Xbox Dead Without PGR and Halo Developers to Buoy Console?

Charles Austin speculates on MS's next move with Activision taking another major developer by writing: "Microsoft has dropped the ball in so many instances now that it may be completely impossible to recover. Fans of the mega-company's gaming hardware have to face some facts at this point when it comes to the franchises that Microsoft had used to establish the Xbox brand in the first place. They're gone."

[lociefer]

a 360 doomed article ? lol am i dreaming ?

[vgn24]

I expected people to start some BS about how this is good for Microsoft or they planned it and it will somehow hurt the PS3. lol People facing FACTS!?!?! What has the world come to.

[vgchica]

Xbox was a test. Xbox 360 was the success and the next Xbox (which WILL happen) will be number one. Screw Bungie. no one needs em.

[dangert12]

and when i brought it i has halo and pgr in mind
dont disagree look at my game card you fool
i have pgr 4
halo 3, halo 3 odst and halo wars

[zoks310]

We are going to be seeing these doom articles for a long time, so grab your popcorn and soda guys.

LMAO... today is the best day to be a Sony supporter.

[SuperStrokey1123]

LOL i was gonna say the same thing, my how times have changed.

[iFLOWLIKEWATER]

GR? Pfft...yeah right!

[sinclaircrown]

Yes the 360 has had a rough ride, but I still enjoy mine and have plenty of great games to play. I see no point in these "xbox dead" "xbox is doomed" articles. 40million, or whatever the real number is, even with rrod, units sold. There will be another Xbox. There will be another Playstation. There Will be another Nintendo console.

People who love video games will be spoiled once again. Except for fanboys. They will only be spoiled a little by sticking to one console.

[Hands Up For Games]

Does this mean you are coming out of the closet?

Admitting to be a Fanboy?

*Drops head and wonders what happened to this hobby I love*

[iFLOWLIKEWATER]

ou know what? This might be a blessing in disguise for 360 fans. I doubt it, but, maybe this might scare MS into revealing a secret game, just to show that they haven't or they're not going to cave from the "MADNESS". They did say they had games that look better than Gears of War that they haven't shown yet....

[Imalwaysright]

You do realize that Bungie's Halo is the Xbox brand flagship title and is the main reason why the Xbox brand has been successful this generation, right? And lets not forget that Halo Reach is definitely the biggest game for the 360 and probably the biggest game of the year!!

@ Flow I didnt say that Halo was the only reason. i said that Halo is the main reason why the Xbox brand has been successful.

[silvacrest]

i think 360 fans would be happier if microsoft just bought a studio

[iFLOWLIKEWATER]

Alwaysright, no, I disagree. Maybe last gen that was the case, but this gen has several more factors concerning the 360s success. Halo, isn't the only thing moving the 360 along. No not at all....

[Inside_out]

Shouldn't someone tell M$....I mean ME2, Conviction, Alan Wake, Crackdown, Fable, something called Reach...all the great Multi-plats that sell better on 360 than anywhere else...the huge subscriber base for xbox live...The best on line, best controller and console OS...Brand spanking New device in the Voice activating/recognizing and controller less project Natal...huge price drop coming this holiday to coincide with the launch of Natal......LMFAO....sad fanboy's...

[Shadow Flare]

Oh....for crying out loud, it does my head in when people say that. I heard that stupid little theory about 3 years ago. Oh, xbox was a test, xbox 360 was a more successful test but the THIRD XBOX, ho ho, hold onto your hats because THAT'S the console microsoft ACTUALLY meant to be number one!!!

No. Face the facts. That stupid theory is an excuse. I'll tell you microsoft's real plan. Release xbox and try to be number 1. Release xbox 360 and try to be number 1. Unfortunately for ms, neither were number 1. See, sony had the same plan. But in sony's instance, their first attempt with a console sold 100 million + consoles and their second attempt sold 140 million + consoles. Success. No excuses.

[The Wood]

what a fanatic...calm down ull do urself some damage.....also remember that there's something called...'the rest of the world' NA is not the only continent out here yougen. im sure you've heard what many devs have said about making more of the ps3 so why do you act like its all one way....stop projecting nonsense...ur coming off like a 2007 fanboy.....this years lineup is a lot better from MS's point of view though....ill give you that, Much better.

[Hallmark Moment]

This wouldn't be N4G's without them lol.

Goofy article.

