Looking Glass, Irrational Games, Ion Storm, Arkane. Wonder if immersive sims are fated to be an over-ambitious, under-sold, mass audience-unfriendly genre made by doomed studios.
Microsoft closes several large Bethesda affiliated game studios
31–40 of 233 posts
Re: Microsoft closes several large Bethesda affiliated game studios
#32This is quite a lot of studios to be dissolving and obviously a lot of good developers and artists. The silver lining, if any, is that usually some of those let off open up their own indie studios and release some absolute gems. So here's to hoping and good luck to them!
Re: Microsoft closes several large Bethesda affiliated game studios
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just as with movies, it seems like we’re witnessing the death of mid-budget (AA) games.
Conversely, the recently released surprise hit Helldivers 2 is a very prominent AA game has sold millions of copies and seems well poised to win a bunch of game of the year awards (recently concluded PSN account linking controversy notwithstanding).
That's been reversed this time but it won't be next time. Next time sony does this the outcry won't be as bad. It's the ratcheting effect of corporate greed.
Re: Microsoft closes several large Bethesda affiliated game studios
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just as with movies, it seems like we’re witnessing the death of mid-budget (AA) games.
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.
Is Yakuza AA or AAA? Because every Yakuza game is great and I don't think they have that big of a budget.
Re: Microsoft closes several large Bethesda affiliated game studios
#35Hi-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…
They also developed The Evil Within games and Ghostwire: Tokyo, but their founder and CEO left the company last year to found a new studio. The writing was on the wall honestly.
Re: Microsoft closes several large Bethesda affiliated game studios
#36"Thanks for the widely acclaimed mid-budget surprise hit, Tango. Now polish up your resumes, pack up your stuff, and get out." It's like AAA publishers have no notion of a game studio as an organic thing that can grow. It's all just pieces on a board.
It's like destroying a factory when the chips it produces do not sell.
With Tango/Hi-Fi Rush, MS decided to make it free with Game Pass at launch, which obviously hurt its sales.
If you sell chips but charge people $1 for two weeks for unlimited chips, then just $10/mo for unlimited chips, you might be disappointed with direct chip sales.
Re: Microsoft closes several large Bethesda affiliated game studios
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just as with movies, it seems like we’re witnessing the death of mid-budget (AA) games.
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.
I think many of my most favorite games have been AA games. Though "what counts as AA" is probably a big question.
Hi-Fi Rush, was a delightful game that earned every $ I spent, but didn't feel like a AAA title.
Hades is a delightful game that earned every penny but which wasn't a "AAA" title.
I wouldn't call either games "indie", as they both had dozens of people on the teams that made them. But I'd also guess that both games were still made by very different size teams (e.g. 2 dozen vs 5 dozen).
Re: Microsoft closes several large Bethesda affiliated game studios
#38Earlier 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.
I think many of my most favorite games have been AA games. Though "what counts as AA" is probably a big question. Hi-Fi Rush, was a delightful game that earned every $ I spent, but didn't feel like a AAA title. Hades is a delightful game that earned every penny but which wasn't a "AAA" title. I wouldn't call either games "indie", as they both had dozens of people on the teams that made them. But I'd also guess that b…
Deep rock galactic
Dave the diver
Spiritfairer
Frostpunk
Should i keep going?
Re: Microsoft closes several large Bethesda affiliated game studios
#39Hi-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…
Just as with movies, it seems like we’re witnessing the death of mid-budget (AA) games.
A regression to the mean where mean is just whatever makes most money. I can understand if they are at the risk of going bankrupt but this seems so premature
Re: Microsoft closes several large Bethesda affiliated game studios
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just as with movies, it seems like we’re witnessing the death of mid-budget (AA) games.
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.