Who Will Win E3 2018: The Case for Microsoft

From Cinelinx:

E3 2018 is just around the corner, and as the big companies prepare to blow gamers away, I’m taking a look at how Microsoft (Xbox) can end up winning.

[FallenAngel1984]

Microsoft would need to hit it out of the park with first party support though

[Godmars290]

More like they have to deliver. Release titles within 2-3 years of announcement if not sooner. With those games being of good or great quality.

[Fantomex]

"The most important thing is services and getting those up and running"

I disagree. You can have tons of services, or the best services from a technical viewpoint, but without enough games the services won't have much to use them for.

MS needs a lot more MS games for their games console. That is what gamers are complaining about the most ATM.

[FallenAngel1984]

You seriously calling franchises Microsoft owns third party?

[FallenAngel1984]

You’re even more ill-informed than I imagined. Microsoft fully owns the Gears of War franchise since they bought it and they own Black Tusk Studio which are the current developers working on the franchise.

Microsoft also owns the Fable IP.

2nd party titles are franchises still owned by hardware manufacturers that have developers not owned by the manufacturers. Saying it’s 3rd party implies you believe that Fable & Gears of War are owned by the developers and not the copyright owner that is Microsoft.

Do you believe that Kirby, Pokémon, Ratchet & Clank, Fire Emblem, Paper Mario, Earthbound, Hot Shots Golf, Detroit: Become Human, & Until Dawn are all third party because the developers behind them aren’t owned by Sony or Nintendo?

Gears of War was contracted out to Epic when it was created, but it’s already been years since they sold it to Microsoft. Lionhead was owned by Microsoft so idk how you even got Fable confused with 3rd party

[RabbitFly]

What he is trying to explain to you is that first an third party has nothing to do with the IP and everything to do with the developer.

Generally speaking for a title to be considered first party it needs to be developed in house. When they make deal with third party developer to work on an ip they own it is Generally considered second party, but this is just a figure of speech.

[FallenAngel1984]

@ Rabbit

What I’m telling you is that Lionhead & Black Tusk Studios was/is first party developers so it’s stupid to label either game a third party game. Do you actually look up this basic information before responding?

The IP owner is the thing that separates a first party game from a third party game. Nintendo for example can outsource their IPs to any other developer like they did with Mario + Rabbids & Hyrule Warriors, doesn’t mean it’s suddenly a third party game.

@ Mako

And you don’t even seem to know what a third party developer is if you think Lionhead & The Coalition were/are one. Microsoft acquired Lionhead in 2006 and The Coalition were always owned by Microsoft since 2010-2011.

It's really like you didn’t research any of this before responding. Actually look this up before replying because this is getting annoying having to constantly reiterate something that’s easy to look up for yourself.

Also quit thinking 2nd party games are an interchangeable word with 3rd party. They are distinct terminologies and makes you look foolish tryin to make them seem like the same thing.

When did Coalition officially state their next project? I don’t see any unveiling of the such. Not only that but the next Gears of War game hasn’t even been unveiled.

[RabbitFly]

@FallenAngel1984
"The IP owner is the thing that separates a first party game from a third party game. Nintendo for example can outsource their IPs to any other developer like they did with Mario + Rabbids & Hyrule Warriors, doesn’t mean it’s suddenly a third party game. "

Yes it does. That is exactly what it means.

First part and third party is a designatition of the party that actually creates the game. Not who owns the property. However. As has been pointed out several times now. When something is owned by one company and then licensed out for development to another it is usally referred to as second party. Indicating that it is a "first party" property being developed by a third party studio. This is a figure of speech, but it is a generally acceptable way to refer to such a deal.

No on is arguing that Lionhead Studios or Black Tusk Studios/The Coalition isn't or wasn't first party studios. Mako is citing some kind of third party deals being worked on by Microsoft. I have no idea whether that is true or not, but assuming it is he is correct in his argument.

My reason for stepping in is that I see an individual, you, clearly misinformed - and I would like for you to get a better understanding so you can avoid such misunderstandings in the future.

