Xbox Game Studios |OT4| When everyone plays, we all win

[darthpaxton]

Seeing Phil's wording I think that all the future games will launch on it as well. Why give PC Players the choice of where buy games and being proud of that and take that statement back right just after saying it.

It wouldn't make sense.

The repartition is fair I think, if you want to use Gamepass of use your Play Anywhere copy go on and download from the Windows Store, if not, you could buy it on Steam.

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I've been thinking about this in recent days. I wonder if there isn't a chance that Game Pass is coming to Steam. We know that Phil is trying to get Game Pass on as many devices as possible. Is there any reason (other than Valve saying no) that Game Pass couldn't come to Steam? Could they also integrate xCloud functionality into Steam (as a third-party launcher, like how uPlay works in Steam)? Could that also be why Xbox has been testing deploying Xbox games to Windows? Obviously, they would need to work out a way to compensate Valve, but it doesn't seem like it's impossible.

 

[Windu]

Game Pass PC catalog across different PC storefronts would be nice.

 

[Dabi3]

I hope MSGP can do something with Japanese developers going into next gen. That's the one thing I want them to work on now that I feel the studio stuff in in place. Just give us another Sakaguchi rpg and a new Ninja Gaiden.

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Ninja Gaiden would be dope

 

[Sotha_Sil]

Think I've mentioned it a few times but Google entering the market will make MS react.

Who they acquire next will be bigger in scale and well established

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Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo have likely known about Google's intentions for a long time. We've already seen Microsoft's early reaction to the competition. It was Playground, Ninja Theory, Undead Labs, Compulsion, InXile, Obsidian, and making The Initiative.

I hope MSGP can do something with Japanese developers going into next gen. That's the one thing I want them to work on now that I feel the studio stuff in in place. Just give us another Sakaguchi rpg and a new Ninja Gaiden.

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I'm loathe to suggest From Software make another exclusive game (their games are awesome and sell well, should be enjoyed by all), but that would be one way to really get people on the Microsoft train.

 

[knightmawk]

Master Chief Collection on Steam is awesome, but I don't think it's as significant as a lot of people are making it seem. I mean the newest game in the collection is what, 7 years old? It seems like this is more a move to drive multi-player numbers and revitalize the interest in Halo. While I do think a lot of Xbox games will eventually make their way to Steam, I wouldn't expect a lot of new games to launch on steam at the same time as on Windows store.

God's I hope I'm wrong though.

 

[pswii60]

Master Chief Collection on Steam is awesome, but I don't think it's as significant as a lot of people are making it seem. I mean the newest game in the collection is what, 7 years old? It seems like this is more a move to drive multi-player numbers and revitalize the interest in Halo. While I do think a lot of Xbox games will eventually make their way to Steam, I wouldn't expect a lot of new games to launch on steam at the same time as on Windows store.

God's I hope I'm wrong though.

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I think we might see a Microsoft store exclusivity period in future perhaps, before games go to Steam.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

Master Chief Collection on Steam is awesome, but I don't think it's as significant as a lot of people are making it seem. I mean the newest game in the collection is what, 7 years old? It seems like this is more a move to drive multi-player numbers and revitalize the interest in Halo. While I do think a lot of Xbox games will eventually make their way to Steam, I wouldn't expect a lot of new games to launch on steam at the same time as on Windows store.

God's I hope I'm wrong though.

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If it sells a lot...maybe it will be different going forward.

 

[Dokkaebi G0SU]

I think we might see a Microsoft store exclusivity period in future perhaps, before games go to Steam.

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Maybe not. I imagine they wont care "too" much on the PC front as long as they sign into Xbox Live when playing their games, they'll probably eventually go to others stores as well. Steam is probably a stepping stone.

launching xbox live on the mobile devices (ios/android) shows us already they don't care much about stores as long as you sign into xbox live right? Take this thought process and apply to Everything except the traditional console space.

