Is Xbox Game Studios Publishing picking up the right games?

My only complaint is that Ara isn’t on console. /#civaddict

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Sony moneyhats a KOTOR Remake

MS moneyhats Ark 2

:man_facepalming:

I’ve played all the dead risings but i’d say dead rising 4 was probably my favorite. Megaman gun was OP as fuck.

As I said before I didn’t care for death stranding. It seemed to me it was living more on the Kojima name than actually being mechanically fun to play. The early 15ish hours just aren’t fun. It gets a bit better as it goes but it never really reaches some of the highs of metal gear solid series.

Alan Wake I played it when it first launched. I wouldn’t say its unique as it really doesn’t do anything that hasn’t been done before but its a fun playthrough. But I have never felt a desire to re expierence alan wake.

Returnal: I did not like. I did not like the gameplay loop. It never felt fun play. I didn’t like that the weapons gotten was a bit to RNG. Some weapons were much better than others. It was billed as housemarque’s first big step into AAA as they made that big deal about arcade being dead but they then proceeded to make a triple A arcade game with basically the same kind of mechanics they normally do only 3d. I can see why people like it but I also think it gets a bit of a PlayStation bump when people talk about it.

Cuphead was great. The animations were smooth. The artstyle was fun. It was a good run n gun game with sound mechanics and solid boss battles.

I still think my original point stands though that none of the games you mentioned are offering things haven’t been done or extremely unique. They are just games you like and its completely fair to say I don’t like the games Microsoft is choosing to invest in, or there creative people want to make, or the games they pick to come to gamepass.

However, none of the games you mentioned are any more or less unique than the ones you listed. Ara History Untold other than its a turn based strategy game in the vein of civilization series we really don’t know much about it. So I don’t know how you can say it is or isn’t unique. Contraband, all we have seen in a cinematic trailer and were told its a heist game. We don’t know much else.

Saying all of game pass offers the same experiences is just not true. The only way you could argue that being true is if you are claiming every sport game is the same, every racing game is the same, every platformer is the same, etc. But if you are painting that broad of a brush you are never going to find anything unique.

I think it boils down to you are just wanting games that appeal to you. Which is fair but its also not fair to say a game isn’t unique just because you don’t like it. GP is trying to appeal to all gamers just not you specifically. So odds are some games will appeal to you.

Going by the KOTOR remake dev’s previous works, im actually less mad about that than i was previously.

Its interesting to me though how Playstation fans seem to grossly overrate what Sony puts out whether first party or not , while current day Xbox fans are constantly underrating their games. In the case of threads like this, downplaying them before they’re even out or in the case of Contraband before even a drop of gameplay is shown.

Its more than a little annoying i must say.

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Ark 2 will be the bigger game. and can ya’ll wait for gameplay footage before ya’ll start writing games off?

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You cited two games that we know virtually nothing or very few about, I think is too early to downplay them, and both seems to be good. As dusk falls, didnt pick me either so far, but you can’t say it is not unique and im ready to give it a chance. I think this is more about your personal taste than a XGSP issue.

I would so maybe. On one hand they get great games like Ori but they arnt getting games that generate a lot of hype. I’ll look a kena on PlayStation. Game was ok but it was hyped a lot. Maybe it’s Xbox bad marketing but lots of games they publish u don’t even know about. It’s irritating

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Something I think Xbox Games Publishing needs to take advantage of is their IP moving forward. Working to get their IP in development from 3rd parties. For instance, Arkane is chasing their passions, if that means that they arent going to revisit Dishonored or Prey, then make a deal with a 3rd party on a spinoff.

Obviously we all want games like Fallout and Elder Scrolls, partner with someone to make content for those IP. Tactics games, card games, Platformers, 2D rpgs or other genre spinoffs would all advance and expand the IP while not taking Bethesdas precious time.

Thats not all I want them focused on though, as I mentioned I want them going after super ambitious games like Mass Effect, Quantum Break and Titanfall all were. Those massive must have publishing titles that catch all our eyes. I havent seen evidence of these yet (though maybe Project Suerte or Project Dragon can be that). Also they NEED to get a jrpg or two in development via publishing.

