Microsoft Needs to Take Risks with Flagship Franchises Halo, Minecraft, and Forza
As the days lead up to this years E3, many eyes are on Microsoft to see what big announcements they’ll be making for their Xbox One and Windows 10 line-ups. In a new interview with MCVUK, the new head of first party games at Microsoft and Xbox, Matt Booty, spoke about what the future holds for their flagship franchises like Halo, Forza, and Minecraft.
One of the biggest complaints the industry has with Microsoft is that they play it safe with their handful of franchises, with similar gameplay time and time again. According to Matt Booty, the company is looking at branching out with their flagship series. “We’re very lucky to have a number of established franchises. When you think about Minecraft, Halo and Forza, each has over a decade or almost a decade of foundation underneath them. We need to use those franchises as a home base from which we can expand. That strength lets us branch out and take risks with them.”
Booty talked about what that means exactly for the future of their franchises and how Microsoft plans on making this happen. “With games being as large as they are, with the move to games as an ongoing service…it is difficult to pivot quickly and try to chase after trends that might happen even on the scale of a year. In business terms a year can be a long time, but development time being three to four years these days, that’s the span we need to think about. We’ve got to get our strategic long-term bets, our game development cycles and the things our players like to do in sync. And that will set us up for success.”
So how will fans react to these risks? It seems we’ll get to see just what Microsoft has up their sleeve in a few days time at E3 and it will all start with Gears of War, and if we’re lucky, maybe Halo 6? Their press conference takes place this Sunday at 1 PM PST/ 4 PM EST.
Do you think it’s about time that Microsoft shakes things up? Let us know in the comments below and keep it locked for our full E3 coverage!