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

[GamingFirefighter]

@PaMello

From Software will only make an xbox game if Microsoft buys Kadokawa, which won’t happen

I doubt that would be the case since FromSoftware has made exclusives with Xbox before: Otogi, Murakumo: Renegade Mech Pursuit, Chromehounds, Shadow Assault: Tenchu, and Ninja Blade

[Thebaconlife]

@anon74828371

So VGC says that Certain Affinity worked on Perfect Dark and that Crystal Dynamics is essentially leading the project. And that The Initiative is trying a new approach. They created a role for “Franchise Director” and are looking for a “Franchise Art Director”. Maybe The Initiative is pivoting to a World’s Edge approach.

So are they just gonna move on to a new IP and is PD basically a CD game now that the nititve just came up with a concept for? just seems odd

[Mort]

@Thebaconlife

So are they just gonna move on to a new IP and is PD basically a CD game now that the nititve just came up with a concept for? just seems odd

We don’t know anything really, and I doubt we will anytime soon.

[TheBrightestSun]

@Thebaconlife

So are they just gonna move on to a new IP and is PD basically a CD game now that the nititve just came up with a concept for? just seems odd

I wonder if they will start a new project eventually because it seems like The Initiative has become a wrapper over CD. Maybe they can use The Initiative to work on multiple projects - serving as HQ while some other third party studios are developing the games.

[saintsflow20]

@GamingFirefighter

I doubt that would be the case since FromSoftware has made exclusives with Xbox before: Otogi, Murakumo: Renegade Mech Pursuit, Chromehounds, Shadow Assault: Tenchu, and Ninja Blade

Was MS even involved with those? These games were at a time when all the console hardware was vastly different so it was really common to see “unpaid” exclusives.

EDIT: Nevermind, I found out both Tenchu Z and Ninja Blade were published by Microsoft and MS was working on the games with them

FromSoftware worked with Microsoft in creating the game’s protagonist, Ken Ogawa. Producer Masanori Takeuchi said: “We worked closely with Microsoft in creating Ken. They provided us with lots of useful feedback and insightful consumer research of worldwide gamers. By cooperating and working together, Ken has become more appealing to a wider audience.”

Do you know what’s a little “sad” (for Xbox) about this game? One week after Ninja Blade, FromSoftware released a little game called Demon’s Souls for the PS3 in cooperation with Sony. Ninja Blade very quickly became a forgotten thought.

(Two fun facts: The Armored Spider boss in Demon’s Souls is actually an asset from Ninja Blade. Also, in the files of Demon’s Souls, there is a Gears of War Lancer)

[SamCraftRecon]

@Daniel

They weren’t following anyone else but 1 who were probs CD on Oct 27th '21

Ah okay. Thanks

[SamCraftRecon]

@CallMeCraig

Please, digging into Twitter followers is many levels below even following LinkedIn movements. This will only leed to suffering.

I only mentioned it here as I saw a tweet of someone asking why they were only following Crystal Dynamics and no one else. The tweet was also suggestive of them unfollowing everyone after the article on the studio departures was released. I wasn’t sure if this was the case, so I thought I’d try ask here. Sorry if I’ve annoyed you.

[Proven]

CHECKPOINT: Should You Be Concerned About Xbox Game Studios and The Initiative?

TLDR

The original vision of building the studio did not work, they changed direction, employees are happier with the current vision.

Also kind of funny that the question is being asked if we should worry about Xbox’s studios a week after they were rated the best publisher of 2021.

[BRiT]

Universal Rule: The answer to all questions asked in YouTube video headlines: NO.

[Sparda3g]

@Proven

…

TLDR The original vision of building the studio did not work, they changed direction, employees are happier with the current vision. Also kind of funny that the question is being asked if we should worry about Xbox’s studios a week after they were rated the best publisher of 2021.

So in other words, development as usual.

[Daniel]

@Proven

…

TLDR The original vision of building the studio did not work, they changed direction, employees are happier with the current vision. Also kind of funny that the question is being asked if we should worry about Xbox’s studios a week after they were rated the best publisher of 2021.

No matter who it is I will never click on a video with a thumbnail or title like that. Thanks for the TLDR.

[Proven]

I am glad we had to go through a day of concerned thumbnails and declarations of Xbox’s ability to manage studios before any explanations were given.

[Daniel]

@Proven

I am glad we had to go through a day of concerned thumbnails and declarations of Xbox’s ability to manage studios before any explanations were given.

Then got a 2 hour stream of cool indie games with a ton coming to game pass, with one being Tunic which is scored highly and was day 1 game pass, almost as if even with 30+ studios they still will have games like Tunic to fill in gaps.

