Xbox has traditionally been extremely weak in first party games- it has some big franchises like Halo and Forza, sure, but on the whole, it is lacking in variety and new IPs, something that is being thrown into acute relief now that the mainstays of the Xbox brand are starting to feel run into the ground and tired.
Speaking to The Guardian, Xbox head Phil Spencer said that the company is absolutely increasing its investment in first party games- which may mean we can see more from Microsoft going forward. “Right now the focus is really on the content that we’re building,” he said. “I know I get some community pushback on our first-party [slate], and what position we’re in, and I want to say to people: that same level of commitment you felt from myself and from the team as we’ve evolved platform over the last three years – as we’ve evolved service over the last three years, as we’ve evolved and innovated hardware over the last three years – is going on with our first party. I don’t want to go and pre-announce a bunch of things, but we are upping our investment, there’s no doubt about that.”
That’s good to hear, because a lack of bankable exclusives and varied games has been Microsoft’s biggest problem against Sony and Nintendo in the last decade or so. Hopefully Spencer actually delivers with his promise.