Microsoft, please stop wasting talent and money by shoving celebrities/actors into troubled games.

RexNovis · Feb 21, 2019

To be clear: I AM NOT SAYING THESE GAMES ARE TROUBLED BECAUSE ACTORS WERE HIRED

Let me try to clear up what I meant. These games werealresdy subject troubled development in some regard or another. It seems that either as a result of this troubled development or a general lack of faith in the studios involved to deliver an appealing end product MS made the late development decision to recast starring roles in these titles. I'm both sitstuations this late casting resulted in what felt like a lackluster implementation/execution of these actors within the games themselves. So it seems like doing this leads to a waste of both the talent of the actors and whatever money was spent to hire them.

Whether or not that money could've have been spent on development I don't know. But that's besides the point. If they're going to spend the money on this talent they should expend the resources necessary to use them well. If they aren't willing to do that then there's no sense in spending the money to get them it's just a waste of talent and money.

Dreamwriter · Feb 21, 2019

I mean, that was the idea from the start with Quantum Break, it was a TV show/game hybrid. They just hadn't cast it yet when first revealed. It wasn't a last minute change meant to fix some troubled-development or lack of faith or whatever. And it had good acting and got good reviews for that acting. So I'm not sure why it's in this list.

Really, it sounds to me like the OP has a problem with Crackdown and tried to think of other games he could link to it.

NinjaScooter · Feb 21, 2019

RexNovis said:
No that's not what I'm implying at all. I'm saying that these actors were placed on these games because MS didn't have faith in the developers to make a good product. I'm not trying to say them being hired made these games troubled or bad I'm just frustrated that them being hired resulted in poor implementation of their talents in said games despite whatever cost was associated with the acquisition.

That's reaching a conclusion to suit a narrative though. I'm not sure anybody can say these games were already in trouble and MS hired actors as a way to mask that instead of trying to make the games better.

RexNovis · Feb 21, 2019

Lord Vatek said:
I'm not fond of any game company stunt casting. It's not limited to Microsoft.

Kojima is so far proving to be the worst at this.

I mean yea. It remains to be seen if all that expensive talent will be used well in Death stranding but I'm not really optimistic there either.

Fat4all · Feb 21, 2019

QB from the outset was going to be an interplay between tv and game.

It 'wasted talent and money' as much as any other failed tv project does, and there's a lot of failed tv projects.

Deleted member 5028 · Feb 21, 2019

RexNovis said:
Let me try to clear up what I meant. These games were already subject troubled development in some regard or another. It seems that either as a result of this troubled development or a general lack of faith in the studios involved to deliver an appealing end product MS made the late development decision to recast starring roles in these titles.

Sorry champ. You're still wrong here.
Quantum Break was a victim of a change across the Xbox division. What was meant to be a serialised interactive game+show had to be reworked into a single complete product. It was a result of refocusing away from the Don Mattrick era towards more what we're seeing today.

Crackdown didn't add Terry as an attempt to drum up confidence. Again the game pivoted away from a Mattrick mandate to vertically align Cloud services with a game. It took them some time, but they had to either give up on their vision of a fully destructive arena that's handled in the cloud, versus being able to do that directly on the Xbox one.

This isn't a pattern. It's two games from the early Xbox one vision which is now, finally behind us.

RexNovis · Feb 21, 2019

NinjaScooter said:
That's reaching a conclusion to suit a narrative though. I'm not sure anybody can say these games were already in trouble and MS hired actors as a way to mask that instead of trying to make the games better.

We knew Crackdown had an extremely troubled development for a long time due to the studio changeups and cloud tech stuff. With Quantum Break it was never really stayed as much but the development was fairly prolonged and we got news of needing an entirely separate location in the US to film and capture the new actors for the game. I assume that was not an easy task.

Teggy · Feb 21, 2019

I didn't remember that Quantum Break had totally different actors originally! Were those people going to be in the tv show segments too? In the end, the actress from Control wound up being kind of the star of the tv segments.