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Reading your two comments I am now aware that I made a mistake by calling for a unique game. I meant a game with a big marketing hype that has the chance of being your icon for the next decade.

I made my point. I am going to check out that Xbox Project thread.

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Fans of grand strategy games, co-op action games or narrative adventure games don’t just play one game in the genre and call it a day. They want a regular release cadence of multiple different games in that genre over a long period of time to justify their Game Pass subscription.

The people who are interested in As Dusk Falls have probably already played Life is Strange and Tell Me Why, so those being in the service doesn’t get them to stick around. But a brand new narrative adventure game funded by Xbox, with the storytelling acumen of Caroline Marchal and her team, which also offers 8 player co-op and might appeal to the Jackbox/Dark Pictures Anthology crowd, has inherent value to Game Pass and the people looking for those kinds of games. Plus, I highly doubt that Tell Me Why is the last collaboration between Dontnod and XGSP.

In the case of Ara, I’m pretty sure Oxide Games is founded by former Civilization developers. Having a brand new 4X strategy game which could sit alongside Civ is a huge feather in Xbox’s cap; if it’s a success, it will forever be associated with them and their platform. That’s the value.

It’s why Xbox has so many RPGs in development. They know that a lot of Xbox fans love RPGs, so they can’t just say “we have Starfield so we don’t need The Outer Worlds” or “we have Skyrim so we don’t need Avowed”. They need a regular schedule of games which Game Pass subscribers care about.

Edit: Also, the reason why XGSP signed a lot of big AAA games in the early Xbox One generation is because the first party capacity didn’t exist to make those games. It does now. XGSP doesn’t need to sign giant AAA blockbusters because those are now being made by XGS and Bethesda teams internally, so they have the bandwidth to sign more unique projects that speak to specific audiences. That’s why we got Ori.

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The slogan of Xbox Games Studios Publishing is: ‘‘Partnering with world-class independent studios to create innovative Xbox franchises:’’

In my opinion Microsoft’s in-house studios should be creating the blockbusters (Starfield, Halo Infinite, Fable, Perfect Dark). Publishing and ID@Xbox should fill in gaps in their in-house production line-ups. A strategy like that means a variation of type of games to play.

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Death Stranding is just a walking simulator

Dead Rising is just a zombie game

Returnal is just another roguelike

Cuphead is just another 2-d shooter

See I can disingenuously boil things down too and for the record, some of those games are great, in particular Death Stranding but your arguments of them being unique vs those mentioned dont hold weight

We havnt even seen Contraband, iv never seen a game with an art style like As Dusk Falls and I dont think an 8 player coop game in that genre has been attempted before and I dont know enough about Ara because im not paying attention to it unless its coming to xbox

It’s fine if you’re not interested in these games but saying they aren’t unique compared to those mentioned simply isn’t true

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I don’t mean to be pedantic, but Ori was published by Xbox so it’s first party, whereas Kena is technically an indie game and was just a timed exclusive/marketing deal for Sony. Kena wasn’t first party and could come to Xbox one day. I’m not saying your point is wrong, but Ori and Kena are not the same situation.

And before anyone mentions it, Cuphead was not first party either. It was an indie game and that’s why it was able to come to PlayStation.

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A remake of a game from 20 years ago from a dev that’s not done something of this scale before and previous porting efforts have been questionable vs a sequel to a game that years after launch continues to get millions of players every month and currently just under 150k thousand players right now on steam alone 7 years after launch

Oh yea, tough choice

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This 100%.

They still need more acquisition for japanese content though to have something like FF first party.

And Sea of Thieves :stuck_out_tongue:

360 generation Microsoft was publishing games like Mass Effect which would drive game pass subs if they released today. now they are publishing As Dusk Falls….

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The only game we have seen from them so far is ARA ara ufufu right? Why don’t we wait and see the rest? Pretty sure Jez once said he has only seen/heard of 1/3 of them (or something along those lines)

They are publishing the next best thing to Mass Effect: Starfield and Outer Worlds 2.

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