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[Redux] Now that MS has 5 publishing arms, which is your favorite and why?

Now that MS has 5 publishing arms, which is your favorite and why?

  • The original XGS.

    Votes: 165 42.7%

  • Bethesda.

    Votes: 145 37.6%

  • Activision.

    Votes: 13 3.4%

  • Blizzard.

    Votes: 45 11.7%

  • King.

    Votes: 18 4.7%
  • Total voters
    386
Marano

Marano

Member
Mar 30, 2018
4,893
Rio de Janeiro
Inspired by my previous thread and poll:

www.resetera.com

Now that MS has two publishing arms, which is your favorite and why?

For me there is no context, AOE is at the top of my favorite franchises (I liked the franchise before I ever knew anything about xbox) and I like a lot of the other XGS franchises too (Halo and Forza being standouts). Bethesda's favorite franchise for me would be Wolfenstein. What about you...
www.resetera.com www.resetera.com

Hopefuly this thread is ok now.

This one should be a lot more interesting, I will include King as an option even though voting will be split between XGS, Bethesda, Activision and Blizzard.

We can look at both the IPs and studios each publishing arm has individually and vote that way.

As for me, I am still going to vote for the original XGS due to Age of Empires, and that would hardly change with MS for me unless they somehow had EA, Sega or Paradox instead, and maybe not even then.

Bonus question: If you had to rank them in terms of favorites, how would you rank them? This is mine:

1 - XGS
2 - Activision
3 - Bethesda
4 - Blizzard
5 - King

Curious to see where Era lands.
 
Stormblessed

Stormblessed

Member
Feb 21, 2019
1,283
BGS used to be my favorite publisher but have gone down hill lately. Never cared for the 3 new ones. With Obsidian, inXile and Double Fine I'd probably have to go with XGS
 
ThereAreFourNaan

ThereAreFourNaan

Member
Nov 8, 2017
13,285
Bethesda was my #1 publisher last gen, higher than any first party was. Prey, the Wolfensteins and the Dooms were incredible.

I don't think that will be true this gen, but at this point I'll still grandfather them in as my pick.
 

Deleted member 158819

Sep 19, 2023
2,257
Activision for COD, that's about it.
 
Henry Jones Jr

Henry Jones Jr

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
1,764
Probably Bethesda just for the id stuff. Not a huge fan of anything the others regularly do. I love(d) World of Warcraft but have been pretty cold on Blizzard for a long time now.

Activision could shoot up if they do indeed start putting out more Spyro/Crash.
 
Fossora

Fossora

Member
Jun 14, 2023
1,219
Blizzard by far. Warcraft is my most played franchise of all time by some distance (WC3/WoW), & Diablo is at least top 10 for playtime. SC is fantastic as well, and I've probably a few hundred hours in Hearthstone to boot. Multiple Blizzard games are probably in my top 10/25 all-time favourite games (WoW is 100% locked, maybe D2 & WC3 as well).

(I don't play any of their games at the moment, but I've got so much history with them that it's the only choice).
 
gr8kamon

gr8kamon

Member
Oct 30, 2017
435
It's insane to me that I'm about to say anything but Blizzard but they have really been mediocre for a long time now. Hopefully MS will somehow put them down the right path. It's XGS now though just because Halo, Fable, and overall variety of those studios
 
HelloItsPulse

HelloItsPulse

Member
Dec 14, 2017
2,078
If we get Spyro 4 and new Tony Hawk stuff from Activision, they'll be my favorite.

Otherwise, Bethesda is my favorite and Activision can be third after XGS. Outside of Diablo and Overwatch I don't care about Blizzard, and I certainly couldn't care less for King.
 
DeoGame

DeoGame

Member
Dec 11, 2018
5,090
XGS has more variety, Bethesda a bit more consistency. Love both.

Blizzard is a stellar PC and multiplayer dev with amazing worlds. King is one of the mobile game devs whose games I like to play.

Activision is currently the weakest link. Hypertalented but too fixated on CoD, a series I like but don't love.
 

bastardly

Member
Nov 8, 2017
10,608
activision easily, CoD is still my goto MP game going on forever now, theyve had some misses lately, but the Treyarch is the best dev MS has now and it not even close for me.
 
vestan

vestan

#REFANTAZIO SWEEP
Member
Dec 28, 2017
24,787
☠️ ☠️

8l8Jon8.png
 
Khanimus

Khanimus

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
40,492
Greater Vancouver
Bethesda is their most interesting collection of studios.

Double Fine and Obsidian are fascinating too though - especially considering the size of the latter to be working 4 games at once.
 
DeadDuck144

DeadDuck144

One Winged Slayer
Member
Jan 16, 2020
655
Bethesda I guess, but I've really soured on BGS after Starfield. XGS isn't far behind right now.
 
Zeal543

Zeal543

Next Level Seer
Member
May 15, 2020
5,859
I'll say Bethesda for id software. Arkane as well historically but we'll see what happens after redfall
 
TheUnsungHero26

TheUnsungHero26

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,409
Canada
Still XGS.

