Microsoft Games General Thread

[Hawq]

[Hawq]

[Hawq]

[Dr. Zoidberg]

MS: "You had a hit game! Congrats! And now it's time to shut you down."

[pixel]

It feels like Microsoft has been in a slow freefall after the 360. Lots of smaller bad decisions have coalesced into today's shitshow and the Xbox brand has been shaky since the Xbox One days.

At this rate, Microsoft will just be another mobile games publisher.

[ian]

It feels like Microsoft has been in a slow freefall after the 360. Lots of smaller bad decisions have coalesced into today's shitshow and the Xbox brand has been shaky since the Xbox One days.

At this rate, Microsoft will just be another mobile games publisher.

I don't know. Even half way through the Xbox one's lifecycle there was still actual merit in the platform.
I don't think it was slow at all. For me personally, 2019 is where it all went wrong and the GOOD games simply dried up. Smaller decisions can add up, but I don't think that's what's quickly made them irrelevant in the gaming world.

I think their problem is they just nailed the 360, and sales were at least doubled over what they should have been by the inevitable RROD that meant 100% of people who bought a 360 had to buy a second one and some possibly a third one to continue to play a lot of the best games.

But in about 2019 the good exclusive games just stopped coming... Sure they'd made a lot of fuck ups since 2001 just off the top of my head there is: leaky original Xbox batteries, 360 RROD, ANY iterations of KINECT, always online announcement, Halo 4, forcing or even allowing Rareware to make Kinect games before gutting them, ads in menus, One S stability issues, the current price of the series X.

But Y'know, people will forgive ALL of the shit and little and even quite big errors if you have the best games.
And they don't have the best games, and when they luck into even a good game, it won't sell well because of gamepass, they're cannibalizing themselves.

People will put up with it though, IF they keep offering people good stuff.

When Microsoft turned the single best developer in the entire world from 1991-2001 into a fucking joke, I still bought the next Xbox console. And I'm a vindictive asshole who's never forgotten what they did. But they had games worth playing on the One.

Even if Microsoft halved the price of the Series X tomorrow, that won't still get it any good games you can't play on other platforms.

And when the next games I'm looking forward to playing come out (Judas and GTA6) unless the Series X is literally $400, I'd rather buy a PS5 for $800.

[Skynet]

It feels like Microsoft has been in a slow freefall after the 360. Lots of smaller bad decisions have coalesced into today's shitshow and the Xbox brand has been shaky since the Xbox One days.

At this rate, Microsoft will just be another mobile games publisher.

The problem with this is we need Xbox in the picture (or another company to take its place) because just Sony and Nintendo isn't ideal

[ian]

It feels like Microsoft has been in a slow freefall after the 360. Lots of smaller bad decisions have coalesced into today's shitshow and the Xbox brand has been shaky since the Xbox One days.

At this rate, Microsoft will just be another mobile games publisher.

The problem with this is we need Xbox in the picture (or another company to take its place) because just Sony and Nintendo isn't ideal

Let's get Sega back!

Or hope Microsoft use their 50% ownership of all game IP to ever exist to make good games like they used to before 2019.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Xbox has lost the confidence of its customers. Lets talk about it

Correction : I mentioned LinkedIn being non profitable. This is incorrect. LinkedIn generated $1.7 billion from premium subscriptions in 2023.

Note: this is an opinion based piece and you should consider it as one.

[pixel]

The financials are fucked at Microsoft and I don't know if Game Pass is the sole cause. I think it was a reaction from management to fight against unprofitability, but all Game Pass did was give them a quick influx of cash.

Are Microsoft and Sony too far past the brink to survive as traditional console makers? Is that even a problem? I keep thinking that this crash is an evolutionary reaction to 40 years of video game console economics. It doesn't seem like releasing a loss-leading console and recouping money off of software licensing will work anymore. I don't know whether Nintendo was just lucky with the Switch, or if that type of portable hybrid will be standard.

The most outlandish theory is Microsoft and Sony will slash their hardware division in lieu of third-party hardware developers. Companies like ASUS, Lenovo and Logitech fight over hardware specifications while Microsoft and Sony offer their digital storefronts.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

What's the point in getting a console when nothing exclusive is coming out for it?

