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Will 2023 be the year Microsoft's first party finally breaks the dreaded curse?

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Deleted member 471617

Unconfirmed Member
Yes.

While it will be second half heavy, Microsoft will finally start delivering on releasing a first party game every quarter in 2023.
 

Neo_game

Member
It has nothing to do with curse. Covid affected everyone, their output has been very poor for some time now IMO. Even without Activision they have the most game studious than anyone else, it is simply poor management. Next 5 years they are going to release lots of games for sure.
 
2021 says hello. Something about publisher of the year comes to mind. :pie_thinking:

Y'all holding on to that for dear life....lol.

angry beavers nicksplat GIF
 
For me, no. I think 2023 would be the first steps taken to truly break that curse, once and for all. 2023 would be the introduction. I believe only three big games are carded for release next year; Starfield, Forza Motorsport 8 and Redfall. Nothing else has really been assured for release for next year. If there are more releases, great, but I can only comment on what they've divulged thus far. While Starfield looks amazing, Redfall and Forza (which I'm sure will be amazing) just aren't my cup of tea. And I say this as a fan of Arkane's games.

Personally, I'm looking forward to many other games - the unannounced game being made by The Initiative, Hellblade 2, Perfect Dark, Fable, State of Decay 3, Project Mara, Avowed, Everwild and God knows what else. I think, from 2024 onward, Microsoft's offerings will be something to behold - they're just not there yet, for me.
 
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I like a couple MS first party franchises. Forza and Flight Simulator are great but okay, I'll be honest, I admit it, it's been a long, long time since Microsoft's first party was thrilling me and I think I speak for many of us. I'm sorry my friends.

Bethesda is a good purchase for them because quite frankly Bethesda franchises are better than their own in this bears opinion, and 2023 will be the year we finally see the fruits of their labour.

Will this be the year MS is finally back on the map in the first party gaming space, or will it be too little and possibly too late?
Microsoft excuse me Xbox is ass
 

Chukhopops

Member
I think curse is the best term to describe it since curses are fabrications and they only exist in the minds of the uneducated people who believe in them. They have no basis in reality.

It also explains why the « « « curse » » » can never be broken, it’s like astrology, people who want to believe will believe.
 
If they continue to feed gamepass games like Norco, Signalis, high on life I can be pretty forgiving. First parties are great but give me access to unique experiences over a by the numbers AAA any day. Starfield, fable , avowed and their other RPGs excite me but games like Hollow Knight: Silk Song and lord of P genuinely keep me content gaming wise when they hit the service. I know Xbox fans get clowned for being too forgiving but I think my gaming habits are just different console to console.
 
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Corndog

Banned
It looks like Starfield is the only game that can fill those expectations. Besides the 3 titles we know of we can't reasonably expect another major release to come out of nowhere in the second half (if we were talking about Nintendo or Sony we could have but not here).

Starfield's presentation wasn't incredible but i don't share the pessisism surrounding it lately. It's definitely going to be way better than all of what Xbox released these last years.
They probably had games slated for 2023 before all their big games for 2022 got delayed. Who knows how they handle them.
 

Fredrik

Member
Starfield is going to make Todd God again.

Forza should be great too, they’ve worked on this one longer than ever.

Redfall could surprise I guess but as of today I don’t care about it.

Hoping for something more as well, going by their 12 month release event they have nothing for Q3/Q4 announced.

There are lots of cool third party Gamepass releases coming as well so 2023 could potentially be an amazing year.
 

Ronin_7

Banned
Forza & Starfield should save the FALL.

Rest of the year not sure what's coming? Redfall maybe but looks shit. Stalker 2 looks really good.
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
If I only played AAA games I might have have said this is the worst year ever for the Xbox division. (Even the Xbox One launch atleast had: Ryse, Dead Rising 3, Forza Motorsport and Killer Instinct, albeit marred by the launch Xbox One as a whole)

But im pretty solid with Gamepass alone.
Some of the day ones have been incredible.
Plagues Tale Requiem is a must play sleeper title in my books, and im so glad it got nominated for Game of the Year, so hopefully it got more attention and people will actually give it a go.
I know alot of people only play AAA and it must score 90 and above but Requiem is a legit good game.
Absolutely amazing effort from Asobo, I hope they made enough money from the Gamepass deal and Flight Simulator that their next game can have a much larger budget.

