Microsoft Studios |OT2| The Best Is Yet To Come

daniel77733 · Jul 27, 2018

- Is there any confirmation that Playground is in fact working on Fable 4 and will be an RPG studio? If they are working on Fable 4, there's no guarantee that their next game afterwards would be an RPG.

- 4A Games is an excellent developer who has been brought up here numerous times and I want THQ Nordic to acquire them since THQ Nordic now owns the Metro IP. If Microsoft were to acquire 4A Games, they would still have to acquire the Metro IP from THQ Nordic.

Gundam · Jul 27, 2018

Marano said:
The one game they can always count to be there yearly is forza, I'm not sure if they want to give that up.

It's only been a yearly franchise since Forza Horizon 1. They could take a break and be better off. Halo was yearly from 2009-2012, or 2009-2015 depending on how you look at it.
If they move Motorsport and Horizon to more GAAS-y type things and move away from sequels, I think they'd be comfy waiting a bit longer.

Rychu · Jul 27, 2018

daniel77733 said:
- Is there any confirmation that Playground is in fact working on Fable 4 and will be an RPG studio? If they are working on Fable 4, there's no guarantee that their next game afterwards would be an RPG.

- 4A Games is an excellent developer who has been brought up here numerous times and I want THQ Nordic to acquire them since THQ Nordic now owns the Metro IP. If Microsoft were to acquire 4A Games, they would still have to acquire the Metro IP from THQ Nordic.

They have two teams. A racing studio and RPG studio. This is confirmed. There are even job listings for Playground Games looking for people for an "open world AAA action RPG".

At E3 2018, Phil Spencer said "Not only will Playground continue working on the Forza Horizon franchise, they're also bringing their open-world expertise to an entirely new open world project. We can't wait to share more about that new project later."

Is it confirmed that it's Fable? No but there's too much evidence from reliable sources that they are working on Fable. We could see a CG reveal trailer at E3 2019 as according to the leaks, development on it didn't start until the end of 2017 and it's a next-gen title.

Also it's not expected to be Fable 4, it's expected to be a Fable reboot.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-01-17-sources-microsoft-plots-fable-return

Work is underway on a brand new, big-budget Fable game, Eurogamer can reveal.

Fable franchise owner Microsoft has tasked UK developer Playground, which makes the Forza Horizon racing games for Xbox and PC, with creating this new Fable, sources close to the project have told Eurogamer. Microsoft said in a statement it does not comment on rumour or speculation

We've heard the new Fable is planned as a story and character-focused open-world action RPG. A significant investment in its development is also planned, with some 200 people set to work on the game at Playground's newly-established second office in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.

Don't expect to play this new Fable any time soon, however. We've heard it's early days in terms of development, with Playground currently staffing up the team from double digits to its triple digit target.

We've heard Microsoft's rekindled interest in Fable was in part inspired by Sony's phenomenal success with Guerrilla Games' PlayStation 4-exclusive Horizon Zero Dawn. As of June 2017, Guerrilla's story-driven, single-player open-world action RPG had sold over 3.4m copies.

Klobrille · Jul 27, 2018

daniel77733 said:
- Is there any confirmation that Playground is in fact working on Fable 4 and will be an RPG studio? If they are working on Fable 4, there's no guarantee that their next game afterwards would be an RPG.

- 4A Games is an excellent developer who has been brought up here numerous times and I want THQ Nordic to acquire them since THQ Nordic now owns the Metro IP. If Microsoft were to acquire 4A Games, they would still have to acquire the Metro IP from THQ Nordic.

Confirmation obviously no. The official word is "AAA Open-World Action-RPG" project.

There is also no "guarantee" for any studio in the world about their next project.

borges · Jul 27, 2018

Greigor the FellHand said:
I hope not, 2 forzas is a lot of forza's.

unless its like Forza SSX!
add cross play between generes, snow board down a mountain, get run over by someone playing horizon 4

I like it. A crazy full arcade a la hot wheels expansion forza would be osom.

