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This would have been one of the top sellers of the year. Now Xbox doesn’t really have a big heavy hitter on hand for the year.
Starfield delayed to first half of 2023
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This would have been one of the top sellers of the year. Now Xbox doesn’t really have a big heavy hitter on hand for the year.
What a dry first 2 years of release.
Microsoft is lucky that demand without huge games still can't be met. This is definitely the best time to have no games and delays
Imagine a console with low demand sitting on shelfes with no software to move units.
What's their big holiday game in this case? Forza Motorsport is just racing.
Microsoft is lucky that demand without huge games still can't be met. This is definitely the best time to have no games and delays
Imagine a console with low demand sitting on shelfes with no software to move units.
What's their big holiday game in this case? Forza Motorsport is just racing.
Except that Nintendo has been releasing multiple big games through the year and have a new Pokemon gen for the Holiday season - Starfield was kind the big one for MS, especially since they havent released a lot since Halo last year.
BotW 2 being delayed was always an option since it didnt even have a fix release date - Starfield did and Bethesda in the past was able to hit release dates for their big RPGs once they committed.
Dont know whats going on with MS and these aggressive release dates, first Halo and now Starfield.
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I don’t think Starfield had an aggressive date. It’s an anniversary date, so I’m sure it was planned.
However, Redfall launching so early seemed like a pipe dream to me.
However, Redfall launching so early seemed like a pipe dream to me.
What?? That sandwich looked final! Alpha at the latest!
To be honest, I didn't even know this game was scheduled for 2022.
Anyway, people like to discuss exclusives, and they can definitely move units, but it's really the multiplatform sports/shooty/open world(/FTP?) stuff that sells PS/Xbox consoles to the 'mainstream gamer' audience that constitutes the majority of their users. Well, in America. I can't generalize to other regions.
To be honest, I didn't even know this game was scheduled for 2022.
Anyway, people like to discuss exclusives, and they can definitely move units, but it's really the multiplatform sports/shooty/open world(/FTP?) stuff that sells PS/Xbox consoles to the 'mainstream gamer' audience that constitutes the majority of their users. Well, in America. I can't generalize to other regions.
If Jason Schreier is talking about devs pretty much expecting another Cyberpunk situation because the early release date - that seems quite aggressive to me, Anniversary or not, you have to be realistic based on the current progress of the project.
Seems like the big PR/vital moment during a conference was worth more than letting the game cook more before committing to a firm date. Usually i wouldnt fault them for it. but after the Halo delay i kinda expected them to handle things a bit more...cautious.
PS. Fully agree on Redfall, this never really made sense and the CG trailer last year didnt do anything for me.
They should take the time to polish the game, no reason to rush it out.
I agree. Fortnite, "FIFA", Madden and Call of Duty and similar Sport and GAAS games are the driving force of mainstream sales.
I agree. Fortnite, "FIFA", Madden and Call of Duty and similar Sport and GAAS games are the driving force of mainstream sales.
Damn, now Xenoblade 3 has GOTY in the bag.
On a more serious note, this sucks. I had planned to play this in-between XB3 and BotW2. Now it's probably releasing very close to BotW2 again. As for Xbox' 2022-lineup, that looks bad. Might Halo Infinite-coop be their biggest "thing" this year?
Then again, Sony hasn't been much better. Unless I'm forgetting something big, they only had Horiton 2 so far and maybe there will be God of War in the 2nd half of the year. Seems like none of the two want to inveest too much in 2022. Meanwhile, Nintendo's 2022-lineup is chock full (even if not for me personally) and people barely know where to place certain unannounced titles. Weird situation.
On a more serious note, this sucks. I had planned to play this in-between XB3 and BotW2. Now it's probably releasing very close to BotW2 again. As for Xbox' 2022-lineup, that looks bad. Might Halo Infinite-coop be their biggest "thing" this year?
Then again, Sony hasn't been much better. Unless I'm forgetting something big, they only had Horiton 2 so far and maybe there will be God of War in the 2nd half of the year. Seems like none of the two want to inveest too much in 2022. Meanwhile, Nintendo's 2022-lineup is chock full (even if not for me personally) and people barely know where to place certain unannounced titles. Weird situation.
