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Microsoft closes several large Bethesda affiliated game studios

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Re: Microsoft closes several large Bethesda affiliated game studios

#151

Post by Vt71fcAqt7 »

utensil4778 wrote: post #84
vel0city wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Condition Zero and Source released in 2004. Global Offensive released in 2012, eight years later. Counterstrike 2 released in September 2023, eleven years later . Counterstrike isn't the game to point to for re-releasing the same thing over and over.

Counternite, fort of duty, whatever. I care so little for this class of game that I can't be bothered to spend the brain space to keep them separate. Not saying they're good or bad, I'm just not interested in the slightest.

If you aren't interested enough to even know what you're talking about why do you make such specific claims about it? Fortnite is completly different from counterstrike. For example counterstrike is a team based game and Fortnite can be played single player. And counterstrike has not had a new release in which current players must buy the new game for 11 years much less every six months. Also, you are wrong when you say you are "not saying they're good or bad" when you said making the supposed re-releases of these games is like putting a "fresh coat of lipstick on the same pig."

Re: Microsoft closes several large Bethesda affiliated game studios

#152

Post by gcr »

jicea wrote: post #40
iLoveOncall wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly I think it might make sense. I can't remember a single AA game that was great. Actually, I can't remember a single AA game other than the ones I remember because of how bad they were. I think AA in games has, for a long time, meant "We want to do a AAA but don't have the money or time" and this can only end in disaster.

Housemarque hadn't released any AAA games before launching Returnal on PS5, which is, in my opinion, still one of the best games on this platform. Smaller studios can innovate on gameplay and stories before creating a hit. Another example is FromSoftware. They kept iterating on their games going from KingFields to Demon Souls, Dark Souls, etc...You can't have Elden Ring without all this earned experience.

FromSoft is putting out some really interesting experimental bangers too. If you haven't tried the new Armored Core, I highly recommend it -- it's a great bridge from a beloved-but-niche genre (mech games) toward the mainstream. It's small, focused to a point, tells the story it wants to tell and gets out of your way. I'm still thinking about it 9 months later...

Sounds like this sort of risky niche title would earn a studio closure if it came from Microsoft's corner.

Re: Microsoft closes several large Bethesda affiliated game studios

#154

Post by hombre_fatal »

Dystakruul wrote: post #129
ToucanLoucan wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an aside of this discussion: I do not get people who like Outer Worlds. I am a huge fan of New Vegas, I was so pumped for that game, and it was so, so bland. The combat damn near put me to sleep, the writing was atrociously heavy-handed and made me think the authors thought I was a complete fucking idiot (and I agree with them!), and the moment-to-moment gameplay was just thoroughly, thoroughly unsatisfying. I kno…

just a note for inattentive readers: Outer Wilds from GP's comment is a very different game compared to Outer Worlds which the parent comment mentions. (it doesn't help that they were both released in the same year, 2019) Outer Wilds: action-adventure, open world mystery game with puzzles Outer Worlds: action role-playing game, open world first-person-shooter (similar to the Fallout games)

I get them confused all the time and you'd be in for a ride if you got Outer Wilds while expecting Outer Worlds, but the (G)GP actually mentioned both of them.

Re: Microsoft closes several large Bethesda affiliated game studios

#155

Post by falcor84 »

fidotron wrote: post #27
ajmurmann wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what regard has gamepass failed? I keep hearing nothing but excitement about it? Does it lose a lot of money? Similarly, how did they trash the Xbox brand? I've always been a PlayStation or Nintendo user so my view is quite tainted here.

I refer to my other answer about gamepass. For the Xbox brand they have failed to release quality versions of every major Xbox franchise bar Forza Horizon (Halo Infinite, for example), and this mismanagement has been ongoing for so long the sales figures of the Series consoles are dire. (And the Series X is not bad by any stretch). Now they are having to release their games on their major competitor, the PS5, making…

> For the Xbox brand they have failed to release quality versions of every major Xbox franchise bar Forza Horizon

They did also release Microsoft Flight Simulator in 2020, which while also available on PC was in my opinion a massive win for Xbox

Re: Microsoft closes several large Bethesda affiliated game studios

#156

Post by pteraspidomorph »

glenstein wrote: post #30
DannyPage wrote: post #3

Hi-Fi Rush was a fantastic game, won major awards, showed off the promise of XBox Game Pass… and for their efforts their studio has been shut down. There have multiple instances of this in just the past few weeks; are publishers really going to just bet on their prime AAA titles (Call of Duty, Halo, GTA6, etc) and nothing else? And those games either take a lot of rotating studios and a long development cycle to rele…

Yeah, I have a hard time understanding the push to consolidate everything into a small set of core titles. Consider private label brands on Amazon, which at least maintain numerous distinct brand identites focusing on different categories. Having a portfolio of actually distinct companies with unique personalities and signature approaches to design and gameplay is exactly what you want if you are trying to maintain a…

> consolidate everything into a small set of core titles

This already happened in the early 2000s. If you were around back then, you might remember how everything was sequels and rehashes for a while. Diversity of ideas returned to the industry only after it became practicable to publish and monetize indie games (post-Braid).