First and Third party refers to the developers working on the game. Second party is a figure of speech made to describe these tricky situations, because they technically don't fall under what would classically be considered either first or third.

[FallenAngel1984]

Yes it is a designation of who owns the IP. If an independent company develops a game that’s owned by any of the hardware manufacturers it’s a 2nd party title, not a third party title. When the independent company owns the IP to that game it’s a 3rd party title. It’s not hard to comprehend.

You’re seriously trying to argue the likes of Pokémon, Fire Emblem and Kirby actually third party which highlights how absurd your logic is.

Mako is making it sound like Gears of War & Fable as a whole somehow became third party franchises which is what I’m correcting him/her on.

First and third party refers to who owns the IP. Second party is an actual thing since we’ve seen various times of independent developers working alongside hardware publishers. Developers like Insomniac, Intellingent Systems, Game Freak, Quantic Dream, Rareware(in the past), & Clap Hands are known for producing second party titles. However since second party titles are in most cases owned by the hardware publishers(except for Rareware which later actually held onto the rights to all of their original IPs) they’re simply grouped alongside other first party titles.

[RabbitFly]

@FallenAngel1984

Now you are just backtracking. Kinda agreeing, while denying you ever were in disagreement.

It's all semantics anyway and does not really matter. However you are trying to redefine commonly understood terms within the industry.

No one is calling well established franchises "third party" because honestly it wouldn't make sense. Your confusement seems to be why it doesn't make sense.

Being that a franchise isn't a party, it is an IP.

Spider-Man Ps4 is considered second party because Insomniac is a third party developer working on an exclusive game being published by Sony. But second party is just a figure of speech, it isn't actually a technical term.

Just like you can refer to someone either in first person or in third person. There isn't actually any second person.

You are also contradicting yourself. If the party being refrenced was the owner of a franchise, There would be no need for an expression like "second party". It would all be first or third.

But, again. It doesn't really matter to the discussion at hand. Wether Microsoft wants to invest in first or third party publishers. What matters is that they invest. Some people just don't like that investing in exclusives is being equaled to investing in first party studios. Considering the difference in the landscapes between Sony and Microsoft at this moment, it seems to make for an unfair comparison.

[showtimefolks]

I fear because of recent success of ps4 and switch games ms maybe pressured into a corner to either buy a small publisher or buy times exclusive game

Let's see

[Fantomex]

MS should do the former TBH. The latter wouldn't work out for several reasons. You could get time exclusive deals for example the next Tales of RPG but that would just have anger more people than convince them to buy an Xbox.

[gangsta_red]

So this whole time you constantly complain about MS not having enough first parties or exclusive games. But now you fear they might do something about that?

Is it because you'll have nothing to complain about anymore?

[Nyxus]

I can't think of anything that can go up against The Last of Us II, Death Stranding, Ghost of Tsushima and Spider-Man.

[ABizzel1]

Different taste but....

Pokemon Switch, Metroid, Animal Crossing, Smash Bros., Bayonetta 3, and more.

MS has to have some groundbreaking announcements to win E3 IMO, or the other 2 have to just completely fail. If there's something MS may be able to squeeze out it's game of the show or best conference from simply having a bunch of 3rd party titles on stage, but game of the show is going to be insanely hard going up again The Last of Us 2, Death Stranding, Anthem, and Red Dead.

[Magnetar]

I’ve always found it amusing how Sony can show the same games for years and people lose their minds about how awesome their showings are.

While I enjoying seeing progress on their games, showing the same games year after year doesn’t blow my mind. I’m sure they’ll have at least one unannounced exclusive to show though.

[Nyxus]

Well it's the first time we'll see gameplay for three out of four of those games. They are also among the most anticipated games in the industry, so it really isn't that surprising. Besides, what company doesn't show the same games multiple times?

[RpgSama]

You mean like Ms that also shows games year over year, over year, all the games released or still to release this year (Crackdown 3) were showed for the first time at least 3 years ago

[Skull521]

We will actually be getting a sneak peak at next gen since some of Sony’s games will undoubtedly be making their debut on the PS5.

