Chief creative officer Christofer Sundberg of the Just Cause developer believes if it was ”dubbed the ultimate gaming machine” now, then mainstream media would lose interest. ‘E3 is the time for games.’
That night was if Microsoft really wanted to show the next Xbox as being a real entertainment hub, instead of just a game machine with a few streaming channels or apps.
”Microsoft has said that it wants to make the Xbox One an entertainment centre,” Sundberg told Edge. ”If it was dubbed the ultimate gaming machine at this point, Microsoft would lose the attention of general media. This way, they are grabbing mainstream attention first and can focus entirely on gamers at E3. After that they’ll have both in their grasp.”
The Just Cause studio isn’t fearful that Microsoft is taking focus away from the core gamer market. ”The Xbox is and has always been a gaming platform, and I don’t see that changing with the Xbox One,” he said. Sundberg is especially excited as Xbox One will be providing a lot more analytical data to developers, much like Valve does with Steam.
”More connectivity is obviously fantastic. It enables us to develop online features that enhance the open world gaming experience without limiting players by having to stay connected,” he explained. ”I think Journey and The Walking Dead were great examples on how to use connectivity to make the experience more interesting, with the anonymous connection to other players in Journey and the decision feedback in The Walking Dead.”
”We were a little late using all the fun metrics we’ve gathered from Just Cause 2, to make the game better and interesting for our fans, but future games we are using player patterns to a larger extent.”
Microsoft has promised that 15 exclusive titles to Xbox One will release within a year of launch.