect from the topic at hand I really dont see the point, maybe you’re building to a point, but how am I meant to know that?
But what I think your point is, is that for some people and maybe your own opinion that Microsoft have not yet proven they can deliver multiple top tier AAA games that get a 85+ metacritic, and buying several devs and announcing several AAA games is not enough,
I get that, but it does not make much sense because if you apply that logic then you could apply to all game line ups, why do people think horizon 2, rachet or Spiderman are going to be great AAA games? Because of track record? Well ms devs have a very good track record too. And then comes the whole conversation on reviews scores, games like fall new vegas may not review as well as a god of war or last of us, but to many games new vegas was the better game and just as “top tier”
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On one side I think that GaaS games should be re-reviewed, maulybe on an annual basis. On the other hand, I don’t think the original review should automatically be dropped because a publisher/developer should receive lower scores if they launch a game that is buggy, unfinished, or lacking content.
Regarding my point, I thought it was clear that I’m saying the reason why people like Geoff may be less interested in Xbox right now is because of their current output.
Oh I agree that there needs to be some big, visually striking narative games and I seriously think we will get that. MS knows where they are lacking it’s why they picked up studios like Ninja Theory which could tick all the boxes. I feel like Gears could be this too, I think MS should split Gears SP and MP and have the MP as a GaaS but release big 30-40 hour campaigns every few years. They could also do big MP updates when the new SP game drops to keep it inline story wise.
There’s 1 thing MS has down perfectly is choice and variety, they just need a few bangers to get people talking about Xbox and be excited. Put it this way I have a LOT more faith in this upcoming gen than this gen (though I wasn’t too displeased with this gen).
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Review scoring is a tricky topic. For GaaS, I’d disagree with you since in principle the purpose of a review is supposed to be to offer gamers feedback for games they are considering buying and the state of the game day 1 is not relevant at all to a customer curious about a game a year on. There is no purpose in retaining the original score since that is not the state of the game when the gamers is considering buying it.
Geoff actually explains his thoughts in the interview and it sounded to me like it is less about individual games than it is about the ‘direction’ Xbox is headed. He seems like he wants to cling to the trimmings of what console warz can reliably bring out in these companies. What annoys me in that sense is that he has a complete lack of imagination there. MS just announced Avowed, which sounds like the perfect kind of title by a studio who had just walked away with lots of awards at Geoff’s own show not long ago. Obsidian has never once been given a real, AAA budget for a game and yet they still have always made incredible, top tier titles in spite of that. The main flaw in their games is always the tech which is something fixable by funding. To me, that seems like something Geoff shouldn’t discount.
Fable is also from a studio who has had hit after hit after hit with amazing depth to their games, amazingly fun gameplay and gorgeous visuals. If these were PS5 games Geoff would be talking about how they demonstrate Sony’s commitment to traditional gaming experiences…but coming from Xbox seemingly makes them ignorable somehow.
I bet what The Initiative cooks up will be similar too. And so is Forza. And so is Everwild most likely. And so are other games XGS has in the pipeline. These sound to me like the natural progression of standard gaming experiences, potentially extended in their tech base using next gen features like ML and the cloud, etc.
I don’t think when you drill down to it that the real issue is the games, nor the output of these studios. I think the issue is that there are biases here that are not intentional or in bad faith, but are also not at all interested in holding these companies or their studios to any sort of common standard. If I own a PS4 and am a huge PS4 fan then I’d want PS5 to dominate and I’d want to give all its games the benefit of the doubt and I’d want to be skeptical or even cynical about the competition since that keeps my life simple. I think that is what is at plat here more than anything.
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I completely understand why Keighley and others are saying what they are saying, im saying they are wrong and have given reasons why they are wrong ive not seen any decent arguments refuting my points.
Keighley does not lack imagination he is simply ignoring reality, as you mentioned ms have announced several AAA (fable, avowed, hb2 etc) Theres no ifs or buts here, Keighley is just wrong here.
What might be a possibility is that he has not expressed his thoughts well, maybe what he truly feels is that he has seen more cool stuff that he likes from sony therefore he is more hyped for sony.
I do agree xsx gameplay of fable, hb2 or avowed would help a lot, but it does not really change the strategy and direction ms want to take xbox. It is clear xbox are working on top tier AAA games.
At this point, Microsoft shouldn’t be working with him at all. Considering he has been doing the game awards, etc for years, knows how to do put on a show, etc. his pre show for Xbox’s games reveal was the least professional thing I’ve seen in a long time. 20 youtubers hired seemingly to shit on Xbox and it’s games for an hour.
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I couldn’t disagree more.
2020 was packed for me precisely for his management, and I doubt they will drop the ball in 2021.
And just like this year or last you can bet their big games will be among the best on a technical level.