Xbox Game Studios & Bethesda |OTXIII| Todd Howard & The Temple of Doom

[Bede-x]

They need to announce things somewhat early, because while some of the talk surrounding games that are far away might not filter through to the mainstream market, it matters quite a lot in gaming circles that there's something to talk about and look forward to. Try going back to the games shown in 2020's tradeshows, many of which are not gonna release until 2022 or possibly even later. Imagine what Microsoft's mindshare would look like right now, if every (presumably) 2022 and later title wasn't known.

The only announced games would be what's coming this year or even only 2020. If we set the inclusion line at games releasing in 2021, the 2020 tradeshows would tell us about stuff like Halo, Psychonauts 2, but nothing about games like Avowed, Fable, Starfield, State of Decay 3, Hellblade 2 etc.*

What would Microsoft's mindshare look like, if we didn't know about those games? If every discussion on social media didn't know about them, if every gaming podcast dicussing upcoming games only had the option to mention games like Halo and Psychonauts 2?

It would be pure poison to their mindshare in gaming circles.

Perhaps sometime when they're fully up and running, they can rein the announcement-to-release-time in a litte, due to them having the worlds largest first party, but even then having a list of announced games coming to your platform is valuable.

*For the sake of argument let's just assume the games release those dates.

 

[MCD]

All you guys talking future games and I'm here waiting for Battletoads online coop patch.

I refuse to believe it's gonna stay local coop forever!

 

[Firenoh]

See, Sony can get away with going this route. There's already the expectation that exclusives are just over the horizon.
when you're in Microsoft's shoes coming off a generation where the quantity and quality of exclusives paled in comparison with the competition, you need to show as much as you can on the roadmap.

In a few months, console shortages will peter out and you'd need to market like hell to sell the hardware you make. the name of the game should be to showcase a solid pipeline of first party games coming to the platform to attract more buyers.

Click to shrink...

And I feel like they've already done that.

State of Decay 3
EverWild
HellBlade 2
Project Mara
Avowed
Fable
As Dusk Falls
Age of Empires IV
Forza Motorsport
Perfect Dark
Indiana Jones
Starfield
TES6

boom, they already have more future titles announced than on that Marvel timeline. There's zero need to announce stuff even further when we're still awaiting gameplay on all of these. Trying the scope out and hype up stuff even beyond is a waste of marketing recourses that should go to making sure these games get the the attention they deserve.

 

[Djalminha]

They need to announce things somewhat early, because while some of the talk surrounding games that are far away might not filter through to the mainstream market, it matters quite a lot in gaming circles that there's something to talk about and look forward to. Try going back to the games shown in 2020's tradeshows, many of which are not gonna release until 2022 or possibly even later. Imagine what Microsoft's mindshare would look like right now, if every (presumably) 2022 and later title wasn't known.

The only announced games would be what's coming this year or even only 2020. If we set the inclusion line at games releasing in 2021, the 2020 tradeshows would tell us about stuff like Halo, Psychonauts 2 but nothing about games like Avowed, Fable, Starfield, State of Decay 3, Indiana Jones, Hellblade 2 etc.*

What would Microsoft's mindshare look like, if we didn't know about those games? If every discussion on social media didn't know about them, if every gaming podcast dicussing upcoming games only had the option to mention games like Halo and Psychonauts 2?

It would be pure poison to their mindshare in gaming circles.

Perhaps sometimes when they're fully up and running, they can rein the announcement-to-release-time in a litte, due to them having the worlds largest first party, but even then having a list of announced games coming to your platform is valuable.

*for the sake of argument let's just assume the games release those dates.

Click to shrink...

I think you're totally right. Spencer has stated the importance and intention of avoiding announcements of far out games, but they also know what it's like to run a show with State of Decay 2, Crackdown 3 and Sea of Thieves and then a bunch of third parties. They want to get to the point where most announcements release on the same year or year and a half, but in the meantime, they have a console and brand to market.

I believe that in about two years we'll be there, they'll get to cherry pick what games they want to show each time from the two or three dozen they will have in development at any given time.

