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Microsoft Says They Have 16 First-Party Xbox Studios, Hinting at a New Acquisition

From what I've seen, they're really good at organic environmental/world-based storytelling - in some ways Vampyr sucked, the graphics were mediocre, the difficulty spiked unevenly, and the combat was interesting but needed to be more precise and better balanced, they were close to a kind of kinetic/strategic blend of Arkham and Assassin's Creed but didn't get there. But the ambience, writing, and the ambition to have choices ripple outward, make the game more or less difficult, and force you to choose between self-interest/vice and selflessness all really impressed me.
 
But they are already creating a third party Xbox exclusive.

Right, but if they're owned, that means more resources and more access to expertise (say, on refining the combat in Vampyr)

I know they do their walk and click thing well, I thought Life Is Strange was really well-done too
 
I just finished A Plague Tale yesterday. It's a great game; an indie game at AAA quality and it reminds of the type of quality output of Ninja Theory was able to achieve even without MS money. I truly hope they become the next Xbox acquisition.
 
I just finished A Plague Tale yesterday. It's a great game; an indie game at AAA quality and it reminds of the type of quality output of Ninja Theory was able to achieve even without MS money. I truly hope they become the next Xbox acquisition.
Not sure why but I couldn't get into Plagues Tale. At all, actually. I tried to come back to it but it never clicked for me.
 
Not sure why but I couldn't get into Plagues Tale. At all, actually. I tried to come back to it but it never clicked for me.

It's what people would probably call a walking sim and a lot of people don't like this type of game.

It's a SP game with amazing art/graphics, believable and likable characters and a great story. The gameplay is OK but nothing great. I know a lot of people like to make fun of these games especially Sony games, but I really enjoy them --- as long as they have a great story and some decent gameplay. I didn't like most of the Sony games when I had a PS 4 because I wasn't impressed or didn't really enjoy the stories except for HZD & TLOU.
 
I just finished A Plague Tale yesterday. It's a great game; an indie game at AAA quality and it reminds of the type of quality output of Ninja Theory was able to achieve even without MS money. I truly hope they become the next Xbox acquisition.

It will be a great catch for them
 
They also dont want to buy a big studio that gets alot of its revenue from Multiplatforms.
Say they buy Zenimax, and then straight away they lose one third of their sales because there is no more PlayStation revenue. Thats bad business. They are better buying a quality smaller studio that they can build up and increase sales through Xbox and PC.

Exactly right, although on many multi-platform games the loss would be more in the 40-60% range rather than a third.
 
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