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[Ozriel]

Except this is how most Microsoft studios have operated. Like how is this different from 343 until Mommy Ross got fired?

At least 343 delivered a game to great critical reception. But this is a derail.

The guy is absolutely right. Sony is a much smaller company than Microsoft and look how they stood by Media Molecule even after Dreams was a bust. You keep talented, creative employees even after their last game doesn’t hit major commercial success.

how do you see Hi-Fi Rush, the shining light for MS first party last year and close the studio down? how do you talk to Japanese developers to work with you when you’re killing the only one you’ve got?

At this point, the guys at Platinum games are probably thanking their stars that their flirting with an MS purchase didn’t go through.

 

[Team Andromeda]

I totally get why Austin was shut. Redfall was a shambles on its release and the AI a joke and while the game much improved, the AI is still crap and get why some stuff with be put on the likes of Fallout Ect

Tango works along with Toys For Boys (sold off) really hurts Xbox IMO.


I know Hi FI rush bombed but surely the studio had a big AAA game in production or a sequel Evil Within and Xbox should have given that a chance.

 

[GHG]

Hoeg:

He probably took a screenshot of the tweet and emailed it to Phil.

 

[CosmicComet]

Lyon isn't safe either.

Deathloop was the most unimpressive '10/10' game ever and bombed.

Just because they are working on a little kiddy looking Blade game at the moment doesn't mean they are safe. That has cancelled written all over it.

 

[Warablo]

So I guess chances of a Prey 2 are much slimmer now?

 

[kiphalfton]

In the past 10 years, Arkane has made a grand total of 0 great games. Not at all upset to see them gone, and the idea that they got gut stabbed is laughable. I don't think Microsoft is at all in the wrong for canning them or those other two studios. From the outside Tango Gameworks does seem like a bad choice to lay off atm though, give them at least one more game. But idk maybe there are some huge redflags behind the scenes.

Tell me you don't know what you're talking about without telling me you don't know what you're talking about.

They made Prey.

 

[Sleepwalker]

I said in the other thread to fire him.

I agree, fire Phil

 

[NeonGhost]

So is Blade no more ?

 

[SJRB]

Is he wrong? His entire studio was just gutted, of course he's upset.

 

[R6Rider]

So is Blade no more ?

Arkane Austin was closed, not Lyon. Lyon is developing Blade.

 

[Mr Moose]

Is he wrong? His entire studio was just gutted, of course he's upset.

That was Arkane Austin.

 

[JCreasy]

Dinga is one of my favorite people in the industry. I LOVED Deathloop.

And I was crushed when Bethesda and the Arkane team got bought by Microsoft.

When I saw Lyon was saved, I was a little disappointed because I would prefer a Microsoft-free Arkane Lyon. Or at least the institutional knowledge of that team to be free of Microsoft's control - I realize the studio and IP would stay with Mircrosoft. If Phil were to fire Dinga, I would honestly celebrate because my next hope would be for PlayStation swoop in and snatch him up. Dinga belongs at PlayStation.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Redfall stinks and was a miserable flop. Part of that is on MS pushing it out the door, but even with another year or so in the oven it would never have been good. Ever since the first CG reveal everybody knew it would be bad. Sucks that people lost their livelihood but the people in charge of that game did a bad job. What do you think the budget was on Redfall? 100M? 150M? A step below the huge blockbuster games but they still had a decent budget.

Idk what these guys expect. You put out a product that is genuinely terrible. Did you want another 150M to give it another shot? Maybe 200M this time?

The real loss here is Tango who made a bunch of good games that never caught on for whatever reason. If I was in charge of Bethesda or Xbox I would’ve shut down the Redfall studio a year ago.

 

[Nihilum]

Deathloop was kind of meh. Redfall was disappointing at best.
They really needed a Dishonoured 3 but for some reason wouldn't make it?

 

[gtabro]

Arkane Austin?!? The creators of the masterpiece Prey 2017??????? Well fuck Microsoft.

 

[DJ12]

The whole Netflix of games becomes an impossibility when you start shutting down all your production studios.

To be the netflix of games they should've realised quality of the content is key.

Gamepass has made all MSs studios output worse, even trusted franchises.

Release now and maybe fix later is not how they needed to grow gamepass. In fact it will be one of the key reasons it's going to die.

 

[near]

Hoeg right now:

What a fucking grifter.

