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[Rightisright]

I would like to keep this troll free, so no "MS cant compete with Sony" or "Halo ist shit" posts thanks.

So Microsoft has bought up a number of studios and created some new ones.
What type of games does MS need to close the gap with Sony?
At this point we have this.

Turn 10 - Puts out Forza. No need to change anything here. Forza is a top of the line racing SIM, and while you may prefer other car franchises like Project or GT, reality is that Xbox has a top of the line car SIM with Forza.

343i - Taking care of the Halo franchise, and from what is being rumoured, Infinite is the biggest budget of any game ever at a half a billion dollars. There is alot of time, effort and money going into this game. Halo is one of the big franchises in the FPS.

The Coalition - Currently working on Gears 6. The Coalition is a high level studio, and Gears is one of bigger name shooter franchise around there.

Playground Games - Rumoured to be working on the next Fable game. PG did amazing things with the Horizon games. Quality developer and they should put out a beautiful looking game here.
Not sure what is happening with the next installment of Horizon. Could be that when MS bought PG they split them into two teams, one working on Horizon, and one working on Fable? What ever happens, MS will have another Horizons.

Ninja Theory - NT is a small studio known for their graphics. A really good purchase for MS, and one that wouldn't have cost a heap of cash. Hellblade 2 looks stunning so far, and with the extra resources they will get from being owned by MS, I think Hellblade 2 is going to far surpass anything Hellblade 1 did. Another exciting action third party game for the MS stable.

Rare - Currently working on a new IP called Everwild. Not alot of info about it, but looks like an RPG. After Sea Of Thieves hopefully Rare has their mojo back.
Rumour has it that Rare are also overseeing the development of a new Perfect Dark game.
What ever else Rare gives, it will provide that new and experimental vision, one that alot of people ask for.

Undead Labs - Working no doubt on the next installment of State of Decay. I enjoyed the game, and I expect after the MS buyout the next game will have more resources and should be bug free and fun. Another worthy addition to the survival genre.

World's Edge - Set up exclusively by MS to run the Age of Empire franchise. Not my type of game, by ALOT of people like these RTS games, and it has a following.

Obsidian Entertainment - Bought out by MS, but their last game Outer Worlds was released on PS4 as well, as a publishing deal was done prior to the acquisition. Outer world's was quite well received winning best new game and best RPG in a number of games awards.
So they will be working on an exclusive RPG for MS from now on and have a good pedigree for RPGs.

inXile Entertainment - Another RPG studio that is working on Wasteland 3. After the buyout MS increased their resources and this will result in a better game.
Unfortunately for MS, inXile crowdfunded the original development of Wasteland 3 and looks like they are obliged to release the game on PS4. However, they maybe able to make it exclusive to XSX and not release it on PS5. BC will make it available on PS5, but it wont be enhanced like a XSX version would be. Time will tell.
But regardless, another RPG studio.


Double Fine Studios - Purchased in 2019 by MS, DF is in the same situation as some of the other recently acquired studios in that their next game Psychonauts 2 received alot of its early funding with the requirement of multi platform release. So, Psychonauts 2 will also be on PS4 as well as Xbox. Of interesting note is that if DF had received PS5 dev kits prior to MS buying them and how this would play out at Sony. Things to make you go hmm..
But after Psychonauts all future games will be Xbox exclusives.
DF would not have been expensive and the cost would outweigh the annoyance of a MS studio releasing games on PS. Psychonauts is a platformer games, and this company will give MS another divergence from just shooters and cars.

Compulsion Games - Not alot known about a possible new games from them. After releasing the We Happy Few games they have been busy doing DLC for it. It's another kooky studio like DF so it will give another original type game option for MS.
Again, wouldn't have cost much and with MS as owners you would expect a large increase in resources, so whatever comes next should be of bigger scope than previous games.

The Initiative - MS set the Initiative to be their next big time, high profile studio. They have poached top talent from other studios and are ramping up their development of some unknown new IP. I expect a third person adventure/action game to go against the likes of Uncharted and GOW. Look forward to what they do.

Outside of their studios MS is also going to release the new version of Flight Simulator. I think this game could be a big deal once it has released. Nothing else like it on PS, and a game of such scope that it would be pretty hard for Sony to try and copy it.

