Xbox Game Studios |OT5| The Cult of Phil in the Age of Booty: A Case Study

christocolus · Jul 5, 2019

Ebtesam said:
https://www.pcgameshardware.de/Xbox...ials/Phil-Spencer-Das-Mega-Interview-1293543/

The most important points of the interview:

1) Microsoft 's statement that the Scarlett 4 times stronger than the X was only for the CPU and not the graphical processor or the capabilities of the device in general.

2) Microsoft will focus and focus on the central processor and strengthen it, compared to previous generations, but not to forget about the importance of the graphics processor and memory device, because the central processor according to the Phil was the weak hand against the strong hand (graphic processor).

3) Confirmed their commitment to support all generations of Xbox devices and that all games that work in the Xbox One will also work on the Scarlett including the original and Xbox 360 games.

4) There is an initiative that will be available in the development kit called GameCore, which aims to reduce the obstacles between developers who develop for Windows and the Scarlet system and make them more close (reminded me of XNA application in 360).

5) We may see games up to 8K resolution and high frame speeds up to 120 HZ at the same time, it's up to developers

nice.

Taylo207 said:
There were some job postings on LinkedIn that someone posted here a week ago or so, this one gives away some clues:

https://ca.linkedin.com/jobs/view/l...search_job-result-card_result-card_full-click

thanks for posting.

Kilgore · Jul 5, 2019

crazillo said:
I have a good piece of advice for everyone: Just play some games on Xbox and enjoy them. There won't be a whole lot of groundbreaking news (like new IPs or studio acquisitions) in the coming weeks, and you will only disappoint yourself if you have such a lack of patience.

I also want to stress the opinion once again that we can look forward to the most diverse first-party in the gaming landscape. Xbox will be for the hardcore gamers and Sony probably is more into the cinematic mainstream popcorn titles even if they have stated they need to invest into GAAS or Gran Turismo again as well.

We have a good future ahead of us, folks, just be patient, the fruits that have been nurtured since 2016 will be riped in 2020!

We are 3 months away from Gears of war and The Outer Worlds is coming this year too. We have a X019 in november when we will probably know about release dates of Battletoads, and maybe The Bleeding Edge. Next year is packed with great games and there will be exciting new hardware. I think the near future of xbox is very fine.

Reddaye · Jul 5, 2019

Just freeze me until Gears 5 is out, and all will be forgiven.

Paragraf · Jul 5, 2019

Kilgore said:
We are 3 months away from Gears of war

Actually it's just 2 months and less than 2 weeks until tech test))

Deleted member 18951 · Jul 5, 2019

What a swansong year the Xbox One is going to have.

Gears 5, Battletoads, Ori and the Will of the Wisp and Halo Infinite - plus everything that is going to launch in Game Pass including The Outer Worlds and Wasteland 3 from first party devs. Then we have Scarlett and xCloud blasting us into the future.

This thread may have been bonkers for the last few weeks but there hasn't been a better or more exciting time that I can remember to be invested in the Xbox ecosystem.

crazillo · Jul 5, 2019

Bits N Pieces said:
What a swansong year the Xbox One is going to have.

Gears 5, Battletoads, Ori and the Will of the Wisp and Halo Infinite - plus everything that is going to launch in Game Pass including The Outer Worlds and Wasteland 3 from first party devs. Then we have Scarlett and xCloud blasting us into the future.

This thread may have been bonkers for the last few weeks but there hasn't been a better or more exciting time that I can remember to be invested in the Xbox ecosystem.

Exactly, and if those acquisitions happened a couple years earlier, you would also have a good glimpse of what would be Xbox-exclusive in the next 12 months or so. And the better part is... Whatever will be in 2-3 years, it will hopefully aim for even bigger or more polished experiences.

cyrribrae · Jul 5, 2019

NekuWitTheDraco74 said:
We happy two ( no relation)

Mm I'm looking forward to this first party dating sim. I can't wait for the Xbox mascot DLC. The content the internet actually wants.

bcatwilly · Jul 5, 2019

Bits N Pieces said:
What a swansong year the Xbox One is going to have.

Gears 5, Battletoads, Ori and the Will of the Wisp and Halo Infinite - plus everything that is going to launch in Game Pass including The Outer Worlds and Wasteland 3 from first party devs. Then we have Scarlett and xCloud blasting us into the future.

This thread may have been bonkers for the last few weeks but there hasn't been a better or more exciting time that I can remember to be invested in the Xbox ecosystem.

Agree 100%!

BladeRunner2099 · Jul 5, 2019

Bits N Pieces said:
What a swansong year the Xbox One is going to have.

Gears 5, Battletoads, Ori and the Will of the Wisp and Halo Infinite - plus everything that is going to launch in Game Pass including The Outer Worlds and Wasteland 3 from first party devs. Then we have Scarlett and xCloud blasting us into the future.

This thread may have been bonkers for the last few weeks but there hasn't been a better or more exciting time that I can remember to be invested in the Xbox ecosystem.

Ori 2 is my most anticipated and will be a 90+ Metacritic. Outer Worlds will sell the most. Not sure about Wasteland 3 and Battletoads, the E3 presentation really didn't do anything for me.

Banderdash · Jul 5, 2019

I hope they're really digging in to working on their dev tools... I suppose having all those additional studios will help with that too though.
I think I recall Patrick Klepik, when he was at Giant Bomb, talking about how the xbox dev tools were really far behind at the start of this gen.

papahefe · Jul 5, 2019

crazillo said:
I have a good piece of advice for everyone: Just play some games on Xbox and enjoy them. There won't be a whole lot of groundbreaking news (like new IPs or studio acquisitions) in the coming weeks, and you will only disappoint yourself if you have such a lack of patience.

I also want to stress the opinion once again that we can look forward to the most diverse first-party in the gaming landscape. Xbox will be for the hardcore gamers and Sony probably is more into the cinematic mainstream popcorn titles even if they have stated they need to invest into GAAS or Gran Turismo again as well.

We have a good future ahead of us, folks, just be patient, the fruits that have been nurtured since 2016 will be riped in 2020!

Bits N Pieces said:
What a swansong year the Xbox One is going to have.

Gears 5, Battletoads, Ori and the Will of the Wisp and Halo Infinite - plus everything that is going to launch in Game Pass including The Outer Worlds and Wasteland 3 from first party devs. Then we have Scarlett and xCloud blasting us into the future.

This thread may have been bonkers for the last few weeks but there hasn't been a better or more exciting time that I can remember to be invested in the Xbox ecosystem.

Hear, hear! This is what I'm talking about, on some optimistic vibes! Counting down the days for Gears 5 feels like counting down to a 'new Xbox' so-to-speak. With Crackdown 3 being the last game from the old guard, we're in new territory from here on out. For me, that patience clock reset at CD3's release. Let the past go, we're moving forward now, and we've got great stuff to look forward to from tons of diverse, talented studios making incredible games.

Let's. Go.

tanky · Jul 5, 2019

Regis said:
Is Shadow of War better than Shadow of Mordor? I tried shadow of mordor but i quit after two hours, is this less Assassins Creed?
Im a big fan of TLOTR but that didnt help with Shadow of Mordor

I recently played through Mordor and actually preferred it to War which I'm a few hours into. It just feels like War has too many shallow systems layered on top of each other which bogs the experience down. The sequel didn't really refine the gameplay mechanics either and the story seems worse. War is still AssCreed-ish as well.

Brown Intruder · Jul 5, 2019

nib95 said:
Games like Days Gone, Ryse, Sea of Thieves, Order 1886, State of Decay 2, Crackdown 3 etc are sort of the point though. A bigger budget, exclusivity and more time in the oven doesn't necessarily guarantee better quality, but the sense I'm getting from some in here is that being aquiried and having this added flexibility or budget, is going to guarantee better quality games, but based on plenty of examples this gen alone, I'd argue that simply isn't often the case.

Gotcha. So instead of writing walls of text displaying massive concern. How about coming back in a few years to discuss the fruits of the investments/labour of the studios.

