Just looking at the amazing talent who are still developing games is just mouth watering:
Dan Houser making a new game at Absurd Ventures (ex - creative head at Rockstar)
Casey Hudson making a new game at Humanoid (ex Mass Effect creative head)
Ken Levine making a new game at Ghost Story Studios at Take2. (Bioshock creative head)
Raphael Colantonio making Weird West at his newly created WolfEye studios (ex Akrane joint head)
Brass Token studios (ex - Sleeping Dogs dev) making The Chant
Playdead making an arpg with Epic
Playdead ex-CEO making an exclusive game with Xbox with his new England based studio Jumpship
Stannon Studstill still nowhere in the news, and no idea what she is doing now (ex Santa Monica studio head)
Amazing opportunities for partnerships, and acquisitions too in some of these cases. Targeting veteran talent has to be one of the objectives. I know Colantonio does not want to do AAA anymore and Levine is with Take2, but the others are still a possibility.
Personally, if Microsoft were to ever pay for a single AAA title to be fully exclusive to Xbox/PC, GTA VI would be the game that they should pay for. In my opinion, it’s literally the only game that can create a paradigm shift in regards to who the console and market leader is.
where did you get that Playdead is making an ARPG? From my knowledge, all they’ve told is it’ll be a proper 3D game this time, and we have some idea of how it’ll look based on the concept art.
Any link you have to this ARPG info?
Or any chance you’re confusing them with Moon Studios?
How many of these actual new creative head studios actually end up flourishing into something huge? I legit can only recall Respawn which has made its way into EA making major gains and taking power lol.
Rockstar dropped GTA V (soon 3 times) and RDR2 in that decade and had a crazy amount of post launch support. They also had a shorter amount of times between releases beforehand. I wish they could get back to that. But I think the output isn’t that different tbh. Correct me if I’m wrong but F76 was made largely by a new team inside of BGS wasn’t it?
BTW I don’t wish for Take Two, but I think it’s the most likely one. It’s for a corporation like Microsoft the most hassle free and most marketshare gaining option.
It’s not exactly a bang for a buck choice, but my guess is that isn’t how a large company like Microsoft thinks.
I’m glad this is a minority take; you, and others, really need to stop discrediting Mojang (as a studio and an Xbox studio). They’ve built one of the biggest games of all time that surpasses just gaming. It’s educational impact alone is going to be responsible for encouraging a whole new generation of gamers and devs alike. Financially, it’s been extremely profitable for Microsoft.
Just because you want them to strip the potential away from what is one of the few endeavors in gaming that extends beyond the “normal” audience in order to make it exclusive, doesn’t make Mojang or Minecraft any less of an Xbox property.
In other words, people keep bringing Mojang up when Xbox Game Studios are discussed because they’re an Xbox Game Studio.
I agree but its also reasonable to hold that Mojang feels like the least Xbox Games Studio seeing their efforts (or lack thereof) in cross-save and all that, while the other XGS studios are setting industry standards in these aspects. Jez had written a good article on it which you might already be aware of.
I do think Mojang needs to do better in some things, but I am not of the opinion they need to make exclusive stuff cuz as you said, Minecraft is beyond gaming and should be on as many things as possible. It’s the exception to the rule but a very strong one.
It honestly makes too much sense to pick them up, they got rid of some fat from the company, they have many studios, big IP and this honestly could be their hub for Japan.
I think having SEGA as their hub in Japan would be massive, they will get built in staff and culture there and it will massively speed up their work in Japan. They could use SEGA as a awesome 1st party publisher for Japanese indie devs. I can see MS really wanting a big hub like SEGA in Japan/Asia, a big hub for Europe and so on.
They are going to need separate publishers like SEGA and Bethesda to ease work load on Matt Booty and I’m sure it would be much easier to have people manage a smaller batch of studios instead of having to manage 30 studios for 1 person. MS isn’t going to stop buying studios and even creating them so it’s going to always be an issue.
With all that said I would not be shocked if MS is targeting more publishers I could see them try buy at least 1 or 2 more. Another thing to add, other companies could pick up these publishers too so it could even be a defensive move.
I feel sad when I see some people talking about GTA like It’s the only game take - two own
1 - Take-Two owns huge titles capable of making a difference in the industry and game pass :
BioShock
civilization
XCOM
Mafia
Grand Theft Auto
Max Payne
Red Dead
L.A. Noire
Bully
And many other sports titles
2- Rockstar has a lot of support studios that Microsoft can use at any time without any additional cost
3 - They have a good publisher arm like Private Division , Microsoft can use it to get great titles from various independent developers around the world and at the same time reduce the pressure on Xbox Game Studios Publishing
4 - They have world-class leader in video-based facial animation studio ( Dynamixyz )
5- They own studios specializing in mobile games, where Microsoft can make These studios use the titles they own and make side games or special versions for mobile devices to reach many players around the world
I’m not saying that Microsoft will buy take - two , But those who say that having them is a bad deal should think again
After acquiring a huge publisher like bethesda , Everyone laughs and thinks Microsoft won’t do it again . everyone should remember that according to the information Brad Sams heard, Microsoft was setting its sights on EA in order to acquire them in 2018 , This gives you a look at how Microsoft was willing to pay huge sums of money
Microsoft has huge ambitions beyond anyone’s imagination , I wouldn’t be surprised if Microsoft ends up acquired 1 - 3 more huge publisher before 2025
GTA alone is worth it IMO, when a new GTA comes out it’s a massive event. Didn’t the 1st GTA5 trailer get like 30m views. Everyone knows what GTA is too non games and gamers alike. All those other titles are great, no doubt but GTA is their biggest IP and one of the most important IP in gaming.
Series S was the highest selling console in india for two months consecutively and the reason retailers gave was the fact that gta v was on gamepass and thats why people were gravitating towards it and buying it over PS4. So yeah, literally GTA V alone is not just selling Gamepass as a service but also selling xbox consoles alone by itself.
oh by the way gta v is 8 years old.
So yes, a new GTA/RDR/etc launching day 1 on GP is gonna be a wrap