XSX = 0 exclusives

PS5 = A few exclusives come out each year, they eventually come out on PC.

Will AAA games still exist without consoles? They barely exist now.

[ian]

Microsoft are in real trouble! Zoidberg, who owns every game and system ever made can't see the point in the XSX... XBOX IS DEAD!

I think they want the old ways to work. (Sell suckers an expensive console, and then sell them the games)
And they want the new ways to work. (50 million subscribers for 10+years!)

and because of this lack of direction, (not to mention lack of games) they are getting no where.

The ways they could get a Series X into my home:
1:) Free console with 3 year subscription to gamepass.
2:) price the console with no games VERY low.
3:) someone buys or gives me one.

And even with option 3 if it's a new console with receipt I won't open it and take it back and use funds for a PS5, and if it's used I'd play Forza horizon 5 on nicer settings fully and then sell to help fund... A PS5.

And while I wait for the whole industry to get off their asses and make games worth buying a system for, I'll keep playing old games which helps no one because I play good old games and all the new games show me is how many ways they fuck them up. Meaning I'm less likely to buy a new system than various Saturn, and Dreamcast controls. I miss Sega.
(I know the world still has Sega, but I'm talking about drive themselves to the brink of bankruptcy making fucking great games sega, PROPER Sega) But Sega learnt you can make the best console, and the best games, but churning out any old shit makes more money, and it seems Microsoft might be at that stage.

Why make a console that no one is buying? Get out of the hardware game, churn out shit and be more successful. Sega set a dangerous precedent for Microsoft to follow. And Sega had good games when their systems sold like shit.

[pixel]

I think they want the old ways to work. (Sell suckers an expensive console, and then sell them the games)
And they want the new ways to work. (50 million subscribers for 10+years!)

Bingo. The big boys got tied up this generation and I don't know if they'll get out of this one.

And compared to the old days, the PS5 and Xbox might as well be identical hardware. It seems like any major game engine can work well with either platform. It isn't like the 16-bit or 32-bit days when each system was a unique platform with strengths and weaknesses. The older, high-end gamers like us have few reasons to pick either. Xbox Live was a killer feature too, but now there's so many ways to voice chat and play cross-platform games.

Meanwhile I know someone with an 8-year-old kid. He doesn't run home to play Xbox or PS5, he's got a VR headset where he meets the schoolyard friends to run around in Gorilla Tag. Microsoft whiffed on VR, so they have a small footprint compared to Oculus. Sony flubbed this too.

The kid also has a hand-me-down Steam Deck from dad because he bought the OLED model. Why buy an Xbox for Lego Star Wars when a portable PC offers better game prices and flexibility. It's not like the old days where a kid has to hog up the living room TV to play Sega.

I only have an Xbox Series S because it was a gift. It also hasn't been powered on in over a year.

[ian]

I only have an Xbox Series S because it was a gift. It also hasn't been powered on in over a year.

Damn, if it was the X you'd have a useful 4K player and may have used it one or even TWO times.

My one X has played no games this year (that's a lie, I did finish Conkers Bad Fur Day from the laser tunnel escape to the end of the game... a game from 2001 on a retro game collection from 2015.) but in that time it's played 5 4K movies, so it's not going completely to waste

[pixel]

I only have an Xbox Series S because it was a gift. It also hasn't been powered on in over a year.

Damn, if it was the X you'd have a useful 4K player and may have used it one or even TWO times.

My one X has played no games this year (that's a lie, I did finish Conkers Bad Fur Day from the laser tunnel escape to the end of the game... a game from 2001 on a retro game collection from 2015.) but in that time it's played 5 4K movies, so it's not going completely to waste

That's the only reason I've looked at getting another console. PS5 might make for a good 4K Blu-ray player.

[melancholy]

The financials are fucked at Microsoft and I don't know if Game Pass is the sole cause. I think it was a reaction from management to fight against unprofitability, but all Game Pass did was give them a quick influx of cash.