[piroh]

no nintendo, no sony, but activision is the main enemy for microsoft

[lowcarb]

This is going to be a big and important year for Microsofts 360. If Natal and Reach do well I'm sure they will make some type of huge 1st party announcements come E3 or GDC. Rare really needs to step there game up (with help from Lionhead) and 343 will handle all things Halo from here on out of course. Yeah this looks like hope for 360 haters but unfortunately it's going to be a wake up call because now MS more than likely is going to push harder to make the 360 even more of a must have. Halo still belongs to MS so anyone hoping it is gone are going to have to keep on crying because it's going to be around for a long time.

Edit below: And just what kind of impact do you think GT5 will have on 360? It will be a great racer but if you think it's going to have a deep impact on Natal, Reach or Gears3 your in for a shocker. When are the just wait for PS3 to come out with this or that going to hit you as not happening. Times have changed and until Gt5 is out we have no idea what it will sell.

[xXRight3yeXx]

Xbox 360 will be dead when GT5 comes out. Mark my words.

[ProjectVulcan]

Losing the three B's was always going to hurt. Bungie, Bizarre and Bioware. Microsoft will regret sooner or later letting them get away

[Hallmark Moment]

I think we have been hearing this lack of studios gloom and doom BS for years now[out of the gate] I'm sure Microsoft has plans; they always do. The bulk of 3rd party developers depend on the 360. If Microsoft had too many 1st party studios the health of the industry would suffer.

[BattleAxe]

Epic is the only good studio that is backing the 360 now. I think this is where we can say who won the console war.

[La Chance]

PS3 was supposed to be dead when FF13 went multiplat...look what happened.

360 definitely not dead because Bungie are going multi.

[mikeslemonade]

Microsoft will be trying to buy out games as usual, but nothing will equalize the lost of Bungie. If you combine FFXIII multiplatform, GTA exclusive DLC, and those Japanese RPGs they still don't add up to what Bungie is. Over half of the 360 install base probably bought it for Halo as their #1 reason to purchase a 360.

And there's a reason why developers are dipping out of Microsoft. Microsoft must be practicing a lot of shady business therefore developers don't like to work with them. You xbox zealots can't even properly defend your own console. Today is going to be an easy day for me.

For LA Chance:
Oh so you admit FFXIII is just as good as Halo 3?

[La Chance]

We've seen this a thousand times. Especially when the PS3 had its first price cut. Its just that PS3 fanb0ys are so convinced that theres a conspiracy going on that they refuse to see it.

[jaysquared]

"Xbox 360 will be dead when GT5 comes out. Mark my words"

Ok i'll add it to the list of

Xbox 360 will be dead when PS3/Lair/Heavenly Sword/Motorstorm 2/MGS5/Resistance 2/KZ2/LBP/Home/Slim/Price Drop/God of War 3/FF13 comes out. Mark my words

LOL...

Edit- Forgot God Of war 3 thanks!

[The Wood]

i agree about 'nothing being doomed' but the fact you had to mention the ps3 price cut (that far into the ps3s life) kinda shows that the doomed articles were primarily against sony...The ps3 was doomed since birth.. The articles were here and rife before you switched to your current pharell pic...the one before that even. Not a conspiracy, just fact...oh, did you ever read this article

http://edgevsmeta.blogspot....

people still refuse to admit western bias even when its clear in black and white (plus a few other colours) ..just sweep it under the rug and call paranoia

[Hallmark Moment]

Don't forget about >God of War 3< those games you listed ain't nothing on GOW3's 360 killing status.

[sinclaircrown]

You really think the vast majority of gamers would stop buying games for the 360 because of ONE racing game??? Seriously, a 10yr old should have more common sense than you.

GT5 will be probably the best racing game made to date. To even think it could 'kill' another console is nonsense.

[Godmars290]

Never really understood why people give MS credit for the Xbox1 being a test and can't just say it was a failure. The PS1 was Sony's first attempt into gaming when they literally knew jack about gaming and they went on to outdo Nintendo. Meanwhile MS had a gaming division before they went into consoles, picked up most of Sega's American people, and could just barely outsell the NGC.

[La Chance]

I dont think ONE magazine giving lower scores to PS3 exclusives proves that the media is biased. I'm sure there must be another site or mag that usually give 360 exclusives lower scores than PS3 exclusives...wouldnt prove anything.

