Microsoft Studios (& Partners) Current and Future Landscape

[Poodlestrike]

Why on Earth didn't Microsoft just get Rare to work on a proper Banjo Kazooie sequel? I actually had more fun with Banjo than Mario back in the day, and also had more fun with Diddy Kong Racing over Mario Kart. Neither got proper sequels. Damn shame.

Click to shrink...

From what they've said, Rare's just not interested in doing a new Banjo. I'm okay with that. People get wrapped up in the mascot platformer stuff but Rare did, like... a ton of different things. If anything, that was more their brand than Banjo. And since there's demonstrably no public interest in them doing different stuff with their existing IPs (Nuts & Bolts), they're just moving on.

If (big if) MS ever makes another Banjo it'll probably be through a different studio, like they did with KI.

How about a new ip???

Click to shrink...

SoT is a new IP.

 

[Figments]

I'd rather not have Rare bother with a Banjo game, or a reboot of any of their other "retro" properties. Rare should focus on being the New IP factory that Phil said they should be. Because that sounds delicious.

 

[nib95]

From what they've said, Rare's just not interested in doing a new Banjo. I'm okay with that. People get wrapped up in the mascot platformer stuff but Rare did, like... a ton of different things. If anything, that was more their brand than Banjo. And since there's demonstrably no public interest in them doing different stuff with their existing IPs (Nuts & Bolts), they're just moving on.

If (big if) MS ever makes another Banjo it'll probably be through a different studio, like they did with KI.

SoT is a new IP.

Click to shrink...

I think that was a big mistake on their part, as was Nuts & Bolts given the legacy they had with the Banjo franchise. It's like they've just disregarded what were otherwise super highly acclaimed titles for stuff that just isn't as impactful. I honestly can't see Sea of Thieves being particularly stand out either, but I guess we'll see.

 

[Hailinel]

I'd rather not have Rare bother with a Banjo game, or a reboot of any of their other "retro" properties. Rare should focus on being the New IP factory that Phil said they should be. Because that sounds delicious.

Click to shrink...

"Sounds," sure. But we don't really know what modern Rare is capable of. Wasn't the last game they released, other than a collection of their back-catalog, Kinect Sports?

 

[Figments]

"Sounds," sure. But we don't really know what modern Rare is capable of. Wasn't the last game they released, other than a collection of their back-catalog, Kinect Sports?

Click to shrink...

And Kinect Sports wasn't half-bad. Most of the Kinect Sports games were pretty good, tbh.

Similar quality in other IPs would be good.

 

[BioDigital Jazzman]

How about a new ip???

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They likely will have that, in their smaller game investments or whatever else rare is doing if anything

 

[Argot]

Why on Earth didn't Microsoft just get Rare to work on a proper Banjo Kazooie sequel? I actually had more fun with Banjo than Mario back in the day, and also had more fun with Diddy Kong Racing over Mario Kart. Neither got proper sequels. Damn shame.

Click to shrink...

I have the sneaking suspicion that Super Lucky's Tale is in part a test to see if these kinds of games have any audience on their system. Even if they pass I doubt they'd give the theoretical Banjo reboot to Rare though, I'd imagine everyone passionate about a new Banjo would have left for Playtonic years ago. Probably more of a Killer Instinct situation.

 

[Nintex]

There are no leaks for Microsoft first party software because there is nothing to leak.

They have almost no studios left and they're sitting on a ton of IP's that will never see new entries in their franchises again. Such as Banjo, Perfect Dark but also Midtown Madness and PGR.
Even if Microsoft wanted to rebuild their first party stable it's become pretty much impossible at this point (as they found out with forming the new Gears studio).
They talked about working on an Uncharted like game that wasn't quite 'there' yet when they announced the Tomb Raider partnership instead. It's safe to say that whatever it was has been cancelled at this point.

The guy that leads Rare now was quite definitive in his answer if classic franchises would return 'No'.
Much of the other things MS was working on such as Crackdown, Scalebound etc. entered development hell for whatever reason.

Also Rare is toast. Sea of Thieves won't make it in this highly competitive MMO market without a massive marketing budget and it will never get it.

 

[Poodlestrike]

I think that was a big mistake on their part, as was Nuts & Bolts given the legacy they had with the Banjo franchise. It's like they've just disregarded what were otherwise super highly acclaimed titles for stuff that just isn't as impactful. I honestly can't see Sea of Thieves being particularly stand out either, but I guess we'll see.

