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[nial]

I don’t see them cranking out the sort of games Sony want to release. Obviously they don’t sell well enough to justify budgets

SIE actually has a Japanese studio known for its quirky AA games that is hiring staff right now.

 

[AtomicStarving]

Still cant believe ms killed the studio that made one of my favorite games of all time (Prey)

 

[bitbydeath]

Not to be contrarian, but this is exactly what I thought was going to happen. Zenimax was a $7 billion purchase and it was already commercially struggling before they were bought. Nothing they collectively produced amounted to much in the time Microsoft has owned them. Even Starfield missed the mark. This might have been something that they would have been given more time on. But then the Activision deal happened. It changed everything. The people calling the shots want to see money being made now. Microsoft is shifting to a handful of big franchises and they've little appetite for anything that isn't up there with them. Studios bought as part of a major publisher purchase were almost certainly going to be targeted first if they weren't already producing total bangers commercially.

I agree, this is only the beginning, MS’s strategy has changed and GamePass is no longer King.

 

[TheDarkPhantom]

K-Dot and Aubrey need to make peace and collab on a track murking M$.

Anyway, sucks for those studios, especially Tango, Mikami probably saw the writing on the wall. Is the GAF Xbox Defense Force still going strong or have they finally realized what an utterly shit company they are?

 

[F0rneus]

I want someone to punch this twit in the tits. Fuck colt!

 

[Hero of Spielberg]

SIE actually has a Japanese studio known for its quirky AA games that is hiring staff right now.

Let’s see if they get picked up

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Sounds like a failure of how the game was marketed and how it was released. I wonder who was responsible for that.

People always make excuses for games they like. That game was never going to do anything on the market. If only 10% of GamePass subscribers bothered to boot it up...it had the stench of death all over it. A dinosaur game.

 

[Juza]

Just wait until Hellblade 2 and Indiana Jones get released.

 

[Wildebeest]

Still cant believe ms killed the studio that made one of my favorite games of all time (Prey)

As a fan of Mechwarrior I have to tell you that this Leopard always had those spots.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

He'll cope by making a FUD video on the PS5 Pro later tonight.

Gamepass would be the issue if those games were critical darlings but still didn't bring new people into the ecosystem, but other than hi-fi rush, that it's still a new franchise from a relatively small studio in a genre that doesn't sell gang busters anyway, all the other games have been met as either a complete failure or just 'meh'.
It's unsurprising Tha games like redfall, or starfield didn't bring a peak of subscription when they have been met by most gamers either as a failure or as a disappointment.

That's what needed to change in general, because regardless if the business model is gamepass or a more traditional killer app based one like Sony, all it counts is that you have good first party games on your system, and Microsoft was not making many at the moment.

I have to buck back against a few things here. For one, the idea Microsoft hasn't made any good 1P games over the past few years. I'd argue they have. Flight Simulator, Forza Horizon 5, Gears 5 (even if it wasn't great), and they did help fund/support both the Ori games and Cuphead. Same with Sunset Overdrive.

To me their bigger problem the past several years was having little consistency with their biggest IP (Halo is a very good example), having few big IP with personable characters, and not having many mass market-appealing IP tightly associated with Xbox. Which is another way of saying, yeah, their AAA output was kinda weak unless you are REALLY into arcade and simulator racers (and even there, now Forza is in the crapper).

Otherwise while a lot of the games that went into Game Pass weren't darlings in terms of being the absolute highest-praised games, a lot of them were supposedly great quality if you weren't just focused on the AAA side. The idea was that Game Pass providing enough quality games regularly would be the sell to the public for jumping in, not that they needed to constantly have AAA games. A constant flow of AAA games would've been preferable of course, but Game Pass saw its record growth in 2022 when that type of output wasn't the case. So clearly, it wasn't quite a prerequisite.

If Game Pass growth was stagnating and dying even without the regular flow of AAA games, despite otherwise a lot of the games going in there being good, and then growth continues to slow or die when AAA games like Starfield, RedFall, & Forza Motorsport hit...how can you say the pivot towards B2P revenue & profitability isn't partly motivated by the failure of Game Pass? If anything, it's a central catalyst, if not the only one.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

If we're going this way, no major publisher can ever release a small AA game by your standards.

No. Markets don't drop to 0. There's a number of AA franchises that do decently. You just have to read the market and act accordingly. AA Live Service also seems like a good bet.

 

[Topher]

Maybe we should have another sitdown....

