The problem with Xbox today

Microsoft and Xbox seem to be stagnating in today’s gaming landscape; the cancellation of Scalebound is a substantial loss, one which may shift popularity away from them. They may have recovered from the gimmicks that held them back for the first half of the current decade but Microsoft just seems rather ho-hum these days when compared to the likes of Sony, Nintendo’s push with the Switch and the bigger games on PC. With Scalebound having been cancelled by Microsoft, their overall strategy and direction in the console business is in question. Where are they going with the Xbox brand? Is the system losing its way? Can it last the next console cycle?

1. Integrating too much with PC and Windows 10

As a company, Microsoft is active across computers and the gaming scene so to them it would make sense to pair up their business ventures. However, this may bring difficulties to the Xbox platform. This is a problem that began back at Microsoft’s E3 2016 press conference; just about every major game at the show was set to come to PC as well as Xbox One. They want to target both markets but when it comes to digital distribution, Microsoft has absolutely no chance against Valve’s Steam program, a well-rooted service which has grown over twelve years to become the centre of PC gaming. Microsoft aims to boost its audience and sales while expanding its reach by marketing outside of the console market. But by having few “real exclusives” for its console, ones that require owning the system, Microsoft is slowly killing any reason to purchase its system outside of brand loyalty. Both Sony and Nintendo have always had great exclusives to sell their systems; without these the Xbox brand won’t make much of an impact on the gaming community anymore.

2. A lack of excitement for Project Scorpio

Announced at last year’s E3, Microsoft’s next system is set to be released by the end of 2017. It’s promised to be the most powerful console ever made, rivalling the best PCs on the market. But with the way Microsoft is going, will it really be the system to plant them back on top? The Scorpio is releasing very late in the current console cycle, almost a year after its biggest rival, the PlayStation 4 Pro. It will also be in competition with PC hardware which may well progress and update beyond its specs from 2018 onwards. Add to this the previously mentioned problem of Microsoft releasing across console and PC and we may have a powerful system with little to no incentive for purchase. Phil Spencer and company haven’t said very much about how the Scorpio can stand on its own, making a case for why we should buy it over both a PlayStation 4 and top-range gaming PC.

3. The continuing fallout from the Xbox One launch

The recovery of Xbox’s brand image has been a slow, drawn-out process; rarely had there been such a tremendous backlash against a tech company back in 2013. Treating customers with such contempt left Microsoft floundering at the start of the eighth console generation. It then took them several years to switch around their leadership, retract their controversial policies and last, but certainly not least, ditch the Kinect before they could finally get back to focusing on games for their system. Phil Spencer has been doing his best to repair the damage but there’s only so much he can do when the system, in the eyes of some people, remains a shady, corporate machine designed to separate them from their money.

4. An insistence on continuing franchises with unremarkable entries

When looking at its time in the current generation of consoles, Microsoft’s focus has been tailored towards ensuring profitability. To do that, they wanted to keep their franchises going, rather than investing in new ones. Halo, Forza and Gears of War are its three heavyweights and while Forza Horizon 3 carried on the series in a deep, detailed way, Halo and Gears of War have been slipping from their once lofty perches. Halo 5: Guardians is widely regarded as the weakest mainline game in the venerable shooter franchise whereas Gears of War 4 stood out as unremarkable, not doing enough to push the series forward on new hardware. Even Dead Rising 4, another timed exclusive for Microsoft fell short last month, marking itself as a title that veers far from what made the first two games successful. On top of that, the way Microsoft has handled its biggest IPs has been rather controversial with microtransactions sneaking their way into all three franchises. It’s off-putting for long-term fans of franchises when you surprise them with options designed to take more of their money after the initial purchase.

5. Not taking risks with developers and flopping IPs

How long has it been since Microsoft produced a proper exclusive system-selling franchise that really shows off the creative talent of the Xbox brand? Arguably not since Gears of War was launched back in 2006; the company just hasn’t been able to rekindle that flame, a series that really takes the gaming community by storm the way Halo did with the original Xbox. Buying up exclusive deals hasn’t been the best move to take; with their purchase of Rise of the Tomb Raider exclusivity back in 2014 and more recently Minecraft, Microsoft sticks out as a gaming corporation very reluctant to push the boundaries of the industry and carve out a full identity for themselves. 2016 wasn’t the best year for the Xbox One either with Recore and Quantum Break both falling well short in terms of player reception. Microsoft’s fourth exclusive franchise Fable also came to an unfortunate end with the closure of Lionhead Studios and the cancelling of Fable: Legends. It speaks volumes of Microsoft’s attitude towards AAA development when they’re willing to close studios down and give up on games while Sony released The Last Guardian in December 2016 after years of delays and pushbacks.

The reason for Scalebound’s cancellation remains vague but it stands as a massive disappointment; alongside Sea of Thieves it was one of the biggest games coming up for Xbox in 2017. What happened? Did Microsoft and Platinum Games have a falling out? Was the game not running well on current hardware? Or was it not going to be profitable enough, considering Microsoft’s failed console ventures in Japan? Game director Hideki Kamiya has been known to want complete creative control over his team’s projects and arguably the most likely reason is that development problems and friction arose between developer and publisher. Kamiya himself said that he didn’t like how Microsoft had been marketing Scalebound towards the end of 2014.

Ultimately Microsoft needs to find their way out of the rut they’re stuck in or they might end up bowing out of the console business; they certainly have decent leadership, but their choices regarding game development and intervention as a publisher need rethinking in the future.

(Images in the public domain used for the purposes of review and criticism)