So all in all I think MS has the car genre covered with Forza and Horizons. RPGs and RTS are covered, and it has some good action franchises like Halo and Gears. Some of the smaller IPs like State of Decay will benefit from MSs ownership.

I think MS needs to add some more FPS and third party adventure games. These are the big sellers typically, and so I would like to see MS buyout a couple of studios like 4A games and Techland.
Some high level third person story driven hames to counter the likes of GOW and Uncharted/TLOU need to be a priority.

So it's going to be an interesting few years to see how these studios produce.

What do people think

 

[Husky]

The effort it takes to respect your opening wishes...

With Obsidian and Ninja Theory, Microsoft now has two first-party studios I'm gonna be deeply invested in. Top-tier RPGs, and fuckin HELLBLADE, man. I'm more excited for Hellblade II than for anything else right now (that isn't Prey 2).
Plus with Halo finally reaching PC, there's a series I can get invested in. Hope they do the same thing with the full Gears series.

Is the gap closing between MS and Sony? Maybe a bit. Because of Hellblade. But if you asked me whose E3 conference I'd rather go to, I'd definitely pick Sony (but yes, I've heard the news on that front).

 

[Deleted member 17706]

All I know is that I'm super excited for MS Game Studios going forward. They went from a Halo, Forza, and Gears sequel house (none of which I dislike, necessarily) to having a bunch of potentially exciting new projects (and new IPs) in the works in the blink of an eye. I'm particularly excited for what Ninja Theory, Obsidian, and Playground Games have in the works. I also hope MS funding can finally give Obsidian the resources they need to do something truly great that doesn't feel heavily compromised.

 

[Rightisright]

The effort it takes to respect your opening wishes...

With Obsidian and Ninja Theory, Microsoft now has two first-party studios I'm gonna be deeply invested in. Top-tier RPGs, and fuckin HELLBLADE, man. I'm more excited for Hellblade II than for anything else right now (that isn't Prey 2).
Plus with Halo finally reaching PC, there's a series I can get invested in. Hope they do the same thing with the full Gears series.

Is the gap closing between MS and Sony? Maybe a bit. Because of Hellblade. But if you asked me whose E3 conference I'd rather go to, I'd definitely pick Sony (but yes, I've heard the news on that front).

For sure. There is a hurdle that MS has with catching up with Sony, and that is that MS could release a third person game as good as Uncharted for instance, but it will lack that history and pedigree. What I mean is that it takes a couple of really good releases of a franchise for the anticipation of the next one to drive it forward. Call it the games pedigree if you want. So MS has to get that with their new IPs. They only really have that with Halo, Forza and Gears. Sony has that with Uncharted, Killzone, TLOU, GT, GOW, HZD, The Last Guardian etc.
It either takes time to build that, or money to buy that. (Meaning buy say 4A games to have that Metro fanbase)

 

[Hobbygaming]

I would like to keep this troll free, so no "MS cant compete with Sony" or "Halo ist shit" posts thanks.

So Microsoft has bought up a number of studios and created some new ones.
What type of games does MS need to close the gap with Sony?
At this point we have this.

Turn 10 - Puts out Forza. No need to change anything here. Forza is a top of the line racing SIM, and while you may prefer other car franchises like Project or GT, reality is that Xbox has a top of the line car SIM with Forza.

343i - Taking care of the Halo franchise, and from what is being rumoured, Infinite is the biggest budget of any game ever at a half a billion dollars. There is alot of time, effort and money going into this game. Halo is one of the big franchises in the FPS.

The Coalition - Currently working on Gears 6. The Coalition is a high level studio, and Gears is one of bigger name shooter franchise around there.

Playground Games - Rumoured to be working on the next Fable game. PG did amazing things with the Horizon games. Quality developer and they should put out a beautiful looking game here.
Not sure what is happening with the next installment of Horizon. Could be that when MS bought PG they split them into two teams, one working on Horizon, and one working on Fable? What ever happens, MS will have another Horizons.

Ninja Theory - NT is a small studio known for their graphics. A really good purchase for MS, and one that wouldn't have cost a heap of cash. Hellblade 2 looks stunning so far, and with the extra resources they will get from being owned by MS, I think Hellblade 2 is going to far surpass anything Hellblade 1 did. Another exciting action third party game for the MS stable.

