Bobby Kotick has dismissed the likes of Valve, Epic, Ninja Theory, Level-5, Insomniac, Foundation 9, Gearbox, Sucker Punch, Rebellion and Terminal Reality - by calling Bungie the "last remaining high quality independent developer" in the world. Yep. Wow.
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.
selling the studio wouldn't be an attractive offer unless they come with their IPs. MS wants to keep these IPs, so even if MS is selling just the studio, no one would wants them
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
Wouldn't putting it on Gamepass be smarter? Cod is typically played, I believe, for far longer than 6 months.. if you get everyone playing the game for a year, on Gamepass, you've essentially doubled your profit. $10 a month for a year $120 compared to selling the game once for $60.
Not to mention MT's, on top of it. Sell on PS5, PC and Switch, keep it on Gamepass for Xbox and PC. Much smarter in my opinion..
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.
not putting CoD on GP is sort of a violation of their own marketing though. they said ALL MS 1st party games will be on GP day 1, not some. CoD is 1st party, so to not put it on GP day 1 would be considered as false marketing.
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.
Former Hellblade director and Ninja Theory co-founder has offered an explanation regarding his departure from the now Microsoft-owned studio.
It is a good studio.. i really enjoyed their dmc game that i platinumed it.
I did not try hellblade, because it doesnt tell me much.. Enslaved was very mehhh
Heavenly Sword was good not great. Amazing graphics back in the day but so repetitive and not so engaging in the long run.
I really enjoyed Enslaved and Heavenly Sword back in the day. Wish they'd return to that sort of game. Hellblade isn't really for me to be honest. Not saying it's not a good game, I just couldn't get into it.
That is fair. I enjoyed Hellblade but can definitely see how it isn’t for everyone.
Would like to see how Heavenly Sword would have turned out if developed today. It’s easy to forget that games like Heavenly Sword were unprecedented and in their infancy.
Enslaved has been their favorite game for me. Loved the atmosphere.
Heavenly sword was a staggeringly good game!! One of the most memorable of the PS3 generation in my opinion.
Heavenly sword was good. It had ambitious graphics and as a result the frame rate suffered and as a result the gameplay suffered. But the story was phenomenal. Great acting, especially Andy Serkis as the king.
"Microsoft" we all read between the lines. We have seen the exact same thing happen with many of their other acquisitions
One thing that pleasantly surprised me, was the Switch port, as back then it was my only console. The graphics were amazing and the artistic design helped a lot to enhance the visuals.I took some really impressive screen shots while playing which I still revisit them from time to time to remind me what a capable developer (QLOC) can achieve with weaker hardware.
Gearbox Entertainment has confirmed layoffs at the company, following the announcement of its sale by Embracer.
I’m glad Embracer is selling them. I hope someone other than MS buys them and frees them up to make great games.
@Sgt Slaughter
I just like how when a studio automatically goes up for sale. People automatically think Microsoft is just going to jump on it like a fat kit eating a cake.
first this douche bag wants to charge for cut-scenes now he has the nerve to insult some of the best developers in the game industry
It should be the other way around
Every Indie devolper on the planet insults bobby kotick...
except Bungie
It's tolate to stop buying his games. He's already owned 100 million COD fans, lol..... The Devil wins.
this is why.....i stay away from Activision products
...haha Naughty dog for the win..