Deleted member 43077 · Jul 27, 2018

daniel77733 said:
- Is there any confirmation that Playground is in fact working on Fable 4 and will be an RPG studio? If they are working on Fable 4, there's no guarantee that their next game afterwards would be an RPG.

if that playground team is making Fable (which they are) they will be the creators of future Fable titles.

Rychu · Jul 27, 2018

If the Fable reboot project is successful (and it probably will be), Playground Games will probably make a trilogy of Fable games at the very least.

Klobrille · Jul 27, 2018

If someone can create a game on the caliber of God of War or Breath of the Wild, it's Playground imo. Their aim for perfection will pay off. They will need time though. A lot of.

Rychu · Jul 27, 2018

Klobrille said:
If someone can create a game on the caliber of God of War or Breath of the Wild, it's Playground imo. Their aim for perfection will pay off. They will need time though. A lot of.

Ninja Theory would also be capable of something like that with a bigger budget if you look at what they already did with a smaller budget with Hellblade.

Deleted member 3897 · Jul 27, 2018

Rychu said:
Ninja Theory would also be capable of something like that with a bigger budget if you look at what they already did with a smaller budget with Hellblade.

I found Hellblade to be truly mediocre. The sound and story was fantastic. The graphics in some places (especially by the beaches) was pretty, but the combat was dull, monotnous and boring and the gameplay was so...meh.

I had to use a trainer to activate one-hit-kill to get through the game.

Morgoth Bauglir · Jul 27, 2018

fantomena said:
I found Hellblade to be truly mediocre. The soun and story was fantasti. The graphics in some places (especially by the beaches) was pretty, but the combat was dull, monotnous and boring and the gameplay was so...meh.

I had to use a trainer to actiavte one-hit-kill to get through the game.

I agree with you on this, but on the other hand HellBlade was made with a small budget and a small but extremely expert team, so these explain why some parts of the game are so good while Others mediocre, rough or even bad

Theorry · Jul 27, 2018

For a 20 person team it was pretty great imo. It wasnt perfect offcourse.

darthpaxton · Jul 27, 2018

fantomena said:
I found Hellblade to be truly mediocre. The sound and story was fantastic. The graphics in some places (especially by the beaches) was pretty, but the combat was dull, monotnous and boring and the gameplay was so...meh.

I had to use a trainer to activate one-hit-kill to get through the game.

It's pretty interesting. I felt the complete opposite about Hellblade and thought it was amazing, but I feel this exact way about Sunset Overdrive. I just do not understand people's fascination with that game.

VinFTW · Jul 27, 2018

fantomena said:
I found Hellblade to be truly mediocre. The sound and story was fantastic. The graphics in some places (especially by the beaches) was pretty, but the combat was dull, monotnous and boring and the gameplay was so...meh.

I had to use a trainer to activate one-hit-kill to get through the game.

While I agree with you, the point of the game wasn't really the combat. It was the story/journey. Not excusing it by any means but you shouldn't see it as a negative that you had to put it on easy mode.

On a slightly unrelated note, I find that the less time I have to game the better games become on easier difficulties (bar my favorite games I will play the shit out of)

Deleted member 3897 · Jul 27, 2018

darthpaxton said:
It's pretty interesting. I felt the complete opposite about Hellblade and thought it was amazing, but I feel this exact way about Sunset Overdrive. I just do not understand people's fascination with that game.

I found SO to be great despite being a little bit dissapointed by it. Just sad MS turned down SO 2.

christocolus · Jul 27, 2018

Theorry said:
For a 20 person team it was pretty great imo. It wasnt perfect offcourse.

Exactly. They are a super talented bunch. Cant wait to see what they achieve with the full backing of MS.

Deleted member 36493 · Jul 27, 2018

I think that PG's RPG will only be Fable in name and otherwise be entirely different in terms of tone, gameplay etc. I expect it to have a focused narrative with strong characters, perhaps take more influence from the Witcher. Excited to see their take on Albion.

Shingi_70 · Jul 27, 2018

It's going to happen, but I dread playground losing the fun simish elements like real estate and an in game economy out of it.