But you're right. the AAAA titles will def be exclusive. (forza/gears/halo/next initiative game/playground) the biggest studios within MS. but im probably super wrong LOL

 

[Redesigned83]

I remember seeing a rumor on reddit about 343i and Coalition co-developing a 3rd person sci-fi game (maybe PD) I wonder if there is any smoke to that rumor with the recent job postings.

 

[ACellarDoor]

So a friend of mine is attending the CSUN Assistive Technology Conference in Anaheim at the moment. They had a panel there that featured members of the team that designed the Xbox Adaptive Controller. He actually won one (which I'm very jealous about. He had the highest gamer score out of all attendees in the room :P)

Anyway, he had a chat with one of them afterwards (Evelyn Thomas, Program Manager) and asked if the Adaptive Controller would work with future Xbox hardware. She said that the XB1 controller, Elite Controller and Adaptive controller would all be compatible. So good news for those who have invested in accessories :)

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I guess the new controllers will be very much the same technologies with some add ons or MS might just stick with X1 controller. It is one of the best already.

 

[Dyashen]

I remember seeing a rumor on reddit about 343i and Coalition co-developing a 3rd person sci-fi game (maybe PD) I wonder if there is any smoke to that rumor with the recent job postings.

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There was some speculation on here last year about potentially The Coalition assisting another studio who is developing a Perfect Dark game. We've speculated before about potentially Black Bird Interactive working on it since they are hiring for a team that'll work on a third person action-strategy game and also because they are also set in Vancouver just like Coalition.

 

[Redesigned83]

If it is Black Bird, that might even line them up for acquisition with them being so close to Coalition. At this point, I just hope they're keeping PD in-house even if they have to acquire the studio to do it.

Same with ReCore, whomever may be doing it I hope they get purchased as well, be it Asobo or Armature,

 

[Dyashen]

Out of the rumored IPs to be coming back next-gen, i sure hope they get Perfect Dark and Killer Instinct made in-house. Not a lack of faith in the people working at Global Publishing, but the visible lack of quality assurance from the past generation output does make it concerning especially with devs they haven't worked with before.

If it is Black Bird, that might even line them up for acquisition with them being so close to Coalition. At this point, I just hope they're keeping PD in-house even if they have to acquire the studio to do it.

Same with ReCore, whomever may be doing it I hope they get purchased as well, be it Asobo or Armature,

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BBI has multiple teams right now. They have a team working on Homeworld (an rts series i think) and now also a team working on a TPS action-strategy game. There's also the additional contract work that they've done. Last time i checked, they were around 150 people working.

 

[knightmawk]

I think Microsoft would be smart to prioritize strong relationships with the more medium sized to small publishers, THQ Nordic, Gearbox, Bethesda, maybe Devolver Digital. Getting those people to buy in to gamepass creates a lot of value, and it wouldn't be as big of an effort as like Ubisoft, EA or Activision.

 

[Deleted member 52190]

With all the shit that's going down now with Deep Silver and THQ, 4A Games won't be acquired by them.

I hope they join MS

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I think that a lot of peopel that work for THQ are gonna get fired.

 

[Kasey]

I think that a lot of peopel that work for THQ are gonna get fired.

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They fucking better.

 

[Judge]

I think Microsoft would be smart to prioritize strong relationships with the more medium sized to small publishers, THQ Nordic, Gearbox, Bethesda, maybe Devolver Digital. Getting those people to buy in to gamepass creates a lot of value, and it wouldn't be as big of an effort as like Ubisoft, EA or Activision.

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Lol no thanks

 

[Dyashen]

If any of you remember the Age of Empires mobile game that launched a while ago, Smoking Gun interactive is currently hiring some new people for projects but something in particular was pretty interesting. Note that this could also be an outdated listing for the AoE game (but the post-launch development for that game will be stopped somewhere in May of this year).

https://www.smartrecruiters.com/SmokingGunInteractive/743999684962407-senior-programmer

Experience with XBL programming needed.

 

[knightmawk]

I think that a lot of peopel that work for THQ are gonna get fired.

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They fucking better.

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Lol no thanks

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Other than the 8chan AMA, did THQ Nordic do something horrible recently that I missed?

