Microsoft’s Mismanagement Of Third Party Studios Will Be Xbox’s Downfall

After the cancellation of Scalebound today, we discuss whether Microsoft’s mismanagement of third party studios will be Xbox’s downfall.

Alright, quick question, what is common between Street Fighter V, Nier: Automata, The Talos Principle, Soma and Valkyria Chronicles?

All these are available or coming soon for Playstation 4 and PC, but not on Xbox one

Another one, what is common between Rocket League, Firewatch, The Witness and Furi?

All these games eventually came to Xbox one but with a significant delay of 6 to 11 months.

Even discounting Sony impressive first party line up of Uncharted, God of War, Last of Us and others, there are loads of games simply MIA on the Xbox one. With this week’s abrupt cancellation of Scalebound, the Xbox One’s anemic line up of exclusives once again comes under the scanner.

X-Origins

The Xbox’ raison d’être was to take on the Playstation. Microsoft feared that consoles would take gamers away from the windows platform and so it built its own console. Despite having unmatched online capabilities, Xbox was too late to stop PS2’s juggernaut. Still, Xbox live was good enough to convince gamers to pay for online multiplayer. Halo became the standard that console shooter strived for.

Learning its lessons about late starts, the Xbox 360 was released a full year before Playstation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii. Despite massive hardware failures, 360’s firmly established the Xbox as a gaming brand. Halo was joined by the likes of Gears of War, Dead Rising, Forza and Fable squeals. Crucially, a number of erstwhile PS exclusives like Final Fantasy and Tekken also arrived on the 360. Things were looking bright. Until…

The Xbox one was announced. The “Xbone” unveiling was an unmitigated disaster. The higher costs, online DRM checks, a peripheral (Kinect) that was always listening, restricted used game sales were all met with outrage. Sony’s PS4 announcement soon after directly mocked the Xbox one. The condensed version of the unveiling is still one of the funniest gaming vidoes I’ve ever seen. Microsoft lost no time in trying to undo the damage – pretty much reversing all unpopular decisions. Kinect could now be unplugged (and soon dropped entirely), DRM checks were removed. Xbox, however, could not shake off its existential crisis. It went from a gaming console, to a wannabe home entertainment center (with features that catered mostly to US audience), and again back to a gaming console. And compelling exclusives were still no where to be seen.

Xbox No Show In Japan

Scalebound’s cancellation also highlights Microsoft’s utter failure to shore up Japanese developers and its inability penetrate the Japanese console market. With Nintendo a distant third, Playstation became the new home of JRPGs and many other Japanese games. Japanese developers seem to be warming up the PC/Steam platform too, yet remain cold and distant to the Xbox. Japanese sales of the Xbox have repeatedly made news in the past – for being abysmally low. Xbox one sales can bottom out in the low hundreds, while Playstation 4 remain above 20,000 – that is as many 100 times more unit sold. This is like a vicious cycle – Xbox finds no buyers so Japanese developers don’t make games for it, which means no interest from buyers.

Scalebound may appear to be the cancellation of just one game, but it also indicates Microsoft inability to get a grip on the Japanese sector. They have likely burned the bridges to one of the most talented developers of the east, and probably alienated a further few.

A Clash of cultures?

What really happened to Scalebound is unknown. Platinum Games may very well have been at fault, given their mixed record with recent games. Microsoft may have pushed the wrong buttons, asking for features that delayed the project. Sadly, for the Xbox gamer, assigning faults hardly brings any respite. Scalebound will never come, while PS4 and PC game Nier: Automata, from the very same developer is well on its way. And the Demo impresses too. Scalebound is just the latest in a string Xbox exclusive mess ups:

• Rare, creators of games like Golder Eye and Perfect Dark was assigned to Kinect for years. Only notable output in the Xbox one Era has been has been Rare Replay – a compilation of previous Rare games.

• Lionhead Studios creators of games like Black and white and Fable was shuttered last year, and Fable Legends was cancelled.

• Halo is no longer the monumental console shooter that decided console purchases. 343 Output has been unremarkable, and in the case of Master Chief Collection’s launch issues, horrid.

