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[64bitmodels]

Same thing happened to the movie industry. Consolidation into a handful of cookie cutter. safe, broad appeal megaprojects per year to pump effective marketing campaigns into.

The worst part is that with the budgets of modern AAA games it would be far more cost effective and smart to scale back with smaller teams, smaller (and more) games, but dumbest CEOs think bigger is better all the time. It's a state formed by not even greed but pure incompetence

 

[CuteFaceJay]

OOF, Even MS is having a hard time with the economy atm they coming in strong with an "Oh baby a triple" +1 on the studio closures.

 

[March Climber]

Which one of you made this first wish and accidentally got Tango closed?

 

[Punished Miku]

Going by Booty's email, they're going to focus primarily on the 'blockbuster' titles now. A shame for developers who primarily made AA games.

Yeah, huge disaster. The time to notice that they were putting their efforts into AA games was 3 years ago, but most people didn't care. Most people explicitly criticize MS for not having AAA games. Well here we go. This is what the gaming consumer at large has demanded with their shit taste.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Is there stilla any Microsoft Fanboy out there?

some left after the business update

 

[Chuck Berry]

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Oh, fuck this. Like Playstation or any other huge publisher hasn't also done significant cuts of this size or larger, *and recently. I'm so tired of the cherry-picking and the gaslighting. Name one giant publisher this size who hasn't done lay-offs recently. Even Nintendo's done layoffs in the last 2 years.

If you really believed in your own self-imposed boycott, you'd have nothing to play, *and nothing to play on.

Name me the last time Nintendo's closed entire multiple studios after spending $80+ billion buying them over a period of just 3 years?

Meanwhile one of the few recent studios SIE have shut down was London Studio. A bit crappy on their part, but London Studio had no noteworthy output for decades. Their last big game was The Getaway 2 way back on the PS2. If anything they probably could've been shut down sooner.

They were basically SIE's Arkane Austin, and you don't see most people upset over the Arkane Austin closure, either. It sucks but that one's rationale. The Tango Gameworks closure is the red flag here.

Except Hellblade II won't be the best game of this year. But it's Imran; of course he will gas up something Xbox-related, even when he's trying to be critical of them.

 

[Negotiator101]

Because all of their games are being given away for as low as £7?

Now we want to talk about business and return on investment.

Feel free to finally admit that Game Pass is a disastrous model then.

No mate, Gamepass is profitable. Its not about that, it's about producing content that generates interest and excitement that people want to play. Redfall for instance was disastrous, that very few actually played or enjoyed.

That's a lot of words to say Phil Spencer and Greenberg are fucking lying rats.

What are you talking about? Spencer answers to Satya Nadella, I'm sure if he could retain these Studios he would, but this ain't fantasy Island and money talks and bullshit walks. I know it's the thing on Gaf to blame Spencer but he's not the one to blame for these Studios failures to produce compelling gaming experiences.

 

[ChiefDada]

They're losing Colt...

No, his ass needs to stay on the ship.

 

[Ogbert]

Can we just take a moment to gasp in awe at just how bad Spencer is.

He has fucked up almost every single IP MS has. Actually, no. Forza is still good. Everything else is a shadow of its former self.

Bloke is a total asshat.

 

[EviLore]

The worst part is that with the budgets of modern AAA games it would be far more cost effective and smart to scale back with smaller teams, smaller (and more) games, but dumbest CEOs think bigger is better all the time. It's a state formed by not even greed but pure incompetence

In the eyes of a tech megacorp, though, it's better to have Call of Duty producing $10 billion/year and easily integrated with your overall media strategy than 100 smaller studios that are difficult to manage or align with your current plans.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

The way things are going, the landscape is going to be insanely massive blockbusters and home grown, low budget indie games, with nothing in-between.

We're kinda witnessing the death of the b-game here. Avowed absolutely isn't going to move the needle financially regardless of how good it is and Obsidian will probably be next in the firing line - unless they give them the Fallout licence to shit out a spin-off as soon as they humanly can.

Avowed was never going to be even close to Starfield, and that did jack shit for Xbox.

Also almost everyone that made NV is long gone. It is not the Obsidian we know.

 

[diffusionx]

To be fair, this is mainly the fault of hardcore gamers (neogaffers for example) who now refuse to buy B-games and keep throwing their money at rotten IPs or lame subscriptions services like Gamepass or PS+

For example, Dontnod recently released a solid and complete AA title and it barely generated any discussion around here. Thaumaturge as well, released this year, does not even have an OT here. Examples are aplently.

