TheGreatYosh
Banned
This could be great if Microsoft has learned some lessons on how to manage internal studios.
Until recently Xbox was a subdivision of Windows Device group under Terry Myerson who didn't care about gaming and Phil and his team had to work in a tight budget. But now Xbox is it's own division, Phil is an executive at Microsoft and Matt Booty is the head of Microsoft Studios, which why Phil is suddenly going around creating and acquiring new studios.
https://www.windowscentral.com/what-phil-spencers-promotion-means-xbox
Recently Darrell Gallagher's new studio The Initiative hired devs from Rockstar, Crystal Dynamics, Sony Santa Monica and Respawn, old Xbox won't be able to pull this feat.
Do you mean Steve Ballmer?
Until recently Xbox was a subdivision of Windows Device group under Terry Myerson who didn't care about gaming and Phil and his team had to work in a tight budget. But now Xbox is it's own division, Phil is an executive at Microsoft and Matt Booty is the head of Microsoft Studios, which why Phil is suddenly going around creating and acquiring new studios.
https://www.windowscentral.com/what-phil-spencers-promotion-means-xbox
Recently Darrell Gallagher's new studio The Initiative hired devs from Rockstar, Crystal Dynamics, Sony Santa Monica and Respawn, old Xbox won't be able to pull this feat.
Yes, because all the other studios they have are not currently working on projects. How stupid can some people be thinking Microsoft has nothing coming for another 3-5 years that we don't know about?
So XBox/Gaming is a top level division now?
No, no a thousand times NO. Obsidian is awesome just the way they are.
generations
No, no a thousand times NO. Obsidian is awesome just the way they are. This will be another EA acquiring/ruining Bioware shitfest. Fuck.
Thats a lot of salt.Just because a company with seemingly unlimited resources buys a company doesn’t mean that said company gets unlimited resources. They get strict deadlines, closer scrutiny, and most studios bought by MS go down in quality, not up. Bungee left, Rara is worthless, not to mention Lionhead and others all disbanded.
Just because a company with seemingly unlimited resources buys a company doesn’t mean that said company gets unlimited resources. They get strict deadlines, closer scrutiny, and most studios bought by MS go down in quality, not up. Bungee left, Rara is worthless, not to mention Lionhead and others all disbanded.
I really hope this doesn't happen. EA ruined Bioware and I could see this being a similar situation. Microsoft has a solid history of ruining game studios, too (Rare and Ensemble Studios come to mind). MS will inevitably take away their creative freedom in the pursuit of maximized profits.
If it does happen, I hope they can still release their games on PC and that MS isn't stupid enough to make them exclusive to the Windows store.
I really hope this doesn't happen. EA ruined Bioware and I could see this being a similar situation. Microsoft has a solid history of ruining game studios, too (Rare and Ensemble Studios come to mind). MS will inevitably take away their creative freedom in the pursuit of maximized profits.
If it does happen, I hope they can still release their games on PC and that MS isn't stupid enough to make them exclusive to the Windows store.
If it does happen, I hope they can still release their games on PC and that MS isn't stupid enough to make them exclusive to the Windows store.
Tell us how you really feel. You don't like how they treat their studios, won't support them on Xbox and refuse to buy games on Windows store. Seems like Microsoft is going in the right direction, all the haters are finding new reasons not to support them.
While I am not a huge fan of the Windows Store, I don’t think it is evil incarnate - as long as their games are available on PC (and if on Game Pass, even better) I won’t complain. Especially if this is one of the only ways Obsidian can continue to produce games. That’s all I really care about. While I am a huge purchaser on Steam, i’m not a Steam fan either. I really don’t care what storefront I get my games from. I’ve never understood the love of a near monopoly on PC gaming.
It'd be pretty ridiculous to call me a Microsoft hater. I'm an owner of both a Microsoft Surface Pro and Surface Book. I never cared for Macs and have always stuck with Windows. It's true I don't have much love for their gaming division, however. For the record, I do own a Windows Store exclusive game (AoE: Definitive Edition). I do think it's annoying that it doesn't operate like a normal application; you can't even access the install directory. And I never did buy an Xbox console; not because I hate it, but because PC, PlayStation, and Nintendo have had me pretty well covered for games. Nearly all of the Xbox exclusives just weren't my thing, anyway. But you're right that I don't like the way they treated their studios in the past, I'm still disgusted with them after what they did to Ensemble Studios. Any gaming company should take pause before selling themselves to MS after that. Their contract would have to come with a 15 year commitment to get me on board. And not gaming related, but I could also add that they've been ruining Skype since they bought them, too.