Click to shrink...

But I would argue that part of what made the Banjo games work was a) their timeliness and b) the fact that they weren't just churning the things out.

People have this weird two-handed approach to MS studios generally vs Rare in particular, where they decry 343 and the Coalition doing Halo and Gears respectively (same for Turn 10 to a lesser extent), but with Rare it's just like "get back to making my childhood again!" It's very weird to me, and I realize that it's not always the same people but I'd at least expect to see them disagree with each other more.

 

[daTRUballin]

Not really. There's a couple of studio guys like Frankie and Dave Ellis around, but they're not leaking stuff (obvs). Other than that, we have perennial Fake Insider SneakersSO.

Slim pickings these days.

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I wonder what happened to Xav? Pretty sure he had a Wind Waker Link avatar, if memory serves me correctly. He was a pretty reliable insider when it came to certain things. Specifically in regards to what Rare is/was working on. Sad to see him not being around (or at least, not yet). Unless he changed his name or something.

I've also definitely seen many other developers still around on ResetEra. It's just that they're probably not going to go around leaking stuff, as you've said.

I'd rather not have Rare bother with a Banjo game, or a reboot of any of their other "retro" properties. Rare should focus on being the New IP factory that Phil said they should be. Because that sounds delicious.

Click to shrink...

I heavily disagree. There's room for both new and old IPs. Besides, some of these IPs are so old and haven't had a new entry in years that they'd essentially be like new IPs to younger people anyway. I don't seem any harm in bringing them back. It's not like they were ever milked or anything.

EDIT:

There are no leaks for Microsoft first party software because there is nothing to leak.

They have almost no studios left and they're sitting on a ton of IP's that will never see new entries in their franchises again. Such as Banjo, Perfect Dark but also Midtown Madness and PGR.
Even if Microsoft wanted to rebuild their first party stable it's become pretty much impossible at this point (as they found out with forming the new Gears studio).
They talked about working on an Uncharted like game that wasn't quite 'there' yet when they announced the Tomb Raider partnership instead. It's safe to say that whatever it was has been cancelled at this point.

The guy that leads Rare now was quite definitive in his answer if classic franchises would return 'No'.
Much of the other things MS was working on such as Crackdown, Scalebound etc. entered development hell for whatever reason.

Also Rare is toast. Sea of Thieves won't make it in this highly competitive MMO market without a massive marketing budget and it will never get it.

Click to shrink...

Nintex! You're back! I just wanted to say it's nice to see you around again. I remember I would see you posting around a lot in Rare threads back on GAF. Especially in that big cancelled Rare art thread. You and Shiggy were basically the go-to posters for any Rare related info haha.

But I would argue that part of what made the Banjo games work was a) their timeliness and b) the fact that they weren't just churning the things out.

People have this weird two-handed approach to MS studios generally vs Rare in particular, where they decry 343 and the Coalition doing Halo and Gears respectively (same for Turn 10 to a lesser extent), but with Rare it's just like "get back to making my childhood again!" It's very weird to me, and I realize that it's not always the same people but I'd at least expect to see them disagree with each other more.

Click to shrink...

That doesn't work the same way though. 343, The Coalition, and Turn 10 have been working on absolutely nothing but Halo, Gears, and Forza. Ever since going over to MS, Rare has mostly focused on new IPs and hasn't made new entries in their older franchises for years. It's not hard to see why people clamor for Rare to go back to their past franchises. It's not like they've been working on nothing but Perfect Dark and Banjo or something. So it's a completely different situation.

 

[nib95]

But I would argue that part of what made the Banjo games work was a) their timeliness and b) the fact that they weren't just churning the things out.

People have this weird two-handed approach to MS studios generally vs Rare in particular, where they decry 343 and the Coalition doing Halo and Gears respectively (same for Turn 10 to a lesser extent), but with Rare it's just like "get back to making my childhood again!" It's very weird to me, and I realize that it's not always the same people but I'd at least expect to see them disagree with each other more.

Click to shrink...

Because we have had a new Halo or Gears every few years for the last two generations. Banjo Tooie, on the other hand, released 17 years ago and hasn't had a proper sequel since!

Rare essentially had a franchise that was almost of equal merit in gameplay terms to 3D Mario and instead of capitalising on it the way Nintendo have, they squandered it.