Studios like Obsidian, Rare, Double Fine, Playground, and yes, even 343, put out a variety of great games across a lot of genres. Add on the externally published games—which has historically given us greats like Gears of War, Mass Effect, and Sunset Overdrive—and it's no question in my mind.

They had a very rough period, but they're in a great place now.

Bethesda is great too. Of any publisher, they felt like the most natural addition to Microsoft. I've loved their output this generation, with Deathloop, Hi-fi Rush, and Starfield being highlights.

Activision I'm meh on. I'm not a COD guy, and it's an acquisition that feels like it gets away from the identity of Xbox as a publisher, if that makes any sense. I do love Crash and Spyro, although it's admittedly weird that they're now Xbox mascots. But hey, at least Geometry Wars is back home!

I like Blizzard well enough too.
 
Firima

Firima

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,502
Overwatch is my most played game ever, but I'd find it hard to choose OW over id, Machinegames, Arkane, and Tango.

Bethesda it is
 
Patron Macabre

Patron Macabre

Member
Jan 19, 2022
1,048
As someone who used to be the biggest Blizzard fan, and as someone who also used to be a pretty big Bethesda fan ...
It's going to be XGS for Obsidian and Double Fine.
 
Uhyve

Uhyve

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,172
I've liked alot of XGS games recently, but most with caveats. The only recent one that was unconditionally unarguably great was Psychonauts 2.

So I'd say Bethesda because Prey was just so good.
 
Caiusto

Caiusto

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,999
I still think the XGS offers a nice diversity in genres and sizes that are more to my taste.
 
bsigg

bsigg

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,656
I like the mix of studios in XGS, lots of diversity in the games they're making.
 
iceblade

iceblade

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,285
Bethesda. They have nice variety of studios and they were (before acquisition) one of the few making shorter campaign-focused FPSes like RAGE 2. I have a soft spot for them. It was the purchase of Zenimax that made me buy a Series X, and I'm not regretting that one bit.
 
IIFloodyII

IIFloodyII

Member
Oct 26, 2017
24,301
Bethesda by far. Lots of I.P I like and Beth, Arkane and Id usually make stuff I like. Tango and Machine games make good stuff too, just not for me.

Then Xbox. I like Gears and Playground, Obsidian and InXile are great.

Pretty whatever on Blizz. Like Diablo and Vicarious Visions are under them now too.

Couldn't careless about King or Activision.
 
Kittenz

Kittenz

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,169
Minneapolis
Bethesda produced my favorite two games this year, and many of my favorites ever, so that's easy.

1. Bethesda
2. XGS
3. COD
4. Blizzard
5. The rest of Activison
6. King.
 
hydrophilic attack

hydrophilic attack

Corrupted by Vengeance
Member
Oct 25, 2017
21,578
Sweden
i'll give the same answer i did when you made this exact thread (down to wording and thread title) one week ago:

the only game i loved from any of those publishers is sekiro: shadows die twice, so activision
 
crazillo

crazillo

Member
Apr 5, 2018
8,274
XGS will give us more interesting wacky stuff like Ori, Pentiment, Grounded and Double Fine magic. They also have great RPGs coming and for me inXile and Compulsion could be real wildcards with their next games. Ninja Theory and Playground Games are excellent. I hope The Coalition one day can make something else than Gears, I think they're very capable.

But I can't not vote for Bethesda with BGS, Arkane, MachineGames and Tango Gameworks. I just love all of these developers. And yes, I believe Arkane can absolutely make a comeback.

Writing this answer also made clear to me that we're yet to see a lot of these studios have their first release under Xbox. Interesting 12-24 months to follow.
 
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Clive

Clive

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,137
XGS. While they haven't had the best start to the generation, they still have the developers of Gears, Halo, two Forza franchises, Fable, Hellblade, Psychonauts, The Outer Worlds and more under their umbrella. They also have and will continue to publish games made by third party studios. I'd call them a top 5 publisher in the entire industry last gen and now they have more studios under them. I think they have a great and diverse mix of games.

Bethesda had a great last gen thanks to two excellent Doom games, two excellent games from Arkane and two from Tango but only Deathloop has fully delivered for me this gen. Don't really care about BGS.

Activision doesn't make anything above "good" although publishing Sekiro counts for something.

Don't particularly care about either Blizzard or King.
 
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CannonFodder52

CannonFodder52

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,011
Canada
I like XGS's Pentiment and Psychonauts 2 more than any other recent title from the other publishing studios listed there.

Although Bethesda has Machine Games, Arkane, and Tango, so it's pretty close.
 

ResetEraUser

Member
Jun 9, 2022
451
XGS because I love Halo + the newer studios are really promising, particularly Obsidian and inXile.

Beth close second. Still like BGS, but don't hit the same anymore, iD probably the golden child there atm.
 
It's mido

It's mido

One Winged Slayer
Member
Jan 23, 2018
589
Of the current and ongoing output, I think the people at Forgotten Empires under XGS are doing a fine job updating AOE2DE and pushing out new content at the same time.
 
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