360°

Bethesda Is Showing Its Strength in Microsoft's Portfolio and That's Really Encouraging - Spencer

Phil Spencer is really encouraged by the strength that Bethesda is finally showing in Microsoft's portfolio this year.

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wccftech.com
-Foxtrot472d ago

But…these were games being developed before MS bought them so it’s not like they influenced anything

Outside_ofthe_Box472d ago

Translation: We are so glad to have kept these games off competing platforms so that we can say that our portfolio is looking really sharp. Hopefully the FTC and EU allows us to further compete so that we can continue to take credit for games such as diablo and call of duty as we again remove them from competing platforms.

472d ago
DarXyde471d ago Show
ravens52471d ago

Forspoken is a timed exclusive, just an FYI for people using it for this topic.

Christopher471d ago (Edited 471d ago )

This isn't about Sony and Nintendo whataboutisms. This is about Spencer's own words. Let's try and stay on topic rather than devolving to the same arguments that distract from Spencer's words being reported.

+ Show (6) more repliesLast reply 471d ago
Alexious472d ago

He's not taking credit for them. He's just saying that Bethesda is finally pulling its weight after the $7.5 billion acquisition and showing it was worth the price.

gangsta_red472d ago

Why does that matter. MS bought them and now their games are apart of the MS catalog.

I'm not even understanding this logic. Do you and others expect the games already in development to be scrapped and then started all over again under the MS umbrella?

Godmars290472d ago

Maybe because they've just laid off some of Bethesda? That the studio itself has a history of bugs when launching new titles. Any title.

And then there MS's growing(?) policy for hiring contract workers who are then let go every four months. Something like that impacts game development on several levels, including the fostering of talent.

gangsta_red472d ago (Edited 472d ago )

@godmars

"Maybe because they've just laid off some of Bethesda?"

You mean what the majority of the tech industry is going through at the moment?

"That the studio itself has a history of bugs when launching new titles."

What does that have to do with MS now having Bethesda's games under their portfolio?
Does Hi Fi Rush have a lot of bugs?

"And then there MS's growing(?) policy for hiring contract workers who are then let go every four months."

Every tech company hires contract workers, this is nothing new to the industry. Bethesda has a large number of full time employees and I'm sure they have their own policies they kept and follow, even under MS.

"Something like that impacts game development on several levels, including the fostering of talent.

No, you're grasping at straws now. And if Bethesda games has a history as you pointed out then what does MS policy have anything to do with Bethesda's development?
But three points for force feeding the word "fostering", even when your whole comment doesn't seem to actually make or point or is related to the subject.

Let's try again...

Why does it matter that MS is reaping the benefits of games that were in development before their purchase?

Godmars290472d ago

They're letting part of the workforce currently making games. How does that not impact the making of that/those games? Nevermind that layoffs are happening on suspicion of a recession which these layoff are likely to cause if not make worse.

Meanwhile, Bethesda published the Japanese title the Xbox camp is currently fawning over where, again, Bethesda themselves have a record for putting out bug ridden open world titles. With Starfield being their most ambitious "open world" game yet.

And going back to the layoff/contract worker situation, how are you missing the collation of a migrant workforce and loss of creativity in gaming? The best of the NES/SNES/PS1/PS2/early PC gaming eras happened because testers coders and artist were given opportunities to advance. That's not happening when you're letting people go ever few months on project that now take upwards to a decade to finish. Is likely much of the reason games are taking so long to make, if that's becoming standard among the industry.

And sure, blow off what I'm saying like you always do, but at least wait until the games you're trying to hold up in defense are out. I'm past tired of having this discussion, much less later ones where you're making excuses for them not delivering.

gangsta_red472d ago

@godmars

"They're letting part of the workforce currently making games. How does that not impact the making of that/those games? "

Starfield is pretty much in the late stages of development. It's been in development for a good four to five years. I doubt recent layoffs would greatly impact the game at this point.

Also, we're discussing how Bethesda's games are now boosting MS games portfolio and how it doesn't matter when they were purchased. I know I mentioned this before, but you seem to not comment on that.

"Bethesda themselves have a record for putting out bug ridden open world titles."

And yet their titles are some of the most influential, high scoring and played games to this date. Skyrim which is pretty much one of the pinnacles of fantasy RPGs. Fallout that has an interesting and rich lore and now Starfield is set to possibly do the same. But yeah, lots of bugs, sure.

"And sure, blow off what I'm saying like you always do,"

I'm not blowing it off, I'm just not interested, because as usual, it has nothing to do with anything here.

"but at least wait until the games you're trying to hold up in defense are out."

Hi Fi is already out and getting great reviews, Starfield is highly anticipated. I always get a kick out of people who tell others to not get excited, especially those with an extreme bias.

