[Variety] Matt Booty Interview on hitting game cadence stride, studio closures, SoT success, Xbox exclusivity, etc...

[DriftingSpirit]

Game Cadence/Release Schedule

During the showcase, first-party titles DOOM: The Dark Ages, Fable, and South of Midnight were all slated for 2025, while Gears of War: E-Day, Perfect Dark, and State of Decay 3 were not given release years at all. Per Booty, this is due to wanting to find the exact right time to launch a game, while making sure it doesn't conflict with another first-party or third-party title, namedropping Grand Theft Auto 6 as a game the entire industry wants to avoid.

"We are beginning to hit the rhythm that we've always aspired for, and that really is our commitment to our players, of being able to deliver a much more steady cadence of games on a more predictable rhythm," Booty said, noting that fan and press reaction to the showcase has been extremely positive, with praise of the number and variety of first-party games shown and slated for the next couple of years.

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"We certainly want to make sure every game is given space and has got an opportunity to shine and we don't end up overshadowing a game by launching it too close to another," Booty explains, adding that the portfolio planning revolves around ensuring the teams don't conflict with other companies' titles, but also "so that we're not getting in our own way."

Booty also notes that there is interest across the teams at different studios in sharing ideas and technology, and there are some early discussions happening as Microsoft figures out what facilitating that looks like.

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Closing Studios

"Those decisions are never made lightly, they're never made quickly, and there are a lot of people and processes and oversight to make sure we're making a good decision," Booty says when asked about the closures, adding that he didn't want to share "nitty-gritty" details, but mentions that Microsoft looks across leadership at studios and if the teams are set up for success in the future, not just if they were successful in the past.

Booty also points out that Microsoft has been open to allowing teams to go independent in the past if it's clear things weren't a good fit, including recently with former Activision subsidiary Toys for Bob, which is now an independent studio, though the team's first game is a project being published by Xbox.

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Sea of Thieves Success/Xbox Exclusivity

"We have been really pleased," Booty says, noting that when Sea of Thieves launched across PlayStation 5, the teams saw uptick in Xbox and PC player engagement as well, while also sharing that a large number of PlayStation players were enjoying the game in cross-play. This success grows the franchise overall, per Booty, allowing the teams at Rare and Xbox to continue to invest in the game.

When asked about what this means for future Xbox exclusives, Booty reiterates that the teams are evaluating games hitting other consoles on a "case-by-case basis," adding that Xbox players can absolutely continue to expect many games to launch as exclusives, and that the "Xbox promise" that all Xbox first-party games come to Xbox Game Pass will continue to be true.

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Source
Source 2

 

[Dougieflesh]

Why aren't they looking at him if they're apparently looking at leadership across the studios?

 

[Stalker]

With rumours that Gears E-Day was originally set for 2025 too I wouldn't blame Xbox for waiting a little till they have a window for it instead of pushing for "as soon as it's done".

 

[Billfisto]

Booty also points out that Microsoft has been open to allowing teams to go independent in the past if it's clear things weren't a good fit

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I wonder if Tango was given this option.

 

[IIFloodyII]

Why aren't they looking at him if they're apparently looking at leadership across the studios?

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No mirrors I guess.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

"Those decisions are never made lightly, they're never made quickly, and there are a lot of people and processes and oversight to make sure we're making a good decision," Booty says when asked about the closures, adding that he didn't want to share "nitty-gritty" details, but mentions that Microsoft looks across leadership at studios and if the teams are set up for success in the future, not just if they were successful in the past.

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You have the power to set your studios up for success in the future, you're the richest company on the planet. If you can't make it work, that means you're the problem. Not the companies you consumed like a lumbering, indiscriminate Leviathan.

 

[Gavalanche]

Wasn't Arkane and Tangos leadership still there though?

 

[Cess007]

"Those decisions are never made lightly, they're never made quickly, and there are a lot of people and processes and oversight to make sure we're making a good decision

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So according to Booty, closing Tango and Arcane Austin was a good decision

 

[jroc74]

"When asked about what this means for future Xbox exclusives, Booty reiterates that the teams are evaluating games hitting other consoles on a "case-by-case basis," adding that Xbox players can absolutely continue to expect many games to launch as exclusives, and that the "Xbox promise" that all Xbox first-party games come to Xbox Game Pass will continue to be true."

As the weeks, months go by the message continues to get clearer.....with some subtle changes every now and then.

Like some of us said, treat everything like a timed exclusive. Anything launching day one is just an added bonus.

I wonder if Tango was given this option.

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Right, after Tango got closed it gives the Toys for Bob thing some perspective...

