Xbox Business Update Podcast | Xbox Everywhere Direction Discussion

[BoardBonobo]

LOL. Now Phil will be responsible for Sony's future failures as well. Hilarious.

Phil? No. He seems to be incapable of taking responsibility for anything. I mean look at the monumental screw up he's made of XBox so far, never see anything other than a smug smile on his face, like he's constantly having a satifying dump. Which he is. All over the gaming industry.

Mod: personal attack removed (the whole thread is slagging on MS, there's no reason to insult someone trying to provide another perspective)

They've moved into the gaming market, they've tried to upend it with their honey pot subscription service and then spent billions buying up studios that they have no idea what to do with. Other then to cull them in the vain hope of making that money back before they completely ruin their goodwill with their own market. Can you think of any other developer who would want to go within a golden mile of being bought by MS now?

It even sounds like they're going to renage on their promise to put COD on GP day one. And if they do it's sounds like they'll be raising the subscription cost.

Phils going to be responsible for a lot of things. If he lasts that long now.

 

[Cyan]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1787895836732457411

 

[snc]

https://x.com/dark1x/status/1788608824678469675?s=46&t=Kg3QGbeQmzAF2_MLfJ-_Vw

 

[eastmen]

true, the model is failing, I commented on a thread started by @Johnny Awesome

For instance, the PS5 is selling very well, the problem of Sony isn't sales but a model that, due to costs, no longer works and is exploding in their faces and on top of that the general public doesn't seem to miss it either.

If you sell bad like the Xbox, closing studios might be inevitable. If you don't make profits and, conversely, you end up closing studios even though you are selling well, you are doing something wrong. (this doesn´t happen with Nintendo)

Xbox focus on AAA gaming to survive or have a chance isn't working, nor is the Xbox as a brand.

The AAA model is kinda broken. Thanks god we have the indie games and smaller but super brilliant games to save our lives.

Tbh, I barely completed AAA games as of late. Last one I played is RE4 Remake but I loved RE2 Remake much more, 'cos it's a fun game with the correct duration and can be completed in less than a hour and a half if you know how to play -one of my latest great achievements-.

Indie games, Steam gems here and there, shmups, local co-op games with fun mechanics to play with the family (oddly enough pc gamepass have quite a few of them), visual novels, etc, is what I play nowadays. Steam is your friend.

Making good, profitable games 'will no longer keep you safe': industry expresses fury and heartbreak over closure of Hi-Fi Rush and Prey studios

Gamers and game developers are reeling from yet another wave of layoffs and studio closures.

www.pcgamer.com

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1787847302649917634

none of these things ever kept you safe in that industry.

The history of video games is filled with popular companies disappearing even with hit games

 

[eastmen]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1787895836732457411

When starfield came out , I got the deluxe version for $30 as a game pass member. Do they have a similar offer for this ?

 

[Nesh]

sometimes I wonder how gamers put up with that. Playing online is a giant source of stress for me. You can't attend a call, you can't do other things in the meantime, or you just get in an endless chat with someone.

Btw, yup, I also have a huge backlog of games.

Personally, I enjoy much more "indie" -they are just professional games made by talented people- shmups and cute 'em ups, arcade fun games, visual novels, arcade racing games, and most games with local co-op (in this sense PC gamepass is surprisingly great, my nephews really like those games).

Just to share one, for instance:

TouHou Makuka Sai ~ Fantastic Danmaku Festival Part II on Steam

Touhou Makuka Sai ~ Fantastic Danmaku Festival part II is a danmaku shooting game, which is the second part of Touhou Makuka Sai. The repeat of incident is coming again. Can the girls going to the netherworld solve the mystery?

store.steampowered.com

I started to appreciate the simple, fun things.

Steam is a gold mine when you know where to look. Just seeing a smile on the faces of my family when they play certain apparently simple games on my computer makes me happy.

I miss the days when AAA games were shorter.
Some of the best and most memorable experiences in the past didn't require 30-100hours to finish and they weren't infested with ton of pointless side quests.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

The CEO of MOON Studio advises website and network owners not to write about things they know nothing about just to generate interaction and increase traffic regarding the closure of studios within Microsoft.

