What do we think about Bethesda being a separate publishing arm? I think this is the way to go

Gaming
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Klobrille graphic, what do we think about Bethesda being a separate publishing arm under the Xbox brand?

I would imagine it would similar to Disney and how Lucasarts, Pixar, Marvel Studios and DIsney Pictures are all under the Disney brand and owned by Disney but remain separated from each other

In video game terms, Take Two has Private Division, Rockstar and 2K.
Also EA pretty much put Vince in charge of EA Los Angeles operations too.

This is probably for the best, imagine if Matt had to manage all of XGS on top of Bethesda? They really need to split up responsibilities if they’re going to have 8 bajillion developers. Let Matt run XGS and let Bethesda stay independent but obviously making games only for Xbox ecosystem under the larger Xbox umbrella.

If MS buys future publishers like Sega, should also be the same case.

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If it means no lay-offs, then fuck yeah. I don’t have a problem acquiring publishers if everyone gets to keep their job.

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I don’t like it.

Organisation wise it might be a good idea, at least at first, but it should all be Xbox Game Studios. Keep that organisation internally but externally and in the end its all Xbox Game Studios.

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This

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Yeah, since it probably means less lost jobs I’m for it. I know my company kind of did something similar when it was acquired and I think I can count the number of jobs lost over the 3 year transition period on one hand. Legit, I can name the people who’s jobs were lost. It was 4 upper tier managers.

So, I’m hoping this is similar and it is a gradual transition where they can find spots for everyone somewhere in either Bethesda or XGS, or even elsewhere in MS.

I think the XGS logo is going up on all games after the acquisition, if you are worried about that. It’ll be another splash screen to press A through.

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It will be the same as what Embracer Group does with THQ Nordic and Deep Silver. Only difference is that you’ll see an Xbox Game Studios logo before the Bethesda logo.

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I think this is for the best.

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i guess the idea idea is to not have any disruption or friction with an enormous number(2300) of employees

trust and work with the structure in place, they’re gonna report to Xbox higher ups instead of the ghouls in the Zenimax board room

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The case is, it don’t think it will. It will be the same as all the other acquisitions: creative freedom, lots of financing and resources, but all of them will report to Phil and Matt Booty and will work with Aaron Greenberg - unless Pete Hines is tasked on the Bethesda arm the same way that Aaron is on XGS, this will remain just an infographic made by Kob.

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Yeah I hear that the board all got made out like bandits and are gonna fuck right off, that’s good, let them report directly to Phil

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I just hope they realize they work for XBox now and stop putting their precious IP on Playstation.

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What are you on

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I like the idea and it should help prevent layoffs. The Bethesda marketing team is also one of the very best in the business IMO.

That said, I hope Booty and Spencer have more direct control now in the sense that they can delay games and allocate budgets as needed. I would prefer Arkane run under the Obsidian and InXile approach of “Make whatever the hell you want so long as it’s good” over the Zenimax approach of “Go make X game”.

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I mean if they’re going to operate as 2 separate entities how is Matt Booty going to play into Bethesda?

I imagine Matt will run XGS and Pete, Todd and Co will run the Bethesda side of things and both will answer directly to Phil

Also makes me wonder if any new studios join if they’ll always be under XGS or potentially be added to the Bethesda wing

Like when Asobo inevitably joins they’ll likely be under the XGS wing. I feel eventually XGS is going to get too many studios for Matt to handle by himself so they’ll either have to move them to another publishing arm even start a new publishing arm ei XGS 2 or something

Maybe…

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That…that was deep. Yikes!

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I think it’s a great move because it leaves Matt Booty free to continue growing Xbox Game Studios, adding new independent developers plus growing existing teams, all without getting burdened by onboarding or overseeing a huge operation like Bethesda.

I could see Xbox adding more arms / branches if they acquire another medium-to-large outfit with multiple studios (e.g., Capcom, read: I don’t think this is happening, it’s just an example) or a very large studio that highly values independence (e.g., Bungie, read: I think this will happen someday).

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I think too that they will be separate publishing brands all operating under Xbox and Phil Spencer. Basically, I think Pete Hines and Matt Booty will have the same responsability in regards to their groups, but all creative decisions and publishing decisions will ultimately be discussed with Phil.

It is a bit like Kadokawa which has many publishing groups, but they are all operating under Kadokawa. In a similar way, you will have Xbox tying all of them in, and then separate publishing groups, with Matt Booty directing XGS and Pete Hines BGS.

I think this is the only way to avaid as many layoffs as possible, by keeping Bethesda publishing group still intact.