So, during Gamescom I pre-ordered the Xbox One X. I want it to succeed but the thing that annoys me the most about Xbox so far is the lack of exclusives the system has, both released and upcoming.

This Original Xbox lineup is the kind of lineup I expected from the One.

What the OG Xbox had was a well varied mix of genres, with racing games like Project Gotham Racing and Midtown Madness, party games like Fuzion Frenzy and Whacked, and action games like Brute Force, MechAssault and Crimson Skies!

However, so far, the Xbox One has this.

As you can see, there's at least SIX shooters (Halo, Gears, Quantum Break, Crackdown, Sunset Overdrive and ReCore) for the X1 and only one racer in the form of Forza. And yet for all that matter, ELEVEN of these TWELVE games can also be played on PC.

It really annoys me that MS owns the rights to all these franchises for the original Xbox and are just sitting on them doing nothing, when it's the fact that these franchises could help it compete with the PlayStation 4. It doesn't help either that they're making their games all available on PC, too.

What games would you like to see come to Xbox One?

I think that's the biggest problem I've had with Microsoft last generation and this generation. I never had the original Xbox so I can't really compare much, but I'd like to see new, varied exclusives from them. Right now the only semi-exclusives I care about are PUBG and State of Decay 2.

It's especially worse for me now that I own all the platforms. I find the Xbox One easily has the worst exclusives line up and I really wish Microsoft would do more on that front.

Most of those Xbox games are terrible, though. Crimson Skies, MechAssault, and Project Gotham are all pretty good, but some of those games are downright bad. Fusion Frenzy, Bloodwake, and Whacked, for example. I think Microsoft would be much better of gambling on new ideas than trying to resurrect most of those games.

Also, I really don't understand the criticism that Xbox One games are available on PC. Why does that matter? It's not like Microsoft is devoting their resources to making PC exclusives. It's still a sale for Microsoft, and gives them a larger audience. The money is, and always has been, in game sales (and licensing), not in hardware. It's also good for consumers because we can choose which platform to buy rather than having to buy both. I wish there were no exclusives and everyone could just play everything on their platform of choice.

@cameron: It may not matter to Microsoft as a whole, but it is damaging to the Xbox brand because they're the one console that can't say "We've got games you can't get anywhere else," and the lack of that means less console sales.

Imagine they bring back online for original xbox games.

FUCKIN BALLER!!!!

Also, Halo 5 and sunset are 2 games that are xbox only. So 10 of the 12.

@cheetoman: Halo 5: Forge brought Halo 5's MP to PC.

Also, they're not gonna bring OG Xbox Live back.

There are four Forza games on the Xbox One, and Forza 7 will be out before the One X to make five. Three are outstanding (Horizon 2, Horizon 3, and Forza 6), and one is good (Forza 5). The console certainly isn't lacking there. OG Titanfall is the still the better Titanfall, IMO, and it's still plenty active. Ori and the Blind Forest is a "different" genre, and there's an upcoming sequel to that. Cuphead is similarly a pretty good-looking non-shooter in the pipe as well. And while it sounds like it may not matter to you, PUBG coming to the X (even if only as a timed exclusive) is a pretty big deal.

Moreover, they announced OG Xbox backwards compatibility, so you will be able to play Crimson Skies and some others soon enough. Frankly, several of the OG Xbox games you listed there are far from classics, and there's a decent argument that the commercial/critical failure of such games helped funnel the Xbox lineup more towards the shooter/racer console it has become. Quite a bit changes in over a decade-and-a-half. Sony has pretty much abandoned the racing genre it once was king of in the process of becoming the RPG (and of course JRPG) home and generally having the better indie lineup.

What amuses me is how in the lengthy relative dearth of quality first-party games from Sony up until that finally changed about a year ago, the justification for owning a PS4 was "well, the Playstation's the best way to play third-party games" while everyone gave them a free pass for dragging their feet on exclusives and threw money at Sony anyway. Now the situation has flipped a bit, and everyone is jumping at the chance to point at the somewhat lacking Xbox One first-party lineup at present (it helps to conveniently ignore multiple great existing Xbox One exclusives and promising ones for the future), while power/performance apparently don't matter anymore.