Rare - Currently working on a new IP called Everwild. Not alot of info about it, but looks like an RPG. After Sea Of Thieves hopefully Rare has their mojo back.
Rumour has it that Rare are also overseeing the development of a new Perfect Dark game.
What ever else Rare gives, it will provide that new and experimental vision, one that alot of people ask for.

Undead Labs - Working no doubt on the next installment of State of Decay. I enjoyed the game, and I expect after the MS buyout the next game will have more resources and should be bug free and fun. Another worthy addition to the survival genre.

World's Edge - Set up exclusively by MS to run the Age of Empire franchise. Not my type of game, by ALOT of people like these RTS games, and it has a following.

Obsidian Entertainment - Bought out by MS, but their last game Outer Worlds was released on PS4 as well, as a publishing deal was done prior to the acquisition. Outer world's was quite well received winning best new game and best RPG in a number of games awards.
So they will be working on an exclusive RPG for MS from now on and have a good pedigree for RPGs.

inXile Entertainment - Another RPG studio that is working on Wasteland 3. After the buyout MS increased their resources and this will result in a better game.
Unfortunately for MS, inXile crowdfunded the original development of Wasteland 3 and looks like they are obliged to release the game on PS4. However, they maybe able to make it exclusive to XSX and not release it on PS5. BC will make it available on PS5, but it wont be enhanced like a XSX version would be. Time will tell.
But regardless, another RPG studio.


Double Fine Studios - Purchased in 2019 by MS, DF is in the same situation as some of the other recently acquired studios in that their next game Psychonauts 2 received alot of its early funding with the requirement of multi platform release. So, Psychonauts 2 will also be on PS4 as well as Xbox. Of interesting note is that if DF had received PS5 dev kits prior to MS buying them and how this would play out at Sony. Things to make you go hmm..
But after Psychonauts all future games will be Xbox exclusives.
DF would not have been expensive and the cost would outweigh the annoyance of a MS studio releasing games on PS. Psychonauts is a platformer games, and this company will give MS another divergence from just shooters and cars.

Compulsion Games - Not alot known about a possible new games from them. After releasing the We Happy Few games they have been busy doing DLC for it. It's another kooky studio like DF so it will give another original type game option for MS.
Again, wouldn't have cost much and with MS as owners you would expect a large increase in resources, so whatever comes next should be of bigger scope than previous games.

The Initiative - MS set the Initiative to be their next big time, high profile studio. They have poached top talent from other studios and are ramping up their development of some unknown new IP. I expect a third person adventure/action game to go against the likes of Uncharted and GOW. Look forward to what they do.

Outside of their studios MS is also going to release the new version of Flight Simulator. I think this game could be a big deal once it has released. Nothing else like it on PS, and a game of such scope that it would be pretty hard for Sony to try and copy it.

So all in all I think MS has the car genre covered with Forza and Horizons. RPGs and RTS are covered, and it has some good action franchises like Halo and Gears. Some of the smaller IPs like State of Decay will benefit from MSs ownership.

I think MS needs to add some more FPS and third party adventure games. These are the big sellers typically, and so I would like to see MS buyout a couple of studios like 4A games and Techland.
Some high level third person story driven hames to counter the likes of GOW and Uncharted/TLOU need to be a priority.

So it's going to be an interesting few years to see how these studios produce.

What do people think

From 343 I need them to get the SP story and campaign right in Halo Infinite

I'm confident in The Coalition because of Gears 5

I like what I've seen of Hellblade 2 so far visually, the puzzles could be a lot better than the 1st one though

I hope The Initiative gels well together as a studio and does a realistic action adventure

Playground should soft reboot Fable and make it like The Witcher 3. Forza Horizon 5 should be great though I thought Forza Horizon 4 was a step back from Forza Horizon 3

 

[toxiichollow]

super excited for Obsidian, with MS backing they should be able to make some bangers...

 

[Hobbygaming]

Microsoft really needs to invest in more realistic art style AAA games. Hellblade 2 is a good start but they need a lot more

 

[MoreJRPG]

They’ve made incredible acquisitions and I’m really excited to see what they do with it. It’s no question that Phil Spencer realized the Xbox brand was suffering terribly from a lack of exclusive titles worth buying a system for and he corrected that in a big way.

