Bone-idle.ie writes "Bone-idle : Hi Dan thanks for taking the time to talk to us. Very excited to see Choplifter getting a remake, how much involvement have you had in the remake?
Dan: my role in Choplifter HD development is as design consultant and iconic ancient legendary old guy. I was able to spend some intensive time with the team fairly early in the design cycle and share my ideas and concerns, which was a lot of fun for me. I will probably do more of the same during final gameplay tuning. Also I think the inXile guys are just the kind of people who want to pay their respects to the original designers, so I’m there to appreciate the attention"
In a reply to a fan on Twitter, InXile Studio head, Brian Fargo, mentions how the team are working on "wonderful" new RPGs and noted how the second game is still in the early stages of its life.
We are working on wonderful new RPG’s, it’s too bad they take so long to make. https://t.co/v53ZU5MIx1
— Brian Fargo (@BrianFargo) September 26, 2020
Real fortunate for Xbox players. My favorite genre. Crazy how Sony has been in the industry from near it’s inception yet are nowhere to be found with their 1st party studios
Think he/she means RPGs from Sony. It’s the one genre PlayStation is desperately lacking (western ones anyway).
I agree to a point. horizon zero dawn was a good action rpg to me. But yeah they rarely ever make jrpg's or rpg's for that matter. They're lucky japanese companies partner with them to make tons of jrpg's for them but once everyone gets those which has been happening more and more then the playstation brand becomes less relevant to me with each multiplat release that was once playstation only.
Yes my mistake that was written horribly. RPG’s. Whether it be JRPG’s and/or WRPG’s.
Sony should be embarrassed. Sick and tired of doing the same things in all their action/adventure games - Uncharted, Days Gone, Last of Us, Horizon ZD, Spider-man, etc:
Find ammunition
Pick up said ammunition
Reload weapon
Kill badguys
Find collectibles
Upgrade minimalistic skill trees that only progress combat related exchanges.
Rinse & repeat. Literally no thought process involved. Overly surface level.
I enjoyed games like this 10+ years ago, but they’ve become stale. You know what never becomes stale? The multi-layered synergistic gameplay systems integrated into RPG’s. It’s why The Witcher 3, Fallout, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, etc. can sell over 50 million copies over a consistent span of time. They’re timeless and offer depth that isn’t mindless and gets repetitive after 2 hours of play.
Want to earn perk points? Want to earn progress from every single thing you do in the game like travel/exploration, combat, weapon use, lock picking, want to also level your individual character aside from all that other leveling? Don’t mind if I do.
Oh also want to earn currency towards building/customizing your own properties? But you’ll face a dilemma because you may need to use it for the abundance of other items you may need to put that money towards. “Enjoy the freedom of those choices.”
That's why I don't have a Playstation. I love RPGs but I hate cinematic single player games. HZD is the only Sony game I would like to play. Which is strange because PS2 was an RPG machine.
I thought I was the only one that felt this way. Always get a lot of down votes whenever I mention that Sony's 1st parties feel all the same. *Bring on the downvotes*
Ridiculous. The same thing can be said for RPGs of doing the same things over and over. Same can be said for open world, fighting, etc.
Guess you're not including Microsoft in that they should be embarrassed for not only not having RPGs, but regular games as well. And canceling Fable.
Yeah. Sony should be embarrassed for award winning racing, action, platformers, adventure, puzzles, VR, etc. They should hide themselves in shame after this generation of domination. And supporting games like Ni no Kuni, FFXV" etc./S
Inxile making more RPGs is good. But they have to release first and be accepted as good. Mages Tale for example was a decent VR game. But it wasn't amazing.
You do realize playstation is Chuck full of these kinds of rpgs right?
Sure hope you're actually joking...if not please do tell which xbox games you're referring to
@apocalypse
Yea at some point it all becomes repetitive? The difference is the length/depth of the cycle. The cycle of gameplay systems in RPG’s is significantly longer than that of action/adventure games. RPG devs provide an abundance of non-mandatory gameplay systems to appease the mind.