@benoski: I still don't count that as bringing the whole game to PC but w/e.

Is it confirmed they won't bring the multiplayer?

@notnert427: I think it's the lack of variety, at least for me personally. I'm not interested in racing games whatsoever so none of those Forza games do anything for me. You named some great games though, Ori and the Blind Forest is one of my favourite games ever and Cuphead looks great. I think Sony's advantage is they also get some Japanese games on their platforms which Microsoft does not and that appeals to a very vocal audience.

My thing is I'd want to see a big first party effort from Microsoft on something out of their comfort zone. Forget Halo and Gears, do something wildly different. For example 343 is a very capable studio, I loved Halo 4, so I'd love to see them do something unique and different after Halo 6.

What are you guys talking about? New Blinx and Kung Fu Chaos would be huge! HUGE!

I notice the remaster of Voodoo Vince that came to Xbox One this year is not on this list. That is okay, everyone forgot that game was released.

Which is kind of the point. It is a different time. Game budgets have ballooned and there are fewer genres being made by everyone these days. You think Sony is going to be making a sequel to the critically beloved Puppeteer any time soon? Sony is a bit more experimental than Microsoft but still playing it pretty safe these days. Even Nintendo isn't launching weird stuff like Pikmin anymore. The closest they get these days is Splatoon (shooter) and Arms (fighter.)

When Microsoft does try more experimental stuff like Recore it generally doesn't go over great. Even Killer Instinct, interesting for many reasons, doesn't get them a lot of credit. Quantum Break was experimental but just gets lumped in under "shooter."

I agree MS needs new IP and more varied games but it isn't really for lack of trying.

@cameron: Blood Wake was actually pretty good. Great water physics for back then--- piloting the boats on various versions of the sea (especially super choppy) was fun.

MS first party has been shocking greenlighting games that'll never sell and just throwing away money, $75 million and four years on Fable Legends an early access games is nuts then add another four developing Scalebound for it to not see the light of day is piss poor managment.

Remedy spent six years making Alan Wake and it bombed so MS gave Remedy another six years for Quantum Break a full price linear 8-10 hour action game with no MP but this time with 20 min cut scenes in what world was that every going to sell.

The signs aren't looking good for Sea of Theives & Crackdown 3 either both have had lengthy development with little to show so far, and lets not forget Sunset Overdrive probably MS best first party game this gen sent to die releasing in Oct.

MS haven't successfully launched a new blockbuster IP this generation which is a shame given the time it takes probably won't. Rebooting OG Xbox mascot and xtreme sport titles ain't gonna do squat in todays market MS need new games with new ideas.

I'll take Gears, Halo, Forza, Sunset Overdrive, and Killer Instinct over that mixed bowl of crap that was the Microsoft Games Studios OG Xbox lineup. It may have been more varied, but that's really only because the industry as a whole doesn't make many platformers or B-tier games. Holding up games like Tao Feng, Blinx or Brute Force as something MS should go back to is just weird, man.

@nicksmi56: But, again, why should anyone care? If Microsoft can sell more games by releasing them on PC and Xbox One than they could if they only released them on Xbox One, then nobody loses, and more people get to play cool games.

@evilcalvin: Honestly wasn't expecting anyone to defend Blood Wake, haha. It was a technically impressive game, but it wasn't a good game. It's been a while since I've played it, but I can't imagine the gameplay holds up well.

@cameron: Because it gives off the impression that Microsoft doesn't care about the Xbox. Like it's the ugly step-sister of the consoles whose parent company can't even bother to give its own games. That both pisses people like the OP off and has others like me wondering why I should care about the Xbox when apparently no one else does.

@nicksmi56: The vision is of Xbox as an affordable Windows based gaming machine. Microsoft doesn't seem worried about people with some kind of weird emotional attachment to their console and console wars. They are not going for the 6th grade video game braggart demo.