Game Pass might as well be the sole cause. Why did Microsoft buy up all these game companies in the first place? Why did they release an underpowered console that was digital only? Why did they run a financing program that got you an Xbox as long as you paid for Game Pass for 2 years? And why does every single new PC come with Xbox baked in and a screen during setup trying to get you to sign up for Game Pass?

Microsoft saw mid 2010’s Netflix and said ‘we can do that for video games!’ So they went on a spending spree, buying developers, developing hardware that basically is only useful with Game Pass, giving massive incentives for day one Game Pass releases, and in general burning money with the hope that they can catch Netflix’s lighting into their own bottles.

I don't know whether Nintendo was just lucky with the Switch, or if that type of portable hybrid will be standard.

You indirectly answered your own question two posts later.

The kid also has a hand-me-down Steam Deck from dad because he bought the OLED model. Why buy an Xbox for Lego Star Wars when a portable PC offers better game prices and flexibility. It's not like the old days where a kid has to hog up the living room TV to play Sega.

Yes, portability is a big thing, but the bigger thing? When you have an underpowered handheld, you don’t have to spend 50 billion dollars making the world’s next technical masterpiece. You can instead make cheaper games that focus on *gasp* being fun to play. If you have noticed, Nintendo puts a shit ton of focus on indie games. Cheap development with creative ideas that they can sell for a slight premium over PC ports because, guess what, it’s easy to pick up and play on a Switch. Kids don’t have to wonder if Grandma’s old Compaq can run it and Grandma’s don’t have to spend $500 with $30 a month subscriptions for the kids to play Minecraft.

I think portability matters, but I more think that having a cheap console that can play both cheap indie games and blockbuster hits without bullshit is the more likely winning formula. I mean, shit man, just look at the Home Screen of the Xbox and PS5 vs the Switch. You might as well be comparing the difference between Yahoo’s homepage and Google’s homepage.

[melancholy]

You know what, let’s talk about another trend behind this video game crash that THANK FUCK is starting to go away. Releasing multi-million dollar AAA games that are broken and incomplete at launch. You wanna know why Balders Gate, Lethal Company, Helldivers 2, and the swathes of other surprise hits were so damn successful? Because they worked, on day one, with all the content, for one price.

No Bethesda ‘we swear it will be a functioning game after 6 months of patches!’

No Ubisoft ‘base game contains 39 minutes of gameplay, deluxe unlocks all the gameplay, ultimate gives you the DLC we will release months after you stopped caring about this game!’

No Epic ‘the base game is free but the only playable character is a poop emoji, but for $20 you can unlock Goku Jesus on a Velociraptor skin!’

You instead get a fun fully playable game without the need to pay more beyond your initial purchase price. And my GOD is that what we need in games today.

[pixel]

The financials are fucked at Microsoft and I don't know if Game Pass is the sole cause. I think it was a reaction from management to fight against unprofitability, but all Game Pass did was give them a quick influx of cash.

Game Pass might as well be the sole cause. Why did Microsoft buy up all these game companies in the first place? Why did they release an underpowered console that was digital only? Why did they run a financing program that got you an Xbox as long as you paid for Game Pass for 2 years? And why does every single new PC come with Xbox baked in and a screen during setup trying to get you to sign up for Game Pass?

I'll clarify: The problems started with the Xbox One.

Microsoft never solved the deep-seeded financial problem of their business model since the original Xbox. They've always mortgaged their future with software licensing. In that first generation they got extremely lucky with Halo 1 and 2. The Xbox 360 was a phenomenal success in spite of terrible hardware QA.

Then the Xbox One comes around and I think that's when executives saw they had finite time. Halo went stagnant and AAA games needed big cash from DLC/microtransactions. The Xbox team looked for a way to reinvent the platform and Game Pass was born.

I think portability matters, but I more think that having a cheap console that can play both cheap indie games and blockbuster hits without bullshit is the more likely winning formula. I mean, shit man, just look at the Home Screen of the Xbox and PS5 vs the Switch. You might as well be comparing the difference between Yahoo’s homepage and Google’s homepage.

Yeah that's all I have time for. Tight controls and good gameplay mean everything compared to AAA titles.

