I think Josef is too much of a character to be involved in a way like that.
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This is one genre that is really hard to do that. Xbox had an opportunity with the studio that was handling KI and blew it.
Mandatory “perfect for gamepass” game.
Not quite. Just super bad days going on in the Xbox team during that time. Rescuing Xbox from the clutches of the Windows team (Terry Myerson and co.) was a priority. Buying studios was the last thing on their mind.
You meant to post this elsewhere, I suppose. Josef?
Josef is the founder of Hazelight, the guys behind It Takes Two, A Way Out. Josef also worked on Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.
He’s a perfect candidate on the creativity front when it comes to joining Xbox, but he’s very outspoken about the industry to a degree that MS might not be comfortable with.
For example, him getting drunk and yelling “Fuck the Oscars!” on stage at the Game Awards, while Geoff is trying to move the show forward.
Also was very outspoken about the Xbox Series naming convention being confusing.
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The thread was for Killer Instinct. That’s why I asked him what Josef had to do with the thread.
BTW, Josef is ex Starbreeze. An underrated, muddied and forgotten gem of a studio. He makes good games. Don’t care about his attitude overall. It was cool of Larry to call him for an interview.
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I agree, I’m not overly concerned about his attitude, but someone acquiring him would. Lol
He’s got quite the pedigree though. Glad we’re at least getting his newer games through EA Access.
He is a prodigy, btw. His first game was right out of an internship for Starbreeze.
I also feel after listening to him, that he is quite naive and innocent, so it makes it easy for our ‘esteemed’ clickbait media to use him as a prop against Xbox whenever they can.
lol there’s nothing problematic about Josef Fares, what are people talking about?
Cuz he had an opinion that he prefers Playstation’s model over Gamepass, at least for now? And said Fuck the oscars which is pretty much a harmless meme at this point?
I’m well aware. I’m a fan of his work.
It’s not just about what he said, but he was clearly intoxicated on stage.
I’ve already said though, he’s got quite the pedigree, and I think he’s learned his lesson from that night (he debuted It Takes Two at the TGAs too), but let’s look at everyone else Xbox has acquired. In comparison to the rest of the leads, he’s a loose canon.
He’s awesome though, and I’ve already said that.
Edit: Looks like I was incorrect about the intoxicated part. Glad I was. Learn something new every day.
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Yes I dont know what happened
@NierlyCrazy I believe EA in their internal PR documents referred to Fares “As a great as a personality, but watch out for potential controversy.”
I reckon most people want to avoid the second part lol.
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Josef Fares is what the industry needs more of. People who have the balls to say what they want instead of being politically correct. His Oscar rant on TGA was classic. Drunk or not, who else would have the balls to do that? Very few people if any.
And he backs it all up by creating great games.
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If I remember right. MS did make an offer for Hazelight but Fares liked the deal EA offered better in that EA would give them access to to DICE Sweden (Who are a short distance away from where Hazelight offices are) and their other developers for technology sharing. Even though Hazelight was going to work on Unreal over Frostbite. Sometimes the deal isn’t about money, though the moolah helps.
Also it sounds like he’s still close with MS but loves winding them up.
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Josef fares wasn’t drunk he clarified it.
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his ‘fuck the oscars’ rant would have been more meaningful had he said it at an event that was actually better than the oscars
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I’ve always felt fares is a good fit for acquisition either by xbox,ea, or playstation. I loved a way out and was played several times by family members and will be playing it takes two when releases. I rather have small studios be acquired to create creative and unique ideas and grow them rather than publishers who become sequel central.
Thank you for correcting me.
I mean, I enjoy the TGAs more than the Oscars… but that’s because of the reveals.
The actual awards themselves are okay. They have a lot of work to do on that front imo. Make sure that less popular (yet critically adored) games are getting the spotlight in categories they excel in.
For example, I was surprised by Death Stranding and DOOM Eternal being GOTY contenders when there are numerous other games that were critical darlings above those.
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how do you hate gamepass when your games debut on a identical service like Origin/EA PlayPro
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