 

[BuggeryBugz]

I am enjoying Wreckfest but the lack of 60fps is disappointing.

Click to shrink...

Same!

I wonder why they give you a choice of 1080p or 4K in the settings?

 

[Theorry]

 

[vixolus]

Same!

I wonder why they give you a choice of 1080p or 4K in the settings?

Click to shrink...

My guess is it's not given a next gen update, and the game was CPU bottlenecked with the old jaguar CPUs. Graphically it can push 1080/4k but the simulations on the old CPUs couldn't push hard enough to create a stable frame rate.

 

[MCD]

Click to shrink...

Something in that window...

ENHANCE!

 

[VinFTW]

I'll admit

since horizon has blown up, I haven't had much excitement for the Motorsport series. I loved 5, flaws and all. I even bought 6 and 7 but got bored pretty quickly.

I think they need to develop a really engaging career mode for Motorsport, something akin to classic Gran Turismo. More importantly, it needs to have a natural and satisfying progression. Going from those shitty VWs to a Mclaren with often enough car rewards to ease you into higher classes and different races. I also feel like they need to branch into bikes (PGR anyone?) and maybe even rally, f1 or nascar.

If all else fails, I'm sure it'll look fucking outstanding. Expecting a 4K/60w RT and a 1440p/120 mode without RT.

 

[Nameless]

I have a PS5 and love it, but the Series X has really started to seperate itself as my 'daily driver'. It's where I spend the bulk of my time & money, and it's the system that excites me most to cut on. Not only did MS hit a home run with both the hardware and ecosystem, but there's this wonderful, thoughtful cohesion between the two, something I instantly miss when using other consoles now.

Can we take the time to appreciate how the combination of digital, gamepass and bc is awesome? Today I played Ace Combat 7, Ninja Gaiden 2, splinter cell (original), gears tactics without thinking about what platform they originally released on. It's just so good to be able to do that.

I hope in the future every platform is bc. I just became an Ace Combat fan and veterans keep telling me about the holy trinity of that franchise on ps2. Sadly I cant play them on modern platforms.

Hopefully Namco re-releases them soon.

Click to shrink...

1000%. And I appreciate it even more next to Sony's apathetic approach to their legacy catalog, and Nintendo's gross, nickel & dime-y approach to theirs(gating emulated classics behind a paywall and charging $60 for lightly touched ports of old games).

So much of what I'm playing on XSX isn't available anywhere else, and many feature these transformative, "remaster tier" improvements. It's fantastic.

 

[Handsome James]

TBH we have no idea how far along these games are and how far out MS is willing to show things. If it's ready to be shown, just show it. I don't give a damn if it's 3 years away. I don't think MS had truly tapped into what XGP can be marketing-wise. I didn't sign-up for Disney + to watch Lion King for the 3000th time, but for what they in the pipeline. MS needs to look at the way Disney + is being handled. Don't let this website fool you with it "CGI sucks" or "I want gameplay" people want to know what's coming and have something to talk about.

People love shit like this! Games are made different the movies, and yes game development is unpredicable. Look at Halo Infinite, truth is it got delayed and people moved the fuck on. I'm not talking about here but the general person. With XGP I feel you can be more open with what's in your pipeline. If MS came out and said that Obsidian is working on the next Fallout, people would be hyped. While we know that it would be 4-5 years away, it still will be great to talk about. The number of studios is going to increase, while I doubt they buy another publisher anytime soon. I can see them adding 2-3 more studios by the end of next year. If you have a consistent flow of games coming in, I think you can be more open about future games.

Click to shrink...

I'm with you, sign me the fuck up for an XGS/Bethesda graphic like this at E3 this year. XGP must at least be in its phase 2 or 3 by now. Show us that road map, baybee. The Bethesda unannounced stuff is enough for 5-6 games itself.

What's absolutely nuts to think about is the fact Xbox already has a loaded slate of both brand new IP and sequels to their beloved franchises announced for the next1-3 years before even factoring in the Bethesda stuff.

