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IGN: Microsoft putting together a "AAAA" game studio

Fafalada

Fafracer forever
So you amass a studio of dozens of these people - how is that not going to end in conflict?
It might, but even if it doesn't, high performing teams are a lot more than collection of talented individuals.
That's really the hard part about building new studios, hiring top talent is the "easy" part if you can afford it.
 

iHaunter

Member
Why not take it a step further - "AAAAA" studio will be even better! Can only be played on the strongest console ever made.
 

DryvBy

Member
I'll believe they're knocking one out of the park when Phil the constipation pill is not the head of Xbox and when they can stop dumping out soft serve 70 dumps.

I say this and yet Age of Empires 4 is my most wanted game of 2020 lol
 

Greeno

Member
That team that worked on Crackdown 3?
The team that worked on Re-Core?
Need I go on?
So.... teams that are not owned by Microsoft?

Crackdown 3 was first in development at Reagent Games and Cloudgine (both teams not owned by Microsoft). Then Epic bought Cloudgine and Reagent Games was closed down; thus, causing the reboot of the title with Elbow Rocket, Ruffian Games, and Sumo Digital at helm of development (the three of these teams not owned by Microsoft).

Recore was developed by Armature Studio and Comcept (again, both studios are not owned by Microsoft).

You can look up Microsoft's teams at this link:
 

Yoda

Member
Microsoft doesn't have a resource problem, they have a culture problem. The same problem that plagues 343i (management) and destroyed Mixer (management) will ruin this from the outset.
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
Maybe they should concentrate on their current teams' output first. Walk before run.

So everyone complains ms has no good games, ms goes out and tries to fill the void, and its still a bad idea?

At a certain point one has to wonder if these posts are from real people or are paid to flame every idea ms puts out.
 
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I must admit, I am beginning to get concerned that Microsoft seem to only want to proselytise their potential customers with aggrandizing, loaded terms like AAAA, Teraflops, Most Powerful Console ever™ void of any game play that supports what are increasingly feeling like vapid terms.

Gamepass™ is great for someone like me, a husband and father of two; time and money are often slim. It’s really the only reason I’m sticking with Microsoft at this point. If Sony had a similar platform I’d switch in a heartbeat.
 
Destiny's lead narrative?

Good luck with that, Destiny narrative is hot garbage (despite an interesting lore).

I mean, if you're after 12 years olds it's ok I guess.
 
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Thirty7ven

Banned
Even when building a studio the hype goes overboard.

343i and Coalition were super hyped too.

The Initiative already has the task of having to deliver a mega game and now these dudes have Xbox fans thinking they are making the next Naughty Dog game.
 

Sony

Nintendo
Damn, if you'd read this thread you'd think MS First party is a shit show. The hate is real, and unjust.

From all the "legacy" Xbox studios:
- The Coalition has a consistent output of games in the high 80's
- Playground Games have created some the best arcade racing games of the generation
- Turn 10 have created some of the sim racing games of the generation
- Rare has created a game that has proved to have long legs and achieved success due to continued support of the game

The only studio that is heavily critisized is 343i. Not because they made bad games, but because they made sub-par Halo games.
All the other studios they have bought put out games that were in development before the MS acquisition.
It's almost as if the hate 343i is getting is being spread to all the other studios. Goes to say how much 343i botched the Halo: Infinite reveal.
 
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GymWolf

Gold Member
Bloody hell. Talk about willy waving. Imagine the pressure on creating a AAAA game.

$100M Dev cost
$100M marketing cost
400 strong team

the politics, the interference, the fear, the risks, the lack of any kind of autonomy... sounds like a poison chalice to me.
Lol those are not even high stats for a current gen AAA game...

Ubisoft and rockstar have thousands of devs working on their games and the budget for stuff like gta5 or rdr2 is far more than 200 mil...(gta5 was around 265 mil and this was before the porting on current gen)
 
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martino

Member
ms studios :
WearyQualifiedIndianjackal-size_restricted.gif

me during same time :
tenor.gif
 
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ZywyPL

Banned
From all the "legacy" Xbox studios:
- The Coalition has a consistent output of games in the high 80's
- Playground Games have created some the best arcade racing games of the generation
- Turn 10 have created some of the sim racing games of the generation
- Rare has created a game that has proved to have long legs and achieved success due to continued support of the game

