Microsoft’s portfolio of first party studios has quickly become among the most impressive lineup of developers in the industry, not just because of the stable of IP under their belt, but also because of the talent they employ. The hope, of course, is that that will lead to Microsoft developing the kinds of games that they generally haven’t had much success with in the past.
For instance, while live service or multiplayer-centric games like Sea of Thieves, Gears of War, Forza, and more have found a great deal of success, what about narrative-driven single player AAA games, the likes of which we see so often from PlayStation developers? Well, according to Xbox boss Phil Spencer, that’s an area where Microsoft has been focusing a great deal lately.
Speaking in an interview with The Guardian, Spencer said that Microsoft is developing more of those kinds of games currently than it ever has in the past, before suggesting that Xbox has been investing heavily in new and risky things- because if they work out well, the risk will be paid off.
“I think we’re probably building more of those now than we’ve been in the history of Xbox,” said Spencer. “Platform holders, whether that platform is subscription or a hardware device or a store, are actively investing in new and probably more risky things, because, if it works, we get value out of bringing players into the ecosystem..”
Currently, the likes of Fable, Starfield, Avowed, The Outer Worlds 2, Perfect Dark, and more are in the works at Microsoft-owned first party studios, and all are promising new and unique kinds of experiences (at least from a Microsoft perspective)- and those are just the ones we know about. Here’s hoping we learn more about them in the near future.
