ah nice , i just listened to the know news segment on this
Sony and Microsoft first party strategy
- Thread starter chris1515
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Tkumpathenurpahl
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If true, that's a decent lineup. Just so the temptation isn't there, it's probably just as well that they've stopped manufacturing Kinect.
just curious, but why does 343 'have' to make a halo game?
Would you give them a second IP to fuck up?
Ouch!!
To be fair, some aspects of Halo 5 are really good. The technology is really solid, and much of the gameplay and art is too (if only they could get the design of the Pelicans right, they royally fucked that design up).
Unfortunately, they still can't put together a single player campaign because they still don't appear to understand storytelling, enemy design (though H5 was ... less bad) or the player's connection with the Chief. And other characters. And protecting / being supported by Marines. And ... other stuff.
Seriously, it should have been Arbiter looking for Chief if anyone was going to do it. And that should have been the start of Halo 4.
Halo has massive potential for expanding into other game types. Without a core story game to fuck up, and a chance to innovate rather than break (or be seen as doing that) I think 343 could do really well.
lolWould you give them a second IP to fuck up?
Speaking candidly,
I think they have a crazy good amount of experience under their belt as developers they are worth a lot. The management/direction of their games is something else to be said. But from a technical delivery perspective they are easily among the best in business when you look at the polish of their games and include the scope.
While H5 is not universally loved and I get that, there is no other game that has it's feature set and most that do, do not have it's level of polish or consistency. So aside from map building (forge), custom games, large scale war (AI + 24 players), vehicles, and a MP casual and ranked system, and fast match making. 60fps coupled with great graphics in a large open world style. And they are still competent in the cinematic SP space as well.
Overall, I think it would be a mis-use of resources to not let them try another IP. You almost want them to, so that they aren't chained by any pre-existing patterns and really flex their muscle freely.
Seems MS really aren't sure what to do with first party! MS repurposing Playground games (opening a second studio) from racing games to making proper Fable sequel.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-01-17-sources-microsoft-plots-fable-return
Should have kept Lionhead. Should have dropped Legends if that wasn't working but kept the studio and talent and made money from it with a game people wanted.
Of course, if HZD had been cross-platform, Sony would have made a lot more money from it.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-01-17-sources-microsoft-plots-fable-return
Should have kept Lionhead. Should have dropped Legends if that wasn't working but kept the studio and talent and made money from it with a game people wanted.
A good exclusive makes money, puts your console in the limelight, and gives a compelling reason for pundits to pick your console over your rival when everything else is equal.
Of course, if HZD had been cross-platform, Sony would have made a lot more money from it.
That is an interesting case that sometimes makes me wonder if we should really just look it that way.Of course, if HZD had been cross-platform, Sony would have made a lot more money from it.
First Party Exclusives have the benefit that each copy generates more money for Sony+ it's own studio for re-investment, whereas the margin could have been smaller for Sony if it was released for other consoles. On the other hand units sold in total might have generated in absolute terms more profits if it was multiplatform.
But would it? Usually exclusives get extra highlight and publicity. Even if a game isn't all that great, it might sell a little bit better because of its exclusivity (Would Drive Club sell better or worse as another multiplatform that competes other multiplatform games?). Maybe if it was multiplatform it might or might not have got the same amount of hype and anticipation to generate that much sales.
But even as such exclusives serve another purpose that generate indirectly more money. They add value to the console, which helps increase userbase, which means more games sold (exclusive and multiplatform) with a margin for Sony as a platform holder, which as a total means more money.
You want to be the one having the highest userbase when the next GTA arrives
I think it okay to forecast that it would have nearly doubled its sales. If you subtract out the folks that own both platforms.That is an interesting case that sometimes makes me wonder if we should really just look it that way.
First Party Exclusives have the benefit that each copy generates more money for Sony+ it's own studio for re-investment, whereas the margin could have been smaller for Sony if it was released for other consoles. On the other hand units sold in total might have generated in absolute terms more profits if it was multiplatform.
But would it? Usually exclusives get extra highlight and publicity. Even if a game isn't all that great, it might sell a little bit better because of its exclusivity (Would Drive Club sell better or worse as another multiplatform that competes other multiplatform games?). Maybe if it was multiplatform it might or might not have got the same amount of hype and anticipation to generate that much sales.