Look at Cyberpunk. Literally every single thing you do in the game has programming coded into the game to allow for “progress” of some sort. If a player gets bored of managing their skill tree progress and leveling up their individual character, no problem they can take on a quest to earn currency to go and customize their apartment. But guess what, during that quest they not only just leveled up their specific weapon (key in satisfying hormone being released in the gamers’ hypothalamus), but they also just stumbled upon not only an optional side quest/objective, but also a secret location on the horizon and also a new upgrade to enhance their vehicle/mode of transportation (ding ding key in another hypothalamus hormonal secretion). Waves of satisfaction. Requires extremely hard work and dedication which is why I will always have far more respect for RPG devs than any other genre. Period.
Funny you named everything an xbox does not have congratz on your pountless rant
@ironmonkey
I’m a gamer, I do not pick console sides nor am I saying Xbox is better than Playstation. I only have a PS5 preordered and won’t get the Series X until 2022 when all the 1st party RPG studios release their games. I am stating my displeasure with Sony’s lack of investment in 1st party RPG studios. Nothing more
Well Im pretty sure Sony is content with getting all those jrpgs and rpgsalready from other developers...there is no shortage of them....
Single player experiences on the other hand is much more needed in the industry.
I also think Sony left the JRPG/RPG market due to investment. I’d love Sony to have a studio do a wrpg ala Cyberpunk/Fallout style, but it’s all about return on investment.
This is why I see the Bethesda deal sorta neutral for atleast 2 years and the branching off to exclusives after. It will most likely start with preorder Exclusives.
The good thing is the Bethesda acquisition will put Sony on their toes and hopefully branch out to other genres
You good sir, just had the statement of the day. You are correct.
If you pay attention to how Sony operates, they are a “business” first and foremost. S. Yoshida admitted that the development cost of Rogue Galaxy was not only double the cost of other 1st/2nd party games they were developing at the time (all non-RPG’s), but it also sold far less. The issue with this logic is that you could blame that on a number of things. For instance, the game was marketed horribly - you can’t blame Level-5 for that, Sony was the Publisher on the title.
Yes here’s hoping this does indeed put Sony on their toes regarding the genre. They put so much love and care into their 1st party titles, which is why I constantly advocate for them to create RPG’s.
Sony doesn't really need to invest in those genres because they know JRPGs will typically only come to them and Western RPG were mostly 3rd party until Xbox started buying them all up
Last time I checked Horizon Zero Dawn is an action RPG 😁
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/...
1. Did you just source wikipedia for your reference?
2. You can call it an RPG all you like. When compared to traditional RPG’s, it is clear as day that it doesn’t hold a candle to them. Assassin’s Creed is more of an RPG now than HZD is. You can technically call anything nowadays an RPG that has an open world and if the character levels up.
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TWO new AAA RPGs from InXile O.o
Xbox is the house of RPG games!
In Phil we trust!
King of Western I'd say, but still lacking on JRPG scene. If they could snag Sega or just a regular japanese developer, they'd be pretty set.
Yeah no sane person would say they have JRPGs down. And just me but i think they had to do a little begging to get the ones they have deals with now.
@Wrex369
Remind me again how many time-exclusive deals Sony has or tried to acquire? Would you consider that begging? I think Microsoft was pretty damn slow in buying studios and making sure they had people who were committed to the xbox brand. Like Spencer and current CEO of MS. They had a lot of bad buyouts, like Rare and Bungie, but I think in my opinion they've been much smarter.
Scalebound devs are still interested in resuming development.
Just bring it back as an Action-RPG.
Hell yeah! Fable, Fable 2, Scalebound... Fable 3...
They are definitely the king of RPGs. Nothing could possibly go wrong.
Let's not pretend these are gonna be AAA titles by any stretch.
