Over the last few six months of so, the world of Xbox has seen quite a few changes. Need a refresher? Here it is:
- Microsoft announces a very necessary monstrous financial hit in a effort to once again “enhance” its warranty services for the Xbox 360 to combat an ever escalating rise in “red ring of death” issues.
- Robbie Bach just so happens to sell some of his stock just before the warranty news hits.
- Several days after E3 ‘07 Peter Moore announces that he is leaving Microsoft for EA Sports.
- MGS’s first foray into crossplatform play, Shadowrun, finally releases with much controversy thanks to Fasa’s Mitch Gitelman’s tyrant like responses to less than stellar reviews of the game for not having a single player experience yet still being full priced.
- As rumored for quite sometime, Fasa Studio’s is officially shutdown.
- We learn that Rock Band’s bundle for the Xbox 360 are indeed not going to be including a wireless Guitar, unlike it’s PS3 counter part.
- Activision acquires Bizzare Creations, makers of the (Xbox only) Project Gotham Racing series, despite many hoping that MGS would be the one’s to eventually acquire Bizzare Creations.
- And now, although it is said that no change will likely be seen for the public, Bungie Studios is now a independent company once again leaving many to wonder what’s next for the beloved Halo franchise outside of Halo Wars.
Executives (only one for now) are leaving, boat loads of money sucking “enhancements” are having to be made, studios are closing or side stepping the MGS umbrella, and proprietary wireless licensing cost are keeping the wireless experience on the Xbox 360 locked out to everyone,but Microsoft. In a short question that many are sure to be thinking right about now is this. What is going on Microsoft Game Studios?
Don Mattrick is new to the Microsoft game. His stamp onto the Microsoft Games Studios and Xbox platform have not really been seen yet. Peter Moore’s fingerprints are still seen everywhere. So, here’s the question again. What’s going on Microsoft? There’s no need to panic if you happen to be a devoted Xbox 360 owner, but the question has to be asked.
With so much happening in such a short period of time, there has to be a strategy going on behind the scenes that those of us outside of the MGS walls are yet to see. Strategies of this complexity are often years in the making. Great things are sure to be in the works, but at what point are gamers to see it come to light. At this past E3, nothing outside of a new Resident Evil 5 trailer was shown of whats to come after the break of the new year. We know that Too Human, Huxley, Alan Wake, Halo Wars, and many more are slated for ‘08, but where has the insight on what the big picture is been. At every stop it seems like the ‘08 outlook for the Xbox 360 has been ignored like it’s the plague. Sure, lots of great games are coming all the way up until the end of this year. No one is complaining about that, except for the money and time that most of us don’t quite have, but that’s beside the point when the halls of Xbox are seemingly collapsing under the extreme weight of uncertainty and a whole lot of unrest for Xbox 360 owners and fanboy’s as competitors are forging ahead or are waiting in the wings to regain it’s former glory.
As much as Microsoft will like to put a tornado like force of spin onto the situation, you can’t help but think that something must be wrong with Microsoft Game Studios. Is this something that we all need to worry about? No, but Halo’s first party success can’t be all that the Xbox can live on forever. It’s still a sequel, but Crimson Skies 2 will help Microsoft!
-William “thewilleffect” Bell-
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October 6, 2007
#1
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I think its something to worry about
I´m afraid, Xbox division has all the weapons to win but…they haven´t show much of a sign or a desire of using them.
October 7, 2007
#2
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I have a feeling that a lot of the events that have taken place recently have been in motion for a long time. I think there is just a lot of experimentation going on at MS. They are trying new business models, exploring public reaction to pricing, and generally trying to be unique.
I look on the bright side, at least they aren’t stagnant. The only thing worse than a company shaking things up is one that just doesn’t care about it’s user base.
October 7, 2007
#3
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I think some of the opening questions are worth asking, but at the same time, I do not think avoiding the 2008 questions is really that much of an issue (at least not YET). We’re all already aware of more than a handful potentially major games on the system for next year… why blow that load now when they have stuff like Halo 3 when they can blow it around Christmas or during the year they’ll actually hit the stores?
I think the average gamer is a lot more fickle than the type who reads a lot of these sites and something sitting off a year away isn’t always that exciting. Hell, look at how many people clearly waited for Halo 3 to even think about getting a 360. The point being they only care about stuff when it’s practically in their face.
Compared to their competitors, Nintendo largely hasn’t shown terribly much of note for 2008 yet (aside from Mario Kart and Wii Fit, if you think that will explode). On the flip side we have the PS3 that practically seems to be banking its entire future on next year… but it doesn’t really fix the problem that the PS3 has always seemed worth owning “eventually”.
So I don’t know, I think with what we do know about first party wise, other third party games that seem interesting (UT3, Silent Hill 5, Resident Evil 5, etc.) there’s really not terribly much to be concerned about in my eyes. There was a substantial amount of kind of “sleeper” titles on the 360 already this year and I imagine we’ll see more next as well.