I’ve been saying this very thing for months! I even showed a map! I did my homework!
I have noticed that the community reception to TRS’s changes to B4B have not been well-received. Really hope the game doesn’t end up being a flash in the pan. A Microsoft acquisition could help strengthen the community around the game, I’d say.
Thunderful is on acquisition season and hopefully Xbox Game Studios will be soon too.
They publishing The Gunk interesting
I’m sure when Phil said “casual games”, he meant games that are E+ rating and especially can be played with simple/basic gameplay. So COD and Fortnite are out of the question and I would argue that minecraft (and grounded) are casual but not really that “casual” given the deep and kinda complicated the gameplay loops. When i think casual i think games like mario kart/tetris on consoles that even 3 years toddlers can jump-straight into the game.
Yeah Nintendo is a pretty good target
People forget that so easily. Just because a game is popular doesn’t make it “casual”, which also is used derogatory by certain people. Games like Mario Kart but also mobile games, are closer to that market. Heck even games like Donkey Kong Country, while difficult in game play, still have that “family friendly casual” pull.
It has nothing to do with just an “E” rating, but more about how much fun it is to play for the whole family. Arcade games were usually quite good in that (AS they needed to be easy to pick up and play and hard to finish). And no, Roguelikes and Soulsborns are NOT casual 
. (Sorry I have a personal dislike for how many of those are out there now 
).
I mean, casual is often used for the term “popular” and even “non-competitive” in multiple parts of the entertainment industry, including gaming.
Casual and Recreation are very much synonyms, and aren’t necessarily derogatory terms. Not to mention the metrics of being “casual” can change over time based on changes in pop culture and other metrics.
So yes, family games like Fall Guys can be casual, but so can Call of Duty. Just as much as Call of Duty can be competitive, as well as Fall Guys.
It’s such a blanket statement of a word that really it’s not worth arguing over.
He means 1v100 
I think it is only being discussed because of how it relates to acquisition targets, and one interpretation leads to widely different targets than the other.
Did someone say acquisitions 
Casual the sims franchise, its a creative chill and relax, house flipper, not all have to be social but they need some triple a e rated games. Definitely e rated, i thought the new one from rare might fit the bill.
Who dat
Absolutely, just wanna throw my two cents in that it could mean multiple things. And I don’t think I’ve seen too many outlandish opinions on the matter as of yet.
keep an eye on techland situation
What’s new there?
not great impression on DL 2 and i don’t think major problems in studio gone away. but that said i still expect DL 2 to sell. we will have to wait and see
We’ve discussed it here before. There’s too many skeletons in the closet there for Microsoft to want to get involved.
And they’ve discussed going public.
Yeah i know but i don’t think techland will stay independent, they will get acquired by other company or they sell share of studio to companies like Tencent
I know that the term “casual games” was a major discussion point here because Phil and Sarah mentioned it, and the interpretation of the word affected who they could target.
But there is the other little thing that we heard recently from Sarah which might give a different dimension of how an acquisition is being looked at by Xbox - mutual growth.
Not all companies do mutual growth acquisitions - S and N do it for capacity only, and they slap their own good production pipeline to those studios. So, the learning is usually only by the studios.
Here, Xbox wants to grow too with every acquisition, and not just through capacity.
This actually made me revisit some of my theories as to what could be a good studio that can also teach Xbox a thing or two.
Some which come to mind- Squae West (CD and E), Crytek, Remedy, Gravity Well.
(Besides the usual suspects of Avalanche, IOI, wbg and Sega.)
Activision value might be cut in a 3rd this year…