Deadly Cyclone
Pride of Iowa State
I mean, I wouldn't be ok with it. What are there currently? 4 Scorpio launch games? Halo 6, Crackdown 3, Forza 6, and Sea of Thieves?
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Microsoft Studios (& Partners) Current and Future Landscape
- Thread starter Banjo-Kazooie
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I mean, I wouldn't be ok with it. What are there currently? 4 Scorpio launch games? Halo 6, Crackdown 3, Forza 6, and Sea of Thieves?
Jawbreaker
Member
Seriously? :/
Are you expecting Halo 6 this Fall?
Very few $60 games have a two year turnaround anymore.
Jawmuncher
Member
This is gonna be one hell of an empty year for MS. Which is sad, since usually the "2nd" place console needs more 1st party help.
DriftingSpirit
Member
Halo 6 will probably be 2018.
Crackdown 3
Forza 7
Sea of Thieves (probably early 2018 but yeah)
State of Decay 2
Phantom Dust HD
This is just what we know now.
Deadly Cyclone
Pride of Iowa State
True, but for a launch like Scorpio I figured they'd fast track it. Maybe spring 2018? If not, I'm certainly worried about the launch lineup.
Is Phantom Dust definite? I don't remember seeing anything about it after they took it away from the last studio.
I'm sure MS will announce at least 1 AAA IP for Scorpio's launch during their E3 2017 press conference.
I think they're treating it like the Voodoo Vince remaster
Nightengale
Member
Fast-tracking a mainline Halo game by a whole year sounds more like a recipe for disaster.
Cow Goes Moo
Member
after mcc i dont think that would be a good idea
This is why second party is not a substitute for having first party studios. Remedy likely never want to work with Microsoft again (the feeling is probably mutual), Platinum won't either and Sony have Insomniac back making games for them.
This is really dire.
After the Peter Moore era, Microsoft has been really struggling with first party (and even second party development) there's a few success stories but it's pretty sad overall. 360 from 2005-2008 was awesome. Don't really know who's fault it is. Bad management on Phil's part or maybe it goes higher. It's probably hard for him to secure funding so second party seemed like the way to go. And so far it's yielded little results.
I'm just hoping Kamiya and Platinum are alright. Probably stressed as hell considering how Platnium has been taking every project under the sun.
You still assume Microsoft forces their studios to work on specific IP. We have interviews upon interviews where it's been stated they don't. Do they lean heavily on certain projects? Sure, any publisher does, but they still go to their studios and figure out what /they/ want to do, and there are many tangible benefits to work on a tried and true IP that's practically guaranteed to sell.
Job security for one.
Chris Metal
Member
They may have surprise announcements for the fall for new game releases at E3, I'm not sure though and I expect their primary focus during the conference this year will be Scorpio anyway. If Scalebound has been cancelled it's a bit of a blow (though I hated the main protag design with his silly headphones), dragons are cool.
PanicFreak
Member
This is why second party is not a substitute for having first party studios. Remedy likely never want to work with Microsoft again (the feeling is probably mutual), Platinum won't either and Sony have Insomniac back making games for them.
This is really dire.
1st party games don't get cancelled?
Samurai G0SU
Member
How do they think they will be successful when they keep doing things like this...
even afraid for Rare if Sea of Thieves doesn't pick up.
i mean we had gaming booths at e3 and other events for Fable Legends.. polished, in beta.. then cancelled!
T______T
even afraid for Rare if Sea of Thieves doesn't pick up.
i mean we had gaming booths at e3 and other events for Fable Legends.. polished, in beta.. then cancelled!
T______T
Mass Effect
Member
This sounds like a really bad idea.
Yeah Peter Moore deserves a lot of credit. Under his watch things were great.
What's that got to do with the price of fish? If a first party game gets cancelled they can make another one, they're also much more closely supervised. If a second party arrangement goes sour that developer is not going to work for you again.
Salty Hippo
Member
"But Salty, your arguments are too hyperbolic."
Also a few too many flops or cancellations and developers are much less likely to want to sign these exclusive deals. Remedy and Platinum are really high profile warning stories.
This wouldn't matter so much if Microsoft had enough first party studios to pick up the slack but they don't.
This wouldn't matter so much if Microsoft had enough first party studios to pick up the slack but they don't.
DriftingSpirit
Member
Except the most recent iterations were below expectations. Also, employees wanting to work on a tried and true IP doesn't cancel out working on new stuff. Both can be done.