Seriously, enough is enough

CRZYSPZ · Jul 5, 2019

tanky said:
I recently played through Mordor and actually preferred it to War which I'm a few hours into. It just feels like War has too many shallow systems layered on top of each other which bogs the experience down. The sequel didn't really refine the gameplay mechanics either and the story seems worse. War is still AssCreed-ish as well.

I actually agree with you. I keep taking month(s) long breaks in between each time I play War. Idk, it just doesn't seem as fun to play as Mordor was.

tanky · Jul 5, 2019

CRZYSPZ said:
I actually agree with you. I keep taking month(s) long breaks in between each time I play War. Idk, it just doesn't seem as fun to play as Mordor was.

Take the loot for example. A sword will range in level and have a number associated with it indicating damage. Loot is also tiered on top of this. You have three separate identifiers and, from what I've played, all of which don't feel tangible in-game. Then you have challenges for upgrading your gear and the embedding of gems for stat bonuses.

That really just comes across as bloat, especially when you're ultimately spamming QTEs and cheesing enemies with repeated stealth attacks or the like because fighting anything coherently while surrounded by fodder is a struggle. With all that in mind, I think the UI is a bit clunky surrounding this the loot stuff as well. It's just a chore to play.

Deleted member 36493 · Jul 5, 2019

NekuWitTheDraco74 said:
We happy two ( no relation)

🌽 y

Morgoth Bauglir · Jul 5, 2019

zedox said:
Most popular genre in the world? Buwahahaha. You mean multiplayer shooter right?Just want to let you know that you may be living in a bubble and not realize it.

Don't be harsh with him

christocolus said:
interesting. never knew about this.

It's full of similar stories in gaming history

MilesQ said:
We Happy Few was okay, but I really hope they move onto something new.

New genres with each new release would be cool.

Whf is a strange game, good parts but badly blended together

Detective Pidgey · Jul 5, 2019

Remo Williams said:
He did. It makes sense if you look at the entire timeline. It went something like this:

- in mid 2010 MS published Alan Wake after years of delays, and an internal reboot of the whole project. It was not received well critically or commercially. Console warriors latched onto the game's low resolution and poorly animated cutscenes, whereas PC players resented it for becoming an Xbox 360 exclusive after initially being announced for and demonstrated on PC. One positive thing that happened and gave the game more focus - dropping the open-world structure - was also perceived as a disappointment by many. Additionally, the game had the misfortune of releasing on the same day as one of the biggest games of the last generation, Red Dead Redemption.
- around the release date Remedy talked about the possibility of adding more than the two initial DLC episodes to the game, entire seasons of them. That never panned out due to the poor reception.
- Remedy wanted to make Alan Wake (Season) 2, so right after the release of the first game they made a few vertical slice demos, and shopped the game around to various publishers; nobody wanted to fund it under Remedy's conditions. MS also said no, but they agreed to a smaller scale project which would eventually become Alan Wake's American Nightmare, released in early 2012.
- around the same time the first game was finally released on PC, because MS allowed it to happen. PC gamers rejoiced, but the game still wasn't selling particularly well. In mid 2012 American Nightmare was also released on PC, yet the needle would still not be moved by much.
- at some point MS suggested that they should collaborate on a new IP, and Remedy agreed. That would eventually become Quantum Break. Mind you, we're still in the Don Mattrick era.
- now, this is an important event that's often overlooked - in mid 2013 both Alan Wake games were offered in a bundle by Humble Bundle for just 1 dollar. Sales finally exploded, and suddenly everyone started to realize what some of us have been saying all along - that Alan Wake was a fantastic game. People started to ask for Alan Wake 2 en masse. The first two games would be offered in similarly priced bundles several more times after that, eventually achieving impressive sales numbers (now imagine if Game Pass was a thing back then, the game would have enjoyed similar levels of success practically from day one).
- in early 2014 Satya Nadella took over as the CEO of MS, and a bit later Phil Spencer became the head of Xbox. For the next few years both would have their hands full turning their respective ships around, and salvaging everything that was salvageable. Xbox would not start getting all the resources it needed until approximately late 2017, when Spencer was promoted once again, and gaming became one of the main areas of interest for MS.
- Quantum Break released in early 2016, after some delays. It was once again not received particularly well, for a number of well documented reasons. Later we would learn that even before the game was finished, Remedy had other projects in the pipeline, including Crossfire and Control. Alan Wake 2 was not one of them. Remedy would later confirm that they would want to return to the IP in the future, but it would have to wait until those other projects were finished.
- in late 2016 Spencer made the statement saying that for Alan Wake 2 to happen, Remedy has to want to make it. That was perhaps a poor choice of words, because Remedy have wanted to make it all along, but techically he was right - they just couldn't fit it into their schedule at that point.

I don't know if there have been any fresh behind the scenes developments very recently, but I distinctly remember an interview with Sam Lake from last year (maybe around E3?) in which he said that they still maintained a good relationship with Microsoft, and that he was meeting with some friends from MS for lunch (a private lunch, not a business related affair) later that very same day. So while not entirely impossible, I would take any claims about bad blood between Remedy and MS with a hefty pinch of salt.

Oh boy.

How the hell did I miss this post? I've been replying to pretty much everyone else that quoted me but not you. This is a fantastic and very helpful post man. It certainly makes many things much clearer now and I'm also starting to notice even more how wrong some posters in the thread about Sony possibly eyeing Remedy are, very very wrong.

The first mistake of them was to release that game alongside RDR, I mean....that's like how Activision released Blur as well and that sadly didn't sell too well either. It's quite telling that nobody was interested in a Alan Wake 2 when they saw that concept/demo. As for American Nightmare, yeah that one wasn't too good at all. I remember playing it and after a while I was almost trying to finish it against my own will, not good, and nowhere near as good as main game.

Interesting that all those other games were already in the pipeline but not Alan Wake 2. Certainly shows that at that point it wasn't a priority for Remedy anymore either, which is understandable when no other pubs were interested in it. However, that was a long time ago. Maybe there's interest for a sequel now. The Remedy of today at first glance seems different than the Remedy of during QB, as in being able to release their new game fairly on time with very little hiccups. But again, Control is very similar to QB, same tech, whereas with QB it was all totally new. Remains to be seen now a totally different IP will fare them. Do we even really know why QB took them so long?

But is it true that Remedy have gotten bigger in manpower too? And that their management has been shaken up a little? With all this in mind I still can't help but feel sad that MS is not taking this opportunity, BUT I do understand it after all that has taken place. On one hand I'm like "give them a chance guys, give them the resources they need for AW2 or a new IP again. They know their tech, they know their stuff. They make good to great third person cinematic games. A great fit for Xbox alongside all the other genres they have and of course, of course game pass. On the other hand, one Alan Wake game with two DLC and one expansion that didn't exactly set the world on fire and QB that didn't do well at all....i guess MS just doesn't think they're worth the acquisition.

And while comparisons have been made to Compulsion, inXile and Undead Labs, why MS DID acquire these studios, we have no idea how much Remedy costs and I figure that Remedy is a much larger studio than all of those.

knightmawk · Jul 5, 2019

Detective Pidgey said:
And while comparisons have been made to Compulsion, inXile and Undead Labs, why MS DID acquire these studios, we have no idea how much Remedy costs and I figure that Remedy is a much larger studio than all of those.

Remedy is also public, and Finnish, which make things a lot more difficult.

Remo Williams · Jul 5, 2019

Detective Pidgey said:
How the hell did I miss this post? I've been replying to pretty much everyone else that quoted me but not you. This is a fantastic and very helpful post man. It certainly makes many things much clearer now and I'm also starting to notice even more how wrong some posters in the thread about Sony possibly eyeing Remedy are, very very wrong.

The first mistake of them was to release that game alongside RDR, I mean....that's like how Activision released Blur as well and that sadly didn't sell too well either.

