I could see Bungie making a second party game for MS But no way would MS be buying them again.
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Well, I hear Ono is available…
Yeah, I just don’t think Bungie would be a sound investment: the cost, the troubled history, and legitimate worries about their business model make them a no go for me (and I’m a Marathon man). The cost alone could fund eight or nine more quality purchases, especially if 4A’s cost is anything to go by; obviously WB Games being an outlier to that equation.
What about People Can Fly? Good IP (Painkiller, Bulletstorm, Outriders), and some history working on GoW
IMO it would be good to cycle some studios on certain licenses like: Halo & GoW, kind of like Playground & Turn 10 do with Forza, plus it would give studios like the Coalition & 343i the freedom to work on some other things, if they wanted to.
It would be interesting to see how People Can Fly or another studio would approach the Halo or GoW universe.
Also, 17 AAA teams is not enough to turn out 1st party content at a regular interval (6/year) and at a healthy development cycle (4-5yr). MS needs to add 8-10 more teams
Guys, Bungie really, really wants to remain independent. Same for Remedy. These studios aren’t being bought by Microsoft.
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And yeah, Microsoft really needs to get back on the ball with studio acquisitions. I think everyone agrees they NEED more studios to provide proper support to Game Pass going forward.
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People Can Fly would definitely be a great pick, especially with their Xbox history (I personally liked Judgment, and it was a visual stunner), but I usually forget about them for some reason. I think some of the others on my list would still be higher up for personal sentiments, but there’s no denying that PCF would be a great addition to the XGS.
As to your point about 17 studios not being enough, I completely agree. At this point, Microsoft is the only of the Big Three that’s aiming for that future market as well, so they’re essentially fighting to gain marketshare in two different segments of the gaming industry with the Cloud/Subscription model being competed with Apple, Google, and Amazon. Therefore, I think it’s absolutely necessary for them to be looking at being a publishing house that has 25-30 studios to provide the stream of content required to fight on those two fronts, whilst still allowing them their studios the freedom to not be rushed.
Would be the perfect studio, Bulletstorm was fantastic
I’m not for MS buying Bungie and they should stay far away from discount Naughty Dog aka Remedy but these studios always say they want to remain independent until Phil or whoever drops the bag on them
Psyonix wasn’t even remotely strapped for cash and Rocket League was killing it, they could of remained independent like Bungie but they still sold to Epic because Epic dropped the bag on them
If they want to deliver 2-4 AAA games they definitely would. If they at least got 2 out IO, Techland, Asobo, People can Fly then that would be a huge weight off TC, Obsidian, Playground, Inxiles shoulders
Currently -
- 343 Industries (1 AAA team, Halo Infinite)
- The Coalition (1 AAA team, rumored to be Gears 6)
- PlayGround Games (2 AAA teams, Fora Horizon 5/Fable)
- Turn 10 Studios (1 AAA team, Forza Motorsport reboot)
- Rare (2 AAA teams, Sea of Thieves/Everwild)
- Ninja Theory (1 AAA team, Hellblade II: Senua’s Saga - 2 AA teams, Bleeding Edge/Project Mara)
- The Initiative (1 AAA team, rumored to be Perfect Dark reboot)
- Obsidian Entertainment (3 AA teams, Avowed/The Outer Worlds 2/Grounded)
- InXile Entertainment (1 AA team, currently releasing Wasteland 3/working on next gen RPG)
- Undead Labs (1 AA team/State of Decay 3)
- Compulsion Games (1 AA team, working on next gen title)
- Double Fine (1 AA team, currently working on Psychonauts 2)
- World’s Edge (1 AA team, currently working on Age of Empires IV)
Potential Additions -
- Techland (1 AAA team, currently working on Dying Light 2)
- Asobo (2 AA teams, currently releasing Flight Simulator 2020/working on Plague Tale 2)
- The Astronauts (1 AA team, currently working on Witchfire)
- People Can Fly (1 AA team, currently working on Outriders)
- IO Interactive (1 AA team, currently working on Hitman III)
Overall -
10 AAA teams total and 13 AA teams total which isn’t bad by any means. I would like to see a total of 15 AAA teams and 15 AA teams. Just have to wait and see what happens.
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I think you need more then that I would say at least 6 more studios, Phil has said he wants gamepass to be the Netflix of gaming and also wants a AAA first party game every quarter, People Can Fly, Asobo, Remedy, Bloober Team, Fromsoftware, WB.
Honestly, I’m good with how many they currently have and have no quarrels if they add more. I’m in regardless. Just give me the pre orders.
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Fair point, I still can’t believe it’s almost the end of August and neither console have prices, release dates, or preorders available. Then again, it’s the COVID era and this year has essentially been a dumpster fire in a lot of ways so I should just be grateful we’re getting anything good 
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Pls forget Fromsoftware, it’s not happening. The studio is already owned by a megacorp called Kadokawa. Also, there’s no goddamn way a Japanese studio so aligned with Playstation in the past is gonna not release games on that platform anymore.
Yeah people just need to be patient. Covid has changed the way the world operates as a whole. The goods will come - just may take a little more time than we’re used to. That being said, There’s a whole slew of games on the horizon that I’ll rock day one on GP on my Series X. Adding more dev houses at this point regardless of who they are, Im confident I’ll be able to play each and every one of their games at my leisure once they hit GP. Thats whats dope! Every 1st party game from XGS currently and the devs that will join XGS family will end up in the same place for the same price on the same hardware. Regardless of how long we have to wait the results will be the same. And at $15 a month vs $60+ per game, that’s not an IF, that’s a when, guaranteed.
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Once upon a time they very nearly did. And Sega would have been theirs as part of the deal too. In that same generation they also passed up the chance to get GTA3 as an Xbox exclusive.
Correct me if I am wrong but InXile will have a AAA project after Wasteland. Obsidian are also a full fledged AAA team. Undead Labs also being staffed to be a lot bigger in scope.
Although many if these studios are still staffing up, they will be outputting much higher quality projects in the coming years.
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I’d also like to Microsoft target smaller studios like Team Cherry (Hollow Knight), Yacht Club Games (Shovel Knight), Capy Games (Don’t Starve, Superbrothers), and Drinkbox (Guacamelee).
It’s sort of assumed within Xbox’s strategy that the extra money will help Compulsion Games and Undead Labs take that next step and make games that live up to their vision, but they’ve never actually shown that they can master or fully flesh out a game’s mechanics. I’d rather see them target studios that have shown quality, even if the scope of the game is a bit smaller.
It’s kind of what hurts about letting Moon Studio slip through their fingers (for now, at least)-- Microsoft could have helped them realize their ambition with their next project, and continued to help them grow into one of the best studios out there.
I agree but I have to see them being AAA first. Until then, I see their games as AA. But if they’re getting elevated to AAA, then awesome but I need to see it first.
Lol wut? Both Avowed and InXile’s RPG are in the AAA category, I have no idea why you consider Avowed an AA game
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They’re said to be AAA but I have to see it first in order to believe it. One five second clip from Avowed isn’t going to change that. Need to show me a lot more.