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Microsoft Studios (& Partners) Current and Future Landscape

Matt

Member
That does make a lot of sense...they would have had to fire all the redundancy that Xbox division does in order to parse the talent in the gaming section of Ubisoft specifically...

I just think it would have been better to have someone interested in gaming actually still in control of the dev houses ubisoft has, things can go really awry if things go to a worst case scenario with Vivendi
Then what you actually want is some company not in gaming now but wants to be in the business to buy them out (which is actually what is going on with Vivendi...but I agree Vivendi isn't the best choice). There is no way that MS buys Ubi, but even if they did, there is no way that wouldn't result in thousands of unemployed people.
 

DMONKUMA

Junior Member
Nice that we have Microsoft projects thread finally. Now we just need someone to do one for Nintendo and then it's all complete.
 

jayu26

Member
Just checked my issue.
Finding new stories inside a tried and trusted series is the studios' focus, but now comprising 450 development staff [Halo 3 was created by a team of around 70], the studio must also be mindful of becoming too big.

What the hell! Does anyone have a monetary break down of Halo merchandise and books etc? How are so many people employed there?
 
I hope Sea of Thieves, crackdown 3 and State of Decay 2 are hits

The rest of the list just saddens me if anything, the big three I.e 343, Coalition and Turn 10, just really monotonous output. No disrespect to fans of them and their games, it's just my personal taste/opinion at the end of the day.

I'm still not totally convinced with Phil Spencer either.
 
D

Deleted member 144138

Unconfirmed Member
Microsoft needs to invest more in their first party studios...more importantly in new AAA IPs...

What does Mojang/Minecraft cost them? 2 Billion? So money doesn't seems to play to much of a big role then...
 

blakep267

Member
What the hell! Does anyone have a monetary break down of Halo merchandise and books etc? How are so many people employed there?
Halo still makes a lot of money. Sales may be down but halo 5 still moved millions of units. Also how many people do you think bought req packs. I myself spent $50( the arena and warzone req bundle). So for me alone I ended up spending $110 on Halo 5. More than I would've if they had a season pass
 
People ripped SaltyHippo a new one with that thread he made about Microsoft's first party line up, but I feel this thread kind of vindicates his concerns. This looks pretty dire from where I'm sitting.
 

Salty Hippo

Member
Good job on the thread, Banjo.

Absolutely dreadful future lineup. You can roll your eyes at me and my username all you want, but Microsoft has been doing a LOUSY job on the software front for many years and there are no sign of things getting better. Quite the opposite, actually. I still maintain the theory that they are banking on Scorpio to have the best multiplats because third-party games are what really drive sales. Meanwhile they'll milk their tentpole franchises and put their risky chips on 1 or 2 projects at a time in search for the next big thing. Everything else will be budget games.

People ripped SaltyHippo a new one with that thread he made about Microsoft's first party line up, but I feel this thread kind of vindicates his concerns. This looks pretty dire from where I'm sitting.

Thanks. Also got juniored because of that thread.
 

blakep267

Member
People ripped SaltyHippo a new one with that thread he made about Microsoft's first party line up, but I feel this thread kind of vindicates his concerns. This looks pretty dire from where I'm sitting.
That's more or less because salty hippo is a bad poster with a history. As seen in ever my halo thread or Phil spencer thread where he seems to have a vendetta
 
Microsoft could use some more internal studios. Granted, more studios wouldn't necessarily mean more good games but still.
 

Ogodei

Member
So Halo Wars 2 is their tentpole 2017 game, or do we think they'll drop something at E3, much like Gears 4 wasn't really detailed until this E3 even though it was hinted at before that?
 

blakep267

Member
I think the need for internal studios is a little overblown. Take State of decay for example. They own the IP and they have a multi game deal with Undead labs. So essentially they are a first party studio for the duration of their contract without any of the overhead of owning a studio. Another example in Remedy. What good would it have done MSto own Remedy. Who puts out games on an inconstant basis, and you can't cut them free of you are displeased with the performance of a game
 

Fat4all

Banned
So Halo Wars 2 is their tentpole 2017 game, or do we think they'll drop something at E3, much like Gears 4 wasn't really detailed until this E3 even though it was hinted at before that?