Thank you for the kind words. As for RDR, it's worth remembering that RDR was initially supposed to launch a few weeks before Alan Wake, but then Rockstar pushed the release date back, landing on the same day as Alan Wake. Perhaps MS should've gotten out of the way (and in Europe the release date was in fact pushed a week forward, but in the NA it stayed the same), but I guess that they wanted to demonstrate faith in the game that's already been delayed so much.

As for American Nightmare, yeah that one wasn't too good at all. I remember playing it and after a while I was almost trying to finish it against my own will, not good, and nowhere near as good as main game.

Yeah, I guess it was fine for what it was, but it was very obvious that they were trying to get the best out of what little resources they had for it (and also, the physical size of XBLA games was limited at the time, hence the repetitive structure).

Do we even really know why QB took them so long?

Sort of. First of all, making a live action show in parallel with the game was a novel approach that no one had any experience with, so it was taxing on the team. Then the live action parts were changed. The pilot featured an entirely different cast in a different story (you can see it on the bonus Blu-ray included with the PC collector's edition), and in my opinion it looked more interesting. You'll notice that the footage used in the early marketing campaign (the reveal trailers) is not in the game at all - that's from the pilot.

The playable parts of the game have gone through many changes as well. The story set up, and the relationships between characters were different. Again, the bits that were shown in the first trailers and screenshots are not in the final game, they're from an early demo that you can also watch on that bonus disc. Beth was supposed to be a playable character with her own set of powers, but that was changed.

There were supposed to be battles against Shifters, but they were cut. When you think about it, that horror part of the game where you witness what a Shifter can do when it's set loose really feels like it leads to nothing. There's concept art of many locations and enemies that are not in the final game.

Finally, the actors portraying the main characters were changed. Remedy claimed that's always been the plan, but considering all the other changes, I'm not entirely convinced.

i guess MS just doesn't think they're worth the acquisition.

Perhaps the current Microsoft does, and maybe they would also want to help make Alan Wake 2 a reality, but Remedy might have other plans. The same goes for the potential Sony acquisition, Remedy might or might not like the idea of leaving their independence behind. Frankly, MS seems like a much better fit, what with their reach across Xbox AND PC, a platform that's always been very important to Remedy. And while people like to point out Sony's current love for cinematic single player games as a reason why they would be a good fit for Remedy, within Sony's organization Remedy would be just one of many studios pursuing that vision, while at Microsoft they would be the premier maker of such games.

Literally anything is possible at this point. We might even end up with a new Remedy IP funded by Sony AND Alan Wake 2 backed by Microsoft. Or the other way around. Or nothing at all.

Kilgore · Jul 5, 2019

In all this Alan Wake matter there are some things like intrigues me. According to Remedy themselves Microsoft paid the music licenses of Alan Wake in order to being able to sell new licenses of the game, and now Remedy is regaining the publishing rights of the game. We are reading all of this like Microsoft missing an oportunity, and I think is more Microsoft repairing a damage relationship with Remedy about Alan Wake and QB.

My guess is Microsoft is not interested on funding an AW2 and see all this as a way to be in good terms with remedy. Maybe if AW2 happens on day Microsoft will be interested on marketing rights.

NekuWitTheDraco74 · Jul 5, 2019

Tonky said:
🌽 y

Really, coming from You of all People tonky

Roman Bellic · Jul 5, 2019

Theorry said:
Bleeding Edge Alpha has credits tab. And in that tab it says all Ninja's. This includes everybody by the looks of it.
And the total is 113 people.

Interesting. Especially that LinkedIn page says Ninja Theory have currently 143 employees.

How splash screen at the beginning of the game is looking like?

Theorry said:
Looks like Bleeding Edge will have MTX. Two currencies with customization. One is only for mods. Those are bought with ingame curreny. And then there are also visual upgrades for you hoverboard. Like the look, emblems and different trails behind the hoverboard. Those use a different paid currency.

MTXs are the cancer of that industry. Hopefully it won't ruin any balance of gameplay and progression system.

Joseph said:
Didn't Booty low-key tell some interviewer to wait next year for a Fable announcement after he kept asking about where it was? I don't expect that to be at X019.

He said we have to wait next year for new Xbox Game Studios' games because they didn't want to show off everything what they have to present on stage.

Theorry said:
Lol Ninja is playing Minecraft

Is he someone significant and worth mentioning at all? 🤔

Theorry said:
Maybe all the annoucements of Minecraft Earth and Dungeons gave it a boost again?

Maybe someone at Microsoft just paid him to stream and make more viewership for this game? That's how it works. Same was with Apex Legends when EA just paid to some people to play the game at launch.

Adookah said:
What happened to this?

https://youtu.be/yRnTeiBlW5g

Cancelled. Black Tusk Studios was predecessor of The Coalition. They were tasked to create a new major franchise for Microsoft Studios to rival their popular Halo franchise in 2012. Then in 2014, Microsoft acquired Gears of War rights from Epic Games and gave this IP to Black Tusk Studios. In 2015, studio changed the name to the current one. You can read more about this here.

Steverulez said:
According to Wikipedia, Asobo have 140 employees and Remedy have 149 (2017) so... same size, although both might be a little bit bigger now.

And according to LinkedIn, Remedy Entertainment have 230+ employees.

Granjinha said:

Great video! 😄

NekuWitTheDraco74 said:
no new Xbox studio with him as the head

So shame. Great potential which could be used as a new first-party studio, for example to make some deep horror/gore game. There's huge lack of this genre in Xbox first-party portfolio.

Calvarok said:
would anyone else be kind of hyped for a revisiting of Ryse? like, "Ryse: Guardian of Egypt" or something like that

Yes! But more for some Nordic themes.

Mack said:
According to some leaks from a couple of years earlier, the medieval themed sequel was planned. Unfortunately the Ryse franchise is in a legal limbo - Crytek didn't want to sell the rights to Microsoft and Redmond had no interest for financing the IP unless it would become 1st party asset.

So stupid… So sad… 🙁

Alandring said:
As an European, I just feel like a second-class citizen. Microsoft seems to only focus on english-speaking countries and don't care about the rest of the world.

Yeah, Microsoft is really strong in the US and in UK. But they also should try to sell more consoles elsewhere. Acquire/create new studios in those countries wouldn't change everything, but it would be a step in the right direction.

I strongly agree! As a Polish, I'm really disappointed how Microsoft pissed off Polish marketplace. Where they had great market share with Xbox 360 generation, especially where Xbox was completely something new and many Polish gamers were (and are still) on PC or PlayStation side. They did some ocassional events, like with Gears of War 3 for example. Xbox One generation? Lack of Polish language in a few big games. Quantum Break (especially there're lot of text to read), ReCore (it had to have Polish subtitle but it doesn't have), Sea of Thieves (gameplay and rules of game are somehow easy to understand, but some clues for treasure could be hard to understand), State of Decay 2, Crackdown 3 (original and second were fully in Polish). That really sucks.

Theorry said:
The more i think about it the more i think Bloober would be a good fit. The usually do horror games wich are lacking as a genre with the games with xbox game studios. And Booty said they are focused on adding studios who can fill that up.

They have a relationship with MS like with Observer. They are pretty small so can grow abit and are based on EU. Wich would be nice also.

They're public company and Microsoft in their acquisition history didn't buy any company listed on stock exchange. So, you can scratch it off from the list. Unfortunately. If we're looking on horror games they could look on Swedish Frictional Games which made Amnesia or SOMA.

Zymespee said:
do you guys think XGS need a big time developer?...is it necessary...personally i dont think so though i like the kind of studios been picked up but i have heard some suggestions from others that xbox needs a big time studio

Yes. They need and it's also necessary.

JINX said:
XGS is only lacking in Nordic and Japanese development hubs/studios, there is also France.

Microsoft is lacking in whole Europe. Not only about development teams, but this marketing as well, which is very important to sell your product and make awareness of the existence of the brand.

If we look on European studios, there are some nice potential teams to pick up. Poland, France, Sweden, Denmark.

