• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Decisive Games - MS Studio working on beloved strategy game series for Windows/Xbox

B

Banjo-Kazooie

Member
Cross posting from here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=146588261&postcount=204

https://careers.microsoft.com/jobdetails.aspx?jid=164301
Originally discovered by Steve and Marcel: http://steverulez.co.uk/?p=14304

Senior Software Engineer
Sizzle + VP: Be part of Microsoft Game Studios, and help us create the next-generation of awesome games for Windows and Xbox!

Team: The Decisive Games team is focused on world class strategy game development, and is building a studio that will bring the next installment in a beloved strategy game franchise to the next generation of gamers around the world. This is a highly-collaborative, agile team, with a play-centric approach to game development.

Role: As a generalist game development engineer, you will be expected to play a variety of roles on the team and contribute to solving engineering problems in many areas, but with an emphasis on client-side rendering and UI development.

Responsibilities:
Develop, design, modify, optimize, and debug game engine elated systems
Deploy, evaluate the performance of, and test software
Document software and features
Participate in scheduling, design, performance, and code review process

Requirements:
BS or MS in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or related field.
2+ years programming experience in C++, with expertise in networking, web services, algorithms, and optimization
Familiarity with DirectX 11 or Xbox 360 / Xbox One rendering APIs
Understanding of the hardware rendering pipeline
Background with parallel programming and threading
Demonstrated ability to write clean, efficient, readable, portable, and reliable code
Shipped at least one game title
Click to expand...

What game you think they are talking about? Universal App with shared code? Windows and Xbox are specifically mentioned, will it be cross-play/cross-buy?

Maybe has something to do with efforts on Windows 10 and Xbox integration...see T-shirt here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=967625


edit: Meant to say working on a "beloved strategy game franchise for Windows/Xbox" in the title

edit2: Couple this new team with Phil saying back in March that he thought RTS's would have a resurgence on this generation of consoles: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/mi...-on-this-generation-of-consoles/1100-6419715/
 
SerTapTap

SerTapTap

Member
Team: The Decisive Games team is focused on world class strategy game development,
Click to expand...

Gee. I WONDER who could have made strategy games for Microsoft if not for this new studio. Grinding teeth
 
M

Miles X

Member
harSon said:
How many studios have they randomly unveiled as of late that have yet to show anything?
Click to expand...

They're not officially revealed, so I don't get the point.

Only one they have unveiled that we havn't heard anything from is Lift London.
 
Chobel

Chobel

Member
It's probably Halo Wars 2, because I think AoE games ( and other MS strategy games) are not suitable for console.
 
S

Steverulez

Member
L

LycanXIII

Member
I don't see AoE working well on Xbox, and I don't view Halo Wars as a "beloved strategy game franchise," so I don't know what it could be if it's just for Xbox.
 
Freeman

Freeman

Banned
Congratulations for closing Ensemble just to open another studio focused on strategy games a couple of years later.

Good luck to the new studio and I hope they do justice to the AoE franchise. The RTS genre just isn't the same without a strong AoE presence.
 
M

Miles X

Member
CassidyIzABeast said:
lxpstudio.com but like I said its locked.
Click to expand...

Thanks, interesting.

MS seem to have a lot going on behind the scenes. Soon all of these devs get announced (and hopefully release great games or at least show potential) the more people can get excited about future Xbox prospects and stop all the doom mongering around their line up.

Freeman said:
Congratulations for closing Ensemble just to open another studio focused on strategy games a couple of years later.

Good luck to the new studio and I hope they do justice to the AoE franchise. The RTS genre just isn't the same without a strong AoE presence.
Click to expand...

Eh? Try 6 years
 
L

Leflus

Member
Steverulez said:
That would be about as mega lame as humanely possible.
Click to expand...
Get ready for AR Sports, AR Adventures and Augmentimals. :)

I hope not.

Freeman said:
Congratulations for closing Ensemble just to open another studio focused on strategy games a couple of years later.

Good luck to the new studio and I hope they do justice to the AoE franchise. The RTS genre just isn't the same without a strong AoE presence.
Click to expand...
Come on. Ensemble was closed down in 2009. That's more than a "couple of years". A lot of things can change in 5 years.

This studio, assuming it gets off the ground, will not be ready for at least a few more years anyway.
 
