Although I get the counters, I kinda agree with Jez here, but for different reasons. MS simply can’t launch games in the state they did with games like SoT, SoD2, Crackdown 3, Halo MCC, Halo 5, Bleeding Edge. Sony gets away with this because they have absolutely ZERO live service focus, so it’s not a problem they have to begin with, whereas with Xbox it’s something they want to be a big part of their identity and focus from the perspective of what experiences they want Xbox to be synonymous with.
Having said that, using AAA vs AA as descriptors in this case is pretty dumb. Avengers and Anthem were full blown “AAA” releases and suffered from same or worse problems than these above xbox games yet no one talks about them as “AA” games. AA doesn’t mean lack of adequate budget or time or quality lol, AA just means the budget, team size and resources themselves are not meant to be super huge, instead slot in somewhere between indie and AAA, while still not having any bearing on the quality of production and the game itself. Quality production also isn’t synonymous with hgih-fidelity cinematic level assets and FX Sims straight out of some Pixar/ILM shot. Hades for example is a quality production at the scale and scope the game is meant to slot in at.
In short, Xbox just shouldn’t rush games, they should give ample budget and time to each project, market them right and release when ready and they’ll do great.
Ironically, for all of DF’s conspiracy churning about why Cyberpunk would run better on inarguably, objectively more-powerful hardware, I find examples like Control and Remedy’s more a case for their argument… though they’d never admit it given their parent company’s antagonistic stance towards Xbox.
As for 4A: that studio has been pushing hardware beyond its limits since the original Metro 2033, and one of the reasons I was gutted when Embracer bought them. I felt like they would be a fantastic match for Xbox, especially after the Bethesda acquisition. Regardless, 4A has a lifelong fan in me and I encourage all to support their games.
nah, it’s not just about polish. These games simply shouldn’t have launched in such barebones states as they did.
Also, I did expound on the AAA side of the argument, and disagree with Jez’s statement on that because it IS indeed nowhere related to games being AA vs AAA. The argument has already presupposed AAA = quality, AA = half assed, lack of budget which is completely wrong and baseless.
I just hope people don’t expect SoD 3 to be “The Last of Us 2” tier. Undead Labs has around 100 people so they really shouldn’t be compared to Naughty Dog’s games.
If SoD 3 will be something like Days Gone in terms of size, then I’ll be very happy with that.
… that’s exactly what Xbox has been doing for the past two years now, and will be the case going forward. If delaying their biggest title, Halo: Infinite, in order to provide the team with time to polish and improve the title isn’t evidence enough… well.
The people expecting State of Decay 3 to be something entirely different from the previous 2 will be disappointed I would say unless they tack on a completely separate campaign.
It’s also a stupid expectation because one game is an open-world simulation, and the other is standard Naughty Dog fare: corridors, massive amounts of cinematics, and brief “open” areas.
A few days ago he said that Microsoft has ambitions and big plans for the future that will shock us and they are serious about competition , And now he says he wants to see Microsoft invest in AAA games ?
What about the 7.5 billion $ they spent last year or it was just an extra money and they decided to spend it for fun? Did he not see Satya’s statement when he spoke and said that the company is continuing with acquisitions for competition and make game pass successful ?
tbh those two aren’t mutually exclusive. He isn’t saying that these games aren’t coming, he’s saying he wants microsoft to invest in said AAA experiences. What he knows about the future isn’t public, he is just making this statement as a general sentiment publicly which doesn’t really need to reflect the “insider” info he has.
tbh we really haven’t seen anything but CGI teasers, which was indeed the point Jez had in his tweet, that these projects have certainly set a high standard of expectations through these “glimpses” and need to deliver on them.
Ultimately, what he’s saying is pretty much tautological and has been said many times already, so nothing much of a new insight lol.
cue thousand threads about what this could mean regarding Compulsion’s next game.