Side Quest, Episode 22: Xbox One's Dire Exclusive Games Problem

I agree with you on the Zelda vs. Horizon issue. I think Horizon was a far better, more well-rounded game, with better gameplay and an actual story. Not detracting from Zelda -- it was a great game -- but I found it quite overrated. Doesn't at all live up to its Metacritic score.

Colin Moriarty

I would actually agree with you. Sales were always pitched against Microsoft from the outset, but they had the exclusives. Then, suddenly, they didn't.

Colin Moriarty

This is all true!

Colin Moriarty

I am an Xbox guy and it has been a shame what has happened to their games. I thought they had a really strong start with games on Xbox One. If you look at the first two years of Xbox One and PS4, I thought Xbox was running away with it in terms of exclusives with games like Titanfall, Sunset Overdrive and Forza. Every fall they would have 3 great exclusives, while PS4 games kept getting delays, or were duds like the Order 1886. But then Uncharted 4 came out, then Nioh, Horizon, Persona, Neir, God of War and Xbox has had basically no response. I play my PS4 way more these days just for the exclusives alone. I love what Xbox is doing with Backwards compatibility, but they really need to invest in new studios and IP, and do it with haste.

Sean McCole

I think another thing about Microsoft’s exclusives is the lack of polish and greed pumped in them. With God of War, Horizon, and Uncharted I don’t have to worry about microtransactions and season passes shoved down my throat like gears of war 4 or worry about half made maps and a let down campaign like Halo 5. Microsoft really dropped the ball. The only games I can say are worth it are Forza Horizon 3, Cuphead, and Sunset which 2/3 can be played on PC.

MeatSpin11

It's a time-and-money game; the sooner they commit, the sooner they will see results. My suspicion is that a lot of this is being solved with next-gen in mind.

Colin Moriarty

If Microsoft is serious about gaming again, it will do whatever is necessary to catch up. I think XOX, Backwards Compatibility and GamePass are huge investments/risks for Microsoft. It's strange that they weren't interested in exclusives after the launch of the XBox One. They clearly were before. Cuphead, Ori, State of Decay 2 etc. were signed before XBox One's release but 2015 they weren't interested in signing exclusivity deals anymore so much. Now however they have already started to invest, funding indie studios and talking to publishers. It'll be interesting to see how fast they can accomplish stuff.

Sebastian Erben

I doubt anyone would argue otherwise; Microsoft has had services and infrastructure locked-down for over a decade now!

Colin Moriarty

I truly do believe that some of the initiatives Xbox One is rolling with now will be industry-standard stuff next-gen.

Colin Moriarty

Why buy an Xbox One when you can play all of their games on PC?

Colin Moriarty

Hopefully, that won't be the case forever. Competition is a good thing!

Colin Moriarty

I feel like it's a ubiquitous product with younger people. I see kids in Santa Monica with Minecraft shirts on regularly, and as there are a lot of tourists 'round these parts, I assume that's somewhat representative of the larger country/world.

Colin Moriarty

E3 should be interesting!

Colin Moriarty

They are doing "fine," but if they're happy with being outsold 3:1 by PlayStation, that should be concerning to Xbox fans. They really need to find an identity again.

Colin Moriarty

I think you're right, in that Xbox's identity is lacking. During the OG and 360 generations, their identity was mature, online play. Now, everyone does that. They never adapted.

Colin Moriarty

They need to have a blowout-style E3, and I'm really rooting for them.

Colin Moriarty

I was comfortable finally jettisoning mine last year. There's so little of interest there for me.