Even more nuts are the very real rumors that they're not done with large/publisher acquisitions.

 

[Prine]

We're coming up to the end of the month, based on 343i last update, we should be getting another Halo Infinite development info drop this week.

 

[litebrite]

Can we take the time to appreciate how the combination of digital, gamepass and bc is awesome? Today I played Ace Combat 7, Ninja Gaiden 2, splinter cell (original), gears tactics without thinking about what platform they originally released on. It's just so good to be able to do that.

I hope in the future every platform is bc. I just became an Ace Combat fan and veterans keep telling me about the holy trinity of that franchise on ps2. Sadly I cant play them on modern platforms.

Hopefully Namco re-releases them soon.

Click to shrink...

Agreed.

 

[Mugen X]

We're coming up to the end of the month, based on 343i last update, we should be getting another Halo Infinite development info drop this week.

Click to shrink...

Anything in particular you're hoping to see?

 

[Akai]

Anything in particular you're hoping to see?

Click to shrink...

They told us what the next 2 Inside Infinite blog posts will be about:

"next month (February) we'll talk with some of the folks working to bring Zeta Halo to life followed by a chat with the Audio team in March."

Click to shrink...

 

[Mugen X]

They told us what the next 2 Inside Infinite blog posts will be about:

Click to shrink...

Nice, gotta look this stuff up. I'm excited to just see whatever, haven't played a Halo game since Reach.

 

[Prine]

If you haven't seen it, watch the interview with Jason Ronald by XCast, great detail about some of the engineering brilliance the Xbox BC team have applied.

49:45

 

[MCD]

 

[ghostcrew]

Any UK/Euro football fans - FIFA 21 for Series X/S (and Xbox One) is £15.99 on cdkeys right now. Crazy low price.

 

[Theorry]

Any UK/Euro football fans - FIFA 21 for Series X/S (and Xbox One) is £15.99 on cdkeys right now. Crazy low price.

Click to shrink...

wut? I bought it a week ago for 30 bucks there lol

 

[FarSight XR-20]

This game still has one of the best cutscenes ever.

 

[space_nut]

A Closer Look at How Xbox Series X|S Integrates Full AMD RDNA 2 Architecture - Xbox Wire

We here at Team Xbox would like to congratulate and celebrate our amazing partners at AMD on today’s announcement of the Radeon RX 6000 Series of RDNA 2 GPUs. It was incredible to see AMD demonstrate the power and potential that the new AMD RDNA 2 architecture can deliver to gamers around the...

news.xbox.com

I'm reading this article again and it's so damn amazing MS got full hw support for RDNA 2.0 on their console. Such an amazing piece of hardware. Seeing devs slowly start using the tech will be amazing. Metro using hw vrs in their nextgen patch are going to show some amazing results I'm sure. I wonder if cyberpunk will use it as well

 

[solis74]

early CG announcements are completely fine considering they have a shit ton of studios with XGS releasing games all the time

I mean its clearly something people like considering thats what Sony did for years and those E3 shows had people HYPED af.
The problem is when you are like EA in which you have few teams that are focused on hardcore fanbases (Bioware, DICE, Respawn) but outside of that its expected yearly releases (which to be fair are MEGA popular) or games more focused on audiences on mobile platforms.

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yeah near everyone in the industry dose CG\IN-ENGINE trailers for new game announcements

 

[Zg9]

TBH we have no idea how far along these games are and how far out MS is willing to show things. If it's ready to be shown, just show it. I don't give a damn if it's 3 years away. I don't think MS had truly tapped into what XGP can be marketing-wise. I didn't sign-up for Disney + to watch Lion King for the 3000th time, but for what they in the pipeline. MS needs to look at the way Disney + is being handled. Don't let this website fool you with it "CGI sucks" or "I want gameplay" people want to know what's coming and have something to talk about.

