Xbox Game Studios |OT4| This is for Studio talk. Studios. It's the Studios OT. Studio talk here (Part 1)

[LiamS]

@ProgStopper

Does anyone have a list of games that are “connected worlds”…

Something that’s shared over multiple games even if the games aren’t sequels?

Like off the top of my head:

• Remedy with the Control/AW universe
• FromSoftware with the Souls universe having recurrant themes and characters

There’s not alot of prominent AAA 3rd Parties out there (or if they are they are publishers) so I can’t think what the hell he could be talking about.

fallout has some elder scrolls hints and teases in it, but there is no official stance on whether the games are on the same world

[pg2g]

@PoderickPayne

I suspected this was about that. Sorry you have slow internet, or an old phone, or whatever it is, but aren’t you basically saying, I’m not enjoying this, so no one should?

Not so much about this thread, but when you talk about the not wanting them in the Community one. That’s a step too far, to me

No, and i didnt even flag it. Its was basically spam though.

[ElPutoXD]

@Shakez

How many people work at Mojang?

Is Minecraft really that hard to dev? Like this is just an update on caves and cliffs, how hard could it be?

Lol you can mess up players’ buildings and constructions pretty easily if you are not careful with that, and they have to be very careful with enemies’ dungeons and respawns too. Apart from making the update work on Xbox One, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Android and iOS. Plus Covid. It’s a ton of work.

[Shakez]

@ElPutoXD

Lol you can mess up players’ buildings and constructions pretty easily if you are not careful with that, and they have to be very careful with enemies’ dungeons and respawns too. Apart from making the update work on Xbox One, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Android and iOS. Plus Covid. It’s a ton of work.

Forgot that it was on all platforms possible, that should be a lot work indeed.

[javycane (Javier Ruiz)]

@thiagosilva

Covid

I get Covid has hit the industry hard but we gotta stop using this as a blanket statement for everything.

[thiagosilva (thiagoツ)]

@javycane

I get Covid has hit the industry hard but we gotta stop using this as a blanket statement for everything.

I still think its Covid. remote work is not the same as being in the studio. it seems to be this.

[Voodoopeople]

@ChuckeRearmed

I think Halo is one of Xbox defining franchises. MS grew too attached to the triad of Halo/Forza/Gears so they became - aside a meme - so these franchises were used to define the console. The new games that are coming like Starfield, Avowed, Hellblade might become another pillars for Xbox.

However Game Pass dilutes the notion that you need to have console defining franchises - as Game Pass is becoming its own generic platform, rather than Xbox service.

As someone that only joined Xbox during the 360 era, Halo didn’t even really exist on my radar. I was all about stuff like Enslaved: Odyssey to the West etc. One of my all time favourite games and why I was so excited by the acquisition of Ninja Theory.

[ElPutoXD]

People should remember that not all of Mojang is working on Minecraft’s updates, they are also working on a new game apart from Minecraft (just like before they were working on Minecraft Dungeons).

[javycane (Javier Ruiz)]

@ElPutoXD

People should remember that not all of Mojang is working on Minecraft’s updates, they are also working on a new game apart from Minecraft (just like before they were working on Minecraft Dungeons).

As Jez said

Why didn’t Minecraft have a X|S patch ready by now

[Staffy]

@javycane

I get Covid has hit the industry hard but we gotta stop using this as a blanket statement for everything.

Agreed!

If they end up having mostly a CGI fest again, sans Halo Infinite and (probably) FH5, I don’t think we can just blame it all on that. Could also be that they just aren’t ready or simply don’t want to reveal them yet. But as for trailers showing more than just logo or CGI…if the other two can do it, so can MS.

Sony managed to churn out Ratchet gameplay, Returnal, Kena and many indie titles and timed exclusives in their shows since last year. Nintendo too. The ID@Xbox stream had plentiful gameplay too.

I definitely still think Jeff Grubb yesterday was setting expectations accordingly. For those that were expecting Halo Infinite like showcases for all the 2020 announced games. But this doesn’t rule out trailers that will show something. I cannot see them churning out yet again only CGI for these games this year. I just can’t.

[ElPutoXD]

@javycane

As Jez said

Why didn’t Minecraft have a X|S patch ready by now

Why didn’t GTA V get a PS4 Pro/One X patch? Or any other very succesful games that never got a patch?

You realize how stupid it is to ask this this way and try to imply that the only possible answer is that the studio is underfunded? Mojang is working on other projects right now and Minecraft would not get much better graphically with a next-gen patch, they might think in terms of cost of opportunity and prefer to prioritize their other projects.

Edit: Mojang is one of the few major studios in the industry with a very low level of turnover - meaning employees’ satisfaction is high, which would not happen if they felt underfunded - and they are hiring like crazy for new projects, too. You can’t just say they are underfunded without showing us any evidence pointing at the studio being underfunded. They have very good reviews on Glassdoor too (4/5 stars).

Is there anything at all that proves they are underfunded or in trouble?

[ChuckeRearmed]

@Staffy

I cannot see them churning out yet again only CGI for these games this year. I just can’t.