NinjaScooter · Feb 21, 2019

RexNovis said:
We knew Crackdown had an extremely troubled development for a long time due to the studio changeups and cloud tech stuff. With Quantum Break it was never really stayed as much but the development was fairly prolonged and we got news of needing an entirely separate location in the US to film and capture the new actors for the game. I assume that was not an easy task.

But you are asserting that MS hired famous actors to cover up for troubled development, or in-lieu of spending time/money to make the games better. I think that's a reach, and you'd have to provide something more substantial to back that up.

P A Z · Feb 21, 2019

Show Lance Reddick some respect OP!

BossLackey · Feb 21, 2019

"MS, STOP doing this thing you've done 1 and a half times!"

R dott B · Feb 21, 2019

I don't think that's what happened but interesting take.

Charpunk · Feb 21, 2019

Quantum Break was great and the actors were great in it.

Terry Crews is a national treasure and perfect for crackdown.

That's all I got.

Kill3r7 · Feb 21, 2019

RexNovis said:
He is a perfect fit. That's what's so annoying about it. He wasn't used well. There was so much potential bringing him to the table and they just failed to deliver on it. He's grossly underutilized

How so?

Jaypah · Feb 21, 2019

BossLackey said:
"MS, STOP doing this thing you've done 1 and a half times!"

Yeah. I like Rex but this is a weird take.

Atisha · Feb 21, 2019

I thought the use of the Asset was Judicious, granted i'm part way through - the game yet. You ran off a list of the instances in which Terry was Showcased / / / sooo / / / how would you improve it, and beyond just "add more crews". Be specific - because "add more crews is vague to say that well - it then boils down to "i agree" or "no your wrong" and off we go with out much exchanged or learned, or gleaned.

RexNovis · Feb 21, 2019

NinjaScooter said:
But you are asserting that MS hired famous actors to cover up for troubled development, or in-lieu of spending time/money to make the games better. I think that's a reach, and you'd have to provide something more substantial to back that up.

I don't beleive ive said they hired them as a mask or to cover anything up. I said in the op that they it seems like they were hired out of a lack of confidence in the end product in an effort to create appeal. I've said there were two games with what certainly seem to me to qualify as troubled development cycles for one reason or another and that both those games received late development casting changes that brought known actors into main roles. Then I went on to see that in both cases or felt like the talent these actors brought to the table went on to be underutilized. To me (especially in the case of Terry Crews) it's frustrating as it just seems like a total waste hence the thread.

I'm not sure how I'm saying or implying some coverup and it wasn't my intention to do so.

Windrunner · Feb 21, 2019

I am hoping we get some single player DLC for Crackdown 3 with Terry Crews featuring much more heavily. With the ending, it's easy to see where they could go and the role Terry/Jaxson will take.

TheSilentCircus · Feb 21, 2019

RexNovis said:
We knew Crackdown had an extremely troubled development for a long time due to the studio changeups and cloud tech stuff. With Quantum Break it was never really stayed as much but the development was fairly prolonged and we got news of needing an entirely separate location in the US to film and capture the new actors for the game. I assume that was not an easy task.

In Quantum Break's case however, they needed to be done in time with the TV show per the article I linked above. Sam Lake talks about how game development can change but television schedules are locked in.

If any prolonged development occured on the side of their game it was probably due to any changes made to the Television show, like cast.

Bugalugs214 · Feb 21, 2019

mortal kOmbAT 11 and Death stranding have Too many CelEbritiS eatiIng uP dev resOuRces

xabbott · Feb 21, 2019

I don't see how Quantum Break works with this at all. The game relied on a lot of narrative/acting. I mean it's not like Shawn Ashmore is a big celebrity. The two bigger stars Aidan Gillen and Lance Reddick weren't even on the box and I don't remember them doing press for the game. If anything, based on Sam Lake's work I could easily see him being the driving force to work with these people.