If you prefer to play the games on a Windows PC that's fine. They'lll catch you there. Maybe Xbox is not for you but they will still sell you their games.

@bigsocrates: And that's totally fine if they wanna do that. I'm just answering his question of why people care.

And even if it's "weird" to you, the fact that this lack of exclusives is brought up time and time again means that exclusives are still a big thing to today's gamers, and at least part of their decision in which console to support. If Microsoft wants to lead the charge of "no more exclusives, our games go everywhere we can get them," they can totally do that, but they better be ready to catch the flak for it from people like the OP, and the lost sales because of that flak.

I own all three consoles (XB1 S, PS4 Pro and Switch) but predominantly game on Xbox as that's where my friends are and even I'm confused why Microsoft aren't investing money into more diverse first party titles.

At Gamescom, Shannon Loftis was excited to announce the ReCore definitive edition (as in the full game). I really enjoyed the game but c'mon Microsoft. It's a definitive edition of a game which sold poorly. Hardly something to be proud of.

I'm looking forward to State of Decay 2 and Sea of Thieves. I believe publishing PUBG is a very good business move by Microsoft as it'll move consoles but where to next? I love the idea of the X and I have one preordered but games wise there really is nothing. Phil Spencer doesn't want to announce anything unless it's close to being released so who knows what they have planned.

I look at something like the announcement of Age of Empires and scratch my head why there wasn't an Xbox version announced. It seemed like a golden opportunity. Mapping RTS buttons to a controller is doable.

My gut feeling is that Satya Nadella isn't allowing as much freedom financially to the Xbox team as they would have been granted in the past to invest into new IPs which is a shame. Xbox seem to be just playing safe now which is terrible for the industry.

I am considering buying the X later this year/early next year but this is a bummer. Honestly I might still buy it for the 360 back-compat and in the hope coming multiplatform games will take advantage of the hardware, plus PUBG is a huge draw for me as I refuse to invest in a PC. So as a current PS4 player there is not much to catch up with, as far as this generation goes (I want to play Sunset, Gears and Halo but that's about it), but I have a solid 360 library I would like to re-visit so I am really torn on this at the moment.

There is maybe no video game that I want more than a true successor to Amped 3.

I'm glad I'm not the only who noticed.

But why even give flak for Play Anywhere in the first place? All you're arguing is for Microsoft to remove a consumer-friendly policy to artificially increase the value of their platform. You don't even lose anything from Play Anywhere! I'm all for people having different opinions, but this opinion has no sound basis in logic.

What? Alan Wake sold north of 4 million, Quantum Break "exceeded expectations", Sea of Thieves alpha feedback and general feedback has been super positive. Don't get me wrong, MS doesn't have exclusives and has a ton of work to do, but they're also catching flak for things out of their control. Scalebound being cancelled isn't necessarily on Microsoft directly unless we've got a full picture of what happened between the studio and MS. I honestly feel a bit bad for MS in the respect of exclusives because of the cases like Scalebound, Crackdown's delays, Phantom Dust, etc. - they're trying things but seem to either not have the teams that can get something compelling put together, or the ideas just aren't appealing enough to dictate promising sales.

The idea that they need to just get exclusives for exclusives sake is a bad one, they don't need to pump out low-effort titles just to say "see we've got some too!". They need to be the home for third party to play best, and they need a few titles that are so compelling that they attract purchasers. Halo doesn't have that draw any more. I can't help but think that Sunset Overdrive coming out around this time would've been better than when it did - instead of coming out when the messaging around the console and business were so crazily off the mark, coming out now with play-anywhere would be a big draw.

Don't forget Microsoft is bigger than just Xbox as well, saying "play anywhere doesn't count because it's PC too" is a weak argument. Microsoft is still getting your money, while Sony as a larger company struggles with the gaming division pulling their profits up (albeit in a substantial way). Play Anywhere gives MS a unique advantage, and for me personally it's been great to play Forza Horizon 3 on the Xbox in the living room, then when the wife gets home just flip over to PC.