I'm expecting AA Eurojank like spider studios.
Dude, your last words are scary... The dude destroyed rpg's and talks like a salesman.
So Philly Specs signs a blank cheque and magically all of his lies and hypocrisy and the fact the xsx is launching with zero exclusives is forgotten.
ok.
Inxile has made decent games but nothing big before as they made A or AA games only . I always bought their games at 20$ or less . Of course they will say they are making great games but let’s see them make one AAA game before getting too hyped .
Same here I’d love to also hear about a third person rpg or even an action rpg that’s coop like hunted was.
Twinfinite "For the brave few developers pioneering VR software, what are the creative and financial rewards for VR right now, and what's on the horizon in 2020?"
Risky? It's the largest growing segment in gaming, and statistically, more devs have seen success in these games over more traditional games. People with vr are buying games. They want experiences.
Any game is risky, and there isnt much happening anymore, that doesnt already exist, to mitigate the risk
by Matt Booty, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Studios:
"As part of our commitment to bringing a steady stream of new, exclusive games to our fans, I’m excited to announce Microsoft’s intent to acquire two new game development studios – Obsidian Entertainment and inXile Entertainment."
2 great rpg studios
Inxile-
Torment: Tides of Numenera
Wasteland
Bard's tale
Obsidian Entertainment-
Fallout new vegas
Star wars knight of the old republic 2
Alpha protocol
That makes a lot of new studios Ms have acquired and their future and commitment in this industry is clear.
343 industry
The Coalition
Turn 10
Rare
Mojang
Ninja theory
Playground games
The initiative
Compulsion games
Undead Labs
Inxile
Obsidian Entertainment
Indeed. Though perhaps they should have gone with one great JRPG studio to diversify more.
Aren't Japanese companies really averse to being bought out by foreign companies or something like that?
Obsidian is a great catch, if they give them funds to make AAA graphics there is a 90% chance I will buy the next Xbox .
they should let them make Fable.
And if Obsidian teams up with Ninja theory there is a 200% chance I will buy the next Xbox.
Good now convince to buy a Xbox by keeping these games fully exclusive. That includes not putting it out on PC.
It not how many studios that matter. What will matter is how MS/Xbox uses its "family" of first-party studios. MS reps have repeatedly stated the new studios are independent from each other, thus,creative freedom of the different studios is implied.
Which is a good thing. That way all their games don't start feeling similar too each other... Lord knows we don't need all games to become 3rd person emotional cinematic games. Sony has us covered there
I am a bit skeptical for Microsoft has a track record of running amazing game studios to the ground. Those studios were:
Mistwalker Studios
Lionhead
Rare
Microsoft needs to let their studios to do the games they love not keep them making the same franchise over and over which is why Biggie left.
@agent4532,
By Biggie I assume you mean Bungie? That is why they left, but I still find that really weird because they then want on to sign a 10 year franchise agreement with Activision of all people, lol.
"We're tired of working on the same franchise, so we're excited to announce we've left Microsoft and signed a deal with Activision to lock us down on our next franchise for the next ten years!"
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Wasteland 2 was awesome and i think part 3 was announced.
As for Torment: Tides of Numenera ...well, that game seriously sucked.
My issue from this developer is too much text. Less reading in their games would be good.
It was great from a roleplaying and player agency perspective. The combat was lame though, and the art was less than amazing. I still really enjoyed it though.
Obsidian was hit by layoffs in 2011 & 2012, they missed their bonus from Bethesda on New Vegas. A lot of the guys that made those three games aren't there anymore hence why they've been making smaller budget games like Pillars of Eternity, Tyranny, ect.
I'm not arguing the quality but they're not on the same scale, it's kinda disingenuous to use those three bigger budget games instead of their recent work which weren't as big especially given news of how Pillars of Eternity 2 flopped pretty hard. I hope they do well given their current financial woes, i want them to see what they can do with a larger budget.