I bought games like Ghostwire, Kena Bridge of Spirits, Jagged Alliance 3, Age of Wonders 4, Prince of Persia The Lost Crown, etc. I don't have a PS+ or GamePass account.In the end, the most limited resource here is time, and given the choice between Kena Bridge of Spirits and God of War, people will choose God of War. And you know what, God of War is way way better, so are they wrong?

In the end, I don't even necessarily blame MS for this decision, but they outright lied about their intentions and plans and that's what sucks.

 

[Mr Moose]

No mate, Gamepass is profitable. Its not about that, it's about producing content that generates interest and excitement that people want to play. Redfall for instance was disastrous, that very few actually played or enjoyed.

What are you talking about? Spencer answers to Satya Nadella, I'm sure if he could retain these Studios he would, but this ain't fantasy Island and money talks and bullshit walks. I know it's the thing on Gaf to blame Spencer but he's not the one to blame for these Studios failures to produce compelling gaming experiences.

Sure, sure.
Also Phil: "These games look fucking great!" (Redfall/Halo Craig).

 

[MALpractice311]

Wait! Are you telling me Microsoft bought a bunch of studios and IPs, didn't know what to do with them, and then shut down those studios because of poor performing games? I'm shocked. Shocked. If only there was 10+ years of history for us to look towards to recognize this behavior.

 

[simpatico]

AAA gaming is dead. With the emergence of AI tools and more advanced engines, I would argue we don't need publishers and teams in the thousands anymore. Really excited to see how much grunt work AI can do for smaller indie devs. The future is bright, and mostly because we won't have to live with publishers content approval.

 

[Negotiator101]

Seems a bit bad to suggest this is OK, when the only reason these games don't make money is because the majority of people playing them have been using a workaround to get all MSs content for the last few years for a $1 a month.

It's a crock of shit, as is your rationale.

MS decided none of their studios was going to make money, so how is that a reason for them to close them down.

What they should do is ditch gamepass as a failed experiment.

So how are other studios under Microsoft's leadership flourishing? You're just writing nonsense, because if you weren't Microsoft would have no studios.

 

[Buggy Loop]

Should also be noted that 75% (roughly) of the team that made the amazing Prey left during development of Redfall.

Of course

Shoving down GAAS and Live service games on peoples who had passion projects in IMMERSIVE SIMS (non blockbusters) is gonna create an exodus. Although Bethesda is responsible for Redfall so the prey team left during Bethesda's management. On top of the already open wound that they closed Humanhead studios for Prey 2, ripped the franchise off their cold dead hands and forced Arkane Austin to slap the name on their game, that had nothing to do with Prey. Good thing game was good but just pretty telling of the mismanagement.

Eidos Montreal faced the same going from Deus Ex to whatever the fuck it was after with Marvel GAAS from Square Enix's shit plans. Then Square enix got rid of them like a used cum sock.

Fuck these publishers, fuck them. I hate these fucking bean counters. You come in a place that was run for passion projects and you destroy it with your shit monetization ideas.

No wonder that most devs losing their jobs in the industry don't bother to re-enter it. Why would they? It's never been easier in history to make indie projects.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

Fucking unbelievable he had the nerve to write this in March and will no doubt be gushing over him again in the IGN interview after the showcase. Absolute sell out.

Phil Spencer Has Now Been Head of Xbox for 10 Years; We Look Back at His First Decade - IGN

Ten years ago on March 31, 2014, then-Xbox Game Studios boss Phil Spencer was named Head of Xbox. And he inherited quite a mess. You all know the story; there’s no need to beat the horse corpse for the ten-thousandth time. The brand was in disarray after what can, without hyperbole, be called a...

www.ign.com

 

[SHA]

Meanwhile in Shinji Mikami's head, let's start our next game.

 

[Negotiator101]

Is this what grift looks like? Please tell me you at least have a YT channel making shitty clickbait thumbnails and are not simping for 3 trillion dollar corp for free?

Please tell me you understand the English language?

 

[demigod]

OMG!! Tango!! Scoop ’em up Sony!!

TEW3 and more indie-gems please

That’s not how it works. MS owns the IP.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

No mate, Gamepass is profitable. Its not about that, it's about producing content that generates interest and excitement that people want to play. Redfall for instance was disastrous, that very few actually played or enjoyed.

So what's the excuse for Hi-Fi Rush?

 

[64bitmodels]

In the eyes of a tech megacorp, though, it's better to have Call of Duty producing $10 billion/year and easily integrated with your overall media strategy than 100 smaller studios that are difficult to manage or align with your current plans.

Maybe, but people have been calling out for years this all in AAA approach is unsustainabke and starting to fuck up the industry- i hate it because it gets us outcomes like this!!