 

[Gestault]

I'm glad they're not digging into anyone on an individual basis (i.e., passing on the blame), but this feels like indirect confirmation that a big part of the rationale for Tango's closure was re: a lack of potential senior leadership within the studio after Mikami's retirement. Mikami brought together and created that team in 2010, and his (well earned) departure would have been something the whole surrounding management and production teams may have been dreading.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

I'm glad they're not digging into anyone on an individual basis (i.e., passing on the blame), but this feels like indirect confirmation that a big part of the rationale for Tango's closure was re: a lack of potential senior leadership within the studio after Mikami's retirement.

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Mikami was literally not the leader of the studio.

 

[Gavalanche]

I'm glad they're not digging into anyone on an individual basis (i.e., passing on the blame), but this feels like indirect confirmation that a big part of the rationale for Tango's closure was re: a lack of potential senior leadership within the studio after Mikami's retirement.

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But Mikami hadn't done anything for ages. I am sure he was overseeing, but they shipped Hifi rush just fine without him?

 

[ItsOKAY]

Man, i am so tired of thousand of interviews from all the MS leaders...

I´m not against the Xbox! I am not trolling....i am really just tired and it feels like blahblah

 

[brawndolicious]

Wasn't Arkane and Tangos leadership still there though?

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Mikami left Tango about a year before the closure. I don't know if others on the leadership team left but that's not uncommon when the founder moves on.

On the flipside, Playground Games had their co-founder leave in 2022 but they seem to have transitioned well.

 

[Gavalanche]

Man, i am so tired of thousand of interviews from all the MS leaders...

I´m not against the Xbox! I am not trolling....i am really just tired and it feels like blahblah

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Yeah they are all talk and most of the time it's just word salad and nothing new is said.

 

[SnakeEater]

It's a shame the interviewer didn't ask if Tango and Arkane were given the opportunity to go independent.

 

[DeoGame]

Here is the multiplat bit in the closest to full I can do.

Interviewer: "I'd love to know if you could speak about what the results of bringing the first four games to PlayStation and Switch are and what titles you may be thinking of doing that with next.

Matt Booty: "We really set up those four games and if you look at the four games we picked, it might seem as a bit of a grab bag or odd assortment, but it really was set up and designed so we could test a variety of content and see especially what the reception would be and for that content. And, also, in some cases we have got teams, like the Minecraft team or the CoD team that have been shipping multiplatform for literally decades and then we've got teams where that's a new muscle to build.

So we had some business experiments we wanted to run and we also just mechanically wanted to start to build that muscle and see what was involved. So some of the smaller games like Grounded, like Pentiment, like Hi Fi Rush, I would say it was great to see some of the positive review scores and great to see some of the positive fan reception. But the one that we really focused with support and went out and promoted was Sea of Thieves.

We have been really pleased with what we've seen on SoT. Just in terms of some things that I can share that were encouraging to us is that when we launched SoT on PS5, we saw an uptick in engagement on Xbox and on PC. So again, there is this thing where there are more people coming into the franchise which causes more excitement which actually grows the franchise overall, which if you want to be sort of direct about it from a business POV allows us to reinvest in that franchise and continue to grow it. So, that was sort of one of the first things we wanted to see.

Another really interesting, encouraging stat is that about half of the people playing on PlayStation were playing with people on other platforms so this is about expanding that community. It's one of the things that's core to our Xbox promise of letting people play where they wanna play with the people they wanna play with on the devices they play with and it's encouraging that we didn't see a vertically insulated community there. That the work the team put into being best in class in cross platform play really paid off because we saw people engaging off their device ecosystem which was great.

The other thing was, it brought new players into SoT. One of the goals all of our franchises have, and we have across the industry, is how do we grow? That was really great to see it brought in new players that had never played SoT before.

So, I think we consider that a success. We will continue to make those decisions individually on a case-by-case basis. We are absolutely committed to having launch exclusives on Xbox. It is part of our core promise. And we want to continue to bring our games to more players on more devices going forward. And we certainly have got experience on that with things that have historically been multiplatform for so long."

Interviewer (paraphrasing): We are seeing bundling in streaming like cable. Do you think with your relationship with Sony and Nintendo we will start to see walls come down?

Matt Booty: "Obviously I can't speak on behalf of Sony or Nintendo, but I'll say, in each case we have great working relationships with Sony and Nintendo. Again, our portfolio consists of games that have shipped on those platforms for 10, 15 years and that doesn't happen without a great partnership with them and so we have a great working relationship.