 

[Kasey]

Other than the 8chan AMA, did THQ Nordic do something horrible recently that I missed?

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8chan was more than enough. I'll need to see a real change in their organization before I spend another dime on a THQ Nordic game.

 

[speedomodel]

Other than the 8chan AMA, did THQ Nordic do something horrible recently that I missed?

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I mean....the 8chan was pretty bad

 

[Yearsoflurking]

Other than the 8chan AMA, did THQ Nordic do something horrible recently that I missed?

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Other than terrible things did said company do something terrible lol

 

[Judge]

Other than the 8chan AMA, did THQ Nordic do something horrible recently that I missed?

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Is that not enough?

 

[space_nut]

Did anyone notice MS changed the venue location name in LA to Xbox Theater and it's a permanent change! That means alot in what to expect Xbox going forward. It's definitely a big part of MS now days. Now when people drive by the huge theater building in LA they'll see Xbox

 

[Deleted member 43077]

Did anyone notice MS changed the venue location name in LA to Xbox Theater and it's a permanent change! That means alot in what to expect Xbox going forward. It's definitely a big part of MS now days. Now when people drive by the huge theater building in LA they'll see Xbox

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it was talked about a little bit during Inside Xbox. They teased more to come in April's episode.

 

[knightmawk]

Is that not enough?

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Other than terrible things did said company do something terrible lol

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I mean....the 8chan was pretty bad

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Not that that wasn't awful, I'd just saw someone mention Deep Silver as well, which I know is under THQ Nordic, but I didn't think they were directly involved in that. As far as I knew the 8Chan thing was mostly the fault of a handful of specific people, which maybe I missed some follow up. The venom I'm seeing seems a lot less directed and makes it sound like the entire company should be dismantled, rather than just the leadership and those responsible for that.

 

[Deleted member 4761]

Interesting that they would adapt ForzaTech to be for more games, but not Slipstream. Seems odd. I mean, I get that ForzaTech is a more mature engine (like a decade old at this point), but I would think that it would also be more limited. Whereas, a new engine like Slipstream could be developed in such a way to allow for multiple genres and game types (open world, shooters, racers, RPGs, etc.)

EDIT: also why on earth is 343 still hiring so many senior positions? How are they making progress on a game if that much is happening. Wouldn't lower level positions be the focus as development proceeds?

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Slipspace Engine too.
Some 343i jobs indicate that.
I can see all Xbox Game Studios sharing tech across ForzaTech, Slipspace Engine and Unreal Engine.

 

[solis74]

Did anyone notice MS changed the venue location name in LA to Xbox Theater and it's a permanent change! That means alot in what to expect Xbox going forward. It's definitely a big part of MS now days. Now when people drive by the huge theater building in LA they'll see Xbox

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yep big rebranding all round, with xbox pushed to the forefront :)

 

[Dokkaebi G0SU]

"the Oasis awaits!"

 

[Linkified]

Did anyone notice MS changed the venue location name in LA to Xbox Theater and it's a permanent change! That means alot in what to expect Xbox going forward. It's definitely a big part of MS now days. Now when people drive by the huge theater building in LA they'll see Xbox

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They haven't renamed the theatre that is still Microsoft Theatre the area in front of the the theatre that was the Microsoft Plaza is being renamed to Xbox Plaza.

 

[knightmawk]

"the Oasis awaits!"

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E32019, Microsoft announces the Xbox Super Nova, the alternative rock band Oasis takes the stage to perform their hit songs, rewritten to be about gaming and Xbox.

Immediately after, Xbox announces their VR initiative, fully designed and developed by one strange man who is obsessed with 80s cartoons.

 

[solis74]

E32019, Microsoft announces the Xbox Super Nova, the alternative rock band Oasis takes the stage to perform their hit songs, rewritten to be about gaming and Xbox.

Immediately after, Xbox announces their VR initiative, fully designed and developed by one strange man who is obsessed with 80s cartoons.