I dunno if Halo Wars 2 is enough of a 'tentpole' game for 2017 alone.

I'm hoping they set a date in 2017 for Scalebound and Crackdown 3, but otherwise they might just spring another big game on us at E3 (or during the Scorpio event whenever that is).
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
So Halo Wars 2 is their tentpole 2017 game, or do we think they'll drop something at E3, much like Gears 4 wasn't really detailed until this E3 even though it was hinted at before that?

I think they're just going with a collection of smaller titles, even though it looks like a few of them will plausibly fall out of the year.

Halo Wars 2, Scalebound, Forza 7, State of Decay 2 (is this downloadable?), Crackdown 3 (probably delayed?), and Sea of Thieves (probably delayed?), along with some indie titles.
 
So Halo Wars 2 is their tentpole 2017 game, or do we think they'll drop something at E3, much like Gears 4 wasn't really detailed until this E3 even though it was hinted at before that?

Gears 4 was officially announced at E3 2015.

Anyway, MS's 2017 is pretty good, regardless. Tentatively it's:
- Halo Wars 2
- Crackdown 3
- Scalebound
- Sea of Thieves
- State of Decay 2
- Phantom Dust HD

And we can expect Forza Motorsport 7 and one/two smaller titles like maybe an Ori sequel or something.
 

JlNX

Member
I feel like people are going to come in this thread see only 5 banners for first party and skip past all the second party studios, due to the lack of visibility (small text). Then they come to the conclusion that ms hass nooo! games! Completely neglecting undead labs thats in a contract that locks them down as first party or reagent (crackdown, Dave Jones) or moon studios or playground.

I feel like people don't realize ms strategy (Phils) for first party this generation. i.e Fund a third party developer to create a new ip,ms obtains the rights to the ip (something they didn't do in the 360 generation, bioware etc). If the ip fails then theres less risk, and the best developers often are independent. I'm sure if a ip becomes a big success they'll make an offer for the studio (bungie etc). But i feel like this is just to avoid risk, its smart given the success of new ip this generation.

But i feel like people still see first party strength in owned studios rather than releases or active ip.
 
I think they're just going with a collection of smaller titles, even though it looks like a few of them will plausibly fall out of the year.

Halo Wars 2, Scalebound, Forza 7, State of Decay 2 (is this downloadable?), Crackdown 3 (probably delayed?), and Sea of Thieves (probably delayed?), along with some indie titles.

Crackdown 3 and Sea of Thieves were both already delayed from 2016. I don't see them delayed beyond fall 2017.
 
We really are doomed to the holy trinity of Gears, Halo, and Forza aren't we? All jokes aside, Im hoping Crackdown is everything I want it to be. Its probably my last announced hyped exclusive for the X1.
 
I feel like people are going to come in this thread see only 5 banners for first party and skip past all the second party studios, due to the lack of visibility (small text). Then they come to the conclusion that ms hass nooo! games! Completely neglecting undead labs thats in a contract that locks them down as first party or reagent (crackdown, Dave Jones) or moon studios or playground.

I feel like people don't release ms strategy (Phils) for first party this generation. i.e Fund a third party developer to create a new ip,ms obtains the rights to the ip (something they didn't do in the 360 generation, bioware etc). If the ip fails then theres less risk, and the best developers often are independent. I'm sure if a ip becomes a big success they'll make an offer for the studio (bungie etc). But i feel like this is just to avoid risk, its smart given the success of new ip this generation.

But i feel like people still see first party strength in owned studios rather than releases or active ip.
Ya, I need to update the banners for studios working on the 2017 games. Will be doing that ASAP

I was under the impression it was Decisive Games, but they're listed as disbanded in the OP, so perhaps no one.

An insider on here mentioned a few times that the team was disbanded. It's the same person who said how Team Dakota was quietly disbanded. I believe they are a dev, or have dev friends or something? Spoke very definitively about it. Been trying to find the posts, but I'm drawing a blank on the username haha.
 