@darth_navster: It's not about what I lose. It's about what the Xbox brand is losing, which I've already stated.

Secondly, Play Anywhere isn't there to be nice to you. It's there to get your money. Let's not pretend otherwise.

And third, I don't think the removal of competition has been good for any industry, and I highly doubt that video games will be the industry to buck that trend. Competition is how we progress. We get bigger and better TVs because they want you buying theirs and not the other company's. We get gigantic, bombastic, multi-million dollar films and franchises because they want to be the ones to get your ticket sale rather than the other films out at that moment. We get extremely fast news because they want your viewership and don't want you to go watch the other channel or read the other paper. We get bigger and better PCs because they don't want you to buy a Mac. Competition is how the market works.

So yeah, it's a bit upsetting that you bought a PS4 and can't play that shiny new Mario game, but you know what that forces Nintendo to do? Make a really dang awesome Mario game so others like you choose their product instead. Exclusives aren't some evil business practice preying on the poor innocent gamer. They're literally how every industry works, and will continue to work for quite some time.

Like I said, if Microsoft wants to lead the charge to get rid of exclusives, they can. But when people buy a PS4/Switch/PC because Xbox doesn't have anything specific to change their decision, they can't complain about it. That's the path they chose.

@joe_mccallister: Alan Wake didn't do well on 360 it had a horrible launch Alan Wake has a US sales nightmare and took two years to reach 2 million Alan Wake hits two million sales, has legs as a series most of its 4 million we're from PC heavily discounted and humble bundles. Quantum Break expecations must have been exceedingly low QB shifted less than 200k in two month in the US Poor Sales Continue as Quantum Break Hits Steam its no secret QB didn't do well.

The problem isn't cancelling games especially so in Scalebounds case it was never going to sell Japanese games don't do very well on Xbox and a Platinum one to boot doubly so, its total mis-managment spending so much time and money it should never have been AAA its was very risky from the get go.

Sea of Theives is a bright and colourful pirate adventure in a shared world it doesn't sound like a game for the typical Xbox crowd and its been in development along time with very little improvment I'm not saying its bad but again its a risky proposition.

Sunset Overdrive was never given a chance thats the issue, I never mentioned PC or 'play anywhere' I don't think it does any harm or good because no one interested in the windows store.

Sony's biggest earner and always been is insurance all their division have been in the black for awhile apart from mobile/laptop which was written off recently next year should be their biggest year for a decade but not sure how they pertain to the thread.

@nicksmi56: Just because a corporation benefits from a policy does not mean that it can't be consumer friendly. The two are not mutually exclusive!

How does Play Anywhere reduce competition? The studios must still compete in a crowded software marketplace for consumer dollars and, as such, are still subject to a free market. What would prevent Nintendo from making good Mario games if they didn't have a platform to push? Do publishers like Bethesda and Devolver produce subpar work because they don't have their own consoles?

And who cares what the Xbox brand is losing? It's just another corporate logo, same as Nintendo, same as Playstation. The bottom line is that more people get to play more games, which is always a win in my book.

@darth_navster: My point was it wasn't explicitly made to be consumer-friendly.

And true, games would still be competing against other games, but exclusives aren't just selling themselves. They're also selling the platforms they're on, so they're under extra pressure to be amazing. They're THE reason someone buys a Playstation or a Wii, and companies know that. You think the lavish production values of Uncharted would be there if it was just another average game? You think Breath of the Wild would've come out if Nintendo wasn't trying to get themselves back on track in the console space? The extra incentive is what makes projects like that happen. And Bethesda is indicative of the very problem I'm talking about. Despite the numerous complaints about them needing to change their engine, the complaints about the copious amounts of bugs, and the demand for newer content rather than recycled content, Skyrim's being re-released for the third time. Why? Because they know no one else does what they do and they know they can get away with it.