Colin Moriarty

My PS4 broke in February of this year. Just stopped turning on. I'd had it since launch so I wasn't overly pissed. I've been frustrated with most of the decisions Sony have made over the last couple of years, so I thought I'd give the Xbox One X a try. I've been a PlayStation / Nintendo fan for 25+ years, but my first thought upon turning the system on and playing around was just how much better all the services and infrastructure behind the machine are. From simple things like having way more control over the UI (pins, home screen ) to the nitty gritty nerdy stuff I love like game playtime and stat comparisons with friends. Don't even get me started about how much better the achievement system is, automatic competitions with friends for gamerscore and a tracker built into the system are awesome. Its sad to see just how badly Microsoft have fucked the exclusive games up, because in my view everything about the system destroys the competition. Granted with a GAMES CONSOLE its a massive drawback. I'm currently using the system to play the (few) great Microsoft exclusives I've missed and the third party games I missed over the last few years and I'll buy a PS4 Pro when The Last Of Us 2 comes out and catch up on the Sony exclusives. I can't wait to see what Sony do between now and then, because in my view they're currently the lowest value proposition.

Russell Garrett

I just feel like Microsoft lost touch at the very beginning of the generation and has been playing catch up to Sony ever since. Microsoft seems to be making better decisions then Sony now but that doesn't matter to me because Sony's games always spoke more to me(I'm starting God of War today or tomorrow and am extremely excited).

strawhatninja

Watching Microsoft falter has been sad to watch. They had some amazing exclusives back in the day, the first steel battalion for example. Now they refuse to give me, the pc gamer, a reason to buy there console.

Chris B

I purchased an xbox one on day 1 with the good feelings 360 left me. 5 years later my Xbox one is a dusty ruin that only come on so i can watch tv. PS4 games have blown away any need for the xb1. I wish it wasnt the case.

Joey Finelli

The Minecraft thing is really curious. I have to wonder if maybe it's not as big as it used to be? I don't follow the NPDs like I'm assuming you still do, and maybe it's still killing, but with Fortnite and the advent of BR games in general it seems I haven't even heard about Minecraft in ages.

hugplx

I have been looking for a reason to buy an Xbox One since 2015 and have yet to really find one. I ended up building a small form factor PC (better visuals for less money that an a One X) and other than Sunset Overdrive, every Xbox exclusive I want is available to me, plus Steam and Twitch Prime games... we'll see what the future holds though. I'm excited for E3.

AndyofCT

You are so right it’s frustrating. I have always been a Xbox fanboy, but I have always thought they were a little greedy. I thought it would be interesting to see what Microsoft’s 2017 10k would say about Xbox and it’s success or failure. Below is the portion of Microsoft’s fiscal year 2017 10k I thought was interesting. “Gaming revenue increased $75 million or 1%, primarily due to higher revenue from Xbox Live and video games, offset in part by lower Xbox hardware revenue. Xbox Live revenue increased 17%, driven by higher revenue per transaction and volume of transactions. Video games revenue grew 28%, driven by the launch of Halo 5 and sales of Minecraft..... Xbox hardware revenue decreased 16%, mainly due to lower prices of Xbox One consoles sold and a decline in Xbox 360 console volume, offset in part by higher Xbox One console volume.” It looks like they are doing fine and based on the numbers above they might even be happy, but that’s the problem with Microsoft. They are always looking for low risk medium reward products. Like what you mentioned in the video, Microsoft is not willing to put their necks out there like Sony and try to develop new IP like Horizon. It would be cool if they would take off the tie and start drinking more of Phil Spencer’s Kool-Aid and start focusing on games, games and more GAMES!

Nathan R

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like, at this point, the Xbox doesn't have an identity. The PS4's exclusive library, by and large, has a standard of quality that is almost becoming the contemporary equivalent of the "Nintendo Seal of Approval". As Sony continues to capture a bigger and bigger portion of the gaming community, and Nintendo at the very least has their legacy, IP, and backlog to sustain them, it feels like the Xbox is kind of just scratching its ass while staring at the wall. Does that make sense?

Justin Matkowski

Had a ps4 at launch without even having a tv to play it on for a month. Xbox is still my preferred console. Wish we could of got another Sunset Overdrive but completely agree, sony is destroying on console exclusive gamescom like you say in quality and quantity. Hoping this E3 is huge in announcements of Microsofts exclusive upcoming line up.