 

[Tiamat2san]

I want my halo, gears and forza drug dose often but I am really glad they will deliver other IPs too.
Exciting times indeed.

 

[Lone Wolf]

As strange as it may sound, the dev I have the least faith in is 343. They need to deliver something special. Halo is why I stuck with Xbox and they really missed the mark With 4’s multiplayer, 5’s campaign and Everything on the Master Chief collection that took 4 years to fix. With Infinite as a cross gen game, , they better deliver.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

MS needs some more gritty games. They got Gears and KI, but the rest of their games (aside from racing) seem kind of cartoony.

Hellblade is the best bet. Problem is that if it's like the first game, it'll be more of a story-based narrative than a pure action game.

MS studios have the variety, but for my tastes few games interest me.

 

[Jubenhimer]

If you want to discuss the state of Xbox Game Studios, you can do so in this thread.

First party studios |OT| Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo

Mod edit: As this post generally crosses platforms and publishers, it will be subject to strricter moderation in terms of derails or inciting console wars. It's a genuine attempt to have opinions from all sides of the coin. While there will be points of contention we expect these to be in good...

www.neogaf.com

 

[AnotherOne]

Need new IPs getting sick of halo,gears,forza.. oh and some single player story driven games would be nice.

 

[sdrawkcab]

I'm really excited for this. I can't wait what to see what MS will have on offer in the next 3-4 years.

One question though; it's confirmed that Halo Infinite's budget is near half a billion? That's a LOT of money. 500 million on a game?! I honestly find that hard to believe. Does that include the series for TV they're producing as well? Because I honestly don't see what you could possibly need in any game that will drive up costs to 500 billion, unless a sizeable chunk of that is in the marketing department.

 

[Rightisright]

MS needs some more gritty games. They got Gears and KI, but the rest of their games (aside from racing) seem kind of cartoony.

Hellblade is the best bet. Problem is that if it's like the first game, it'll be more of a story-based narrative than a pure action game.

MS studios have the variety, but for my tastes few games interest me.

I agree. There is alot of variety in the MS stable, but the big sellers, and the ones that cause excitement, are the action, shooting visual showcases. They need their games to hype the system. Like Halo and Gears first did. Gears of War really pushed the 360s sales. PS3 didn't come out with a game that looked as good for a couple of years.

 

[Rightisright]

I'm really excited for this. I can't wait what to see what MS will have on offer in the next 3-4 years.

One question though; it's confirmed that Halo Infinite's budget is near half a billion? That's a LOT of money. 500 million on a game?! I honestly find that hard to believe. Does that include the series for TV they're producing as well? Because I honestly don't see what you could possibly need in any game that will drive up costs to 500 billion, unless a sizeable chunk of that is in the marketing department.

Not sure, but it isn't wanting for resources if anything else lol.
It's alot of money. Twice that amount and they could buy out Project Red.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I agree. There is alot of variety in the MS stable, but the big sellers, and the ones that cause excitement, are the action, shooting visual showcases. They need their games to hype the system. Like Halo and Gears first did. Gears of War really pushed the 360s sales. PS3 didn't come out with a game that looked as good for a couple of years.

Halo and Gears sales have been trending down for years. The series are still popular, but they don't have the holding power like a Call of Duty or Battlefield that sell 10 million+.

Those games play similar every year, just as Halo and Gears have their own unique standard gameplay, but sales of military shooters and all those Fortnite kind of games are where the action is.

I think for some of these franchises, they got to mix it up. One year make it a standard franchise game. Then 3-4 years later, make a unique game based off the franchise. Halo standard shooter, then Halo open world adventure game with some shooting and RPG elements. Gears is trying to do that with that Tactics game, but that is really stretching it. I don't think any tactics/sim kind of game has a big enough draw.

Forza does that. You got a rotation of circuit racer and open world racer with quests. Both racing, but both different enough.

 

[Rightisright]

Halo and Gears sales have been trending down for years. The series are still popular, but they don't have the holding power like a Call of Duty or Battlefield that sell 10 million+.

Those games play similar every year, just as Halo and Gears have their own unique standard gameplay, but sales of military shooters and all those Fortnite kind of games are where the action is.