Microsoft and Embracer recently bought the whole industry. Now they might be about to light a match and set fire to the whole thing. OK, but fortunately, all the talented passionate people with the ideas and drive to create new things still exist in the world. I believe many players will find their way back to them, no matter how sufficent "garbage" is for the majority of people. If milking the uncaring baseline consumer was all that mattered to videogame creatives, they'd all be making ad-driven smartphone shovelware.

Re: Microsoft closes several large Bethesda affiliated game studios

#157

Post by hombre_fatal »

somenameforme wrote: post #82
troupo wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not for XBox though. Mine has turned into an expensive paperweight we occasionally use to play the same 2-3 local co-op games we played 4 years ago.

It's pretty easy to convert your TV to a PC console. Just grab a HDMI/DisplayPort cable and some USB cables for controllers. Wire your TV up, start Steam Big Picture mode, done. You now have a console with a zillion awesome games in the exact same place you had the console connected. Here's [1] the Steam page for split screen games. Currently there are 934. Can't go wrong with Earth Defense Force! And no you don't ne…

Thanks. I had no idea you could play split screen on Steam games. I'll definitely set this up.

Re: Microsoft closes several large Bethesda affiliated game studios

#158

Post by hypertexthero »

ajmurmann wrote: post #14
fidotron wrote: post #9

What is extraordinary about the Microsoft games unit and Xbox is how immune their senior staff are to the repercussions of their bad decisions. They're certainly not taking responsibility for the failed gamepass experiment, trashing the Xbox brand, or the acquisitions they now regret since successfully closing Activision. Failing upwards has never been so conspicuously obvious as it is in modern corporate America tha…

In what regard has gamepass failed? I keep hearing nothing but excitement about it? Does it lose a lot of money? Similarly, how did they trash the Xbox brand? I've always been a PlayStation or Nintendo user so my view is quite tainted here.

I don’t think it failed yet, but I’m not renewing my subscription, gifted to me by a friend, for the following reasons:

1. Too many game choices without having to think about spending money for each one is very expensive when the currency is time.

2. Video games will never be Microsoft’s primary business, while video game players and makers are Valve’s. This is why Steam is so much better than Xbox/PC Game Pass.

3. It’s bloody difficult to take screenshots!

Re: Microsoft closes several large Bethesda affiliated game studios

#159

Post by wredue »

CSMastermind wrote: post #12
fidotron wrote: post #9

What is extraordinary about the Microsoft games unit and Xbox is how immune their senior staff are to the repercussions of their bad decisions. They're certainly not taking responsibility for the failed gamepass experiment, trashing the Xbox brand, or the acquisitions they now regret since successfully closing Activision. Failing upwards has never been so conspicuously obvious as it is in modern corporate America tha…

I don't play games at all so I'm very out of the loop but gamepass was a failure? I have friends at Microsoft who worked on it and they all seemed to think it was going well last I checked (about a year ago).

Game pass was an obvious piece of gamer bait.

It is current high value for consumers, but that’s all it is, and in cases where MA is just a third party vendor to the publishers, high value for consumers is bad for the publishers. If it is ever deemed a success, that value will diminish extremely fast.

Re: Microsoft closes several large Bethesda affiliated game studios

#160

Post by [deleted] »

Night_Thastus wrote: post #149
Apocryphon wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bethesda is also notorious for taking forever to make Elder Scrolls games. Skyrim came out in 2011 and has not had a proper sequel since. First-person RPG also isn't exactly a glutted sub-genre. Neither of the examples fit the phenomenon they're talking about!

I wouldn't say notorious. It's only become that way with the latest games. Morrowind to Oblivion was ~5 years. Oblivion to Skyrim was ~5 years. Fallout New Vegas (Obsidian) to FO4 (BGS) was 5 years. It's really only since then that game development times have skyrocketed as much as they have.

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