Xbox Game Studios Stupidity Hate Thread Game Pass Edition

[Peaches the Wonder Cat]

Everything Microsoft touches goes to shit.

And yet somehow 343, a studio that should have been closed down a fucking decade ago, still survives.

Phil Spencer needs to go. This moron has no clue what he's doing.

The diversity hire who has been buying these studios and demanding negresses be made protagonists would replace him.

 

[Whoopsie Daisy]

If MS are dropping this news so close to the Helldivers shitstorm, means either MS are fucking retarded, or there's worse news to come. Maybe, both.

 

[Pierre D'Olnique]

Not surprising for Arkane, their three most recent releases were garbage. Tango got hit probably because HFR isn't a live service game.

 

[Punished Magician]

If MS are dropping this news so close to the Helldivers shitstorm, means either MS are fucking retarded, or there's worse news to come. Maybe, both.

It's not uncommon for a company to drop their bad news around the same time someone else in the same industry does, it helps dilute the focus off of themselves because consumers will also be busy ruminating on what the competition did wrong. For example, didn't M$ and Sony drop their news about shutting down past gen online stores around the same time?

It's the same principle as why you don't want to release a movie at the same time as a competitor's that'll be getting lots of attention, but in reverse because now you want the attention off of you.

 

[xXx: State of the Union]

I would assume Tango got hit because there was probably little investment put into it comparatively with the other studios that Microsoft has acquired.

That and they are Japanese.

 

[Sparky Lurker]

This was literal fake news made up by a shitty journalist. Leaked internal emails showed that the game was a success, and the developer expanded/went on a hiring spree a month after release, not something you would expect from a "flop."

Hi-fi rush definitely didn't "flop" bros, ignore the fake news.

We all be looking for that sweet COD REDACTED event this June, this is what the investors gamers want.

Microsoft hadn't shuttered any studios in a hot minute, so here's some new ones!

View attachment 5968702

Other 2 studios was the Doom Mobile guys (Alpha Dog Games) and the OG Prey studio (Roundhouse Studios)

 

[#lurker]

Hi-fi rush definitely didn't "flop" bros, ignore the fake news.
We all be looking for that sweet COD REDACTED event this June, this is what the investors gamers want.

You don't understand how business works you if you think them shutting the studio down means the game was a flop. We are in a recession and this is a major corporation, they are cutting the fat and moving resources to larger guaranteed gains. Why spend a few million to gain a few million when you can reallocate those resources for bigger successes.
The studio also lost its head talent, so it was a zombie anyway.

 

[Kiwi Andy]

Not surprising for Arkane, their three most recent releases were garbage. Tango got hit probably because HFR isn't a live service game.

Arkane went to shit when they started getting super woke. They got extremely high off the DEI kool-aid.

MS is shit, Soyny is shit, Nintendo at least still has some redeeming qualities but they are at a crossroads.
Steam all the way.

 

[Sparky Lurker]

You don't understand how business works you if you think them shutting the studio down means the game was a flop. We are in a recession and this is a major corporation, they are cutting the fat and moving resources to larger guaranteed gains. Why spend a few million to gain a few million when you can reallocate those resources for bigger successes.
The studio also lost its head talent, so it was a zombie anyway.

The game flopped not because was bad and rather because Microsoft treated as a subscription service freebie, Sunset Overdrive had an entire year of advertisement and barely made any return to Insomniac, why do you think it would be different for a shadow drop release.
Let's not forget we are talking about current year triple A publisher expectations, almost everything is treated as a flop nowadays.

 

[Corette]

Not surprising for Arkane, their three most recent releases were garbage. Tango got hit probably because HFR isn't a live service game.

Didn't people who were the actual driving force of their earlier titles get ousted from Arkane and then made Weird West under a new developing company?

 

[Asian tech support]

Didn't people who were the actual driving force of their earlier titles get ousted from Arkane and then made Weird West under a new developing company?

The guy (Raphael Colantonio) was the founder of Arkane. I'm not sure about the drama but it sounds like it was Harvey Smith related.

 

[#lurker]

why do you think it would be different for a shadow drop release

Because Hi Fi Rush got released on multiple platforms, had infinitely more buzz behind it, and was said to be a success from leaked internal emails.
Sunset Overdrive by comparison launched on a single console that had no install base (no, launching 4 years later on PC when everyone had forgotten doesn't count).

