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Microsoft Studios (& Partners) Current and Future Landscape
- Thread starter Figments
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So what your post is actually saying is....you didn't watch the speech and have no plan to.
Yeah, way to miss the point of the speech. It was nothing to do with Xbox or exclusives. It was an industry talk aimed at the development community. One of the best things about the speech is that it's healthily increased my ignore list.
No I don't as im not a PC gamer whatsoever. Microsoft's games can easily succeed. Their console can easily succeed. They do what Sony and Nintendo do. Build internal studios for their next gen console. Approve better games and make sure that they're better. Get console (not timed) exclusives. Doing this stuff has worked for Sony for four generations and Nintendo has survived literally on their own with N64, GCN, Wii and Wii U.
It can be done, easily. Microsoft and Spencer simply don't do it. But whatever. A co-worker may buy the Xbox One Slim that I have for $200 and I was going to buy an X but at this point, spending $500 on it for multi-platform games and less and less exclusives that interest me, not much point.
I simply will never ever understand how Microsoft can go from so right during Xbox 360 to so wrong in such a short period of time. It truly baffles me sometimes. Oh well. have to just take a wait and see approach.
The Spidey game is like Sunset's spiritual sequel in some sort of way. The flow of Sunset was what I loved about this game, and seeing them working on Spider-Man couldn't have made any more sense.
And it's MS that is not showing any interest to Sunset's IP anymore. Insomniac have publicly said that no one offered them a contract for a sequel.
Actually, im finally having a chance to watch it now. Let me see what he says.
I agree Spider-Man looks amazing.
I don't agree with your stance on Sunset Overdrive though. That's the IP of Insomniac. They should care for it first and foremost.
I find it difficult to blame MS on this. They gave Insomniac all the freedom they wanted. They even let them the IP. While the game turned out to be great, it wasn't really a seller. I don't know. If Insomniac would really believe in their own IP - they should make the move.
Well they would love to, but they just don't have a publisher. It's just like Alan Wake, no one except MS can fund the sequel (because the 1st one is exclusive to Xbox). I mean they could but it would be a bit weird.
Anyways:
We will do exactly that. Sunset Overdrive 2 at 4k 60fps fall 2019. It's happening.
You guys we'll see Shadow of the Tomb Raider at MS's E3? It wouldn't surprise me if they have the marketing for it again but no way another timed deal, just don't see that happening. Really really hope CDPR shows off Cyberpunk as well, actual gameplay and not some cinematic clip. It's been long enough.
If Tomb Raider is revealed at MS, get ready for the LOL memes
People will crap on it even though is multiplat.
Man....if they announced a sequel to Sunset I'd be ecstatic and there on Day One. I wasn't for the first, but I would for a sequel
MS probably has first right of refusal but THQ Nordic wouldn't mind funding it right? They're getting pretty big (might become one of the big AAA publishers if they continue growing). That would make it on Xbox.
I don't really understand the issue if you don't have a pc, you can't play those games anywhere else and all signs point to investment incoming on new titles.
Do SOT/SOD2/CD3 not interest you? Ori, halo, forza/Gears? E3 is coming up, I'm sure they'll have more then
Oh for sure. But it's all good. Personally I can't wait to see what is next for Lara. And I hope it's still happening what they said, announcement of the game and release is close to each other.
Did you think he was meaning inclusive to be the opposite of exclusive?
If you don't have a PC, then you still can't play these game w/o an Xbox. So unless you are going to buy a PC instead of a console (which still benefits MS) what difference does it make?
Stop talking about the weather in seattle and spill the march gamepass games, nelson
or i'll bugger you with CoD BC posts
or i'll bugger you with CoD BC posts
One day i will understand what you peeps see in Sunset Overdrive
its an average game but the humour is so dull and obnoxious that it distracts you from the few things it gets right
its like borderlands memes toned to one thousand
its an average game but the humour is so dull and obnoxious that it distracts you from the few things it gets right
its like borderlands memes toned to one thousand
I admit the average part is debatable (though i'm not the biggest fan of what the game tries to do) but i will forever remain with my position that the 'humour' is horrible and SO is one of the least funny games ive ever played, which is made worse by the fact that it tries to be funny every five seconds
It was pretty funny in my opinion. I especially liked the ending.
