While the company may have come under fire prior to the Xbox One's launch for several reasons, no one can shine a harsh light on the lineup of exclusives that have already and will continue to arrive on the platform later this year. The company's showcase at E3 2013 revealed several new intellectual properties that would be coming to the console exclusively, and the house of Bill Gates made it immediately apparent that there would be no shortage of new content.

According to recent tweets from the head of Microsoft Studios, Phil Spencer, pushing for new IP is absolutely critical to the success of the Xbox brand. While old favorites like Halo and the newly acquired Gears of War will help keep existing fans happy, expanding upon the pool of accessible (and hopefully popular) franchises will be key going forward, and Spencer is very well aware that this frame of thinking is crucial for the newly launched hardware — teasing unannounced projects in the process.

As Spencer points out in his tweets, new titles like Sunset Overdrive and Quantum Break are evidence that Microsoft is serious about perusing new franchises in a big way with Xbox One. While those titles each merit their own reason to get excited, his mention of "unannounced" titles will be sure to turn a few heads. Understandably, Microsoft has a handful of projects under development that it has yet to announce or even vaguely detail, but given that they're being referred to in this particular response suggests that there are additional new IP being developed. With that in mind, established properties are sure to turn up as well.

While the acquisition of Gears of War from Epic Games does put a dent in Microsoft's previous plans to kick off an entirely new franchise with Black Tusk Studios, the only alternative would have been to let the established franchise fade into obscurity. Even with Black Tusk now officially a week into development of the next Gears of War title, there's always the opportunity for the team to pickup where it initially left off.

At this point in time, Microsoft has made a huge investment in purchasing the rights to the Gears franchise, and needs to start making a return as soon as possible. While new series are great to establish and can prove fruitful, keeping existing properties relevant presents a more pressing issue. Judging by the lineup of forthcoming software though, there doesn't appear to be any shortage of both new and exclusive franchises on the horizon for Xbox One.

Would you rather have Black Tusk working on a new IP or Gears of War? Should Microsoft revisit another existing IP or focus on new games?

___

You can follow Riley on Twitter @TheRileyLittle.

Source: Phil Spencer — Twitter (via VG247)