I think for some of these franchises, they got to mix it up. One year make it a standard franchise game. Then 3-4 years later, make a unique game based off the franchise. Halo standard shooter, then Halo open world adventure game with some shooting and RPG elements. Gears is trying to do that with that Tactics game, but that is really stretching it. I don't think any tactics/sim kind of game has a big enough draw.

Forza does that. You got a rotation of circuit racer and open world racer with quests. Both racing, but both different enough.

They need to get the rights to "Black". That was a great game and has a good reputation.
Battlefield and COD are the big ones. Thats why if I was MS I would buy both 4A games for the Metro franchise and boundary pushing graphics, as well as Techland, because who doesnt love Zombies. Plus their Techland engine is very good. They would be set for shooters at that point.

 

[Potato Chip PRO]

I was interested how the new IP Black Tusk Studio "The Coalition" would have turned out.. I still remember their teaser

 

[Tarkus98]

I had no idea they picked up Double Fine studio. Good get there. Look forward to whatever whacky game they have planned after Psychnauts 2.
Also looking forward to what The Initiative have planned.
I think right now they have a pretty good balance of genres covered they just need credibility now.

 

[LittleBusters]

It will take at least 2-3 years before we start seeing XBox Studios pumping out games at the rate of 8-10 a year.

2020: 5-6 games
2021: 6-8 games
2022: 8 games
2023: 10 games

 

[Kagey K]

It will take at least 2-3 years before we start seeing XBox Studios pumping out games at the rate of 8-10 a year.

2020: 5-6 games
2021: 6-8 games
2022: 8 games
2023: 10 games

There’s 12 announced for this year already, granted some of them have been in the works for some time and are under old publishing deals.

 

[Great Hair]

Except for Hellblade 2, i have zero interest at all. Not because of the resulting output, but solely due Microsoft being one if not the worst offender when it comes to adding micro-transactions to their games. Phil Spencer said "the future is GaaS", so be ready for an influx of heavy MP-online driven titles from Microsoft, and/or SP that have lots of "post launch" goodies.

IP-wise? Sully, Drake, Elena, Chloe ... it took Sony like 10+ years to establish them with a few games. Unbeaten chemistry, without the need of giving them "steroids" to make them appeal, to a certain demographic. Without the multi-consoleros, this probably would have been Microsoft´s worst generation.

Eager to see what they´re cooking, but my interest is low.

 

[Dory16]

Except for Hellblade 2, i have zero interest at all. Not because of the resulting output, but solely due Microsoft being one if not the worst offender when it comes to adding micro-transactions to their games. Phil Spencer said "the future is GaaS", so be ready for an influx of heavy MP-online driven titles from Microsoft, and/or SP that have lots of "post launch" goodies.

IP-wise? Sully, Drake, Elena, Chloe ... it took Sony like 10+ years to establish them with a few games. Unbeaten chemistry, without the need of giving them "steroids" to make them appeal, to a certain demographic. Without the multi-consoleros, this probably would have been Microsoft´s worst generation.

Eager to see what they´re cooking, but my interest is low.

Interesting take but I don’t think MS comes close to EA or even Bethesda in terms of micro trans and do they event own a single Gaas?

 

[Jigsaah]

I reserve my judgement for when I have something in my hands. I'm excited at the potential but I don't want to start cheerleading for teams who haven't even walked on the field yet this coming season.

As far as what they need to do to close the gap with Sony, I think a lot of people are looking at this the wrong way. You first have to discern what it means to "close the gap". If you are referring to market share, then I think the most important thing doesn't have as much to do with these studios as much as it is that they need to have a prescence wide reaching as Sony.In order to do that, they need to have brand recognition that is comparable to where Playstation's is. The studios could likely help with this, but i believe they need to launch a new IP on the magnitude of Fortnite. Something that Sony cannot match and that makes everybody want to buy their console. The game would need to transcend different levels of gamers...casuals and hardcore. It would need to be marketed properly and have years of longevity.

Halo was like this. I don't know what else is coming down the pipe, but I don't predict any of the recently purchased studios will be up to the task next gen. If any of them would be, I would suspect The Initiative has the best chance. I'm really interested in seeing what they come up with, I just hope they aren't hellbent on following in Sony's footsteps. They need to break new ground. Show us what AAAA is.