I mean ... I can't tell you a lot of games today that try to focus on humor as much as Sunset does. If that's something for you is a different question - but to be honest humor is always very subjective.
And thats a good thing. As you said, humour is highly subjective, so hitting the wrong keys can really put people off your game. Specially if you hit them so damn much like SO does.
Maybe i'm just not the target audience though. I don't find memetic-internet jokes funny and the pop culture overload doesnt amuse me.
I agree on Sunset. I liked the game and I would call it above average gameplay-wise, and pretty gorgeous and appealing visually (dat "blue skies" dreamcast look!), but the humor and narrative were both incredibly off-putting to me. I'd still love a sequel, but it's easily going to turn out to be Insomniac's worst AAA game this gen in my mind, unless Spider-Man doesn't work out.
Joking aside, your opinion is completely understandable. The humour is totally over the top in your face loud from the get-go. I went with it, but only really because there's absolutely nothing serious about the game, at all. I can see how it would be obnoxious to you.
You must be the life at a party.
SO was hilarious. I guess comedy is subjective indeed.
SO was extremely funny in spots, and not so funny in other spots. In this, it was like life. And like life, it, uh, must find a way.
(I read the social media posts as them teasing an X patch, but that's just me, I guess. How cool would it be if they swapped out the GAF reference for a Resetera one?)
(I read the social media posts as them teasing an X patch, but that's just me, I guess. How cool would it be if they swapped out the GAF reference for a Resetera one?)
I'll just bunch all three of these quotes together.
I watched the entire 45 minute speech Spencer gave at DICE. I was wrong in regards to inclusive but I do think that is their end goal - to make all of their games playable on every available platform. Spencer talks about cloud computing and digital to where looking at Microsoft, their plan is still what they wanted it to be five years ago.
His speech is centered around the gaming industry itself and while I agree with what he said for the most part and that his heart is in the right place, to be perfectly honest, he sounded more like a Human Activist or something instead of being the head of Xbox. I get it but if he thinks that he's going to turn the industry into some kind of utopia, that's sadly not going to happen. He can get to this within his studios and those he works with possibly but outside of that, I don't see it happening. To decrease the toxicity in gaming, the first thing that would have to go would be all forms of social media completely because it does way more harm than good in my opinion.
Spencer talks about diversity and this is where my only disagreement comes from. To be perfectly honest, I don't care what any developer or employee to works in gaming's race/religion/gender, etc. is whatsoever. All I care about is the games. That's it. Diversity is a good thing unless it's being forced or shoehorned in.
I take a game like Mafia III that has a mixed lead character in Lincoln Clay. I'm Caucasian and Italian but I had no problem and in fact enjoyed killing all those Mafia motherfuckers. Point is that the character is good not because of his mixed race but because of how the character comes across in the game. Diversity in gaming needs to be like this where it makes sense and fits in with the story and context of the game. If it doesn't, it's just a waste.
In general, it shouldn't be about their race/religion/gender, etc., it should be about one thing - are they qualified for the position that they have. If not, I don't care who it is. That person shouldn't be there just for the sake of diversity because to me, that only harms what you're trying to do because there's no credibility simply because the person is unqualified. If the person is qualified and I would like to think that they are, then again, I don't care what they are as all I care about is the games themselves.
For Xbox, he talks mostly about online which I have no interest in whatsoever. It's not for me. I agree that it's toxic but trying to eliminate it most likely isn't going to happen and you can't go on a suspending spree just for the hell of it because these are still your paying customers which is what you need to make money, profits and to keep going. I agree with Spencer 100% but I think that he should be focusing on the entire point of console gaming - games. And stop worrying about all of this other stuff that quite simply isn't in his control whatsoever. Within his own studios is perfectly reasonable and understandable but outside, he's simply fighting a losing battle.
Just like on this site, I truly don't care about all of this other bullshit for a few reasons - first, it has nothing literally to do with me especially since I don't play online and I fucking hate social media as I think gaming was better before it existed. And second, regardless of what it is, I can't do anything about any of it. I would love to live in a quiet, calm and peaceful utopia but that's not going to happen, at least not in my lifetime.
