The Real Problem with Xbox First Party

This is another great point. People forget that early PS4 was light on first party games for Sony. But now, their studios are on their second go around, making sequels to the big PS4 games using already established tech and assets. Xbox’s studios are a phase behind in this regard because they only started acquiring studios in 2018, and most of them had preexisting deals and games to see through.

3 Likes

Because those are PS4 games and it shows. After ratchet and returnal flopped Sony reversed course hard with a massive 180 and will be doing cross gen for many years to come.

1 Like

I highly doubt Spider-Man 2 or many of the big hitters will be cross-gen again, especially as PS5s continue to get out there and Xbox starts putting out next gen exclusives.

I could think of worse things than having a few God of Wars or Horizons on Xbox.

Its not Sony’s first party :person_shrugging:

1 Like

They could have released Forza Motorsport and Gears 6 this year if it was just Xbox One X level of visuals to shoot for, both those teams purposefully chose to go full next gen and got a head start and it certainly shows in Forza and UE5s case compared to gt7 and god of war.

I still dont even get why this is a discussion. Sony had a lineup because their games got delayed from last year. Xbox was missing 2 games from their lineup because games got delayed.

As a result Xbox has a lot more games in 2023 then Playstation does. So TC will make a topic about that i guess!

2 Likes

It’s not just visuals, these are game series that were starting to stagnate and get old and they needed proper time to come back and re-invigorate their associated franchises.

We got hive busters, now let them take their time and build something fresh.

1 Like

Exactly. And Sony’s 2021 was relatively light (just Returnal and Ratchet from first party) because Horizon, GoW and GT all got pushed out of it at one point or another. And it was okay because they delivered 2-4 games at PS5 launch the fall prior.

I honestly don’t care that much about visuals, certainly not enough to hold that against a God of War or Horizon sequel. As I have mentioned many times in other discussions, I value other things in games much higher.

I might add I’m not OP and do not share most of their opinons, but I do feel there’s an ounce of legitimate criticism in there.

1 Like

The reasoning is valid as covid happenned and these are next gen only games. Last i checked it still took Sony 5 years to release cross gen games, so seems like an industry norm at this point.

But hey i’ll be pleased to bump this topic in a few months right in the middle of Redfall and Starfields releases asking where Days Gone 2 and Death Stranding 2 are…and why after 7 years dev time Last of Us multiplayer still isnt out.

1 Like

I highly doubt it’s been 7 years of dev time. I doubt they REALLY started proper development of what Factions became until after TLOU Part 2 released.

Their last multiplayer game was Uncharted 4. In 2016…which was delayed numerous times. For several years they claimed multiplayer was a big part of Tlou2…and a year before release they cancelled it. So its been 4 years since they canned it in the least.

1 Like

That’s fair, but like I said, it’s probably been 2.5 years of actual development with a large portion of the studio behind it.

Also, even if it has been 4 years, the game sounds huge and ambitious so a 5 year dev cycle is not unreasonable. It’s speculated to be like The Division, which is a big game.

Well if you want to call them liars thats on you.

Ironically its not huge and ambitious. Its just a multiplayer mode just like you’d find in any other game with multiplayer.

They’ve repeatedly said that Factions grew into something much larger to the point where it’s big enough to be it’s own game. It’s not just 4v4 versus like original Factions was. The concept art alone showed that it’s bigger.

It’s why people saying Halo Infinite had 6 years of development time are incorrect. It had been 6 years since 5, but what became Infinite was only started around 2017-2018 from what we know.

Yep, for me it’s all about quality. I don’t care if games take longer because of that. Would I have liked Starfield last year? Yes, but would rather have it this year. I want the game released when they feel it is ready not rushed to meet deadlines. I am willing to wait for quality.

If that means games take longer and not as many games come out well then MS should just get more studios which they seem to be doing.

They said that about Uncharted 4s DLC. And in the end Lost Legacy was no more then DLC.

Factions isnt some revolutionary massive multiplayer game, “too ambitious” to be included as part of a package.

Its just Last of us 2s missing multiplayer that was scrapped so they could just get the campaign out on time (which they couldnt).

1 Like

We’ll see.

4 Likes

The troll post ignores everything these studios were contractly obligated to complete prior to their acquisition. I posted a clearer look at what every XGS studio has been up to in May and it’s still relevant.

Old post:

All of the below is from 2018 onward as that was when Microsoft finally decided to take the Xbox brand serious.

343 Industries: Released Halo Infinite in 2021 and continues to support Halo Infinite and The Master Chief Collection

The Coalition: Released Gears 5 in 2019 and Hivebusters in 2020. Also collaborated with Splash Damage on Gear Tactics (2020) and The Matrix Unreal 5 demo (2021). Rumored to be working on two projects.

Rare: Released Sea of Thieves in 2018 and has continued support the game, including releasing a story expansion titled A Pirate’s Life in 2021.

Obsidian: Released Pillars of Eternity II in 2018 + console ports in 2020. Released The Outer Worlds in 2019 + two expansions in 2020 & 2021. They also released and continue to support the Grounded Early Access in 2020. Of course, they are also working on Avowed, Outer Worlds 2 and other projects.

Playground Games: Released Forza Horizon 4 in 2018 + 2 expansions. Also, released Forza Horizon 5 in 2021. Currently working on Fable and upcoming Forza Horizon 5 expansions.

Ninja Theory: Released 3 VR titles from 2018 to 2019, including Star Wars: Vader Immortal. Released Bleeding Edge in 2020. Also, optimized Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice for X|S in 2021. Currently working on two projects.

Double Fine: Released Rad in 2019 for Bandai Namco. Released Psychonauts 2 in 2021.

InXile: Released The Bard’s Tale IV in 2018, Wasteland Remastered in 2020 and Wasteland 3 in 2020. Rumored to be working on their biggest IP yet.

Compulsion Games: Released We Happy Few in 2018. They more than doubled their staff and are apparently working on a more ambitious project.

Undead Labs: Released State of Decay in 2018 and continued to update the game until recently. Currently working on State of Decay 3

The Initiative: Currently working, along with Crystal Dynamics on their first project - Perfect Dark

Turn 10: Continued to support Forza Motorsport 7. Is currently working on Forza Motorsport 8, as well as upgrading the ForzaTech engine for upcoming Forza and Fable titles.

6 Likes