️ He believes that Microsoft likely closed the studios with the aim of reshaping them, gathering successful developers to work on the same successful project but in a new place and format, focusing solely on the project itself. He sees the closure of Tango Studio as an example of this belief, where Microsoft might reassemble the core team of developers to work on something equally amazing.

️ The president said that the reporters and the sites describes the situation as: "The evil publisher destroys the studio that created a wonderful game due to clear greed."

️ However, based on his experience, he believes that if his assumption were to happen, the headlines should be: "The publisher made a smart move by placing the core developers in an effective position to deliver more games that we love."

️ He further added that from a publisher's perspective, everyone admired HIFI RUSH, and the talents who delivered the game could create a project even bigger and better than many aspects of HI FI RUSH. It's a much better game than it was before. A producer will be pursued by every publisher in the world because it brings in a lot of money for them.

️ He doesn't believe that Microsoft is stupid to the extent of cutting off clear paths to success with exceptional developers, and while this may happen, typically, and according to his experience, these decisions are made to reach a better and more advanced level.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

But contrary to Microsoft, Sony would have never shut down tango after hi-fi rush. They care more about the metacritic and the player response than sales, apparently, because it brings prestige to the platform. Days gone is a good example of that. Meanwhile Microsoft shuts them down, after the best received game they had in years.

Sony for sure would. Where's Psygnosis these days?

 

[rntongo]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1788705573078172151

The June reveal is going to be quite interesting.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1788742890463559829

 

[Johnny Awesome]

New unconfirmed report:

Sarah Bond confirms that everything from Activision including Cod will arrive on Xbox GamePass on day 1

She also talked about the upcoming console hardware and the future compatibility team that ensures that if you invest hundreds, thousands of dollars from the first Xbox, you will be able to take all those games with you into the future on the next consoles and those that come after.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

 

[eastmen]

View attachment 11277

Sad the majority of that doesn't interest me lol. But I guess I will finally play sekiro.

 

[Nesh]

The CEO of MOON Studio advises website and network owners not to write about things they know nothing about just to generate interaction and increase traffic regarding the closure of studios within Microsoft.

️ He believes that Microsoft likely closed the studios with the aim of reshaping them, gathering successful developers to work on the same successful project but in a new place and format, focusing solely on the project itself. He sees the closure of Tango Studio as an example of this belief, where Microsoft might reassemble the core team of developers to work on something equally amazing.

️ The president said that the reporters and the sites describes the situation as: "The evil publisher destroys the studio that created a wonderful game due to clear greed."

️ However, based on his experience, he believes that if his assumption were to happen, the headlines should be: "The publisher made a smart move by placing the core developers in an effective position to deliver more games that we love."

️ He further added that from a publisher's perspective, everyone admired HIFI RUSH, and the talents who delivered the game could create a project even bigger and better than many aspects of HI FI RUSH. It's a much better game than it was before. A producer will be pursued by every publisher in the world because it brings in a lot of money for them.

️ He doesn't believe that Microsoft is stupid to the extent of cutting off clear paths to success with exceptional developers, and while this may happen, typically, and according to his experience, these decisions are made to reach a better and more advanced level.

That's sugar coating and denial considering the actual testimonies from the sources that describe MS's inability to evaluate properly their studios, games and their worth. Sure they have strategies and reasons. But strategies and reasons aren't good decision makers or proof of competence by themselves.

 

[Charlietus]

Sony for sure would. Where's Psygnosis these days?

Liverpool studios last game was wipeout 2048. It scored 79% on metacritic, and it didn't exactly set the charts on fire. That was 2012. So neither incredible quality nor good sales. Wipeout as a franchise was already dead.

So no, if a Sony studio made hi-fi rush, they wouldn't have closed them, they would have given them double the money to make a huge sequel, and then, after that flopped too, they would have closed them lmao.

 

[fehu]

The CEO of MOON Studio advises website and network owners not to write about things they know nothing about just to generate interaction and increase traffic regarding the closure of studios within Microsoft.

️ He believes that Microsoft likely closed the studios with the aim of reshaping them, gathering successful developers to work on the same successful project but in a new place and format, focusing solely on the project itself. He sees the closure of Tango Studio as an example of this belief, where Microsoft might reassemble the core team of developers to work on something equally amazing.