Remo Williams · Jul 5, 2019

Kilgore said:
In all this Alan Wake matter there are some things like intrigues me. According to Remedy themselves Microsoft paid the music licenses of Alan Wake in order to being able to sell new licenses of the game, and now Remedy is regaining the publishing rights of the game. We are reading all of this like Microsoft missing an oportunity, and I think is more Microsoft repairing a damage relationship with Remedy about Alan Wake and QB.

My guess is Microsoft is not interested on funding an AW2 and see all this as a way to be in good terms with remedy. Maybe if AW2 happens on day Microsoft will be interested on marketing rights.

Once again, this has nothing to do with Alan Wake 2 or any other Alan Wake game apart from the two that MS originally published. So the license for those games reverting back to Remedy doesn't necessarily have anything to do with any future plans. It's almost 10 years since the first game released, and considering all the delays, it might be exactly 10 years sine its originally intended release date, so it's likely that MS simply had a 10-year long publishing contract.

Please correct me if there's proof to the contrary, I might have missed something because I value my sanity too much to keep track with the other thread.

Theorry · Jul 5, 2019

Quoting posts from 2 weeks ago. :D

knightmawk · Jul 5, 2019

Roman Bellic said:
Interesting. Especially that LinkedIn page says Ninja Theory have currently 143 employees.

How splash screen at the beginning of the game is looking like?

And according to LinkedIn, Remedy Entertainment have 230+ employees.

I'm pretty sure you can just put whatever company you want on your LinkedIn profile. I worked at a company that changed names 4 times while I was there so for a couple of years the company listed as my employer didn't exist. Any employment numbers on LinkedIn should be taken with a grain of salt to account for people accidentally or purposefully picking a company they don't work at, or people who have left but haven't changed their profile.

The numbers are probably pretty close, but they're not gonna be exact.

Roman Bellic · Jul 5, 2019

Monkey D. said:
how many did MS have at the beginning of this gen to make games for the then new Xbox One and how many actually delivered AAA games?

serious question. This would indicate what we can expect. Because having many studios doesnt mean they will release good games or get closed before releasing anything good.

2013.

343 Industries | founded in 2007 | Halo franchise

Black Tusk Studios | rebranded from Microsoft Game Studios Vancouver in 2012 | new IP

Launchworks | founded in 2008, rebranded from Xbox Live Productions in 2013 | collaborated with Crimson Dragon, Powerstar Golf, Killer Instinct / as a Xbox Live Productions: South Park: Scott Tenorman's Revenge, South Park: Let's Go Tower Defense Play!

Lionhead Studios | founded in 1997, acquired in 2006 | Fable franchise

Microsoft Casual Games | founded in [????] | Solitaire Collection, Mahjong, Jigsaw, Minesweeper, Sudoku, Ultimate Word Games, Treasure Hunt, Bingo, Wordament

Press Play | founded in 2006, acquired in 2012 | Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, Kalimba

Team Dakota | founded in [????] | Project Spark

Turn 10 Studios | founded in 2001 | Forza Motorsport franchise

Twisted Pixel Games | founded in 2006, acquired in 2011 | The Maw, 'Splosion Man, The Gunstringer, LocoCycle

BigPark | founded in 2007 | Kinect Joy Ride, Joy Ride Turbo

Good Science Studio | founded in 2009 | Kinect Adventures, Kinect Fun Labs

LEAP | founded in 2012 (probably) | Kinect garbage

Lift London | founded in 2012, officially announced in 2013 | could-based games for tablets, mobiles and TVs

Platform Next Studios | founded in 2012 (probably) | Kinect crap

Rare | founded in 1985 | Kinect shit

Soho Productions | founded in 2011 | Kinect Sesame Street TV

Microsoft Studios Victora was closed in December, after 2 years, with explanation to focus on Vancouver based studio, Black Tusk Studios.

2014.

343 Industries | founded in 2007 | Halo franchise

Black Tusk Studios | rebranded from Microsoft Game Studios Vancouver in 2012 | Gears of War franchise, after acqiuring IP in January

Lionhead Studios | founded in 1997, acquired in 2006 | Fable franchise, new IP

Microsoft Casual Games | founded in [????] | Solitaire Collection, Mahjong, Jigsaw, Minesweeper, Sudoku, Ultimate Word Games, Treasure Hunt, Bingo, Wordament

Mojang | founded in 2009, acquired in 2014 | Minecraft franchise

Press Play | founded in 2006, acquired in 2012 | Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, Kalimba

Team Dakota | founded in [????] | Project Spark

Turn 10 Studios | founded in 2001 | Forza franchise

Twisted Pixel Games | founded in 2006, acquired in 2011 | The Maw, 'Splosion Man, The Gunstringer, LocoCycle

BigPark | founded in 2007 | Kinect Joy Ride, Joy Ride Turbo

(FUN)ction Studios | founded in 2014 (not sure) | –

Good Science Studio | founded in 2009 | Kinect Adventures, Kinect Fun Labs

Leap Experience Pioneers (LXP) | founded in 2012 (probably), rebranded from LEAP | Kinect garbage

Lift London | founded in 2012, officially in 2013 | could-based games for tablets, mobiles and TVs

Np Studios | founded in 2014 (not sure) | –

Platform Next Studios | founded in 2012 (probably) | Kinect crap

Rare | founded in 1985 | Kinect shit

Soho Productions | founded in 2011 | Kinect Sesame Street TV

State of the Art (SOTA) | founded in 2014 (not sure) | –

In January, Microsoft Studios announced they have signed multi-year, multi-title publishing contract with Undead Labs.

In May, Microsoft has acquired the rights to Rise of IP.

2015.

343 Industries | founded in 2007 | Halo franchise

Decisive Games | founded in 2015 (probably) | "next installment in a beloved strategy game franchise"

The Coalition | rebranded from Black Tusk Studios in 2015 | Gears of War franchise

Lionhead Studios | founded in 1997, acquired in 2006 | Fable franchise, new IP

Microsoft Casual Games | founded in [????] | Solitaire Collection, Mahjong, Jigsaw, Minesweeper, Sudoku, Ultimate Word Games, Treasure Hunt, Bingo, Wordament

Mojang | founded in 2009, acquired in 2014 | Minecraft franchise

Press Play | founded in 2006, acquired in 2012 | Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, Kalimba

Rare | founded in 1985 | Sea of Thieves

Team Dakota | founded in [????] | Project Spark

Turn 10 Studios | founded in 2001 | Forza franchise

BigPark | founded in 2007 | Kinect Joy Ride, Joy Ride Turbo / HoloLens stuff

(FUN)ction Studios | founded in 2014 (not sure) | HoloLens stuff

Good Science Studio | founded in 2009 | Kinect Adventures, Kinect Fun Labs / HoloLens stuff

Leap Experience Pioneers (LXP) | founded in 2012 (probably), rebranded from LEAP | Kinect, HoloLens garbage

Lift London | founded in 2012, officially in 2013 | could-based games for tablets, mobiles and TVs, HoloLens stuff

State of the Art (SOTA) | founded in 2014 (not sure) | HoloLens stuff

In March, Microsoft announced they merged Lift London and Soho Productions into one team under Lift London brand.

In September, Twisted Pixel and Microsoft announced Twisted Pixel spun-out from Microsoft Studios

2016.

343 Industries | founded in 2007 | Halo franchise

The Coalition | rebranded from Black Tusk Studios in 2015 | Gears of War franchise

Mojang | founded in 2009, acquired in 2014 | Minecraft franchise, Cobalt

Rare | founded in 1985 | Sea of Thieves

Turn 10 Studios | founded in 2001 | Forza franchise

Lift London | founded in 2012, officially in 2013 | could-based games for tablets, mobiles and TVs, HoloLens stuff

Microsoft Casual Games | founded in [????] | Solitaire Collection, Mahjong, Jigsaw, Minesweeper, Sudoku, Ultimate Word Games, Treasure Hunt, Bingo, Wordament

• BigPark, (FUN)ction Studios, Good Science Studio, Leap Experience Pioneers (LXP) and State of the Art (SOTA) has been shut down and consolidated into other teams.

• Decisive Games has been disbanded before official announce of the studio and their works.

• Press Play and Lionhead Studios has been closed respectively in March and April.