I personally can. But I do feel odd how Sony at least seems to have some backup plan or something. Or maybe Sony plans in advance or whatever or secure more games that are late in development.

[pg2g]

I hope we don’t see CGI fest. I can definitely see real time cinematics as opposed to actual game play though.

[Knottian (Daniel)]

@ElPutoXD

…hed since March, 2020 (so in the last 12 months):

Ori and the Will of the Wisps and its Switch port Microsoft Flight Simulator and updates Gears Tactics Bleeding Edge Wasteland 3 Minecraft Dungeons and DLC Gears 5 Hivebusters and other updates to Gears 5 Grounded’s early access and other updates Age of Empires 3 Definitive Edition and DLC Tell Me Why Battletoads Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition: Lords of the West Forza Street and updates State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition and updates The Outer Worlds: Peril on Gorgon and Murder on Eridanos Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods Part I and Part II Halo CE Anniversary, Halo 2 Anniversary, Halo 3 and Halo 4 PC ports New content for Sea of Thieves New content for Halo TMCC

The amount of content Xbox already puts out in only a year is kinda crazy.

This. I’m frankly sick of seeing people regurgitate “no games” memetic bullshit when we came out of a year plagued by pandemic where Xbox still released nearly a dozen titles. It’s a verifiably false narrative at its boringly worst. If you didn’t like those games, that’s fine, but it doesn’t change the fact that they were released. Frankly, I also don’t care to read any more about whatever goalpost shifting definition games released by Xbox have to meet to be considered “games”. Most of the games released were also of higher quality than a lot of what they’re judged against, and if I have to sit through another bad faith argument about how a game is or isn’t AAA, and how that defines quality, I’m going to start considering those as clear trolling. Keep that low-effort trolling on Era or elsewhere please.

[Staffy]

@pg2g

Fable is hard for me to figure out because they were building the studio alongside it. Wouldn’t be surprising if there was a slow ramp up to full production.

Then add in COVID, which likely impacted every game release by a minimum of 6 months.

@DeoGame

Playground is still staffing up pretty substantially. I’m not surprised if it’s further out, especially given the new team and the engine switch.

As for Avowed, I’m still bullish on late 2022. That’s 4 years of dev time + 2 years pre-prod, the team is established, Virtuos is already making assets for the game and I suspect it doesn’t have mocap.

Hmmm, I see. Guess we gotta be a little more patient for anything concrete on Fable just yet. Jeff Grubb did say as much, but he said that about Avowed too. I guess that doesn’t necessarily rule out a new trailer with perhaps some bits here and there. After all, I could swear the last second of the trailer last year was ingame. It was first person, didn’t look impossibly good, but good enough, really good.

I definitely get what Matty was saying. You want people to gush over Halo Infinite and if that happens, great, but what if it doesn’t happen? That’s when it’s especially good to have more of your upcoming games, something tangible. You’ll see comments like “oh man, it only was a few seconds but Fable looks fantastic” or “Looks like giving Obsidian creative freedom and all the funds was the right choice, Avowed looks super promising.” instead of…“i mean, they had tons of trailers, but it was all CGI. What are we working with here?”

It’ll be especially a bad look once the other two have their shows and they do manage to show plenty. Nobody is expecting miracles or long demos, not yet, but something at least.

[Voodoopeople]

@javycane

I get Covid has hit the industry hard but we gotta stop using this as a blanket statement for everything.

I get your frustration and this isn’t aimed at you, but Covid is literally the excuse for everything being delayed. Being bored of hearing that or frustrated by it doesn’t make it less true. Not sure why having heard lots of delays already means the ones we haven’t heard of are less reasonable. If we take game creation as a 2-4 Yr process then literally every game for the next few years will have a delay of some kind, but its only those with announced dates we’ll actually notice.

[jfsolo]

@Knottian

…nkly sick of seeing people regurgitate “no games” memetic bullshit when we came out of a year plagued by pandemic where Xbox still released nearly a dozen titles. It’s a verifiably false narrative at its boringly worst. If you didn’t like those games, that’s fine, but it doesn’t change the fact that they were released. Frankly, I also don’t care to read any more about whatever goalpost shifting definition games released by Xbox have to meet to be considered “games”. Most of the games released were also of higher quality than a lot of what they’re judged against, and if I have to sit through another bad faith argument about how a game is or isn’t AAA, and how that defines quality, I’m going to start considering those as clear trolling. Keep that low-effort trolling on Era or elsewhere please.

I wish that I could like this 1000 times.

[SuikerBrood]

@javycane

Is it or is Mojang kinda messy

Hope this doesn’t end up like the Super Duper Graphics Pack.

[CallMeCraig]

@SuikerBrood

Hope this doesn’t end up like the Super Duper Graphics Pack.

Doesn’t look like it

A Caves & Cliffs Announcement

You can already test the new features in the Beta client.

[PoderickPayne (Travis Norris)]

@jfsolo

I wish that I could like this 1000 times.

You can, but you will just have to dislike it 999 times