Microsoft's Shannon Loftis On The Xbox One X Future, Minecraft Exclusivity, And Scalebound
[....]
If it’s to be a success, Shannon Loftis will be one of the people most responsible. In her role as general manager of Microsoft’s Global Games Publishing, she partners with development studios and publishers across the world to bring their titles to Xbox. We caught up at Gamescom to talk about the cancellation of Scalebound, the Play Anywhere program, the impending launch of the Xbox One X, and if Microsoft has enough exclusives to stand tall with the competition.
Excerpts:
Game Informer: You work closely with numerous studios. Is there a particular trend at the moment that developers are excited by? Looking towards the future, is there one thing that stands out to you?
Shannon Loftis: I think there are several things. First, and probably most obvious to me, is we started the raw distribution of the Xbox One X development kit, and the development community is just in love with these kits. [....]
The One X is many times more powerful than the One S. Why did you tether it to the One S and not just start a new console cycle free from any lingering baggage?
We have a huge vibrant community on S and not everybody in gaming right now is ready to make that 4K leap. It can be quite expensive to buy the television. The prices have come down amazingly, but it still is a major investment. I haven’t convinced my own husband yet to let me buy one.
Is there the danger that by tying the X to the S you’re holding developers back from what they want to do with this powerful new console?
I would say that we have yet to scratch the surface of unlocking what all the power of Xbox One S can do. [...]
Do you think this is a strong enough line-up to launch a console with?
I think it’s an incredibly strong line-up, especially when you take into account the fact that all of the 100 plus enhancements that we’ve already seen are free to gamers that already own the games, and the backward compatibility program, the continuing exclusives, and the fact that all the blockbusters, like Destiny and Star Wars Battlefront 2, are just going to run way better on Xbox One.
How close to being completed was Scalebound when the decision to cancel it was made?
We’re not really talking about the state of the game. It was an incredibly difficult decision to make to discontinue it. Platinum is an amazing, incredibly talented developer.
When we make game decisions, we ask ourselves: Is this the right game? Is it the right experience? Is it the right time? And unless we can answer yes to all three, we won’t continue on with a development cycle.
Remedy exclusively made Xbox games for 10 years, but recently Sam Lake revealed that his studio is now working on multi-platform games. What does that mean for Microsoft and Alan Wake and Quantum Break?
We have a great partnership with Remedy. I support any studio’s growth and change. I think this is an incredibly healthy thing for Remedy to do, and we still talk to them all the time. We have two really great products in the market with them with Quantum Break and Alan Wake.
....
And we have a few IPs that my team brought to the table over the last [generation] – I think Quantum Break is a really good example of a world and a phenomenon where there’s still a lot of story that we can tell.
Announcing ReCore: Definitive Edition was a little bit of a signal to people that got into the world of Far Eden and fell in love with these characters that we believe that that’s an IP with a lot of legs.
I think that the key to developing these IPs into something really special and something really monumental is sticking with them.
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featu...ure-minecraft-exclusivity-and-scalebound.aspx
Some answers were fine, but a lot of her answers sound like typical admin-talk, very political. Doesn't really end up saying much.
Her last answer was weak. Remedy is gone multiplat, and they didn't stick with Scalebound.