• Team Dakota has been consolidated, for example Saxs Persson (Executive Producer for Project Spark) is working with Minecraft (Head of Minecraft Earth for now).

• Lift London in 2018 stepped out of the games industry.

I hope that would be helpful for you and for someone else 🙂

iareharSon · Jul 5, 2019

I can understand why Microsoft would pass on acquiring Remedy if given the chance. Don't get me wrong, I like their games - but their development cycles are far too long for the games they eventually release. Two games and an expansion pack over 12-13 years is too little output to bankroll a studio of Remedy's size for that long of a duration. And it's not like they're perfectionists creating long narratives, both Alan Wake and Quantum Break - while enjoyable games - are fairly short experiences that aren't technically impeccable. If there's one thing that Microsoft has shown with their acquisitions thus far, it's that they value development studios who can pump out quality experiences on budget in a reasonable amount of time.

SlipperyMoose · Jul 5, 2019

It just occurred to me that Microsoft bought the best Kinect game developer, Double Fine. I wasn't a big fan of the Kinect era but they certainly made the best out of the technology provided.

Detective Pidgey · Jul 5, 2019

Remo Williams said:
Thank you for the kind words. As for RDR, it's worth remembering that RDR was initially supposed to launch a few weeks before Alan Wake, but then Rockstar pushed the release date back, landing on the same day as Alan Wake. Perhaps MS should've gotten out of the way (and in Europe the release date was in fact pushed a week forward, but in the NA it stayed the same), but I guess that they wanted to demonstrate faith in the game that's already been delayed so much.

Yeah, I guess it was fine for what it was, but it was very obvious that they were trying to get the best out of what little resources they had for it (and also, the physical size of XBLA games was limited at the time, hence the repetitive structure).

Sort of. First of all, making a live action show in parallel with the game was a novel approach that no one had any experience with, so it was taxing on the team. Then the live action parts were changed. The pilot featured an entirely different cast in a different story (you can see it on the bonus Blu-ray included with the PC collector's edition), and in my opinion it looked more interesting. You'll notice that the footage used in the early marketing campaign (the reveal trailers) is not in the game at all - that's from the pilot.

The playable parts of the game have gone through many changes as well. The story set up, and the relationships between characters were different. Again, the bits that were shown in the first trailers and screenshots are not in the final game, they're from an early demo that you can also watch on that bonus disc. Beth was supposed to be a playable character with her own set of powers, but that was changed.

There were supposed to be battles against Shifters, but they were cut. When you think about it, that horror part of the game where you witness what a Shifter can do when it's set loose really feels like it leads to nothing. There's concept art of many locations and enemies that are not in the final game.

Finally, the actors portraying the main characters were changed. Remedy claimed that's always been the plan, but considering all the other changes, I'm not entirely convinced.

Perhaps the current Microsoft does, and maybe they would also want to help make Alan Wake 2 a reality, but Remedy might have other plans. The same goes for the potential Sony acquisition, Remedy might or might not like the idea of leaving their independence behind. Frankly, MS seems like a much better fit, what with their reach across Xbox AND PC, a platform that's always been very important to Remedy. And while people like to point out Sony's current love for cinematic single player games as a reason why they would be a good fit for Remedy, within Sony's organization Remedy would be just one of many studios pursuing that vision, while at Microsoft they would be the premier maker of such games.

Literally anything is possible at this point. We might even end up with a new Remedy IP funded by Sony AND Alan Wake 2 backed by Microsoft. Or the other way around. Or nothing at all.

I never knew that about Rockstar pushed it back, always thought it was MS and Remedy being well I guess, stubborn. Similar to how MS released Rise of the Tomb Raider on the same day as Fallout 4. Yeah it was a good test to see if Alan Wake would do well after all that hype but especially after all that waiting. And for all we know it still wouldn't have sold well.

The playable parts of the game have gone through many changes as well. The story set up, and the relationships between characters were different. Again, the bits that were shown in the first trailers and screenshots are not in the final game, they're from an early demo that you can also watch on that bonus disc. Beth was supposed to be a playable character with her own set of powers, but that was changed.

Ah man, what a goddamn shame. Beth was gonna be playable? That would have been awesome, nice for the variety as well. The game really could have used much more chapters because the game IS a ton of fun. Combat is great and the powers are fun to use and look real nice too. I guess it would have meant only more delays if they had gone through with developing chapters for Beth. Could have been some nice dlc :(

There were supposed to be battles against Shifters, but they were cut. When you think about it, that horror part of the game where you witness what a Shifter can do when it's set loose really feels like it leads to nothing. There's concept art of many locations and enemies that are not in the final game.

That all sounds like stuff to me that would have only made the game better. What a shame that they cut those, but I'm sure they must have had their reasons for it. It sounds like they needed even more time if they even cut new locations and such. Damn.

Finally, the actors portraying the main characters were changed. Remedy claimed that's always been the plan, but considering all the other changes, I'm not entirely convinced.

Yeah, they had a totally different Jack Joyce in that very first trailer and screenshots, I remember that. Still kinda cool that he is in the game, just very brief, haha.

Perhaps the current Microsoft does, and maybe they would also want to help make Alan Wake 2 a reality, but Remedy might have other plans. The same goes for the potential Sony acquisition, Remedy might or might not like the idea of leaving their independence behind. Frankly, MS seems like a much better fit, what with their reach across Xbox AND PC, a platform that's always been very important to Remedy. And while people like to point out Sony's current love for cinematic single player games as a reason why they would be a good fit for Remedy, within Sony's organization Remedy would be just one of many studios pursuing that vision, while at Microsoft they would be the premier maker of such games.

Yeah it was said Remedy wants to stay independent, but that doesn't say a lot. Playground said the same thing a few months before the acquisition was officially announced at E3. I agree with you that they are a better fit for Xbox. It would mean those games also come to PC with Game Pass and maybe they even would do Steam too. Plus what you said that they would be the only dev making cinematic third person games like that, whereas with Sony it would be "just" another.

Whatever the case may be, Shuhei from Sony has visited Remedy and also some Remedy people have been visiting Sony studios. Plus we have had Matt and Zhuge on the matter not saying it's all nonsense. And not sure if it has anything to do with it, but also that timed exclusive stuff for Control. I wish that shit would just stop, but it's probably only gonna worsen.

During E3 when they showed Blair Witch, my bro was saying "dude, this is Alan Wake" and I get why he said that. Some parts reminded me of AW too, the road, the forest. For a few seconds we were hoping this was a totally out of the blue surprise reveal of AW2. Ah man. :(

Roman Bellic · Jul 5, 2019

JINX said:
New jobs for Compulsion: Linkedin 7 positions

According to the postings they are currently "a team of about 50 employees" and "we are excited to start production on our next project!" Interestingly it's a third person game "a quality driver for 3rd person gameplay" and it sounds like it will have branching dialogue or other story systems "take charge of the design of narrative delivery methods, structure, and systems." So heres one third-person story driven game ;P

Microsoft, give them much, much more money and resources and such a good teams for looking on glitches, bugs and other technical problems. Then maybe they'll ship some great narrative driven game.

inertGrey said:
People say the same thing about MS and Rare and I always get very frustrated. Who would have thought that Rare would make a GaaS title. Studios should be free to pursue different genres and game designs that are outside of the traditional mold they've worked within without people saying oh they're forced to try this new thing.

But if we look at Rare's history and legacy I'm not surprised that some people are disappointed with their multiplayer-only game as a service with putted their great IPs on a shelf.

Capixaba said:
Many people saying that Bloober would be a good addition because of the experience in horror, another studio with a lot of potential in the genre is Red Barrels, it would be easier by location.

Only if they would do horror game like RESIDENT EVII. biohazard / RESIDENT EVIL 2 or The Evil Within, not another boring walking simulator.

Voodoopeople said:
I wonder if we'll see even a teaser trailer next year from The Initiative.

No, we won't.

gremlinz1982 said:
Hope they bring in dynamic weather and day and night cycles on each and every track. There is no reason to not implement those given the extra time they have for development.

