1230°

Lionhead's Project Natal demo was fake?

Spong: "Remember at about 1:55 in the Lionhead video of Project Natal, Peter Molyneux (now creative director at Microsoft Game Studios) points out "This wasn't acted"? If you don't, the video is below. Well, maybe that particular moment of goggle throwing wasn't.

What's interesting, however, is that Peter also points out (1:58) that "Everybody, every single person, that has experienced this reaches down (to catch the goggles that Milo throws)". Sure, this demo featuring uncanny Milo was obviously run hundreds of times with various staff members before being rolled out in front of the E3 crowds. That said, then, we can't be expected to believe that this is the first time that 'Claire' stood in front of the virtual lad. Something rankled...

Fast forward to 2:36 on the video, where Claire (or Clare) plays with the water. The reflection of Clare on screen shows her arms in roughly the correct positions in respect to real Clare. The water seems to be moving based in her hand movements. However, keep watching to the point (2:37) where she appears to make a rippled appear on the left-hand side of the screen. Real Clare's arms are almost crossed in front of her. 'Reflected' Clare's arms are spread out. Even more startling is the fact that (see the screenshot) the ripple begins before Clare begins her gesture."

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GWAVE5456d ago (Edited 5456d ago )

I'm glad people are taking a closer look at Project Natal instead of praising it instantly. Not only does Natal fail to do anything "new" that Eye hasn't already done or isn't already capable of, but their "live" gameplay demonstrations were sorely lacking.

Go back and watch the "live" demonstrations of Natal. Go do it. Their demonstrations were rough at best, and downright embarrassing at worst. "You ever seen the bottom of an Avatar's shoe? BAM there it is!" is on-par with Sony's "Giant enemy crabs!" debacle, and the part where the guy "paints" (read: flings inaccurate globs of color) was equally embarrassing.

Everything "cool" they showed off was through a pre-made trailer. Sony's motion control wand looked incredibly stupid, but at least they showed off the functionality LIVE.

Johnny Rotten5456d ago (Edited 5456d ago )

This is a quote from a Kotaku preview:

"Milo walked up to me and complimented me on my blue shirt (my shirt was indeed blue). Then he stood there, waiting for me to say things. There was a little awkwardness here. The Milo demo was partially being manipulated by a developer who was sitting nearby, and I couldn't tell if he was merely calibrating the game or how much he was pulling its strings". http://kotaku.com/5275204/t...

Coming from Kotaku that's saying a lot.

xwabbit5455d ago (Edited 5455d ago )

What had i said ? even if MS didn't have anything to show they would invent something just to look pro.

This is MS......... yeah Boy! Milo is RealZ, we'll be getting it to work properly by the next xbox! we wanna release it like all our games!, glitchy and with probs !

Halo3 MLG Pro5455d ago

Gwave, you are the first to comment on almost every Natal article.
Your frustration is showing :)

chaosatom5455d ago (Edited 5455d ago )

Natal doesnt seem to be THAT great....If you listen to the GiantBombcast they talk about developers getting to go "behind closed doors" to see Natal and the "Milo" demo... it was pretty much fake. This is all stuff they say i am not making it up go listen to their "day 3 bombcast". They say they heard there was a guy off screen controlling a lot of it with a controller, (see you DO need buttons!), and Milo apparently doesn't understand what she is saying to him word wise, (so much for voice recognition!), it just understood inflection of her voice - which the ps3 eye COULD be programmed to do. Plus lots of obvious gaffs that show it was a staged demo like: the scan of the skateboard by the kid... umm his hands were in the way; facial recognition for your avatar: the kudo guy had sun glasses on and so it shouldn't have worked, heck facial recognition tech cant work if your smiling (look up on a search engine about why you cant smile on drivers license photos anymore); then he lifts his shoe the avatar was all bent wrong and freaking out, if you cant get a simple avatar to turn how will that work in a real game? the guy "putting a tire on the race car", that was totally uninteractive and didnt look fun, he just put his hands up and it put on a tire.... the ps3 demo looked way better for games. -thought that I share this comment that someone else gave.

JokesOnYou5455d ago (Edited 5455d ago )

"However, keep watching to the point (2:37) where she appears to make a rippled appear on the left-hand side of the screen. Real Clare's arms are almost crossed in front of her."

Oh come on I actually watch it 3 times and couldn't see what their talking about. Looks fine to me, but their saying its pre-recorded, if so why wouldn't all her movements be very well rehearsed, its not like it was a faced paced demo.

I guess Steven Speilburg and all the media who seen it first hand are paid off.

I guess we'll see in the coming weeks, months when we see Natal doing more live demonstrations.