Absolute disaster for Xbox. They now literally don’t have a single first party title due to launch this year on their own console. It’s very possible that Deathloop Xbox edition will be XBS’ one and only retail 2022 release on Xbox Series X.
This is now the worst first party games drought for a platform holder in the history of the medium; it actually makes the N64 and Wii U first party droughts look positively quaint by comparison!
I don’t even know what Microsoft can even do to plug the gap; it’s not like there’s even much in the way of 3rd party releases to moneyhat this year now.
Satya Nadella must be fuming at Phil Spencer right now.
This is now the worst first party games drought for a platform holder in the history of the medium; it actually makes the N64 and Wii U first party droughts look positively quaint by comparison!
I don’t even know what Microsoft can even do to plug the gap; it’s not like there’s even much in the way of 3rd party releases to moneyhat this year now.
Satya Nadella must be fuming at Phil Spencer right now.
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I guess I just think given Bethesda track record they had intended to do that date. Not to mention they are known for releasing buggy games that the modding community fixes. I mean it’s widely known…
My problem with Redfall is its co-op game but hasn’t gotten a beta 3 months before launch. And the leAked Aloha footage from last year shows me the game needs a lot done.
I have to severely disagree with this claim. Yes, purely by way of 1st-party, it's bad. But unlike N64 and Wii U, Xbox Series still has plenty of 3rd-party games releasing this year, all the multiplatform titles that draw people in. Us enthusiast gamers might feel that this is boring, but Xbox Series is still miles from the Wii U-droughts.
I calculate Satya gives exactly 0 fucks about a game being delayed when the shortages would not have ended before Starfield launched, meaning console sales this year will be pretty much the same without it anyway. If anything, now is the perfect time to delay games.
I meant first party drought, obviously (I’ve since updated that post).
Exclusives matter, especially when it comes to differentiating themselves against Playstation. Game Pass or no Game Pass.
Xbox Game Studios’ overall output quantity is horrendously poor; considering the insane amounts spent on acquisitions and R&D, and the sheer number of studios and staff under their belt. I cannot imagine that Satya will be pleased with how long these acquisitions are taking to bear fruit… and if he is ok with this? Then he is a much more patient man then I am giving him credit for!
Well if I remember correctly, Xbox Game Studios was the highest rated publisher on Metacritic in 2021 with the highest ever recorded average score for any publisher in the history of the web (87).
Also in 2021, two of their new acquisitions put out two +90 metascore games that got multiple GOTY nominations, one of those getting 18 million players in a month and the other being its studio's best-selling game ever.
Apart from that, they put out another +90 metascore game in the form of Microsoft Flight Simulator for Xbox.
Additionally, they put out an 87 metascore game that also got multiple GOTY nominations (including Game Informer's GOTY, The Game Awards' Public Vote GOTY, and IGN's readers' GOTY) and an 81 metascore game that was one of the highest selling games of all year on Steam. The former is the 5th most played game on Xbox 6 months after launch and has player numbers similar to Sea of Thieves on Steam while the latter has an 88% of positive reviews on Steam.
Another one of their recent acquisitions put out a highly-praised game you might have heard of called Deathloop.
So we are gonna have to disagree on the idea that their output is "horrendously poor".
Point is, they'll be fine. Forza Motorsport, Pentiment, As Dusk Falls and Grounded could all launch this year. Plus Deathloop for Xbox.
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Would wait until after their showcase before claiming they have nothing this year.
This type of gap isn't unprecedented. Last year Sony had Ratchet in June then nothing until Feb ~8 months later with Horizon. Xbox currently is Halo in Dec until ? (so far 6 months).
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I expect a release date at E3/SGF but I'm still surprised this wasn't a launch game since they announced it with the Series X.
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GT7 is very big. HFW and GT7 in the same year is already quite big for Sony, if God of War does indeed make it it's one of their best years ever for flagship releases, if not the best.