[rainslacker]

They often show new stuff too though. Expanding on what's been shown before can be exciting too. Sony has had their bad conferences in the past, but this gen, they've been good to incredible.

[showtimefolks]

Magn

I am sorry where did we see death stranding, the last of us 2 and ghost game play? Can you please post some videos or game play?

[trooper_]

Because Sony actually makes quality games.

[Dragonscale]

@skull, you lot would love that. Whats wrong, can't stand to think that PS4 is gonna carry on killing it. Sony's e3 line up is PS4's future line up tbh.

[Skull521]

I just know Sony’s record with games like Last Guardian.

[xRacer74x]

Both sides will claim victory. So really the gamers win. Im more interested in PC, XBOX and Switch stuff but that is me.

[GamesMaster1982]

Not beign a troll or anything but with all the excellent exclusives and upcoming exclusives on PS4 and even Switch, and all the upcoming Microsoft games playable on PC is there any reason to even own a X1 now ?.

[Bobafret]

Millions of people do not like PC gaming. Shocking, I know.

[Tazzy]

Personally I think that's why their sales dropped from over 84 million Xbox 360s sold to just a little over 30+ million Xbox Ones PC gamers don't need to own an Xbox One X for anything they get better graphics.

[choujij]

"Not beign a troll or anything but with all the excellent exclusives and upcoming exclusives on PS4 and even Switch, and all the upcoming Microsoft games playable on PC is there any reason to even own a X1 now ?."

That is a very loaded question. lol

I'll try to throw my 2 cents in though. IMO, there isn't much, aside from a few factors.
I believe there are some titles at this time that are still exclusive to Xbox on console (like Halo 5).
Aside from that, some people prefer Xbox on console with the belief it's less expensive comparing upfront costs. I am of the mindset, where I consider value and total cost of ownership. So for example, let's say buying/building a reasonably equivalent PC was even twice the cost of the Xbox you're interested in (or whatever it is). I would also factor in the yearly savings of not necessarily having to purchase an XBL subscription, plus the fact that I would have access to a far larger library of PC titles available. Xbox controllers are also well supported on PC. And a Gaming PC in your living room (or wherever you play your consoles) makes for an amazing media player, which now gets into everything else you can do with your gaming PC, aside from gaming.

So in my book, no, there is not much reason for someone like myself to ever purchase an Xbox console again, but I'm sure others have their own preferences for their reasons. PC, PS4 and Switch is my current preference.

[jhoward585]

I'm not expecting too see much form MS at E3 after what Phil said on twitter.
Our hardware took time, our service/platform/BC took time and continuing to grow our 1P will take time. A high quality and diverse 1P (yes, with SP) built the right way is our goal and what our customers deserve. We can have similar results to what we've seen in hw and platform
The word time was stated a few times .....Hint hint.

So Sony got this E3 on lock.

[Goldby]

yeah, they should ahve taken all that money for the One X and put that towards studios instead.

Power is never the true selling point of a console, but games always are.

[Skuletor]

They could have done that with the 2.5 billion they spent buying Minecraft.

[paintedgamer1984]

Yeah its almost like by the time ms does have a decent e3 sony will be showing the ps5 tech, games, controller ect.

[Nodoze]

DREAM ON. There is no way on gods green earth MS will be winning anything at E3. This same thing comes up every single year, and each year...nothing. Great hardware last year, but WHERE IS THE SOFTWARE?? I fully suspect that MS is panicked are behind the scenes money hatting developers for 'exclusive' content. We will see how that works for them.

[masterfox]

Who will win?, well lets see, Nintendo probably will display to the death more of the same old stuff like another Smash, maybe another Metroid 4 display title so crazy fans get excited again for no reason, or damn annoying Pokemons ughhhh, wasting E3 space, more cardboard I guess?, MS will show... crickets........I'm empty have no idea lol, Sony will display probably Death Stranding, new IPs, the Last of US 2 sequel, Spidey of course, that new Sucker Punch game Ghost of Tsushima. So yeah probably Sony will win ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Prince_TFK]

So basically what you are saying is both Nintendo and MS should just not have any showings at E3, and everything should just revolve around Sony?

