I mean something more like FF and make that exclusive 
because are they suddenly going to have a change of heart on a franchise I loved so long. Sure they have Fallout and TES but I could easily see them dismiss it because how long ago that was and people have lost trust in Bethesda. Not saying those IP can’t be something like what I was say it’s just people again can easily hand wave those because they’ll just say shit like look at F76 and probably Redfall now.
I think you’re underestimating the popularity of Fallout and TES.
Especially if Starfield is as good as we hope it is, it’s going to raise up the hype for those games into another sphere.
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I think you’re underestimating the industry pundits look I know there big IP and love by millions of fans but I’m more talking about what the podcast hosts, reviewers and bloggers are gonna do, I hope I’m wrong.
I ain’t saying the games won’t do well, I think the opposite and even if they score well I don’t know if we’ll see the gushing over the game that we do over certain games.
Maybe I’m totally off base and TES could be that I just find it hard to believe or wouldn’t be shocked if it wasn’t. We can come back to this in 15 years time when it launches assuming the planet is still here haha.
Yeah I think lots of this is true. I don’t think its a massive conspiracy but there are a number of factors that drive it.
Halo is actually one. It was the BIG Xbox game. It was the game that essentially everyone wanted to play (Sony did not have equivalents at the time that were as significant or important or just as mainstream as Halo - so that even with a small install base on Xbox Halo permeated well beyond the sphere of games in the way fortnite does today). It was huge. And Bungie with it. They made three games and as the last one released we hit COD on console. And that completely changed the game. COD of course was primarily Xbox associated too at the time and swallowed up the FPS market and that mainstream and casual conversation.
Why does that matter now? Because Halo dropped off from its peak (mainly thanks in fairness to COD and other FPS games) and many of the people in the games industry in journalism roles now are the very sorts who probably disliked the idea that an FPS game and then COD became industry pillars. Probably the sorts who stroked their chins and thought gaming was better than that…
Secondly it Halo also holds Xbox up to an impossible standard. You simply cannot always have those transcendant hits. But as its the only real one xbox has had it becomes the standard to which they are held. Everything has to be ‘that big’ or it doesn’t count. But its not really in Xbox’s control to do that and the more you try and make something that the less likely it is to be that.
Thirdly through a series of unfortunate events Halo has become the poster boy for saying that the problem with games on Xbox is not anything beyond Xbox itself. Halo ‘failed’ cos its tied to Xbox. And Xbox can’t make great games. But the fact is Halo was never going to be the same the moment COD hit. And sadly that tied into Bungie pulling out and MS needing a new studio. A new studio making a massive game that suddenly is in a new world with a genre that’s rapidly being redefined and every major publisher is chasing the $$$ for similar games…in hindsight that was always problematic.
Finally I do think the thing is also that the writers and commentators of today who had consoles back 20 or 30 years ago will have had fewer Xbox’s have less love for Xbox and also have those childhood memories on PS and Nintendo and even Sega systems that are all Japanese, not Microsoft and all grew up during the ‘MS are horrible’ years. Their views like many will be distorted by their experiences. I know a few in the UK who all had 360’s covered Xbox during the time but absolutely hated the brand and only covered it because the market dictated they had to!
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I mean you might be right there lol.
The industry pundits, podcasting and reviewing sphere might be a completely different scene by the time TES6 comes out lmao. The people leading it might not of even been there for the whole Skyrim era, kinda surreal to think about lol.
With regards to your Halo point, I agree. In the first 2 weeks of the game, the podcasters and industry pundits really tried to love the game. I could hear it in their voice but alas, the nostalgia aspect just isn’t there anymore, not like how it used to be.
The silver lining in all of that is, Xbox isn’t Halo anymore. It can survive with or without it.
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Yeah I agree with this, like you said I don’t think it’s a conspiracy the industry hates Xbox because they love Nintendo and Sony. This is just a natural thing for companies who are the early adopters to a market, people grew up on Nintendo and Sony and by the time Xbox came in there was an already loyal base worldwide.
If we look at it in the phone space, for me iPhone was my first smart phone and every single phone after that was an iPhone and there is probably nothing Samsung can do to make me buy their phone and it’s not because I think Apple are better than them it’s just they do everything I need to do and I don’t see a reason to change. This is the same sort of think Microsoft is facing and ties into the comments Phil made about XB1 gen being the worst to lose because of digital games.
What Microsoft should try and do is get the next generation on board, if Microsoft can go for that audience it would be smart because they can start to grow the same sort of fans Nintendo and Sony have.
TES VI will be out way, way sooner than 15 years. Their usual dev cycle is 4-5 years. I’m expecting TES VI in 2027 or 2028, just before the end of the generation (New Vegas 2 from Obsidian around that same time as well).
