This is why Game Pass is good for them because we have to stop looking at the past spreadsheets that only points to sales as either successful or failure.
Arkane - Xbox Game Pass will allow us to remain creative
- Thread starter Theorry
- Start date
What the fuck are you talking about lmao
Having a lot of studios does not mean you are inevitably going to close some. Ubisoft has like 40 studios and more employees than Xbox and Bethesda combined.
Hell, even EMBRACER employs over 5000 people and 50+ studios worldwide.
Arkane is most creative AAA studio in the industry.
Probably top 3 in XGS. 1. Bethesda 2. Arkane 3. Playground
Probably top 3 in XGS. 1. Bethesda 2. Arkane 3. Playground
He's right.
Not all studios are going to work with the same budget or expectations. Bigger ones are going to require more funding like BGS/343i and The Coalition while smaller teams ain't going to need the same amount of time and money to ship their products.
I get your point but you were making it sound like AA is something inherently bad or Fodder. Which is weird. Not every projects need to be massive, especially if its backed by GamePass. Especially when it comes to creativity and freedome you are gonna find out that many devs arent even interested in working on AAA massive games and would rather drop a AA project like every 2 years or so. Thats what freedom means.
Yeah, they are owned by MS now.
Good. I love the Dishonored series and am really
Liking Prey so far. Gamepass definitely steers me towards games I normally wouldn't try so I assume their style of game will do well there
Liking Prey so far. Gamepass definitely steers me towards games I normally wouldn't try so I assume their style of game will do well there
It is the perfect deal for Arcane. They can keep doing Dishonored, Prey and Deathloop without worrying too much about sales.
Audience segmentation is important, alongside acquisition of new subscribers or levels of engagement.
Whilst Arkane's games don't hit Rockstar-sized audiences, they definitely appeal to specific groups of media and consumer enthusiasts who help set the tone for a platform amongst the wider public. They also happen to spend a lot on their platforms of choice.
It's way too simplistic to say "X studio doesn't reach 6 million players, studio closed".
You love to see it. Arkane, Machine Games, and Tango all felt kind of on the brink potentially, so I'm glad to see them secured to be able to continue to do their own thing.
Yeah, this came up early on when it launched. Agree it's not talked about enough. IMO...it makes sense since Game Pass has different metrics vs traditional sales.
Dishonored/Prey/Deathloop aren't even big budget AAA to begin with. It's more likely for them to continue making the same types of games than downsizing.
Many consumers looked at the acquisition and said: "I can't play their games anymore". Okay, I get that this can be frustrating. What gets lost though is that Xbox Game Pass really should give these teams the stability to make their best work yet, and perhaps even better games than before (if this is possible with Arkane). I wish them all the best. Together with Compulsion Games, Xbox will have fantastic exclusive immersive sims on their platforms.
That's not an well informed take. Dishonored and Prey are big budget AAA games. Colantonio (the co-founder of Arkane) left the studio exactly because of that.
He's right that not everybody is making AAA games, not about Arkane. They are probably gonna keep making them, though, since that's what they did before.
Arkane's only fault is the lack of technical polish in some of their games. I encountered a bug in Prey that would've prevented me from finishing the game more then 10h in. I had to load a previous manual save from hours earlier as to not lose my entire progress. That said, the game is an amazing experience and I loved (almost) every minute of it. Hope that now they'll have enough time to polish their games.
Prey on the Xbox Series X with 1440p@60fps is magical. You forget it was a last gen game.
Yeah, they def. arent CoD, Halo or GTA level and def. not the biggest projects MS would be releasing in the next couple years. So i dont quite get the labeling of titles as AA as insult or something. It has next to nothing to do with the quality of said game or the creative vision behind it.
I dont know this work both way one hand freedom on other they have your cash already they no need to make something that stand out something that wow's ppl and for sure no need to get it out in a good time
it really a double edge sword MS had to cancel a lot of games last gen
it really a double edge sword MS had to cancel a lot of games last gen
Not sure I understand this, unless I've misread what you've posted.
Most Game Pass users can just unsubscribe at a months notice, so the need to offer quality content will always be there.
yeah, it's really gross. anytime a studio acquired by microsoft talks about the positives of being under their new parent company a few people will bring up the inevitability of studios being shut down.
I genuine hope they get a long rope. They are easily some of my favorite devs. I hope that don't get any pressure to make their games more "servicey." Their games deserve so much more of an audience, so hopefully this protects them.
Under Xbox Arkane games would probably be in the same tier of funding as State of Decay. Prey and Dishonored 2 probably took less to make than Wolfenstein 2, individually of course.
It's about scale and Arkane doesn't produce games that should be super expense for Xbox. If Arkane games were actually mega expensive then no wonder Zenimax wanted to sell. Their lower sellers have mismanaged budgets and projected sales.
You get all types in Game Pass threads. There could be 100 developers praising it and you'd still have that one person on the forum who wants to always go in the opposite direction who just can't do anything but look at the negaive side of things.
Dig a little deeper and you quickly find out they don't even currently use the service. We need to stop focsuing solely on the traditional ways of looking at sales as the only metric to success.