The reason they’ve been making smaller games is Microsoft cancelled a big launch title from them. Supposed to be a AAA RPG. That hit them hard and they almost had to close. So In a sense Microsoft screwed them over and then saved them.
However, there’s new management with Microsoft (Phil, booty), so maybe everything is all better now
Microsoft is now a true competitor in the game development space. This is pretty exciting. Looking forward to seeing what next gen holds for MS. Now all they need to complete the pie, is to buy Remedy.
To truly be considered as a competitor you first need to put up a worthy fight, in this case produce some great games first. The best approach here is to keep expectations at bay until MS delivers the fight.
Yeah they are potentially a true competitor. But they have to constantly deliver awesome AAA games and not low effort gamws like sea of thieves, state of decay and probably crackdown 3
I wonder if they are done or whether they will announce any more next E3? A couple more additions would certainly be welcome. Plus as I mentioned above, both of the new studios release a new game every 1-2 years, so they have the ability to keep the games coming, which is fantastic. Not to mention how gamepass suddenly looks like a must have purchase for any gamer next gen.
Instead of acquiring more studios, maybe they should just add on more teams like they did with playground games.
@ThinkThink. I agree this would be good, but it is more risky, which is probably why they are not doing it as much. They are purchasing established studios for their talent and ideas as much as anything else. But it would be good if they expanded their current studies as well.
I feel like there gonna be some more announcement regarding studio acquisitions, as they need more to boost their Gamepass service. It is looking like they are talking Gamepass very seriously, and I hope it will become the Netflix of gaming.
Did you actually think Bethesda and Obsidian's relationship were tip top after the review debacle?
Bethesda weren't going to let that happen. They've been a bit bitter at the fact that, years later, fans of the series consider New Vegas the better release over Fallout 3.
Then look what they did to the series with 4.
TedCruzsTaint
I don't think that really mattered, i think the problem was the financial situation Obsidian was in at that point which wasn't great and they laid off a bunch of people. Given how New Vegas was already a pretty buggy product regardless of how good the game was minus those issues, it wouldn't make sense for Bethesda from a business perspective to green light another product with a studio that's been scaled down and is having issues.
If Bethesda really wanted another Fallout New Vegas, then we would already got one and not that bullcrap Fallout 76.
Plus, Obsidian is known for developing multiple projects at once. So who know. Maybe they might have a game similar to Fallout planned in the future.
@ spurg
MS should have done this in the beginning with original Xbox.
with those foremention Dev hope not all of them developing open world only games.
except Turn 10 and Rare.
Nice to see them put their money where their mouth is. I'm starting to see a future where I might come back to Xbox.
2 Great RPGs studios? Lol sorry but nothing Inxile has made is great. All of their games are average at best.
Your opinion has been noted, and disagreed with. Imagine these studios with bigger budgets and even more resources. Next gen is looking pretty exciting.
Wasteland 2 won multiple awards, and Tides, while the combat was pretty lackluster, was fantastic on the roleplaying and player choice aspect.
Torment got 81% on Metacritic. That is not the definition of average to me, especially when we have people here proclaiming that games like Detroit which got 78 on Metacritic deserve GOTY.
This is why thisgengaming.com is shit. You have people like TGGJustin, and he's a complete spanner.
Honestly, how many of them do you expect to survive long enough to release a game?
Yeah what is the point of acquiring them without closing them first before they release any game?
N4G’s logic is awesome.
Inxile is a decent rpg company I wouldn’t call it great . Obsidian is a much better company but they don’t own any of those IPs
Uhh...they own games like Pillar of Eternity and Tyranny which are some of their best games.
There are alot of salty people today. Its kindda like they wished MS wouldn’t announce any studio acquisition at this event lol.
The guys who make Ori, Moon studios I think is owned by Microsoft too, though I could be wrong. Either way they are an excellent dev too.