NinjaScooter · Feb 21, 2019

RexNovis said:
I don't beleive ive said they hired them as a mask or to cover anything up. I said as one of the possible reasons in the op that they hired them out of a lack of confidence in the end product. All I've said is that there were two games with what certainly seem to me to qualify as troubled development cycles for one reason or another and that both those games received late development casting changes that brought known actors into main roles. Then I went on to see that in both cases or felt like the talent these actors brought to the table went on to be underutilized. To me (especially in the case of Terry Crews) it's frustrating as it just seems like a total waste hence the thread.

I'm not sure how I'm saying or implying some coverup and it wasn't my intention to do so.

Because otherwise all we have is two games, two+ years apart, that maybe went through troubled development, had mixed receptions, and also just happened to have famous actors. Could just be a coincidence more than anything.

RexNovis · Feb 21, 2019

Teggy said:
I didn't remember that Quantum Break had totally different actors originally! Were those people going to be in the tv show segments too? In the end, the actress from Control wound up being kind of the star of the tv segments.

Yea the original pitch had the live action segments transitioning directly into gameplay using the same actors. At least that's how I remember it.

Deleted member 36493 · Feb 21, 2019

Sorry, but until I see John Cena in a Gears game I'm going to have to disagree.

Raider34 · Feb 21, 2019

Terry Crews should be the focus in crackdown 4 and more serious story and more orbs to collect!

RexNovis · Feb 21, 2019

NinjaScooter said:
Because otherwise all we have is two games, two+ years apart, that maybe went through troubled development, had mixed receptions, and also just happened to have famous actors. Could just be a coincidence more than anything.

It could very well be but I don't want to see it happen again hence the thread. Basically either don't hire famous actors/personalities if you aren't going to use them well in your game or commit to using them well in your game. Either way I'm happy. Terry Crews' implementation in Crackdown left me so disappointed I felt compelled to speak out about it and two examples are better than one. Be it a trend or not I don't want it to continue in the manner it has

SkyMasterson · Feb 21, 2019

RexNovis said:
Maybe not but if they're gonna spend the money on the talent the least they can do is actually utilize them properly. It's just a frustrating waste of potential seeing them go grossly underutilized

Bro, Remedy hired the dude that was known for being Ice Man in the X-Men movies and Hallmark movies of the week shit. The LOTR actor wasn't exactly expensive either. If they wanted celebrities, they would have gone higher profile than them.

Also, Terry Crews was a great fit for Crackdown. Again, I doubt they broke the bank by hiring him.

Triggerhappytel · Feb 21, 2019

I mean, it's only 2 examples across over 5 years of releases. And Sony has done it too, with known actors in Until Dawn and Days Gone, for two examples off the top of my head. I don't think this has any actual relation to the quality of the games in question.

Dreamwriter · Feb 21, 2019

RexNovis said:
It could very well be but I don't want to see it happen again hence the thread. Basically either don't hire famous actors/personalities if you aren't going to use them well in your game or commit to using them well in your game. Either way I'm happy. Terry Crews' implementation in Crackdown left me so disappointed I felt compelled to speak out about it and two examples are better than one. Be it a trend or not I don't want it to continue in the manner it has

But they *were* used well in Quantum Break. And that was the plan from the start.

gnoclaude · Feb 21, 2019

I dont agree with Quantum Break. That was the whole point, to tell an amazing story that bridged gaming and television. All publishers do this. Look at COD, The Last of Us, Beyond 2 Souls and many others. If you dislike MS games that's fine but Quantum Break for example was amazing due in part to the AAA talent involved.

Kasey · Feb 21, 2019

Thread backfire

Saucycarpdog · Feb 21, 2019

Feels like the OP is pushing a narrative that isn't there.

RexNovis · Feb 21, 2019

Triggerhappytel said:
I mean, it's only 2 examples across over 5 years of releases. And Sony has done it too, with known actors in Until Dawn and Days Gone, for two examples off the top of my head. I don't think this has any actual relation to the quality of the games in question.

