Game News 2.0

PixelPlayer

I'm waiting for the patronising "we're listening and we hear you" statement

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122108926#Comment_122108926

They were going to make a fun platformer, but because MS was overseeing them they ended up producing a game about someone with psychological terrors.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122109007#Comment_122109007

Thoughts and prayers to the developers and their families.

Sephiroth_dude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122109007#Comment_122109007

….

recyclops

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122109015#Comment_122109015

Tbh the first is a genuine masterpiece in my eyes. Played with earphones alone in the dark and it shines. Wonderful use of the medium, can't wait for 2.

J. Marston

Critical acclaim means the square root of fúck all unfortunately. The industry lives and dies on the triumvirate of shíte that is CoD, Fortnite and Fifa and what they represent, with **** like Genshin Impact thereabouts too.

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122109353#Comment_122109353

I know it's supposed to be very good. Just not git me. Just making a joke about the image posted previously.

recyclops

ah yeah I got the joke but your missing out on a well created, short brilliant narrative, I wouldn't even call it a game.

I don't know how they can match it again tbh

Retr0gamer

Shinji Mikami comments on it:

https://twitter.com/shinji_mikami/status/1787977411449270600?t=Spe0XpVlTarow-9m4PShiA&s=19

johnny_ultimate

And the worst take of the day goes to Mike Ybarra, who wants us to feel sympathy for the real victim of these cynical, destructive studio closures: Phil Spencer.

https://www.eurogamer.net/former-blizzard-boss-mike-ybarra-defends-xboxs-phil-spencer-following-arkane-austin-tango-gameworks-closures

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122110976#Comment_122110976

I saw that yesterday and just had to ignore it. Utterly, utterly stupid.

Yes, the decision may have come or been forced by those Spencer reports to. Afterall, Xbox is a small, small division of Microsoft, and Microsoft would feel little affect if they just got out of the gaming industry altogether. We don't see the numbers, reports or emails in the background, and we don't know how much of the decision was down to Spencer or forced upon him. And I'm sure knowing he's laying off huge numbers of people isn't easy unless you're a cold-hearted bastard.

But "I know this hurts him as much as anyone else"? F*ck the absolute f*ck off. Likely thousands of people being laid off, in an industry where job opportunities and job security are becoming scarcer and scarcer, where because of the f*cked up healthcare system in the US their health insurances and family plans may now be gone…. compared to Phil who is no doubt on a huge salary and even if MS did close down Xbox will surely have have a large severance payout already in his contract….

As much as laying off people might give him the sads, he's not hurting nearly as much as anyone else.

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122111029#Comment_122111029

Yep, executives face the dual privilege of rarely having to be accountable for failures, and when they do get held accountable have a much more comfortable safety net than anyone below them.

Phil Spencer may be refreshingly plain-spoken, and going by reports fairly pleasant to deal with by executive standards. But he's still a corporate executive, frequently making or at very least overseeing brutal decisions that even openly contradict his public comments and persona. And at some point, you've got to wonder whether he and Matt Booty, Sarah Bond etc… will ever face any consequences for the seemingly constant struggles and corporate fumbling that's now so associated with Xbox, rather than the teams trying to make games (and certainly in the case of Tango, passing that test with flying colours). Even more so than any of the other layoffs we've seen, this particular one seems like a real failure of leadership and vision as much as anything else.

Even more so than the shocking Roll7 news of last week, I sense a real anger and frustration with the closure of these studios in pretty much every reaction I've seen (Ybarra excluded). A lot of commentators are furious in ways that feel like a line has been crossed. If something like Hi-Fi Rush isn't enough, what the **** is?

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122111062#Comment_122111062

Hi-Fi Rush just doesn't make any sense. Either they were flat-out lying when they said it met all their expectations, sales targets as per tweet below ("all key measurements and expectations"), or the decision was just made to close the studio because they felt a sequel might still make a profit, but not enough of a profit. Not 2x development costs or more, and therefore not worth it.

https://twitter.com/aarongreenberg/status/1649431572137779203

Which would be an absolutely stupid and short-sighted decision to make because if they're selling Gamepass, they need games like this. They need a larger and wider portfolio of games to attract people.