If they're allowed to continue making the games they have, I'll buy them on Xbox if that's the only place I can get them on consoles. Obsidian has been one of the most solid teams for CRPGs since the late 90s.
I do hope this doesn't mean PoE2 isn't cancelled for PS4. I don't think I'll rebuy it on a third platform just to carry over the save. I'll probably just pick it up on PC and play from my laptop if that's the case, though not preferable.
Inxile is okay. I really hated the Numenera ruleset implementation into the sequel to my favorite game of all time (which, coincidentally, was made by now Obisidian employees and Chris Avellone). Wasteland was good. Bard's Tale is a classic, but not great. So, if these guys leave behind bad rulesets or at least implement them in a manner where I don't feel like every choice I do is at the expense of extremely limited point pool (most decisions in a PnP game would have been roleplayed, but in CRPG, they decided to have them cost points for the most basic of decisions).
Microsoft won't do anything with these IP's. They are dead and won't be seen in the gaming world for maybe another 20+ years.
Eventually someone in the far future will buy the IP back from Microsoft for pennies on the dollar and do something with it again.
Microsoft doesn't make games. Microsoft entombs games.
I'm Playstation all the way but it's pretty stupid how you're gonna get a bunch of down votes for saying a clear and innocuous thing like that.
I know where you are going with this, but at least get the games right. YES, Obsidian developed the games you listed and own Alpha Protocol, they do not own New Vegas or KotOR. How you can leave out PoE or Tyranny is a bit mind boggling.
This is what MS bought for current IPs:
Torment (inXile)
Wasteland (inXile)
The Bard's Tale (inXile)
Alpha Protocol (Obsidian)
Pillars of Eternity (Obsidian)
Tyranny (Obsidian)
This is a great acquisition for the PC side, the problem is casual console gamers do not like these games...too much reading and thinking and being creative and stuff.
Just FYI, Torment is owned by Brian Fargo specifically. If he leaves, he could take it with him or sell it to the company. After Interplay/Black Isles went away, he maintained it through an LLC with him as signer of the holding. There's been no registration update that says he's moved it to Microsoft or inXile to date.
Yeah shows how talentless microsoft is to develop their own studios and how easily microsoft's sheep believes and thinks these moves are actually going to make microsoft better...how miraculous
Damn MS really making moves, maybe next gen will actually be intersting, I cancelled my GamesPass due to nothing interesting to keep me paying for it, but them adding all these new titles and if they add all the games these new studios are going to be making to games pass, i'm completely sold, I think in concept the GamesPass is a great deal, if NIntendo and Sony had one I would get it in a heart beat.
First, it was MS need more first party studios. Now it's a problem. There really is no winning with you people. I see why most publishers don't listen to their fans. Gamers whine just for the sake of it like anime fans.
Lol right
“MS needs to invest in first party!”
*buys and creates 7 first party studios in the last 6 months*
“Lol classic MS, can’t believe they’re buying studios”
How dare they spend billions trying to get new games developed and help struggling developers have strong financial backing? The nerve of those guys, I mean what were they thinking?
/S
It's NOT a problem.
You forget, this site isn't as much a gaming news site as it is a Sony fan and appreciation site. ANY positive statement about Microsoft will instantly get shot down no matter what it is. The very definition of bias. Sony has been doing very well for itself and it's fans. A very large percentage of those fans DO NOT want there to be any competition whatsoever.
One company doesn't have to fail in order for the other to thrive.
I agree thats because xbox is the black sheep this generation hopefully next gen will be better for them
Buying proven studios with popular IPs only to under-utilize them, retool them for multiplayer, while - possibly - exploiting those IPs?
Dont forget making them have mt's gaas and ridden with ms ads and most likely eventually pc exclusive...
@ThinkThink:
Screw Sony at this point. Where MS is blindingly focused on services and community "experiences" Sony's ignoring nearly everything for cinematic "walking" sims.
Still, they put out well received titles where talks up something that if it comes out is lukewarm at best.
