Astray
Member
That Harvey Smith interview where he talked about dropping PS5 was kinda peculiar to me, almost like a fuck you to upper management on his way out or something. I might be wrong, but I firmly expect to at least see a management shake-up there somehow.So you think it's Microsoft rushing the release and sending Arkane/Redfall to death because they haven't been able to hit their business goals?
It makes sense, as I've noticed that developers/studios usually care a lot more about their games (and subsequent reception) that suits and executives that aren't a part of those studios.
But do you think Redfall will help them move consoles? I seriously doubt that. The game doesn't look anywhere near a system-seller. It looks very AA and indie-ish to me.
Redfall is not a system seller, but Microsoft bought that Bethesda pipeline in full, and just cancelling projects left and right because they aren't "first party quality" is just gonna raise alarm bells when they are still on an acquisition spree of big publishers.
It's not looking particularly good, but a drowning man would cling to a straw. It's survival mode for their console business and they need to do whatever to keep sales and hype going. The ecosystem thing they're doing is not completely invalid, but the most immediately lucrative path towards $$$ in the AA/AAA games biz is through the console route, and they need to keep that alive while they figure out how to deliver xCloud and calibrate Gamepass for profitablity (it can be done if they gradually reduce the offering imo).