Crackdown 3
Crackdown 3 – not the Xbox One’s finest hour

A reader is disappointed by Crackdown 3 and argues that Microsoft needs to make more games that aren’t just violent action games.

So Crackdown 3 came out this week and to the surprise of absolutely nobody it got terrible reviews. Although I must admit I never expected the story campaign to be quite that lame and for the multiplayer to be such a letdown. I’ve played the game for a few hours myself, because I’m a loyal Xbox fan and have Game Pass, and the multiplayer does seem just as bad as described.

And yes, you read that right, I consider myself to be a loyal ‘fan’ of Xbox. By which I mean I’ve owned all the consoles and, up until the end of the Xbox 360 era at least, thought of them of them as my go-to console maker – to the point where I never bothered to get a PlayStation 3. I certainly own a PlayStation 4 though, as if I didn’t then this whole generation would’ve been a diet of third party games only.

We all know the problems started with Don Mattrick but following the appointment of Phil Spencer, who seemed to be very knowledgeable and passionate about games, I don’t think anyone expected that the Xbox One would basically sit out the entire generation. I assumed Phil was going to turn things around and that we’d see major improvement in terms of first party exclusives and marketing, but there’s been virtually no change.

Presumably everything is being saved up for the Xbox Two but to basically give up on the Xbox One is to me shameful. Especially when the few scraps we’re thrown is rubbish like Crackdown 3. But there is a bigger problem looming from Microsoft, and I don’t just mean the dubious reliability of some of the new developers they’ve bought recently.

The first Xbox narrowly outsold the GameCube to take second place in the PlayStation 2 generation, the Xbox 360 came dead last in its generation, and it’s clear that the Xbox One is going to come last this time – despite having a three-year head start on the Switch. That is not a good track record, and yet many will probably find it surprising as the Xbox 360 is assumed, by gamers in the US and UK, to have been the dominant console of that generation. But it wasn’t. Worldwide it was outsold by both the PlayStation 3 and Wii.

The Xbox 360 was a great console, probably my favourite of all time, but while it was nicknamed the ‘Shooter Box’ its real problem was it was the ‘American Box’. Everything about it, from its design to its marketing to its games was aimed squarely at an American audience and Microsoft didn’t seem to care a jot that no-one in Europe, Japan, or elsewhere liked what they were selling. The big problem is that Microsoft still doesn’t seem to care.

Microsoft’s attempts to appeal to Japan and attract Japanese developers has always been bad, and you can tell their heart’s not in it. When they were buying up developers before E3 last year the ones they bought were exclusively North American and British. Not a single one even from continental Europe let alone Japan. It doesn’t take an act of clairvoyance to guess what kind of games they’re going to put out: violent action games either set in America or starring Americans, with lots of guns and very little originality.

At the moment Microsoft first party line-up consists of Halo (violent shooter), Gears Of War (violent shooter), Crackdown 3 (violent shooter), State Of Decay (violent shooter), Forza (testosterone-driven racer) and… well that’s about it really. The only real exceptions are Sea Of Thieves, a British-made game that’s quite jolly and seems to have made an inroad on Twitch and Minecraft – Microsoft’s one and only non-America/UK made game which is, of course, a global phenomenon.

The example of what Microsoft should concentrate on the future is right there but they refuse to take notice. And it’s not just about the individual games either, it’s about the perception. You could also point at downloadable game Ori as an exception but no one but hardcore gamers have even heard of that. To most people, especially in Europe and Japan, the Xbox means loud, obnoxious, violent shooters. That is the problem that Microsoft has got to overcome for the next generation and based on their previous efforts I’ve not much fait they’ll manage it.

By reader Augustus

The reader’s feature does not necessary represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. As always, email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk and follow us on Twitter.