So basically other than Forza, Microsoft doesn't have a well established, universally acclaimed franchise that constantly keeps evolving and getting better and better with each new installment... Gears is slowly dying with its gameplay that's stuck in 2006, the Coalition is sure trying as hard as they can, but there's only so much they can build upon that outdated gameplay, people universally agree the series should've ended on the original trilogy, because apparently there's not much that can be added to the formula, but here they are desperately milking it (can't blame them, still sells in millions, and is still the best technical representation of their console), but the downfall will only slowly but surely continue, unless they'll decide to drastically upgrade the formula. I give MS the benefit of the doubt, but if after 3 years from now none of their studios will be able to come up with a strong, successful IP, then I think I'll give up all the hope for them to be able to deliver solid AAA experience. They are masters of A/AA games, but they seem to have some sort of issues delivering titles that can go toe to toe with Sony, EA, Ubi etc.


[...] thinking they are making the next Naughty Dog game.

Let's hope not, no one wants another Love Parade Simulator.
 

DavidGzz

Member
Damn, if you'd read this thread you'd think MS First party is a shit show. The hate is real, and unjust.

From all the "legacy" Xbox studios:
- The Coalition has a consistent output of games in the high 80's
- Playground Games have created some the best arcade racing games of the generation
- Turn 10 have created some of the sim racing games of the generation
- Rare has created a game that has proved to have long legs and achieved success due to continued support of the game

The only studio that is heavily critisized is 343i. Not because they made bad games, but because they made sub-par Halo games.
All the other studios they have bought put out games that were in development before the MS acquisition.
It's almost as if the hate 343i is getting is being spread to all the other studios. Goes to say how much 343i botched the Halo: Infinite reveal.


This forum is infested with people who just want to talk shit about the competition. MS is doing and will be completely fine, more than fine. The blue pompom wavers are hilarious. All this doom and gloom will be hilarious in hindsight. Game fans can't just be fans of MS, Sony, and Nintendo doing well. We win when they do, they have to wish for the downfall of one of these providers of the hobby that they love. Bewildering.
 
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My personal definition of a AAA game, is a game that had so much resources thrown at it, that it had to be very popular in order to make its money back.
(This is why AAA VR games struggle to exist; there isn't enough VR headset owners in the entire planet to justify a CoD VR title right now. Even if everyone bought one they would still lose money.)

This is actually why I believe 1st party games are so good; because they don't care about breaking even. 1st party just care about selling consoles.

Using my own definition, then what makes a game AAAA? It would be a game that had to become a blockbuster just to break even. It would have to be more popular than Tetris.
 

Shubh_C63

Member
wtf is AAAA ? 250M$+ budget games ?

I have absolutely 0 faith in MS when their flagship developers are being joked around for closure.
 

Sony

Nintendo
So basically other than Forza, Microsoft doesn't have a well established, universally acclaimed franchise that constantly keeps evolving and getting better and better with each new installment... Gears is slowly dying with its gameplay that's stuck in 2006, the Coalition is sure trying as hard as they can, but there's only so much they can build upon that outdated gameplay, people universally agree the series should've ended on the original trilogy, because apparently there's not much that can be added to the formula, but here they are desperately milking it (can't blame them, still sells in millions, and is still the best technical representation of their console), but the downfall will only slowly but surely continue, unless they'll decide to drastically upgrade the formula. I give MS the benefit of the doubt, but if after 3 years from now none of their studios will be able to come up with a strong, successful IP, then I think I'll give up all the hope for them to be able to deliver solid AAA experience. They are masters of A/AA games, but they seem to have some sort of issues delivering titles that can go toe to toe with Sony, EA, Ubi etc.

I think you've laid out the problem. It's not about the competencies of these studios to make good games. It's about the competencies of these studios in evolving existing franchises.
- If Halo 4/Halo 5 were games not burdained with the Halo lore and community, they would have been a fantastic shooters. The loadout system and the 'perks' were fun to use (even promethean vision and boltshot), but they didn't belong in a Halo game. The game mechanics and gunplay of Halo 4 and Halo 5 were superb, but very disruptive in its legacy.
- Gears 4 and 5 were fantastic games. Great gameplay, but not enough evolution compared to past entries.

Te point is that Xbox Game studios have the ability to create very good games and they need to have the creative freedom for that. I have no doubt that 343i industries can make a very good, new sci-fi FPS IP.
Also I think that if the Coalition would built a new IP, the result would also be great.
 

Spaceman292

Banned
Phil undoing the barren years of Matrick
He has to start, and start he did in 2018.
Give them some time, impressive cast he has poached! :messenger_bicep:
This is like a failed haiku writte
Destiny's lead narrative?

