Yle, via Google Translate : "The hottest game news of the summer was heard last Tuesday, when the gaming company Sony Interactive Entertainment announced that it had bought Housemarque, the oldest and largest gaming company in Finland, founded in 1995.
However, according to Ilari Kuittinen , co-founder and CEO of Housemarque , Sony has not been the only party interested in Housemarque, but other gaming companies has also been involved."
Game developers have already started to confirm that they will support the Nintendo Switch 2 with their future titles.
Back when the Xbox 360 launched, Microsoft pushed the big budget game as a differentiator. Following all the recent layoffs, it’s clear this strategy has run its course.
The Microsoft shill take on the Microsoft causing the death of big budget gaming...
The whole driving force for growth in gaming both technologically, creatively and financially was all nonsense, and it was definitely not because Microsoft ran the industry into the ground with obviously bad decisions and creating an unprofitable business model that massively disrupted consumer spending habits. /s
First, F**** Forbes and their shill take, I hope the money cleared by now.
Second, Which big budget games I might ask? Microsoft has been in a rut for like a decade now, with no big publisher and developers puechases they would have not released anything in the last 5 years but the new Halo and Forza.
Fortunately for us, since we know this message is basically coming from Microsoft, we can read into their motives. Why are they trying to turn people against big budget games and who would it help.... hmmm.
GP is like any content service it needs new content. AAA games take 100 plus million (low end estimates since most AAA games take double that) and it 4-5 years to develop. That’s why there were 2 god of war games instead of 3 because Cory felt like it would take too long
I am not defending MS. That’s just the reality when you put all your eggs in one basket (gamepass) and now they need content. Sadly that’s what we all said would happen and is happening. GP will be a service for AA games with 1-2 AAA games on yearly basis. And I am all for AA games because to me that’s where developers can take chances on smaller budgets but MS has mismanaged this whole situation from the beginning. Their messaging needs to be clear and it’s not
They own so many studios and IP’s they just need to get everyone on schedule so that there are games releasing every few months on GP. But I don’t even think Phil knows what he wants. It seems his goals change constantly
Game pass is not a sustainable and take two ceo was right when he said that it doesn’t make any business sense to release huge AAA games day one on GP. Just like call of duty shouldn’t be on GP because why give up on 15-20 million sales
"And I am all for AA games because to me that’s where developers can take chances on smaller budgets"
How'd that work out for Tango?
Do you think less AAA games will increase game pass revenue or decrease it when it has less value? What if they also have to increase the costs?
Right on.
Hahaha MS has ended “focus” on games? Lol when? 3 generations ago maybe?
LOL, this article is a big pile of dog crap...
Spencer has been constantly telling ppl that NO they would not go the route of having games like TLOU, Uncharted, etc because Playstation exists and prefers to focus on a diverse portfolio.
How many years have we seen Xbox as no game and we don't want small games like ORI, Pentiment, Grounded, etc.?
That's the real tragedy and why lots of gamers are mad at MS right now
because they have been championing smaller titles and yet fired the ppl delivering exactly what they were proning about.
So no the only nonsense is that MS seems now to be going BACK to AAA popular titles..sorry, I meant refocusing effort on core established IP where broken GAAS might be rewarded versus praised and rewarded work.
https://media1.tenor.com/m/...
You read an article cheerleading the end of big budget games and all the other articles about problems and this is what you have to say? That's what you think "the real tragedy" is?
I thought that xbox fans might finally "get it", but no, it seems they don't even understand what is happening and what is at stake.
Please tell me what's happening and what is at stake
Since it's not big companies closing small studios, killing innovation while refocusing assets on big ongoing projects and core IP?
Let's See MS Close Tango Studio mentions that they are too thin on key project
Sony Close London Studio and make massive cuts in Firespite will reallocate resources to core project
EA will focus on Core project
Square will focus on big established IP
.....
.....
