Support NeoGAF

[FunkMiller]

If Indy doesn’t meet expectations, then Machine is as good as dead.

(SPOILER…Indy won’t meet expectations.)

I expect it to be dogshit, so it'll meet mine.

 

[Topher]

 

[Moridianae]

....

Everyone saw this coming a long time ago, which is why I was always so vexed that people were cheerleading these acquisitions.

This is absolutely devastating news for the people who worked on games.

 

[West Texas CEO]

What is happening to the game industry right now?
This is stunning news.

 

[LordCBH]

 

[Alan Wake]

double fine.... imagine that

Basically no one's safe at this point. Developer's will likely make safe bets only from now on.

 

[LordCBH]

I expect it to be dogshit, so it'll meet mine.

Same tbh

 

[ChiefDada]

I doubt Phil lasts through the fiscal quarter. He's been a dead man walking for way too long and now it's coming time to cut his legs.

 

[rofif]

Yeah closing Tango is criminal.
EW2 is one of best games EVER MADE.

 

[Alan Wake]

Missing that "Best place to play" sign.

 

[Sleepwalker]

After Outher Worlds have My doubts. Fallout New Vegas was done for people that is no longer on Obsidian.

It doesn't matter. They can probably get the game greenlit on name alone. Wether they survive after it is another matter

 

[Bernoulli]

 

[Sneakysnake]

This is all Sony's fault and I can prove it. Just gunna need a few months to gather all the proof and have all of you forget about the terrible things MS keeps doing.

 

[ulantan]

This reads like he hes a disgruntled HR manager lmfao.

 

[GHG]

"the acquisition of ABK seems to have changed things at Microsoft Gaming, clearly for the worse"

 

[graywolf323]

fucking idiot Klobrille, Xbox has ALWAYS been like this

just ask Lionhead, Ensemble, and all the other studios they‘ve closed under Phil Spencer…

exactly, pretty sure all (or almost all) of those happened under Phil’s leadership

 

[BbMajor7th]

Fallout: The TV Show: The Game is the exact sort of shit they'd pull out of desperation.

Fallout: Vault 33 - a shoot-bang action-RPG with stealth, crafting and colour-coded loot drops.

 

[LordCBH]

Damn bro why you photoshop a green hat on me? And all those people around me? Fuck you think I know that many people?!

 

[Lupin25]

My god...you know whats sad? Even I was pretty optimistic about MS future with these teams, but fuck me man, MS back to the same old shit (I can't even say back to, they never left that mindset)

Whats the point of all that money if not to grow those teams? Shit man, Tango? Why not make an Evil With 3 first from em? Even Arkane, I get Redfall flopped, but give Arkane Austin another chance as clearly not all online games will be successes

....Bethesda was better off without MS.

edit. Only good thing about this, is at least those closed studios have a chance to be bought by a publisher that gives a shit hopefully

This blows.

I didn’t think Bethesda could survive without MS after FO76 and Redfall, but after seeing this, they definitely could’ve lasted longer.
MS also exacerbated all of this by cannibalizing the potential sales with day 1 gamepass releases.

It’s also crazy to think a year ago, Aaron Greenberg tweeted about Hi-Fi Rush exceeding all expectation. Sad shit.

 

[Topher]

"the acquisition of ABK seems to have changed things at Microsoft Gaming, clearly for the worse"

Where have we heard that before?

 

[rhodesianshepard]

All this shows is that Gamepass has failed. Microsoft bet big that these AA/small AAA games could push Gamepass growth. It hasn't. I wouldn't be surprised if Obsidian and Double Fine are next

 

[Havoc2049]

I fear that if Obsidian and inXile next releases are duds, they are next on the chopping block.

Any dev studio that releases a dud on the level of Redfall would be a candidate for being on the chopping block. Arkane Austin did themselves no favors by only filling up half of the island map in Redfall, ending on a cliffhanger, selling a Hero Pass/Season Pass promising two new characters and delivering on none of it in 11 months. If you sell a Hero Pass/Season Pass to gamers, the expansions should be well into development by the time the initial game releases. Obviously this wasn't the case with Redfall.

InXile (Wasteland 3) and Obsidian (Grounded) have released games that have done well under Microsoft and that were supported post release with updates and DLC.

Closing Tango sucks, but it seems there was a talent drain there of late and maybe there wasn't enough talent left there to move forward.

 

[Deleted member 1159]

Cancelling my GPU sub on PC. Besides general lack of use, this is the last straw

 

[Sneakysnake]

 

[xrnzaaas]

So... they want to focus on "high-impact games". I wonder if these closures are just the beginning. If they can close Tango, imagine what other studios are at risk.

That's not a good plan for Game Pass in my opinion. People who play CoD or Diablo will stay play those games. People who sub to Game Pass looking for a more diverse lineup and hidden gems will be getting a worse deal. And I bet a title like Hifi Rush costs a fraction of a triple A game.

 

[MikeM]

And this is why large publishers shouldn’t be allowed to be purchased.

 

[GHG]

 

[JackMcGunns]

Redfall devs had it coming, makes sense, but Tango? huh? Are they closing the studio and laying off all employees, or are they doing some kind of consolidation? because that's the only thing that would make sense.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Guess they are competing with EA to see who can close more studios.