People love shit like this! Games are made different the movies, and yes game development is unpredicable. Look at Halo Infinite, truth is it got delayed and people moved the fuck on. I'm not talking about here but the general person. With XGP I feel you can be more open with what's in your pipeline. If MS came out and said that Obsidian is working on the next Fallout, people would be hyped. While we know that it would be 4-5 years away, it still will be great to talk about. The number of studios is going to increase, while I doubt they buy another publisher anytime soon. I can see them adding 2-3 more studios by the end of next year. If you have a consistent flow of games coming in, I think you can be more open about future games.

Click to shrink...

I didn't put in all the games there and the timeline is poorly made and wrong, but it would look cool at an event. (If they do it correctly)

 

[solis74]

 

[Zg9]

Click to shrink...

"Independent Game Dev"?

 

[Firenoh]

"Independent Game Dev"?

Click to shrink...

Old habits are hard to break. But that just goes to show how much free-reign Xbox is giving their studios now, if they still think of themselves as Independent.

 

[solis74]

"Independent Game Dev"?

Click to shrink...

old left overs, as when you click through to their site its no where to be found :)

Today, as part of Xbox Game Studios, we strive to achieve our mission to craft life changing art with game changing tech across our in-development projects of Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2, Project MARA and The Insight Project.

Click to shrink...

 

[solis74]

I have a PS5 and love it, but the Series X has really started to seperate itself as my 'daily driver'. It's where I spend the bulk of my time & money, and it's the system that excites me most to cut on. Not only did MS hit a home run with both the hardware and ecosystem, but there's this wonderful, thoughtful cohesion between the two, something I instantly miss when using other consoles now.



1000%. And I appreciate it even more next to Sony's apathetic approach to their legacy catalog, and Nintendo's gross, nickel & dime-y approach to theirs(gating emulated classics behind a paywall and charging $60 for lightly touched ports of old games).

So much of what I'm playing on XSX isn't available anywhere else, and many feature these transformative, "remaster tier" improvements. It's fantastic.

Click to shrink...

yeah the XSX\S tech\hardware and software features and synergies are top tier

 

[Negotiator117]

Click to shrink...

Ninja Theory are going to make the transition from smaller AA titles to full AAA this generation. I feel they will be one of the very best by the end of this gen, I'm so excited to see what these have been creating.

 

[Iron Eddie]

TBH we have no idea how far along these games are and how far out MS is willing to show things. If it's ready to be shown, just show it. I don't give a damn if it's 3 years away. I don't think MS had truly tapped into what XGP can be marketing-wise. I didn't sign-up for Disney + to watch Lion King for the 3000th time, but for what they in the pipeline. MS needs to look at the way Disney + is being handled. Don't let this website fool you with it "CGI sucks" or "I want gameplay" people want to know what's coming and have something to talk about.

People love shit like this! Games are made different the movies, and yes game development is unpredicable. Look at Halo Infinite, truth is it got delayed and people moved the fuck on. I'm not talking about here but the general person. With XGP I feel you can be more open with what's in your pipeline. If MS came out and said that Obsidian is working on the next Fallout, people would be hyped. While we know that it would be 4-5 years away, it still will be great to talk about. The number of studios is going to increase, while I doubt they buy another publisher anytime soon. I can see them adding 2-3 more studios by the end of next year. If you have a consistent flow of games coming in, I think you can be more open about future games.

Click to shrink...

It's interesting to see that chart. I just read this article on cloud gaming,

Microsoft's Head of Cloud Gaming James Gwertzman Talks Past, Present, and Future of Gaming Tech

One of the comments that struck me was,

I think what's gonna happen is you're gonna start to see specialization of the value chain. I've often said, for example, that the world of Red Dead Redemption, the amount of effort that Rockstar put into that, and to only use it for one game almost feels like a waste. It's almost like you want to build that entire world and then have multiple games in that world. I could see a company emerging that only builds worlds, and then other companies can just lease or rent out the world for other games.

Look at a game like Cyberpunk. Part of the cost of building that game was building the whole world out. What if someone else built the world, and you just borrowed it like a backlot at a movie studio and had a live updated version for your game? We're already seeing things like that with Roblox, with mods, with Minecraft. On one level these are games but they're also platforms for building other games.

