Xbox Game Studios |OT8| Leaving The Drought Behind And Heading For Starfield

[Thebaconlife]

@GamingFirefighter

Another factor is living in Santa Monica is expensive so that could be an incentive in why developers would move somewhere else where it is cheaper to live or they get a better offer. (12 Most Expensive Places to Live in California in 2022 - List of Cities & Towns)

I always wondered why so many developers live in CA . its so expensive

[DARK-PARADISE]

@Thebaconlife

I always wondered why so many developers live in CA . its so expensive

Showbiz talent pool

[GamingFirefighter]

@Thebaconlife

I always wondered why so many developers live in CA . its so expensive

I agree. Just renting a small apartment here is a lot and it’s even harder with the increased gas and food prices.

[PsyDec]

I know it’s already been posted but it’s being overshadowed by the TI stuff. Halo Tactics anyone? Xcom style? That’d be fucking awesome.

[CallMeCraig]

@FyreWulff

Their original launch press release made no indication of any such plans and they said they were working with assistance from Microsoft Game Studios.

The Initiaives plan was always to co-dev, thats why they hired mostly senior roles.

also: “In creating The Initiative, we set out to leverage co-development partnerships to achieve our ambitions”

@PsyDec

…I know it’s already been posted but it’s being overshadowed by the TI stuff. Halo Tactics anyone? Xcom style? That’d be fucking awesome.

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tactics means ODST probably

[Boosted_Gear]

@PsyDec

…I know it’s already been posted but it’s being overshadowed by the TI stuff. Halo Tactics anyone? Xcom style? That’d be fucking awesome.

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Going by the first post, it seems to be in Halo Infinite. Maybe, the new mode being worked on by Certain Affinity ?

[Shakez]

My final take about this is that Phil needs to talk with Gallagher, MS being flexible and having patience won’t help if he is stiff.

Above all else he needs give a chance to people, they’re mostly seniors there and everyone could have something cool to add.

Edit: I believe MS should be the balancing factor for studios, reminding them that flexibility is nice, but they need to have a direction and a pipeline. Rigidity is fine to keep a project on track without piling on with new features, but new ideas from highly creative people should be given at least a chance, your vision isn’t all there is.

[Boosted_Gear]

@Shakez

My final take about this is that Phil needs to talk with Gallagher, MS being flexible and having patience won’t help if he is stiff.

Above all else he needs give a chance to people, they’re mostly seniors there and everyone could have something cool to add.

Edit: I believe MS should be the balancing factor for studios, reminding them that flexibility is nice, but they need to have a direction and a pipeline. Rigidity is fine to keep a project on track without piling on with new features, but new ideas from highly creative people should be given at least a chance, your vision isn’t all there is.

At the same time, I wonder if we have all the picture here, maybe everyone wanted to get their own philosophy in, and it was starting to get out of control, so Gallagher wanted to take things into a single direction, and that didn’t please some. Like having to many superstars in a single team.

[Shakez]

@Boosted_Gear

At the same time, I wonder if we have all the picture here, maybe everyone wanted to get their own philosophy in, and it was starting to get out of control, so Gallagher wanted to take things into a single direction, and that didn’t please some. Like having to many superstars in a single team.

Well we only know what the devs said so I’m going to believe in it, since a great number of them left the studio, seems pretty reliable to me.

Also CD got in, and it’s the studio he knows how to work with, this means to me he chose a studio he can fully control without much problems.

[Staffy]

@Shakez

My final take about this is that Phil needs to talk with Gallagher, MS being flexible and having patience won’t help if he is stiff.

Above all else he needs give a chance to people, they’re mostly seniors there and everyone could have something cool to add.

Edit: I believe MS should be the balancing factor for studios, reminding them that flexibility is nice, but they need to have a direction and a pipeline. Rigidity is fine to keep a project on track without piling on with new features, but new ideas from highly creative people should be given at least a chance, your vision isn’t all there is.

Absolutely!

Being too hands off, too flexible isn’t good either. Really hope things turn out well.

@DARK-PARADISE

Gamer’s “fears and worries” online are the most irrelevant bullshit in gaming. Their complaints and their whining and their negativity doesn’t do anything. They complain and are nonstop negative about EA, Ubisoft, Activision, every year, hell the last month was spent shitting on Ubisoft games basically, and yet watch game sales for every year be dominated by those companies. Gamers™ are pathetic and their words are meaningless.

