Xbox Achievements: "At E3 in 2014, Microsoft took to the stage to announce the future of the Xbox One - it was a conference designed to excite, to intrigue, to lay out Microsoft’s plan for console domination. It contained premieres of Crackdown 3, Fable Legends, Project Spark, Phantom Dust and Scalebound. Fast-forward 2 years, however, and the landscape is a very different one. Of the aforementioned 5 games, 4 of them are dead in the water, and the other one… well, who knows when we’re going to see it? Microsoft is clearly facing its biggest challenge since the botched launch of the Xbox One: making the Xbox One a relevant platform for gamers."
Moiz from eXputer: "The constantly challenging nature of Balatro makes it an unforgettable experience and a delight for Poker enthusiasts."
Get a sneak peek of Hades 2's exciting new features and magic mechanics in our latest preview.
Spiders, spiders everywhere.
Xbox One is already a relavant platform for gamers
When Xbox sites are writing this, you can no longer dismiss it as "haters gon hate".
Microsoft closed 8 of their first-party studios/projects in March last year.
That was an early warning sign that a lot of people, I noticed, ignored completely.
Scalebound was cancelled and loyal fans are wondering why a fuss is being made now because of that one externally developed game. Well, that's because when you put this information into perspective and look at 2017's lineup of exclusive games on the Xbox, it's not a pretty sight. Not for a platform holder going into its 4th year on the market. They certainly aren't going to want to market this as the "worst lineup in Xbox history" but they'll do what they can with Scorpio's strengths this holiday.
Microsoft's problem though, is that they have downsized and cut away a large force of their internal development and now rely on third-party for exclusivity more than they did already. Now, the games that you might have expected to see sequels too from early in the generation (Sunset Overdrive, Ryse) are not getting sequels because MS doesn't want to make it happen and those teams will not work with them again. The same will be said for Quantum Break and whatever team was working on ReCore. If Crackdown 3 is coming out this year, then they need to do SOMETHING with it cause we've seen what amounts to nothing and the beta was supposed to be last year. Sea of Thieves is looking increasingly more likely to not release outside of open beta this year. Another Forza game is expected, but after that.... after the games that were delayed for years from the Don Mattrick era I believe... are we seriously expecting crazy amount of AAA exclusives to fill the void outside of Halo/Forza/Gears?
MS is putting all their hope at Scorpio.
MS knows what it is doing. Play Anywhere, UWP, and Scorpio are all part of a master plan and not just a knee-jerk reaction to the PS4, as was the closure of a number of first party studios. I'm not sure what the plan is, but companies like MS don't make major decisions like these without one.
They've allocated too many recourses/money to Scorpio.