Who knows what justification exists should Microsoft decide to make this move as some suggest. The exclusivity deals on everything from the JRPG space is quite something, I believe Forspoken is two years. FFVII Remake almost one and a half years on shows no sign of releasing on Xbox.
Square Enix is that company that makes games and the first call is to see whether they can get timed exclusivity or with a game like Outriders, a Game Pass deal. Contractual obligations would be a pain to deal with.
Most people agree with this. The problem is that Warner wasn’t interested in selling the licenses. They wanted to sell the studios without the franchises for 4 billion dollars.
Sure, that was a while ago and things change, but the most recent information we have is that Warner wasn’t selling the licenses.
If MS manages to get both the studios and the licenses, then I agree, it would be a hell of a deal.
Not commenting on your larger point that WB will have much higher output than CDPR (obviously that’s true), but I think these numbers are too optimistic as a future projection. 2 games per generation is basically the new upper bounds for AAA, and just 1 game per generation will be quite common, unless you have multiple teams at a single studio working in tandem or you are doing smaller expansion pack type games. Huge games that come out like clockwork (e.g. Call of Duty) often monpolise the time of multiple studios. Games that were previously on ironclad 2 year cycles like Forza Motorsports and Horizon have now blown out to 3+ year cycles (3 for Horizon 5, going likely 5 for Motorsports reboot).
Rocksteady released 1 game last generation. Their current game has been in development for 4.5 years and will be ~5.5 years by the time it comes out.
WB Montreal released 0 games and some DLC packs last generation. It had two major cancellations for quality and scheduling reasons internally.
Netherrealm released 3 games during the last generation, but is now running at least 1 year behind what was previously a clockwork schedule.
Traveler’s Tales is actually something you undercounted, which made 8 games last generation - although these were not AAA productions, and at the start of the generation they were making 1-2 games per year, and now they’re going 3 years between releases (2019 → 2022 target, assuming no further delays). This is a huge drop in number of releases at the tail end of the generation. Lego Star Wars taking 3+ years is what the studio looks like if you try to increase ambition and not just do ultra cheap games with the studio.
We’re at the time when 4 years for an AAA game means things went smoothly, and 5-6 years is what it looks like when games had some rough patches and had to iterate a lot. Deathloop was a nearly 5 year production. Psychonauts 2 was nearly 6 years. SIX YEARS. That’s basically a whole console gen! This is also just highlighting why it’s so important that Microsoft keeps accelerating production, because 23 studios with 26 or so teams probably means ~28-34 internally developed games in a whole 7 year generation.
Exactly. Warner with licenses would be one of the best acquisitions possible. On the other hand, Warner without the licenses for 4 billion dollars is a bad deal.
There’s lots of opportunity out there. Nows the time to strike and snap up the studios that really fit, while you can still make decisions like that and don’t have to force yourself in a particular studio down the road.
People focus on timed exclusives, but knowing you’ll never see another AAA JRPG without an Xbox is a market shaking move, even it it takes 2 years to fully set in.
I don’t see how game as service would be bad for Gamepass. Halo, Forza and Gears are game as a service and these are some of Xbox’s biggest franchises.
Agreed.
Agreed, but so do Warner. They had a lot cancelled games.
Agreed
Agreed and that’s why I think that Ubisoft isn’t happening.
How is a publisher that makes games that sell double digit millions consistently, have high engagement and own most of their original IP not help game pass???
Assassins Creed
Immortal Fenix Rysing
The division
Rainbow Six Siege
Far Cry
Just that off the top of my head. Just say they are heavily bloated staff wise and have some bad PR but I wouldn’t say they arent worth game pass or wouldn’t help at all the service.
So is Sea of Thieves, Halo, F76. GEARS 5, Forza, ESO so ??
I dont get the arguement against ubisoft from a game side either. My problem with ubisoft is the bloat and the amount of employees but its hard to argue against the ips. They might all be the same but so are CBS sitcoms and they do really well.
The biggest problems with Ubisoft stem from the absolutely toxic culture, that Microsoft has repeatedly wanted to avoid, and the breadth of talent focused on only a few projects every year, and the myriad of project management issues seen across the non-AC titles.
True. I had some hope a while back that Xboc could have freed Blizzard from Activision’s clutches but now I dont want xbox to go anywhere near Blizzard for similar toxic culture reasons.
I can understand that but, for me, Blizzard was a lost cause years ago. I have never been a WoW fan, but I grew up with Warcraft and Diablo, and it’s been frustrating to watch the past decade of botched launches, slow response to feedback, and as we know now, an abhorrent view of women and POC.
Agreed, as long as the talented, wonderful people who weren’t part of the problems get jobs elsewhere, I’d be happy to see that there’s actually some accountability in this world…
