Nine Dots Publishing and developer Nine Dots Studio have announced open-world action RPG sequel Outward 2 for unspecified consoles and PC (Steam). A release date was not announced.
Phil Spencer and Microsoft have come under fire following the closure of multiple Bethesda-owned studios including Tango Gameworks.
wow haha.
i dont think he will resign. or will be kicked off.
if hes still here after everything in the past, this wont affect him unfortunately.
He and his cronies have a sweet deal. Even if they are fired, stock options and parachutes will mean they never need to work again. Cronyism at its worst.
I think his days are numbered TBH. Spending 80 million of all acquisitions yet can’t even compete with others it’s insane
This also proves gamepass isn’t as profitable as Xbox fanboys make it out to be
That huge Acti-Blizz acquisition wasn't worth it ... They should've stopped at Zenimax and instead focused "rescuing" individual studios like Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, Crytek, Volition or Gearbox etc (much better than trying to devour the whole of one of the largest gaming publisher)
IMHO, with no $70 Billion deficit, these studio closures would not have happened ...
Him fired or not matters not. When he's gone, he'll be replaced by someone who will, in the end, make the exact same decisions. It's all about PR to hide the greed, nothing else.
Dang you got spammed hard bro, they downvoted you guys hard. You know they hurt
I've noticed this only happens when something bad happens at Microsoft/Xbox.
They also mass down voted everyone on articles about Redfall and Starfields underwhelming review scores.
Fired??? Lmfao yea ok, he got a raise for “Figuring out” a way to raise “profits”.
If you want to change you have to speak with your wallet. It’s as simple as that.
Twisted Voxel writes: "We've almost reached the end of the 1st half of 2024, and Xbox has had more studio closures than first party game releases in the year so far."
Hellblade 2, Indiana Jones, Avowed, Towerborne, and Call of Duty are still to be released this year. Marcus Fenix collection to be added to the list with the Xbox showcase, hopefully.
"Xbox Has Had More Studio Closures Than First Party Game Releases So Far In 2024"
they kept the IPs though. they'll be making them under the MS brand i'm guessing. like minecraft all those years ago.
If we're going to talk in "still to be's" there still could be more studio closures from Microsoft this year as well.
How much confidence do people have in these games being good though? I hope they will be (especially Avowed) but from what we know of them so far, it's hardly a guarantee, is it?
And even if they do turn out to be good, how much of that will be down to Xbox and its leadership? Most of these games were either sequels to games made before being acquired or started development before being acquired.
And just a note on Hellblade II - it is out in two weeks and unless I'm missing something, I don't see much in the way of previews or advertising from Microsoft. Not ideal for a niche game that looks like it probably cost a lot of money to make. It genuinely feels like another game being sent out to die and then have the studio shut down.
To me...Avowed graphics look cheap, the game looks generic as well as boring.
I find it interesting that people have to resort to praising how they were randomly born in a certain location to say they're not weird. But, I'm not sure this kind of stupidity can be generalized over an entire group of people, at least, I'm being optimistic here.
Sony doesn't have to bother fighting the next Microsoft acquisition. The massive layoff by themselves should be enough to get the next big buy blocked.
Vindicates Jim Ryan. Don't know who didnt see this coming except those frothing pro acquisition fanboys who are not commenting here for some reason....
Let’s not pretend Sony is setting the world on fire with its first party either….it’s been crickets from them as well. In fact they even said not to expect any at all this year.
MS is a dumpster fire and Sony isn’t fighting anymore and it shows. I fail to see how this is a good thing.
Wasn't it no new existing IP entries? That would still leave room for new IPs, maybe we'll see one or more of those this year.
So if MS hadn't spent $80 billion consolidating the industry just think of all the games and jobs that would have saved.
MS is a drain on gaming and have been nothing but a negative.
not exactly like the studios were putting out good games anyway. Industry needs to restart from the ground up; if games like battlebit or manor lords can be made by teams with 10 people - then there's something fundamentally wrong with having 500 man teams put out glitchy overmonetized crap.
Interesting. Prey was a good game, evil within was dope, and hi fi was the best Xbox game that Xbox has had in so many years. That's according to the base.
HiFi Rush was a really good game actually so that's hardly the reason for shutting down Tango.
as an accountant, stuff like this happened all that time. Alot of companies always look for a high return in anything they purchase. If a company is doing great a buyer comes along, and hoping that by purchasing this company they can increase their revenue. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't (lay offs).
If it was any other company than MS they could have potentially increased revenue. But the Gamepass model decreases revenue automatically
Myself and plenty others have been telling you guys for YEARS that Microsoft is not the "GOOD GUYS" they make themselves out to be. They have constantly stuck Phil out in front of the cameras to say one thing, then immediately do the opposite. Kinda Funny actually had a real good piece on the constant quotes they've put out that are coming back to bite them in the ass.
Instead of making excuses for them about "be patient. Games take years to develop." While they have cancelled, laid off more than 2,000 employees, shut down studios and somehow we still haven't seen consistent quality from XGS and we are in Year 4 of the life cycle.
Where is State of Decay, Fable, Perfect Dark? Those games will be 2025 at the earliest and that's a damn shame.