I am always looking forward to first party titles as those usually have really big budgets and are kinda like the Hollywood blockbusters of gaming........but as a mostly PC player......first party doesnt really mean much to me.
Sony titles get ported, Microsoft titles get ported, Nintendo titles (work).....so no worries.

0PpM6Rc.gif
 

TheTony316

Member
I've been hearing Halo is dead now for years. Why is it the #10 most played game on Xbox series consoles worldwide? It's #4 on Game Pass in the US. #20 on Xbox consoles Something just doesn't compute. Halo has consistently remained one of the most played and popular games on Xbox consoles since release. Just because you may not play it doesn't mean it's dead lol.

I keep telling people this. There were people thinking State of Decay 2 was dead. Fallout 76 was dead. Because you don't play something does not make it a dead game. For years people were saying nobody wants Forza either, or had grown tired of it. People like to neglect the fact Halo Infinite was the largest ever launch in franchise history. The next major Halo release is going to prove to be the same.

Top 10? Halo used to be in the top 3 on XBL. The franchise isn't dead but it's far from what it used to be. Same with Gears of War. Forza is the only og Xbox franchise that still does really well.
 

zzill3

Banned
What AAA games do they have? Sea of Thieves, Halo Infinite, Psychonauts 2, Flight Sim, Forza Horizon 5, Gears 5 (optomized)

Vs Sony- Astros Playroom, demon's Souls, miles morales/Spiderman Remastered, Returnal, Ratchet and Clank, GT7, Forbidden West, God of War Ragnarok, Last of Us 1 Remake, FF7 Integrade, Uncharted 4 remaster, death stranding (ps5 version), ghost of tsushima (ps5)

I'm sure I'm forgetting some. Not counting FH4 "optimized" because they downgraded it. Also- Deathloop and Ghostwire Tokyo were exclusive to ps5 for a year.

It's not even close Sony has been kicking their ass with exclusive AAA games.

Deathloop and Ghostwire Tokyo are still first party Xbox games, regardless of the console they released on.
If you’re including Astros Playroom, then there’s no reason not to include Grounded, Pentiment, and Ori as well.
FF7 Integrade was neither developed nor published by Sony. Demons souls was not developed by Sony and only published by Sony in Japan, do those really count as first party to you? I would say not, but if you want to start including third party exclusives there’s more that can be added to the xbox list as well.

That makes MS and Sony equal with 11 each
Sea of Thieves, Halo Infinite, Psychonauts 2, Flight Sim, Forza Horizon 5, Gears 5 (optomized), Deathloop, Ghostwire Tokyo, Grounded, Pentiment, Ori
Vs
Astros Playroom, miles morales/Spiderman Remastered, Returnal, Ratchet and Clank, GT7, Forbidden West, God of War Ragnarok, Last of Us 1 Remake, Uncharted 4 remaster, death stranding (ps5 version), ghost of tsushima (ps5)

Not at all as one sided when you put back the xbox games you skipped and take out the non first party games you added to Sony, is it?
 
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anthony2690

Banned
Yes.

While it will be second half heavy, Microsoft will finally start delivering on releasing a first party game every quarter in 2023.
Assuming they hit targets it should be first half very heavy.

We have no idea what they have planned for the second half currently.
 

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
Yes.

While it will be second half heavy, Microsoft will finally start delivering on releasing a first party game every quarter in 2023.
I understand what they promised but it kinda makes it sound like there will be less time for the creative process
 

S0ULZB0URNE

Member
2021 says hello. Something about publisher of the year comes to mind. :pie_thinking:
Was a terrible year for gaming (n)


Do we have a list of *confirmed* 2023 releases cause I know of two that MS makes one I am hopeful doesn't only have a 30fps XB mode and no game breaking bugs(Starfield) and the other doesn't look appealing at all IMO (Redfall)
 

GymWolf

Member
Depends on how good starfield, redfall and the other big games are gonna be.