JOY

Rigmaster5455d ago

It should be obvious why Nintendo turned this junk down that Microsoft is now trying to fool the gaming world with.

Project Natal == Project Fake

AAACE55455d ago

Obviously it is a fake! They only worked on it for a couple of months, so there is no way that they could have got that much done, and have it work that perfectly. But it does show you what they are trying to do and how they are trying to innovate and come up with different things.

You Ps3 fanboys can hate on it as much as you want, but this year MS showed that they are trying to do different things, and Sony mainly tried to show charts and graphs that nobody but fanboys care about.

Like it or not, Peter Molyneux is aiming at becoming MS' version of Shigeru Miyamoto. His ambitions are usually too big, but he will help push the industry foward.

TheTwelve5455d ago

...Microsoft can't influence EVERY media outlet. There are still going to be people that look at Natal for what it is---that being "not much".

A Wii wannabe device on a system supposedly for mature and hardcore gamers won't cut it, and I'm entirely not surprised that they faked and rushed plenty of the showcase to make up for their otherwise completely lame E3 2009 showing.

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Rigmaster5455d ago

"You Ps3 fanboys can hate on it as much as you want"

Love it!

No one is hating on it, everyone is laughing at it and Microsoft's retarded attempt at fooling the gaming world with old EyeToy style tech and faked demos.

Something isn't innovative just because your company has nothing else to hype.

360FTW25455d ago

This sh!t is so funny, boy you ps3 fans are going nuts over this natal stuff. The thought that it will work just scares the pants off you guys. Otherwise why make such a big deal about it. All the people out there that says it works and it's cool you guys call it a lie. But the minute someone says it's fake you guys all chime in with you inexperience and uneducated opinions on the technology.

Have we forgotten that sony's motion technology has already been done by nintendo? Incase you have forgotten, it's called a wiimote.

This GWAVE cat is loosing his sanity whining about it. I saw nothing embarrassing about the Natal demonstration. When Killzone first came out, I didn't hear you complaining that they were using CG instead of live gameplay. Sudden, Microsoft does a demo of technology that is still in works and you call fake because it wasn't live. Well guess what, Sony's demo had flaws too, remember when the guy that obviously plays with the motion controller on a regular bases could hit the ball to save his life; and when he did hit it, it was by accident.

That tells me that the Sony motion tech, could possible be difficult to use. I mean it was 1 to 1 movement and he still couldn't hit the ball, and we all know he practiced it a millions times before going live.

I guess all of this stuff is up for debate, but you guys act as if whatever you say has to be law all others should be ignored.

WHATEVER!

chaosatom5455d ago

Yeah, Everyone's A-ok with that.

Lets ignore it and move on and pretend that MS never tried to pull a wool over people's eyes. /sarcasm.

WonderboyIII5455d ago

would you want this to be fake? or real?
As a fanboy, you would want this to be fake, as a gamer you would hope the demo was true. Allot of sources have confirmed it. Offcourse its not a full blown AI system and no said it is. But it is something new, and exciting and if worked well, we, gamers, will have a blast. Always be optimisitc in terms of new innovations, dont be skeptical too much, just wait and be patient for more information to come out.

TheTwelve5455d ago (Edited 5455d ago )

Sony using cgi to display the original Killzone 2 WAS lame.

Sony making a fake blog to hype up their own products WAS lame.

There's no shame in calling something what it is. But I daresay that this crap is worse than the above two examples because Microsoft and their media cronies were harping about how this will "change gaming forever" and enter us into "virtual gaming". Whatever indeed.

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5455d ago
FamilyGuy5455d ago

This is about Milo being faked and used to sell a the product Natal. They should have been happy with their casual game tech demos.

The product wasnt ready (natal) and would've been a bigger hit at next years E3 considering it's possible release date of late 2010. Announcing something will be out the same year is always a bigger hit than, eventually.

Homicide5455d ago

I smell a little jealously from some fans.

ChozenWoan5455d ago

I think that a lot of people are getting confused about what works and what doesn't. This is due to them associating Natal with Milo and vice versa.

Most of Natal works as the PSeye has shown, but it will not be nearly as well as MS is telling everyone. Also, Voice recognition is in phones today so it's not that new, but it is set to only accept certain commands while in certain modes. Like I said that also works.... but it can be frustrating sometimes to have to repeat yourselves... and you can't use slang or improper speech.

Milo on the other hand is a complete sham. If it worked they would not need an "operator" to monitor it. Remember these words from years gone by... "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain". Yea, it's like that only we all should no better by now.