[DARK-PARADISE]

@Proven

The original vision of building the studio did not work, they changed direction, employees are happier with the current vision.

• I wonder if the original vision didn’t work out because of creative clashes (it was too good to be true) or because of the pandemic

• I guess the new direction is to be more like a normal AAA studio, but they couldn’t possibly hire enough people in this short time so and that’s why the CD partnership happened.

• There’s no way Crystal Dynamics isn’t being acquired now, right?

[Proven]

@DARK-PARADISE

• I wonder if the original vision didn’t work out because of creative clashes (it was too good to be true) or because of the pandemic

• I guess the new direction is to be more like a normal AAA studio, but they couldn’t possibly hire enough people in this short time so and that’s why the CD partnership happened.

• There’s no way Crystal Dynamics isn’t being acquired now, right?

Based on what Jez is “reporting”, the original vision was a very laid back studio that were going to be experimental, kind of Valve-like. There was a big disagreement over how to proceed with Perfect Dark. One path was slowly build and hire top talent who all have equal say, the other path is hire quickly and build a more traditional studio that is more structured. Bringing in Crystal Dynamic spelled the end of the “Democratic Experiment” and thats why all these leads left.

So TLDR, people left once the original vision shifted, not because the studio is shutting down tomorrow and because MS is incompetent.

[Daniel]

@Proven

Based on what Jez is “reporting”, the original vision was a very laid back studio that were going to be experimental, kind of Valve-like. There was a big disagreement over how to proceed with Perfect Dark. One path was slowly build and hire top talent who all have equal say, the other path is hire quickly and build a more traditional studio that is more structured. Bringing in Crystal Dynamic spelled the end of the “Democratic Experiment” and thats why all these leads left.

Lol that makes it sound so much like a nothing burger, they just left because they didn’t like the way they went with the studio, which is completely fair and nothing crazy. At this point too the they were already at the studio for so long with no credits for a game release. Yeah it’s not normal for that many people to leave the studio, but that studio wasn’t a cookie cutter studio in the first place.

To be fair this is the sort of bad news reporting Xbox always seems to attract from most of the media outlets that other companies don’t tend to get the same media coverage.

[BRiT]

@Proven

Based on what Jez is “reporting”, the original vision was a very laid back studio that were going to be experimental, kind of Valve-like. There was a big disagreement over how to proceed with Perfect Dark. One path was slowly build and hire top talent who all have equal say, the other path is hire quickly and build a more traditional studio that is more structured. Bringing in Crystal Dynamic spelled the end of the “Democratic Experiment” and thats why all these leads left.

So TLDR, people left once the original vision shifted, not because the studio is shutting down tomorrow and because MS is incompetent.

That makes all those takes and calls for Microsoft to Step In and Do Something with The Initiative all the more fraking hilarious. They already did so, and did so months if not a year ago. When will forum warriors and social media influencers ever learn.

[Proven]

@BRiT

That makes all those takes and calls for Microsoft to Step In and Do Something with The Initiative all the more fraking hilarious. They already did so, and did so months if not a year ago. When will forum warriors and social media influencers ever learn.

When frowny thumbnails and hot takes and negativity don’t drive engagement

[DARK-PARADISE]

@Proven

Based on what Jez is “reporting”, the original vision was a very laid back studio that were going to be experimental, kind of Valve-like. There was a big disagreement over how to proceed with Perfect Dark. One path was slowly build and hire top talent who all have equal say, the other path is hire quickly and build a more traditional studio that is more structured. Bringing in Crystal Dynamic spelled the end of the “Democratic Experiment” and thats why all these leads left.

So TLDR, people left once the original vision shifted, not because the studio is shutting down tomorrow and because MS is incompetent.

The original vision sounds really appealing and in a perfect situation it would be great, but the way AAA game development was already and now especially with the pandemic, it’s probably a really really grossly inefficient proposal tbh. Maybe if it didn’t have the AAA label it would’ve worked out.

[clashfan]

@Proven

…

TLDR The original vision of building the studio did not work, they changed direction, employees are happier with the current vision. Also kind of funny that the question is being asked if we should worry about Xbox’s studios a week after they were rated the best publisher of 2021.

Alot of the stuff from the gaming press comes off as extremely naive. That tweet from Miles from windows central had me rolling my eyes. He seems like a really nice guy but he has no experience in game dev. There is alot of money at stake so someone on top (maybe Phil or Gallagher or Booty) did not like the progress and direction so they had to make a change. Seems pretty simple to me. If things are not working you can’t continue as is. The role of good management is to know when to change course.