However the fact that PS3 fanb0ys absolutely refuse to see that the 360 often gets as much "bad treatment" as the PS3 kind of just shows that the whole conspiracy theme is just blinding them.

I mean back in the days on this site a simple article with a chart showing the PS3 in last place for instance was PROOF for PS3 fanboys that there was a conspiracy going on. I mean its the freaking truth...thats all, no "conspiracy"

Even some articles with almost no commentary at all but just cold hard facts and figures was part of the conspiracy if it didn't favor the PS3 or made it look "bad". To me thats just craziness...not a conspiracy.

Same goes for reviews. GOW3 got 9.3 on meta and all the PS3 fanboys were in an uproar...its a freaking hack and slash...how high do you want it to score ?? Morever it scored almost the same on meta as GOW1 and 2 that were both as good as GOW3 back in their time. I mean where the heck is the conspiracy ?

Look, NG2 scored a lot lower than what 360 fanboys were expecting. Not ONCE that would you here that this or that site is biased or stupid or whatever.

I'm not saying that biased sites dont exist. What I'm saying is that PS3 fanboys are like drowned in their conspiracy beliefs.

Time for them to open their eyes and wake up a bit.

[Montrealien]

The Xbox was a more powerful console then the competition and still failed. Now people are saying the PS3 will be a success because it is more powerful and the Wii is the least powerful console this gen and is the most succesful. All the fanboy conventions have been broken this gen, once again the prove they have no idea what they are talking about.

And the first Xbox was more then just a test, it was a genius R&D move on MSs part. People messed around so much with that console, all MS had to do was check the mod scene for their R&D, genius.

with that said, the 360 is done...PS3 will over take the competition and rule the world once again. Mark my words, Sony is god.

[The Wood]

thanks for reading that. Though i dont agree with the majority of what you typed i do appreciate the fact you read the article my point is that edge got found out just like game trailers and gamespot but you NEEDED proof to agree with what many of us have been saying for years...one of our industries leading and longest running publications is bias and your implying that its isolated.. Im in the middle.. I dont believe everything is against sony nor do i believe nothing is against them.

[dtalon3]

wow. If you guys believe that M$ is in trouble with this deal because bungie wont be behind halo anymore (news flash by the way The Halo franchise will still be kept alive by 343 industries).

Anyone take a look at the sales numbers for Call of duty map pack despite Activision Raping infinity ward? Here is how it works people, the small majority of us informed gamers (some intelligent) know and care about these things. The vast majority buy brand name, that is just how retail works, brand recognition.

If you drink Heinekin beer you think it is the same beer it was years ago? nope Anheiser Busch bought em out did not keep the recipe and moved the brewery for bigger more easily mass produced product.
It is the way of the world and unfortunate that over %50 of consumers are stupid zombies.

[darthv72]

doesnt MS still have some small percentage in bungie and the games they make? An exclusive deal with activision wouldnt really jeopardize the already contracted IP's Ms has a stake in.

This could actually work out the MS, Bungie and activisions favor. Bungie makes game for activision, activision releases game for 360 and ps3, MS makes $$ off bungie and activision for owning a portion of the company.

No different than sony owning a part of square and making $$ off final fantasy released for ps3 and 360.

[sikbeta]

MS lost their Best Dev and has only rare and Molineuax, sure they have Halo, but you can't count with halo for ever

This is Something I was Saying For Long Time, Sony is Always Safe because It Has 20 First Party Studios + Second Party Partners and Loads of IPs + New IPs from all the Devs, so they Can Push Gaming on the Playstation Platforms all the Time

MS didn't care about First Party Devs and only closed studios, now MS only can make deals like Time Exclusivity and Such and expect something from rare and Molineuax but that IS NOT enough

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

At this point it is too late for any one console maker to die. The user base of each console manufacturer is too big to ignore for most publishers/developers.

More and more we see games turning multi-platform. Most games were exclusive out of necessity, because in almost all generations there has always been one dominant player. Now a days, we got 3 significant players and a lot of great competition!

[rezzah]

Finally an article to bash the 360. Had enough of this for PS3.

[TotalPS3Fanboy]

All these opportunities to kill Sony, and yet, Microsoft kept missing them every single time, leaving Sony to grow stronger and stronger.