Smoke an mirrors, smoke and mirrors... do people even watch "Magic's Greatest Tricks: Revealed". When someone wants to show you something too good to believe, but they can only do so in a specially prepared room... pack you wading boots cause it's about to get deep.

MGSR THE HD VERSION5455d ago (Edited 5455d ago )

"Lionhead's Project Natal demo was fake?"

..........i find it funny that all of you guys are jumping on this rumor like it's a fact.

find something that's 100 percent fact and than maybe it'll be worth looking into.

edit, why so many comments on this?

7ero H3LL5455d ago

"we're not saying that Natal is out-and-out FUD that will never appear and that the Milo/Lionhead video is a complete and utter fake."

..........then why put that as the title?

Megatron085455d ago

I think joy was right on. I see nothing wrong with it and there are lots of people that seen this live.

I wouldnt be surprised if the milo video was edited. They had a limited amount of time and they had x amount of things they wanted to show off. Milo is a real game there probably things in there they didnt want to show or just parts what were uninteresting

TheTwelve5455d ago

No jealousy here Homocide, I think the Wii is stupid and that Natal is stupid too, for the same reasons. I admit to being annoyed that it's being treated by hardcore 360 fans like the 2nd Coming, tho. Either 360 fans really have nothing to play this year or it's getting way too hyped, or both.

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Qui-Gon Jim5455d ago

chaosatom, you forgot to mention the fact that, when they think it's real, it's the most awesome thing ever and will make games SOOO immersive, but then when it turns out fake, it's okay to fake it.

Sprudling5455d ago

Unbelievable that some are unable to see the obvious fakeness at 2:37. This has nothing to do with being a fanboy. Some things are just impossible, like Natal predicting the future, even if it is only a fraction of a second in the future.

pixelsword5455d ago

"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!"

otherZinc5455d ago

That pos couldn't hit the ball with a bat, tennis racquet, stop sign, etc......it was terrible! & you guys have the nerve to criticize this, please.

cherrypie5455d ago

Every single journalist -- Eurogamer, Joystiq, Wired, Time, BBC, Kotaku -- have *played* with Natal, including milo.

They've all said it works as shown.

Now, some idiot writes some bullshit and puts it on splorg.com and you're saying "I'm glad people are taking a closer look at Project Natal instead of praising it instantly"?

No one "praised it instantly" -- journalists spent all week getting demonstrations, and each one is **IN AWE**.

pwnsause5455d ago (Edited 5455d ago )

"How about the Mega Weak SONY wii controll?
That pos couldn't hit the ball with a bat, tennis racquet, stop sign, etc......it was terrible! & you guys have the nerve to criticize this, please."

he didnt hit it because his timing was off, way off. there was no delay from the input of the controler to output of what the PS eye decoded. the controler is not weak at all, it one ups what the wii does, which is why you see some devs happy with this, because now they will try to find ways to broaden the market of casual game, like porting wii games to the PS3, or vice versa. Not to mention try new ways to make Amazing Hardcore games with this.

Dont get me wrong here, i think Natal is pretty big for what it does and it has some devs turning heads as well.

Natal has potential, but it needs to show that it can play very well with every genre of game. sony's tech demo showed that their motion controls plays well with the most popular genres(FPS,3rd person, etc.)

Natal hasnt really showed that yet,except for tech demos of casual games(which is seen on the eyetoy) and of course the race genre.

Natal is real, we know what it does, its one step ahead of the curve, but as I said before, it has to show that it can play well with every genre.

FrankenLife5455d ago

@1.2

MS didn't invent anything here. They presented plundered tech from the 3DV purchase. Eventually Natal will work, maybe even as good as the conceptual video showed. But no time at all soon. Natal is far from release and even farther from proper functionality. It takes time to figure this stuff out. It isn't like they designed it, and have the same familiarity with it as the original creators did.

Bzone245455d ago

I guess since spong, someone who didn't test it first hand, says it's fake it must be. lol. Microsoft might as well pack it in, spong didn't buy the fake. sony fanboys will keep trying to discredit this even after it's release. There will be millions of people faking use of Natal.

thelastmexican5455d ago

Even though it was a fake presentation, the idea of innovation coming from MS is definitely a step in the right direction for a company noted for throwing money at franchises to get ahead of the game.

BISHOP-BRASIL5455d ago

I'm a pretty impressed how people are arguing over this Natal VS PS Motion Controller.

I mean, it's based on old PS2 tech (neigher Sony or MS are pushing anything forward, they are just trying to bit a piece of Ninty's cake) and most gamers in this site usually agree that turning everything on a motion based game is lame.

Are we really gonna fight over features we didn't even want? LOL, count me out.

All-35455d ago

http://www.edge-online.com/...

