Crackdown 3 Still Isn't Ready, According To Xbox Chief

One of the games that was supposed to be a staple exclusive for the Xbox One years ago was Crackdown 3. The game was supposed to usher in the platform of cloud-based gaming to showcase to the world the "power of the cloud." For most people who understood how the tech worked, it seemed like a pipe dream, and eventually Microsoft abandoned the cloud-based marketing angle for Crackdown 3 and began to revamp it as an over-the-top third-person shooter. After multiple delays, various appearances at E3, and the addition of Terry Crews, Xbox head honcho, Phil Spencer, has confirmed that while the game is still coming along in development, it's not yet ready for release.

Phil Spencer posted the tweet in response to a user asking about Crackdown 3 as a response to Spencer talking about how good Assassin's Creed: Odyssey looks running at upscaled 4K on the Xbox One X. Spencer also praised the game developers for really pushing the graphics boundaries with all the upcoming open-world titles coming to the Xbox One X, such as Rockstar Games' Red Dead Redemption 2, and Playground Games' Forza Horizon 4.

Some Xbox One owners really wanted to see what Crackdown 3 looked like on the Xbox One, which prompted Spencer to explain how he had played a full build recently and that Cloudgine, Reagent Games and Sumo Digital are making good progress but that more work still needs to be done.

The current release window is set for February, 2019. This was established this past year during E3, when Microsoft moved the release out of the fall of 2018 into the early first quarter of 2019.

The 2019 release came after the game was delayed multiple times, with Microsoft pushing the game back year after year. The company explained that it was still learning and working on understanding and striking the right balance between announcing games and releasing games.

Crackdown 3 was originally announced four years ago at E3. The game was introduced with a cinematic trailer just a year after the Xbox One launched on the market.

Initially, the marketing for the game centered around the inclusion of cloud-based streaming, and Microsoft showcased how the cloud tech would work, with the physics calculations taking place remotely and the information packets being sent to the end-user to update the frames. It seemed like an ambitious way to tie gaming and cloud technology together, but it never really came to full fruition the way Microsoft had marketed it.

Over the years the direction for Crackdown 3 seemed to veer away from relying solely on the cloud-based element and more of the traditional third-person action oriented gameplay began to emerge. We finally got to see a lot more gameplay back in 2017, but it wasn't really enough to wow gamers. Terry Crews eventually joined the cast and the game seemed to gain a more concrete direction.

Judging by Spencer's tweet, it appears as if the team is moving ahead with the current direction and will continue to target the February 2019 release.