We are at a point where Microsoft has aquired some of the most talented studios in the industry, who also come along with some cutting edge proprietary tech.
Sony has a number of high quality studios, and I would rate their top 5 studios as follows.
Naughty Dog.
Guerilla Games.
Polyphony.
Insomniac.
SMS.
If I was to put a top 5 together for Xbox, I think it would be a little harder to settle on a top 5 than it was with Sony.
I think of the majority of people here would have a similar list to mine for Sony, with maybe a few changes in the order, and maybe swapping out one for Sucker Punch etc.
However, I think the list for Xbox could be wildly different between people.
For what its worth, this is mine.
Infinity Ward.
Playground Games.
Ninja Theory.
The Coalition.
Id.
With Infinity Ward, it could also have been Machine Games and Trayarch, but as Infinity Ward also make the game engine, and create the assets that the others on the COD production line use.
With Turn 10, while they do make the Engine Tech, and alot of the car assets that Playground use, I think Playground has surpassed Forza Motorsport with Forza Horizon, and with Fable I think they have puahed the gap a bit wider.
I do have some smokies that could jump into that list by the end of the generation, and that could be InXile with the stunning looking Clockwork Revolution, and I have a suspicion that when Undead Labs finally reveal SOD3, it could well blow people away.
I think that the tech in Forza Motorsport is quantitatively higher than in Forza Horizon, being the next evolution of the engine. But the overall maturity of the previous Forza tech engine used in FH5 allows Playground to appear qualitatively higher than Turn 10 FM. In other words, it may be better to master completely an “old” engine that to make your artists struggle with a new one.
I regret that Moon is no more affiliated with MS, but I think what they achieved as 2D engine with Ori was magnificient, especially with their Xbox X update.
For sure. I also am looking at what they are doing with Fable. The biggest narrative for Fable after the reveal trailer was wether or not it was CGI. Even when they said it was running on XSX, people still would not believe it.
I understand that the engine was made by T10 that Playground use, but they had to hit the ground running with Fable. They had to come up with all new art assets, animations, fighting mechanics etc for the game over what T10 had put together in the engine for a pure racing game engine.
Fable we only saw a curated trailer. Let us see te consistency through the whole game. Going back to Turn 10, there was discussion about a gap between the original trailer and the final product.
Going just on games that are actually out there and we can judge. My picks would be
id . Doom Enteral. The best demo of raytracing on the Series X with awesome Gfx and framerate.
The Coalition. It still impresses me how good GOW 4 and 5 look even on a base XBox
Turn 10. Forza tech is so good don’t get the hate the game gets.
RARE. The best water effects I have ever seen along with some of the best HDR support.
Ninja Theory. What the team did on a tiny budget and limited resources was a true achievement. So, looking forward to their new games Project: Mara looks almost photo real.
They have a ton of it now. Crazy to think where they are now compared to five years ago.
The big thing for Microsoft now is to make the most of it. I wonder if all studios have the ability to use any other studios game engines for example.
Imagine if you were a studio and decided your next game was a FPS, and you had the choice between Idtech, IW9, Forzatech and even Slipspace to use if you wanted.
If you are using UE5 and have an issue, and you have the ability to contact The Coalition or Ninja Theory to help you out with it.
I think that we saw just how much Starfield gained in its shooting mechanics from the input that id had with it.
There is so much knowledge and Intellectual property within the gaming division, its ridiculous. No other publisher has this available to them.
The other thing that I am waiting to see what comes of it, is the amount of time and resources that Microsoft has been doing with AI and Machine Learning. They are one of the world leaders in AI research, and they put it out many years ago that they were putting work into ML, even showing off upscaling results with Forza Horizon 3. They included the low level Int4 and Int8 in the series consoles, and you would assume there was a reason why.
I think there’s difficulty here though because visual styles also play a part.
For example by best graphics I would assume you mean most realistic?
I personally love what Arkane do with their games and what Tango recently did with Hi-Fi Rush, but despite how awesome they look they aren’t realistic.
If Hi-Fi Rush doesn’t win best art direction at the game awards it is a complete fix.
Ah man, your missing out.
Hi-Fi Rush is probably my GOTY at the moment (contentious subject at the moment with the game awards).
Deathloop was also an incredible game last year.
Although graphics are important, if the gameplay/story isn’t there it’s just not worth it IMO. For example I’d say Modern Warfare 3 is the most graphically impressive game this year but many people didn’t like the single player.
A personal example from me would be The Last of Us 2, the first game was and still is one of my favourite games of all time. They went all out on the second, especially with animations but I found large chunks of that game a absolute chore to get through. I’d rather they had concentrated more on the story/gameplay than the visuals as it ended up being a let down (it’s still a good game).
An another example could be Flight Simulator which can often look photo realistic, but if you aren’t into sims the game just isn’t for you:
My same list, but not really in any specific order. And Asobo, as Flight Simulator is sick. Flight Simulator and Forza Horizon 5 are the best looking games on console IMO.
Was going to add Flight Simulator but since Asobo Studio isn’t a Microsoft first party studio, I decided not to. If/when they become an Xbox studio then they jump perhaps to the top of the list.