It's reported that these new studios retain development freedom. MS is just writing the checks, and grabbing exclusives.
@TedCruzsTaint:
And still: wait and see. Wait. And. See.
That's been the annoying thing about the Xbox fan camp since 360 fanaticism: taking MS's word as gospel regardless of result. Thinking Sony fanboys are the exact same.
Game companies don't own my loyalty because they once put out one game I liked, they earn and re-earn it with each successive "good" game put out. They want my money they better entertain me, they're not entitled to it.
Many issues with main stream entertainment is that the consumer has stopped being the customer. With the game industry especially the customer has become stockholders where gamers are tolerated and placated while talking to them. When the industry said it was "recession proof" they were not talking to you. They knew you'd buy whatever was offered.
You need to calm TF down. Geez it's just games. Stop bring up old ish, Xbox is under new management. In Phil we Trust. He's delivered every promise so I have no reason to doubt that man.
We ask for BC DONE!
A new u.i DONE!
More power DONE!
More studios DONE!
chillax and let things play out before going crazy and that buy whatever they put thing you said don't apply to me. Haven't spent a dollar on MT and won't spend a dime on a product I don't deem worth my purchase and time
I was worried about their multiplayer only view myself but honestly I think they are now more focused on beefing up for GamePass..they claim they are gonna give these Studios creative freedom and I think thats exactly what they will do...Sea of Thieves and State of Decay 2 were both a product of their multiplayer focus and neither did all that great while they have watched Sony and Nintendo release great big selling single player games like Uncharted 4,Horizon Zero Dawn,God of War,Spider-Man,Zelda:Breath of the Wild,Mario Oddysey,etc..I think they realize their multiplayer only focus wasnt what the gamers wanted.I dont think they are gonna force these studios to be something they aren't but I guess only time will tell as we have seen Microsoft Studios become a factory for a single franchise The Koalition only makes Gears of War,343 only makes Halo,Turn 10 only makes Forza..I think they finally realize we want more than the same ole shit
Yep because its always a catch 22 with ppl like you. Despite the fact for many, many years everyone wanted MS to buy new studios. "MS with all their money should build or acquire studios" Has been said a million times over and the focal point of MS issue for a while.
So no its not Classic anything. MS needs to be doing this.
Not buy already established studios but create and invest in completely new studios from scratch.
Inxile and Obsidian will not last long at MS. They will be exploited for their IP and closed down like Ensemble and Lionhead was.
So for ages people say MS needs more studios yet when MS do just that it's still not good enough, guess some people are never satisfied
MS fans are satisfied it’s the Sony fanboys that always seem to be dissatisfied with MS. Wonder why...
I mean it's good to see ms start to take themselves seriously in the industry, something they should have done decades ago, but I wish they would build their own studios instead of buy existing ones.
I'd still prefer this, though, then for them to spend money on timed exclusives.
Buying established studios is any publishers best bet...buying these Studios as well as Playground and Ninja Theory was a great move on Microsoft..these studios have been releasing quality games for years now..thats much better than putting together new teams of strangers that have yet to build any chemistry together
You do realize that that's how Sony acquired many of their best developers right? Studios like Naughty Dog, Guerilla Games, Media Molecule and Sucker Punch were all bought by Sony.
Obsidian!!! Seriously, get to work on Pillars 3, borrow (heavy) from Divinity 2, keep that Baldurs love letter design and put some of that MS money behind it!
It'll be day zero for me!
I know for a fact that Septic can't wait for the next Pillars game.
This is one of the projects that I think Obsidian might be interested in the most, as on their own they might not have enough cash to fund it.
Seven studios in one year. Which means that they only had a handful prior to these acquisitions. Which is a red flag for the future of the company if they plan to have consistent releases. This needed to happen.
Why do you care about Pillars? You talked crap about that and Torment, I guess now that Microsoft owns them they have become good games...