Microsoft should have been able to killed Sony long ago, and yet, Sony is still alive today, growing stronger and stronger by the minute. At this rate, and with the full force that Sony is coming out this year and the upcoming years, it will be over for Microsoft very soon.

[lowcarb]

I don't think MS wants to kill off Sony and Playstation. If anything they want to keep them alive and help grow the gaming world.

[vhero]

360 is far from doomed but it is nice to see the shoe on the other foot for once.

[The Wood]

anyway im sure ms isnt doomed just because of this. That'll be ridiculous. The only real issue is their lack of studios. It seems like MS find it hard to keep great relations with the few devs they have OR they dont find the upkeep of these said studios viable, either way they dont seem to be building a foundation for next gen.....just imagine if the ps4 gets released before the next xbox.....3rd party exclusives will probably be harder to snag if this gen is anything to go by leaving what as backup? This gen has proved to the masses that the 'only on xbox' is NOT 100% so some people will be more willing to wait if thats the case... Others who want to chose 1 console only will go for the one that has the most true exclusives they like.

[vgn24]

But dude, without major first-party exclusives developed by the companies who created them, wtf is to drive consumers to the Xbox brand? I hope they don't quit because the industry NEEDS competition to drive quality. But where will the quality come from?

[The Wood]

exclusives is what builds the brand and its why im firmly in sony's camp even though i also own a 360. The lack of studios is killin em BUT they have continued to survive/thrive, however you see it, without the studios sony or nintendo have at their disposal. Yes the variety and quality in many of MS's exclusives are lacking but their pay for exclusive/timeed exclusive model has kept them in this...ultimately sony will dominate because of those same studios they've acquired and the past couple of years has proved this imo. So doomed, no. Weaker, yes

[lowcarb]

I wouldn't call games like Alan Wake,Fable, Gears, Forza, Halo, XBLA, SCC and Crackdown lacking in quality when in fact there all about it. NOw if your talking about graphics I will agree other then Wake, Reach, and Gears it's been lacking some but PS3 doesn't have like some arsenal of better quality looking games. When I think of quality I think of not only graphics but online support, how long I will play it and fun factors which 360 games seem to lead on.

[sinclaircrown]

What people seem to forget here is that MS, Sony and Nintendo already have MILLIONS of consoles in peoples homes already. Sure they will always try to push more hardware sales, but at this point any dev would be stupid not to support each console. The market is huge.

Multiplat or not, there are millions of console owners who want more great games. There will be PLENTY of amazing games to come for all consoles before this gen 'ends'.

[The Wood]

nah, man not just graphics. You saying that seems like uve forgotten about the last 2 years or something. Of course theres quality in there but less of it.. This year is a great year for 360 and ps3 owners alike and it'll be down to preference. The 3rd part exclusives are drying up so wheres the backup

[Godmars290]

But by this point MS has shown themselves to be the wrong kind of competition. They don't foster creativity, they just steal and buy it, then stifle it with management practices.

[Montrealien]

What`s Ironic about a comment like the one godmars just said is that people where saying the same thing about Sony when they got in the game before the PS1. The PS1 and the playstation brand was put on the map with arcade ports, and by taking one of nintendos biggest partners away from them. And lets not forget Universal Studios, who brought us great PS1 exclussives and are the real people responssible for great companies like Naught Dog and Insomniac, not Sony it could be argued that sony went in and stole these studios from Universal. Sony was acting much like MS at that time, not many great PS1 games where made by Sony first party devs. People tend to forget these little facts and I find it hypocritical to point the finger at MS for practices Sony where doing also. Even Single Trac who is best known for making Warhawk, Twisted Metal and jet Moto was bought by GT interative, now Atari.

I should scan some pics of EGMs mail bag after the Ps1 was announced, yeah, people where not to keen on a big corperate bully like sony coming into the industry, how times have changed. I remember telling them, relax, more competition is good and in the long run Sony is good for the industry, but noooo, I was branded a sell out and a non gamer. True story.

[Godmars290]

The only difference is you're talking about Sony 1st entry in consoles, this is MS 2nd and they've yet to give any indication that they have any idea about what they're doing.

Sony bought and developed developers, MS has their best either running away or closing down.

[Montrealien]

Who is running away? And don`t pretend Sony never had partner devs close down or leave. Ninja Theory, Harmonix, Single Trac, Reflections, Radical entertainment just to name a few. Sony is not perfect, and neither is MS.