Got it.

[gangsta_red]

But you just mentioned the same old stuff for Sony.

[Ricegum]

Same old stuff? There are 3 new ips right there in his comment 😂

[gangsta_red]

New IP's? You mean the games already revealed? Not the same thing but good try *insert emoji*

[Neonridr]

wasting space? Pokemon is arguably the most popular franchise on the planet.. and that's a waste? Jesus man, do you bother looking at what you type? I get you are a Sony drone, but stop making yourself look stupid.

[masterfox]

So having common sense is to be a Sony Drone ?,lol whatever you say man XD

[Prince_TFK]

@masterfox

I feel like your common sense had left the building a long time ago.

[Neonridr]

@masterfox - what common sense are you spouting? The titles you listed from Nintendo are beloved IPs. I love how Nintendo has to apologize for being around twice as long as the competition. Look how many years it has been since the last true Metroid. It's not like Nintendo is annualizing their franchises like other companies, they take their time between releases.

You are a Sony drone because that's all you will accept. Nothing else is good enough for you. You limit your gaming horizon so much by doing that, but enjoy having such a narrow view of the world. I support both Nintendo and Sony, so I get access to so many more great experiences. But hey, it's your dime. Limit yourself all you want.

[rainslacker]

I don't need MS to win E3. That's purely subjective to the individual.

I just want MS to show some stuff that I'm interested in playing, and being to show off all those games they talked about they were making back when they convinced me that they gave a damn and wanted to make good games to appeal to more people. Since QB, they haven't done that, so if they manage to show anything of note, then it'll be significantly better than the nothing we've gotten for the past two years.

[Bobafret]

Why are they listing multiplats as a way to "win" anything? No, no, no, no NO. So irritating.

[TocaCannaBowl]

just....wait...for....e3....ev ery.....year....just wait for it man...

[paintedgamer1984]

I know... it was cringeworthy two e3's ago to hear it last year and again this year its like so thats what the ms fanbase cling to? Wait for e3... Even people are made fun of for repeating those exact words. Its a damn running joke at this point.

[Skuletor]

E3 is like gaming Christmas but Xbox owners just get coal under the tree.

[firelogic]

If Microsoft wins E3 2018 in year 5 of the console cycle, does it really matter? Not really sure they can announce anything that can compete with deep dives into Death Stranding, Ghost of Tsushima, and especially The Last of Us 2. Spider-man will be big but we've seen it in action so I'm not including it for this discussion. And we know that Sony's gonna pull at least one surprise no one expected.

[Bobafret]

I have honestly given up comparing, I just want to see something good from MS.

[CaptainOmega]

If they showed:
Gears 5 /or Gears Spin off
Remedy's new game,
Halo 6,
Fable 4,
Horizon 4,
Tomb Raider,
The Division,
Splinter Cell,
Ashen,
Ori & Will of the Wisps
Perfect Dark Reboot,
Mech Assault Reboot

It would be enough to have a GREAT show, and heck, possibly win E3, but it would ultimately depend on what Playstation reveals. If Playstation drops the ball, MS could win. really the only way to go from here is up.

Sony could do this and win.

More Spiderman
The Last of Us 2
Death Stranding
Ghost of Tsushima
Days Gone
Dreams
Red Dead 2
Kingdom Hearts 3
Rocksteady Game
Shadow's Die twice reveal,
Bluepoint game,
Any new IP reveal from a first party studio.

[Tazzy]

Remedy's new game and countless others you mentioned will be on PS4 to.

[CaptainOmega]

I've heard that P7 isn't Quantum Break 2.

[DialgaMarine]

I don’t think MS’s lineup stands a snowball’s chances in hell against TLoU2, Death Stranding, Spider Man, Smash, MP4, or Pokémon. Not sure how a company “wins” E3, but it’s definitely not gonna be them lol

[JesusBuiltmyHotrod]

Win? LOL no one WINS E3, people put way too much emphasis on this silliness. Sony could have an awful e3 and nothing will change.