The thread isn't really about the quality of the games it's about the implementation of these actors within the games themselves. It leaves a lot to be desired which seems crazy given money is being spent to be able to put them in the game. Basically if you're gonna spend the money to hire them spend the money use them properly or dont hire them at all.

I'm having to explain this so many times it's clear I've done terrible job explaining my point in a way that folks can understand. Not really sure how to explain it better.

Deleted member 36622 · Feb 21, 2019

Crackdown 3 was suspicious before, i think they hired Terry Crews hoping to salvage it.

coma · Feb 21, 2019

Keep reaching.

leng jai · Feb 21, 2019

Quantum Break would have probably been terrible without recognised actors.

Brass Body Dave · Feb 21, 2019

RexNovis said:
I'm having to explain this so many times it's clear I've done terrible job explaining my point in a way that folks can understand. Not really sure how to explain it better.

I don't think its an issue with an explanation, I think the fundamental premise of the thread is flawed.

Cliff Steele · Feb 21, 2019

Teggy said:
I didn't remember that Quantum Break had totally different actors originally! Were those people going to be in the tv show segments too? In the end, the actress from Control wound up being kind of the star of the tv segments.

The dude in the first videos was just a stand in because they hadn't hired an actor at that point. Beth is a crucial part to the story and the TV segments were there to show her side. That was planned that she was "the star"

Jinaar · Feb 21, 2019

I have enjoyed all MS games listed here greatly, and MS usage of known actors and actresses has been well done, in my opinion. Thanks for the thread.

bbq of doom · Feb 21, 2019

RexNovis said:
No that's not what I'm implying at all. I'm saying that these actors were placed on these games because MS didn't have faith in the developers to make a good product. I'm not trying to say them being hired made these games troubled or bad I'm just frustrated that them being hired resulted in poor implementation of their talents in said games despite whatever cost was associated with the acquisition.

There's a ton of assumption in this.

Max|Payne · Feb 21, 2019

Tonky said:
Sorry, but until I see John Cena in a Gears game I'm going to have to disagree.

You wouldn't see him tho.

akilshohen · Feb 21, 2019

This thread just reminded me to try out quantum break.

I really think Crews wasn't used to his potential in Crackdown 3.

TheSilentCircus · Feb 21, 2019

akilshohen said:
This thread just reminded me to try out quantum break.

I really think Crews wasn't used to his potential in Crackdown 3.

Please do, I think the actors did a great job and helped sell the story. Gameplay was fun and it looks great to boot.

statham · Feb 21, 2019

Do we really want to see the head of Remedy do all those acting scenes? This is as big of a stretch as using Amazons preorders numbers to determine flops. *wink* *wink*

Deleted member 8468 · Feb 21, 2019

The Crackdown issue is partly in mixing. Crews is quipping, you just can't hear him over the explosions and the damn agency guy rambling on.

killerrin · Feb 21, 2019

Muetsch said:
To be fair it was Crews that approached the studio to be in the game, not the other way around. From what I remember he was only meant to be in one trailer

A quick search led to this article - https://m.ign.com/articles/2017/06/14/e3-2017-crackdown-3-terry-crews-role-clarified

Shush. No time for your facts and articles. Gut feelings are all that matters.

Terror-Billy · Feb 21, 2019

If anything, Crackdown is torable because of Terry Crews. Not even Daniel Day-Lewis could save that mess tho.

Annubis · Feb 21, 2019

I feel like OPs feeling is better examplified by all those high profile kickstarter games that promise to hire known personalities and then turn into complete flops with popular voices.

Artificial Housewife · Feb 21, 2019

It is only a negative when the celebrity pushes out established voice talent. Half you guys want your games to be movies, anyway. This is the natural conclusion.

Slayven · Feb 21, 2019

But Terry Crews makes everything better

Microsoft, please stop wasting talent and money by shoving celebrities/actors into troubled games.

Woke up, got a money tag, swears a lot

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