I sure did, which is why I'm saying Part 3 needs to be better, especially now that MS owns them.
They also bought that studio that made that shitty Tides game. But then they have Wasteland 3.
Thank goodness MS bought them right butchert...I mean Srhalo?
Are you and kribwalker the same account or something?
Yes, much better... it needs more MT's and online only and... oh screw it lets just make games that are completely different games while were at it. I mean who cares about all the people who liked the games for what they were.
"it needs more MT's and online only and.."
Oh yeah, because this all happened before with...with...uuummm, what game did they do this with?
Oh yeah, not one game.
Just more wishing, hoping and forever moving the goal posts.
"Are you and kribwalker the same account or something?"
Wouldn't that explain a lot!
I have heard Gangsta Red scream from the heavens about pillars. Me, i’m not a huge fan of those games, Me i’m looking for obsidian to bring out something more along the lines of Fall Out New Vegas, or South Park the stick of truth. Two awesome games made by these very devs.
I don’t think MS will Butcher them, do you Senor? did they just Troll everyone by buying them only to butcher them? are they gonna become Butcher Trolls?
Pillars 2 sold really poorly part of the reason they got bought out . Not sure there will be a 3 if 2 failed so miserably.
The games from those studios have been available on the Xbox tho
They are buying studios that were making games for both consoles and PC's that's not good for gamers nor does it breed competition.
LMAO!!! Hey septic, according to Srhalo these studios will stop making games. This can't be good for gamers or competition!
@gangsta_red:
More than likely they'll make "community" games with options for MTs much less DLC. Will be offered on both PC as well as Xbox, which wont really benefit Xbox. That's not going to be good for competition against the PS5, which only has a weak point regarding BC.
@Srhalo
So if a studio makes PC games that is not good for gamers or does not breed competition?
Ummmmmmmm. Logic lacking.
These are two great RPG studios. By giving them the backing of MS they can make their games better, Better games will create more competition.
How can this not be good for gamers?
@NeoGamer232
I notice a sever lack of comprehension from xbox owners today...
If you have a studio that is making games for all the consoles and an open platform like Steam then you make them only make games for one console and lock them behind windows store which is a very closed platform compared to Steam. Yes that's bad for gamers and for competition.
"They are buying studios that were making games for both consoles and PC's " Oh you mean like how they been doing? If its not an issue now then why would it be an issue in the near future? Please explain.
@ Godmars
If you are still basing success of Xbox or PlayStation on consoles sold, then you are not understanding the transformation that is happening in the industry, both, on the hardware level (PC/Laptop/Smart Phones) and the services level. Next generation is where it will be clear, that it is all about Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, and where you can access these services, not console hardware, although consoles will still play a role to a degree.
The future of Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, is in the PC space, competing with Steam, origin and all of the other services, including whatever Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google come up with. You will be able to access your games from the device of your choice. Xbox has the advantage, and a big one, over Sony and virtually every other big tech company out there.
Next gen will be a complete game changer. If Sony doesn't focus more on the PSN, they will not be able to keep up. The days of big console sales as we know it, may be over after this gen, mainly because most people will not see the need to upgrade their consoles, particularly if they do not have a 4k tv.
@Srhalo
Why do you seem to think that that only applies to Microsoft? Sony has bought most of their best studios. Anytime a platform holder buys studios, or enters into exclusivity deals with studios, they are taking developer talent off the market and keeping it off other platforms.
Yeah it seems that the agressive and competitive stance that we saw from them at the start of last generation and was practically non existent this gen is back. As a PC gamer I probably won't buy their console but I sure as hell will be buying their 1st party games.
???
Last gen - Xbox 360 - they not only made a big show of buying studios, actually delivering games the one time, but did it again to ll of a wet fart. They also brought in the likes of Square and other JP devs and look where they are now in Japan.
No, on the other hand don't: its pretty messy.
