No game drought on Xbox One, promises Microsoft exec
Microsoft Studios head Phil Spencer has promised that Xbox One won't be subject to the same post-launch game drought the Xbox 360 suffered when it launched.
The Xbox exec told Polygon to expect a wealth of first and third-party titles on Xbox One in 2014.
"I was in Europe last week visiting Lionhead, I was at Rare, [Max: The Curse of Brotherhood developer] PressPlay up in Copenhagen talking about and playing things that are going to come out in the next year, maybe a little later," he said. "The depth of the portfolio next year is pretty incredible.
"I think back to the Xbox 360 launch, I don't think we really had those mega franchises that were landing in winter to spring that we're seeing out of third parties in that same timeframe for Xbox One," Spencer said, highlighting key third-party titles like March 2014's Xbox and PC exclusive TitanFall.
"Rolling into the next holiday, we haven't announced everything that's coming yet," he continued. "But that lineup from first party also looks strong. I don't mind saying that on 360, I think we had a gap. We had our launch lineup ... and a couple Japanese games, but in that first half of the following year, we were a little dry from a first-party standpoint.
"But I look at the next 18 to 24 months, and really on a month by month basis, you're going to have something you can go out and play."
Spencer even mentioned Halo, though the interview didn't yield a release date for 343i's next entry in the series.
"It's not really a portfolio plan that way, but when I look at the way the portfolio is laying out ... I think people are going to be happy with the lineup that's coming," he said. "And I haven't even mentioned when Halo is coming or some of the big mega franchises."
He indicated that December's Spike VGX event could be the venue for new announcements.
"We'll have some things to say there," he said. "Frankly, we've got enough news that our E3 would be a little overloaded if we kept everything for that. We're being real thoughtful about the news that people want to hear and also the right time to announce games so that we're not too early."
The Xbox One release date is this Friday, November 22 in 13 markets. The Xbox One price is £430 / $500 / $500.
In CVG's Xbox One review, we wrote: "Just like the PlayStation 4, Microsoft has crafted a games platform that builds upon long-standing conventions instead of reinventing them. For many, this homogeneity is exactly what they asked for, but whether old solutions can hold out for another decade is another matter entirely."
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