8 Aug, 2011
First party titles are quickly becoming a thing of the past, with many developers and publishers joining the multi-platform party. There’s still a lot of weight to those who still choose to be first-party exclusives, and Microsoft Game Studios says they are incredibly important to the future of the Xbox 360.
Of course, the biggest connection between the Xbox and any exclusive title will have to be with Halo. “If we lose our way with Halo, we lose our way with Xbox,” said Microsoft Game Studios boss Phil Spencer. In an interview with the Official UK Xbox Magazine, Spencer laid it all out, stating that shooters such as Halo and Call of Duty carry state of the art mechanics that need to continue moving forward. “…our team at 343 need to move forward with that,” said Spencer. “That’s always going to be one of our success criteria.”
Those might seem like some dire words, but with 343i hard at work on both Halo: Anniversary and Halo 4, Spencer had everything but bad to say about the new captain at the helm. “The good thing about 343 is that they’ve had the time, through the dev of Reach, working on getting the map packs out, and getting to know the infrastructure and the build systems and everything about Halo,” said Spencer. “They’ve also brought in their own talent and their own view so that they can put their own stamp on the franchise.” They’re certainly in a position to take over from Bungie without so much as a misstep.
“I think it’s important that our triple-A first party titles do help craft and shape how the platform evolves,” said Spencer. “Halo just by its sheer nature of size, of user base – as well as how important the FPS is in today’s gaming world – has to play that role.”
We’ll have to wait and see if 343i can deliver. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary touches down for action on November 15th.
Via Team Xbox.
Interesting thought, but I think that the Xbox 360 has moved beyond the link of needing Halo to be successful. I think the online experience on the Xbox 360 has become the core attraction over any one particular game. The connectivity on Xbox 360 has become the dominant playground for anyone that is into multiplayer or co-op gaming.
There’s also the “It’s our little cash baby, you can’t have it!” sort of a thing that Microsoft seems to be having right now.