 

[Bernkastel]

343i having a budget of 500 million USD is a lie, Franky denied it in the other site.
Undead Labs now has a second studio led by Jeff Strain in New Orleans(since he is the studio head, that basically makes the new one the main studio). The original team will work on State of Decay 3. Meanwhile, when NCSoft laid off a lot of ArenaNet employees to focus on mobile, many of them were grabbed by Undead Labs. Before acquisition Undead Labs were a bit over 30 employees, now they are around 100.
Job postings for InXile and Compulsion indicate they are going AAA
Playground Games is not dividing into two teams. They are building a new team from scartch with a few core Playground Game devs. The plan is for both teams to eventually have 200 members each.
Perfect Dark rumour also indicates Coalition is doing the real development. But no one is sure about the details.
Flight Simulator is by Asobo, devs of Plague's Take.
There are more acquisitions, they are not done yet.
You forgot about Tell Me Why by Dontnod.

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

They have a deep collection of studios that have made a lot of high quality but lesser known games. They're taking a gamble that with bigger budgets and more exposure, those same developers can keep making good games. I hope it works out for them because, again, there's a history of good stuff there.

I hope Bleeding Edge finds a place and has success. The alphas were great. It's a fantastic GamePass type of title where people can jump in and also maybe have some monetization if people want to fully support it.

 

[MoreJRPG]

I had no idea they picked up Double Fine studio. Good get there. Look forward to whatever whacky game they have planned after Psychnauts 2.
Also looking forward to what The Initiative have planned.
I think right now they have a pretty good balance of genres covered they just need credibility now.

That’s what’s so great about all the studios. Diversity. They have racers, shooters, RPGs, platformers, there’s something for everyone. When you look at the “competition” it’s really only one thing done well. Everything else is ignored or just average.

 

[Dunnas]

I'm really excited for this. I can't wait what to see what MS will have on offer in the next 3-4 years.

One question though; it's confirmed that Halo Infinite's budget is near half a billion? That's a LOT of money. 500 million on a game?! I honestly find that hard to believe. Does that include the series for TV they're producing as well? Because I honestly don't see what you could possibly need in any game that will drive up costs to 500 billion, unless a sizeable chunk of that is in the marketing department.

If the budget rumour is true, it would include the first 2-3 years they spent just developing the slipstream engine, which will likely be used for other games like the Initiative’s game and Fable to start with, assuming the engine is good and flexible and not just pretty.

 

[Sota4077]

If the budget rumour is true, it would include the first 2-3 years they spent just developing the slipstream engine, which will likely be used for other games like the Initiative’s game and Fable to start with, assuming the engine is good and flexible and not just pretty.

They may very well have just set aside a Halo budget that includes everything Halo gaming related. It is not even 343i direct budget. There could be a portion of that appropriation of funds that goes to 343i, some additional that may go to marketing, research etc. Microsoft are built on Halo. There is no way they do not do everything they can to make that survive. Hell the Windows 10 ecosystem literally has Cortana built into it. They need Halo to stay relevant. And while it is currently still relevant there is no denying that it is less popular than it once was.

 

[eastwood333]

Need new IPs getting sick of halo,gears,forza.. oh and some single player story driven games would be nice.

I don't think they need new ip. I think they need to just use the treasure chest of dormant ip they currently have:
Banjo
ShadowRun(Partner with Bungie or Crytek)
Perfect Dark(MS should partner with Bungie or Crytek)
Crimson Skies
Battletoads(by an actual top talent dev who will give it justice it deserves)

On 343i. If Halo Infinite turns out disappointing yet again after Halo 5, ithink MS should gut all of the top positions(Chris Lee,Bonnie Ross,Stinkles,Kiki Wolfkill etc) and get new blood. Possibly partner with Bungie on any future Halo. Possibly rename 343i and put that dev team on a new/different project.

 

[Sota4077]

Except for Hellblade 2, i have zero interest at all. Not because of the resulting output, but solely due Microsoft being one if not the worst offender when it comes to adding micro-transactions to their games. Phil Spencer said "the future is GaaS", so be ready for an influx of heavy MP-online driven titles from Microsoft, and/or SP that have lots of "post launch" goodies.

So I am admittedly an Xbox guy. What games exactly are so egregiously bad? So much so that they are one of if not thee worst in your eyes? There is little they have done this generation that is not on par with the rest of the industry on micro-transactions. Forza was bad and Halo was bad. But that hardly gives them the crown over someone like Ubisoft or even EA. I would even argue that Take Two are more egregious in many of their games.