Hope they'll bring some deep story campaign when we would build up our driver career from ground up to the pro racer with cinematic cutscenes, choices, etc. Not only doing boring races for lot of laps on the same circuits for many hours.

Theorry said:
A full career mode with cinematics

THIS! 👌

But as I really like Forza Horizon 4 as I'm disappointed how they went to making some mess on the map without any specific progression of our races. We can do biggest races even if won't do every normal race. That sucks a bit.

inertGrey said:

Already registered for Friday afternoon session! 💪

Firenoh said:
ID@Xbox Game Pass came out today. It was good. Nothing new, but there was an extended sit down with Blooper about Blair Witch, some short but sweet interviews, and Undertale made an appearance.

I really liked that one! Inside Xbox should have similar format. Fast, short, extensive with news and games.

Henrik said:
EU studios like Bloober and Moon Studios have bigger chance to be acquired.

Theorry said:
Thats why think Bloober can be a nice addition. And like Booty says fits to getting studios who fill certain genres they dont have. Horror genre they are missing atm.

Mercenary09 said:
I could see them picking up Bloober for sure since they've worked together so much.

Voodoopeople said:
I really liked Layers of Fear. Observer had a good premise but too janky for me. But yes, they do have some interesting and diverse stuff. It'd be cool to see how they managed with extra cash behind them and they could certainly produce stuff at a pace that would help Gamepass.

Not necessarily the huge, cinematic AAA, 3rd person studio some seem to keep criticising MS for lacking, despite them actually having at least 3 teams working on such games.

harSon said:
Bloober is definitely a team Microsoft should take a gamble on. I think they have the groundwork to be a damn nice studio, and their niche is within a genre that's sorely lacking within gaming in general.

JayWood2010 said:
I agree. I do think Bloober would be a good bet.

As I said earlier a few times, Bloober Team is a public company and Microsoft in their acquisition history didn't buy any company listed on stock exchange. So, you can cross out of the list. Unfortunately.

If we're looking on horror games they could look on Swedish Frictional Games which made Amnesia or SOMA.

Theorry said:
It will be on console. Rod said that during unlocked. They are just focused now on the PC version.

RΛZΞR leak from January also said Gears Tactics will/would be on Xbox One with obvious M+K support.

NekuWitTheDraco74 said:
https://www.game-debate.com/amp/news/27319/newsAmpPage.html

Oluasc said:
Now just add a BR mode.

With that shitty multiplayer mode? Oh, that would be painful to play.

coma said:
Wingsuit looks fun. Good to see them still supporting Crackdown. Hopefully means there's a future for the franchise.

Developed by fourth and fifth studio? 😉

Femto0 said:
ask anything also is like ask Marvel do a porno movie

That wouldn't be bad idea! 😎

This could be first movie ever from MCU that I would be really interested to watch 😅

inertGrey said:
Ninja Theory said that they want to get out of the AAA grind and their team structure seems to be made of smallish teams. I'm not saying it's never going to happen, but I imagine they would skew more towards Hellblade sized games.

They said this during/after Hellblade development and before Microsoft acquisition. After that, it could changed and they maybe want to grow and grow and make some bigger and huge games.

Tonky said:
Anyone else gonna do a series playthrough for Gears before 5?

Excluding Judgement, of course

Why excluding Judgement? 🙄

You need to show support for Polish games and developers! 😀

Kiekura said:
Halo BR

Oh, god! No! 🤢

Kilgore said:
Microsoft needs to buy Frogwares, I'm loving The Sinking City.

Microsoft should to add Frogwares to constant Xbox Game Pass member. They don't have to be part of Xbox Game Studios family.

Stygr said:
Asia talent is relegated to MMOs and mobile games

Talent and mobile games? That can't stand together.

litebrite said:
I liked Recore too but there's no question it lacked in polish and budget for a first party game trying to make a good first impression.

Maybe because it had short time of developing. Works started in early 2014 and took 14 months to go into full production. Game was released in September 2016. They even cut some localisations, because it was supposed to be with Polish subtitles. Also, if they would use Unreal Engine instead of Unity it could much better.

Anyway, I'd like to see sequel with biiig budget.

Regis said:
You forgot to mention Vorimenn :(

What about him?

Klobrille said:
Keep in mind for the longest time of development, State of Decay 2 was made by less than 30 people. So starting with 85+ now should give polish, scope and quality a nice boost.

Jabo said:
Wow less than 30?

Klobrille said:
Staff count was only boosted towards mid/end of development. There is even an interview about it, but I'm on mobile now.

They hired some animators, yes.

Undead Labs shipped State of Decay 2 with ~60 people.

The company is in the end run of a four-and-a-half-year stint in which the staff of about 60 people have existed within a world they dreamed up and brought to the screen with masterful knowledge of art, real-world physics and advanced design.

Source: The Seattle Times.

The Pet of the Month said:
I think, by E3 2020, Microsoft will drop the MP paywall.

If this doesn't happen, I will break my 4 year vegetarian streak! ୧(＾〰＾)୨

Governergrimm said:
I would think they'd drop the mp paywall at E3 2020 (or wherever they do the full Scarlet announcement) and roll out xCloud as part of game pass ultimate. Depends on how well GP is doing at that time. Still may be that 2020 is too soon

Begaria said:
It will never happen. No profitable business is just going to cut a strong revenue source "just because", and piss off shareholders. Especially after they just created an Ultimate subscription that bundles it in.

They could drop multiplayer paywall in Xbox Live Gold subscription and replaced by access to Project xCloud.

The Pet of the Month said:
Xbox is almost never brought up in shareholder talks.

If I'm not wrong, Xbox was mentioned probably last time by CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, during their quarters earning conference call.

Klobrille said:
Undead Labs actually had very concrete plans for Class 4 (the game after State of Decay 2) already, although fair to say this was 8 years ago. Still ... It shows that Class 4 was always their dream game, and with the added resources in both budget + staff, they can fulfill that now.

https://undeadlabs.com/2011/02/news/qa-class4-and-design/

Class4 is just State of Decay 2.

This is not Class4, this is State of Decay 2. There's a big difference. You know, Class4 was something that we wanted to do probably in Summer 2009. The initial plan was to build a smaller game with Class3, that game became State of Decay, and then from there take it into a large scale online world experience with Class4.

Source: click.

They really have to update their website. There is still no mention about belonging to Xbox Game Studios. Even in the news they didn't post an announcement about joining to the family in June 2018.

darthpaxton said:
RAD (Double Fine) is also #24.

That's not even Xbox Game Studios' game.

Tonky said:
I hope that NT's Scarlett game is next-gen exclusive. They can be one of the studios who's games showcase Scarlett's power.

It depends when another teams started works and when they got/will get Scarlett dev-kit and how fast they will get know whole power of that.

Alandring said:
Microsoft can't publish a sequel to The Outer World without the approval of Take-Two.

…or just buying out the publishing right from Take-Two.

If Microsoft could spent more than $13 millions just for some Psychonauts rights, then I don't see any problems with The Outer Worlds.

hav7n said:

That is a very disappointing news!

Raide said:
I wonder if that means we can get 1X update for AW

No, we won't.

Backward Compatibility team is now focused on bringing whole Xbox One library + 360 and OG games to Project Scarlett.

Klobrille said:
TopGear Story (7 events) coming to FH4 with Season 11.

If that would old good Top Gear, then I would be happy. But nowadays Top Gear is just a piece of shit. Period.

Femto0 said:
Gamescom is next month will have a conference or nay?

Did they have a press conference in 2016, 2017 and 2018? No. Answer is simple. There will be just special episode of Inside Xbox.

Firenoh said:
Coming in 2020.

Still waiting about details and rolling out Xbox Live support for Cuphead on Nintendo Switch.

cartoon_soldier said:
Remedy still working on stuff that will be exclusive to Xbox but just with non-MS publisher.

Remedy Entertainment is working for Smilegate here and CrossfireX will be just a timed exclusive to Xbox One, but Xbox Game Studios will be a publisher of console version.

