Been wanting to make this post for a while now.



The Xbox team is currently using the budget they have to invest in a number of key areas starting from 2017/18. These areas are.

- Microsoft Games Publishing

- Digital Ecosystem

- Windows 10 x Xbox



I should note that a lot of the investment going on now is something that will be fully reflected in the 'next generation' (whatever that actually means). What this means, in the case of something like the recently rumored Fable 4 game for example, is that you shouldn't expect that project and other similar projects to release for quite some time. However, any initiatives that you do see hit in 2018 / 2019 are an indication of what Microsoft is planning for the 'next generation'.



So the first point is that Microsoft are looking into using the budget they have to invest in new projects (both first party and external) to bring them to Xbox in the future. Whilst there will be a couple of surprise games this generation, the majority of projects in the works or planned are going to be a while out. There will still be a live service focus across all of their games of course.



The second point regarding digital ecosystem concerns services like Xbox Live, Xbox Games Pass, Mixer etc... You're going to see a lot more focus on those services moving forward and integration into the Xbox games / services ecosystem. In fact, there is a very big announcement that we should see next week that will give you an indication of how Microsoft intends to treat digital games in the future.



The third point is continued investment in both the Windows 10 and Xbox ecosystem to create one unified Xbox platform. Initiatives like Play Anywhere and a single store are examples of that. Integration should go even further in the future.



The above is going to be a slow process and you'll see results starting from this year through to 'next gen'. That being said, don't expect this to mean Microsoft will have 100 first party games and all your dreams will come true. They're still working within the resources they have.