I hope the worst for Phil Spencer and every single twitter lackey who defended his idiocy.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

Anytime anyone defends independent studios being acquired by mega-publishers, send them to this thread. This should never be allowed to happen.

 

[Jinzo Prime]

Wow.

Shinji Mikami, a week ago:

Tango Gameworks is not the name of a company, it’s the name of a department. The name of the company is ZeniMax Asia K.K.

If Phil gave one single fuck about the history of Japanese game development, he would have elevated Tango to a real studio answering directly to him, not a subdepartment of a subdepartment.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

Today I’m sharing changes we are making to our Bethesda and ZeniMax teams. These changes are grounded in prioritizing high-impact titles and further investing in Bethesda’s portfolio of blockbuster games and beloved worlds which you have nurtured over many decades.

"We need a Fallout game NOW"

 

[digoutyoursoul]

No, his ass needs to stay on the ship.

He’s played his part in what it is today. They all have.

 

[GHG]

They're losing Colt...

These guys get everything they deserve.

 

[Topher]

So what's the excuse for Hi-Fi Rush?

Apparently this means it sold one copy.

 

[Fabieter]

Aquisitions are great tho!

 

[Negotiator101]

So what's the excuse for Hi-Fi Rush?

Yeah, great game but what have they produced since?

 

[bender]

Sad news all around but I'm especially bummed out for Tango. They were a productive group and their games were always well received and their final project was one of the better games released last year. At least they are going out on top, I guess. And not that it would have been difficult to poach from in the first place, but Shinji is going to have an easier time getting the talent he wants for his next endeavor.

 

[Topher]

Yeah, great game but what have they produced since?

Hi Fi Rush is just over a year old

 

[TintoConCasera]

Guess this is still relevant

 

[Schmendrick]

Fucking unbelievable he had the nerve to write this in March and will no doubt be gushing over him again in the IGN interview after the showcase. Absolute sell out.

Phil Spencer Has Now Been Head of Xbox for 10 Years; We Look Back at His First Decade - IGN

Ten years ago on March 31, 2014, then-Xbox Game Studios boss Phil Spencer was named Head of Xbox. And he inherited quite a mess. You all know the story; there’s no need to beat the horse corpse for the ten-thousandth time. The brand was in disarray after what can, without hyperbole, be called a...

www.ign.com

You gotta acknowledge, though, that sinking a global brand within the span of a decade all while having the near bottomless pockets of Microsoft backing you up is ....some....kind of achievment.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Yeah, great game but what have they produced since?

What do you mean since? it's not even been out for two years

 

[jshackles]

 

[ungalo]

10 years of Microsoft being in every conversation about the future of gaming, a complete waste of time and energy just talking about them.

 

[Synless]

Don’t worry guys. This isn’t Phil’s fault, it’s the consumers for not seeing all the great things they’ve been doing.

 

[mansoor1980]

she cute , how could you phil

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Avoid hate comments for MS. Its a platform holder.

I will copy all hate comments here then when your favourite plastic box company will do this, will paste them there with name changed.

And call you a bootlicker on top.

 

[GHG]

This is what the gaming consumer at large has demanded with their shit taste.

Bro be quiet. You were up in here vehemently defending and promoting Redfall, so much so that you even managed to get yourself banned over it.

Give it a rest.

 

[Jinzo Prime]

she cute , how could you phil

She left long before this shitshow.

 

[Negotiator101]

Hi Fi Rush is just over a year old

Right but it's a small title, nothing new even announced and their last big success was The Evil Within?

 

[Braag]

Closing down Tango is wild, considering how they claimed Hi-Fi Rush was a success.

 

[Jigsaah]

Tango probably stings the most here.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

Don’t worry guys. This isn’t Phil’s fault, it’s the consumers for not seeing all the great things they’ve been doing.

“They are only human”
“ Toxic console war”
“ Haters”
“He saved the brand”

 

[near]

Arkane and Tango are by-products of the Bethesda purchase. Studios like Obsidian and Ninja Theory were specifically acquired. I think they'd be assessed quite differently, because we already know those studios don't make games that sell incredibly well. I'd consider them as portfolio/genre purchases. But then again, every studio is a risk today.

 

[THE DUCK]

never owned by sony

"It's absolutely mind-blowing. For us, we have never been in a situation like this before, where we've got everything we could possibly ask for. From day one of the studio we have complete financial security for years and years to come. Now, with this partnership with Sony, we can be ourselves. And not only that, when we bring people into the studio, we can promise them that this is our culture. And we can fearlessly create and innovate and be groundbreaking."

Right, Sony had zero do do with them closing.