 

[Kasey]

I would prefer a new Conker over a new Banjo. Either way I would hope a new 3d platformer from Rare would be packed with new ideas on top of the old collectathon structure. Conker was kind of a shitty platformer but there's no reason a sequel made over 15 years later would have to be.

Rare have always made very good looking well polished games and no doubt could hit Pixar level visuals with their current talent.

 

[Smurf]

I would love a new Banjo, it's my favorite plataformer of all time! But if Rare doesn't wanna make a new one, then they shouldn't. Let them work on what they're passionate about, that's how talent flourishes..

That doesn't mean someone else can't make a new one. Microsoft likes to shop their IPs, maybe there is a dev around that would love to bring a new Banjo to life, kinda like what Double Helix and Iron Galaxy did with Killer Instinct..

 

[Startropper]

Also Rare is toast. Sea of Thieves won't make it in this highly competitive MMO market without a massive marketing budget and it will never get it.

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Every indication I've been seeing has been the complete opposite.

Why do you think SOT won't make it?

 

[BioDigital Jazzman]

I think Sea of thieves will be quite successful. There is a big audience for survival type games with hooks to them. And the whole "what do you do" doesn't stop people from playing games and doing random nonsense

 

[Zeta Ori]

So that thread that's been popping up on the first page discussing Ghost of Tsushima got me thinking:

What are the chances Halo 6 will be Microsoft's "farewell" release for the Xbox One generation?

At this point, it's the game that's probably the furthest out in terms of release date from MS's first party, with many speculating a potential 2019 release rather than 2018.​

 

[Nightengale]

So that thread that's been popping up on the first page discussing Ghost of Tsushima got me thinking:

What are the chances Halo 6 will be Microsoft's "farewell" release for the Xbox One generation?

At this point, it's the game that's probably the furthest out in terms of release date from MS's first party, with many speculating a potential 2019 release rather than 2018.​

Click to shrink...

Halo 6 is, imo, next year. Gonna pull that 'announce-and-release' in same year trick.

Gears is the year after that.

 

[Startropper]

I think Sea of thieves will be quite successful. There is a big audience for survival type games with hooks to them. And the whole "what do you do" doesn't stop people from playing games and doing random nonsense

Click to shrink...

SOT fits perfect in this current gaming climate.

It offers a unique setting, shared world survival game you can play with your friends. Very youtube and twitch friendly. Extremely well received at events. Over 100,000 people have signed up for the Alpha. Game Forums are busy. Lots of Sot communities are already being created. Similar experiences are thriving on xbox and among the most played.

When I see people suggest Rare is dead and this game will flop, I'm wondering where they're seeing the signs of this?

 

[Hindle]

From what they've said, Rare's just not interested in doing a new Banjo. I'm okay with that. People get wrapped up in the mascot platformer stuff but Rare did, like... a ton of different things. If anything, that was more their brand than Banjo. And since there's demonstrably no public interest in them doing different stuff with their existing IPs (Nuts & Bolts), they're just moving on.

If (big if) MS ever makes another Banjo it'll probably be through a different studio, like they did with KI.



SoT is a new IP.

Click to shrink...

It's more they'll work on a new Banjo when they have a new idea. Rare are like Pixar, they wont do a sequel for the sake of it.

 

[Jiro]

Weakest "line-up" I have ever seen. It's like they aren't even trying.

Is there any reason why MS hasn't funded a few AAA exclusives for their new console? I am pretty sure that they could have done it if they just tried, I mean, MS is one of the biggest and richest companies in the world. What is happening? Are they lazy? Have they given up? Just throwing this out there and hopes it makes some money off the cod and sport games players?

Do they expect people to pay $500 to play Sea of Thieves, Super Luckey's tale, Crackdown 3 and State of Decay, which all look like they could have been Xbox 360 titles? Considering how much they are boasting about the power of the machine, they aren't really selling it well with this lineup. And... Minecraft in "4k"...

Do they expect people to forever buy their forza game, which is becoming a yearly Fifa thing with small improvements?
Are they expecting people to be excited about another Halo or Gears of War when many gamers found the last ones to be rather boring and generic due to playing it too safe? (of course not talking about everyone, many people loved those games too but a big chunk were disappointed).

I think MS is very arrogant with their new console, because it really feels like I said, like they aren't even trying.
I own all Xbox consoles and I am not a fanboy, I wanted to buy the Xbox One X so BAD, but MS's laziness and arrogance is even insulting at this point.

My honest 2 cents.

 

[Hindle]

Weakest "line-up" I have ever seen. It's like they aren't even trying.