I think, as you point out, as gaming becomes a bigger part of pop culture, as the number of gamers on the planet hits 2 billion, 3 billion and continues to grow, that it's inevitable that we see content seeks to be everywhere and that we're gonna see some blending across the boundaries and differences that maybe have existed historically. For us, it comes down to maintaining that player first focus. We wanna be where the players are. Our device, the Xbox, will always be core to what we do. The console is foundational to what we do. But going back to 2016 when we started day and date on PC, when we started branching out to cloud streaming, take your games anywhere, focusing we get things right like Cloud Saves. (Tangent about friction across saves and ecosystems)

I think we will see more of that going forward. What the future holds for those trends I don't have that crystal ball. I do know we are going to follow our fans, follow where they wanna be, and as gaming grows alongside traditional forms like Music and TV, you will see some things happen in gaming that have happened over the last 10 years of linear media."

 

[Red Kong XIX]

Still saying it's a "case-by-case basis", even after the reports about Project Latitude.

 

[modiz]

When asked about what this means for future Xbox exclusives, Booty reiterates that the teams are evaluating games hitting other consoles on a "case-by-case basis," adding that Xbox players can absolutely continue to expect many games to launch as exclusives

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Only commiting to "many launch exclusives" says a lot frankly about the future of their exclusivity strategy.

 

[Gavalanche]

Mikami: I left the studio in great hands

Microsoft: lol no. Hi-fi rush… out the door.

 

[Gestault]

But Mikami hadn't done anything for ages. I am sure he was overseeing, but they shipped Hifi rush just fine without him?

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I think you may be overlooking the amount of time he still would have been contributing in terms of planning and background production support. That game was in dev for a long time before it actually shipped. And really, I'm guessing the studio was given a fair amount of time after that to try to pull things together, and the closure could have been after that attempt was made. Mikami saying he has faith in the team without him would be a sign of respect to those people, but it's also what you would hope to hear even if those circumstances weren't as firm as you'd like.

I'm as furious as anyone about the closure, but we don't have signals that this was done for arbitrary "haha close it lol" reasons. The team pulling together their final patches for Hi-Fi and giving secondary support to the other studio doing the PS5 version is a sign it wasn't as abrupt as it felt to those of us on the outside.

 

[WackoWambo]

Only commiting ton "many launch exclusives" says a lot frankly.

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By far the biggest takeaway from the article imo.

 

[808s & Villainy]

I'm glad they're not digging into anyone on an individual basis (i.e., passing on the blame), but this feels like indirect confirmation that a big part of the rationale for Tango's closure was re: a lack of potential senior leadership within the studio after Mikami's retirement. Mikami brought together and created that team in 2010, and his (well earned) departure would have been something the whole surrounding management and production teams may have been dreading.

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People in high level positions leave companies all the time. Surely they could've found a replacement.

Although I can see the games industry being unique in the sense that most people who would be able to run a studio have either:

• worked their way up in their current studio over the course of decades and are content where they are
• are working at/heading independent developers so that they don't have to deal with major corporation red tape/bureaucracy
• have left the gaming industry
• simply retired

 

[AgentStrange]

Booty also notes that there is interest across the teams at different studios in sharing ideas and technology, and there are some early discussions happening as Microsoft figures out what facilitating that looks like.

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Hmm. If only there was a well-optimized modern engine built on the legacy of some of the most influential franchises in the entire medium that they could license to outside developers for some quick and long-term cash flow. Really makes you think.

 

[Rowsdower]

edit: wrong thread.

 

[Depressed Panda]

Time for a new promotion

 

[Izanagi89]

Every Xbox interview just makes me hate them more and more especially when they give these generic non-answers to studio closures. Will never forgive them for shutting down Tango

 

[Totenkinder]

Man, i am so tired of thousand of interviews from all the MS leaders...

I´m not against the Xbox! I am not trolling....i am really just tired and it feels like blahblah

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This. Literally rolled my eyes when I saw the thread title. MS leadership needs to shut up, just make good games and stop closing good studios. No one wants to hear this constant PR bs

 

[MegaSackman]

"I don't want to get into the nitty gritty but those studios sucked, worst purchase of our lives".

 

[LilScooby77]

DriftingSpirit>any other news feed.

 

[Jroc]

Pretty clear the GamePass itself is the "Xbox Exclusive" and that all games going forward are basically timed. Ironically the games that stay fully exclusive will probably be the bad ones like Redfall that aren't worth the opportunity cost of porting.

 

[LiquidDom]

Xbox execs need to stop talking to the press in any capacity, for a long time. Just stop doing it. Go away for awhile and let the games release and speak for themselves.

 

[Dezpim]

Still saying it's a "case-by-case basis", even after the reports about Project Latitude.

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Seems to be in relation to games launching exclusive as opposed to there being any permanent exclusives now. Even if they suddenly decided to say any game can launch on PS5 a lot of studios wouldn't have the capacity to do so without delaying the games already in development.