If Xbox don't announce anything new then yeah it's an awful year but there's still time yet, we'll see.
This news is not unexpected, yes they had a proper date announced way in advance but I don't think that ever made a delay less likely. Most big games get delayed these days if they're not annual releases, so Starfield is no different. I hope this delay means it's going to be really highly polished with not too much cut content, if they're still going to struggle to make it in time and put out a buggy game it will be unfortunate.
I agree. Last year, Xbox only had Halo Infinite announced for 2021 before their summer showcase. After the showcase, they had Microsoft Flight Simulator for Xbox, Age of Empires 4, Forza Horizon 5, Psychonauts 2 and The Gunk too.
There's hyperbole and then there's this.
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I think they intended it to be but then Unreal 5 was announced and they and everyone else wanted to swap to that.
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Hmm, yes, fuming no doubt.
Very surprised by this, honestly expected Starfield to stick to the date… Whatever they need to do to be happy with it, though, I’d rather have a more polished game than not.
I’m sure there will still be plenty to look forward to for xbox, there’s the showcase next month so we’ll learn more then.
I’m sure there will still be plenty to look forward to for xbox, there’s the showcase next month so we’ll learn more then.
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GT7
Horizon FW
MLB The Show 22
Ghostwire Tokyo
GranBlue Fantasy Re Link
Forspoken
God of War
TLOU R/ Factions (rumoured)
Its a huge year for Sony. Would not be surprised if they hit 60-70M games sold in a year
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Nah. They have Forza Motorsport reboot and possibly other games as well.
But they won't have the huge new game.
Can't wait for the "Which will sell more, BOTW2 or Starfield" threads
He talked about 1st-party drought, 4 games of your list are 3rd-party. I forgot GT7, but that had terrible customer feedback due to the extreme mxt shenanigans Sony pulled. And this TLoU is just an updated version, right? So, 1st-party wise, it's not much better than MS's if we assume GoW even makes it. I remember the Switch' 2018 that basically consisted of only Smash Bros, unless you count the bottom of the barrel.
I think in a time where we should have learned that a delayed game will be a good game eventually and where everyone condemns crunch time for developers, we need to accept that years like this happen to everyone, sometimes it's less, sometimes it's more felt. I don't think Xbox will have any issues this year.
Modern Warfare 2 is going to have a home run in November now.
BGS has a lot of choice if they want to keep a symbolic release date for Starfield
03.21, Tuesday (Oblivion release date after it was delayed from November 22)
04.12, Wednesday (International Day of Human Space Flight)
05.05, Friday (National Space Day).
BGS has a lot of choice if they want to keep a symbolic release date for Starfield
03.21, Tuesday (Oblivion release date after it was delayed from November 22)
04.12, Wednesday (International Day of Human Space Flight)
05.05, Friday (National Space Day).
Is that how they decide to launch their games?
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Sayta has been on the helm of a trillion dollar corporation that makes software for a while now. He knows how much time acquisitions need to bear fruit.
As much as the delay sucks, this is true. Theres no better time to delay games than when demand exceeds supply. Software makes more money with a higher install base anyway.
They should hope later years dont end up as dry as this one though.
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I suspect MS is trying to figure out how to get the upcoming COD day 1 on GP this fall. If they do; I really doubt the Starfield delay is going to matter much…
That's impossible because Sony has the marketing rights for this year's COD.
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Marketing rights and GP are two different things though. I’m sure there is something in the legal details but legal details don’t mean 100% impossible.
I mean I never would have though MLB the Show would be on GP Day1. And it doesn’t matter if it’s published by a different company. It wasn’t in the contract they signed. If the COD contract doesn’t have anything about GP in it.
I’ve gotta say, this has some amazing late 90s/early 2000’s message board energy and I’m here for it lol
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Exclusives matter, and Playstation has 5-6. Even if you want to confine it to 1st party only, Playstation has 4 AAA games vs 0 for Xbox from what I see. Its not close.