Is there any reason why MS hasn't funded a few AAA exclusives for their new console? I am pretty sure that they could have done it if they just tried, I mean, MS is one of the biggest and richest companies in the world. What is happening? Are they lazy? Have they given up? Just throwing this out there and hopes it makes some money from the cod and sport games players?

Do they expect people to pay $500 to play Sea of Thieves, Super Luckey's tale, Crackdown 3 and State of Decay, which all look like they could have been Xbox 360 titles? Considering how much they are boasting about the power of the machine, they aren't really selling it well with this lineup.

Do they expect people to forever buy their forza game, which is becoming a yearly Fifa thing with small improvements?
Are they expecting people to be excited about another Halo or Gears of War when many gamers found the last ones to be rather boring and generic due to playing it too safe? (of course not talking about everyone, many people loved those games too but a big chunk were disappointed).

I think MS is very arrogant with their new console, because it really feels like I said, like they aren't even trying.
I own all Xbox consoles and I am not a fanboy, I wanted to buy the Xbox One X so BAD, but MS's laziness and arrogance is even insulting at this point.

My honest 2 cents.[/QUOTE

Such ignorance.

Sea of Thieves is thier big new IP for this gen

Click to shrink...

 

[The Pet of the Month]

Halo 6 is, imo, next year. Gonna pull that 'announce-and-release' in same year trick.

Gears is the year after that.

Click to shrink...

When you put it like that, I have to agree. I think a 4 year dev cycle would be too long for the series.
Now what I'm curious about, is what's going to happen after Halo 6. Halo 7? 8? 10? I can't really say I'm a fan of that.

Spoiler: Wishful thinking

I would love to have a Halo RPG with Fable mechanics mixed in.

 

[Finaj]

MS is many things right now, but arrogant isn't one of them.

 

[Deleted member 19924]

I hope people don't pull the same "wait until E3 2019" if Microsoft's E3 18 conference is lacking in 1st Party announcements. I think four years is enough for Phil Spencer to get it together (which he has in all but 1st Party stuff).

 

[Hindle]

Weakest "line-up" I have ever seen. It's like they aren't even trying.

Is there any reason why MS hasn't funded a few AAA exclusives for their new console? I am pretty sure that they could have done it if they just tried, I mean, MS is one of the biggest and richest companies in the world. What is happening? Are they lazy? Have they given up? Just throwing this out there and hopes it makes some money off the cod and sport games players?

Do they expect people to pay $500 to play Sea of Thieves, Super Luckey's tale, Crackdown 3 and State of Decay, which all look like they could have been Xbox 360 titles? Considering how much they are boasting about the power of the machine, they aren't really selling it well with this lineup.

Do they expect people to forever buy their forza game, which is becoming a yearly Fifa thing with small improvements?
Are they expecting people to be excited about another Halo or Gears of War when many gamers found the last ones to be rather boring and generic due to playing it too safe? (of course not talking about everyone, many people loved those games too but a big chunk were disappointed).

I think MS is very arrogant with their new console, because it really feels like I said, like they aren't even trying.
I own all Xbox consoles and I am not a fanboy, I wanted to buy the Xbox One X so BAD, but MS's laziness and arrogance is even insulting at this point.

My honest 2 cents.

Click to shrink...

Sea of Thieves is thier big new IP this gen.

 

[Hindle]

I hope people don't pull the same "wait until E3 2019" if Microsoft's E3 18 conference is lacking in 1st Party announcements. I think four years is enough for Phil Spencer to get it together (which he has in all but 1st Party stuff).

Click to shrink...

Its never been lacking. It' more what you want is no longer what Xbox is about. PUBG has sold 19m is the biggest game in the world, last E3 MS announced exclusivity possible forever. It will do more then any Sony exclusive.

 

[Nightengale]

When I see people suggest Rare is dead and this game will flop, I'm wondering where they're seeing the signs of this?

Click to shrink...

Sea of Thieves, based off my anecdotal observation of metrics like google trend, youtube views, corresponding it vs media coverage/etc -

Is what I would consider a "low interest game with high engagement/conversion rate."

Official trailers peaks at around 1 million views on YouTube, which is low for a high-profile game that's prominently featured at press conferences. LP and previews of SoT so far peak at around 400-500k views. Google Trend puts it as a higher searched and engaged name/item compared to Crackdown 3 and Scalebound, but it's still relatively low in terms of search interest and awareness.