But no. "…prioritizing high-impact titles and further investing in Bethesda’s portfolio of blockbuster games and beloved worlds…" aka just throwing more resources at CoD, Fallout & Elder Scrolls.

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122111149#Comment_122111149

Yeah, precisely. As I said yesterday, this has in one go blown up IMO the biggest benefit of Game Pass: the idea that it could sustain studios and games beyond just the blockbusters, and provide a wider range of games than just the AAA ones. Hi-Fi Rush was the successful poster child of that approach (viral success, solid and enthusiastic playerbase, critical acclaim, multi award-winning) and that wasn't enough. If they wanted it to sell more - again, contrary to all their public pronouncements that Game Pass is their focus - then why was it shadow-dropped during a stream rather than given a healthy marketing run? None of it makes sense. And now even if Hellblade 2 is a "success", people will be questioning whether Ninja Theory is next on the chopping block.

Retr0gamer

Dogs

https://twitter.com/bobservo/status/1787999695580626966?t=60Ce_ynTH_Oy2WDTjb_MmQ&s=19

Retr0gamer

This is depressing:

https://twitter.com/ethataylo/status/1787856772897861925?t=_8danAC9fBULAYSremClzQ&s=19

PixelPlayer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122111348#Comment_122111348

Nail on the head

PixelPlayer

They'll continue to ignore the root cause of the problem which is that xbox is not as attractive to gamers as PS and Nintendo.

The majority of people do not care about owning one even when it offers a gaming catalogue out of the box for as little as €40 for 8 months. With games such as hi-fi rush which can be considered as basically free with the service.

It's a bizzare situation to be in that even a small percentage of their trillions set aside for global marketing would fix it. Make Xbox look cool. Show parents what they are getting (because they have absolutely no clue).

They have completely lost their way and their identity and it looks like its only going to get worse with xbox being "anything with a screen". The failures of the xbox one don't look that bad anymore.

Always on Internet - perfectly normal now

All in one Tv media unit - ok many can live without but also many with aging TVs and crappy out of support Tzv OSes would love.

Digital games - They were only guilty of being ahead of their time.

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122111348#Comment_122111348

Bobby Kotick: somehow ruining video games as an artistic medium and commercial industry even in retirement.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122111478#Comment_122111478

It's kind of amazing that Xbox's downward slide happened with the Xbox One launch, and how many of the features they were trying to implement are, as you say, pretty much standard now and were ahead of the curve back then. Their issue was trying to force it through, really poor messaging, and obviously other issues such as forced Kinect (which again, kind of ahead of the curve when you think about how people use Alexa's etc these days, but its forced inclusion which they had to pull back on was absolutely atrocious). Plus the forced Kinect put them €100 over the PS4, in the midst of a recession.

Since then they've struggled to make up for lost ground, and no amount of money they throw at buying up studios is enough to pull people away from other systems given how much longer game development takes and some of their more troubled output which haven't hit the heights they needed them to (again, seemingly based on their own expectations which are likely a near unattainable bar to reach).

It's why there definitely feels like a Sword of Damocles hanging above Ninja Theory now. If Hellblade 2 doesn't set the world on fire (even if it performs well and makes its money back), are they next on the chopping block? Because whatever game NT decide to make next, how long will that take?

PixelPlayer

Ah I knew I was missing something - Kinect. They did very quickly separate it as an optional device, which of course then meant whats the point of making games/apps for it. They should have just taken the hit price wise and worked harder to make it cheaper to manufacture.

Personally I thought this was fantastic hardware and definitely has its place even today. Imagine this during covid, it would have been a killer device on par with Peleton. Exercise apps, try on clothing before you buy and of course some fun games such as that whacky detective one (D4 or something?), Fruit Ninja and of course anything with dancing.

