Xbox Game Studios |OT12| The One with Starfield and Activision Blizzard King

[Sparda3g]

https://x.com/idlesloth84_/status/1706051805287747796?s=46&t=O_AGT9SEnlptKOF_2SxtqQ

Brace yourself.

[TheAshCohen09 (Ash Cohen)]

@Sparda3g

https://x.com/idlesloth84_/status/1706051805287747796?s=46&t=O_AGT9SEnlptKOF_2SxtqQ

Brace yourself.

I am ready.

[KakkaKarrotKake]

@Freed

This is so hard to imagine lol, an advantage with CRPGs is their production is less complex than traditional 1st/3rd person RPGs, so you can pull up the scope and reactivity levers higher because you won’t be worried about all other production aspects as much as in traditional 1st/3rd person. BG3 does get much more than usual CRPGs in production

I know but it’s just an instinctive thing from me

I understand that they are able to do many of the things they do because of lower production but i’ll just always be picturing it in an ES type skin

[Resist]

@pg2g

"In the first episode of the series, co-founder Tameem Antoniades confirmed that “the team will be about twice the size of Hellblade’s team.”

This is from 2020, it could have changed since but that’s what they said

The Ninja Diaries Episode 1 | The Mission (Ninja Theory)

At 7:07

[Freed]

@Resist

At 7:07

That’s the whole studio, not the Hellblade 2 team.

[Resist]

@Freed

Yay. But not necessarily made by Blizzard internally. I don’t think Blizzard ever ship games like that, so maybe external/co-dev.

They don’t ship survival games and yet they are making one.

[pg2g]

@Resist

At 7:07

Listen at 3:10

[Resist]

@Freed

That’s the whole studio, not the Hellblade 2 team.

Pretty sure most of the team are helping to get hellblade 2 shipped compared to a smaller game like project mara that is about a single character in a single room.

[Freed]

@Resist

Pretty sure most of the team are helping to get hellblade 2 shipped compared to a smaller game like project mara that is about a single character in a single room.

Could be, but they chose to say it’s relatively smaller team for Hellblade 2. Sure, most of the studio could be contributing in different ways, and support from other Xbox studios and outsourcing/contracting as well I’m sure. But they choose to distinguish that the core team is smaller relative to other AAA, and they feel proud about that.

[Freed]

Cool conversation. They touch a bit about the stupid console war (host is Insomniac founder) in a funny way.

Making Starfield with Bethesda's Todd Howard | The AIAS Game Maker's Notebook Podcast

[Phantom]

MS seems to be sure that ABK deal is going through. They opened this position on the same day as CMA gave a preliminary approval.

Senior Finance Manager | Microsoft Careers

The Experiences, Devices and Marketing (EDM) Finance team has an exciting opportunity for a skilled financial professional to support our newest game studio additions to Xbox Gaming – Activision, Blizzard, and King (ABK).

“In this role, you will partner with the Activision Blizzard Integration team and studio to work towards the successful integration of this business and, upon close, deliver accurate and timely financial analysis and manage finance rhythm of the business activities. This role will partner with teams to drive towards studio integration and create processes to drive revenue, cost of goods sold, operating expenses, balance sheet, headcount and Key Peformance Indicator reporting.”

Hierarchy Creation – Partner with integration team to develop and implement a hierarchy for Activision in the Microsoft financial systems that will allow clear reporting lines for financial views and headcount management.

Integration Planning - Partner with the broader Microsoft integration team across all financial areas to drive the successful integration of the Activision business.

[Zip]

@Freed

…Cool conversation. They touch a bit about the stupid console war (host is Insomniac founder) in a funny way.

That podcast usually has some pretty good discussions and are hosted by people with experience in the area of the interviewee (and who typically knows the person). I’ll definitely have to check this out.

[BadNews]

@anon74828371

… It’s not doing well outside of the US sadly https://twitter.com/BathrobeSpartan/status/1706009538594238501?t=_09bZEeFvP1Af3nOA1Rhow&s=19 https://twitter.com/BathrobeSpartan/status/1706009550107652181?t=MOLOc5JlLWWRh8pXf10v0A&s=19 https://twitter.com/BathrobeSpartan/status/1706009555912552700?t=7bD9cSyxLq5fZZrQOvhm_g&s=19

They’re right because right now the current state of Halo Infinite can compete with the powerhouse non-br shooters in COD, Overwatch, Rainbow 6, etc. However, I think the bad MP launch scared many away and many won’t come back.

It might be a risky move, but I think they need to find a way to have a reboot type of event by calling it Halo Infinite MP 2.0 or something along that line, so they can get people to try again. I think the issue Halo was facing it had to be nearly perfect at launch to retain players because most people went back to their usual MP games after the launch wasn’t that great in variety.

[Sparda3g]

https://x.com/halo/status/1706355777672450523?s=12

Pretty neat for acknowledging.

[Sparda3g]

https://x.com/groundedthegame/status/1706420850189095257?s=46&t=O_AGT9SEnlptKOF_2SxtqQ

[Astrakan]

@Freed

…Cool conversation. They touch a bit about the stupid console war (host is Insomniac founder) in a funny way

Love the Game Maker’s Notebook. This is the second time Todd Howard’s been on it. The first time was in the early days of the podcast, like the second or third episode or something. Well worth a listen, even if it’s a few years old by now.

I’ll for sure check this one out, too.

edit: Howard’s previous appearance was episode five from 2018. Below’s the link to the podcast episode. Not sure if they were doing YouTube back then, I just copied this from my podcast app:

https://content.libsyn.com/p/6/2/0/62011802a78eec15/Todd_Howard_TGMN_06.mp3?c_id=19602524&cs_id=19602524&destination_id=590891&response-content-type=audio%2Fmpeg&Expires=1695702687&Signature=R1VzwAg1CMP6z~fBZ7cyFLE6iaguVOhR0qpNBjzpy4ZKZiBkSHNGfsZ9SEKo9bBbv8uj1SD1AAYixzAXY9cfUY-0Y72BjvBmaWLWs-eGNWSmUAHC8WrR-rltHHFDC3cTshMrz4G2Lg7cT6qgVwgnclhw5xUV5TtbEnSWZnUtkSdaCPwd20ILrOnAXr9B5Yu8IoRNoK9dyWLhMQxVoz8kO7T9EfMvHXE4v6rfMgLA5Zh16LkL3LjpYpKw0zU2udmkAcFL1AO0m8~-5Al9E8E8ErmcCUJr4U0dGfkWGP74zZa3N-WFFF~xKzYUcKCnN-HlFIugmtNnEg2dafOxGHSilQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K1YS7LZGUP96OI

[Haven (Victor)]

@KakkaKarrotKake

Eh, as good as BG£ might be as i’m still yet to play it, iv seen enough to know regardless of how good it is, if you were to give me the same quality package in a traditional rpg, id have magnitudes more enjoyment

CRPG’s will always give me “what if” vibes

It was the same when I played The Ascent, they created these absolutely amazing environments and I always thought it would be so much cooler in a first person view, then someone actually showed what it would look like in a first person view and yep, looked so much more interesting

The Ascent is quite good would have loved to see that world used for HALO or better yet perhaps a HALO version. It’s probably what many imagine Cyberpunk 2077 could have looked like.

[anon74828371]

https://twitter.com/CallofDuty/status/1706745535514783922?t=cArG_OAml-x2ak6-0ChKgQ&s=19

[Resist]

towerborne—>ara—>age of mythology retold—>msfs2024—>contraband—>south of midnight—>avowed—>hellblade 2

My prediction for 2024 in that order.