Regis said:
Hello fellow kids, i have good news (or bad news if you don't want sequels for old Xbox One games)

According to this spanish site, Crytek renewed the rights of Ryse: Son Of Rome in February 19th, almost one year later when Mike Ybarra shared a photo about Ryse, mhmm

Sauce: https://www.somosxbox.com/crytek-renueva-la-ip-de-su-titulo-ryse-son-of-rome-este-mismo-ano/825625

They just renewed word mark. Don't read so much into this

Theorry said:
One more so it lines up nicely lol. Also freaking change Minecraft to Mojang. We dont call 343 also just Halo. Luckily we know Age of Empires gets a real name.

Actually 9 more to go!

One in the first line and 8 in third line because how proverb says – third time lucky 😁

Deleted member 36493 · Jul 5, 2019

Alright so I think we found the alt of Morgoth Bauglir

Deleted member 18951 · Jul 5, 2019

Come back Morgoth Bauglir all is forgiven lol.

Damn it Tonky!! :)

Roman Bellic · Jul 5, 2019

Firenoh said:
Do those guys making Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 count as a real studio?

Theorry said:
Difficult to say. Asobo works on it also and maybe the internal team does alot of the Azure stuff etc. We dont know.

JINX said:
They are seemingly one of the teams at MSGP, so I guess not.

Microsoft Flight Simulator* is being developed by internal team at Xbox Game Studios Global Publishing and external team at Asobo Studio.

* without 2020 in the official title.

Detective Pidgey said:
Anyway, do we know at all what Crossfire X will be?

No. Completely no idea. Hopefully Remedy will deliver very good campaign with Call of Duty style.

Original Crossfire is looks like shit and I'm surprised there is not so much gameplays and streams on YouTube or Twitch. Also, this one will get a remake/remaster titled as Crossfire HD.

CrossfireX is a completely new game.

NekuWitTheDraco74 said:
Didn't someone post here saying all the acquisitions costed around $888 m

But for this applies for all acquisitions, not just for game development companies. This year Microsoft bought also Citus Data (January), DataSense (February) and Express Logic (April).

Raide said:
Turn 10 have had longer on Forza, so a launch title would be fantastic but if they need to take longer, so be it. Forza will be a Scarlett and RT eye-candy fest, so they need to do it right.

Raide said:
It will be a Scarlett launch. They have had more time than usual for a sequel and Turn 10 are the perfect studio to show off the new tech, including RT.

pswii60 said:
I don't think they should rush for launch, although they will have had an additional year regardless. I think it won't simply be FM8 though, I don't think it'll be a numbered edition but rather a reboot designed to last a few years via DLC.

I don't even think they have additional time (like year) for making new Forza Motorsport. In July 2018 the entire team was working on Forza Motorsport 7. That is about 9 months! 9 months after shipping current game without even any early stage of developing next one. Just in March 2019 we heard that team is now (for then) shifting over for next project. Then they said it's in concept phase. It's about 1.5 year after shipping Forza Motorsport 7! So, it really doesn't look like they have more time. But they have a bit more than a year to Scarlett launch (probably in November). I won't be surprised if next Forza Motorsport would launch in 2021.

Klobrille said:
Moon wants to stay independent and it's good as it is.

Ninja Theory said the same before acquisition 😉

Tonky said:
So when should MS do the full Scarlett reveal? December 2019? Early 2020? E3 2020?

Microsoft already changed their policy of announcing new console with Xbox One X. They did the same with Project Scarlett, but they had to do it, because of revealed some stuff from Sony about next PlayStation.

But… They could still use May 2020 to unveil more details and news, maybe with design as well. Same as they did with Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Later on, at E3 2020 we will another bunch of games for Xbox One and Project Scarlett. Then, in August they will open pre-orders and in October* (or November just right before launch) at X020 they will share with some new news, details about already announced games or newly announced.

* if October, I bet it it could be in Paris at their Games Week.

Theorry said:

I would like to have one of these! 💚

Granjinha said:
The Outer Worlds directors already made it clear that they want to do a sequel, if it's possible

And we all know what if it's possible means.

InfinityDOK said:
Speaking of X019 do you guys think the show will more than a big Inside Xbox like an actual showcase. I really miss the gamescom briefings they use to have, it wasn't as big as E3 but it still showed more of the games from E3 and 2015 had a surprise reveal for Halo wars 2.

Yeah, Xbox gamescom 2015 Briefing was great. The best thing for new X0 what could come is making a true briefing, like at gamescom or X06.

Tonky said:
Was it new IP or new XGS games? If the latter, I think they were Minecraft Dungeons, Microsoft Flight Simulator, and Bleeding Edge.

Minecraft Dungeons was announced in September 2018, so it wasn't new IP.

Microsoft Flight Simulator exists since 1982 (37 years!), it's older than Windows, so it's not definitely new IP.

Bleeding Edge was the new IP.

Firenoh said:
Yeah I misremembered and conflated two things. The rumors were 14 XGS games and 3 new studio acquisitions.

Actually, 14 games from Xbox Game Studios wasn't any rumor.

pswii60 said:
Guerilla had released two games before Sony acquired them.

Nam '67 with a 58 Metascore. And Killzone with a 70 Metascore. And this is back when critics were far more generous.

The way of rating games also changes over these years.

This picture shows it very well.

Ebtesam said:
https://www.pcgameshardware.de/Xbox...ials/Phil-Spencer-Das-Mega-Interview-1293543/

The most important points of the interview:

1) Microsoft 's statement that the Scarlett 4 times stronger than the X was only for the CPU and not the graphical processor or the capabilities of the device in general.

3) Confirmed their commitment to support all generations of Xbox devices and that all games that work in the Xbox One will also work on the Scarlett including the original and Xbox 360 games.

5) We may see games up to 8K resolution and high frame speeds up to 120 HZ at the same time, it's up to developers

We already know about this for about a month.

Also, 120 Hz ≠ 120 fps. Xbox One X already supports 120 Hz screens, FreeSync or games with VRR. 8K is just a PR bullshit for both companies.

Theorry said:
Quoting posts from 2 weeks ago. :D

Maybe because I was banned and I just wanted to be up to date with every post I was interested to reply. Something wrong with that? 😉

knightmawk said:
I'm pretty sure you can just put whatever company you want on your LinkedIn profile. I worked at a company that changed names 4 times while I was there so for a couple of years the company listed as my employer didn't exist. Any employment numbers on LinkedIn should be taken with a grain of salt to account for people accidentally or purposefully picking a company they don't work at, or people who have left but haven't changed their profile.

The numbers are probably pretty close, but they're not gonna be exact.

I don't know how exactly LinkedIn is working but I guess is for sure more professional and less like Facebook, where can you post or say mostly "everything".

Deleted member 36493 · Jul 5, 2019

Holy moly he's still going

pswii60 · Jul 5, 2019

Roman Bellic said:
I don't even think they have additional time (like year) for making new Forza Motorsport. In July 2018 the entire team was working on Forza Motorsport 7. That is about 9 months! 9 months after shipping current game without even any early stage of developing next one. Just in March 2019 we heard that team is now (for then) shifting over for next project. Then they said it's in concept phase. It's about 1.5 year after shipping Forza Motorsport 7! So, it really doesn't look like they have more time. But they have a bit more than a year to Scarlett launch (probably in November). I won't be surprised if next Forza Motorsport would launch in 2021.

Don't believe everything you're told :)

There's no way the entirety of Turn 10 was only working on FM7 last year - that would have left half their studio with nothing to do (eg programmers, designers etc).

Kasey · Jul 5, 2019

Tonky said:
Alright so I think we found the alt of Morgoth Bauglir

Bits N Pieces said:
Come back Morgoth Bauglir all is forgiven lol.

Damn it Tonky!! :)

Lol

Deleted member 4761 · Jul 5, 2019

Tonky said:
Alright so I think we found the alt of Morgoth Bauglir

Bits N Pieces said:
Come back Morgoth Bauglir all is forgiven lol.