S

shinobi602

Member
Make a proper Age of Empires 4 (building on the gameplay of AOE2) and I'll build a fucking gaming PC right here and now.
 
S

Stopdoor

Member
Chobel said:
It's probably Halo Wars 2, because I think AoE games ( and other MS strategy games) are not suitable for console.
Click to expand...

That's never stopped companies from trying before - there's been RTSs on consoles and you can bet nothing is sacred if they want to get it on consoles.
 
S

SlipperyMoose

Member
They bought Rise of Nations IP last year. They also own Halo Wars and Age of Empires. Any of those and or a new IP would be fine with me.
 
S

Steverulez

Member
I am very interested to see what Decisive Games do, I can't but feel conflicted by the "Windows and Xbox" games though.

I mean, unless they either make the versions fairly different or one kind of broken won't it be hard to satisfy both groups?

Halo Wars 2 is a lock though.

Chobel said:
VR is good.
Click to expand...

Microsoft open some much needed studios: focus on tech that will have a high barrier to entry. I really don't personally think Microsoft have the luxury of focusing on stuff like VR right now in their line-up, but that might just be me.

Plus I personally have no interest in it.

Leflus said:
Get ready for AR Sports, AR Adventures and Augmentimals. :)

I hope not.
Click to expand...

You know it brother!

AR Banjo, AR Battletoads... ;)
 
Freeman

Freeman

Banned
Leflus said:
Get ready for AR Sports, AR Adventures and Augmentimals. :)

I hope not.


Come on. Ensemble was closed down in 2009. That's more than a "couple of years". A lot of things can change in 5 years.

This studio, assuming it gets off the ground, will not be ready for at least a few more years anyway.
Click to expand...
Yep a lot of things can change, like MS realizing that their strategy to sacrifice their PC studios to focus on Xbox was the wrong one.
 
M

Madness

Member
harSon said:
How many studios have they randomly unveiled as of late that have yet to show anything?
Click to expand...

Can't fault them for that though, nothing to really announce. Waiting for E3. But they really put money into studios like black tusk, so will be interesting to see what Spencer and crew can pull off for next year.
 
H

Heartfyre

Member
I'm hoping for Age of Empires, but it could also be Rise of Nations.

I don't think it can be Halo Wars, as the phrasing makes it sounds like an independent franchise, rather than a subset of Halo.
 
S

Steverulez

Member
Freeman said:
Yep a lot of things can change, like MS realizing that their strategy to sacrifice their PC studios to focus on Xbox was the wrong one.
Click to expand...

I don't think Ensemble was sacrificed for Xbox, iirc a vet of the studios said they couldn't deliver anything on-time or on budget and they had plans for a big move to a new studio that was expensive.

Unfortunate situation but perhaps not everything is so cut and dry. Great studio as they were...
 
M

Madness

Member
Freeman said:
Yep a lot of things can change, like MS realizing that their strategy to sacrifice their PC studios to focus on Xbox was the wrong one.
Click to expand...

I don't necessarily agree with them focusing on Xbox 360 was a mistake. They have the best selling console in NA, UK, Australia with Xbox 360 I think. They were just boneheaded and profit driven. Halo Wars got great Scores, sold a ton of copies, and Ensemble really did the Halo world justice, and MS just closed them down. They made one of the best console RTS games ever. Something they could have used now. I believe they just didn't want to keep pouring money into Ensemble. Look at what they did to Bizarre as well, same goes for Rare. Microsoft has never been good at studio management. Bungie disliked being under them so much, they bought themselves back and went independent again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

  • Locked
Volition Veterans Form New Studio Shapeshifter Games, Working on Xbox Game Studios Project
News Game Dev 2
60
3K
lh032 replied
Windows Central - Sarah Bond has set up a new team dedicated to game preservation and forward compatibility
2 3 4 5
242
9K
DaGwaphics replied
A handheld Xbox? Microsoft’s gaming chief can’t stop thinking about it
2 3
113
4K
Reallink replied
Sarah Bond has been promoted to President of Xbox. Matt Booty promoted to President of Xbox Game Content and Studios
2 3 4 5 6
261
16K
Brucey replied
Xbox Game Studios’ Crystin Cox Says Microsoft Has “Over a Dozen Games Being Worked On” by External Partners
News Game Dev 2
52
3K
Reizo Ryuu replied
Top Bottom