Good luck with that, Destiny narrative is hot garbage (despite an interesting lore).

I mean, if you're after 12 years olds it's ok I guess.
It's way too boring for 12 year olds. I don't really know what kind of person likes it.
 

kuncol02

Banned
- If Halo 4/Halo 5 were games not burdained with the Halo lore and community, they would have been a fantastic shooters. The loadout system and the 'perks' were fun to use (even promethean vision and boltshot), but they didn't belong in a Halo game. The game mechanics and gunplay of Halo 4 and Halo 5 were superb, but very disruptive in its legacy.
- Gears 4 and 5 were fantastic games. Great gameplay, but not enough evolution compared to past entries.
That's true biggest problems of new Halo games is fact, that they are Halo games. That's one of most boring franchises created ever with one of ugliest art style. And every time they want to change anything in that hardcore fans cream like someone just steal they lollipops.
Gears 4 was not great especially first act, but Gears 5 is second best game in franchise after second one.
 

Damigos

Member
MS lacks being in touch with gamers.
Endless money and 12 TFlops and AAAA games will solve nothing.
I feel their marketing targets only 19 year old nongamers who only play CoD and FIFA and they say “dude” all day long.
We will keep roasting them as long as they remain out of touch with the industry.
 
This forum is infested with people who just want to talk shit about the competition. MS is doing and will be completely fine, more than fine. The blue pompom wavers are hilarious. All this doom and gloom will be hilarious in hindsight. Game fans can't just be fans of MS, Sony, and Nintendo doing well. We win when they do, they have to wish for the downfall of one of these providers of the hobby that they love. Bewildering.
Notice that you said MICROSOFT is fine. Not Xbox.

I notice that this had been the case for about a month now, that Xbox is being ignored and instead the talk is about how rich Microsoft is. From where i am standing, Microsoft is fine, but Xbox is NOT "completely fine". Xbox is far from fine.
 

recursive

Member
Phil undoing the barren years of Matrick
He has to start, and start he did in 2018.
Give them some time, impressive cast he has poached! :messenger_bicep:
Phil was VP of game studios then so he is the root cause of the barren wasteland that is xbox 1st party. So what you are saying is Phil is fixing the mess he caused?
 

THEAP99

Banned

lGZGCfL.png
Yes.. developers move around the industry all the time..


I think the main issue with Microsoft is they don't have many if any at all well known names making games. Sony has Barlog, Druckmann, Kaz, maybe Fox, Kojima etc... Making games for them and they turn out good because the heads of the projects are visionaries/well known & respected.
The coalition had Rod F but he left along with Mike Ybarra. Mike partly left due to how things were being run at Xbox, Rod I'm not sure..

But yeah, all these hires from well respected studios don't mean much till they get a visionary that's able to make it all come together fantastically.
 

DavidGzz

Member
Notice that you said MICROSOFT is fine. Not Xbox.

I notice that this had been the case for about a month now, that Xbox is being ignored and instead the talk is about how rich Microsoft is. From where i am standing, Microsoft is fine, but Xbox is NOT "completely fine". Xbox is far from fine.

Sure, whatever you say. This neogaf bubble, lmao!
 
This will be the world's premiere GaaS AAAA studio where even their video presentations of upcoming games will have microtransactions for more video.

Fucking stoked!
 
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splattered

Member
At this point i very seriously doubt all of this new talent would still be flocking to the studio if they didn't already have something amazing up and running.

You guys can shit talk all you want but this particular studio and what they're building is probably going to be something special.
 
Not to crash the shitposting party, but they did release Ori and MFS this year.

Not really trying to shitpost on them, I do think MFS looks amazing, but the amount of top quality games coming out of their studios is few and far between right now, and now they are announcing a 'AAAA' studio when they stuggle to do a 'AAA' game is the problem. I have nothing against them at all, they just need to focus on their 'AAA' studios before coming up with a new 'AAAA' one.
 

Saruhashi

Banned
When would this studio's first game be likely to launch? 2022? 2023?

Really they need to let their actual games that exist and will be available do the talking.
Or if Game Pass is to be the true selling point of their new console they need to get on with pushing that.
 

Kev Kev

Member
a dev should release a game called 'AAAA' that includes a bunch of AAA game tropes and is basically a big joke/jab at the ridiculousness of this whole AAA/AAAA shit

if they did a good job on the game, the gimmick could help make it successful
 
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