Game is no doubt very well received and the community is highly engaged. Those who tried it has also loved it. But it's important to also note the size of the audience engaged, and anecdotally speaking Sea of Thieves so far, is making itself known and excited by a smaller audience rather than a big audience.

The size of the audience is completely different, but it's kinda like Yakuza. You'd think, seeing Yakuza which is extremely well-received in events/press, and has busy forum activity, that it'd do better. Unfortunately, harsh reality is that Yakuza fandom is a huge echo chamber and press's positive reviews/impressions has done shit to elevate the game's sales from being bad.

 

[wapplew]

Sea of Thieve going to be huge monster seller.
Everyone played it love it, all youbue/twitch influencer love it. It might be the next PUBG.
Rare can do what ever they want after SoT success and Shinobi said they are all about new IP within first party now, that's super exciting.

 

[The Pet of the Month]

Sea of Thieve going to be huge monster seller.
Everyone played it love it, all youbue/twitch influencer love it. It might be the next PUBG.
Rare can do what ever they want after SoT success and Shinobi said they are all about new IP within first party now, that's super exciting.

Click to shrink...

Sorry, but could you post a link to where Shinobi said so? Just a bit curious.

 

[daTRUballin]

SOT fits perfect in this current gaming climate.

It offers a unique setting, shared world survival game you can play with your friends. Very youtube and twitch friendly. Extremely well received at events. Over 100,000 people have signed up for the Alpha. Game Forums are busy. Lots of Sot communities are already being created. Similar experiences are thriving on xbox and among the most played.

When I see people suggest Rare is dead and this game will flop, I'm wondering where they're seeing the signs of this?

Click to shrink...

I just really, really hope MS won't close Rare down if SoT isn't a success. That's what I'm most worried about right now.

I mean, if they didn't close them down after Grabbed by the Ghoulies and Nuts & Bolts, then they probably won't close them down now. But you never know. The kind of stuff that has been happening at MS the last two years or so doesn't inspire much confidence.

 

[Judge]

There are no leaks for Microsoft first party software because there is nothing to leak.

They have almost no studios left and they're sitting on a ton of IP's that will never see new entries in their franchises again. Such as Banjo, Perfect Dark but also Midtown Madness and PGR.
Even if Microsoft wanted to rebuild their first party stable it's become pretty much impossible at this point (as they found out with forming the new Gears studio).
They talked about working on an Uncharted like game that wasn't quite 'there' yet when they announced the Tomb Raider partnership instead. It's safe to say that whatever it was has been cancelled at this point.

The guy that leads Rare now was quite definitive in his answer if classic franchises would return 'No'.
Much of the other things MS was working on such as Crackdown, Scalebound etc. entered development hell for whatever reason.

Also Rare is toast. Sea of Thieves won't make it in this highly competitive MMO market without a massive marketing budget and it will never get it.

Click to shrink...

Is this a meme I'm not aware of?

 

[Zeta Ori]

Halo 6 is, imo, next year. Gonna pull that 'announce-and-release' in same year trick.

Gears is the year after that.

Click to shrink...

I kind of hope whatever's next for Gears wont be released until next gen.

Gears of War seems to be at a crossroads of sorts when talking the series future.

I believe nothing short of a complete overhaul to the series core mechanics will result in Gears 5 being received well critically or commercially, and I say that as someone who both enjoyed 4 and has been with the series since 1. The series feels stale, and despite there not being really any other TPS that plays like it, I don't believe catering to the current audience that's still playing regularly is going to do them any favors, as bad as that might sound. The Coalition proved they are more than capable of making a competent Gears game in a way 343 arguably still hasn't with Halo, yet I'm guessing only sold a fraction of what Halo 4 (or even 5) did. Gears is just not Halo, it never needed an entire studio dedicated to it.

The decision to turn Black Tusk in a Gears factory remains one of the most baffling decisions MS has ever made imo.

Honestly, I think 4 should have just been a multiplayer only release with Horde mode included and a cheaper price at launch (named something else, of course, like Gears of War: Emergence or something) so that the fans had a current gen release to keep them satisfied and The Coalition could work on getting their own unique take on Gears done, since we cant expect them to ever touch a new IP. ​

 

[Jiro]

Sea of Thieve going to be huge monster seller.
Everyone played it love it, all youbue/twitch influencer love it. It might be the next PUBG.
Rare can do what ever they want after SoT success and Shinobi said they are all about new IP within first party now, that's super exciting.

