With Sony leading the console race in this current generation, many Xbox fans are hoping that Microsoft will catch up especially with its E3 2018 Press Briefing. The conference have come and gone but sadly, their presentation was a tad-underwhelming but it still promises a bright future ahead for the Xbox brand.
One of the main problems of the Xbox One is the lack of first party exclusives. Last year, only a few exclusives was launched for the platform and this year, it looks it will be the same, with Crackdown 3 releasing in 2019 instead of its original 2018 target date. Aside from Forza coming out this year, there’s really nothing coming out for the Xbox One platform while Sony has released a decent amount of exclusive games this year like God of War and Marvel’s Spider-man this September, with a few more releasing soon like The Last of Us II and The Ghost of Tsushima. So, is Microsoft really doomed? Apparently, they have something up their sleeves that prepares the brand for a brighter future and that’s buying out five well known studios and making them first party internal studios.
Here are the five studios that Microsoft bought:
– Ninja Theory: The developer behind the critically-acclaimed games; DmC: Devil May Cry, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Heavenly Sword, and the recently released Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice has now become one of Microsoft’s internal studios. With such amazing games that they have released, we know what to expect on their next project exclusively for the Xbox One or the next-gen console that Microsoft will release.
– The Initiative: This new internal studio that Microsoft bought is headed up by Darrell Gallagher, former studio head at Crystal Dynamics, the team behind the Tomb Raider games. Could we expect an exclusive third person action game that could compete with Sony’s Uncharted games? Only time can tell.
– Undead Labs: The Seattle-based developer behind the hit titles; State of Decay and State of Decay 2 has now become another one of Microsoft’s first party studios.
– Compulsion Games: The developer of the upcoming We Happy Few has now joined the growing list of Microsoft’s first party studios.
– Playground Games: The team behind the critically acclaimed Forza Horizon series has been officially acquired by Microsoft. Spencer noted that aside from its Forza Horizon series, the developer is working on a new game and will now bring its “open-world expertise to an entirely new project”. Could this be the rumored Fable reboot? We hope so!
There you have it – the five new studios acquired by Microsoft that really shows great promise on the Xbox brand. While there’s really no indication as to what games they will release, it’s a good start for the next-generation ahead but many are hoping that their games will somehow make it this generation.
Aside from the announcement of the five studios that Microsoft acquired, there really isn’t anything exciting that they have announced at this year’s E3. Aside from games that we already know is coming like a new Halo game, new Gears of War games, new Cuphead DLC, and a new Forza game coming out this year, nothing has been a really big surprise.
In this year’s E3 conference, Microsoft has shown a lot of world premiere trailer announcements like Devil May Cry 5, The Division 2, Dying Light 2, Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition, and Cyberpunk 2077. If they pretty much show the majority of the upcoming games ahead, what could Sony have in store for us?
With the Xbox One X proving to be the most powerful console yet and with third party games playing a lot smoother than the PS4 Pro, there’s no doubt that the games they announced for multiplatform will play great for the Xbox One X.
Wrapping uo what happened in this year’s E3 press conference, it may not be Microsoft’s best one but it was certainly not the worst one. For those hoping for AAA exclusives being announced they will be disappointed but hey, at least we now know that the Xbox brand has a bright future ahead with its new five internal studios. Now, we certainly can’t wait to hear more about the games they’re working on soon.