Sony doens't really have a lot of megaton announced except spidey 2 and maybe factions\stellar ass? this is a good year for M to catch up on sony if they have 4-5 STRONG exclusives.

(i mean unless sony has like another 3-4 big games to reveal yet for 2023)
 
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Topher

Gold Member
It's not nearly as tragic as trying to create a foolish narrative by ignoring it. They had a solid year in 21 and a poor year (in terms of quantity of output) in 22, neither of those years is more important than the other.

I agree. If this were a "curse" then 2021 wouldn't exist. That's hyperbole at best. The complaint I've had is the lack of consistency. Hopefully, 2023 will be the beginning of several years of consistent high quality games.
 

TonyK

Member
I hope so, I just purchased a XBOX serX and even if the console is great, in fact all the multiplatforms I tested look better than in my PS5, exclusives are very poor compared with Naughty, Santa Monica, Guerrilla and Insominac games. Gears 5 Hivebusters or Halo Infinite look way worse than Sony exclusives. I expect a lot more of them from now on.
 
Let’s just wait and see. I’m hopeful they will release some of their games next year but I’m not confident that games like Fable and Perfect Dark will be good because we’ve seen and heard basically nothing about them, even though they’ve both been in development for years.

Hopefully we hear something in the next few months.
 

Humdinger

Member
It will be the year they finally get some good, new exclusive IPs out. After like a decade of "wait until next year."
 

yurinka

Member
I think that after many years mentioning that "next year MS will start releasing a good amount of great stuff", this time in 2023 they'll finally start delivering thanks mostly to many teams they bought (specially if they end completing the ABK acquisition), even if the published bought games were started to be developed before they were acquired.

I think Forza, Starfield, Redfall, Minecraft Legends and (if the ABK acquisition gets completed) Diablo IV and CoD 2023, plus nice DLC for existing games like Halo Infinite finally getting what it misses would make the best MS yearly lineup in many years if not ever. And I think an ever more solid 2024 and 2025 would follow.

Hellblade won't count since Xbox players hate all cinematic games and don't have PS.
Hellblade 2 director said in summer 2021 that they were building a chunky vertical slice before entering full production. If we consider that what they shown in December 2021 was that vertical slice completed, then that mean that they entered full production late 2021/early 2022.

So release the game in 2023 would mean 2 or less years of full production. Something that I think isn't likely if they plan to make the sequel bigger and more ambitious than the previous game, as they said.
 
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T4keD0wN

Member
Didnt they have the single best year in any publishers history in 2020 though? Wouldnt say that theres a "curse" although i get what you mean.
That being said i expect them to have the best output out of all 3 console makers by a very wide margin and at the very least even the playing field this decade if their abk aquisition gets approved if not slowly become the market leader.
 
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Chukhopops

Member
What AAA games do they have? Sea of Thieves, Halo Infinite, Psychonauts 2, Flight Sim, Forza Horizon 5, Gears 5 (optomized)

Vs Sony- Astros Playroom, demon's Souls, miles morales/Spiderman Remastered, Returnal, Ratchet and Clank, GT7, Forbidden West, God of War Ragnarok, Last of Us 1 Remake, FF7 Integrade, Uncharted 4 remaster, death stranding (ps5 version), ghost of tsushima (ps5)

I'm sure I'm forgetting some. Not counting FH4 "optimized" because they downgraded it. Also- Deathloop and Ghostwire Tokyo were exclusive to ps5 for a year.

It's not even close Sony has been kicking their ass with exclusive AAA games.
Astro’s Playroom is considered AAA? And Grounded isn’t? Lmao

This term has really lost any meaning at this point. Returnal being considered AAA was already ridiculous but this is another step further into madness.

The well is beyond poisoned at this point, it’s overflowing with poop and the entire village is dead.
 

sainraja

Member
I think we've come far enough into the generation where no side should really be saying the "other" doesn't have games. Playing habits, tastes differ....you can't forget that. I remember when people would say this non-sense about the PS3, when in fact it did have games, exclusive and otherwise and, it was as if multi-platform games did not count. Gaming should not be like political parties lol.