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:)

 

[cyrribrae]

Referring to Forever? That wasn't bad because of Duke Nukem's brand of humor, it was just an all around bad game.

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Duke Nukem Forever was genuinely just a bad game.

Give Conker to a team that is up to the task and one that understands the spirit of the original and the game would be fantastic.

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Look me in the eye and tell me that a team that "understands the spirit of the original" Duke Nukem would make a fantastic one of those in 2019. Conker isn't as bad, but I don't think Conker the cultural "product of its time" icon really holds up. Maybe a cute fluffy squirrel with a hard sarcastic edge game would be fine. Pretty much anything else is.. Eh. I feel similarly about fable to a lesser degree.

It's THQ's responsibility to take care of the well being of their employees, not ours. That includes making smart business and PR decisions to avoid public backlash and damages to income.

I mean, y'all not buying games for the crime of having microtransactions, not even thinking twice about devs, but a publisher pulls off an 8chan stunt and it's "Poor devs"? I don't get it.

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Other than the 8chan AMA, did THQ Nordic do something horrible recently that I missed?

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I think the additional context of the New Zealand shooters using 8chan as a friendly meeting space and means of sharing pretty disgusting propaganda, makes the association real toxic.

The fact that THQ as a company still won't come out and just denounce the site is not surprising from a PR perspective. But it is pretty dang screwed up.

 

[Sexyphobe]

With all the shit that's going down now with Deep Silver and THQ, 4A Games won't be acquired by them.

I hope they join MS

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What's going on with THQ?

 

[Firenoh]

I wonder when MS is going to show off another Xcloud demo.
My problem with the Forza one was that they were still using a controller. I want to see how they've managed the touch screen controls, and if they'll be adaptive the the games, of custom built for each title.

 

[Mington]

What's going on with THQ?

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A lot of controversy regarding racism and sexism

 

[Lukas Taves]

I wonder when MS is going to show off another Xcloud demo.
My problem with the Forza one was that they were still using a controller. I want to see how they've managed the touch screen controls, and if they'll be adaptive the the games, of custom built for each title.

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From what they said before there will be some default semi customized layouts, but the game can support it directly and provide overlays. IIRC the example they gave was forza having 2 buttons and a horizontal slider, for gas, breaking and steering.

 

[Sexyphobe]

Is that not enough?

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No, it's really not. One PR guy making a mistake shouldn't mean a boycott on the entire company. Such a ridiculous overreaction.

Look me in the eye and tell me that a team that "understands the spirit of the original" Duke Nukem would make a fantastic one of those in 2019. Conker isn't as bad, but I don't think Conker the cultural "product of its time" icon really holds up. Maybe a cute fluffy squirrel with a hard sarcastic edge game would be fine. Pretty much anything else is.. Eh. I feel similarly about fable to a lesser degree.



I think the additional context of the New Zealand shooters using 8chan as a friendly meeting space and means of sharing pretty disgusting propaganda, makes the association real toxic.

The fact that THQ as a company still won't come out and just denounce the site is not surprising from a PR perspective. But it is pretty dang screwed up.

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I'm sure plenty of terrible people use Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, should we boycott companies who use and do AMAs on those sites?

And yes, they did officially condemn the site: https://www.trueachievements.com/n36716/thq-nordic-issues-official-statement-on-8chan-ama

 

[Sexyphobe]

A lot of controversy regarding racism and sexism

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If one PR guy fucking up puts the hypothetical acquisition on hold, they probably had little interest in general in getting bought by them.

 

[jesu]

If one PR guy fucking up puts the hypothetical acquisition on hold, they probably had little interest in general in getting bought by them.

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It wasn't just one guy.

 

[statham]

It wasn't just one guy.

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And they didn't fire anyone involved.

 

[Sexyphobe]

It wasn't just one guy.

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I'm pretty sure it was just Philipp Brock. Who else was involved?

And they didn't fire anyone involved.

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Good. There are ways of teaching someone from their mistakes than stripping away their income.