I think the need for internal studios is a little overblown. Take State of decay for example. They own the IP and they have a multi game deal with Undead labs. So essentially they are a first party studio for the duration of their contract without any of the overhead of owning a studio. Another example in Remedy. What good would it have done MSto own Remedy. Who puts out games on an inconstant basis, and you can't cut them free of you are displeased with the performance of a game
I mean, you clearly can cut internal studios free if you aren't happy with their progress, Microsoft did that with 3 studios this year past year alone. I don't really see an upside to not having a robust first party development portfolio. Sony and Nintendo leverage this strength to great effect (in Nintendo's case, it's their only strength). It's not hard why people want to see Microsoft invest in more development houses.
 
I think the need for internal studios is a little overblown. Take State of decay for example. They own the IP and they have a multi game deal with Undead labs. So essentially they are a first party studio for the duration of their contract without any of the overhead of owning a studio. Another example in Remedy. What good would it have done MSto own Remedy. Who puts out games on an inconstant basis, and you can't cut them free of you are displeased with the performance of a game

There are many factors to consider for sure. I think sometimes owning the studio is the right call, and sometimes not. Unfortunately, Microsoft's future exclusives lineup seems light. And one of the reasons for that is it owns fewer studios.
 

Salty Hippo

Member
That's more or less because salty hippo is a bad poster with a history. As seen in ever my halo thread

So you and others turned my thread into a shit slinging contest because of things I've said in the past in other threads, is that what you're saying? Cool. Attack the person, not their ideas. The true sign of a good poster.
 

MCD

Junior Member
Honestly only thing I am interested in is Scalebound. It's Platinum biggest game and thier first try in a huge rpg action game instead of their rehashed action combo fest games.

I guess also Halo 6 because I really can't wait to see 343 next arrogant campaign fuck up.
 
Good job on the thread, Banjo.

Absolutely dreadful future lineup. You can roll your eyes at me and my username all you want, but Microsoft has been doing a LOUSY job on the software front for many years and there are no sign of things getting better. Quite the opposite, actually. I still maintain the theory that they are banking on Scorpio to have the best multiplats because third-party games are what really drive sales. Meanwhile they'll milk their tentpole franchises and put their risky chips on 1 or 2 projects at a time in search for the next big thing. Everything else will be budget games.



Thanks. Also got juniored because of that thread.

I get the feeling they can be too narrow in listening to feedback. There are millions of users out there with things to say so I understand getting a balancing act can be difficult.

When they announced the Scorpio as the last reveal at E3 2016 my gut feeling was this was a direct response to all the commotion from launch in 2013 onwards in the media and these "insiders" getting more spotlight than ever with resolution.1080p, 720p etc, I hated that period, particularly in 2014 when it was rampant and all along, even with PlayStation, my thoughts were "this is fucking boring, let's bring the games themselves back to the spotlight". When I felt the predicatbiiity of MS' sequel factory routine could the biggest problem long term rather than hardware & resolution stuff.

look at E3 2016, Spencer hyped that conference as being as important a time as the launch of Xbox 360 and just look at how many games were announced, not very many and while a lot of my fellow Xbox fan friends were jumping on the Scorpio hype train I was left pretty disappointed at the show itself and it certainly didn't give me much in encouragement in the man's leadership.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
People ripped SaltyHippo a new one with that thread he made about Microsoft's first party line up, but I feel this thread kind of vindicates his concerns. This looks pretty dire from where I'm sitting.

That's true, but i think MS feels they can really survive off of third party sale and their MAU engagement services.

Basically they stay the course with their direction and their fanbase essentially are loyal enough to their ways.

I feel like MS are basically Nintendo in their rigid way of doing things, except they get the benefits of third party ports and full support because of their American presence and success and therefore can afford that kind of mindset.

Nintendo focusing only on Japanese third parties and their own franchises kind of limits them in terms of global expansion though, so for them its more of a detriment.
 

wapplew

Member
I was under the impression it was Decisive Games, but they're listed as disbanded in the OP, so perhaps no one.

NQjgc89h.jpg
 
Ownership of studios is definitely not compulsory to develop big AAA games. Say what you will of MS, but they definitely have found success with Playground Games and Remedy in the past for developing exclusives.

But third-party external AAA development is also something that I'm seeing to be more and more volatile in years as the investment and operating cost to make AAA games are ballooning.