[CaptainOmega]

that's false.

[Neonridr]

hopefully us as gamers win E3

[Elda]

I have my eye on the platform that never disappoints when it comes to exclusives.

[VerminSC]

The Last of Us Part II gameplay... come on :)

[King_Lothric]

Sea of Thieves and State of Decay were considered big hits on previous Xbox E3 conferences. Those game released and look how they failed to be a commercial hit and how they were critized for lack of content and lack of QA.

For me E3 is measured on what you promised and then what you really delivered. MS can have an expectacular show and it all can be just smoke.

[Tazzy]

Microsoft is going to need some big games to win e3 I don't think they ever one e3 a few years ago they went there with a bunch of games Nintendo went with one game Zelda and won it. The games can't be more sequels I'm tired of Forza Gears and Halo but Phil Spencer says they don't rely on those games he's full of shit they need new ips if they don't produce this year they're screwed. And the games they're bringing out better get rated good they've had some bad game reviews lately they need to get their act together or its bye bye Xbox.

[paintedgamer1984]

At this point, ms arent going to release any big banging guns blazing 1st party ms games we dont already know names of (halo, gears, forza) so all the xbox podcasts saying they better get at least 1 1st party exclusive are going to be left empty handed. Those games are probably being developed for ms next gen box. Basically whats left is **below, last night, ashen, and crack down 3** for the rest of this year and going into next. We already know halo, gears, forza, fable, and perfect dark are on the way but its anyones guess if all of these games even get teased or even come out this gen. Wasnt it said halo wasnt going to be at e3 and gears will prob be teased next year, so that leaves fable, forza, and perfect dark.The next halo and gears have to be blockbuster hits and im eager to see what 343 and the coalition can produce now that all eyes are on them to produce something special... because if they dont, ms is not going to be too happy.

Ms just doesnt have the magic it once had. The first xbox and about 4 years into the 360 were the golden years as far as im concerned.

Its crazy because i loved the first crackdown... if im not mistaken it was just after the first gears of war... yep, i was right... geow released nov 06 and cd1 released fed 07. Imagine if ms had an amazing game that everyone was excited for launching in the fall and then again at the beg of the year? I want to believe ms can bring back that magic its just that this whole gen has tarnished the shit out of their name and its prob better just to ride the storm out and have a proper reset and have a bunch of games ready for that new platform like nintendo did.

[Mylove1516]

As long as everyone from every platform has something to look forward to rather it be 1st 2nd or 3rd party then just be happy.

[MrSec84]

Unless they have surprise internal developers who have been busy for the last few years or secret 3rd party partners I don't think we're getting many surprises.

Maybe 343 has something new, I suspect Playground could show something for Fable if they've had the time, maybe Rare can tease another project, but outside of that it'll likely be the known quantities like the next Halo, Forza Horizon 4, you'd hope Crackdown 3 is finally ready for a release date.

3rd party multiplats are likely going to be the main focus, with XBox One X being the best console for multiplats being Xbox's mantra throughout the conference.

Oh and whatever's new for Minecraft, along with a smattering of timed exclusive Indies and exclusive DLC for 3rd party games.
I hope I'm wrong though (as always this gen).

[doggo84]

Lmao won't come close to matching the last of us, ghost, Spiderman and death stranding. Not even slightly

[riibhu]

Only looking forward to ori 2. I don't anticipate anything else from Microsoft.

[trooper_]

Microsoft needs a prayer.

[DJStotty]

not a chance they will reveal another xbox. the X has only been on the market 7 months, it would create consumer uproar.

[Eiyuuou]

I hope that they'll manage to surprise us.

[FernDiggidy]

Looking forward to Ghost, FF7 (hopefully), Death Stranding, TLOU2, Spidey, Metroid Prime 4, Bayo 3, Smash, Halo 6 and any other surprises!