Tango Gameworks isn't one game either, it was also Evil Within 2 and Ghostwire Tokyo failing, From a sleazy executive point of view; you have two failures, one mild success, your head talent just left the studio, and you just hit a recession; it makes no sense to keep the studio running.

 

[xXx: State of the Union]

I think only one of my Xbox friends played Hi Fi Rush and he didn't really have anything great to say about it (but he also didn't have anything great to say about Starfield so I think after 20 years the programming may be wearing off for him)

Hi Fi Rush didn't look "bad", but a lot of the praise I saw for it came from game journos which makes me think it was either gay as fuck or they were paid off.

 

[Übertroon]

and was said to be a success from leaked internal emails

Phil Spencer loves huffing his own farts and thought Redfall and Starfield would save 2023 for Xbox.
He's also the mastermind behind paying billions for studios then gutting them, which as of now has left Microsoft with a lot of dead weigth and Xbox as a platform likely not surviving the decade

 

[Product Placement]

Arkane Austin's Red Fall was a shitshow, so closing down and moving staff to other studios make some sense. MS wants to get a new Fallout game out ASP and moving staff to Bethesda seems like how they will do it, rather than to outsource it.

Tango closing down is awful, they made the only first party game this gen for MS that everyone seemed to enjoy, and really doesn't help XBOX publishing weak game diversity. I think Tango closing down shows MS's plan for XBOX is big games and GAAS stuff, no small or mid range games.

Wouldn't be shocked if double fine or ninja theory got it next.

 

[Soycast Guy]

Genuinely disappointed about tango. They were a pretty decent studio for being in the modern gaming landscape. Fuck Arkane though. Glad Arkane Austin got shut down.

 

[DeadwastePrime]

i feel bad for the devs at arkane austin since it's not their fault they had to make redfall. corporate greed trying to chase dying trends fucked them over. remember, they didnt even want to make redfall when they were developing it. almost no one there had experience on how to do most of the shit it needed to be halfway decent

 

[xXx: State of the Union]

i feel bad for the devs at arkane austin since it's not their fault they had to make redfall. corporate greed trying to chase dying trends fucked them over. remember, they didnt even want to make redfall when they were developing it. almost no one there had experience on how to do most of the shit it needed to be halfway decent

I want to know who the fuck did the market research that told whoever made the decision that *anyone* fucking wanted Red Fall.

That's the biggest problem with Microsoft right now. It feels like they make games for like 150 people on a specific fucking subreddit. That's fine if the game is cheap like Pentiment and Hi Fi Rush, but these games *cannot* sustain the AAA industry that all of the "big names" have cultivated for the past 15 years.

They're prioritizing a new Fallout game. Well that's fucking good cause at least I see a bunch of retards clamoring for it after that TV show came out. That at least makes some sense to me. Maybe Obsidian should have been working on a Fallout spin off this whole fucking time instead of Honey I Shrunk The Kids, Medieval Artbook Simulator and fucking Outer Worlds 2.

 

[#lurker]

They're prioritizing a new Fallout game.

It makes me laugh that the "success" of the Fallout show has Microsoft scrambling to fast track a new title after the previous games got increased interest and sales boosts, and yet the Halo had two seasons now and is as dead as ever.
Do you think they regret starting an alternate universe that has no resemblance to what it supposedly represents? At least the Fallout show, as terrible as it is, has a connection to the franchise. Turns out people are more invested when your canon isn't arbitrary nonsense.

 

[Ibanez RG 350EX]

I want to know who the fuck did the market research that told whoever made the decision that *anyone* fucking wanted Red Fall.

That's the biggest problem with Microsoft right now. It feels like they make games for like 150 people on a specific fucking subreddit. That's fine if the game is cheap like Pentiment and Hi Fi Rush, but these games *cannot* sustain the AAA industry that all of the "big names" have cultivated for the past 15 years.

So many of these big games are conceived as a business model first and then the game and the premise are tailored around that and it SHOWS.

They excite and appeal to no one because even their developers aren't excited by it. They're one step above a themed slot machine in terms of artistic merit.