 

[Xater]

"Independent Game Dev"?

Click to shrink...

That looks like someone forgot to edit some meta data.

 

[Dimple]

So listened to Defining Duke podcast (Mattys plays and ACG) Matty asked ACG about whether the studio he was talking about was Techland and ACG said no.

 

[rokkerkory]

Ninja Theory are going to make the transition from smaller AA titles to full AAA this generation. I feel they will be one of the very best by the end of this gen, I'm so excited to see what these have been creating.

Click to shrink...

For someone who followed NT since Heavenly Sword, yeah def a feel good story for them. Glad MS is INVESTING in these studios big time after acquisition.

Even RARE is now a success story. Great to see.

 

[Depressed Panda]

And I won't give up my hope for a Enslaved sequel 😌

 

[vixolus]

Props to bethesda for the Starfield logo. It's pretty slick.

 

[solis74]

We're coming up to the end of the month, based on 343i last update, we should be getting another Halo Infinite development info drop this week.

Click to shrink...

yes this week sometime

 

[Zg9]

I read that several don't believe that there will be X021, but then how would Xbox celebrate its 20th anniversary? Or do you think there will only be one Halo: Livestream? I doubt more that Xbox will go full to E3 this year, maybe just Bethesda will go, imo. I know that some people aren't interested in X021 but what if it is an X021 Showcase dedicated exclusively to XGS games? That would attract the attention of more people. I know there's also TGA, but Xbox only shows one big surprise there and I think they have more than one thing to announce and update.

 

[solis74]

They told us what the next 2 Inside Infinite blog posts will be about:

Click to shrink...

ah yes wildlife also :)

 

[VeePs]

There has been a strong hope & desire to have Starfield launch this yr. How major the impacts due to COVID have been on the title is anyone's guess, but 2021 was the intended goal for release as of a few months ago.

Click to shrink...

Cross-posting this because relevant. Goes in line with what the leaker who leaked Starfield pics said I believe.

Important to note, COVID definitely delayed tons of games and Starfield could be one of them.

 

[SpottieO]

If the plan at the end of 2020 was still to have Starfield launch in 2021 then I would think they already had an understanding of the impacts of COVID on its development. Still on team 2021.

 

[Bradbatross]

Cross-posting this because relevant. Goes in line with what the leaker who leaked Starfield pics said I believe.

Important to note, COVID definitely delayed tons of games and Starfield could be one of them.

Click to shrink...

Considering Covid was in full blast a few months ago, this 2021 target could already take a Covid delay into account.

 

[solis74]

Ninja Theory are going to make the transition from smaller AA titles to full AAA this generation. I feel they will be one of the very best by the end of this gen, I'm so excited to see what these have been creating.

Click to shrink...

Agree

 

[arsene_P5]

A Closer Look at How Xbox Series X|S Integrates Full AMD RDNA 2 Architecture - Xbox Wire

We here at Team Xbox would like to congratulate and celebrate our amazing partners at AMD on today’s announcement of the Radeon RX 6000 Series of RDNA 2 GPUs. It was incredible to see AMD demonstrate the power and potential that the new AMD RDNA 2 architecture can deliver to gamers around the...

news.xbox.com

I'm reading this article again and it's so damn amazing MS got full hw support for RDNA 2.0 on their console. Such an amazing piece of hardware. Seeing devs slowly start using the tech will be amazing. Metro using hw vrs in their nextgen patch are going to show some amazing results I'm sure. I wonder if cyberpunk will use it as well

Click to shrink...

I can't wait to see how next gen only games look in 2021 and onwards. The Xbox team (and Sony's imo) outdid themselves with those consoles and beaten my expectations by a mile. I can't wait when games utilities each consoles unique customization. Cause then we see each consoles strength, which isn't the case for cross gen games during a pandemic imo.