Ebtesam · Jul 27, 2018

Ishmae1 said:
Hmm... <citation needed>

I supposedly said what about what, exactly?

you said before that MS studio has 12 deal unannounced....I'm sure you said that

daniel77733 · Jul 27, 2018

NightLife said:
if that playground team is making Fable (which they are) they will be the creators of future Fable titles.

Klobrille said:
Confirmation obviously no. The official word is "AAA Open-World Action-RPG" project.

There is also no "guarantee" for any studio in the world about their next project.

Rychu said:
They have two teams. A racing studio and RPG studio. This is confirmed. There are even job listings for Playground Games looking for people for an "open world AAA action RPG".

At E3 2018, Phil Spencer said "Not only will Playground continue working on the Forza Horizon franchise, they're also bringing their open-world expertise to an entirely new open world project. We can't wait to share more about that new project later."

Is it confirmed that it's Fable? No but there's too much evidence from reliable sources that they are working on Fable. We could see a CG reveal trailer at E3 2019 as according to the leaks, development on it didn't start until the end of 2017 and it's a next-gen title.

Also it's not expected to be Fable 4, it's expected to be a Fable reboot.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-01-17-sources-microsoft-plots-fable-return

I'm hoping that it's Fable and it expected to be a reboot is a plus for me. Just hoping the visuals and graphics are realistic and I should be good to play when the game eventually releases. I would wait until E3 2020 to show it off. I wouldn't show it off early. And while there is no guarantee, if Fable is successful, then I would assume that they would start work shortly thereafter.

Klobrille said:
If someone can create a game on the caliber of God of War or Horizon Zero Dawn, it's Playground imo. Their aim for perfection will pay off. They will need time though. A lot of.

Fixed that for you bud. In no way, shape or form do I want the Fable reboot to be like BOTW because that would mean a bad story, a silent protagonist, minimal voice acting and bad combat. So please no. A few elements from BOTW is fine but that's as far as im hoping they go. The positive side is that I do have confidence in Playground Games and looking forward to when they finally reveal it in two years.

Figments · Jul 27, 2018

If anything, Halo Infinite looks to be more like a BOTW-esque revisionist of Halo.

Deleted member 19924 · Jul 27, 2018

Microsoft may get that 90+ AAA adventure game with Halo: Infinite and Gears 5 before any of the new studios' games, no need to place all the chips on NT and PG. 343i and TC are both really talented studios as well, they have the potential to make masterpieces.

Lukas Taves · Jul 27, 2018

Peek-a-boo! said:
Is it still 'BS' now Lukas Taves?

It's the same story they have told before Like I said I know that's the official response, I just don't believe it.

But better leave at that, as we indeed have deviated a lot from the main topic.

Superman2x7 · Jul 27, 2018

Superman2x7 said:
Just pulled the trigger and got the Doom/Wolfenstein 2 bundle. I'm excited!!! Played Doom the year it came out but only got half way.

What are people's thought on Wolfenstein's actual gameplay. I hear the story for 2 is epic in so many ways (giantbomb) I bought the first one on sale a couple months ago and maybe played 4-5 hours. I want to play more just never got around to it. I'm not a big fan of the gunplay, does 2 get better in that regard!? I don't mind slogging through the fire fights just hope it's more versatile then the first game.

Not to quote myself but, any impressions from people whom played both!?

Ebtesam · Jul 27, 2018

Flux said:
Microsoft may get that 90+ AAA adventure game with Halo: Infinite and Gears 5 before any of the new studios' games, no need to place all the chips on NT and PG. 343i and TC are both really talented studios as well, they have the potential to make masterpieces.

i don't know about Halo Infinite but Gears 5 won't be 90+ metacritic

I expect Gears 5 to be from 85 to 89 ، though it will be day one

Kolbe1894 · Jul 27, 2018

Ebtesam said:
But Turn10 Already said they Don't Work in FM8 so it's Impossible to be 2020
2021/2022 Is possible..

pls Gears 6 will take 3 to 4 years to make so it will 2023/24 for sure

the rest i can agree with

This just mean no FM8 in 2019, not 2020.