 

[Gavalanche]

Wasn't it basically stated that those two studios were closed because of timing? They had just shipped a game basically, and had nothing to do with sales. But now it's leadership? So if they had good leadership they would have been fine? So what would have happened instead then? All the reports are that management felt too spread out. So someone else would have closed? Who?

I feel there are inconsistencies here.

 

[Dyle]

It's not great when your answer to "why are you closing so many studios?" is "we could have closed more"

 

[jroc74]

Only commiting to "many launch exclusives" says a lot frankly about the future of their exclusivity strategy.

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By far the biggest takeaway from the article imo.

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Yup.

Its almost like the console exclusive tag we see (or saw) in different showcases, streams, etc.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Wasn't it basically stated that those two studios were closed because of timing? They had just shipped a game basically, and had nothing to do with sales. But now it's leadership? So if they had good leadership they would have been fine? So what would have happened instead then? All the reports are that management felt too spread out. So someone else would have closed? Who?

I feel there are inconsistencies here.

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The answer is that Matt Booty is a shitty leader and he's blaming the people underneath him for killing their studios.

 

[Knight613]

Still saying it's a "case-by-case basis", even after the reports about Project Latitude.

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The thing is, if the teams are deciding, what team is going to decide to intentionally only release on Xbox when they can release elsewhere too and have more people play their games?

 

[Foolhardy]

That was an extremely infuriating read and I am certain he's an infuriating person to be around.

 

[Glasfrut]

Man. I just feel like this motherfucker is lying. I don't know why. I don't have any proof. But it just comes across that way for me.

 

[Loud Wrong]

As the new continues from all regions of declining Xbox sales, I think it's pretty clear what their strategy for multi plats will be.

 

[idzuki]

I'm glad they're not digging into anyone on an individual basis (i.e., passing on the blame), but this feels like indirect confirmation that a big part of the rationale for Tango's closure was re: a lack of potential senior leadership within the studio after Mikami's retirement. Mikami brought together and created that team in 2010, and his (well earned) departure would have been something the whole surrounding management and production teams may have been dreading.

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Mikami left Tango about a year before the closure. I don't know if others on the leadership team left but that's not uncommon when the founder moves on.

On the flipside, Playground Games had their co-founder leave in 2022 but they seem to have transitioned well.

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I had only been CEO for 6 months. I think a lot of people were under the impression that I was the representative, but I was very close to a rank-and-file employee. I had "___ producer" attached to my name, but I wasn't an executive or anything of the sort.

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Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami explains why he left Tango Gameworks and founded Kamuy - AUTOMATON WEST

Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami recently commented on his departure from Tango Gameworks and the establishment of his new company Kamuy.

automaton-media.com

 

[LiK]

they'll never explain the reasons for the closures. just gonna keep it down low.

 

[Knight613]

Wasn't it basically stated that those two studios were closed because of timing? They had just shipped a game basically, and had nothing to do with sales. But now it's leadership? So if they had good leadership they would have been fine? So what would have happened instead then? All the reports are that management felt too spread out. So someone else would have closed? Who?

I feel there are inconsistencies here.

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If I recall, it was also mentioned that Arkane's new game was already greenlit and they still closed the studio.

 

[Greent4]

If I recall, it was also mentioned that Arkane's new game was already greenlit and they still closed the studio.

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Source?

 

[rainking187]

"Those decisions are never made lightly, they're never made quickly,"

They sure seem to be implemented quickly. Seeing as how Arkane was still working on the DLC characters for Redfall, and initially didn't think they'd be able to release the offline patch. And how you shut down Alpha Dog right after Mighty Doom had released a Fallout themed pass.

 

[gundamkyoukai]

Wasn't it basically stated that those two studios were closed because of timing? They had just shipped a game basically, and had nothing to do with sales. But now it's leadership? So if they had good leadership they would have been fine? So what would have happened instead then? All the reports are that management felt too spread out. So someone else would have closed? Who?

I feel there are inconsistencies here.

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Saying that they don't look at pass success is one of the most BS things i have ever seen in my life.
If a team does good in the pass one person leaving it won't destroy a team even if they were in a leadership position .
We seen many great teams lose people or leaders and go one to make great games still.

 

[AshHunter216]

Only commiting to "many launch exclusives" says a lot frankly about the future of their exclusivity strategy.

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Yeah, these execs choose their words very carefully.

 

[RPGam3r]

Yawn I'm tired of these canned practiced responses. You don't want to dig into the nitty gritty bc you were trained to use verbiage like that to pivot the conversation where you want it to go, anyone who has represented a large company knows these tactics.

I would much rather leadership of said companies tell us if they were presented options to leave without closure.

 

[Knight613]

Source?

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I guess I'm only remembering that they were hiring for a new single player game some time in 2023 so I assumed that meant they already had plans for a new game.