Daniel Dunham writes "There’s a question I often hear posed by many gamers and it goes something like this. ”Why is it that Mario games always seem to get a free pass, when it comes to sequels and rehashes. Yet game franchises like Assassins creed, God of War, Halo and the like, get criticized and sometimes even marked down for it?.” Well, I have a theory for why that seems to be the case, as much as this may seem to be a double standard, and I’m sure many will argue that it is, there is a fundamental difference between games like Mario and Assassins Creed."
Marie Dealessandri speaks to Borislav Slavov and Gustavo Santaolalla about “the new golden age of games music”.
While on stage with Dina Bass at The Bloomberg Technology Summit the President of Xbox, Sarah Bond, was asked about the Xbox studio closures of Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog, and Roundhouse Studios
Of course she did. She's part of the problem and will just tow the company line.
I always wondered why xbox had multiple leaders with similar titles like Phil Spencer, Matt Booty, and Sarah Bond, like, how many heads do you actually need?
Seems to me it would be more cost efficient to cut 2 of them instead of all those studios.
While many gaming layoffs are cruel, Tango Gameworks being culled after Hi-Fi Rush doesn't even make sense.
Good read. I think the point is important. Cuz the message it sends is, make a bad game? Well shut you down. Make a good game? We still might shut you down. How the fuck are you supposed to feel any sense of job security under those conditions. The level of core incompetence at play in the upper levels of this industry is staggering. This is common sense shit. You can’t chase trends on a 2 year cycle when games take fucking 6-8 years to make. Just let artists fucking art for gods sake. They don’t understand the basic principle that they’re all haggling for the same slice of fucking pie and the market will not bear it. Find a different fucking pie.
I don't mind studios pushing out sequels long as they also develop fresh stuff too
Sequelization is kind of a matter of appropriateness, if you ask me.
Some franchises are meant to be open for many sequels, spin-offs, and sub-series like Mario and its many niches, as the writer mentions.
Others are not so much and further installments end up feeling like an excuse once the intended run has ended or the novelty has been worn out with too little in the way of fresh ideas and concepts. This especially applies to games with significant storylines involved.