All I am saying is that there are alot of paralels between MS and Sony`s console experience, people should not forget that. They both have there good and bad sides, like anything really.

[cmrbe]

Sony in in the PS1 era were building up their studios. By this time in their PS2 they have even more unlike MS which have closed more. I really don't see the paralles here.

[DarkEdson]

what some of you seem to forget is the reason sony did what they did in the ps1 era was because nintendo screwed them on the hardware deal to make nintendos new console, sony spent millions developing the console only to have nintendo back out of the deal which made sony lose alot of money, so believe it or not the ps1 was supposed to be the new nintendo console, so sony entered the market to recover their loses, i'm pretty sure they did not expect the ps1 to do what it did and it just proved to the masses that sony made a good console. So comparing what MS is doing to what Sony did back then is really stupid if you don't know what really happened back then. Ps: sony is nothing like ms, they actually foster innovation, while ms tramples all over developers to make a quick buck and stifles innovation in the name of the all mighty dollar. To the japanese making something good is a matter of national pride.

[Godmars290]

Um...Bungie? Hello? The whole reason we're having this conversation, this article's been written, is because Bungie bought themselves out from under MS.

And yes Sony's closed studios. They've also built and bought them making them flourish as a by product. No matter how much you want to believe otherwise, you just can't say the same about MS.

They can hype and sell games, pay to have them made, but so far they have yet to prove that they can make them in house.

[vgn24]

This is a shame for Microsoft, but now we'll see what Bungie can do on multiplatforms.

[chidori666]

NO!i no have not for say but only this 360 halo fanboys

http://img209.imageshack.us...

no halo in 360= 360 fans committed suicide.

[ipe]

MS still has some ips like fable,halo,forza....and ey could just give bag full of money to some studio to make sequel so ey can publish it.
Only problem i see is quality of those developers.And now since bungie is gone....

but MS doesnt rely on first party titles,ey tactic for this gen was price point(although questionable)early launch,timed exklusive and third party titles.

Also i agree with u,competition is best thing could happen to us,gamers,consumers.

[NYC_Gamer]

this whole bungie 1 game deal really means nothing MS still owns halo along with some other exclusive titles...

[vgchica]

10 year deal covers a whole franchise. And since Halo takes place in the same universe as the marathon franchise, this new franchise could as well.

[Hank Hill]

That's true but the problem is that Bungie said that they will not make any more Halo games. 343 studios is not Bungie.

[Brewski007]

Regardless of what sony say about this, I really dont think they'll want a halo clone on their console so they'll probably only want something fresh and new from bungie , I hope they deliver as its about time we all got to play their games.
Should be interesting to see if other dev's follow suit.... i.e. Valve. :o

[dtalon3]

Yeah that makes perfect business sense...well coming from someone who says such a fanboy comment I can see where it makes sense in your brain.

Even though bungie's next game will not be a Halo clone, I doubt that sony would say no to a similar game to a top selling franchise like Halo. Especially since they don't have a FPS that sells anywhere near what Halo sells. What are you dense? No company says "Nope, I don't want a game that will probably sell millions" This all not including what a proven and trend setting developer Bungie is.

[minikramer]

Wow, how many times have we seen these articles, they are dead because no PGR, RROD, Bungie, blah blah blah. They are still here and still kickin it! MS already said they don't necessarily need a bunch of first party devs, they rely on 3rd party and they treat their 3rd party publishers like gold, hence the exclusives, the exclusive dlc from time to time, the exclusive console bundles etc.

Wake up, this is a business folks and it costs them less to have agreements with publishers than to have first part devs, they are smarter than we think people. Nyc_Gamer is right,MS and their 343 industries still own Halo.

[Jaybad54]

Bad Editing: (3 minutes ago)
buy not buoy
Reported by: green

[GunShotEddy]

Nice. I bet he's patting himself on the back... or grabbing a dictionary after the explanation of "buoy". haha

[bjornbear]

wow...just..wow

green fails, lets see his smug reply to that xD

[GunShotEddy]

RIP XBOX

[StitchJones]

M$ still has money to throw and burn. Nothing is going to topple them at this point. Maybe several years from now, but no time soon. Sony spent so much time doing the wrong thing for the past few years. That many people are still gunshy to consider the PS3 no matter what comes out for it. Meanwhile back at the 480p ranch, Nintendo is sitting back laughing all the way to the bank with it's re-cased Gamecube with motion controls that everyone in the world can't get enough of.