How many times does everyone need to rinse and repeat the same thing **almost** every new generation before seeing how pointless it is?
I haven't seen any of the party line posters here ever change their minds and they will go on to do the same thing to the "other" party that they themselves accuse the "other" side of doing.

We've all got our preferences but you don't really need to downplay the other side, after all, the output is gaming — something we all have in common. I can understand people getting frustrated over acquisitions and marketing/timed exclusivity deals......that is understandable but this topic and other topics like it, are a bit pointless if you ask me.
 
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ungalo

Member
I think we've come far enough into the generation where no side should really be saying the "other" doesn't have games. Playing habits, tastes differ....you can't forget that. I remember when people would say this non-sense about the PS3, when in fact it did have games, exclusive and otherwise and, it was as if multi-platform games did not count. Gaming should not be like political parties lol.

How many times does everyone need to rinse and repeat the same thing **almost** every new generation before seeing how pointless it is?
I haven't seen any of the party line posters here ever change their minds and they will go on to do the same thing to the "other" party that they themselves accuse the "other" side of doing.
Are you allowed to say it when it's your own console and not the other one ?
 

sainraja

Member
Are you allowed to say it when it's your own console and not the other one ?
I am not trying to tell people what to say or what not to say......well, maybe I am but still. My point simply is, there is soo much to play now that if you don't have the next big first party game coming out, it is fine. It feels like a lot of us are playing games 24/7 where you start running out of what to play.

The funny side to all of this is, most of us have huge backlogs of games that we haven't finished. This begs the question, why are we into gaming anyway? lol
 
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DeaDPo0L84

Member
I just say one word: starfield.
I legit cant imagine the amount of stress on the people involved with Starfield. Most probably just wanted to make a cool open world sci-fi space rpg.

Now they have this immense amount of pressure on them to not simply develop a good game but to singlehandedly potentially save Xbox from having another dull year. It cant simply be another decent rpg from Bethesda, its gonna have to be genre defining and revolutionary. But this is what happens when you don't regularly produce good 1st party games.
 

johnjohn

Member
2023 for Xbox is likely going to be the best year of any publisher so far this gen. It's already looking stacked and we only know what's coming in the first half of the year so far. Xbox is on track to have 7+ first party releases next year, that's pretty crazy... (Starfield, Forza, Redfall, AoE, Minecraft Legends, plus at least a couple more games in the second half like the rumored smaller Tango project and maybe Hellblade 2 for the big Fall game)
 
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gothmog

Gold Member
It's the curse of Don Mattrick. Spooky.

The hopium here is so strong. Let's get real: when Redfall is looking like a May release I'm pretty sure it's going to be another lean year. The only difference will be that the games that do release may be big enough to make it a quality over quantity year. I'll be happy if they actually get Redfall, Forza, and Starfield out the door. Anything past that is gravy.
 

johnjohn

Member
I legit cant imagine the amount of stress on the people involved with Starfield. Most probably just wanted to make a cool open world sci-fi space rpg.

Now they have this immense amount of pressure on them to not simply develop a good game but to singlehandedly potentially save Xbox from having another dull year. It cant simply be another decent rpg from Bethesda, its gonna have to be genre defining and revolutionary. But this is what happens when you don't regularly produce good 1st party games.
I think everyone involved would be more than happy if Starfield repeats the success they've had with all of their previous RPGs lol.
 

Riky

$MSFT
It was always going to take longer to make real next gen only games, they will deliver this year with at the very least the best looking and technically advanced console racer in history and the biggest new IP in generations with Starfield.

There will be more.
 

phil_t98

#SonyToo
What curse? Still with the MS has no games narative?

no that's Sony now if Microsoft takes COD of PS (which they won't)

hopefully next year be better for Microsoft but they going against some big hitters with Sony and Spiderman, that game should be epic
 

Saber

Gold Member
Depends on the quality of their titles. Not to mention a lot of games gonna be launched on 2023(not saying little games, those are blockbuster titles), so they will face a huge competition.
In short, yes and no. It is because its the year of their launching and no because other huge titles could simply wipe the floor.
 
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