People do this all the time, especially in EA threads, and it's incredibly uncomfortable.
I think Arkane are about to become the darlings of the Xbox base, so I have no concern about them, in fact I'm looking forward to seem them finally get the attention they deserve. They just need to keep doing what they love.
AAA has a wide spectrum. Arkane Austin and Arkane Lyon each have ~75 people per office, and they work separately on their own projects.
Yes, it's still AAA. But they don't operate on a budget and scale near that of Naughty Dog with 300+ people on a single game, let alone Rockstar with 1000+ people on a single game. All this before we get into things like outsourcing, VA, and the gigantic gulf in marketing budgets.
"AAA" lost real meaning when some AAA games are costing 5x as much as others to be developed.
There might be language in the contract that says that it can't be on any subscription service for one year.
That's exactly what i want from Game Pass.
Now they need to show that this'll keep going for 10 - 20 years before the last critic is willing to start "trusting" that MS won't change tune like in the past.
I believe this time Xbox finally has a working formula. Now as soon as the games fromt he new studios start and keep dropping it'll be glorious.
Studios like Double Fine, Arkane, etc. being able to do what they want without compromising their vision is almost in a "dream com to live" category.
I'm very exited for the future.
Now they need to show that this'll keep going for 10 - 20 years before the last critic is willing to start "trusting" that MS won't change tune like in the past.
I believe this time Xbox finally has a working formula. Now as soon as the games fromt he new studios start and keep dropping it'll be glorious.
Studios like Double Fine, Arkane, etc. being able to do what they want without compromising their vision is almost in a "dream com to live" category.
I'm very exited for the future.
ubisoft aren't exactly known for taking risks with their AAA either though. they release sure fire successes based on well established franchises that often follow wildly popular templates, and the experimentations typically are lower budget affairs. after all i'm not talking about studio's that make stuff like child of light or valiant hearts.
dishonored or prey however do not fall into either of those catagories. they're high risk, high budget flops. no console manufacturer is going to keep a studio open that consistently produces those. and gamepass is more than capable of producing flops. people can argue it increases variety and appeal of the service overall...and it does, at least in the sense that those games exist and will be on gamepass for the life of the service. but that doesn't mean MS have to keep them around making MORE content if it doesn't actually amount to meaningful engagement. netflix cancel shows all the time regardless of the variety they offer, views and/or budget. i don't see how anyone thinks MS won't do the same at some point.
I do wanna point out that for all the 'AA' talk, i would absolutely love an smaller team breaking out inside Arkane and making a craaaaaazy game like some other studios inside MS are doing.
Nah, State of Decay 1/2 were fairly smaller productions than Prey and Dishonored 2. Just need to see the game credits for that.
Oh, with that i definitely agree. But i think the AAA spectrum of Naughty Dog, Rockstar and CDProjekt is just ridiculous, so i don't really use them as a default for this stuff.
I'm pretty sure they expanded, too. Not ~75 nowadays.
Nah, State of Decay 1/2 were fairly smaller productions than Prey and Dishonored 2. Just need to see the game credits for that.
Oh, with that i definitely agree. But i think the AAA spectrum of Naughty Dog, Rockstar and CDProjekt is just ridiculous, so i don't really use them as a default for this stuff.
I'm pretty sure they expanded, too. Not ~75 nowadays.
Arkane is probably my favorite studio these days so I'm pumped. Pretty much love everything they do.
Also I haven't really thought about how a service like gamepass can help solve the creative dilemma between publishers and developers. This came up recently again in the 'Does Bioshock 2 have a story?' thread, and I've long had a lot of criticism of Bioshock 1 and 2 from a story perspective, but when I was writing a post I was looking up past interviews with Ken Levine and didn't realize that a lot of the criticism that I had of bioshock, like the ending in particular and the fake morality of the harvest/save, were driven by differences between him and 2K Games... That the Publisher pushed back on those things and he had to acquiesce.
Also I haven't really thought about how a service like gamepass can help solve the creative dilemma between publishers and developers. This came up recently again in the 'Does Bioshock 2 have a story?' thread, and I've long had a lot of criticism of Bioshock 1 and 2 from a story perspective, but when I was writing a post I was looking up past interviews with Ken Levine and didn't realize that a lot of the criticism that I had of bioshock, like the ending in particular and the fake morality of the harvest/save, were driven by differences between him and 2K Games... That the Publisher pushed back on those things and he had to acquiesce.
good to see Arkane will be getting all the support they need to continue making those awesome games. infact all 23 developers under Xbox will.
I think all MS studios should experiment with smaller titles, I think game pass is perfect for those
I've got a PS5 and while I'm lucky to be able to play Deathloop, I was bummed to see MS buy Bethesda and lock down Arkane. But if it helps Arkane keep making the games they want to make, then good. I'll pick up a Series S by the time their next game rolls around.
It doesn't even make sense in microsoft's case because they need more dev teams not less to create games for gamepass at a good cadence.
Dishonored DE is my first exposure to this studio and its effing incredible.
I can't wait to explore the rest of their games.
I can't wait to explore the rest of their games.
