I see those as deserving of their own thread with focused discussion.
1 Like
The thread is basically a discord server with a forum attached. Seems OK.
I think a catch-all general topic is fine for now. If mods see a discussion that is dominating the thread they can tell us to break off into a separate thread. Basically if the discussion is working fine and everyone can follow it then there isn’t a reason to change it. If people feel that a topic is being overshadowed by some other topic they can always split off no big deal.
Technically we don’t need a “Xbox Game Studios” topic either. We can create individual topics for each studio. Yet there probably isn’t enough traffic to support that. You’d only need to break off if discussion of one of the studios dominated the others.
1 Like
Want to thank everyone for the thoughts and suggestions thus far. Keep 'em coming!
3 Likes
I will say i only pass by these parts every once in a while and do more lurking than commenting, but that the big games studios thread is definitely, with its 9000+ and counting posts unwieldy and imposing, even with the feature that starts you where you last left off more often than not i just skip to the most recent posts in the thread skim it and see if anything of interest is being talked about. and more often than not conversation has often cycled to the similar talks as the last time I have looked at the thread, something about xbox exclusives and if they should keep them on xbox/pc, something about acquisitions, maybe hype for the next latest game to come out . Even when I do sometimes wanna comment the conversation feels like its moved on often than not and i dont wanna reply to a post 40 to 200 posts back. That said i agree that probably there isnt enough users where most individual threads on most topics don’t have much traction, but I do think that one big “general” thread is intimidating (or cyclical in discourse) in a way that drives off non-regulars posting in it.
Once the current Xbox Game Studios OT maxes out, TWO new OT’s should be made.
-
Xbox Game Studios OT…this would strictly be for all of Microsoft’s first party studios and that’s it. No Cyberpunk or Valhalla, third party, Sony, Nintendo, etc. talk whatsoever. It should just be about Microsoft’s first party internal studios that they own. The few opening posts should have the details about all the studios, however, I would only include the history starting from when Microsoft acquired them and with the studios first game release. So for example, there would be no Id Software history, just a current update, simply because they haven’t released anything under Microsoft. Also, because all of their studios games will be exclusive to Xbox/PC, it doesn’t make any sense to include games like The Outer Worlds, Doom Eternal, Psychonauts 2 or Wasteland 3 because they’re simply not a part of it yet. This topic needs to stay true to what it is and the history, games need to reflect that. The Coalition has a short history starting with Gears 4 or 343 with Halo 4. All the previous stuff shouldn’t be included because it has nothing to do with being a part of Microsoft’s internal first parties. Hope this is coming across clearly.
-
Xbox General OT…this would be for everything else that is that is related to Xbox like third party games, games going on Game Pass, release dates, etc.
Other OT should be as follows -
-
PlayStation Game Studios OT…same as Xbox but for PlayStation. Also applicable to the same as Xbox in regards to the studio history. For example, Insomniac just had Spider Man: Miles Morales get released for PS5/PS4 so this should be the start of their history and whatnot. I know some in general may not like this but unless you’re an internally owned studio, I simply don’t count those games because it’s two different things when it comes to making a deal and signing a contract for a game compared to actually owning the studio.
-
PlayStation General OT…same as Xbox.
-
Nintendo Game Studios OT…same as Microsoft/Sony.
-
Nintendo General OT…same as Microsoft/Sony.
Obviously, I know this is an Xbox focused site but there’s plenty of people here who play PlayStation and/or Nintendo as well so they should have their respective topics as well. However, both should be restricted to just those two OT’s for each individual brand.
Only exception for a Sony/Nintendo thread/topic would be if they acquired a development studio or something major. Otherwise, all related news and info stays in those two topics.
I know some dislike the Digital Foundry OT but I like it because I don’t want to see thread after thread of DF comparisons for every single game released and analyzed. It’s perfect to just have it all in one condensed OT.
Individual Game OT’s are obviously here and should naturally continue.
In general for every thread itself, I like that it’s one massive thread because I always hated going back to previous pages to find where I left off. This way, when I click into the thread, it takes me to the last post that I saw/read. Love that.
Just thought of something -
Every first party title that gets released (starting with Gears Tactics from a month ago), there should be an OT and that it should be “pinned”. Because obviously, it’s going to be the first party games that get the most views and posts and why look for them when they could be pinned with the rest of the pinned topics.
I also think that it would be a good idea to eliminate the Xbox technology glossary pinned OT because vast majority know what Xbox Series X/S specs are and whatnot. As time goes, no one is going to post in that topic. So no reason to have it.
The Xbox General OT could maybe just have a link to that info from Microsoft’s web site for those who want to read and know everything if they don’t already.
Also, I think the Games with Gold OT should be gone. Let’s be honest, that can be posted and talked about in the General OT and isn’t worth being pinned. It should be replaced with the Game Pass OT which is far more important in my opinion.
That’s a lot but pretty much it.
Overall, I love this site and forum and everyone here has been a pleasure to converse with so outside of maybe a few nitpicks, no actual complaints or issues. In the words of AshenLuca from Twitter/YouTube…XBOX BABY!!! 
3 Likes
I think the OT should stay for general Xbox related discourse as not everything discussed is worthy of being its own post. However, when there is a forum post about a topic the discussion should be in that forum post and not the OT.
So for instance, if Microsoft acquires studio x. The OT should not be discussing that topic it should be in the studio x acquisition thread.
1 Like
I completely agree with this and plenty of others that hit these points home.
And of course, I’ll never a miss a chance to invite everyone to talk about things in their OTs like… I don’t know, acquisitions in the Xbox Acquisition OT 
5 Likes
But how would that work? Would there be heavily moderation so each thread stays on topic? Not sure if I like that. Sometimes you do drift and go a bit off topic.
I’ve come here from nowhere and I feel like its weird having such a long thread on a forum full of threads discussing aspects of it. I’d just do away with it and have individual discussions about studios and their projects as and when…
I definitely think these need to be pinned:
•Game Pass OT
•XGS OT
•General Xbox OT
And maybe we can unpin some stuff that’s there now.
A decision has been made, feedback is of course welcome, but I hope we’ve gone with the best of both worlds.
4 Likes