Will Caldwell

I'm just sour about Xbox in general. I bought my Xbox One in kind of a two birds,one stone situation. The Tomb Raider exclusive caught my interest and my wife and I loved playing Rock Band as our party game. We had a huge library of downloaded songs, so I was locked into Xbox for that even though my PS4 is my main console. I figured there'd still be a good exclusive or 3 coming out to play. Nope. Tomb Raider still came to PS4, we barely play Rock Band and not a single game has come out that interests me. My Xbox One just sits there doing nothing but being a waste. I still can't get rid of it though, because the second I do, my wife will want to play Rock Band, lol.

Jason Stafford

I really think that the PC-too move is to form a sort of synergistic relationship with Windows, and to recoup development money that's obviously not being recouped on Xbox One itself. So now, they're in a bind. PS5 games will only be playable on PS5. Take it to the bank.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you! Glad you liked it.

Colin Moriarty

The One X is irrefutable evidence that exclusives absolutely do matter. It is undeniably the best place to play AAA games, with a far superior online infrastructure to Playstation (and don't even get me started on backwards compatibility - what kind of ungodly things must I do to play Demon's Souls on my PS4?), but I just can't bring myself to buy one due to the lack of unique experiences. I'm really scratching my head over the decision to make every exclusive available on PC as well....is this signalling a shift away from dedicated hardware to having Xbox as a streaming platform? Will the next Xbox (nextbox?) secede the landscape to the PS5 and Switch/Switch 2.0 and instead focus on Steam's monopoly? Interesting times ahead regardless.

Phillip Guglielmo

Outstanding episode man. I'm a huge fan of Phil Spencer, but they really need to right the ship ASAP because shit's getting dire.

Brian Dewire

People have been saying what you've been saying for years. Before PS4 and Xbox One were announced, the common themes were that console gaming was dead and exclusivity didn't matter. This was certainly the theme with many at IGN. I will never forget that, because everyone who thought this was dead wrong. So, yeah, maybe one day we'll get to that point, but there's a whole new console generation percolating behind the scenes... and so the battle continues.

Colin Moriarty

There's nothing wrong with having a preference. I feel the same way about PS4; it's just welcoming, I'm used to it, and that's where I play. But man, they need to work on their differentiators. As awesome as 360 backwards compatibility and Game Pass are, those are secondary and tertiary concerns to the main point: There are no exclusives. Start there, Microsoft!

Colin Moriarty

It's hard to say. Remember: Mattrick left before Xbox One even launched. So whatever changes they were scrambling to make have likely been ongoing since before launch.

Colin Moriarty

I'm in the same boat; I have two PCs that can play high-end games, and should Microsoft first party actually release something I can't resist, I'll just play there. (You may be misremembering your original Xbox story... Mass Effect was a 360 game.)

Colin Moriarty

Well, revenue SHOULD be up. More consoles are in the wild each and every day. I don't see that as a win for Microsoft, personally.

Colin Moriarty

I'm souring on the Switch a little bit, too, but I knew this was going to happen. It's just sitting there waiting for something to come out that's not an indie game or port of something that's been on PS4 for years.

Colin Moriarty

I agree. What's most fascinating is that PS5 was originally being slated for 2019, and obviously that's not going to happen now (similar to how PS3 was going to be 2005, and was then shoved to 2006). Microsoft holds the cards on when the next generation starts. Their year jump on PS3 with 360 was very important. Will they do it again? They have the most to gain from wiping the slate clean...

Colin Moriarty

Well, this is exactly why I was skeptical of (and against) mid-generation refreshes. What's the point, if everyone's baseline is the original?

Colin Moriarty

See, I'm the exact opposite. I saw my Xbox One sitting there forever, never being played, and finally just gave it away.

Colin Moriarty

It's essential that they do well. I can't wait to see what's what.

Colin Moriarty

maybe im an outsider to the console space, even though we own all three consoles, i dont really game on them, but isnt this a little backwards thinking? at some point these companies will just become software publishers, or people who own cloud services. Thats why microsoft puts their software on PC, besides the fact that with universal windows apps its a low effort way to make money. Also isnt it sorta common wisdom that money is lost on console hardware? they must be now with the increase in memory prices. I fee l like hardware / consoles in this fashion are on the way out.