I think it's just that people want their gaming library in one place, not scattered across multiple applications. No one really cares who they pay to get their game.
Nice story. You either like the game they come out with or you don't so I don't need to hear your personal reasons why you dislike Microsoft. What happens in 15 years is a bullshit excuse not to support Obsidians next game if they are indeed under Microsoft.
No, no a thousand times NO. Obsidian is awesome just the way they are. This will be another EA acquiring/ruining Bioware shitfest. Fuck.
Just because a company with seemingly unlimited resources buys a company doesn’t mean that said company gets unlimited resources. They get strict deadlines, closer scrutiny, and most studios bought by MS go down in quality, not up. Bungee left, Rara is worthless, not to mention Lionhead and others all disbanded.
Do you guys think we will hear about any new aquisitions at gamescom?
Sorry folks, but that doesn't sound like a publisher I want such a IP going to if that is all they are going to do with this team ie Fable to death or something. So MS needs to really actually change by their actions before most fans will be ok with this.
Show us, don't tell us.
This.
The issue with EA is not that they don't have any teams, its how they TREAT THE TEAMS THEY HAVE! So many of us are not saying we don't want MS to have the team , simply not in MS current state if they are just going to give em the old use, abuse, close down combo.
Its clear by many of the comments on here that many don't trust this publisher enough to want this team go down in flames for them. MS basically needs 1 WHOLE GENERATION of actually doing right by their teams and gamers before anyone really trust them.
I never really thought MS's issue was simply not having enough teams, simply that they abuse those IPs TO DEATH!
ie 343 Halo to death.
Coalition, first task...make Gears Of War TO DEATH
etc they can't keep doing this. Let the damn team breath and let them MAKE A NEW SERIES! Those games are not soooooo good that MS now has a evergreen IP like Nintendo with Smash, Mario Kart etc, so MS can't do a "Nintendo" as those IPs are not even unique enough and don't sell enough to do that.
Not saying zero Halo or Gears, but we don't need a whole gen of them by the same teams FOR LIFE! So MS basically sold XONE to same group of dudes that like Halo and Gears ,yet are shocked at lower sales numbers. Those dudes will buy XB, what about those who are not? 343 could have made a new IP after Halo and you have new fans, Coalition make a new IP after Gears 4 and YOU HAVE NEW FANS, but if they just keep doing the same thing over and over and over, expect the same results.
Sorry folks, but that doesn't sound like a publisher I want such a IP going to if that is all they are going to do with this team ie Fable to death or something. So MS needs to really actually change by their actions before most fans will be ok with this.
Show us, don't tell us.
This would be great for microsoft. You can tell by the ps fanboy hate in this thread
While I am not a huge fan of the Windows Store, I don’t think it is evil incarnate - as long as their games are available on PC (and if on Game Pass, even better) I won’t complain. Especially if this is one of the only ways Obsidian can continue to produce games. That’s all I really care about. While I am a huge purchaser on Steam, i’m not a Steam fan either. I really don’t care what storefront I get my games from. I’ve never understood the love of a near monopoly on PC gaming.
I find it so funny how PC gamers flip out at MS initiatives in PC gaming fearing an MS monopoly and then whine when games aren;t put on pmn steam which is the current PC gamestore monopoly. Monopolies in consoles and PC gaming seem fine as long as MS is not involved. If it were up to some here the only gaming choices in the entire industry would be Sony for Consoles and Steam for PC gaming.
I'm not sure Microsoft are willing to invest that much money into acquisition, as Sega are part of Sega Sammy and they seem fairly big (and expensive). However, I could imagine a joint development effort between Microsoft and Sega on specific games. Maybe Virtua Fighter? Or a new Panzer Dragoon?I hope so. I hope they announce they're buying Obsidian (and Sega) and announce that the Fallout New Vegas X Enhanced patch is out today (day of acquisition announcement at Gamescom) and that Obsidian will be working on a next-gen AA-AAA Shadowrun rpg. Or they buy Paradox (thereby owning White Wolf), buy Obsidian and announce Bloodlines 2 made by Obsidian.