But even as such exclusives serve another purpose that generate indirectly more money. They add value to the console, which helps increase userbase, which means more games sold (exclusive and multiplatform) with a margin for Sony as a platform holder, which as a total means more money.
You want to be the one having the highest userbase when the next GTA arrives
There's a specific reason why most 3rd parties will release on all platforms, it's more profitable. Only platform holders can make the decision to keep their games exclusive, and that's mainly to bolster sales of the platform to gain licensing fees from other titles.
But you can change the way that model works. It doesn't need to be the way it is today. And I think we're going to see more MS games leave exclusivity because of it.
I think it pretty certain it'd have doubled sales if released across PC and XB as well. It has very little competition in that space at the moment and would continue to sell over the years with lowered prices - it's currently £20 on PSN? Each sale would be less profitable than a PS4 sale, but it's all profit. The financial cost to the platform by not being exclusive is immeasurable, unless there are Special Esoteric Business Models running on Deep Learning nets we know nothing about...
They'll remain MS exclusives, to push console or Windows Store, because they don't care which of those platforms you have as long as you're buying your software from them. The next Fable game will be Play Anywhere, only available on Store (no Steam), and get people to sign up as a result.
That's another possibility we'll never know. On PC, probably not so much (can always run on more powerful hardware!), but if designed for XB1 as well..well, we don't know what optimisations and compromises are possible. We know some of the best looking games of every generation are cross-platform though - it's not like exclusivity automatically unlocks an extra 50% graphical wow for your game versus everything else out there.
with how close the systems are becoming, I don't think this will apply as much unless they start deviating from each other again. But with X1X now aligned with PS4 mostly in architecture I can't see this being the case unless the game requires the usage of particular proprietary customizations.
I'm still holding strong to the prediction that their ultimate goal is to put all their software onto a subscription service and just not care which platform you are playing on. As long as you are subscribed and paying, you can play. I see this as more desirable for MS and its investors than continuing this traditional model.
You think MS games will come to Sony and/or Nintendo and/or Apple platforms?
If the system was flawless (in that it could work on any hardware?) and profitable? Sure I don't see why they couldn't.
MS is a software solutions company investing heavily into the cloud and AI. Remote access are among the main goals of their company. Other goals include software on your devices anywhere in the world. Eventually that's going to have to include platforms other than their own, and we should see their console platform to follow the same path as their windows software, which the software used to be locked to Windows (ie Visual studio) but no longer is.
If they can build a cloud based subscription solution to support all your games on every platform, they're set to make a lot more profit than the traditional model. I'm thinking a proper cloud based solution would have a larger market, less expenses, more revenue, device agnostic. You'd still have exclusives, but it's not locked to the platform/hardware, it's locked to their service.
You want to talk larger worlds, more CPU more GPU scaling? Well cloud has none of those restrictions. You can create much larger worlds and have better graphics. You only need the tech to minimize the inherent lag between the two.
When we get to 5nm, where can console realistically go afterwards but still keep its same cheap price points?
Eventually a cloud service is going to be cheaper and run better than traditional hardware.
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Games that fit mobile are easier for them to stomach, which we've seen in the past. I doubt we'll see their mainline titles elsewhere.
- Maybe they should revive Viva Pinata but for all platforms.
- Something something something Goldeneye remaster (nintendo issue IIRC)
- Return of Halo Splitscreen & LAN.......... on Switch.
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They don't have an aversion to it, see Minecraft. Granted they did buy the game after it was already on non-Microsoft platforms but they have continued that support with newer platforms(Switch). If they find similar success with another game I wouldn't be surprised if it showed up on Nintendo or Sony platforms, but it would have to be very special.
Tommy McClain
Minecraft is a special case because it existed cross-platform before being bought. Is Fable 4 going to come to PS or Switch? That'd be a significant change in behaviour, and it'd sacrifice the chance to use the IP to push people towards MS platforms in favour of wider sales. Seems unlikely to me, at least over the coming years. Long term, anything can happen.
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