I get what you're saying but I still don't like MS' current first party situation. It is stale to me and there are ways to rejuvenate what they have going on.
lol
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
I don't think it makes sense to credit Peter Moore or blame subsequent executives. It seems to me that Microsoft's waxing and waning investment in first-party content is driven by corporate-wide sea changes in willingness to shoulder risk. Under Satya, Microsoft is basically uninterested in non-core products and loss-lead spending to build businesses. Hence, Xbox One has beecome more unified in brand with Windows 10, and first-party content that is risky or dragging on or not going well is cancelled and MS has shed studios. It's not like someone is going to be head of Xbox and think "Yes, the strategy to win is to not release anything and close all our studios", it's more like "Under the constraint that my boss told me we have to make deep cuts, here's what I think the least bad decisions are".
As far as I can tell, Microsoft's internal development is recalibrated around Minecraft Studio, Halo Studio, Gears Studio, and Forza Studio, with Rare as a big question mark (if Sea of Thieves does poorly or development drags on like Fable Legends did, I am confident they will shut Rare down) and the remaining external projects either fairly small (Ori 2--although if I had to guess I'd guess that gets published by someone else) or designed to support core brands (Halo Wars; Forza Horizon) or a legacy project that predates their withdrawal from first-party building.
As far as I can tell, Microsoft's internal development is recalibrated around Minecraft Studio, Halo Studio, Gears Studio, and Forza Studio, with Rare as a big question mark (if Sea of Thieves does poorly or development drags on like Fable Legends did, I am confident they will shut Rare down) and the remaining external projects either fairly small (Ori 2--although if I had to guess I'd guess that gets published by someone else) or designed to support core brands (Halo Wars; Forza Horizon) or a legacy project that predates their withdrawal from first-party building.
Your going to use this rumoured cancellation as a way to brush of the fact your very hyperbolic. Really? you had no way of knowing this. Games get cancelled first and second party.
funkystudent
Member
I expect them to announce some new 2nd party partners when they do the big Scorpio reveal at E3 (or before E3 if they go that route) but man... thats a blow.
MS seems really in flux these days.
MS seems really in flux these days.
This seems to be an issue though... 2nd party relationships that they can't manage as they wish that ultimately spin out of control and end up getting canceled.
Mass Effect
Member
But isn't that the problem? As we hear more about these kind of cancellations, won't more developers be reluctant to partner with Microsoft in the future? I mean small teams will keep partnering sure (Moon Studios, Capy), but bigger ones like Insomniac, Remedy, and now Platinum? I don't know. Hell, will MS even be willing to do more of these partnerships now?
I mean I can't see any major Japanese independent developer even bothering now. I figured that would be the case regardless of Platinum's situation though.
Guerrillas in the Mist
Member
Yeah, I expect they've been holding back titles for the Scorpio reveal, but this is still a huge blow.
I don't think the lack of new game announcements at the PS4 Pro reveal hurt it at all, and this approach has hurt MS in the meantime. It gives the appearance that Scorpio is being treated like a new generation despite MS' assurances.
HeisenbergWW62
Banned
Not good. Have trouble seeing many third party studios wanting to partner with Microsoft anymore, especially if Crackdown 3 bites the dust also
First or second party games get cancelled, either one can have development issues. This isn't restricted to second party.
Hockeymac18
Member
MS owns the assets.
That is because Sony very deliberately kept expectations in check and have always positioned Pro as just little more powerful PS4. This is why Scorpio expectations need to reigned-in a bit by Xbox team because if it doesn't deliver then things will go from bad to worst.
Sony's relationship with Platinum is zero and I don't think Kamiya particularly likes them. Nintendo is far more likely candidate.
I'm afraid for Rare now.
Also: Crackdown 3.
MS owns the IP. The president of moon studios also hinted that it would show up on this year E3 for MS.
Also: Crackdown 3.
MS owns the IP. The president of moon studios also hinted that it would show up on this year E3 for MS.
With the way MS is going right now, I'm just going to assume if a new AAA exclusive gets announced this E3 that doesn't have Halo, Gears or Forza in the title, it's not going to come out. At least I won't be disappointed as much.
If it's not at E3, I'll be very worried. Same with Sea of Thieves.
Writing was on the wall....
It's a big spotlight...Crackdown and Scalebound could have basked in it quite comfortably with room for others to dance.
SneakersSO
Member
There are people saying the same thing about Scalebound right now. Heck, Scalebound got featured as an IGN First game for crying out loud. Several people throughout the industry have heard/been hearing CD3 has been in a rough spot behind the scenes. It's publisher has refused to show it in a major capacity for years now; this is not normal behavior for a game whose development is going well.
It better fucking not.
Crackdown 3 and Halo was the only reason I bought the damn box.
I'd rather have CD3 on PC but hell, other 2 was fun so I'm hypu!