MS and ATVI act as separate companies till the merger gets approved. There is 0 chance ATVI puts COD on GP, doubly so now Sony has marketing rights.
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Xbox does have stuff coming. Nothing super huge but they do have the Forza Motorsport reboot (though I think its only rumored for this year, we will see at E3), the Forza Horizon expansions, As Dusk Falls, and Grounded 1.0. Maybe some more indie timed exclusives I forgot about.
Its nothing huge, and pretty dry all things considered, but its not 0 lol.
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What part of legally figure it out did you take as “operate as one company”.
Of course they are separate but if it’s not hard pinned then there is legal work around. Right now, both companies are more apt to do that for both their benefits.
Again the marketing rights contract were signed before GP because as big as it is now.
It does matter that The Show on Game Pass happened because the MLB wanted it so, because it's not the same with COD.
Activision has put 0 games on Game Pass because they have a contract with Sony to support PS Now and other Sony services.
Sony's marketing deal with Capcom for RE8 did not allow Capcom to add the game to competing subscription services, mainly Game Pass, until at least a year after launch. There is no reason to think any of their other marketing deals for other games (like COD) do not include this too. I can't think of any game that had a marketing deal with Sony that was added to Game Pass at launch.
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Look I’m not saying it will happen at all. I’m saying that they have to be looking at legal ways to make that happened. And yes MLB wanted it to happen. AB didn’t want it to happen before. They absolutely did not want to rock the boat with Sony. But it doesn’t matter now.
Again it could not happen but my point was they have to be thinking of it, so don’t rule it out.
As far as marketing deals with Sony, the thing is games going day one and being AAA are pretty new. It’s only happened to a handful of games and arguably MLB The Show is the largest. I’m sure contractually new games will be like RE8 and have an entire year if not more attached to them.
But the contracts for this were signed years ago, you really think Sony cared that much about GP in 2018/2019?
Capcom's marketing contract with Sony for RE8 did not allow the game to be added to any non-PS subscription services at all until at least a year after launch, meaning COD's marketing contract would affect Game Pass even if it was written in 2018 or 2019.
Which is why no game with Sony marketing has been on Game Pass at launch. Sony uses the same contract for all partners.
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The RE 8 contract was signed later than the AB one would have been. Look either way this is getting us no where. Let’s just drop it yeah?
The RE8 contract was signed later yet all COD games, including older ones, have clearly applied the same terms as the ones in the RE8 contract. Same with all other Sony-marketed games. There is no evidence to assume the COD games' contracts had terms that were any different. Same for any other Sony-marketed game.
But sure, let's drop it.
They wanted that highly symbolic release date with Skyrim's 11.11 and I bet they will want to keep some of that.
Depending if the game is ready to launch in either March, April or May (as they say it's going to release 1st half of 2023), I think BGS may take advantage of some Oblivion's reference or (more likely) some Space-related event.
I think 05.05 International Space Day would fit perfectly Starfield's marketing strategy. This is also a Friday like 11.11 was.
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So two thoughts here. First regarding the game itself. Since Starfield moved from a specific date to a wide window of H1 2023, that tells me this is probably going to be a delay of more than just a couple of months. Obviously this game is going to require more time in the oven, which I am fine with. I'd rather see this game launch well.
As for Microsoft in general, this is definitely a big blow to their marketing plans for the holiday season. While we will have a much better idea of their plans a month from now, I'm sure that this was going to be one of if not the big game of 2022 for Xbox. I'm sure that they will have some sort of exclusive title this year (Forza?) but it probably won't be much more. I think that as long as Microsoft can keep selling consoles this year and Gamepass subs don't see a big drop, they won't worry too much about this holiday season.
As for Microsoft in general, this is definitely a big blow to their marketing plans for the holiday season. While we will have a much better idea of their plans a month from now, I'm sure that this was going to be one of if not the big game of 2022 for Xbox. I'm sure that they will have some sort of exclusive title this year (Forza?) but it probably won't be much more. I think that as long as Microsoft can keep selling consoles this year and Gamepass subs don't see a big drop, they won't worry too much about this holiday season.