Click to shrink...

I hope so too, but the MMO market is extremely oversaturated at the moment. Rare will need a huge marketing campaign for Sea of Thieves.

 

[Zukkoyaki]

Gears and The Coalition are kind of where Killzone and Guerrilla were a few years ago. A stable studio with a reliable IP they can crank out at a good pace that'll move a few million units but not set either sales charts or the internet ablaze.

Microsoft is going to need to decide whether they want the studio to focus entirely on a waning, but relatively successful, IP or take a chance and let the studio try something new with the potential it could be big like Guerrilla did with Horizon. I suspect we'll see them work on a new IP after Gears 5.

 

[Outrun]

Weakest "line-up" I have ever seen. It's like they aren't even trying.

Is there any reason why MS hasn't funded a few AAA exclusives for their new console? I am pretty sure that they could have done it if they just tried, I mean, MS is one of the biggest and richest companies in the world. What is happening? Are they lazy? Have they given up? Just throwing this out there and hopes it makes some money off the cod and sport games players?

Do they expect people to pay $500 to play Sea of Thieves, Super Luckey's tale, Crackdown 3 and State of Decay, which all look like they could have been Xbox 360 titles? Considering how much they are boasting about the power of the machine, they aren't really selling it well with this lineup. And... Minecraft in "4k"...

Do they expect people to forever buy their forza game, which is becoming a yearly Fifa thing with small improvements?
Are they expecting people to be excited about another Halo or Gears of War when many gamers found the last ones to be rather boring and generic due to playing it too safe? (of course not talking about everyone, many people loved those games too but a big chunk were disappointed).

I think MS is very arrogant with their new console, because it really feels like I said, like they aren't even trying.
I own all Xbox consoles and I am not a fanboy, I wanted to buy the Xbox One X so BAD, but MS's laziness and arrogance is even insulting at this point.

My honest 2 cents.

Click to shrink...

MS laziness and arrogance?

What nonsense is this? It is important to understand that you and I are not privy to the inner working on MS. If Xbox division is budget-limited, then they cant do more than what we see. So many ifs...

Do you play Forza? I ask, because it is nothing like FIFA. It also is not annualized. We have FM and FH. They are not the same.

As to what you think MS expects, MS has stated that this is a niche product.

We want more games. But I am buying One X because I want prettier multiplats, Halo, Crackdown, and yes.... FM7.

 

[Nightengale]

Jiro ... you don't have to buy an Xbox One X.

It's called an XBOX ONE for a reason. I used to make fun of folks who religiously believed there was no way MS would keep the XB1 branding, even though they all but said from day-one that Scorpio was part of the XB1 family of products.

If you already have an Xbox One and don't think $500 is worth 4k graphics, you already have a product that can play all the games the XB1X can play.

 

[Deleted member 19924]

I kind of hope whatever's next for Gears wont be released until next gen.

Gears of War seems to be at a crossroads of sorts when talking the series future.

I believe nothing short of a complete overhaul to the series core mechanics will result in Gears 5 being received well critically or commercially, and I say that as someone who both enjoyed 4 and has been with the series since 1. The series feels stale, and despite there not being really any other TPS that plays like it, I don't believe catering to the current audience that's still playing regularly is going to do them any favors, as bad as that might sound. The Coalition proved they are more than capable of making a competent Gears game in a way 343 arguably still hasn't with Halo, yet I'm guessing only sold a fraction of what Halo 4 (or even 5) did. Gears is just not Halo, it never needed an entire studio dedicated to it.

The decision to turn Black Tusk in a Gears factory remains one of the most baffling decisions MS has ever made imo.

Honestly, I think 4 should have just been a multiplayer only release with Horde mode included and a cheaper price at launch (named something else, of course, like Gears of War: Emergence or something) so that the fans had a current gen release to keep them satisfied and The Coalition could work on getting their own unique take on Gears done, since we cant expect them to ever touch a new IP. ​

Click to shrink...

Gears of War needs a grim dark reboot alternating between the Pendelum Wars and Emergence Day. Lose the "of War", call it "The Gears" and base the game's tone/themes on the 2006 Mad World trailer. Overhaul the mechanics to feel more realistic, more intimate.

 

[Falcon511]

I havent played SoT but yeah a ton of people who played say they love it. The game should really ratchet up its marketing campaign after the holidays if its going to release in 2018. They should also doa public beta to get more interest. Maybe even show off more mechanics and what the quests look like and such.