Don't what? I don't know if you're agreeing or disagreeing! In the 360 initial years they had the likes of Mass Effect and Gears. I still remember the meltdowns when FF13 and DMC 4 were announced for the 360. They managed to get exclusives from Capcom and SE such as Lost Planet and The Last Remnant. They also funded Mistwalker and got Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey as exclusives. They managed to make a deal with 2K to make Bioshock a timed exclusive and all this from the top of my head.
They were agressive and had the will to compete. This lasted until they saw how successful the Wii was. Enter kinect and that's when the 360 started going downhill. This generation was lackluster but now they're preparing for next gen. They are investing again to be able to give Sony a run for their money like they did at the start of last gen but it seems that they learned something because now they're doing it in a much more effective way. Instead of relying on 2nd and 3rd party studios they are investing in 1st party studios and some of them like Obsidian had the talent but didn't have the budget to show us their true potential.
MS wanting to compete and invest are awesome news to me as it means more great games. Why just have great games from 2 of the big 3 when I can have great games from all of them?
They're certainly making some good moves for that by acquiring some of these studios.
Yeah, but for now, they're doing something which people said they need to do. I'll make judgement on the delivery when that time comes. I've resigned myself that this gen is a bust for them, and next gen I may not care since I will wait until MS delivers.
If I don't care come next gen, then I probably won't really spend much time discussing what they do, unless it has broader reaching implications...which will reside in the areas of their policies and approaches to the future.
I know they've procrastinated most of this gen, but I don't believe in criticizing them over something which I said they needed to do. What they're doing now will take time to come to fruition, but unlike the times in the past where people said give them time, there are appreciable examples of them doing something about their shortcomings.
Again, the point is that they've yet to actually *DO* anything except make announcements.
We have literally - L-I-T-E-R-A-L-L-Y - been through this s**t multiple times. Ms announces something, the fan base declare it'll win MS the gen, blow Sony out of the water, only for a game to disappoint if it even comes out. Then its months of defensive BS from the Xbox camp, maybe a few admissions from the hardcore, only for this s**t to start all over again at the next announcement.
I understand where you're coming from. And I still think they have to deliver. I'm just not going to spend the next couple years saying they have to deliver, when I know all those first 5 announcements from E3 came at the tail end of a project they just released, and one was a brand new studio that just started hiring their key people about a month ago.
It takes time to build games, and while that excuse wasn't really acceptable after Phil took over, because they didn't have anything else to fall back on, were cancelling games, and had no signs of something in the works....which we now can see they didn't unless they're still holding back games announcements, it doesn't mean that they don't have something now I feel we should give them the time to build on.
Criticize them for their handling of this gen as much as they deserve, but at the same time, I don't expect them to perform miracles in getting these new acquisitions out in a quick manner. I see they're doing something now at least, and I know that won't matter for this gen. But at least they're making moves for the next gen. How well that works for them, or their potential customers I can judge when the time comes.
I'm not personally speaking about the fan base, and what they're willing to accept. That's on them, and if they want to say it'll matter for this gen, as some are using this as a way to say the X1 is worth buying now, then I can't take them seriously because of MS past, and all the things I said above being true....because its unlikely these studio's games will run on an X1....unless they move the X1X to the lowest common denominator for next gen....or they seriously hold back the games to support the OGX1.
A little late 3 gens in to finally be aquiring studios... i cant wait for sony to fire bombs back on this little xbox parade
@srhalo
So the grudge you had with studios that made multi platform games before Sony bought them is all over with now for you?! How long did that take?
It’s just crazy how cut throat some “gamers” can be.. very finicky bunch.. they can only enjoy a good game from a publisher as long as the developer isn’t established, it has to be from scratch and then expect it right away then expect it to be better than a established developers game such as naughty dog...
Why do you idiots ride so hard for one side?
What I never understood is wasting time complaining about something they have no vested interest in, while attempting to make others feel inferior or stupid for not being on their team.