• Gears of War 4 is, well more Gears Of War (with micro transactions). Competent, but unlikely to sway consumers.  

• Remedy’s Quantum Break was little more than a peak into the weird alternate world where Xbox TV + games actually found traction. It ended up being a decent third person shooter with lengthy live action cut scenes.

Racing games are the shining light of Xbox one’s lineup. Turn 10’s semi – simulation Forza Motorsports, and the more relaxed sibling Forza Horizon have been a critical and commercial hit, crucial when Sony’s Gran Turismo hasn’t seen a single game this generation.

How Are The Others Doing It?

Microsoft’s competitors seem to taking different approach when it comes to exclusives. Nintendo has an array of established franchise like Mario, Zelda, Metroid that seem to have distinct incarnation in each generation. N64’s Ocarina of Time, Gamecube’s Windwaker, Wii’s Skyward Sword are all identifiable Zelda games yet different enough to keep things fresh. Couple with the occasional new IP like Wii U’s Splatoon, and Nintendo has a diverse, if family friendly lineup.

Sony, on the other hand has great track record of churning out new IPs for each generation of the Playtstation. PS2 had Shadow of the Colossus, God of War, PS3 brought Demon’s Souls, Uncharted, Last of US, PS4 has The Last Guardian and BloodBorne (souls like, but different enough). When we take into account the sequals these game spawned and continued support of Japanese developers (Persona 5 is coming in 2017), Sony’s lineup becomes formidable. Sony has created a talented and stable group of both western and Japanese developers. It really is tough to see much delayed The Last Guardian escaping Microsoft’s axe had it been a Xbox game, or Polyphony (Gran Turismo’s creator) still being on pay roll after falling so far behind its direct competitor.

Exclusives Don’t Even Matter (AKA Console War Is Stupid)

True, a case can be made that exclusives are only for fanboys to debate about. With the inflating development costs of Video Games, most publishers are opting to launch games on all platforms in order to recoup costs. Some of the best game of the era, like Witcher 3 and Overwatch are multiplatform. Even a substantial exclusive lineup will only make a fraction of a console’s game library. A platform without 3rd party support, exclusive or not, is barren – just see the Wii U.

There will be plenty of Xbox owners who did buy it as the Halo/Gears/Fifa/CoD machine (hope you didn’t close the article after the first 2 line), and who are happy with the games they have got. They may not even care for Japanese or Indie games previously mentioned in the article. It is still an uphill battle for Microsoft executives to secure exclusives and bring more games toXbox. Video games take multiple years to develop, and are usually announced year or two earlier. Microsoft has to double down on its efforts and secure interesting exclusives to fill up Scalebound’s absence.

Not All Is Doom And Gloom

Things can change around quickly in the gaming world. The Xbox one’s situation mirrors Playstation 3’s beginnings. The PS3 too had a troubled launch, it was expensive, seemingly had no games. Developers criticized that it was too complex to develop for. Slowly and surely Sony steadied the ship. Price was cut, quality exclusives started appearing regularly, and soon enough the PS3 was on par with the 360. Microsoft has already launched a much smaller, sleeker Xbox one S, Kinect is nowhere to be seen. Project Scorpio, promising more power than the PS 4 Pro might be the spark that fires Xbox back into contention.

Meanwhile the vanilla Xbox one continues to add features. The UI is arguably better than Playstation’s, and updated frequently. Backward Compatibility means effectively getting Xbox 360 with each Xbox One. Games with gold has been praised for giving out better games than PS plus. Sony, enjoying PS4’s runaway success has been accused of arrogance. Acts like severely restricting Fallout mods or barring cross play with Xbox players are hardly endearing. Microsoft also realized the value of it’s sizable Window user base, and brought back Xbox only games back to PC. The past year bought us Recore and (Timed exclusive) Rise of the Tomb Raider, Dead Rising 4. Crackdown 3 and Halo Wars 2 are upcoming titles to look out for. Microsoft just has to make sure that gamers don’t have to miss out on games just because they bought the Xbox One.

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