[ian]

I agree with Melancholy on practically everything there! Make shit properly, and fun and easy to get into and affordable. Sounds Great! sounds like how good games were 20 years ago+ and even if it's not affordable, if it has all those other things I'd be happy to pay the convenience surcharge.

It's funny you brought up the menus of the systems, because the Xbox One and Series have the worst fuckin' interfaces ever. Just playing a game and enjoying it is easier on every single other platform without being bombarded by bullshit I don't care about.

for $20 you can unlock Goku Jesus on a Velociraptor skin!

That actually sounds pretty awesome and like a good deal compared to the actual skins and prices.
Games are more likely to have a standard brown leather belt, and the Day one DLC is the same texture but recoloured silver or gold for the $20.

I don't even need to know the context or game that has a Goku Jesus Velociraptor... It could work in any number of games! Although I'll wait for a GOTY or fitgirl edition that has said skin because I'm tight!

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Microsoft's Activision team is opening a new game studio in Poland 'Elsewhere Entertainment' to build new AAA IP

The studio boasts The Last of Us, Witcher, Cyberpunk, and Uncharted developers in its team.

What you need to know

• Microsoft subsidiary Activision revealed a new studio today, dubbed Elsewhere Entertainment.
• The firm is comprised of industry vets, boasting credits in games like The Last of Us and The Witcher 3.
• Activision also revealed a new vacancies website for Elsewhere, which will host career options in the coming todays.
• The studio is working on a "narrative based" game in a totally new AAA franchise.

Microsoft's Activision subsidiary announced today that it is opening a new game development studio to take advantage of the huge talent pool growing in Poland. It'll be the second Activision studio based in the region, joining Infinity Ward Krakow, although this studio is, in fact, not working on Call of Duty.

Elsewhere Entertainment is an all-new studio incubating an all-new franchise, boasting industry vets. The new studio is based in Warsaw "with additional resources in the United States," and enjoys alumni from franchises like The Last of Us, Uncharted, The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Far Cry, and more.

"Built from the ground up, Elsewhere Entertainment is a premier and standalone studio dedicated to establishing an environment that inspires bold and diverse ideas. The team's underlying mission encourages everyone to explore and collaborate creatively to craft a franchise with an enduring legacy that resonates far beyond games.

The new studio has full access to Activision's resources and tools as it continues to increase production and development. Elsewhere is opening its search for best-in-class talent from across the industry and around the world to help create a state-of-the-art and next generation gaming experience."

While not yet named, Activision spokespeople told us that Elsewhere Entertainment is working on a narrative-based "AAA" game, and is a completely new franchise. Activision also tells us that Elsewhere has been operating in stealth mode up until now, and is seeking to build up its studio with a new vacancies website for Elsewhere over here.

A rare glimmer of investment in a tough time

This announcement may seem strange given the context that Microsoft just shut down Tango Gameworks in Japan, Arkane Austin in Texas, and consolidated other ZeniMax Studios in the United States recently. However, it should be noted that each subsidiary operates as a separate entity with separate budget pools, and Activision elaborated that Elsewhere has already been operating for some time.

With the industry in turmoil, layoffs, studio closures, and game cancellations are rife across the board right now. Elsewhere represents a rare glimmer of additional investment in what otherwise seems like a tough time, as "black hole games" like Fortnite vacuum up post-Covid shrinking game time hours.

The verbiage from the press release has an emphasis on "narrative" games and sounds as though it could have some form of transmedia tie-in. The fact Elsewhere has goals "beyond games" could be a hint that it will try some new paradigms rather than lean on existing ones. But perhaps that's reading too much into it. Activision is no stranger to trying unique things, from toys-to-life games like Skylanders, or its previous music giant Guitar Hero.

Microsoft is also working on an experimental game with Hideo Kojima titled OD, with rumors suggesting it'll be some sort of horror puzzle-game with asynchronous online social elements. Is there a new wave of quasi-games on the horizon? Could Elsewhere simply be making something traditional like previous Activision publishing efforts like Sekiro? I suppose time will tell.

Keep an eye on what kind of vacancies open up ...

Source: Windows Central