Following the closure of 4 studios, many are now worried for the future of Ninja Theory once Hellblade 2 is released.
Meant better to sell the studio and not closing it 🤦🏻 not to sell more games….
and games are sold anyways, you can buy it on xbox (not recommended if you got gamepass) but many pc gamers prefer to buy on steam than deal with the xbox app or pc gamepass!
On a side note to OP, the sales of studios wont happen though, especially when they want to retain the IPs, and well nobody is gonna buy a studios without its IPs; the other publishers that want a certain dev from the studio that are closing on their team can try to grab them as soon as they see they notice of the studio.
@Sephiroushin
Well hypothetically speaking, Ninja Theory can be sold to Sony at a lower rate sans the Hellblade IP.
Sony can then welcome them to work on the Heavenly Sword IP, which they still own.
Will be a nice proposition for Sony who can continue to offer a God of War-like hack n slash in their portfolio via Heavenly Sword 2, whilst Cory Barlog & co. decides to take a break from the God of War IP & venture some other genres.
On top of that, Ninja Theory was also interested in a sequel to Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and such Sony can come to a deal with Namco Bandai regarding the Enslaved IP.
Because they're next come next year. HB2 won't hit some impossible metric within MS so they're getting axed in 2025. Leave gaming now MS.
Every xbox studio is in danger now because there’s just no way they’re gonna rake in big money from game sales because of gamepass, even CoD was rumored to not come to gamepass because it would canibalize their sales number.
If they are smart they don’t put COD on GP day one. It’s one of the best selling games on yearly basis
Satya will make sure that doesnt happen. As you rightly put it; why kill the cash cow?
But then again, it is MS after all.....
I agree and disagree. They should not put it on GP, but CoD makes real money from the overpriced MTX that people buy for over a year. They also have it all linked up to the Mobile CoD, which will incentivize Twitch spending from consumers.
Software
That’s true but keep in mind COD is the best selling or top 3 selling game every year. So yes micro transactions money is there but so are billions more
They should have tiers of GP subscriptions and the higher end tier received AAA games while everyone else gets them in 60 days
Also if you punish a studio for releasing a great critically acclaimed game which won some awards then what chance does anyone have
After this mess, I highly doubt the next installment of COD will be on Gamepass day one. It'll probably land on Gamepass 6 months after release date.
Like I said earlier, I wouldn't even mind. There's a good selection of games on GP already, and it gives me time to play my backlog of games while allowing the games that need to sell millions of copies to make a profit a chance to succeed, a win win scenario.
Ninja theory games were never big sellers. I could be wrong, but I doubt hellblade 2 will sell millions. I would rather they go independent and make heavenly sword 2.
heavenly sword is Sony owned IP. this will never happen as original didn't sell enough...
Wikipedia: "In 2008, it was reported that a sequel to Heavenly Sword was in-development at SCE Studio Cambridge, but was canceled due to Sony no longer seeing it as a commercially viable product"
I remember. I feel like the amount of time & technology that has passed would make a sequel a big seller now. The game has enough legacy recognition to build hype.
Its normal. They are a great studio. Returnal is amazing. having lots of fun and lots of deaths.. but keep coming back.
Well two of those were most likely Embracer and Tencent. But I do find interested that the latter wanted to buy Housemarque. As they appear to be more content owning a piece of the pie than buying studios outright.
Not gonna lie, until returnal I didn't care much for this studio. I played resogun and dead Nation, but I just didn't care that much. After playing returnal, this studio seems to be at a whole different caliber. Idk if it's sonys involvement, or just them trying as hard as possible, but they are truly amazing. The duelsense and 3d audio of this game is astounding and the gunplay and design is insane. Truly this game caught me off guard. I'm looking forward to their next game now and with the full backing of playstation and all their studios, it should be great.
Housemarque is unique, the acquisition makes perfect sense. Can't wait to see what they do next.
Pretty depressing if this is the biggest gaming news of the summer.