 

[Hindle]

Sea of Thieves, based off my anecdotal observation of metrics like google trend, youtube views, corresponding it vs media coverage/etc -

Is what I would consider a "low interest game with high engagement/conversion rate."

Official trailers peaks at around 1 million views on YouTube, which is low for a high-profile game that's prominently featured at press conferences. LP and previews of SoT so far peak at around 400-500k views. Google Trend puts it as a higher searched and engaged name/item compared to Crackdown 3 and Scalebound, but it's still relatively low in terms of search interest and awareness.

Game is no doubt very well received and the community is highly engaged. Those who tried it has also loved it. But it's important to also note the size of the audience engaged, and anecdotally speaking Sea of Thieves so far, is making itself known and excited by a smaller audience rather than a big audience.

The size of the audience is completely different, but it's kinda like Yakuza. You'd think, seeing Yakuza which is extremely well-received in events/press, and has busy forum activity, that it'd do better. Unfortunately, harsh reality is that Yakuza fandom is a huge echo chamber and press's positive reviews/impressions has done shit to elevate the game's sales from being bad.

Click to shrink...

Using PUBG again. What's the Google metrics for that? I doubt it' that high.

 

[Zeta Ori]

Gears of War needs a grim dark reboot alternating between the Pendelum Wars and Emergence Day. Lose the "of War", call it "The Gears" and base the game's tone/themes on the 2006 Mad World trailer. Overhaul the mechanics to feel more realistic, more intimate.

Click to shrink...

That's actually a damn good idea.

Really play up the horror angle, focus on the atrocities committed during the pendulum wars and the suffering and misery the surface inhabitants of Sera did to each other for generations before the locust ever showed up, and then contrast it with Emergence Day where reptilian faced humanoids literally come burrowing from under humanities feet riding giant spider beasts with teeth the size of claymores...

Now I'm getting excited for a game that wont ever exist, lol.

 

[TheUnsungHero26]

Sea of Thieves, based off my anecdotal observation of metrics like google trend, youtube views, corresponding it vs media coverage/etc -

Is what I would consider a "low interest game with high engagement/conversion rate."

Official trailers peaks at around 1 million views on YouTube, which is low for a high-profile game that's prominently featured at press conferences. LP and previews of SoT so far peak at around 400-500k views. Google Trend puts it as a higher searched and engaged name/item compared to Crackdown 3 and Scalebound, but it's still relatively low in terms of search interest and awareness.

Game is no doubt very well received and the community is highly engaged. Those who tried it has also loved it. But it's important to also note the size of the audience engaged, and anecdotally speaking Sea of Thieves so far, is making itself known and excited by a smaller audience rather than a big audience.

The size of the audience is completely different, but it's kinda like Yakuza. You'd think, seeing Yakuza which is extremely well-received in events/press, and has busy forum activity, that it'd do better. Unfortunately, harsh reality is that Yakuza fandom is a huge echo chamber and press's positive reviews/impressions has done shit to elevate the game's sales from being bad.

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This is a good analysis of it. I'm pretty sure Phil Spencer has even said in interviews that Sea of Thieves will have microtransactions (not the term he used, but you get the point) from day one. I think it's a game that will really benefit from streamers. I do feel like they're making a mistake by not releasing it on Steam though.

 

[Nightengale]

Using PUBG again. What's the Google metrics for that? I doubt it' that high.

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How does "on par with DOTA, LoL & Mario" work for you? ( tldr; it's very high )

By comparison, Crash Bandicoot is around 1/5 of those game's social metrics, and Sea of Thieves is around 1/8th... of Crash Bandicoot's.

The reason I use Crash as a reference is because Crash outperforms like 60% of all games shown at E3 in terms of social metrics, and the sales success of Crash speaks for itself.

 

[PlanetKiller]

There are no leaks for Microsoft first party software because there is nothing to leak.

They have almost no studios left and they're sitting on a ton of IP's that will never see new entries in their franchises again. Such as Banjo, Perfect Dark but also Midtown Madness and PGR.
Even if Microsoft wanted to rebuild their first party stable it's become pretty much impossible at this point (as they found out with forming the new Gears studio).
They talked about working on an Uncharted like game that wasn't quite 'there' yet when they announced the Tomb Raider partnership instead. It's safe to say that whatever it was has been cancelled at this point.