Fallout 5 in 2032, Starfield 2 in 2036 etc.
Don’t think anyone has lost trust in Bethesda at all, that’s the narrative being pushed online in the twitter spaces and Sony sites as people are pissed they aren’t getting Bethesda games anymore on Jim Ryan’s plastic monstrosity. They are trying to downplay the game as much as they can in hopes it won’t catch on and sell badly and be able to say “I told you so” but we all know the game will do great for Xbox and will sell gangbusters on Steam and will hopefully win some GOTY awards.
Having a new ES6 announced for next Gen honestly as an exclusive launch title would probably cause riots as the amount of people that need that game is HUGE! How many Final Fantasy games do you know have sold as much as Skyrim?
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I disagree man. Bethesda’s name was really in a bad place, not as bad as it was in 2017-2018 but they’ve lost alot of trust with it’s fanbase.
This was happening way before MS bought them. The hate has died down since but the stink is still there around them. Starfield for alot of people is a prove it moment for Bethesda.
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Was more of a tongue in cheek joke haha
The thing is the Sony sites and Twitter fanboys pretty much control the conversation online and it’s why there is always negative headlines because it makes sites money, gets Sony fanboys to click to dunk on Xbox fans and Xbox fans to get angry at the article.
I do agree that all this bs can be pushed online but still the games be huge hits because just look at High on Life that broke through all the noise and was trending on TikTok, which is a good point in saying it’s cool to see Xbox quite big on TikTok.
ES6 would be insane as a launch title, could possibly be the biggest launch title ever and if it’s good then that could break all the minds of people to buy an Xbox.
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I expect Xbox will have a lot of great games this gen, I’m not sure if it will ever be enough to change the narratives we see online because once narratives are set they can be hard to break no matter how stupid they are
If it doesn’t, the silver lining is as much as people are getting tied to eco-systems, new gens are a decent reset point and Xbox was doing extremely well before 2022 went to shit for them with all the delays and seemingly terrible X stock and that was after a pretty damn bad XB1 gen
and launching a new Xbox alongside ES6, it doesn’t get much bigger than that
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Fair enough, haha.
This would be insane but I still think the game will be ready before then. I think it’ll be like TLOU Part 2 or something where it drops in the final year of the generation (plus then it can get next gen updates etc).
I also think they will want to avoid a Halo Infinite situation where they are relying on the one huge game for launch and then if something goes wrong it ruins everything. Better to have TES VI out 6-12 months before the end of the gen and start next gen with 2-3 “smaller” AAA games.
Bethesda games are more popular in the west than FF games. I feel most of the sales for Final Fantasy games were made during the SNES to PS2 gen. If you were to look from 360 to now then it’s clear that Fallout and Elder Scrolls are much more popular than Final Fantasy.
Also, I don’t even think its a bold statement, but if Microsoft were to do a remake of Oblivion or Morrowind it will sell much more copies than FF7 Remake. I feel those Bethesda franchises are one of the strongest franchises in gaming. The only issue is output leaves more to be desired since they take long to make
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I hope Todd is grooming multiple successors lol. We’re going to need it. I can’t see Xbox being satisfied with these games taking 10 years to see a sequel for each franchise.
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It must be pain tbh. You’re sitting on a goldmine of franchises, but have to wait for Todd. Business wise I would try to pump spinoffs in between these games or even remakes. I think waiting 7-10 years for new entries is insane when you know spinoffs or even remakes will move a ton of units
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Final Fantasy isn’t too great in that regard either, at least when it comes to mainline titles
but yes, BGS titles are magnitudes more popular than FF, has been since Oblivion, even in Japan those games do pretty well I believe
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I think if ES6 is ready before next gen by like a year or two they should hold it for next gen but then again it could be just as good if they launch it a year before next gen to build up hype, this is why the team planning out the future releases get paid the big bucks haha.
I don’t think you want to dilute the franchises, though. Having a BGS franchise every single year does not make sense. They need to remain event games.
I’m sure they can get the development time down as BGS expands, and if teams like Obsidian and inXile want to chip in every now and then. But it’s not feasible to have all three franchises in development at the same time. One of them is always going to have to be on the waiting list, and I think that’s okay.
We had two Fallout games last gen and no TES or Starfield. It’s Fallout’s turn to wait.
Yeah, that’s true they’re similar in that regard, but I feel they at least leveraged remakes to make gap between titles not that bad. They’re also rumored to remaking another FF entry. The mainline Final Fantasy have been a bit shaky since 12 among fans. I feel each entry after 10 for mainline games has been polarizing.
Ok probably bad example what about if they bought from and made their games exclusive or Capcom with RE. 
Pretty much any game that is loved by everyone that couldn’t just flip their mind because it’s Xbox exclusive that was my whole point.
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