Microsoft has shared an update regarding Xbox Research, a division that the company launched to help shape the future of Xbox game development, and with it comes the news that the Windows maker is now using it to get a better idea of why some developers are avoiding the Xbox platform. The word comes from Dr. Deborah Hendersen, Principal User Researcher for Xbox, who gave some insights as part of an article about how Xbox Research could reshape the relationship between platform holders and game creators. A copy of the division’s logo can be found below.
…the program welcomes input from creators who aren’t necessarily bringing their games to Xbox. Hendersen explains this open-door policy: “If you are making video games, we’re interested in hearing from you. If you aren’t on Xbox, we’d love to know why. And honestly, if you are using our competitor’s products, you probably have a great perspective we could learn from!”
Discussion (19 replies)
Join Discussion →Probably because players aren't interested in XB either? ?
I suppose you are correct.
Why spend the money to develop a game for a platform if the player base is smaller?
Seeing that Xbox is essentially just a streamlined and embedded windows machine at this point, why not just create xbox interface "wrappers" with pre-set config files and controller bindings that set optimal settings for xbox, and just run the PC version of the games?
This should make it easier and cheaper for developers to launch on the platform if they plan on making a PC version anyway.
... and yet, PC gamers salivate all over themselves whenever they hear a Sony PS title is being ported over to PC.
They do?
I can't think of a single one I have been interested in playing. I guess I'm no longer the mainstream gamer though. I feel like back in 1999-2003 or so I may have been, but I guess that was a long time ago now. :/
I'm thinking it's a combination of lower playerbase and the Xbox Series S requirement.
Sure, you could argue why port a title to Xbox from the PS because the playerbase is small, but there is still a playerbase, and I bet porting a PS5 to Xbox Series X is fairly trivial due to their hardware similarities. However, when you throw on the Series S requirement (and don't forget the bulk of the Xbox playerbase is using a Series S), that porting isn't so trivial.
A friend of mine said that it's "obvious that MS isn't prioritizing Xbox, so why should devs?" Indeed, GamePass is their platform now. And Microsoft doesn't do big-name exclusives anymore (or at least ones that anyone cares about, cuz some like Halo Infinite are basically flops), and that's always been what mainly drives sales of consoles. 3rd-party games can be played on most platforms, and the player gets the choice of choosing the platform they feel the game plays best on. But exclusives are locked to the system, and those become the real reason why a console gamer chooses to buy one platform over another. Sony and Nintendo still roll with those old-school rules, although Sony is wisening up and putting their big hits on PC, even if it's a few years later. Nintendo doesn't, hence the widespread use of Switch emulation, which they've finally been getting real sore about. But Microsoft, they don't really got much to pull players in to their platform. They own a lot of IPs now with the companies they've bought, but they're not really making good use, or any use, of any of them.
I do appreciate that Microsoft started throwing their games on PC long before Sony did, cuz people like me who have been grabbing consoles since 2nd-gen are grateful that we can play these games on PC where we wanted to play them to begin with. But Microsoft should understand that having games available on PC means less reason to buy their consoles (probably why Sony waits a few years). On PC Microsoft tried to make their games exclusive to UWP (just like GFW/GFWL before it) but PC gamers weren't having that bullsh1t, so they relented and allowed their games to be sold on other storefronts like Steam (still waiting for them to put their games on GOG though, as Sony did with some of their games). But they HOPE we'll choose UWP/GamePass instead (we won't). So if there are other choices on PC, and there's no heavy-hitting excusives on their Xbox consoles, what good then is the Xbox brand really? Why would devs wants to put their sh1t on a Microsoft platform when Sony and even Nintendo have a higher installed base? There's nothing drawing people to Xbox, aside from those who find value in GamePass. Microsoft essentially did that to themselves.
I keep forgetting about XBSS. Yeah, devs have been real sore about it, and how it's been holding back development and releases of games. Really holding back 9th-gen as a whole. Console devs used to love how consoles were fixed hardware. PS4 Pro and XB1X changed all that (and honestly before that, the Nintendo DSi compared to the DS, and the New 3DS compared to the 3DS). Console hardware was no longer a single SKU performance wise, and console devs had to get more used to a PC-like way of things, with different settings for games depending on the hardware. By the end of 8th-gen you saw base XB1 and PS4 struggling to run games cuz devs were focusing development around the more powerful versions. Same thing happened too with the DS and especially 3DS. Probably gonna happen again for 9th-gen too. Well technically it already has thanks to XBSS. PS5 and XBSX set a bare minimum for 9th-gen, and XBSS falling below that has kinda f*cked with devs.
Huh. I always pictured it would just be a matter of hard coding different quality level settings to make it playable, and otherwise pretty much the same.
You know, similar to pulling out a RX 6800, installing an RX 6400 and changing the settings to low, on a PC :p
I mean, the architecture is the same (just lower clocks and fewer cores) and the operating system is the same...
How hard could it be?
I’m right there with you. The last time I wanted a platform for a specific game was a Sega Genesis for Sonic and mortal kombat. I did pickup a Wii to play a few games with the wife, and that was my only console purchase since the genesis. This year, according to Steam, I’ve played: Baulder’s Gate 3, Stellaris, Battletech, and warhammer 40k Rogue Trader. Outside of Steam I’ve played Mechwarrior Online. don’t really feel like I’m missing anything
Smaller, not that small, you can easily sell a couple million extra games if the game is good, Xbox series has what? 40 million consoles sold, that's substantial enough to warrant a port, but as you said the series S is holding them back
Yeah, that's what I thought the S conversion would be like when MS first announced it (and it made sense). Going by what rumour sites leak out, it was the lower RAM of the S that's been the biggest hurdle for ports.
I would say that is a safe assumption, and it probably applies to most of us geezers around here
I’ve always been confused on why they haven’t done this. Seems like a no brainer that their APIs should allow for easy portability. I’m sure MS would argue they already do - but it’s obviously not nearly close enough or you wouldn’t be asking this question.
I don't work in game development, so I don't know how hard it is or isn't, but just based on the fact that this type of developer reluctance to port is happening, I'm assuming that this isn't the case. Who knows though. Maybe they just like being whiny.
Doesn't it have like 10 gigs of RAM though?
I mean, I know this is split between the GPU and main system, but if it is designed intelligently that shouldn't matter much, as on a PC most games have to have the assets both in system RAM and in GPU RAM in case they need to be dropped and quickly reacquired. I would assume (but I don't know for a fact) that having unified video/GPU RAM results in a lot of deduplication and more efficient use of RAM.
It is my understanding that developing games for the XBOX platform is rather difficult. If that's the case, it probably comes down to the tools that Microsoft gives developers to create titles for their platform that suck. The platform may also have certain limitations compared to the PS4/5, I do not know enough about their technical capabilities to say that for certain but it could be a factor.
Plus, for the longest time the Playstation had far better exclusives for their console compared to Microsoft.
Then as I understand it, the sales numbers are getting to the point where people don't want to develop for the XBOX because the return on investment isn't really there. That seems like a chicken or the egg kind of argument to me. If there were more games on the platform, the ROI would likely be there.