And they're not "just brands" to companies. If they didn't want to sell the $500 boxes, they wouldn't make the $500 boxes. All these gaming companies are businesses first and foremost, whose aim is to make money. If gamers are happy because of their actions, that's great. Not because gamers are happy, but because it gets them more money. That's always their #1 priority.

@thepanzini: The play anywhere comments weren't directed at you. Alan Wake also came out mid-month up against Red Dead so it's not a surprise it didn't smash anything. QB sold better than Sunset Overdrive - but was still at a time when Xbox One was finding its identity and trying to shake off the early stigma of Mattrick. Exclusives by nature are a risk, that's why they take them. I guess my confusion comes in what you're asking for from Microsoft, you want them to take chances but don't want what they've taken risks on so far with a Japanese game from a relatively competent developer, or a Pirate game from a super-competent developer that's getting great feedback all over the internet from people who have actually had hands-on. I'm not sure where the "little improvement" part of Sea of Thieves even comes from because the game has come a long way, was probably just announced far too soon so our impression of how long it's been worked on is skewed. I think I'm most curious when people make these statements in hindsight that things like QB or Scalebound were massive mistakes anyone could've seen coming, what would you have done differently?

To me, the bets made sense, and while Scalebound wasn't my cup of tea I could see they were doing something different and the studios they were trusting were calculated risks. Remedy doesn't make unadulterated crap, and Platinum tends to be hit or miss - they were hoping for a hit.

Sony also is having a solid quarter and seeing some growth but I wouldn't call it "in the black for a while" as their financials for 2016 were showing decline (https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/library/fr/16q4_sony.pdf). They've got work to do across the board but I agree they're making great moves, I just worry they're getting stagnant and comfortable (candidly they can afford to be with a 3x console sales lead).

@joe_mccallister: Certain games do very well on Xbox such as FPS where as RPG's tend not to especially JRPG's Final Fantasy 15 had a split 70% in the PS4's favor but R6 Siege had a near even split despite the overall hardware ratio. Ubisoft as many other publisher's have noted Xbox users tend have a high average spend over their PS4 counterparts. MS would better spent making their new expensive AAA games in the Gears/Halo format campaign/MP or MP focused playing to MS strength, and making their risky stuff smaller AA Recore size.

Don't get me wrong SoT doesn't look bad but I'm in the alpha and its changed very little in a year, progress has been slow. And I don't think MS is the right pub to foster such a game or an Xbox audience exist in significant numbers at least if SoT is full price. SoT would do very well releasing on Steam in early access the windows store isn't the same. I would be happy to be wrong but SoT has already been quite expensive three years dev using most of Rare's 200+ team.

@nicksmi56: What special magic does Nintendo or Sony provide that makes Uncharted or Zelda "better"? Would the developers not be able to tap into their creativity the same way if they weren't making a platform exclusive? If we're talking about budget and scale, there are plenty of third party developers creating massivegames and/or games with cutting edgegraphics. If Nintendo or Sony were to go bankrupt tomorrow the people behind their incredible games won't disappear, and I doubt that they would stop creating just because they would have to draw a paycheck elsewhere.

As for your Skyrim example, you do realize that is only a small part of Bethesda? In addition to re-releasing old games (a practice that Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft are guilty of), they also published DOOM, Wolfenstein: The New Order, and Prey, all games that most people would agree are good to great. They, like every publisher, are driven by the fickle gaming market to put out top quality software. Voila, the free market at work!

Finally, of course platform holders want to sell their $500 boxes, and I don't see how my argument negates that. There remains a contingent of players who don't want to deal with PC gaming, and so Microsoft makes a box for them. Will it sell PS4 numbers? Probably not, but it will make that contingent happy while also pleasing PC players with Play Anywhere. In the end, that approach would make them far more money and would please far more people than keeping things Xbox exclusive and selling marginally more units at a break-even (or loss-leading) price.

@darth_navster: Oh yes, the people who keep making this same thread over and over as well as the people who continually wonder what reason they have to buy an Xbox now (including people in this very thread) seem very pleased...