I mean, I look at ReCore and while it's clearly not intended as a high-budget AAA game in the first place, it feels also very much a "bite off more than we can chew" game from Armature, who is a small 50-person dev team, where they've got the budget for it, but not necessarily the other resources to build what they envisioned.

From an outside-in-perspective, I look at Crackdown 3 and have that same worry to an extent. It's a three-studio collaboration in engine/tech/creative/development between Cloudgine, Reagant and Sumo Digital, and while we've definitely seen successful multi-studio collaborations before, it also feels like a necessity forced by the reality that the creative forces behind Crackdown at Reagant don't have the development resources to build Crackdown 3 on their own.

Also, from a forum gaming fan perspective, external development also limits our ability to predict and guess what's in the pipeline for MS. And let's be real, we all find entertainment in E3 guesswork, and external development only hinders the fun of guessing because it's boring to list down in prediction list something like :

- Unannounced AAA game from some external dev MS contracted
 

JlNX

Member
I thought ms acquired the rise of nations ip to be developed alongside a new age of empires, especially after Phil's comments about the rts genre making a comeback.
It would be weird to shut down decisive then after that investment.
 

Salty Hippo

Member
I get the feeling they can be too narrow in listening to feedback. There are millions of users out there with things to say so I understand getting a balancing act can be difficult.

When they announced the Scorpio as the last reveal at E3 2016 my gut feeling was this was a direct response to all the commotion from launch in 2013 onwards in the media and these "insiders" getting more spotlight than ever with resolution.1080p, 720p etc, I hated that period, particularly in 2014 when it was rampant and all along, even with PlayStation, my thoughts were "this is fucking boring, let's bring the games themselves back to the spotlight". When I felt the predicatbiiity of MS' sequel factory routine could the biggest problem long term rather than hardware & resolution stuff.

look at E3 2016, Spencer hyped that conference as being as important a time as the launch of Xbox 360 and just look at how many games were announced, not very many and while a lot of my fellow Xbox fan friends were jumping on the Scorpio hype train I was left pretty disappointed at the show itself and it certainly didn't give me much in encouragement in the man's leadership.

Agree 100%. Spencer said it would be one of the MOST special E3s in Xbox's history. And the reason for that statement turned out to be a chipset shown in CG and "XTeraflops". It just shows a complete lack of touch with what is truly special in an E3 conference.
 

jayu26

Member
I thought ms acquired the rise of nations ip to be developed alongside a new age of empires, especially after Phil's comments about the rts genre making a comeback.
It would be weird to shut down decisive then after that investment.

They are going to make a new Rise of Nations game and make it exclusive to Windows 10 store, aren't they? God dammit.
 
I feel like people are going to come in this thread see only 5 banners for first party and skip past all the second party studios, due to the lack of visibility (small text). Then they come to the conclusion that ms hass nooo! games! Completely neglecting undead labs thats in a contract that locks them down as first party or reagent (crackdown, Dave Jones) or moon studios or playground.

I feel like people don't realize ms strategy (Phils) for first party this generation. i.e Fund a third party developer to create a new ip,ms obtains the rights to the ip (something they didn't do in the 360 generation, bioware etc). If the ip fails then theres less risk, and the best developers often are independent. I'm sure if a ip becomes a big success they'll make an offer for the studio (bungie etc). But i feel like this is just to avoid risk, its smart given the success of new ip this generation.

But i feel like people still see first party strength in owned studios rather than releases or active ip.

First party strength is in owned studios though. Of the new IP Microsoft has launched this generation, Ori can be the only one seen as successful both critically and commercially. Quantum Break and Sunset Overdrive were huge feathers in their cap leading up to launch but both underperformed in the market. Both Remedy and Insomniac have moved on to greener pastures and we're left with two IP that had room to grow but likely won't because Microsoft doesn't own the IP's or studios that made them.

Relationships like that are not sustainable. There's a reason Nintendo and Sony are able to pump out far more content and it's not because of 'second party' deals.
 

JlNX

Member
So you and others turned my thread into a shit slinging contest because of things I've said in the past in other threads, is that what you're saying? Cool. Attack the person, not their ideas. The true sign of a good poster.