They have spent $80 billion in acquisitions because they don't know what they are doing. How much more evidence do you need? How many more studios do they need to close? How many more employees need to be laid off? This is why so many are sick and tired of Phil "Double-Speak" Spencer.
Just look at the decisions they are making with Win 11 and Office, you'll see they are trying their best to try to bring gaming in that direction too. Scum
That's actually insane. Like you buy Bethesda, and Activision/Blizzard and have next to nothing to show for it. Just crazy
LOOL you can’t make this stuff up ladies and gentlemen.
MS acquisitions put all these studios in good hands. $:
The Outerhaven writes: With multiple gaming studios, including Tango Gameworks, closing, the editor-in-chief of The Outerhaven shares his thoughts on the matter.
Honestly I was looking back and at the launch of the Xbox 1. With Don Matrick at the helm I was disappointed but therevwas something else. That fighting spirit of Xbox at its inception was lost. They stopped innovating, I lost excitement on what the next big new surprise was, because their weren’t any. Not like Halo 2 and Gears launch. You couldn’t really brag about it anymore.
So here we are and corporate MS has ruined what was a beautiful renegade project.
Xbox do not give a crap about developers they want publishers to make money for them that is all.
Well without developers there's nothing to publish so if that's their plan it's a pretty bad one.
Atleast don matrick competed and knew what it took to compete. Phil can’t stop speaking from both sides of his mouth
Since 2011-2012, the Xbox brand has faced challenges due to significant management issues. The latter years of the Xbox 360 era were lackluster, with anticipation building for the next generation, yet the Xbox One ultimately disappointed consumers. This misstep has led to Xbox falling far behind competitors like PlayStation and Nintendo.
While Game Pass is appealing to consumers, it poses challenges for developers. Many are unaware of the intricacies of game development; developers typically rely on regular income and aim for successful game launches to earn significant bonuses and royalties. However, Game Pass disrupts this model, potentially reducing developers' earnings. This has led to dissatisfaction and departures from Xbox studios, as developers feel undervalued.
Despite significant investments in acquisitions, totaling over $80 billion, Microsoft's messaging has been ineffective. Despite ample resources, Phil Spencer and his team have struggled to compete effectively.
To address these issues, Xbox should consider making their games available on PlayStation and Nintendo platforms. Despite positive sentiments from some fans, Microsoft's focus on sales and profits remains paramount. Despite efforts to spin the narrative, achieving these goals on the Xbox platform seems increasingly challenging.
For everything that Xbox did, I was hopeful it would turn stuff around. Game Pass was a start, and the release of its upcoming titles was a nice way to return. I mean, I'm not going to say it was perfect, just like I wouldn't say PlayStation is perfect. Neither company is, but when Xbox goes and does this, it makes zero sense. The message of Xbox's plan had already had me frustrated, but I was like, "Maybe they'll fix this mess."
Now... yeah. Not so confident anymore.
That's how you know this is clickbait garbage. If you write about games for a living and didn't know Microsoft is a cancer on the industry until now than you are awful at your job.
I was going to say this, now? Now, your trust is shaky? The only good gen Xbox had was the 360, and Sony stumbled badly at the beginning of that gen anyway.
"Right now"?
But not 11 years ago with the disastrous Xbox One reveal which they NEVER recovered from?
Man are you slow on the uptake.
No, Xbox never recovered, but Game Pass (which you're a fool if you deny the success of it), Xbox Cloud, the acquisitions, the reboot of Perfect Dark (which seems to be in the gutter now), the success of Forza Horizon, Sea of Thieves, and yes, Hi-Fi Rush (FFS).
Denying any sort of improvement only goes to show you don't pay any attention to the entire picture.
I think you missed the part where these things were spread years apart. Theres no consistency
Bullshit.
Perfect Dark IP was purchased along with many other games like Halo, Gears, etc. Perfect Dark needs help with Crystal Dynamics just to finish the game. That's pathetic. HiFi Rush was purchased and was probably already coming to PlayStation before the purchase.
If Game Pass was a success, these developers wouldn't be closing their doors. We told gamers it isn't profitable. It does make revenue. But revenue isn't profit. It hasn't changed Microsoft's position in the industry or increased hardware sales. If it did, they would be shouting from the rooftops like their arrogant asses always do.
Anyone can have a cloud service. And Sony's is more successful. It took buying major publishers just to increase their spreadsheet. But Xbox continues to fail even then. By having to place games on their competitors platform while still trying to compete. You don't see Nintendo putting their games on Xbox. And Sony was only forced because they don't own the MLB license. Which was forced behind the scenes by Microsoft to take away Sony's successful game and throw it on game pass to use it against gamers buying it on PlayStation. How is the acquisitions a success if they have to close companies they just bought and make many developers jobless? Are you serious? Unless you call it a success by taking away games from other platforms that made those developers more money. That's ridiculous.
Sea of Thieves took years to fix. How is that a success that you have an unfinished game for years that needs fixing? Games should be complete at launch. Just like Halo was an incomplete game that needed fixing. Forza Horizon is a good game but even that game hasn't improved Microsoft's standing at all.