First of all: Steam doesn't have a monopoly. Not by a long shot. In fact, some of the most popular PC games aren't even available on Steam.
Second: PC gamers don't like Microsoft because this company keeps fucking up every time again. We still remember GFWL and Microsofts efforts to charge for online gaming, and now we have to deal with the ridiculous bad Windows Store, that has been completely broken for almost 3 years and sells PC games as locked down encrypted apps. This rules out most of the perks of PC gaming, so yeah, no wonder PC gamers hate it.
I'm not sure Microsoft are willing to invest that much money into acquisition, as Sega are part of Sega Sammy and they seem fairly big (and expensive). However, I could imagine a joint development effort between Microsoft and Sega on specific games. Maybe Virtua Fighter? Or a new Panzer Dragoon?
Because, people wont be able to complain Xbox has no games when first party output increases.There seems to be a lot of panic that Microsoft is seriously building up first party.
Why not jump at the chance to create something you always wanted to but couldn’t because of financial hurdles.
There seems to be a lot of panic that Microsoft is seriously building up first party.
That's because Microsoft tries to build it the only way the know - taking away from others.
Noone would care if they annouced formation of 20 first part studios but the vision of having to upgrade to windows 10 and use their UWP store is repulsive to many pc gamers.
That's because Microsoft tries to build it the only way the know - taking away from others.
Noone would care if they annouced formation of 20 first part studios but the vision of having to upgrade to windows 10 and use their UWP store is repulsive to many pc gamers.
Fair enough, but they won't be able to show you without buying the studios. We'll see the fruits in a couple of years. Until then, you are more than entitled to a skeptical, "show me" position. I don't blame you.
Personally, I've got a little more faith, based on factors like this:
1. MS has been humbled this generation. They've acknowledged their mistakes and spent a lot of time and energy trying to right the ship.
2. They have re-organized in key ways. Myerson was an impediment, and he is now out of the way, with Phil promoted
3. If you watch NTs video, it's pretty convincing, at least to me. I think I have a pretty good sense of NT culture (I followed Hellblade development closely), and they are not a studio that would trade creative freedom for financial security.
4. After years of talk about increased investment in first party (which was annoying, because there was no follow-through), now suddenly there is a huge burst of real, substantial, action.
5. MS must have seen how Sony handle their first-party developers, and they must know that is part of why Sony is winning this generation. I think they've learned from that. They know that their own "hands on" approach has led to repeated failures.
So for those reasons, I am optimistic. I don't blame people for being skeptical, especially if they are grabbing up a studio they admire (I had the same reaction with NT, originally). But I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt. Heck, I'm rooting for them.
I'll have to wait and see to even remotely believe they've been "humbled". "Fair enough, but they won't be able to show you without buying the studios" I disagree, they could have shown us this gen by having some of their main teams on new IP vs Halo, Gears combo back to back.
Consider this, look at number 5.
Sony has been doing this since they've entered gaming, why is MS as of right now just seeing this? It would be like us saying "EA have see how Sony handle" well EA has had generations to see that yet still chooses the other route.
So this is indeed a wait and see. They legit need a whole gen of giving those teams that freedom to make new AAA IP before most of gaming really believes something is different. Consider this, EA is giving free DLC for Battlefront 2 and they still have trust issues with fans and thats happening THIS GEN, so MS will need a whole gen to start doing what they claim no different then EA might need a whole gen of doing that before fans start to see it isn't just talk.
I'll have to wait and see to even remotely believe they've been "humbled". "Fair enough, but they won't be able to show you without buying the studios" I disagree, they could have shown us this gen by having some of their main teams on new IP vs Halo, Gears combo back to back.
Sony has been doing this since they've entered gaming, why is MS as of right now just seeing this?
I'll have to wait and see to even remotely believe they've been "humbled".
"Fair enough, but they won't be able to show you without buying the studios" I disagree, they could have shown us this gen by having some of their main teams on new IP vs Halo, Gears combo back to back.
I believe it has something to do with the personnel changes that we've been referencing. People in positions of power were not fans of Xbox and blocked investment. Those obstacles are out of the way, which is why you see a sudden shift in investment strategy.Why is MS as of right now just seeing this?
So this is indeed a wait and see.