The guy that leads Rare now was quite definitive in his answer if classic franchises would return 'No'.
Much of the other things MS was working on such as Crackdown, Scalebound etc. entered development hell for whatever reason.

Also Rare is toast. Sea of Thieves won't make it in this highly competitive MMO market without a massive marketing budget and it will never get it.

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Stop panicking, RARE is going to be fine. Microsoft has a lot of first party titles in the works, the problem is that this stuff takes time and some of it is for their new Mixed Reality content that will come to Xbox in the future.
Microsoft has one year which is light on first party and everyone goes crazy. They have increased their first party funds greatly, but quality games take lots of time. If by 2019 they have nothing, then you can cry and scream.

 

[Hindle]

How does "on par with DOTA, LoL & Mario" work for you? ( tldr; it's very high )

By comparison, Crash Bandicoot is around 1/5 of those game's social metrics, and Sea of Thieves is around 1/8th... of Crash Bandicoot's.

The reason I use Crash as a reference is because Crash outperforms like 60% of all games shown at E3 in terms of social metrics, and the sales success of Crash speaks for itself.

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On par with Crash. See, PUBG based on how successful it is on Pc will sell more then Crash. Which shows how flawed using Google metrics is.

 

[Nightengale]

On par with Crash. See, PUBG based on how successful it is on Pc will sell more then Crash. Which shows how flawed using Google metrics is.

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You might want to reread what I wrote again.

PUBG is on par with League of Legends, DOTA and Mario.

Crash Bandicoot is 5x lower in social metrics than all the above games INDIVIDUALLY.

Sea of Thieves is 8x lower than Crash Bandicoot.

 

[Hindle]

You might want to reread what I wrote again.

PUBG is on par with League of Legends, DOTA and Mario.

Crash Bandicoot is 5x lower in social metrics than all the above games INDIVIDUALLY.

Sea of Thieves is 8x lower than Crash Bandicoot.

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I read what you said. I also think it' very assinine using Google metrics on a game that's way unfinished in terms of marketing when compared to the biggest games in the world aka LOL DOTA. Even Crash has seen its marketing finished.

 

[Hindle]

You might want to reread what I wrote again.

PUBG is on par with League of Legends, DOTA and Mario.

Crash Bandicoot is 5x lower in social metrics than all the above games INDIVIDUALLY.

Sea of Thieves is 8x lower than Crash Bandicoot.

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To further add, I'd imagine the Google metrics for Killer Instinct is not that high. Yet the game has been very successful for Xbox.

 

[Deleted member 19924]

That's actually a damn good idea.

Really play up the horror angle, focus on the atrocities committed during the pendulum wars and the suffering and misery the surface inhabitants of Sera did to each other for generations before the locust ever showed up, and then contrast it with Emergence Day where reptilian faced humanoids literally come burrowing from under humanities feet riding giant spider beasts with teeth the size of claymores...

Now I'm getting excited for a game that wont ever exist, lol.

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Gears 4 had a really bad case of pseudo horror and tonal shifts, really killed the campaign for me.

 

[Kasey]

I would very much prefer Gears staying what it is than being rebooted as some half assed TLoU clone. More than 10 years after Gears 1 and imo no tps has been able to touch it mechanically, even Vanquish which has cool movement and all but generic as hell gunplay.

I think there is something to admire about a game series sticking to it's core gameplay and refining itself in sequels with new enemies, guns, characters, locals etc. You can do that without rebooting it and losing it's identity chasing whatever's hot this week in AAA gaming.

Also there's the option of expanding the franchise in other genres like Bungie and 343 did with Halo Wars and the Spartan shooter games.

 

[Nightengale]

I read what you said. I also think it' very assinine using Google metrics on a game that's way unfinished in terms of marketing when compared to the biggest games in the world aka LOL DOTA. Even Crash has seen its marketing finished.

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I wasn't comparing SoT to PUBG. I gave you insight on PUBG's metrics because you said you doubted they were high; so all I did was gave you info that disproved that assumption.

Also; I was using Crash partly because it had been one of the more consistent trending data set pre-release and post-release. And because it's a good benchmark this year in terms of examples that prove the validity of metrics; because there were many skeptics on Crash even though data showed the interest level for the game was high.

I just gave my personal assessment of where I felt SOT is at atm, based off my hobby of analysing gaming social metrics via YouTube, Twitter, GTrend, etc. It's by no means fool-proof, it's just something I do for fun.

I do not appreciate you calling me or my attempt at trying to at least quantify my observations asinine.