For non party exclusives I'll always default to Xbox, I just dig the overall layout and Xbox live has rarely let me down - even though some of the latest dashboard "enhancements" have left me more than a bit annoyed. The backwards capability has been another big thing for me. I mean being able to replay KOTOR has been a pleasant experience. What pains me is see the death of studios that I feel Microsoft should have treated better and if they had done so Microsoft would have solid studios producing reliable staples in addition to creative and engaging new IPs. Bungie could have been Microsoft's Naughty Dog but they were turned sour by the demand of constant Halo releases. Bioware is another studio that I feel could have fared better being under Microsoft than EA but the opportunity was missed. I'm really impressed with how Sony applied the lessons learned during the PS3/XBOX360 days to the PS4 to become such a powerhouse, I hope Microsoft can do the same.

Eric Gee

I love Xbox, and Xbox is my main console. My ps4 is for god of war Horizon and such games. But Microsoft really needs to do something about this. I wonder if the Don Mattrick plan that included the Xbox one as a media hub etc didn’t view exclusives as an important part anymore? I just wonder if Phil Spencer started working on this back when he got in charge, or if it’s just now getting started, because then anything new is still years away.

Marius Skarsem Pedersen

When it comes to Microsoft I grew tired of Halo and Gears of War after Halo 3 and Gears of War 2 and haven't played a game in either franchise since. I haven't bought an Xbox one or One X and I sold my 360 back in 2013 when the PS4 was shown off at E3. If I were to ever get back to Microsoft "gaming" - I'd probably just buy a PC (I'm a Mac user) and buy the exclusives on PC while keeping my PS(insert number) as my primary console. story time... I remember buying the original xbox back in the day and my first 4 games were Halo, MGS2, and Splinter Cell, and Mass Effect. A f'in GREAT group of games. I didn't get a PS2 because I was SICK of memory cards and how much they cost after having a PS1 and didn't want to spend money on memory cards anymore. I personally hate deleting saves, I like having a record of all the games I complete. Especially if I 100% or platinum them now a days. The idea that the Xbox came with a hard drive was what sold me to the console but it also had games at the time that appealed to me. Now? Nothing.

Andrew

An interesting thing is that PS4 proved you don't need backwards compatibility, and Xbone proved that if GOOD backwards compatibility is there, then people will use it **looks at PS Now**. Xbox reported an increase in revenue year over year but we (gamers) use them as the butt of the joke. I find that interesting too. They're technically successful money wise, but we see this as a generation with a clear winner (ps4) and loser (xbox).

Owen

Man, I really feel bad for Xbox. It’s crazy how they have the most powerful console, yet there isn’t a first party library for it whatsoever. In my opinion, I don’t even see what the point what of making the One X. They would’ve been just fine with their One S.

Will Hahn

As someone who purchased a Xbox One I can’t help but feel a little frustrated. By making it mandatory for a new game to play on both the older model and the X, MS has stunted the new console. Theyre either going to have to abandon old XB1 owners to make games exclusively for the X or tough it out and start fresh with a new console once the PS5 is released.

Patrick A Crone

Top stuff Colin. Such a roll reversal from the last gen. I’m a Pro owner and am tempted to get a Xbox One but there’s just not enough reasons to. Have to give praise to Sony and how they’ve handled themselves right from the PS4 unveiling.

David Young

The saddest part of all (as I said in the video) is that it'll take Microsoft years to course correct. Xbox One is a wash. Question is, will they jerk the wheel in the right direction for whatever's next.

Colin Moriarty

Agree with pretty much everything. This E3 is extremely important for Microsoft/Xbox

Brett Medlock

I have always been a Xbox guy over PS4, but I haven't played an Xbox Exclusive since Halo Wars 2. Just got an opportunity to play God of War on a friends PS4 and I am sitting here wondering where are the comparable awesome games on my Xbox One. There are none. I still really enjoy Halo, but after Halo 5 left a bad taste in my mouth I don't really have much confidence in 343. It even sounds like we are not getting Halo 6 this year... Glad I have a Switch and PC to pick up the slack.

Carson Smith