Denying all that shows that you're not paying attention.
Success? They missed their own targets 3 years straight, stopped announcing numbers because they're so terrible and it's not profitable. Hence the closing 4 studios. There will be more consolidation too. Just watch the by the books garbage yearly releases too followed by more season passes and shorter games come out
I have been paying attention for past 11 years. That's why I made my fully accurate above post.
You're the one who hasn't, thus you made that completely worthless post.
- I don't care about a rental service for mid-tier (or any tier) games.
- I don't care about streaming services, I play on actual hardware.
- What is Perfect Dark at this point? Its just a name trying to have an easy win with nostalgia. The original developers and talent has long been gone once MS bought Rare in 2001. ITS JUST A NAME, nothing more.
-Don't care about Forza Horizon.
- Don't care about Sea of Thieves.
- I am interested in Hi-Fi Rush, but MS killing off Tango has pissed me off, so I don't want to reward them for their B.S. and now its guaranteed that the hard working devs won't see any benefit from me supporting them.
MS has done squat over the past 11 years. Nothing but the embarrassing stink of failure. I know this because I have been paying attention.
I never played hi-fi rush, even though I would have loved it from all I can see, but as it never came to playstation... Now it comes to playstation and I have no intention to buy it because they closed the developer and the money will only go to poor phil and his poor suits. Well I mean, what else is there to say.
Gamepass brought them into this position so you would be a fool to see it as a success lol
It's also foolish to deny the negatives gamepass is having on the industry as that is part of the entire picture as well.
Gamepass imo is the downfall. It literally took its base and said wait no need to buy games we will provide you. That's a fking disaster not a good thing. Alot of us been saying it
Idk about the Xbox cloud either. I'm not quite sure that's ever even been useful.
I'll give you the few game examples you gave. Even though I don't do online games sea of thieves seems to be striving and doing well. Hi fi was rated high and sounds decent(I'm buying the physical). They did have a couple decent things going on. Its just what it should've been to what it was, was lackluster as fk. In the end.
I imagine smaller ABK studios like toys for bob and beenox are now feeling uncertain about their futures
Thankfully Toys for Bob managed to safely separate from Xbox and are independent now.
Beenox has been in danger for years now with Activision. Microsoft may act more ruthlessly to them unfortunately.
yeh I have to agree,
People who thought they were going to buy a cheap box, pay a minimal monthly rent, and still get play all the latest games at full quality, were sold a lie,
this has probably tanked the whole operation, as now people wised up to it,
the number of xbox series s on ebay, far out numbers the amount of used ps5s. I take this as a sign,
Was going to happen when they are taking away the xbox identity, all games available anywhere on any platform is where they are heading, no point in buying the box, the box will soon go, cant be an xbox with no box, it will just be MS studios. anndd thats a lot o sunk cost for me...damn
You just discovered this now? They are not just the only company shedding off excess arm fat.
TBH I don't trust any game company anymore, haven't for a long time, and my respect for them is going down the shit hole, if it's not already there. I buy maybe 1 or 2 PC games a year the rest I just take and don't give a shit anymore. I used to buy more, not anymore.
My trust in the gaming industry as a whole is on shaky ground right now. It's going in a direction that I really don't like, with a push for digital only, live service games, the rise of AI and only small number of companies buying everything up, and then shutting studios down. It's in a terrible state right now.
Xbox this generation is the most pro consumer doing an about face after the launch of the one. Backwards compatibility on the console, opening the console to developers, frame unlocks and hdr upgrades that are free to existing games, full mod support for bethesda games and support for past and upcoming ips. Sony just did this to so many employees, abandons almost any and all ips that nobody wants and sells you games for full price that released last generation. Playstation is the system for casuals, the wii of this generation.
Evir, your reaching hard as fk. I'd say Xbox with gamepass is more casual. Hence no one buying games. Take take take. Sonys got better and way more games then Xbox. Hit me up when most Japanese devs develop for it. It won't happen especially now
Only shaky after the past 10 years. That explains why people still buy Xbox's and I'm pretty sure there are a subset of people still buying them because they see it as the stars and stripes box and that gets blind loyalty.
As an American. Yea plenty buy it based off that alone. Then are surprised when they gotta call customer service.
has it ever been anything but that?
they've been, imo, doing nothing but dropping the ball for a decade
Exactly!
I'm glad I saw their BS the moment they entered the gaming space long time ago.
Lmao, which user made an alternate account for damage control?
I only see one clown, and it's not Aloy.
As much as I hate to say it. Buying mine for starfield and then being disappointed in starfield pretty hard. I've finally dev moded mine and I gotta say it's extremely dope. I've finally been able to play dq5 ps2 remake the English translation
Wow only now? I personally started loosing trust in 2010 due to the focus on kinect rather than AAA exclusives.
Then pretty much all trust was gone just before the launch of the Xbox one. Still don't trust them 11 years later.
Gamepass as soon as it was announced. I knew full well it was going to hurt Xbox as a platform unless they instantly got 100+ million full paying customers instantly (they didn't).
To only be on “shaky ground” after all these signs over the years is humiliating and comical.
Funny i was just wondering what their next project would be, im here for it day 1!