Well, yes and no.

Sure there are those that always complain, no matter what. But I do get the worries about this, I don’t think it can all be waved away like…“things will be fine.”

I wouldn’t mind at all seeing what the game is like. Maybe they could do something like EA Motive is doing with Dead Space Remake. If they can’t and won’t, then it is what it is.

[Boosted_Gear]

@Shakez

Well we only know what the devs said so I’m going to believe in it, since a great number of them left the studio, seems pretty reliable to me.

At the same time, if all of them wanted to do things their way, it would be obvious they would have the same complaints. I don’t know, I still think we should need all POV’s there.

[Knottian (Daniel)]

@Boosted_Gear

At the same time, I wonder if we have all the picture here, maybe everyone wanted to get their own philosophy in, and it was starting to get out of control, so Gallagher wanted to take things into a single direction, and that didn’t please some. Like having to many superstars in a single team.

We don’t, including the author of the article here. Doom and gloomers are doing what they always do: take an example that confirms their biases and spin it to be something larger. People just need to chill.

[Knottian (Daniel)]

@Shakez

Well we only know what the devs said so I’m going to believe in it, since a great number of them left the studio, seems pretty reliable to me.

Also CD got in, and it’s the studio he knows how to work with, this means to me he chose a studio he can fully control without much problems.

I hope you never use Glassdoor as an arbiter of truth then….

FTR, there is truth to be found for people’s experiences on Glassdoor (I know from personal experience), but there is more than its fair share of “disgruntled employee” energy on there.

[KageMaru]

@QuietGamer90

A small team of highly talented and senior/experienced people working together is also not always an assured way of success IMO - the potential for creative differences/conflicts is very likely in this situation and it seems like this may have happened at TI.

The fact that they have had some junior level employees recently means that they may be getting a grasp of how they want their studio work culture and creative process to be.

Also, I think that they have very little job openings (3) probably due to Crystal Dynamics’s involvement. They may want to avoid having overlaps in job positions for the time being.

This is just speculation on my part - so I could be absolutely wrong here.

Yeah, totally agree. A lot of talent could also lead to a lot of egos. I’m not going to assume what happened but there certainly are a number of possibilities. It’s just a shame that they may not have found their culture yet and that resulted in talent leaving.

I like the idea of an agile studio making the key decisions and working with a larger studio. So I hope this all works out for them in the end.

[Shakez]

@Boosted_Gear

At the same time, if all of them wanted to do things their way, it would be obvious they would have the same complaints. I don’t know, I still think we should need all POV’s there.

We’ll never have all the sides, that doesn’t stop us to argue with what we have in hands, I have no reason not to believe the devs.

And saying that ALL of them wanting to throw ideas seems a bit much and exaggerated, like I said there needs to be a balance.

[Failwood]

@Knottian

I hope you never use Glassdoor as an arbiter of truth then….

Glassdoor is hilarious. The goal of glassdoor is noble, but being able to post things without any form of verification leads to some grade A bullshit.

[Shakez]

@Knottian

I hope you never use Glassdoor as an arbiter of truth then….

FTR, there is truth to be found for people’s experiences on Glassdoor (I know from personal experience), but there is more than its fair share of “disgruntled employee” energy on there.

This wasn’t Glassdoor though.

I don’t think that telling that your ex-boss was too stiff is something to turn a blind eye to. When it happened to the new Bioshock everyone believed it.

[Mort]

My take on this The Initiative situation:

• Half the dev team leaving cannot be considered a good thing. (I find it odd that some people tout this as old common knowledge, I had no idea except for Murray and now Neuburger).

• I don’t think this means much trouble for Perfect Dark now that Crystal Dynamics is on it.

• MS should buy Crystal Dynamics.

• Fanbois on both sides of the fence, as well as media and influencers or whatever are incredibly dumb and toxic.

[Knottian (Daniel)]

@Shakez

This wasn’t Glassdoor though.

[Boosted_Gear]

@Shakez

We’ll never have all the sides, that doesn’t stop us to argue with what we have in hands, I have no reason not to believe the devs.

And saying that ALL of them wanting to throw ideas seems a bit much and exaggerated, like I said there needs to be a balance.

Just saying we only have one side here, and too many top talents can lead to creative difference as well. It is certainly more common than we think, and not limited to video games industry even. The devs who left may have felt that way because of that, but in the end it is just speculation. Hopefully, they find their rythme, but I think it will get better with CD.