Spencer can do what he thinks is best for his studios but solving Xbox's problems isn't difficult at all. He simply needs to invest in internal studios and games not just for now but for the future instead of relying and depending on outside deals and timed exclusives. Spencer should simply look at what Xbox 360 was for two thirds of it's run. It was fucking awesome. He should try his best to emulate that.
As for individual games, I have no interest in Halo, Crackdown 3, Forza Motorosport or Sea of Thieves. I would have been interested in Sea of Thieves but in an online shared world, no thanks plus while I do play first person games, I easily prefer third person. State of Decay 2, Ori 2, Forza Horizon 4 and the eventual Gears of War 5 are pretty much guarantees. Have to see what else Spencer has at E3.
Just wanted to sum all of that up and again, I was wrong in regards to "inclusive". Most will likely disagree with me which is fine. I get what Spencer is trying to do but outside of his own studios, he's just wasting his own personal time in my opinion. For me, it's all about the games on each respective console and that's it. For Xbox One, 2018 is definitely looking great and hope it turns out that way especially State of Decay 2.
Future wise, I know that gaming will eventually be all digital with downloads and/or streaming and I'll worry about that stuff when the time comes. For now, just want good or better games to play.
So, I checked out Fable Fortune, and it seems pretty cool. Still getting through the different classes, but overall, I'm liking the additions they've made to the Hearthstone formula.
Also, daniel77733 , you may not care about diversity, but you're wrong not to. Simple as that.
Also, daniel77733 , you may not care about diversity, but you're wrong not to. Simple as that.
MS' goal isn't to have all of there games on every platform.
Their goal is to drive users and developers towards Windows 10. Xbox and Xbox live are a means to that end.
Your opinion about diversity is pretty grating. It's never been about hiring people based on their race/religion/gender. It's about casting as wide a net as possible, so that you can truly seek out the talent that can deliver the the furthest reaching product. When you perpetuate an environment that actively excludes people from participating, you actively limit growth potenial. It annoys me to no end when people conflate seeking diversity with lowering qualifications- That's not how it works.
You stated a lot but I'll only touch on a couple of things. You state that in general it should be about if a person is qualified. I agree with that but I also believe that you can find qualified people of different backgrounds, there's enough people and talent to go around. Building a diverse team leads to a better product, why? Easy. Biases. Generalities. We all have them about different groups. You can do all the research in the world, but having 1st hand information is invaluable. Example, if a bunch of white guys are making a game about a darksinned latin woman, don't you think that the game will have a good amount of inaccuracies based on their world view? And some users may not see it, but other users who are from that background may. Not saying everything needs to be 100% accurate, but you definitely don't want to show stereotypes. I'm not saying that you have to get some token <person> on your team to be the spokesperson of that situation...but what it will do is make things more accurate but also different takes on what makes a game good. Different ideas that people of certain groups just don't normally think of. How westerners make games vs. how easterners do is different and that's what makes diversity is good thing.
You, obviously, can have your opinion and that's totally fine. I just think that dismissing that we need diversity in game creation is wrong, that's my opinion. "You don't know what you don't know." I say that because you don't know what can be created on the strength of diversity alone, yet you are dismissing it. That just seems closed-minded.
Agreed.
Yea, exactly. I hear that argument all the goddamn time, and it's insanely annoying. Nobody's looking to construct a workforce of people not qualified to do the job ffs... but not striving to create a welcoming and inclusive environment means that many people that would be a fucking excellent hire will likely either not be applying to you, or not staying with you as a result.
I especially dislike that idea of "you're not gonna get rid of hate, so stop wasting your time". Not being able to completely eliminate negativity has never been a good excuse to not even fucking try. There are countless awful things that were the norm in the past that would still be that way today is everyone shared the same "it probably won't change in my lifetime" mindset. No shit it won't if you'd rather people at the top level of an industry with the ability to invoke change should instead focus on just securing you a few more singleplayer games that must absolutely not be available to anyone else if they don't own a specific box.