[BubbleSystemSuck]

Oh oh... Microsoft is in troubles...

No good 1st party... and the money only buy Timed Exclusives... or toooo much expensive crappy exclusives..

[Nebulas Zero]

I don't understand. So Microsoft will NOT be making a killing on Halo: Reach when it releases?

Looks like their cash cow is still very much secure, and as people argued with IW devs leaving Activision (that as long as Activision still had the CoD games, it could still sell millions): As long as the Halo name is there, the majority of consumers will still buy the game.

[powney91]

Yes, MS will be making a killing when Halo Reach comes out. They are publishing the game, and they own the IP. Activision has nothing to do with Halo.

[GunShotEddy]

Because Halo Reach will sell for several years.... oh wait. It will sell for a couple months. lol

[powney91]

even if it does sell for just a few months...it'll still sell more than most games do in their life time.

[xabmol]

Do you think everyone buys Halo because it says Bungie on the box? No. They buy it because it says HALO. Sure 10-15% of Halo fans will actually notice the change, but...

There will be a Halo game on the XboX5. It will sell millions.

[divideby0]

silly article...MS has deep pockets, large user base.....

[ASSASSYN 36o]

I saw your avatar... and LOL'ed.

[ASSASSYN 36o]

LOL! As if bungie abandoned the xbox. LOL! I never saw one statement from bungie that they will not support the 360. In fact I have seen the opposite.

[The Wood]

to your champagne celebrations when a last gen ps2 exclusive went MULTI this gen.....too easy....maybe in ur deck of cards game>studio..lol

[ASSASSYN 36o]

Such a vague statement. I have no idea what you are reffering too.

[ForROME]

@VGChica

I agree, MS said during its first system, it was going to be a "3" step process for them,

1 get into the market
2 create a name a base
3 fight for number

with the 360, they are very close to what they set out to do, however I think SONY gave them what they wanted, SONY out priced themselves, and didnt deliver a launch and was behind on the online arena

With PS4 likely learning from these mistakes, Xbox 720, may find this harder than they thought because the PS3 screw up may have given them more false hope

only time will tell

[bjornbear]

its certainly loosing its exclusivity appeal...360's biggest strengths now lie in 1 or 2 franchises and XBL

this gen only 1st parties seem to remain exclusives =O everyone's whoring out xD and rightly so

[ernsttco]

As soon as I'm done with Alan Wake I'm selling my 360. PS3 is the future.

[Rowsdower]

the next gen of consoles is the future of consoles. The 360 and the PS3 both have good games coming down the pipe.

What I find funny is that Bungie split from MS back in 2007, and now that they have a multiplat publisher suddenly its the end for the 360. What ever gets the shortsighted self obsessed fanboys going.

For mediocre gaming sites hits are hits I guess.

[ernsttco]

It has nothing to do with being a "fanboy". It's about preference. Dont get me wrong. I think Microsoft has made a great contribution to console gaming with Live, but I don't trust their products. As I'm getting older I have less time for gaming and I want one system to be my one and all entertainment hub. Also, other then Gears and soon Alan Wake, I'm not impressed with the rest of their exclusives.

[GiantEnemyCrab]

Ignorance is bliss. Good riddance.

[ATLGAMER]

Basically has a very small first party and the lack of 3rd party exclusives this gen is a challenge for the 36000and there next system

[Omega Zues]

Its called "Activision" and "Multiplat". Both have just been applied to Bungie.

I cant imagine how the comparisons will be like down the road for their new I.P.

[BeaArthur]

Nothing from gofanboy should ever be allowed on this site. Just a bunch of nobodies speculating on things they know nothing about. All they do is try to write the most polarizing article they can to get hits on their site. Not falling for it.

[Hotel_Moscow]

wait is bungie going to be doing call of duty

[midgard227]

COD: Future warfare with spartan lasers and beam rifles galore :p

[webeblazing]

MS is not doomed even tho im surprised too see this about xbox. articles like this always seems to be about sony. yall dont get MS dont care anything about exculsives, and if the can get away with the 360 being a multiplat console and thats all they will try and thats what i think its getting close to. main thing they care about is profit and by having the halo ip they cant care less. stop acting like MS is really in the gaming biz to give value or push bars.

