Microsoft has continually said that 2015 would be the greatest games line up in Xbox history, and it looks like they are looking to improve on that in 2016. Mike Ybarra, the director of programming for the Xbox Division, has said that gamers and games are their main focus for Xbox in 2016.
Ybarra told the Inner Circle Podcast, “We are all gamers. I’m on the platform side, but I would be encouraging us as an organization to focus on games. Games are why we are all buying these consoles to play and so you go t to have a great lineup. This holiday I think Phil has done a great job. It’s in my opinion the best holiday lineup we’ve had in Xbox One . I really feel like we have to continue to focus on creating great content and great games.”
Microsoft had a fantastic year this year, releasing Halo 5: Guardians, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Forza Motorsport 6, Rare Replay, and Gears of War: Ultimate Edition. Next year they look to release exclusives such as Scalebound, Quantum Break, Gears 4, Recore, and Crackdown 3.
It’s obvious that Microsoft is always working to make sure that people who game on Xbox are happy with the system. They recently released an entirely new upgraded UI and also launched backwards compatibility on Xbox One. Gamers have shown that they appreciate when companies focus on what they actually want, and that’s games. Microsoft is very smart to be listening to them.
Source: Examiner
Jennifer is a games journalist, former games journalist and PR Manager at Gearbox. They contributed 234 articles to ICXM between 2015–2017, focused on opinion pieces, game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news: went on to write for Windows Central and later managed PR for Gearbox Software.