Ebtesam · Jul 27, 2018

Kolbe1894 said:
This just mean no FM8 in 2019, not 2020.

they said they don't work on FM8

so how they going to launch the game in 2020 if they didn't work on it now?

Deleted member 19924 · Jul 27, 2018

Ebtesam said:
i don't know about Halo Infinite but Gears 5 won't be 90+ metacritic

I expect Gears 5 to be from 85 to 89 ، though it will be day one

Why? Gears 5 is the game where "the cuffs are off" and about "challenging expectations". I expect great things from The Coalition who aren't held back.

rokkerkory · Jul 27, 2018

Mmm gears 5 looked great cant wait.

Halo infinite will be x-gen game.

Ebtesam · Jul 27, 2018

Flux said:
Why? Gears 5 is the game where "the cuffs are off" and about "challenging expectations". I expect great things from The Coalition who aren't held back.

well next gameplay will tell and i hope they show more in GamesCom

Karateka · Jul 27, 2018

Fable won't be like BOTW.
I am glad. If they have that boring slow climbing system I would pull my hair out.
And it has been described as open world but focused on story which Zelda was not.

Ushay · Jul 27, 2018

Klobrille said:
They just acquired a RPG studio - Playground Games. People forget that sometimes, but MS got 6 new studios - not 5.

I get where you are coming from though.

Fair point, and yes they would be classed as two studios here.

I think RPGs will have an important role in Game Pass going forward. Having a studio dedicated to this would do a lot to fill that genre.

darthpaxton · Jul 27, 2018

Ebtesam said:
they said they don't work on FM8

so how they going to launch the game in 2020 if they didn't work on it now?

Theoretically, they previously started working on the next game the day after they ship the previous FM title. If we assume they're taking a year off, they don't need to begin work on FM8 until the day after FH4 launches. That would be them using their exact same timeline (just with the year off). I would imagine that even though they say they aren't working on FM8, they are still working on engine improvements for Scarlett (which they wouldn't call work on FM8, they would just say they're updating the engine). The content teams "took the year off" to focus on content improvements for FM7 (and to get a bit of a fresh start with the engine improvements), then this fall, they'll essentially launch into their standard timeline so that FM8 can launch with the Scarlett in the fall of 2020. This will also give the Forza Horizon team an additional year to familiarize with the new engine and "go back to the drawing board" in a big way to take advantage of the Scarlett improvements. I don't expect them to shift to a "games as a service" model until 2022 when both studios can work in tandem to provide content to a Forza platform when they've seen how Forza and Scarlett will coexist.

christocolus · Jul 27, 2018

I still remember when Gameindutry.biz tried tweeting about the recent MS studio acquisitions..they tried putting some sort of weird spin on it saying it was too early to tell if it was a dumb or a smart move and Mark Rein chimed in immediately defending MS.

I've always liked that guy, I wish he was at MGS.

THEVOID · Jul 27, 2018

That such a shitty negative tone tweet. Insult to the companies that joined MS. Jesus....

ConHaki66 · Jul 27, 2018

That tweet by game industry basically encapsulates what ms have been dealing with all generation, good moves being positioned with negativity, from ea access announcement all the way to xbox Scorpio. Back compat probably the only thing with almost universal approval.

daniel77733 · Jul 27, 2018

In general, Microsoft does get too much hate and negativity while Nintendo gets too much praise and free passes all the time. Microsoft should get half of Nintendo's praise and Nintendo should get half of Microsoft's hate that way it would be even.

Superman2x7 said:
Not to quote myself but, any impressions from people whom played both!?

Played and completed Doom and Wolfenstein 2. For me, Doom was a good 7.0/10 game because it was just way too fast paced plus the whole hell and demons aspect is probably my least favorite in gaming. I had all the sensitivity at zero and still too fast paced. If you're a fan of Doom or past paced FPS, add at least a point to my own personal score.

Wolfenstein 2 was a great 8.0/10 game for me but the twists in the story completely turned me off. Everything else is great in my opinion but The New Order has the better overall story.

