Xbox community in shock: XSN Sports 2005 line-up canned!

Xbox 2 now a possibility for sports titles?

Posted by Staff
In incredible news breaking overnight in the US, Microsoft's Xbox division has decided to can the entire XSN Sports range for the console, with only a re-branded RalliSport Challenge 2 now slated for release.

The XSN brand, which was to be an intrinsic part of the wider MSN home acceptance push, made up a massive part of Microsoft's 2003 E3 conference and was heralded as a significant advancement in what gamers should expect from fully integrated online sports games. This backdown will be a hugely embarrassing blow to Microsoft.

The scale of the climbdown is staggering to say the least. The news means that the next incarnations of NFL Fever, NBA Inside Drive, NHL Rivals, Top Spin, Amped and Links will no longer see a release with the 2005 appendage.

The news follows all games in the series being outstripped at retail towards the end of last year by offerings from EA Sports and Sega, despite critical acclaim for games such as Links 2004.

Speaking to IGN, Microsoft's Kevin Browne, XSN Sports Studio Manager said, "I think the dominant piece of feedback that we heard on several of the titles was: 'XSN Sports is so cool, I just wish we had better games to play with that service.' And we're taking that to heart. We actually did think we had good games last year, but the market and the direct feedback that we have shows us that we fall short in a couple of areas to our competition, and we think it's the best thing we can do, to take this year off, and to close that quality gap that we have in respect to the EA Sports and ESPN sports titles."

The immediate reaction of the Xbox community was to figure that the XSN range, which will next be deployed with a 2006 tag, will hit Xbox 2 as a comprehensive sports range. However, this seems not to be the case. "What we're talking about is this: we're developing for the Xbox and we're not going to ship a set of games because there are areas that we definitely need to work on, from graphics to control," continued Browne. "There are areas that we definitely need to take advantage of in terms of the console's architecture. We haven't done a serious re-architecturing of the games since we initially launched on the platform, and as you know, when watching games that have been built subsequent to the initial shipment of the console, there's a heck of a lot more that you can do when you have time, and we're, right now, affording ourselves that time to truly take advantage of what the Xbox can do."

Browne pledged that the existing XSN service would remain in place for those already using the groundbreaking service. He also stated that only one developer, High Voltage Software, the creator of the well-liked NBA Inside Drive, would be changed at this point, with all other relationships remaining in place.

Expect further fallout from this story over the coming weeks and months, with a full explanation from this year’s E3.
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Comments

ray_tugley 30 Mar 2004 12:39
1/7
This is not a great loss. Xbox Live is still here. Just becuz some clique of inbred ice hockey fans (hello cousin George in Winnipeg) can't make their own tournaments for a year doesn't mean the end of XSN. It'll be back, just not next year. It's too early in the morning to get excited aboout Rallispport Challenge 2 too. The first game was terrible.
jhorto1 30 Mar 2004 13:04
2/7
I'm happy that they recognized the shortcomings of these games. Although Top Spin and Links are good games and Rallisport Challenge is fantastic. CMR games (although realistic) are too tough to control and not as exciting.
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Brown Force 30 Mar 2004 13:53
3/7
This sucks...I agree NFL Fever and the likes sucked. But Top Spin, Links 2004 and Rallisport Challenge 2 look amazing (Links and Top Spin are the best in their genres in my opinion) so I guess this means Top Spin 2 in being canned for now then which i was looking forward too and no Links 2005 :(. At least we have Rallisport Challenge 2 to last us through the next year.
Eclectus 30 Mar 2004 20:19
4/7
This is not true:
"Browne was quick to clarify that this delay only affects sports titles on a seasonal timetable - NFL Fever, NBA Inside Drive and NHL Rivals - and that the next instalments in the Links, Amped and Top Spin franchises will not be affected." So get Ready for Top Spin 2 in November
Eclectus 30 Mar 2004 20:20
5/7
Will be here in November.
"Browne was quick to clarify that this delay only affects sports titles on a seasonal timetable - NFL Fever, NBA Inside Drive and NHL Rivals - and that the next instalments in the Links, Amped and Top Spin franchises will not be affected."
Pandaman 31 Mar 2004 00:35
6/7
Cudos to Microsoft for realizing that XSN sports fell flat and giving themsleves time to figure out what they're going to do with the franchises.
rpeterclark 23 Apr 2004 15:17
7/7
This seems to be in conflict with the same story at GameSpot:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/03/30/news_6092505.html

They are reporting that those titles will only be "rested" this season and will have new versions available in 2005. Doesn't sound canned to me.
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