Pretty sure Ed and others said Arkane was close to being shutdown before Microsoft agreed to acquire ZeniMax. It’s been reported by Jez/Rand as well.
The Ghostwire Tokyo/Deathloop possibly being cancelled were due to both being “dark” since E3 2019 and not a word until they re-appeared at Sony’s State of Play last June. If ZeniMax was going to shutdown Arkane, obviously Deathloop would have been cancelled. Plus, it just seems weird that Sony paid for both of these two games two months after rumors were circulating that they would be cancelled. And this year, we’ve heard that Arkane was extremely close to being gone. So in a weird ass way, it all fits and makes sense.
As I said, Arkane situation, if real, was more connected to the overall Zenimax corp situation and 1 year from E3 2019 and june 2020 Sony showcase is not “going dark” by any means. Between these two moments, Sony went to Zenimax and offered a bag of cash to delay Xbox ports, that’s it, they certanly did not save anything, they only ruined the excitement for Xbox players, with no perks for PS players other than fanboy lists. XD
ZeniMax has never worked with Sony before as far as I know. It’s just weird that the games were rumored to being cancelled last Spring only to show up as timed console exclusives at Sony’s June SOP. Plus, when you hear about Arkane possibly being on the chopping block, Deathloop is their game so it all fits. Basically, if Sony didn’t pay for those two games, I believe that neither would exist and if Microsoft didn’t ZeniMax, Arkane would have been shutdown already. Too much stuff around both games and Arkane for it to not be true.
EDIT: Has nothing to do with fanboys. Jez/Rand and im pretty sure Ed has said as well that Arkane was very close to being gone. Deathloop is THEIR game. It makes sense. The game wouldn’t releases if the studio is gone.
Sony paid ZeniMax BUT ZeniMax ACCEPTED that payday. Despite never working with Sony, they all of a sudden accept their payday? And for two games that could easily bomb and would have cost ZeniMax a shit ton of cash. Yeah, I do believe Sony paying for those games saved them both and in turn, Microsoft saved Arkane by acquiring ZeniMax.
Arkane Austin is developing another game as we speak, so I don’t believe that Deathloop was their make or break title, also these rumours you are talking about, where they come from? Don’t say resetera, please, lmao. Sony never working with Zenimax is the thing here: it fits the already confirmed rumour, backed by many known sources, that Sony was actively trying to snatch away “xbox related games”.
PS: I see your edit and I alreay answered to the Arkane closure thing, for the other, I repeat, Sony did save shit imo, XD. They only pay to delay games from Xbox, they are no charity. Obviously if you can find this alleged rumour of the cancellation of the games, I will certainly read it and post my opinion on it.
Development Studios are always developing games. Majority don’t know until last minute if the studio is being shut down and normally comes along with a game cancellation or two.
The rumors were last spring on random gaming sites (no, not Resetera) that I never heard of but Jason Schreirer hinted at it but with no validity.
I’m not one who believes in coincidences so if I hear rumors that two games are being cancelled but then all of a sudden out of nowhere show up on Sony’s showcase as timed exclusives, yeah, there’s some fire along with that smoke.
Then, we heard back in March this year that Arkane was very close to being gone. It kind of all ties in together. Also, Deathloop and Ghostwire Tokyo are in no way, shape or form Xbox games. Come on. I’ll give you The Elder Scrolls and Fallout but two new IP’s?
Besides, how many people here were actually going to buy either of these games on Xbox if Microsoft didn’t acquire ZeniMax?
Xbox related games because of Bethesda involvement, obviously. What you are saying is not confirmed by any means, it’s speculation, but I don’t believe for one second that Sony saved near cancelled games and then screamed over the rooftops that they are exclusives, it’s not in their habits.
I was interested in Ghostwire, not Deathloop I admit and I am really annoyed about the PS5 timed exclusivity (end of 2022 at least for us, lmao), because I do not plan to buy one for the near future. Expecially because they were clearly announced as multiplatforms, with Xbox Wire blog posts.