How about you just stop commenting (or at least replying to me) if you have nothing to add to the topic?
But I'm sure you'll make up more exaggerated layoffs and "MS doesn't foster or "nurture" their talent" tall tales while ignoring that the line up they currently have in the works looks incredible.

4Sh0w471d ago Show
343_Guilty_Spark471d ago

They move the goalposts constantly.

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Crows90472d ago

He is encouraged means he is enjoying that he has made games available on less platforms and excluded over 60% of all gamers.

Jin_Sakai472d ago

“But…these were games being developed before MS bought them so it’s not like they influenced anything”

Yes but games like Hi-Fi Rush, Redlfall, Starfield, and ES6 are exclusive to Microsoft therefore making their portfolio strong.

Panhandler471d ago

Are you going to play these on Playstation? Xbox acquired Zenimax in September of 2020 but MS was in the works of the acquisition long before. Won't matter soon enough you'll enjoy master chief brought to you by sledgehammer or treyarch so no matter to me.

agnosticgamer471d ago

Right. But Phil Spencer never said anything about that. They are 1p games and in Xbox’s portfolio. MS did fund additional development time delaying both games a significant amount of time to hopefully release more polished titles than they normally do.

neutralgamer1992471d ago

And this is why their acquisition of Activision shouldn't be allowed. They bought zenimax and made their games exclusives. So much for wanting more gamers to play and experience games "Phil Spencer"

Julion0715471d ago

Yep that’s for any studio did you say the same for Nintendo and Sony acquisitions?

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472d ago Replies(5)
Lightning77472d ago

I was just thinking that. It's no secret that Bethesda and MS has had a great partnership in the past 20 years. So a buy out makes sense to me because they've had close ties for awhile despite being a multiplat title. Bethesda will be the saving grace for MS, if everything goes accordingly of course. MS internal Studios is seemingly dragging while Bethesda is carrying. It's not a bad thing it's just what it is.

Which brings me to my question. Why buy ABK? Bethesda is helping Xbox allot and like I said Bethesda is a good fit not so much ABK that's just weird imo.

Outside_ofthe_Box472d ago

"Which brings me to my question. Why buy ABK?"

To increase GP subscribers. If the deal goes through, in theory it should be enough to get their subscriber count to where they ideally want it to be.

Lightning77472d ago

They can do that with Bethesda or their internal studios like NT, Compulsion, undead labs etc. They have the studios already. They can grow GP with out ABK. All it's doing is stalling MS and MS can't stall anymore.

Imalwaysright472d ago

Why? Because they need a steady stream of content to put on gamepass and because Activision shareholders want to sell the company. If it wasn't MS it would most likely be Tencent and of the two, I guess it's up to each one of us to decide who would be the lesser evil.

Godmars290471d ago

Given example of the Bethesda layoffs in the face of MS's promise to be hands off, would dare say Tencent would be the more promising option. If they had ever been one.

Godmars290471d ago

MS is interested in building things at this point, making new IPs, they just want sure things to increase brand influence and GP subs. That's what Activision promises to given them even more so than Bethesda.

CBaoth471d ago

That doesn't make any sense though. ABK is the most risk aversive corp in the industry. I can't even remember the last new property they tried to create? Seikero maybe but that deal was a 1 off signed by From to gain some experience working with a major western publisher. No plans for a franchise. Bethesda in the past 12 months has released 2 new IPs in Deathloop and Ghostwire. The ABK deal is about securing CoD (GP day 1) and acquiring King (mobile).

Godmars290471d ago

"MS *isn't* interested in building things. Is not."

Don't why I do that, miss or fail to type words. Or I'll repeat them.

Outside_ofthe_Box471d ago

"They can grow GP with out ABK. All it's doing is stalling MS and MS can't stall anymore."

ABK is instant offense and will put them over the top far more quickly then waiting for Bethesda games to release. GamePass is Microsoft's last hoorah so to speak which is why they want to get as much subscribers as quickly as possible. Also the double whammy of weakening the competition as well.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 471d ago
peppeaccardo472d ago

Showing what ? Did i miss anyhting ?

RaiderNation472d ago

Lol exactly. One decent cell-shaded rhythm game and suddenly all is right with the world with Xbox. Redfall did not look that impressive at all.

badz149471d ago

didn't you get the memo? if xbox releases 1 game, they are definitely back and it's already the year of the xbox!

Show all comments (76)
40°

The Big Inworld AI Q&A - 'Everyone in Gaming Sees the Potential of Generative AI'

Wccftech interviewed Nathan Yu from Inworld AI to discuss the dynamic NPC tech's applications to games as well as potential issues like costs.