CatInABox

What's worse for Ninja Theory is that Hellblade 2 is going to be another all digital release, without next to zero advertising.

Argh, FFS, it's so frustrating.

johnny_ultimate

I'm even more concerned about Double Fine. They make games that are in the same wheelhouse as Hi-Fi Rush: idiosyncratic critical darlings that sell to an enthusiastic but somewhat niche audience.

When the sale to MS was announced I thought it might have been some welcome stability for a studio famously always just about getting by. Now I'm not so sure.

Varik

If a game is sold normally and performs well then the studio have a very concrete number to show to prove they're a good continued investment. Have it release on subscription even as an option that get's harder.

Hi-Fi Rush had 3 million players (sold + pass) having played it by August 23 after releasing in January, there wasn't any breakdown but it'd be hard to think that a lot of that wasn't from game pass.

Unless you're doing insane pass numbers and breaking records it's hard to say your driving subscription.

Independent devs might see the sense in getting their game on the subscriptions, it's a guaranteed minimum return. You might not hit the heights you could have but the studio keeps going and you've built your name more. But for wholly own studio it's a big risk and a risk you've not got a choice in, especially if your game is more niche.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122111840#Comment_122111840

Yeah they backtracked with the Kinect quickly (and the online-every-24-hours requirement), but at that stage the damage was done, and I think a lot of people became wary that those things could still be re-introduced down the line.

I haven't had an Xbox since the 360 and especially since the Series X I've really been looking for a reason to get one, but the types of games they focus on aren't ones that appeal to me, and even buying Bethesda with Fallout/Elder Scrolls, I've just never been a huge fan of those games. To try play some of the games I did want to play, I ended up getting a Steam Deck instead which I bought Hi-Fi Rush for, even though I ended up buying it again for PS5 because the timing always felt off on Steam Deck. And yet even with my double purchase, I still couldn't save Tango. I tried my best, guys.

Retr0gamer

Kind of feels this is true:

https://twitter.com/zoigoms/status/1787866484422906335?t=yO9NK065tv40jDqQZ7szpw&s=19

Sony aren't doing great. They've lost the core games market to Nintendo and only really have the 'gamers' market to themselves and they aren't really doing much to change that, but why should they were their competition is floundering so badly.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122112137#Comment_122112137

It felt insane to me that Sony weren't doing enough to even try and properly compete with Gamepass, and now it may have been the only thing that's helped them keep going.

Potential-Monke

Is it too soon to say I told you so?

I'll open a weblink for the apologies I'm due. Xbox going the direction I more or less thought it would. Gamepass was too good to be true. Acquisitions were too good to be true. It's all coming out now. But I was very wrong, MS as a company surely knew what they were doing... I'll have that link shortly.

Retr0gamer

The Nintendo world championship game that was teased looks like a NES remix type game. Hope it's just as good as those:

https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1788210005545746507?t=Flekj4QHatnkhQmhvR1YvQ&s=19

McFly85

While it’s notoriously difficult to increase market share in the console space without the market leader almost completely imploding, MS really haven’t helped themselves over the last 8 years - and it comes down to the fact that Microsoft just aren’t a creative company.

Everything that’s potentially good about the Xbox brand is service based - Gamepass, quick resume, fpsboost, all lovely features outside the realm of creativity.

They struggle to make good games consistently because management really doesn’t understand what a good game is - that’s not to say they don’t have any obviously, but the direction from the top seems to be to hope the studio know what they’re doing. And if they don’t, or their good game isn’t driving service subscriptions then shutter the studios and bring them in on the big popular thing they think will do it.

And if they don’t know what a good game is then there’s no hope for Gamepass to be a success, because they can’t reliably produce good content for it.

If they want to remain a presence in the console market, a sea change is required at an executive level. Having Phil plod along while his studios are dropped to make CoD isn’t a recipe for success.