A lot of people get fired up over stuff in certain games being purchasable when it is skins even though they can unlock them playing the games too. There is a spectrum for that. You can do the Battlefront II route which is egregious. Or you can do the Gears 5 route which is middle of the road or you can do the Sea Of Theives route which is just a straight you do not get certain items unless you pay but they are all cosmetic.

 

[quest]

I don't think they need new ip. I think they need to just use the treasure chest of dormant ip they currently have:
Banjo
ShadowRun
Perfect Dark
Crimson Skies
Battletoads(by an actual top talent dev who will give it justice it deserves)

We all know they just acquired the perfect team for shadowrun just need to get uncle phil to put that shit into motion. Even though it would take until 2024 to get out an obsidian shadowrun game with a pillar game budget would be epic.

 

[Hobbygaming]

That’s what’s so great about all the studios. Diversity. They have racers, shooters, RPGs, platformers, there’s something for everyone. When you look at the “competition” it’s really only one thing done well. Everything else is ignored or just average.

There's diversity on the PS4 especially when you count PSVR, it's just that those games don't get the same amount of attention from people

 

[SuperLupeRap]

Except for Hellblade 2, i have zero interest at all. Not because of the resulting output, but solely due Microsoft being one if not the worst offender when it comes to adding micro-transactions to their games. Phil Spencer said "the future is GaaS", so be ready for an influx of heavy MP-online driven titles from Microsoft, and/or SP that have lots of "post launch" goodies.

IP-wise? Sully, Drake, Elena, Chloe ... it took Sony like 10+ years to establish them with a few games. Unbeaten chemistry, without the need of giving them "steroids" to make them appeal, to a certain demographic. Without the multi-consoleros, this probably would have been Microsoft´s worst generation.

Eager to see what they´re cooking, but my interest is low.

I almost only play single player games and in 2019 I played 4 MS studios games I believe: MCC, Gears 5, Quantum Break, FH4.

Not once did I notice any micro transaction or felt like it was shoved down my throat. Maybe it's in the multiplayer component of those games I don't know.

But even in general, I hear sooo much about MT's in gaming today and I hardly EVER come across it. Either I'm unintentionally avoiding all those games or there's something I'm missing.

 

[Great Hair]

Or they could like not add them to $60 + $40 Season Pass titles ... you know, like in the past?

Spoiler

Halo 5 "Addons" cost an additional $300+

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/h...n/btfm6jrrsstm?activetab=pivot:eek:verviewtab

Gears 4 "Addons", Gears 5 "Addons", Sea of Thieves "Addons" and the rest of them (Forza, Halo Wars, etc.) + Windows 10 "ads"

Microsoft hires microtransactions expert

https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/job/451957/Online-Experience-Design-Director

Havent played any EA games, so cant compare them. But even if they´re not "shoved down" ... the mere fact of their existence in a $60 + 40 title is bad. Just because you don´t see or use/need them ... others might be inclined to waste $100 on them. What if Halo 6 is full of them?

Also iirc EA said "games are cheaper to make nowdays" (cant find a link)

 

[SuperLupeRap]

The Initiative did an itw not too long ago saying that AAAA was something one of contract recruiters came up and not the studio itself and they have no idea what that means.

So it seems they're just your regular AAA studio. Not gonna lie I was looking forward to whatever AAAA was.

 

[SuperLupeRap]

If the budget rumour is true, it would include the first 2-3 years they spent just developing the slipstream engine, which will likely be used for other games like the Initiative’s game and Fable to start with, assuming the engine is good and flexible and not just pretty.

Makes sense. Just for info though, it seems the Initiative are using UE4 for their new game as The Coalition have been helping them out a lot with tech on the Xbox.

 

[Sota4077]

The Initiative did an itw not too long ago saying that AAAA was something one of contract recruiters came up and not the studio itself and they have no idea what that means.

So it seems they're just your regular AAA studio. Not gonna lie I was looking forward to whatever AAAA was.

Add it to the pile of nonesense garbage the gaming industry creates to fool people into being excited for something new. I remember the first time I heard the phrase "Levolution" i just laughed hysterically. Back when Battlefield 4 was announced and there where huge setpieces that would collapse they thought it was the future of gaming. Turns out it was nothing more than a run of the mill scripted event just as games have had for decades.