Fair enough but do you get annoyed or pissed off when Microsoft pays for games to be timed exclusives? They BOTH do the same exact shit. The only difference is that Microsoft pays for AA and Indies while Sony pays for AAA/AA and Indies. That’s really the only difference.
Only the Arkane studio being close to shutdown is true because so many Xbox guys have reported on it and let’s be honest, if they say Game Pass is profitable and every Xbox fan believes it, then these same Xbox fans need to believe that when they say Arkane was close to being gone that it’s the truth.
In my eyes, there’s just too much smoke for there to not be a fire and like I said, I don’t believe in coincidences. There’s definitely more to it all than we know.
I don’t get annoyed by Sony or Microsoft paying for timed/full exclusivity as they’ve both been doing it for generations. Plus, I do own a Series X (primary) and PS5 (exclusives only) so whatever they do, they do.
Both deals were done months before Microsoft acquired ZeniMax so look at it this way, if Microsoft didn’t acquire them, you would have had to buy Ghostwire for $60 either way. Now though, you can play it on Game Pass. Sure, you have to wait but so what? You’re still getting the game.
I would put Ghostwire Tokyo as early 2023 for Xbox. I don’t think that it’s making this year but we’ll see.
Well, there is a clear difference between funding small external companies with obvious money shortage in exchange for only a timed advance (when Sony does this they want the full exclusive) and pay multibillion dollar publishers only to withold Xbox ports, it’s extremely different, Phil did not do this for 5 years full and he can easily do tomorrow if he really wants. So it’s fair to be more annoyed for Sony deals, expecially when these games were already announced as multiplatform.
I don’t need Jez&co to understand the GP financial model and the evidence itself is the continued investment on GP by MS. A rumour about a studio closure is much more difficult to assess, because a very short list of people would know.
Anyway, returning back to OT, I hope that there will be surprises in the 2021 line-up.
Mostly Forza Horizon 5, Sea of Thieves: a Pirate’s Life and a lot of releases dates.
I still have some doubts about Ghostwire Tokyo releasing in October and not being delayed to 2022 (as Tango has been quite silent compared to Arkane Lyon so far) and also (to a lesser extent) about the official release of Grounded in 2021 as the developers said they needed more time and that it wouldn’t release this Summer.
Assuming no delays, on the 8 new games planned for 2021 (not counting Minecraft and Flight Simulator), 7 would release during the second half of 2021.
How is Xbox looking in terms of first-party cross-gen games in 2022? Will there be any or will the organization move to fully current-gen starting in 2022?
The only game I can think that will probably be cross-gen is As Dusk Falls if it comes out next year.
I guess there is also Forza, which we know people are testing it on the Xbox One but I still think that will be current-gen only based on the fact it wasn’t announced as one and the things were are hearing about the simulation leads me to believe it will be demanding on the CPU.
So it is possible that Xbox moves faster than Sony to current-gen-only games, which is unreal, given all the developments with this cross-gen situation. Xbox is all in on current-gen starting 2022, while Sony will still release GT7 and Ragnarok (and more even, who knows).
Sony has to appease PS4 crowd, MS can easily come out next year and say: “X1 owners, all XSX/XSS games will be streamed on your console” and get away with it, considering they are offering an alternative and their installed base is lower, so less people without proper internet connection.
I saw this “trap” years ago when they announced the cloud, this is another field where Sony cannot compete with MS.
Basically lol. From what we know at the moment, none of the Xbox’s major titles will be cross-gen by the end of this year, which is somewhat of a roll reversal.
I removed Ghostwire Tokyo as it got delayed to early 2022 and moved Grounded to the updates section as it seems unlikely that it will leave early access status and release this year.
Added some updates regarding TESO, Fallout 76, Age of Empires 2, Age of Empires 3, Flight Sim, Minecraft Dungeons and Gears 5.
Finally added Halo Infinite release date + Wasteland 3, Flight Sim and State of Decay 2 expansions.
Shouldn’t change a lot now outside of a potential last minute delay and some unkown dates for the late year content of live-service games (Minecraft, Sea of Thieves, Fallout 76 and TESO).