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wccftech.com
150°

Xbox President Sarah Bond's Bloomberg Interview Is Corporate Fakery At Its Best

Saad from eXputer: "After Arkane Austin & Tango were shutdown, Xbox President Sarah Bond spoke with Bloomberg in what I believe to be utter corporate fakery."

gold_drake13h ago

im not really surprised by that, shes always been more a "let me talk about something else than what u want to know" kinda gal

Cacabunga6h ago

If what they are doing is that good, what’s the point of hiding the true story?

anast10h ago

She's a caricature of the shareholders.

PRIMORDUS8h ago

"Shareholders" I call them cancer, they are already rich to begin with but need more and more. It's like a disease, with no cure.

Leeroyw6h ago

I own shares in game companies. I'm not anything near a major share holder. I just want them to make good games and be successful because of that. I think it's the senior management that's the problem. They are the ones that should be making it clear to the shareholders what creates growth and ensures a future of their business. Not this weasle words garbage that she did on the interview. It was horrific. I don't know a shareholder that would be happy with any of them for this.

Profchaos5h ago(Edited 5h ago)

Same and I'm not rich by any stretch like most people's I'm just trying to keep my head above water these days most company's shareholders are made up of everyday people it's amazing how companies think we want something but the reality is we don't.

Disney are probably the worse at the moment it's shareholders voted on ending a lot of the crap and outing the current execs the execs turned around and said no we disagree with the shareholder vote

PRIMORDUS28m ago

I meant at the rich fucks who have millions in the bank already. They are making so much per year, that if they don't make what they are expecting they go into a panic, when in reality it will not even hurt them at all. Those are greedy assholes.

CrimsonWing6910h ago

Yea, it was and it’s insulting that they think we’re dumb enough to fall for this. Look, the truth was you took a gamble on these studios and while they released some games to critical praise and great reception they just aren’t bringing in a ROI. Be transparent, you’re not a politician.

Just tell everyone you spend money on projects big and small and when money isn’t being made you go over the potential of revenue a studio can bring in vs those that can’t and make the hard decision to chop them.

She says this whole thing about “success” doesn’t fit one meaning for each studio. Well yea, a small budget production isn’t going to expect to sell the same as a large budget production.

One thing I wish they did though was let Tango be an independent studio.

TheGamingHounds10h ago

disheartening to see no regard for the human cost of business anymore
the bad decisions and judgements of these CEOs severely impact the frontliners
these fake responses are just salt on wounds

RoadRacer9h ago

imagine havin the audacity to say "we need more games like hifi rush" right after closing the studio that made it lol
followin up with this show of "deflecting every question" was in poor taste

Show all comments (22)
70°

XCOM 2 Director Says He's Never Seen Such "Horrific Layoffs" In His 25 Years In The Industry

Firaxis veteran Jake Solomon hasn't seen mass layoffs like this in his whole 25-year career.

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dualshockers.com
CrimsonWing6911h ago

Alot’s changed in 25 years. We have games with $300 mill budgets, people not interested in games other than Fortnite and Minecraft, the older generation of gamers giving up the hobby or dying off, a period of super bad inflation where the industry decided to hike up prices on games, Gamepass harming game sales, GaaS games being pushed left and right with obnoxious monetization and worse looking/playing (Suicide Squad vs Arkham Knight).

The industry is just shite right now. Games ain’t selling, games cost massive amounts, businesses can’t bleed money and this is what happens. Part of it is on them and part of it is on consumers not buying.

Yi-Long18m ago

Consumers ain't buying because of what they're selling; There is no new SSX or Burnout, everything is now Online Required, everything is 'service', etc.

Indies are still delivering the goods, perhaps even better than ever, because those are often the guys and gals who know what they want to make and just make that and hopefully we dig it as well and support it ...

... but when you look at those multi-million budget AAA games, are they improving on what we have had before? Is the new Forza Motorsport better than a Forza Mototsport 4? Is Halo Infinite better than Halo 3? Is Dragon Age 2 such a huge improvement over the first Dragon Age? Etcetc.

Yeah, graphics have gotten better, worlds have gotten better, but I think a gaming generations stands or falls with diversity and experiences, and a few gens ago we had access to whatever we wanted, so if we wanted a boxing game we picked up one of the boxing games, if we wanted snowboarding we'd pick up one of the snowboarding games, if we wanted to do a rythm game we had DJ Hero, or Guitar Hero, or Rockband. If we wanted to sneak around we had Splinter Cell or MGS or whatever.

We had variety and we had options, and that makes or breaks a generation, imo. You're in a foodcourt of games and they're serving all kinds of different cuisines, and so you'd pick and choose whatever you felt like that day.

Right now, you're in a restaurant, and you're only allowed to pick from one menu, and there's a dress-code, and you have to register, and you have to stay in your seat, etc etc.