Nothing wrong with what Hoeg said there. It's not like Bakaba is having an open discussion with MS executives in good faith, he's openly calling them out for a business decision. It's a silly move to make and inevitably taints your working relationship. Johan Pilestedt's the Arrowhead CEO and Helldivers 2 creative director made a similar move, but they're an independent studio that was directly being impacted by Sony. Akrane Lyon have no reason to shit on MS yet.

 

[BigLee74]

Someone’s getting sacked in the morning!

 

[Sleepwalker]

To be the netflix of games they should've realised quality of the content is key.

Gamepass has made all MSs studios output worse, even trusted franchises.

Release now and maybe fix later is not how they needed to grow gamepass. In fact it will be one of the key reasons it's going to die.

They want to be current netflix, not when they actually had decent stuff.

 

[Buggy Loop]

In the past 10 years, Arkane has made a grand total of 0 great games. Not at all upset to see them gone, and the idea that they got gut stabbed is laughable. I don't think Microsoft is at all in the wrong for canning them or those other two studios. From the outside Tango Gameworks does seem like a bad choice to lay off atm though, give them at least one more game. But idk maybe there are some huge redflags behind the scenes.

 

[Tams]

I feel sorry for Tango Gameworks, but not fucking Arkane, lol.

 

[cireza]

Maybe he actually has some balls.

 

[Klayzer]

lol....hopefully someone can shield him from Phil & Matt!

Dude, This is your best work yet. The only silver lining with this shitty news.

 

[feynoob]

Topher MS only knows how to shut down good studios, while garbages like 343 continue with their garbage shit.

 

[MonkeyClaw36]

You don't fuck with the Jesuuuuss!

 

[Gojiira]

Then release….good…games then? Or is that too stupid?
Arkane is wildly overrated IMO, Dishonoured 1 and Prey are fantastic but everything else has been meh or godawful (Redfall). I know AL wasnt involved with all of them but they were involved in all the bad ones so closure was on the cards for a long ass time…

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Topher MS only knows how to shut down good studios, while garbages like 343 continue with their garbage shit.

Have said this a few times here but Phil has actual personal friends at 343 so their leash is much MUCH longer (but for how long?)

 

[JackMcGunns]

From the studio that developed Bloody fall... cough I mean Redfall. I'll accept criticism from Tango Gameworks, but these guys delivered the worst game of this generation, I don't think I'm even exagerating, is there a worse game than Redfall? It's probably why no one has sympathy for them, even though Prey and Disohonored were excellent games.

 

[GHG]

Nothing wrong with what Hoeg said there. It's not like Bakaba is having an open discussion with MS executives in good faith, he's openly calling them out for a business decision. It's a silly move to make and inevitably taints your working relationship. Johan Pilestedt's the Arrowhead CEO and Helldivers 2 creative director made a similar move, but they're an independent studio that was directly being impacted by Sony. Akrane Lyon have no reason to shit on MS yet.

You too?

Are you guys applying for positions at Microsoft HR? Because I can tell you right now neither here or twitter are the apporiate places for it.

 

[ButchCat]

Pardon his French.

Seriously though it's nice to see someone stand up to their masters.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

I agree, fire Phil

 

[systemr123]

So I guess chances of a Prey 2 are much slimmer now?

 

[64bitmodels]

Pardon his French.

Seriously though it's nice to see someone stand up to their master.

I hope many of Xboxs talent pull a toys for Bob and secede from the publisher. We don't want another EA on our hands

 

[twinspectre]

I bet they were super excited to work for MS, lmao.

 

[near]

You too?

Are you guys applying for positions at Microsoft HR? Because I can tell you right now neither here or twitter are the apporiate places for it.

No, I'm actually on the MS payroll.

It's just common knowledge that calling out your boss on sensitive issues is a delicate matter. I'm just stating the obvious, I'm glad he spoke out, but I can also consider the fact that this doesn't bode well for him. It's called critical thinking, something you should do more of.

 

[GHG]

I'm just stating the obvious, I'm glad he spoke out, but I can also consider the fact that this doesn't bode well for him. It's called critical thinking, something you should do more of.

The problem is you're assuming he cares about the outcome and as a result you're doing nothing but white knighting for Microsoft. You may have skipped over that possibility during your citritical thinking session.

But how dare he shit on Microsoft right? Abhorrent.

 

[kruis]

Xbox shutting down Tango means they are giving up on Japan

They've given up on creating tons of 1st party content for Game Pass too. It feels like the bean counters are once again in charge at MS and they're going to kill everything that's not gonna make a guaranteed return on investment. In the final years of Xbox 360 MS thought that Halo, Fable, Forza and Gears were all they needed to keep their hardcore audience satisfied and keep Playstation at bay. Those days are returning - except instead of being king of the world like they were back in 2010 MS gaming is going down like the Titanic.