To be fair salty the ways you frame your arguments (arguments!!) can be very hyperbolic.
Especially with the lack of information we have about games in development in 2018 or 2019. It's also going to be far harder to predict games in development at xbox given there very heavy amount of second party reliance, compared to sony or nintendo.
 
Ownership of studios is definitely not compulsory to develop big AAA games. Say what you will of MS, but they definitely have found success with Playground Games and Remedy in the past for developing exclusives.

But third-party external AAA development is also something that I'm seeing to be more and more volatile in years as the investment and operating cost to make AAA games are ballooning.

I mean, I look at ReCore and while it's clearly not intended as a high-budget AAA game in the first place, it feels also very much a "bite off more than we can chew" game from Armature, who is a small 50-person dev team, where they've got the budget for it, but not necessarily the other resources to build what they envisioned.

From an outside-in-perspective, I look at Crackdown 3 and have that same worry to an extent. It's a three-studio collaboration in engine/tech/creative/development between Cloudgine, Reagant and Sumo Digital, and while we've definitely seen successful multi-studio collaborations before, it also feels like a necessity forced by the reality that the creative forces behind Crackdown at Reagant don't have the development resources to build Crackdown 3 on their own.

Sure, you aren't really wrong regarding Armature, at least from how ReCore turned out. However, there is something to be said for cultivating a studio and giving them funding for projects that are exclusive to your console, since you see more revenue from them, they diversify your console's lineup, and possibly bring in new people to your ecosystem. The first few projects might not be up to par, but given time and experience those studios can create great games that drive sales of your hardware (or promote the W10 store for example). I mean, many of these smaller studios never even had a chance to produce something bigger or better. I look at that and see a lost opportunity.
 
First party strength is in owned studios though. Of the new IP Microsoft has launched this generation, Ori can be the only one seen as successful both critically and commercially. Quantum Break and Sunset Overdrive were huge feathers in their cap leading up to launch but both underperformed in the market. Both Remedy and Insomniac have moved on to greener pastures and we're left with two IP that had room to grow but likely won't because Microsoft doesn't own the IP's or studios that made them.
Microsoft owns Quantum Break. Doubt they'd get another studio to make a sequel though.
 

MCD

Junior Member
Agree 100%. Spencer said it would be one of the MOST special E3s in Xbox's history. And the reason for that statement turned out to be a chipset shown in CG and "XTeraflops". It just shows a complete lack of touch with what is truly special in an E3 conference.

That chipset CG is something every Xbox fan wanted, you know.

Xbox always lead in terms of power. Getting shitty multi-platform games after two gens of being in top was really bad.

We also got Xbox One S. Getting rid of that huge power supply and gigantic console is a dream come true for Xbox fans.
 
To be fair salty the ways you frame your arguments (arguments!!) can be very hyperbolic.
Especially with the lack of information we have about games in development in 2018 or 2019. It's also going to be far harder to predict games in development at xbox given there very heavy amount of second party weight, compared to sony or nintendo.
I'm not sure I follow.

What are you regarding as "second party" content?
 
I mean, many of these smaller studios never even had a chance to produce something bigger or better. I look at that and see a lost opportunity.

Second chances are tough. As far as we can guess, Ready at Dawn (Sony) & Remedy (MS) aren't getting any for under-delivering with Order/QB.

Who knows if Armature will get a second chance with a ReCore 2 or another MS project. My guess is not likely.
 

JlNX

Member
First party strength is in owned studios though. Of the new IP Microsoft has launched this generation, Ori can be the only one seen as successful both critically and commercially. Quantum Break and Sunset Overdrive were huge feathers in their cap leading up to launch but both underperformed in the market. Both Remedy and Insomniac have moved on to greener pastures and we're left with two IP that had room to grow but likely won't because Microsoft doesn't own the IP's or studios that made them.

Relationships like that are not sustainable. There's a reason Nintendo and Sony are able to pump out far more content and it's not because of 'second party' deals.

Sure they are factors but both those ip's were commercial failures, if they had of been first party studios that would have been a worse position to be in. Due to them not being first party that risk was avoided. I think this is ms trying to prevent failures like Lionhead etc.
But I do agree theirs only so many studios they can work with and they need to land on that next gears this generation and grab hold of it. I think Ori was that to a lesser extent.
 
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