[ryguy3309]

360 dead? Ummm Gears of war 3 will easily outsell the beloved uncharted 2 and dont say it wont its he truth. I play uncharted 2 on ps3 but compared to gears its crap.

[midgard227]

if u dont remember uncharted 2 is prbly the highest rated game ever, also while i beat both gears they were not even that good. part GOW 2's online is broken and not even fun.

they barley added any gameplay and lmao for both games, u call that a final boss? u call that good story? i laughed during the whole 2nd part cuz it took itself to seriously.

gears only sells because u can chainsaw people, thats it, o and because besides halo, and forza its the only other exclusive on xbox lol well , sorta good exclusive :P

[eagle21]

360 will be the last of the true halo games, the other consoles will flop. The 360 will probably go to "legendary halo" status in 5 years by true Bungie fans who were 12 years old when this news hit...lol

Poor poor microsoft. They will not be able to pull off the success of halo without Bungie. Some people think that most fans don't know or care that Bungie makes halo. Are you nuts? Bungie is their religion. Those nut jobs salivate on the Bungie name. Poor poor Microcrap. :)

[i3eyond the Circle]

People have obviously forgot that the 360 is the multiplayers choice.

CoD

Rainbow Six

Gears of War << Which sold more than the Ps3's top exclusive...so if 360 is going to be dying....the PS3 must be already dead.

Halo Reach will sell over 10million copies and be played well into the next generation and be played more than the ps3's overall total of online game players combined. CoD on 360 already does that but just saying.

Fable 2...a fantasy rpg...sells =3.5million copies not 1 ps3 mainstream shooter can outsell an IMO unfinished RPG.

LMFAAOOOO! THE 360 DEFINITELY HAS BEEN BUOYING OFF OF HALO AND PGR./s

Fanboys these days are comical, I know you guys needed this news with Alan Wake and Halo Reach being around the corner and the next noteworthy Ps3 exclusive....uh....when?

Just get at me when you can find 1 ps3 exclusive that outsells Assassins Creed 1's sales on Xbox 360.

360 buoying must mean the Ps3 is the titanic hence its definite 3rd place position.

[PandemicPrawn0]

Microsoft are quietly building there 1st party studios.

Rare has opened a second studio so I would expect their output to increase over the next 2 - 3 years.

They got Bigpark last year to handle casual titles for Natal I expect.

and they created Spawnpoint and Firebird studios to very little fanfare.

As for PGR? I think that Turn 10 could more than handle it as well as Forza.

Just because Microsoft are not buying up high profile independent studios does not mean they are just sitting on their hands.

[GiantEnemyCrab]

OMG the d00mz!!!

If you think for 1 minute MS is getting out of the gaming business you are out of your freakin mind. And like 15.1 comment listed many NEW studios MS is putting together. The author makes no mention because that would kill the doom motif.

This article is total fail and all I have to say is 343 studios and the fact that the brain trust behind Halo/Bungie in general are now working for MS.

I agree MS first party and exclusives are thin and I hate it but this is seriously jumping head first off the deep end.

[tudors]

gofanboy.com must be true.

[tha_meat_beater]

well, actually you should worry alot ms is f#@%ed!

[blair_enigma]

just like war as solid snake says, that war has changed. so as games, games have changed. there were no flamewars before. everybody was just having fun. no fanboys diehard. and ff belonged to sony now even that has tainted to be somewhere. games have changed. gamers have changed.

[ryguy3309]

Pleaase half the time your not even playing the game your watching a video. So those comercials with it made sense because the guys gf didnt see him holding the controler half the time.

[GarandShooter]

Exactly, especially that part where they're underground and there's this long emotional cutscene where Dom has to off his wife...and...then...Marc...

Oh wait, wrong game.

Do you have to try to make stupid comments or does it all just come naturally?

Both are good series that are a hell of a lot of fun to play. Why can't you just give credit where it's due instead of being a fanass?

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

LOL

[HolaTarola]

OMG! I'm loving this! so many Xbox fanboys running in circles like scared little bugs: green, foxgod, StanLee, SodaPopinsky, Jason 360, Halo3 MLG Pro, Natsu X Fairy Tails, La Chance, etc.. Mwhahaha so funny!

[Xi]

so lets just discount
343 industries
spawn kill
lionhead
turn 10
rare
bigpark
firebird

and the catalogs of fasa studio (battletech, shadowrun, crimson skies)...