What special magic does Nintendo or Sony provide that makes Uncharted or Zelda "better"?

You mean besides a check?

And my Skyrim example wasn't to illustrate that Bethesda doesn't make good games anymore. It was to illustrate that once a company knows they have a guaranteed place in the market, they don't feel the need to put in extra effort, because why would they? The consumers will buy it anyway. You're not going to hear about an Elder Scrolls 6 until everyone finally gets tired of new versions of Skyrim. Transformers 6 will not be much different from Transformers 1-5 unless sales plummeted for the last installment or fan outcry was significantly louder this time. And you've got higher chances of a dude dropping off two billion dollars at your house than you will of seeing Grand Theft Auto 5 story DLC when the developers can just add a few new cars to Online and people will eat it up.

So what would happen if the big three died off right now and tomorrow there was a box released that played literally everything? Simple. The Bethesdas, CDProjektReds, Rockstars, Activisions, etc. would rise to the top of the industry, and then they wouldn't have to bother anymore. Just keep releasing the same thing with a few minor tweaks, or better yet just push out easy to make DLC and nickel and dime your way to riches. Actual improvements? New ideas? Why would we do that? That costs money that we don't want to spend, and no one is pushing us to do better. Smaller games wouldn't be able to compete since most smaller studios don't have the cash to plaster their game all over TV and the internet and they wouldn't have parent companies to help them push their product or help them complete it in the first place (You think No Man's Sky would have reached the audience it did without Sony giving them a boost? Not a chance. Platinum Games. Pretty popular name, right? Well the reason Baynoetta 2 was only on Wii U was because without Nintendo, the game wouldn't have been made in the first place. Same with Capcom and the later Street Fighter games, and that's a franchise that's been going on for ages. Turns out making games is mighty expensive, and I wouldn't call CDProjecktRed the norm by any stretch of the imagination. Oh and about Hellblade? Turns out Ninja Theory wouldn't even be a thing anymore if Sony hadn't saved them with Heavenly Sword). Not to mention that that single platform you're playing on no longer needs to get better, and can start screwing you over in all kinds of ways because where else are you going to go? You either take what they give you or don't play at all. Tough luck.

But we're getting off track here. The point is exclusives do still matter in many ways, and while Play Anywhere may not be a problem for you, the volume of people that seem displeased with it should speak for itself. Can we end this now? I hate long internet arguments. Such a waste of time.

@fatzur: Fixing Recore up bodes well for the future of that IP, which MS owns I believe.

Halo Wars 2 will still release a couple DLCs, so that's the console RTS of focus for now. I believe mouse and keyboard support for xbox one was teased recently again. If AoE4 reviews well, it will come to Xbox later.

It's unclear if xbox truly has no other exclusives, or that they are never going to announce anything until near completion any more. We'll find out next E3 I suppose.

@thepanzini: I agree with the overall sentiment. Xbox exclusives this gen have been very ambitious, and as a result most of those risky investments aren't paying off.

Fable legends was them trying to jump on the asynchronous multiplayer wagon, a wagon that looked promising but no one has really been able to pull off to this day. Phantom dust reboot was supposed to be an action + card game. Quantum break was supposed join TV and interactive gaming. Scalebound was supposed to have 4-player multiplayer, from a developer with little experience with RPGs or multiplayer. And Crackdown 3 was supposed to have "power of the cloud", which has been toned way back since then. Gigantic was actually the easy layup of the bunch, but it took way too long and the market is too crowded now.

If anything, Microsoft seemed to want to find the next Halo/Gears, something that changes the landscape. (In the end, they bought minecraft, that sort of counts...)

Look at Sony's "fantastic line up of exclusives": Horizon, Persona, Yakuza, Nier, Nioh, even the upcoming spider-man and god of war. None of those are really ground-breaking (aside from visuals and style). They look good, play well, have interesting stories, and build on well-established molds. (It can also be argued that MS has been ignoring well-written narratives, when that is where a lot of reviewers/gamers have increasingly demanded)