 

[30yearsofhurt]

So cringe.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

God, I always try to have level-headed discussions with Miku, but his pseudo-elitism over the slop produced by one of the biggest corporations in the entire world is so damn fucking cringe.
He always treats shit like Redfall and Starfield akin to some JP-only avant-garde Dreamcast exclusives. It's so laughable.

Yep

Doesn’t like AAA but loves Starfield and was wildly excited about Redfall. Looking forward to Indiana Jones, Avowed, etc.

Loves AA the most but only if it’s on GamePass

Finds tons of reasons why individual AA or AAA games on PlayStation “just aren’t his thing” and can’t find many games to buy.

To each their own but clearly has his…preferences

 

[bender]

That game was never going to do anything on the market.

If only it were marketed.

 

[Barakov]

Maybe we should have another sitdown....

If you told me this was made by AI, I'd believe you.

 

[recursive]

Microsoft just keeps winning. This is terrible news for those studios. I can only hope that Microsoft rampant consumption of game studios stops.

Just another example of shit studio management by Phil and his team. Nothing like failing up.

Also fuck gamepass.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

I think the future of MS is a software company with ALL their games being gaas and it all being under GamePass. Like, COD, Sea of Thieves, Blizzshit, Age of Empires, Halo, Forza, Gears, everything. And all the stuff that is not that - like stuff like Hellblade 2, Avowed, Indy, Fable - will just not be released by them anymore, they'll shut down those studios too. They don't want to spend money on these games and see them disappear like Shartfield making no impact. Too much of a risk.

I could be wrong of course. I probably am wrong. But that seems to be the way the wind is blowing.

I think they still do single player stuff but only major franchises like Elderscrolls, Fallout, etc.

Stuff like hellblade and avowed is on the chopping block

 

[nial]

Yep

Doesn’t like AAA but loves Starfield and was wildly excited about Redfall. Looking forward to Indiana Jones, Avowed, etc.

Loves AA the most but only if it’s on GamePass

Finds tons of reasons why individual AA or AAA games on PlayStation “just aren’t his thing” and can’t find many games to buy.

To each their own but clearly has his…preferences

"MS never focused on AAA and were keeping the AA market alive" was my favorite one.
They had like, what, a single AA game that wasn't in development before they acquired whatever studio was making it?
And yes, they were heavily focusing on AAA from the very beginning, it was just their shit management that couldn't actually release those games in time.

 

[LordCBH]

Last man standing. He’s like those Japanese soldiers who thought they were still fighting years after WWII had ended.

Who folds first: Colt or Senjutsu?

 

[Topher]

Who folds first: Colt or Senjutsu?

Does this answer your question?

 

[nial]

No. Markets don't drop to 0. There's a number of AA franchises that do decently. You just have to read the market and act accordingly. AA Live Service also seems like a good bet.

You're not following what I said, every single game by a major publisher has that same kind of staff (QA, localization, legal) on the production credits, that just doesn't dictate whatever budget (by any huge amount) it has or the level of project (AA or AAA) it is.

 

[Banjo64]

I think they still do single player stuff but only major franchises like Elderscrolls, Fallout, etc.

Stuff like hellblade and avowed is on the chopping block

Those major franchise will be as insignificant as Gears and Halo within a decade and then we’ll be back to square 1 where regulators will again allow them to spend $100b to absorb and destroy studios.

 

[bender]

I got shit done today at work.

I blame Phil Spencer.

How many units of your work did you sell?

 

[Three]

I think the people blaming the acquisition as the cause of this are a little wrong in that assessment but at the same time there were pro-acquisition people saying that it gives the studios security, they kept using the word "saved". They kept saying this would lead to them "being freed" of the bigger titles to make the smaller IPs they want. I would shake my head at these every time somebody mentioned it. It was always clear MS wanted the big IPs and couldn't really care less about those things.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

If only it were marketed.

Where were these comments when Hi Fi Rush was launched? It was all sunshine and rainbows when it got shadow dropped.

Marketing strategies are decided upon relatively late in the development process after they do internal testing on their games.

They had 0 confidence that spending money on marketing Hi Fi was going to be a good use of resources.

Also, they shut down Tango because they believed marketing was NOT the problem. That's obviously an easy solve for their next game.

 

[30yearsofhurt]

We're going to come back in here in 5 years time and look at the clusterfuck Bethesda will become.
King will still be making $$$ hand over fist.
Blizzard will be trumpeting their latest Overwatch mobile game.
Machinegames will be the latest to get the cut after they release the latest Doom game to critical acclaim but commercial failure.
We will be asking if there is going to be a PS6 version of Persona 6.
Hermen Hulst will be welcoming a new studio into the playstation family comprised of ex-Tango Gameworks veterans.
Phil Spencer will still be selling us vaporware.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

 

[LordCBH]

Does this answer your question?