With that said, im still day one for Wolfenstein: Youngblood with Doom Eternal being 50/50. May stick with the franchise for the duration of the generation and that's it. Also day one for Wolfenstein III when that time comes.

Ebtesam said:
i don't know about Halo Infinite but Gears 5 won't be 90+ metacritic

I expect Gears 5 to be from 85 to 89 ، though it will be day one

Gears 4 has an 84 meta critic and Gears 5 looks easily better based on that two minute trailer. Honestly, im expecting a 90 meta critic and one hell of a game.

Marano · Jul 27, 2018

Has anyone seen this: https://www.thurrott.com/google/162142/google-enter-video-game-market-streaming-service-console

It would be interesting to see google competing with microsoft on the streaming box end, but it would also be interesting to see if they release a traditional high powered box.

What is more interesting though is that rumor is apparently looking to acquire a lot of studios, we could see a battle for studios between google and microsoft here. Interesting times ahead.

Chris. · Jul 28, 2018

Marano said:
Has anyone seen this: https://www.thurrott.com/google/162142/google-enter-video-game-market-streaming-service-console

It would be interesting to see google competing with microsoft on the streaming box end, but it would also be interesting to see if they release a traditional high powered box.

What is more interesting though is that rumor is apparently looking to acquire a lot of studios, we could see a battle for studios between google and microsoft here. Interesting times ahead.

Yup this was discussed a while back

This is why ms is investing in first party, they need the content to pull people in like Netflix and avoid becoming the Hulu / Amazon prime or the streaming wars

But honestly Google don't really stand a chance. They'll have a hard time getting third parties and acquiring studios will also be difficult and come with a hefty premium due to being new to the games industry and there being no real job security. Google isn't guaranteed success and could drop their initiative in an instant and imo that's why they will have a hard time purchasing any half decent studio. Being bought by ms (or anyone else already in the game industry) is just the far safer option.

Personally I don't see any big company breaking into the game industry any more streaming or otherwise. MS got extremely lucky with everything going their way and even then they still lost billions to break into the market. I'm struggling to see a situation like that ever arise again, let alone a company willing to lose billions for an attempt at being relevant. Getting into the gaming market is ridiculously hard if not near impossible these days

Also Arguably the most important thing - ms and Sony both have huge catalogs they can work with for their streaming services, Google and whoever else would more or less have to start from scratch and will miss out on thousands of good titles including ones like GTA and red dead - that's just not appealing at all especially in the digital age

GUNDAM STARDUST · Jul 28, 2018

fantomena said:
I found Hellblade to be truly mediocre. The sound and story was fantastic. The graphics in some places (especially by the beaches) was pretty, but the combat was dull, monotnous and boring and the gameplay was so...meh.

I had to use a trainer to activate one-hit-kill to get through the game.

I haven't played Hellblade yet but I'm playing through DmC now and I love it. If they can give us something like that on a big budget I'm all for it.

backtovioletroad · Jul 28, 2018

Chris. said:
Yup this was discussed a while back

This is why ms is investing in first party, they need the content to pull people in like Netflix and avoid becoming the Hulu / Amazon prime or the streaming wars

But honestly Google don't really stand a chance. They'll have a hard time getting third parties and acquiring studios will also be difficult and come with a hefty premium due to being new to the games industry and there being no real job security. Google isn't guaranteed success and could drop their initiative in an instant and imo that's why they will have a hard time purchasing any half decent studio. Being bought by ms (or anyone else already in the game industry) is just the far safer option.

Personally I don't see any big company breaking into the game industry any more streaming or otherwise. MS got extremely lucky with everything going their way and even then they still lost billions to break into the market. I'm struggling to see a situation like that ever arise again, let alone a company willing to lose billions for an attempt at being relevant. Getting into the gaming market is ridiculously hard if not near impossible these days

Also Arguably the most important thing - ms and Sony both have huge catalogs they can work with for their streaming services, Google and whoever else would more or less have to start from scratch and will miss out on thousands of good titles including ones like GTA and red dead - that's just not appealing at all especially in the digital age

It definitely hasn't worked out well for the studios aquired by Amazon.

