For a couple of years now, it has been a common occurrence for new video game releases to entirely skip Microsoft’s consoles. Especially when it comes to indie games and Japanese releases, there seems to be little interest in Xbox from many companies and developers. But why is this? That’s exactly what Microsoft wants to know, as they have recently commented.
In a post on their development blog, Microsoft stated that they are investigating ways to work on the key aspects for which developers are avoiding releasing their games on Xbox. To this end, they have launched an initiative where people from video game studios, regardless of their position within the company, can communicate directly with Microsoft to discuss their main issues with the brand.
Debora Hendersen, the principal user researcher at Microsoft, has stated that “if you’re not on Xbox, we would love to know why. And honestly, if you’re using our competitor’s products, you probably have a great perspective from which we can learn.” Emphasizing how they seek to make it an inclusive process for developers.
For this initiative, which can currently be joined by only developers based in the US—which already highlights one of the basic problems the company currently faces in reaching more developers—they seek to use all kinds of tools to discover the reasons for this situation. They are using tools similar to those used for studies focused on players, but aimed at the reality of video game developers.
Although the awareness that they have a problem and the willingness to solve and listen to it is a good start, it is not difficult to imagine some of the major issues when launching video games in the company. The need for parity between Series S and Series X, their excessive focus on the North American audience and GamePass, and their erratic and confusing business policy, along with more than suboptimal communication, make working with Xbox less attractive than it should be. But if the studies help them discover the specific reasons for this, it will undoubtedly be beneficial for both developers and players.