 

[InfinityDOK]

There are plenty of threads to discuss the THQ Nordic 8Chan situation I suggest we keep this thread talking about Xbox and their games rather than a controversy unrelated to Xbox.

 

[Deleted member 48991]

I'm pretty sure it was just Philipp Brock. Who else was involved?

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Just read https://www.resetera.com/threads/th...read-threadmarks.102061/page-67#post-18334080

 

[Sexyphobe]

There are plenty of threads to discuss the THQ Nordic 8Chan situation I suggest we keep this thread talking about Xbox and their games rather than a controversy unrelated to Xbox.

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Yeah, there are more important matters to discuss, like if it's E3 yet.

(I kid, I kid, plz don't ban me)

 

[Ushay]

Is that not enough?

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I must have completely missed this, what exactly happened with the AMA?

OT - Regarding studio acquisitions, I feel like Satya is being very smart with the way he has moved Phil up to Chief of Xbox and amplifying the investment into it. MS missed the boat big time when it came to Mobile, and they sure shit would have done the same with gaming had all this investment never happened. They should be in a very good position come 2020.

And yes, I'm with team 20by2020! The are fucking doing it, and with Google looming on the horizon they have even more reason to now. Hell, Google and Amazon may have been the primary impetus for all the renewed focus on original content and cloud.

 

[Deleted member 43077]

Look me in the eye and tell me that a team that "understands the spirit of the original" Duke Nukem would make a fantastic one of those in 2019.

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a team that understands the spirit of the original (and is up to the task, as I mentioned in my post) could indeed make a pretty good Duke Nukem.

I think Conker is a better character and easier to update it with newer references and jokes out of the two lol

 

[Sexyphobe]

Look me in the eye and tell me that a team that "understands the spirit of the original" Duke Nukem would make a fantastic one of those in 2019. Conker isn't as bad, but I don't think Conker the cultural "product of its time" icon really holds up. Maybe a cute fluffy squirrel with a hard sarcastic edge game would be fine. Pretty much anything else is.. Eh. I feel similarly about fable to a lesser degree.



I think the additional context of the New Zealand shooters using 8chan as a friendly meeting space and means of sharing pretty disgusting propaganda, makes the association real toxic.

The fact that THQ as a company still won't come out and just denounce the site is not surprising from a PR perspective. But it is pretty dang screwed up.

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Probably, yeah. Isn't Duke a parody on the FPS genre? Using the most infamous example of a game in dev hell doesn't help.

It's like pointing to Aliens: Colonial Marines and saying "Do you think an Aliens game could really work today"?

 

[space_nut]

Previous NVIDIA/Sucker Punch Studio graphic engineer at 343i!!!!!

 

[knightmawk]

I think the additional context of the New Zealand shooters using 8chan as a friendly meeting space and means of sharing pretty disgusting propaganda, makes the association real toxic.

The fact that THQ as a company still won't come out and just denounce the site is not surprising from a PR perspective. But it is pretty dang screwed up.

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Oh wow yeah, I hadn't heard that yet, I also didn't know they hadn't denounced the site. Yeah, everyone would be smart to stay miles away from them then until some major shifting of executives happens.

Look me in the eye and tell me that a team that "understands the spirit of the original" Duke Nukem would make a fantastic one of those in 2019. Conker isn't as bad, but I don't think Conker the cultural "product of its time" icon really holds up. Maybe a cute fluffy squirrel with a hard sarcastic edge game would be fine. Pretty much anything else is.. Eh. I feel similarly about fable to a lesser degree.

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I feel like Conker could be dragged kicking and screaming in to the modern age, keep the foul mouthed squirrel and maybe ditch the poo and flowers?

Fable, I'm sorry but I can't reply to this and not address Fable it's my thing, is a bit different but I do see your point. A lot of what made Fable was already old when Fable came out, but some of it aged quite a bit more in the last few years than it did between the 70s and the early 2000s. Some things would have to be approached with a lot more care than they were originally, but it could survive the transition I think.

Conker could too, but it'd be a tougher transition. Duke Nukem, Duke Nukem can probably just stay back then.