What you need to know
- Microsoft Research is a division that forms a large part of Microsoft's R&D efforts.
- Exploring new technologies and analysing user behavior, Microsoft Research has been heavily involved in some of Microsoft's most forward-facing products and services.
- However, until now, Microsoft Research as pertains to Xbox has focused mostly on consumers.
- In a blog post, the team explained that they're not pivoting to game developers as well, to study how to improve Xbox's onboarding and publishing process.
Not bringing your game to Xbox? Microsoft wants to know why.
Microsoft Research is Microsoft's R&D arm, spear heading cutting edge technologies and future-facing products for over 30 years. The division has several hundred employees and represents a large part of Microsoft's expenditure according to its SEC filings, contributing to major technological advancements that power some of its most popular products. Microsoft Research is a prolific source of Microsoft's broader patent portfolio, which remains one of the most lucrative in the entire world, and has been a cornerstone of its efforts to become an AI powerhouse in the race to commercialize artificial intelligence services.
On the gaming side of things, Microsoft Research develops products and features that led to things like Kinect, DirectX, DirectSR, Xbox cloud gaming, and much more. Typically, Microsoft Research's efforts have focused on consumers when it comes to gaming, whether it's building products for them or improving the experience of existing services. But that's about to change.
In a blog post, Microsoft Research revealed that it's developing a program to engage game creators directly, exploring ways it can improve its systems, processes, and services.
Dr. Deborah Hendersen, Principal User Researcher for Xbox explained, "We've known for a while this is a gap. We do lots of work on games, on hardware, on the [Xbox dashboard], and yet most of the systems for collecting feedback on the back-end were less formal. Honestly, I think it's very similar to the reasons studios often take a while to dedicate these sorts of resources to game-tools. The player always comes first."
Indeed, Microsoft's gaming division had a quite prolific PR snafu recently when the game developers behind Enotria put Xbox on blast, basically blaming Microsoft's back end publishing systems for their game's delay. I wouldn't be surprised if this effort is perhaps tied to that situation.
Dr. Hendersen detailed how Microsoft Research for game developers will follow similar practices to those seen by the Xbox Insider Program, focusing on their pain points with various aspects of the Microsoft gaming ecosystem. "We do all sorts. It really depends on the question we're trying to answer. Common methods are interviews, usability, playtesting, surveys, and flighting. It's the same sort of studies we perform when testing games, just on tools and services. Whenever we recruit, we'll give participants the details of the specific study so they can make sure they're a fit. Ensuring that participants feel they can properly contribute to the program is a key priority."
Using surveys gathered from developers, Microsoft hopes to be able to improve its back end processes for Xbox gaming across both PC and console, hoping developers will feel "empowered and supported" by Xbox. It follows the company's core values to "help other do more," which Xbox has arguably fallen behind in based on some interviews and testimonials from developers. ID@Xbox, Microsoft's program for independent game developers, has paid out billions of dollars to creators. But we've heard previously how Xbox's publishing back end systems are a bit of a mess. Just this past week, Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster Collection was mis-tagged on the Xbox Store for example, not being correctly listed as an Xbox Play Anywhere title. You'd think some of these fundamentals and basics would be automated at this point.
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Microsoft wants to learn from devs who shun Xbox, too
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One of the biggest issues facing Xbox in recent years is the fear that developers don't want to support the platform. The vast majority of games do come to Xbox, but the vast and huge variety of games hitting Steam suggests that it has increasingly become "the" priority destination for game developers, particularly on the indie side of things. Even big publishers like Square Enix have ditched Xbox in recent years, partially due to exclusivity deals, but we've also seen games skip the platform arbitrarily. Capcom explained that it previously couldn't bring Marvel vs. Capcom and its Fighting Game Collection to Xbox due to a "technical" issue. Part of Microsoft's efforts here is to figure out what they can do to improve the experience for developers who aren't on Xbox at all.
"Typically, it takes a lot of people to make and ship a game, including marketing, user research, artists, audio, PMs, community managers, and more. All these disciplines are vital to the process. We want to hear from everyone who works on games or helps support game studios because if we can make your life easier, it makes gaming better," Hendersen emphasized. "If you are making video games, we're interested in hearing from you. If you aren't on Xbox, we'd love to know why. And honestly, if you are using our competitor's products, you probably have a great perspective we could learn from!"
I have heard from developers in the past that working with Xbox's systems can be a "chore," from developers who spoke on the condition of anonymity. It is rare to see developers criticize Xbox so publicly as to avoid souring relationships, but as I noted above, the Enotria developer Jyamma Games became so frustrated that they felt they had no further recourse than to go public. A lot of developers simply seem to prefer Steam owing to its less restrictive certification processes. However, in Microsoft's defence, the firm is the target of hostile acts from enemy nation states like Russia. As such, security at Xbox is a far bigger priority than some other platforms might have to endure. Microsoft's systems were the target of a prolific hack earlier in the year, which led to an overhaul of the firm's security policies.
Particularly on PC, the Xbox PC gaming experience isn't the best right now, both for consumers or I presume developers too. While Xbox enjoys widespread mainstream support, the Xbox Store on PC absolutely does not. It very rarely gets new AAA games or even indie games, unless it's part of an Xbox Game Pass deal. Hopefully Microsoft Research can improve the situation here, both for developers and consumers both.