Ah the old, "the most qualified people". Plenty of people are qualified and don't get a chance. The idea that minority's or women get jobs just to be diverse and not qualified is BS. You still are gonna need whatever programming degree and experience to get in the door
Well, let's see...
No.
No.
No.
No.
The game is exceptionally fun and humor is a matter of taste. Yours, I'm afraid, is bad :P
But seriously, the humor in the game is a bit hit and miss, but for me there were a lot more hits, and it never approached anywhere near obnoxious. When I think obnoxious, I think something like Saints Row or, I don't know, Tank Girl the film. Thankfully, Sunset Overdrive is more like Tank Girl the comic book.
Thank you!
Going a step further, if you are in a leadership position and have opportunities to reach people others can't, messages to encourage basic human decency should be expected.
Extremely disheartening to see comments on the internet complaining about Spencer's political correctness and how leaders of Game divisions should only talk about games and not politics.
If sending messages to treat people of different races and sexual orientations decently seems political, you're doing it wrong.
Precisely. Even if Phil's talk only reached and affected 1% of those in attendance or watching on a stream in a positive manner then it was the most important talk at DICE this week. Some of the negative takeaways that I've seen from his talk are as staggering as they are sobering.
It's even more than that - not only is it about widening the net to find underappreciate talent, the simple act of diversifying the workplace increases the quality of the work. More perspectives = better ideas. The more similar the group, the bigger its blind spots.
And that's just the business upside! There's a whole moral argument to be made as well!
Yeah.That's what I meant by delievering a further reaching product and maximizing growth potential. Can't do that if you operate in an echochamber. ANd this is just talking dollars and cents - it's obviously the right thing to do morally as well.
Ugh. So many red flags in so few paragraphs.
On "shoehorning in" diversity: White is not default. Non-white isn't some "feature" to be "implemented carefully" or whatever. If there are token characters exhibiting racist stereotypes, that's not the fault of "shoehorned in" diversity, it's a problem of bad writing and representation period. It doesn't mean we should have less diversity, it means we need more.
On "Character is good not because of his mixed race...". Maybe that's true to you, but to the many black writers and podcasters I regularly follow, the fact that he was black was extremely meaningful to them. The fact that not only was he black, but that the game specifically had you targeting KKK members and were actively attacked with racist vocals and more mattered to them. Representation matters.
Maybe it doesn't matter to you as a white dude who has been represented in mass media for your entire life, but to many black people representation is just as important as the quality of writing and the rest of the game.
On "It needs to fit....if it doesn't, it's just a waste". Hell no. Again, white is not default and non-white shouldn't be used sparingly only when it "fits". The world is diverse. The USA is diverse. The UK is diverse. Almost everywhere is diverse. Diversity is default, not white, and diversity and representation should be everywhere. Diversity in race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identification. It's everywhere in the world, so the default in media should be diverse as well.
User Banned (1 Week): Pushing unfounded concerns about diversity efforts.
Diversity is GOOD but NOT just for the sake of being diverse because doing this defeats the entire purpose of what you're trying to accomplish to begin with. For me, I care about if the person is qualified, skilled, talented, has experience and quite simply, knows what the fuck they're doing. As long as the person meets those requirements, I don't care if the person is male or female or what their race is at all. To me, it's all about what's most important in regards to creating and developing games and even in general. Being diverse isn't what's most important. If you have a completely diverse team but they lack in all the other areas, that not only defeats what you're trying to accomplish but also proves that you're being diverse just for the hell of it when those people aren't qualified to be in the position that they're in.
To sum it up - Any and every studio for that matter can be all female, Black and/or Hispanic people or whatever. As long as they know what they're doing and meet the requirements that the job/position they're applying for is met, im perfectly good with it.
As for Microsoft and Xbox One, I hope that Spencer's plan is NOT to make their games available on other platforms ala Minecraft but at times, it does sound and come across that way in regards to what their future planning is.
Funny thing is microsoft published way more games on other platforms before Spencer, which just was there when they bought a company/IP that was already in almost every platform know to man, and still he keeps being blamed as the one who's driving xbox to no exclusives killing the console halo on ps4 come back mattrick!!!!
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