It's interesting to see that chart. I just read this article on cloud gaming,

Microsoft's Head of Cloud Gaming James Gwertzman Talks Past, Present, and Future of Gaming Tech

One of the comments that struck me was,

I think what's gonna happen is you're gonna start to see specialization of the value chain. I've often said, for example, that the world of Red Dead Redemption, the amount of effort that Rockstar put into that, and to only use it for one game almost feels like a waste. It's almost like you want to build that entire world and then have multiple games in that world. I could see a company emerging that only builds worlds, and then other companies can just lease or rent out the world for other games.

Look at a game like Cyberpunk. Part of the cost of building that game was building the whole world out. What if someone else built the world, and you just borrowed it like a backlot at a movie studio and had a live updated version for your game? We're already seeing things like that with Roblox, with mods, with Minecraft. On one level these are games but they're also platforms for building other games.

Click to shrink...

I always wondered why we need a new world everytime. Sure, if you switch generations you need to build them from scratch almost, but during a generation why not use New York for different games with some smaller changes and some new areas? I think Spiderman is a good example for this with the first game and then Miles. Why rebuild everything everytime?

 

[Depressed Panda]

Ninja Theory are going to make the transition from smaller AA titles to full AAA this generation. I feel they will be one of the very best by the end of this gen, I'm so excited to see what these have been creating.

Click to shrink...

Where I'm more excited is how NT is going to move things like ML forward.

 

[Karlinel]

I just noticed the xbox360 had a LOT of retro compilations of sega consoles...besides the classics (mega drive collection, pd orta, ikaruga, radiant silvergun, d&d chronicles of mystara) any "hidden gen" you'd recommend? And by hidden I mean almost forgotten saturn/dc game.

 

[solis74]

It's interesting to see that chart. I just read this article on cloud gaming,

Microsoft's Head of Cloud Gaming James Gwertzman Talks Past, Present, and Future of Gaming Tech

One of the comments that struck me was,

I think what's gonna happen is you're gonna start to see specialization of the value chain. I've often said, for example, that the world of Red Dead Redemption, the amount of effort that Rockstar put into that, and to only use it for one game almost feels like a waste. It's almost like you want to build that entire world and then have multiple games in that world. I could see a company emerging that only builds worlds, and then other companies can just lease or rent out the world for other games.

Look at a game like Cyberpunk. Part of the cost of building that game was building the whole world out. What if someone else built the world, and you just borrowed it like a backlot at a movie studio and had a live updated version for your game? We're already seeing things like that with Roblox, with mods, with Minecraft. On one level these are games but they're also platforms for building other games.

Click to shrink...

interesting concept

 

[Gero]

A Closer Look at How Xbox Series X|S Integrates Full AMD RDNA 2 Architecture - Xbox Wire

We here at Team Xbox would like to congratulate and celebrate our amazing partners at AMD on today’s announcement of the Radeon RX 6000 Series of RDNA 2 GPUs. It was incredible to see AMD demonstrate the power and potential that the new AMD RDNA 2 architecture can deliver to gamers around the...

news.xbox.com

I'm reading this article again and it's so damn amazing MS got full hw support for RDNA 2.0 on their console. Such an amazing piece of hardware. Seeing devs slowly start using the tech will be amazing. Metro using hw vrs in their nextgen patch are going to show some amazing results I'm sure. I wonder if cyberpunk will use it as well

Click to shrink...

This is why im not concerned about the series S at all. Im pretty sure the nextgen engines will have pretty good built in reconstruction techniques or AMD super resolution thing later on so the original rendering resolution doesnt even matter that much anymore. People just looking at the numbers and say "lul 4tf" but these new consoles are a lot more than just raw TF numbers. S will be fine, dont think it will be another xbox one situation where the games will look and run like shit on it a few years later

 

[solis74]

If you haven't seen it, watch the interview with Jason Ronald by XCast, great detail about some of the engineering brilliance the Xbox BC team have applied.

49:45

Click to shrink...

yeah i posted this earlier, great interview

 

[Xater]

Finally got around to finishing up the last couple missions of Gears Tactics. Really good game. Hope we will get a sequel with improved meta game and than we will have a great game on our hands. This one nailed everything else.