️ The president said that the reporters and the sites describes the situation as: "The evil publisher destroys the studio that created a wonderful game due to clear greed."

️ However, based on his experience, he believes that if his assumption were to happen, the headlines should be: "The publisher made a smart move by placing the core developers in an effective position to deliver more games that we love."

️ He further added that from a publisher's perspective, everyone admired HIFI RUSH, and the talents who delivered the game could create a project even bigger and better than many aspects of HI FI RUSH. It's a much better game than it was before. A producer will be pursued by every publisher in the world because it brings in a lot of money for them.

️ He doesn't believe that Microsoft is stupid to the extent of cutting off clear paths to success with exceptional developers, and while this may happen, typically, and according to his experience, these decisions are made to reach a better and more advanced level.

I don't believe a single word

 

[Nesh]

Sony for sure would. Where's Psygnosis these days?

Sony gave more chances to and extended the life of their studios more than MS ever did.

Psygnosis/Studio Liverpool lasted for a very long time and they probably wouldnt have lasted that long if it wasn't for Sony at all. They were given a lot of chances.

Guerilla Games were a mess before Sony bought them and they turned them into a powerhouse.

MS gets studios with a much better track record that achieved awards and had good reception and kills them off almost immediately

 

[Shifty Geezer]

️ He believes that Microsoft likely closed the studios with the aim of reshaping them, gathering successful developers to work on the same successful project but in a new place and format, focusing solely on the project itself. He sees the closure of Tango Studio as an example of this belief, where Microsoft might reassemble the core team of developers to work on something equally amazing.

If so, why wasn't it phrased that way? Or rather, we were explicitly told who was going where:

Arkane Austin – This studio will close with some members of the team joining other studios to work on projects across Bethesda.

Alpha Dog Studios – This studio will also close.

Tango Gameworks – Tango Gameworks will also close.

Roundhouse Games – The team at Roundhouse Games will be joining ZeniMax Online Studios (ZOS).

According to Phil's email, Tango and Alpha are dead, not moved about. Arkane Austin and Roundhouse will have some reshaping.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Sony for sure would. Where's Psygnosis these days?

You run the risk of list-wars with this. I'm not sure that's a constructive debate. If people actually want to compare the different publishers, we'd need proper data and arguments.

In the case of Studio Liverpool, Sony owned them from 2001 to 2012, and they made racing (Wipeout and F1 games) in that time. Sony has certainly closed studios, and beloved ones at that with accompanying gamer outrage, but I believe, without lots of research, that's mostly long term relationships that have ended, and never after a success. Sony has supported the likes of Team ICO with very rare output, and Polyphony Digital with their one game per generation. A fair number of their studios go back 20 years. The shortest lived studio was 5 years after acquisition/forming, BigBig, which made portable games, and Sony gave up on portables. BigBig's last game was Little Deviants which scores 57% on Metacritic.

In contrast, MS acquired Tango Gameworks in March 21. They release Ghostwire Tokyo in 2022 with a Metascore of 75, and Hi-Fi Rush the following year with a Metascore of 87.

An additional contrast to Sony's closing of BigBig studios, Sony didn't go on record as saying, "we need more games like Little Deviants," and then close the studio that made it. And lastly, BigBig released their last game end of 2011, beginning of 2012, and were closed right after. It was clearly Sony's intention to close them. They didn't have BigBig operating under the assumption they were a successful studio for over a year, pitching new game ideas, before pulling the plug.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Liverpool studios last game was wipeout 2048. It scored 79% on metacritic, and it didn't exactly set the charts on fire. That was 2012. So neither incredible quality nor good sales. Wipeout as a franchise was already dead.

So no, if a Sony studio made hi-fi rush, they wouldn't have closed them, they would have given them double the money to make a huge sequel, and then, after that flopped too, they would have closed them lmao.

You can't possibly know that. Sony has closed plenty of studios over the years.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

I don't believe a single word

Why? This guy has first hand knowledge. Instead you believe rumors from disgruntled employees. Btw, the last 3 guys I fired that were terrible employees really thought they didn't deserve it either. Don't believe everything you hear just because it doesn't fit the anti-MS narrative right now.