Damn it Tonky!! :)

Firenoh · Jul 5, 2019

Yeah, see, I'm still gonna call it MFS 2020 because I don't respect reboot names like that. Same reason I called "Crackdown" Crackdown 3 when it was originally announced.

JINX · Jul 5, 2019

pswii60 said:
Don't believe everything you're told :)

There's no way the entirety of Turn 10 was only working on FM7 last year - that would have left half their studio with nothing to do (eg programmers, designers etc).

They said on their last show that the team had been working on ForzaTech as well, plus Turn10 works on Horizon. Also they would absolutely need their designers and programmers for the updates they had, they made major and time consuming changes to FM7 like a track cutting and collision system. They have been very open, I see no reason to believe they are misleading anyone.

Roman Bellic · Jul 5, 2019

pswii60 said:
Don't believe everything you're told :)

😎

pswii60 said:
There's no way the entirety of Turn 10 was only working on FM7 last year - that would have left half their studio with nothing to do (eg programmers, designers etc).

They were supporting Playground Games with Forza Horizon 4. Also, I just referred to official Turn 10's words. We don't know what they really were doing in-house.

Detective Pidgey · Jul 5, 2019

Kilgore said:
My guess is Microsoft is not interested on funding an AW2 and see all this as a way to be in good terms with remedy. Maybe if AW2 happens on day Microsoft will be interested on marketing rights.

If Sony hasn't swooped them up by then. It remains to be seen but I wouldn't be surprised if it happens. Too many things already that I kinda doubt are mere coincidence. But hey, we'll see. Let's first see how Control does.

Remo Williams said:
Once again, this has nothing to do with Alan Wake 2 or any other Alan Wake game apart from the two that MS originally published. So the license for those games reverting back to Remedy doesn't necessarily have anything to do with any future plans. It's almost 10 years since the first game released, and considering all the delays, it might be exactly 10 years sine its originally intended release date, so it's likely that MS simply had a 10-year long publishing contract.

Please correct me if there's proof to the contrary, I might have missed something because I value my sanity too much to keep track with the other thread.

This just shows that even journalists really don't know what they're talking about. I saw articles with headlines along the lines of "remedy has AW back, AW2 coming?" when all of this is really just about the first game and American Nightmare. Of course there's a chance they will try to make a second one, especially after at the end of the day people really found out that the game was worth it. So there's probably more interest in it now.

harSon said:
I can understand why Microsoft would pass on acquiring Remedy if given the chance. Don't get me wrong, I like their games - but their development cycles are far too long for the games they eventually release. Two games and an expansion pack over 12-13 years is too little output to bankroll a studio of Remedy's size for that long of a duration. And it's not like they're perfectionists creating long narratives, both Alan Wake and Quantum Break - while enjoyable games - are fairly short experiences that aren't technically impeccable. If there's one thing that Microsoft has shown with their acquisitions thus far, it's that they value development studios who can pump out quality experiences on budget in a reasonable amount of time.

You are absolutely right about their dev cycles, but since QB things have changed, they have changed. Control is not the right game to demonstrate it with but perhaps they can now have shorter dev cycles with upcoming games. I guess this "new" Remedy is what I really would have liked to see under XGS, on Game Pass. Their team has grown and it's possible they wouldn't have these kind of issues anymore so often.

Alan Wake on 360 was rather blurry but still looked nice. QB could have been something truly special had it not been for the Xbox One. The faces and expressions for example are fantastic in that game. At times the game can look really good. What you said about the other studios, it remains so be seen if they pump out quality titles in a reasonable amount of time. From the new studios we haven't seen a game yet. Many of the new studios indeed some to be about budget games, and that's another reason Remedy would have been great because they provide AAA games. I'm definitely of mind that XGS needs at least one more studio for AAA games.

SlipperyMoose said:
It just occurred to me that Microsoft bought the best Kinect game developer, Double Fine. I wasn't a big fan of the Kinect era but they certainly made the best out of the technology provided.

Double Fine made a Kinect game?

Firenoh · Jul 5, 2019

Detective Pidgey said:
Double Fine made a Kinect game?

iareharSon · Jul 5, 2019

Detective Pidgey said:
You are absolutely right about their dev cycles, but since QB things have changed, they have changed. Control is not the right game to demonstrate it with but perhaps they can now have shorter dev cycles with upcoming games. I guess this "new" Remedy is what I really would have liked to see under XGS, on Game Pass. Their team has grown and it's possible they wouldn't have these kind of issues anymore so often.

Alan Wake on 360 was rather blurry but still looked nice. QB could have been something truly special had it not been for the Xbox One. The faces and expressions for example are fantastic in that game. At times the game can look really good. What you said about the other studios, it remains so be seen if they pump out quality titles in a reasonable amount of time. From the new studios we haven't seen a game yet. Many of the new studios indeed some to be about budget games, and that's another reason Remedy would have been great because they provide AAA games. I'm definitely of mind that XGS needs at least one more studio for AAA games.

I think it's too early to say if things have changed. Remedy's problem is that they insist on creating an engine alongside the development of their titles, which typically happens from one generation to the next. Control seems more like an Alan Wake's American Nightmare where the engine is in place so the development cycle is faster, but since Microsoft owns the rights to Quantum Break and not wanting to make a sequel - it had to be "rebranded" under a different name via a spiritual successor. I don't think we'll see if Remedy has truly changed for the better until the next generation.

Roman Bellic · Jul 5, 2019

Detective Pidgey said:
Double Fine made a Kinect game?

Yes.

• Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster (Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment / 2011)
• Double Fine Happy Action Theater (Microsoft Studios / 2012)
• Kinect Party (Microsoft Studios / 2012)

knightmawk · Jul 5, 2019

Roman Bellic said:
I don't know how exactly LinkedIn is working but I guess is for sure more professional and less like Facebook, where can you post or say mostly "everything".

There's not really that much enforcement on things like that. There's nothing stopping me from going and changing my profile to say I work at Ninja Theory, mostly LinkedIn is policed by professionalism. Lying about working at a company doesn't really help you that much, and I reckon if the company noticed they could report you for it, but people can still and do still do it.

Detective Pidgey · Jul 5, 2019

I have been wondering about this...

Do we at all know what the budget is that these new studios have gotten to work with? I assume that Playground's open world game is a big budget game like FH or maybe even more since it's not only open world but also a RPG. But do we know about the rest of the new studios? Do they get a nice enough budget to work with?

Firenoh · Jul 5, 2019

Detective Pidgey said:
I have been wondering about this...

Do we at all know what the budget is that these new studios have gotten to work with? I assume that Playground's open world game is a big budget game like FH or maybe even more since it's not only open world but also a RPG. But do we know about the rest of the new studios? Do they get a nice enough budget to work with?

Nope.

Roman Bellic · Jul 5, 2019

Detective Pidgey said:
I have been wondering about this...

Do we at all know what the budget is that these new studios have gotten to work with? I assume that Playground's open world game is a big budget game like FH or maybe even more since it's not only open world but also a RPG. But do we know about the rest of the new studios? Do they get a nice enough budget to work with?

Not an exact numbers. Mike Ybarra said few months ago that these studios will get as much money as they need to make their project.

These words were also over interpreted and some portals said they will have "unlimited" budget.

Mike said we basically went in there to those companies and said: "what project do you wanna make?" And they are like "what's our budget?" And he's "I don't think you understand, that's not our question, our question is what games do you want to make? We are Microsoft and we have the budget, we just want to know what game you want to do, what are your wildest dreams".

In Amber Clad · Jul 5, 2019

Oh my goooooooood, someone's out Morgothing Morgoth.

Such walls only Bran the Builder could dream of.

Xbox Game Studios |OT5| The Cult of Phil in the Age of Booty: A Case Study

User requested account closure

Chicken Chaser

Chicken Chaser

Self-requested permanent ban

User requested account closure

Alt Account

Self-requested ban

Self-requested ban

Alt Account

User requested account closure

User requested account closure

User requested account closure

Alt Account

Alt Account

behind a perfect mask