 

[SuperLupeRap]

Hey everyone tried

Add it to the pile of nonesense garbage the gaming industry creates to fool people into being excited for something new. I remember the first time I heard the phrase "Levolution" i just laughed hysterically. Back when Battlefield 4 was announced and there where huge setpieces that would collapse they thought it was the future of gaming. Turns out it was nothing more than a run of the mill scripted event just as games have had for decades.

Hey I guess they're just trying stick out compared to the competition. It's a bit stupid sometimes but it happens in a lot of tech industries.

 

[Vasto]

Just invest in all their games the same way the do for Halo, Gears and Forza. Games like Recore and State Of Decay would have been much better with a AAA budget.

I just hope they stay with the RPG focus because I would rather have AAA RPGs then AAA 3rd person action adventure games. Do your own thing instead of trying to do what the competition is doing.

 

[Bernkastel]

Not sure if anyone is going to notice it in my long post, so I will post it again

343i having a budget of 500 million USD is a lie, Franky denied it in the other site.

 

[Slings and Arrows]

I would like to see another Pillars of Eternity by Obsidian. They make top-draw RPG's, there's no doubt.

If only they would add drop-in/drop-out co-op play like the original Baldurs Gate. It would fit well in to Microsoft's aim of connectivity and bringing people together.

 

[John117]

It Miss a game like TLOU or Uncharted in Microsoft first party titles.

 

[cireza]

I play on Xbox because I like the console and environment, however I don't feel so hot about first party output, even with all these studios added to the roster.

I still hope that some good single player adventure game can see the light of day in one of these studios, but MS has been enforcing multiplayer and co-op so much that I don't have faith.

Still I will gladly take whatever quality single player game they make, but I think it will only be a handful, and I also think some of them will try to imitate too much the style of Sony third person cinematic games, that I strongly dislike.

Third parties are where it's at anyway. It has always been the case...

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I play on Xbox because I like the console and environment, however I don't feel so hot about first party output, even with all these studios added to the roster.

I still hope that some good single player adventure game can see the light of day in one of these studios, but MS has been enforcing multiplayer and co-op so much that I don't have faith.

Still I will gladly take whatever quality single player game they make, but I think it will only be a handful, and I also think some of them will try to imitate too much the style of Sony third person cinematic games, that I strongly dislike.

Third parties are where it's at anyway. It has always been the case...

It's a weird thing about first party vs third party.

First party seems to usually skew to SP kinds of games. Ya, there' Halo and driving games that are MP, but most seem focused on SP.

But when it comes to certain genres and games with the most MP...... sports, fighters, shooters, RPG, any music fad. Some reason third party has always dominated.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

The effort it takes to respect your opening wishes...

With Obsidian and Ninja Theory, Microsoft now has two first-party studios I'm gonna be deeply invested in. Top-tier RPGs, and fuckin HELLBLADE, man. I'm more excited for Hellblade II than for anything else right now (that isn't Prey 2).
Plus with Halo finally reaching PC, there's a series I can get invested in. Hope they do the same thing with the full Gears series.

Is the gap closing between MS and Sony? Maybe a bit. Because of Hellblade. But if you asked me whose E3 conference I'd rather go to, I'd definitely pick Sony (but yes, I've heard the news on that front).

While I am a huge fan of these studios, we also need to be patient and recognize that it will likely be a LONG while before Obsidian puts out an AAA title, since they just release The Outer Worlds, which was a game I thoroughly enjoyed and should give a nice preview of what to expect from Obsidian.

 

[Gone]

"getting sick of Halo"
When was Guardians released?

 

[Potato Chip PRO]

I just want Conker back with a bang. I really love that IP and tbh, it's sad that MS/Rare hasn't put it to good use. There's an audience for those kinds of games.

 

[CatLady]

While I am a huge fan of these studios, we also need to be patient and recognize that it will likely be a LONG while before Obsidian puts out an AAA title, since they just release The Outer Worlds, which was a game I thoroughly enjoyed and should give a nice preview of what to expect from Obsidian.

Sad but true. Fortunately Pillars of Eternity is on GP and since I never played it, I'm enjoying it like it's a new Obsidian game at least for me.