 

[Pedro Motta]

Closing Tango makes absolutely no sense...Shinji Mikami saw it coming.

 

[near]

Cancelling my GPU sub on PC. Besides general lack of use, this is the last straw

That's the spirit! Help put a knife in more studios!

 

[eerik9000]

"It's absolutely mind-blowing. For us, we have never been in a situation like this before, where we've got everything we could possibly ask for. From day one of the studio we have complete financial security for years and years to come. Now, with this partnership with Sony, we can be ourselves. And not only that, when we bring people into the studio, we can promise them that this is our culture. And we can fearlessly create and innovate and be groundbreaking."

Right, Sony had zero do do with them closing.

Yes, exactly. Signing a publishing deal, not meeting the terms and conditions of that deal, losing that deal, and not being able to find another publisher is EXACTLY THE SAME as getting aquired by a publisher and then getting shut down with no alternative. Thank you for pointing this out! It is a disgrace what Jim Ryan did.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Yea no different guy. I'm the guy with Phil's other ball in his throat.

I told you bro

Chill Phil this outrage will be over in a jiffy and we'll be back to shitting on xbox again

 

[Deleted member 1159]

That's the spirit! Help put a knife in more studios!

I’ll just buy their games to support them over this model which is apparently meant to strangle them slowly to death

 

[GHG]

Redfall devs had it coming, makes sense, but Tango? huh? Are they closing the studio and laying off all employees, or are they doing some kind of consolidation? because that's the only thing that would make sense.

 

[bender]

I'm just trying to think about it rationally. But then again, we're talking about a publisher that knowingly released Redfall in a broken state and killed the studio for its performance. Killed Tango after stating Hi-Fi Rush did well. The only saving grace Obsidian and NT have is that they aren't by-product acquisitions, and maybe the terms of their agreements differ.

The more cynical part of me has always thought the acquisitions were more about IP and less about talent, especially from the orbiting studios. I wouldn't worry about Obsidian as Grounded has done well and with the surge in popularity in Fallout, you could always assign them to do another spin-off (I know a lot of the NV talent is gone, but still). And speaking of by-products and acquisitions, after spending 75.4 billion on Activision, Microsoft might be taking a more hardline approach to their gaming division.

 

[pnutboy]

Despite Redfall, Arkane Austin made an incredible game with Prey 2017. Would've loved to see another one.

 

[ToadMan]

Actually, it seems like it didn't do too well on PlayStation either. I wonder if that was the final nail in the coffin to say "if even PlayStation users aren't buying it, these guys aren't salvageable".

Obviously I don't have the financials to make an informed decision, but if I were running Xbox I'd prioritize keeping Tango around just to keep a Japanese presence.

Also at this point, I don't think there's ever a way to put the genie back in the bottle when it comes to Game Pass

For HFR, it was released in the teeth of Helldivers and FF7, with Ronin and Stellar Blade coming. 4 console exclusives, 3 of which were full exclusives - those are the kind of games people bought a PS5 for. It was a factor in why I didn't pick up HFR at release, and now it's dropped a long way down the list of games to buy.

And that is what? 3 months ago? I wonder if MS have even cleared the revenue checks from Sony for sales yet....

Was it supposed to sell 10 million day one up against those exclusives? If so, MS expectations in gaming are way off the target and they are doomed to fail hard.


Personally, I suspect this decision was made back when the PS5 version of HFR was greenlit - end of last year probably.

Get the port done and released, keep the team around short-term for possible patches, then shut it all down, save the ongoing salaries and get some revenue from the PS version.

I don't even think Phil was consulted in the decision announced today because his messaging recently has been erratic. I get the feeling he is just being told what and when moves will be made by the more senior execs at MS - notably the CFO.

That will continue until they can find a convenient face-saving way to retire him.

 

[Sleepwalker]

 

[MikeM]

What is happening to the game industry right now?
This is stunning news.

Clear signs that growth in the industry isn’t likely right now. When you can’t grow revenue, the axe comes out.

“Welcome to the Xbox family.” Lol

 

[GHG]

That's the spirit! Help put a knife in more studios!

Don't worry, Microsoft can afford it.

 

[Badlucktroll]

I hope Microsoft doesnt crash the games industry by buying everything and then shutting it down good lawd

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Redfall devs had it coming, makes sense, but Tango? huh? Are they closing the studio and laying off all employees, or are they doing some kind of consolidation? because that's the only thing that would make sense.

Where are they going to put their only japanese developers?

 

[Topher]

 

[JackMcGunns]

No effing way

 

[Jerm411]

Is that Jez on the left?

 

[DragonNCM]

Hi-Fi rush studio...WHY ?

 

[Buggy Loop]

Still triggers me to this day that Mechwarrior and Crimson skies developer, Fasa studio, was closed.

 

[iHaunter]

Microsoft PR division is as bad as their development division it seems.

 

[GulfCoastZilla]

Man….fuck Xbox, as soon as the PS pro comes out I’m selling my series x, series s (and probably my ps5) and getting the Pro.

Sony maybe having a slow year but Microsoft just keeps fucking up over and over again. I feel like any one of us could have steered this ship better.