 

[THE DUCK]

Xbox shutting down Tango means they are giving up on Japan

Xbox has expectations for Japan? What have they sold, like half a million consoles in 20 years there?

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Nothing wrong with what Hoeg said there. It's not like Bakaba is having an open discussion with MS executives in good faith, he's openly calling them out for a business decision. It's a silly move to make and inevitably taints your working relationship. Johan Pilestedt's the Arrowhead CEO and Helldivers 2 creative director made a similar move, but they're an independent studio that was directly being impacted by Sony. Akrane Lyon have no reason to shit on MS yet.

Don't worry. Lyon is based in france where you can actually shit on your dumbass bosses

 

[MikeM]

Maybe he actually has some balls. Something desperately needed in the industry

I like how we condition people to fear for their jobs when they post a decent take on social media.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

He looks like the terrible art from there games.

 

[near]

The problem is you're assuming he cares about the outcome and as a result you're doing nothing but white knighting for Microsoft. You may have skipped over that possibility during your citritical thinking session.

But how dare he shit on Microsoft right? Abhorrent.

No. I alluded to the possibility of him seeking work elsewhere, but also still considered that even in that circumstance, it would reflect poorly on he's character as a potential partner:

It's never healthy to publicly scrutinize your partners, especially if you're planning to look for new ones. In this case they're not he's partners, they own he's studio and pay he's salary.

You can disagree with my opinion, but don't try to invalidate it by suggesting I'm 'white knighting' for Microsoft. I've already stated I agree with everything Bakaba has said.

 

[bender]

Maybe he actually has some balls. Something desperately needed in the industry

Phil just added this to Dinga's Xbox Account:

Buy You're Next - Microsoft Store

Aubrey and Paul Davison decide to celebrate their wedding anniversary by inviting their four children and their significant others to a family reunion at their remote and slightly rundown weekend estate. But the family reunion goes awry when their home comes under siege by a mask-wearing team of...

www.microsoft.com

 

[GHG]

No. I alluded to the possibility of him seeking work elsewhere, but also still considered that even in that circumstance, it would reflect poorly on he's character as a potential partner:



You can disagree with my opinion, but don't try to invalidate it by suggesting I'm 'white knighting' for Microsoft. I've already stated I agree with everything Bakaba has said.

Given the response from the rest of the wider industry, it seems that his tweet reflects well on him.

Phil and Co, not so much.

 

[near]

Given the response from the rest of the wider industry, it seems that his tweet reflects well on him.

Phil and Co, not so much.

If other MS owned devs also spoke out and rallied behind him I'd agree. Phil and Co, were always going to be shat on without Bakaba speaking out, let's see how many of he's colleagues under the MS umbrella speak up too.

 

[simpatico]

Arkane Austin earned that closure. WTF is he talking about. He made a game so bad that Tango got fired just for standing near them. Guy needs to take some ownership and apologize to Tango and their fans.

 

[SmokedMeat]

So weird that Tango’s getting shut down as Hi Fi Rush appears in this month’s Humble Choice.

I really didn’t expect that one at all.

 

[GHG]

If other MS owned devs also spoke out and rallied behind him I'd agree. Phil and Co, were always going to be shat on without Bakaba speaking out, let's see how many of he's colleagues under the MS umbrella speak up too.

Why do the other devs under the Microsoft umbrella matter when you were previously talking about his reputation and the impact that would have on him seeking potential opportunities elsewhere?

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

“YOU SAY WE MAKE YOU PROUD WHEN WE MAKE A GOOD GAME. MAKE US PROUD WHEN TIMES ARE TOUGH"

damn.

 

[Topher]

Nothing wrong with what Hoeg said there. It's not like Bakaba is having an open discussion with MS executives in good faith, he's openly calling them out for a business decision. It's a silly move to make and inevitably taints your working relationship. Johan Pilestedt's the Arrowhead CEO and Helldivers 2 creative director made a similar move, but they're an independent studio that was directly being impacted by Sony. Akrane Lyon have no reason to shit on MS yet.

Hoeg is absolutely correct, but he is still a schmuck for thinking he needs to point that out when emotions are high and Bakaba is obviously venting some frustration. Anyone with any common sense knows that Bakaba is putting himself at risk here. We don't need a lawyer to tell us this.