[Dellis]

E3 Surprise

MS BUYS EPIC

[Henry Cain]

You must be crazy! The media loves to hate the PS3. You rarely see any articles talking bad about the 360. No matter how much money was spent on RROD the media still thinks the 360 is the best console.

[PRHB HYBRiiD]

isn't turn 10 working on pgr??

[Dance]

Another fanboy rant article

[iNFAMOUZ1]

about the whole ordeal with bungie and their recent actions...wtf
easily my most respected developers, I don't know who they are now...going multi?! why? they sell plenty as microsoft their publishers.
that's just lame..
bungie R.I.P

I guess 343 is the new & old bungie eh?
most of the well known folk are embedded into 343
that makes me fee good about them, experience is def on board.

now thirdly, if microsoft and 343 industries could create some sort of halo 1 and halo 2 HD port for 360, or even the next xbox, that's be some cool news man, I miss halo 2..:(, I'm starting to lose trust in my franchises!, so many dumb deals revolving around MONEY. It's so lame

[ImmortalLegend]

That way Sony can do whatever the f*ck they want without any competition! Sounds great! /sarcasm

[clarkdef]

Damn I gotta play these Halo games

[ThatsGaming]

Was this really a surprise to anyone? Why would Bungie want to be independent?

One reason: Control over their own games...

But it comes at a cost. The cost is Bungie needed to go multi-platform to fund projects more by themselves.

That left them with only two choices... Activision or EA.

[Morgue]

So......

Sony dropped the ball and MS ran with it but now they dropped it?

[Panther52799]

the ball is greased haha

[Panther52799]

what really makes me laugh is that all the people who said that Bungie sucks and all they have is Halo and that sucks are now the same people who seem to be embracing Bungie and their new game. lmao now that sounds like fanboy hypocrisy to me haha!!!! oh, and by the way, the Bungie deal is for ONE game/franchise to be published by Activision for a period of 10 years, not total control over Bungie. Bungie can still make games exclusively for ps3 or ms if they want to, just not in this new game universe, so it is really not that big of a deal for anybody.

[GarandShooter]

People who say Bungie sucks simply don't know what they're talking about, or are jealous haters. Bungie and the Halo franchise have helped define the FPS genre on consoles. Bungie's support for their fan base is also tremendous.

Halo may not be someone's cup of tea, but that comes down to preference and there is no wrong or right when it comes to taste.

If Bungie sucked this all would be no big deal and there wouldn't be several threads with hundreds of comments. I wish them well.

[Panther52799]

i totally agree garand, totally agree :)

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

This is straight up BS no chaser.

If Microsoft can spend millions for timed exclusivity, we can expect them to buy/fund more studios. It may come next gen, but it will if necessary. These guys are actually questioning Microsoft's ability to produce software? LOL - definition of a fool.

The only reason Microsoft let these guys slide because they feel as if they can. Kotick isn't up to being a fly on one of Ballmer's turds, let alone Gates!!

PS3 fanboys laugh now, but don't be believing this come E3.

[abi980]

ps3 can't even beat 360 in america

[keysy420]

what were they thinking is ms giving up

[AngryTypingGuy]

XBOX will be just fine. MS has two things that Sony doesn't:

1. The Halo IP.
2. A profitable gaming division.

Don't full yourselves into thinking that MS won't viciously compete.

[jalen247]

Microsoft only has one good first party studio left...Lionhead...what is Micro thinking...they have been letting the already anemic amount of devs they had when they started this gen dwindle.

Lack of quality first party devs will definitely hurt Microsoft in the long term.

It has already started to take effect...i.e. vast amount of quality Sony exclusives in comparison with Microsoft exclusives and lead between 360 and PS3 is virtually non existent at 4 million and shrinking fast.

[GenerationWinner]

look at all the sony fanboys sayin ms is fu*ked becuase bungie is gone to activision. Lemme tell you that ms knows what they are doing. You really think that ms was not ready for this and they have not planned for this when it happened??? Hahaha hahahahaha ms has many many developers wating to work with them and still the biggest dev in the world EPIC will work with them for years to come cause they have much better talent then bungie but i do wish bungie the best of luck for their new adventure. For us 360 owners thing are looking good cause ms has something new and it will be mega news but ms i holding it back to make people mostly sony droids thinkin that ms is loosing ground lol. dont you love ms tactics yippi.