But Amazon, Google, Apple, and Samsung are massive. Jingdong and Tencent are catching up in China. Hypothetically one of these could just buy EA or Zenimax (or both) if they really wanted.

I don't see it happening any time soon, but it's a definite long term possibility.

Alandring · Jul 28, 2018

pswii60 said:
Forza 7 is the 20th best selling game of 2017 according to that link, how is that not selling well? Yes GT Sport beat it, but it's GT and the first outing on PS4. We've had Forza 5 + 6 + 7 on XBO in the time GT Sport has been in development for PS4, so I'd suggest the combined sales of those entries would stack up nicely. But even on its own, it's beaten games like Uncharted Lost Legacy in a shorter timeframe.

It's bad because it did less than Horizon 3 in its second year (and Horizon 3 was 10th in 2016). At launch, it sells less than Forza Motorsport 6 too.

Marano said:
The one game they can always count to be there yearly is forza, I'm not sure if they want to give that up.

At the begginning of this gen, Microsoft tried to annualise its major IP, with Motorsport and Horizon for Forza, Gears 3 Remastered and Gears 4 for Gears of War and Halo MCC, Halo 5 and Halo Wars 2 for Halo.

For all these IP, this resulted in lower sales. That's why they give more time to Halo and Gears. The same will probably happen with Forza.

Klobrille · Jul 28, 2018

Just got my Gamescom exhibitor tickets. Excited for this one!

Deep in my heart I'm still hoping for a behind-closed-doors Crackdown 3 presentation haha

Terbinator · Jul 28, 2018

Alandring said:
For all these IP, this resulted in lower sales. That's why they give more time to Halo and Gears. The same will probably happen with Forza.

They've already suggested FM7 is being transitioned to GaaS.

Ebtesam · Jul 28, 2018

daniel77733 said:
Gears 4 has an 84 meta critic and Gears 5 looks easily better based on that two minute trailer. Honestly, im expecting a 90 meta critic and one hell of a game.

I wish they get the Meta They deserve...

i'm Just wait for the next Gameplay to judge

Deleted member 19924 · Jul 28, 2018

Ebtesam said:
I wish they get the Meta They deserve...

i'm Just wait for the next Gameplay to judge

Gears 5 needs a great marketing cycle, Gears 4 really didn't show well in any pre-release footage especially at E3 2015 and E3 2016. The reveal trailer of Gears 5 is miles ahead of the latter already, hopefully the next gameplay demo highlights the formula changes and drops jaws in the process.

Klobrille · Jul 28, 2018

Ushay · Jul 28, 2018

Klobrille said:

Who is this?

Also hope you have a blast at Gamescom!

Theorry · Jul 28, 2018

Probably Marty haha.

Camonna Tong · Jul 28, 2018

Do some people really want Fable to be more mature (depends on what you mean by mature though, as some of the gameplay was pretty mature), realistic, serious, etc? Sorry, but that's not Fable, and I seriously hope Microsoft doesn't do this to Fable. To me, that's like people wanting BGS to copy TW3. No thanks, The Witcher 3 is one of the best games, but they're completely different types of games. They can learn from each other, but they shouldn't copy.

Preferably, and I would like this, is for them to do as JINX said and have PG switch between 2 IPs. They can prove themselves with Fable, and then the second IP can be the mature, realistic, and serious Open World RPG that some on here want. That's completely fine with me. I just don't want them capitalizing on Fable's name and it's nothing like Fable. One difference I would like though is character creation in this one, especially if it's going to be co-op.

I love Fable for its humor (most of it at least), how it doesn't take itself seriously, its lore, its aesthetics, the choices, and its sim-like gameplay. The gameplay can certainly be overhauled, but it still needs keep a lot of simulation elements. That's of the biggest things that makes the series unique, and differentiates it between other WRPGs.

Perhaps they could do that other RPG they were going to work on before Microsoft wanted them to do Fable? Do we even know anything about that though?

I would also like The Initiative to switch between two franchises, but who knows if they even will?

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