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[SJRB]

I'm literally playing MAD MAX again I love that game.

Now that's a videogame.

 

[Toots]

Now that's a videogame.

Best movie tie-in game i ever played

 

[Chuck Berry]

A mirrored link in case you're like me and aren't in the business of giving IGN any clicks & traffic

Good thing everyone here understands Spanish

 

[Variahunter]

Yet another game to fill the blanks in the gamepass.

Aside from a few studios like Bethesda and Activision, I feel like most of the modest studios bought by MS will stay modest studios aiming at ok to mid release in terms of quality and scope.
The combined effect of being bought by MS and Gamepass basically won't drive them anymore to produce great games, because they won't hope for a big successful game that might grow their studio's reputation and scope.
MS themselves not investing much by constraining their games budget might also decrease morale and ambition of devs.

I feel like Obsidian's stories and dialogues, which was their strenght to balance with their budget shortcomings, have become so dull as a result. They're not even trying anymore. And of course, add DEI politics on top of that (MS and Sony pushing these really hard), and yep, this is the result.
Boring, predictable stories and dialogues.

 

[Arachnid]

This reminds me I should give the first game another shot. I don't know why, but when I checked it out when it was first released it just felt so... been there done that.

As someone who felt the same at launch and forced through to the end, you won. It never got better. It was the most 6/10 game I've ever played.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Yet another game to fill the blanks in the gamepass.

Aside from a few studios like Bethesda and Activision, I feel like most of the modest studios bought by MS will stay modest studios aiming at ok to mid release in terms of quality and scope.
The combined effect of being bought by MS and Gamepass basically won't drive them anymore to produce great games, because they won't hope for a big successful game that might grow their studio's reputation and scope.
MS themselves not investing much by constraining their games budget might also decrease morale and ambition of devs.

I feel like Obsidian's stories and dialogues, which was their strenght to balance with their budget shortcomings, have become so dull as a result. They're not even trying anymore. And of course, add DEI politics on top of that (MS and Sony pushing these really hard), and yep, this is the result.
Boring, predictable stories and dialogues.

An unfortunate outlook but probably the correct one. I have no faith in Ninja Theory anymore, for example, to step up their prestige, because they aren't in an environment which will ever necessitate that. Hellblade II was largely a regression compared to the first game, so it doesn't set a good precedent. Then consider, the original studio owner(s) has (have) already left, so chances are the glue that instilled ambitions like the first Hellblade, Heavenly Sword or even missed steps like DMC reboot (very ambitious but not best execution), is also gone.

This 11-minute first look gameplay wasn't very impressive IMO. It was slow, plodding, had technical issues (screen tearing), and I think the overly colorful (to the point of at times clashing) visual motif in Avowed is treading into TOW 2 a bit too far.

Basically, the main studios that have any real pressure on them to deliver big quality are Mojang, Playground, Bethesda, Blizzard, iD Software, Treyarch & Infinity Ward (and arguably Rare w/ Sea of Thieves). That's 8 out of 30-something studios. The other studios are of lower priority to Microsoft because their projects aren't propping up the vast majority of their gaming revenue streams (or IP worth in the games industry). Forza Motorsport could die tomorrow alongside Turn 10 and MS wouldn't lose any sleep. Same with Double Fine (despite Psychonauts 2 being well-received), Compulsion, inXile, and even 343i. Even Halo could go away for a while and MS wouldn't care too much, same with Gears.

The downside to that is, all of the studios who aren't such a priority, as you said, won't have the incentive to push themselves creatively nor be pushed to step up by Microsoft, because that ultimately requires more money on MS's part, which is something they don't want to commit to. So for them, it's better if those 20-something other studios just...do whatever little projects they're doing, getting allocated as little budget as possible, and float a bit under the radar.

Which makes it easier to get away with job cuts at said studios when their titles underperform, but that's going into a different topic of sorts.

 

[mdkirby]

Looks ok
Some questionable acting/dialogue
Looks like they are moving through treacle

 

[Shatohin]

More of the same boring slop like OW1.

 

[Schmendrick]

 

[ValiantInstance]

Yet another game to fill the blanks in the gamepass.

Aside from a few studios like Bethesda and Activision, I feel like most of the modest studios bought by MS will stay modest studios aiming at ok to mid release in terms of quality and scope.
The combined effect of being bought by MS and Gamepass basically won't drive them anymore to produce great games, because they won't hope for a big successful game that might grow their studio's reputation and scope.
MS themselves not investing much by constraining their games budget might also decrease morale and ambition of devs.

I feel like Obsidian's stories and dialogues, which was their strenght to balance with their budget shortcomings, have become so dull as a result. They're not even trying anymore. And of course, add DEI politics on top of that (MS and Sony pushing these really hard), and yep, this is the result.
Boring, predictable stories and dialogues.

Obsidian's story is so bizarre. They put out some great stuff in the years they were flirting with bankruptcy. Suddenly bought out by Microsoft, unlimited budget and they start churning out uninspired 'content' that no one will remember in 3 months time.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Reminds me of prey from 2017, and exploring Talos.

 

[Flabagast]

Yet another game to fill the blanks in the gamepass.

Aside from a few studios like Bethesda and Activision, I feel like most of the modest studios bought by MS will stay modest studios aiming at ok to mid release in terms of quality and scope.
The combined effect of being bought by MS and Gamepass basically won't drive them anymore to produce great games, because they won't hope for a big successful game that might grow their studio's reputation and scope.
MS themselves not investing much by constraining their games budget might also decrease morale and ambition of devs.

I feel like Obsidian's stories and dialogues, which was their strenght to balance with their budget shortcomings, have become so dull as a result. They're not even trying anymore. And of course, add DEI politics on top of that (MS and Sony pushing these really hard), and yep, this is the result.
Boring, predictable stories and dialogues.

100% agree. Seems that being acquired by MS extinguished all hopes for many studios to play big and glow up as they now must mainly deliver cheap content for Gamepass without any ambition

 

[Zuzu]

IGN put up a new video an hour ago which looks at the character creator:

 

[vaibhavpisal]

IGN put up a new video an hour ago which looks at the character creator:

Came here to post this.

Super happy that they are leaning into builds, a bit similar to Avowed.

Also apparently can kill npcs in cities. Seems like there are skills for doing that as well.

Day 1.

 

[Mozzarella]

Yeah i think im done with Obsidian, their games are so mid, its not a fuck up anymore, they are just not talented enough imo.