Senjutsu: “if Xbox has no fans then I am dead.”

 

[unlurkified]

Name a fucking shittier company. Acquire a ton of studios, only to mismanage them and close them. At this point, those imbeciles are doing far more harm than good to the industry. Just keep your grubby paws off developers Microsoft. You only know how to destroy them. They always brag about having a million studios that somehow produce fucking nothing.

Tango closing is some Grade-A bullshit considering that Hi-Fi Rush is their best new IP since Ori.

With Gamepass, I really don’t understand what MS’s metric for what a successful game is. What, Hi-Fi didn’t sell enough units? Of course it didn’t. None of their games seem to be moving many units anymore. It truly is baffling. One commercial bomb and it’s shutters. They’ve got to be the worst at managing studios.

 

[Topher]

Senjutsu: “if Xbox has no fans then I am dead.”

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Those major franchise will be as insignificant as Gears and Halo within a decade and then we’ll be back to square 1 where regulators will again allow them to spend $100b to absorb and destroy studios.

Yep sadly we are back to the model of recycling franchises ad nauseum

Goodbye new IP or smaller games.

This only works if the AAA games they focus on don’t get played out. Sony knew when to reinvent God of War but Microsoft continues trying to capture 2007 Halo magic again

 

[Fox Mulder]

Wild.

Hi fi Rush was like the best reviewed and positively received Xbox game in a while and the studio still got killed.

Redfall was dogshit, but real leadership would have recognized that and cancelled it before launch. Arkane Austin made Prey and should have been doing more or that.

 

[bender]

They had 0 confidence that spending money on marketing Hi Fi was going to be a good use of resources.

Seems those decision makers are about as clueless as you.

 

[demigod]

27 pages already, is there an app that can read all this shit for me? Im a slow reader. EviLore ?

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Does this answer your question?

Senju a true ride or die warrior

 

[thismeinteil]

Sounds like what he's really saying is

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Does this answer your question?

"Still" doubt is in his fractured mind.

 

[Topher]

"Still" doubt is in his fractured mind.

Even Gaz knows when to call it quits

 

[JayK47]

So Microsoft should keep underperforming studios? Studios that probably underperformed due to Microsofts influence?

 

[Yoboman]

I wonder why first party is failing definitely not leadership. Give Booty another promotion

 

[Topher]

So Microsoft should keep underperforming studios? Studios that probably underperformed due to Microsofts influence?

Microsoft should hire people that make their studios better.

 

[diffusionx]

I think they still do single player stuff but only major franchises like Elderscrolls, Fallout, etc.

Stuff like hellblade and avowed is on the chopping block

Yea, "prestige" singleplayer like TES and Fallout will stick around, any new Halo and Gears will have campaigns, but that's it. Like, forget Bethesda ever getting another shot at making a new IP.

 

[Yoboman]

Microsoft should hire people that make their studios better.

They have Matt Booty what more do they need

 

[RGB'D]

MS is definitely shitting everything up but in the same right, this isn't happening in a vacuum and the industry keeps shuttering studios and canceling projects. There's a whole lot of signs that the industry is in terrible shape with no signs of improvement.

 

[Mr Moose]

Microsoft should hire people that make their studios better.

They should hire me, I would tell them if a game looks shit. I'll work for a 10th of Phils salary. Hit me up, MS, I know you have my email, you made me use it to play Halo MCC campaign.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Just wait until Hellblade 2 and Indiana Jones get released.

At this point I wouldn't be surprised if Turn 10 went ahead of the line and ended up next on the chopping block.

 

[Topher]

They should hire me, I would tell them if a game looks shit. I'll work for a 10th of Phils salary. Hit me up, MS, I know you have my email, you made me use it to play Halo MCC campaign.

5 minutes into redfall....

"It's shit"
~Mr Moose

 

[LordCBH]

5 minutes into redfall....

"It's shit"
~Mr Moose

Phil thinking that game was good enough to release is enough of a reason to fire him. In absolutely no way should internal metrics and mock reviews have said it was good.

 

[solidus12]

This made me laugh ngl

 

[Mr Moose]

5 minutes into redfall....

"It's shit"
~Mr Moose

"Can't do a Christmas themed event in this game, Santa can't get in that fucking chimney."