Edge: Some accounts on the internet have claimed there were people with controllers around the back of the demonstrations. Have the people that have played over the last day or so purely been interfacing with the machine?

Peter Molyneux: You’ve got to remember that this is very, very new tech, and quite often we need to reboot the machine, so there’s someone in the back in case something goes wrong. There’s no cheating, absolutely not. I thought actually, when they were there, ‘Oh my God, it’s going to look like there’s a puppeteer in the background,’ but there’s not, absolutely not.

It'll be uncovered sooner or later who is telling the truth.

Thugbot1875455d ago

The way I look at it is this. If it is a fake, this will go down as a huge PR issue for Microsoft and it will be years for them to recover their creditability with gamers and media. Not to say since this is geared toward casual gamers the most this would almost kill that market for them.

Now on the other hand say that this is true and will be working, Microsoft just signed themselves major sales. Not they also said this would be out in 2010, so that gives MS 1 year 1/2 at most to event this if it doesn't exist. If it was such a lie I would have given myself a 2 to 3 year window. Just like with KZ and the fake CGI trailer...

JasonPC360PS3Wii5455d ago

Peter Molyneux's demo was cool, everyone knows it was cool, accept the people who bought the console that doesn't have Natal.

sniper-squeak5455d ago (Edited 5455d ago )

I know this isn't related, but were'nt they going to show a bit of "OnLive" at the E3 conference..? or was that just something I missed out on myself?

(there was an article mentioning that it would make an appearance)

p.s. This "Natal" technology IS remining me a bit of OnLive... technology which is theorised, shown-off, tested slightly and then they say "yeah, this is going to work brilliantly" and when it comes out, it either flops or comes out a decade late.

ChickeyCantor5455d ago

I'm not here to say something is fake or not but
"that Eye hasn't already done "

I think its not about the camera itself rather, the software that is used with the camera.

But i would love to see someone tell milo that he isn't real...LOL or that he is adopted XD. hahah

HighDefinition5455d ago

Her arms cross before she goes to cross them.

Well that kinda sucks.

kunit22c5455d ago

i realized it was fake too! even in the trailer there were a number of times when the character on screen would start moving before the person that it is (suposedly) copying. Considering that this was a completely fake showcase, if they never actually get it working they way they want it to, then all you ignorant Microsoft loving fanboys will finally see how much of a liar and a cheat Microsoft is. and i garauntee that the final product(if it ever comes) will have MANY glitches.

IdleLeeSiuLung5455d ago (Edited 5455d ago )

Every indication from people that have tested it says it works really well, but not perfect. Then we have all the fanboys, haters and naysayers that never tried it doubting and spewing negativity.

Let's see who we are going to trust?

Fact is if MS tried to fool people, it would only bring them a lot more negative publicity. It would be PR suicide! They would never be taken seriously again ever... The fact that they show this now displays their confidence in this technology that they would bet their company name on.

kunit22c5455d ago

i mean natal is AMAZING not only can it do what microsoft SAYS it can do it can do even more and i dont think microsoft meant to include this but.... it can... PREDICT THE FUTURE, yup its just that AMAZING, i mean havnt you seen the footage? but ok sarcasm aside, you are actually going to beleive some people over ACTUAL footage? Cmon. and the only live demo i beleive we saw was when he stuck his foot up and did you see how bad and jerky that was? and some people who got hands on with it say it was fake and bad, sure some people said it was good but i garauntee this is what Microsoft told those people "Hey heres some money, just be sure to go out there and say it worked really well, we promise we will have it as good as we say it is when we are done so your rep wont be shattered." Also everyone said that even simple voice recognition was bad, also none of this is new. and i agree with that other guy who said this Nintendo turned it down because they new it would fail, they didn't want to fake it. Nintendo being the always up for new things kinda people that they are, why would they turn this down? Because THEY KNEW! i mean come on, there is footage of the characters moving before the people they are suposedly copying and a few people have actually came out and admited it sucked, now its time for you fanboys to admit it. I hope you guys will finaly see how microsft always lies and ceats. but here is another comment from someone else that i think also deserves to be heard:
Natal doesnt seem to be THAT great....If you listen to the GiantBombcast they talk about developers getting to go "behind closed doors" to see Natal and the "Milo" demo... it was pretty much fake. This is all stuff they say i am not making it up go listen to their "day 3 bombcast". They say they heard there was a guy off screen controlling a lot of it with a controller, (see you DO need buttons!), and Milo apparently doesn't understand what she is saying to him word wise, (so much for voice recognition!), it just understood inflection of her voice - which the ps3 eye COULD be programmed to do. Plus lots of obvious gaffs that show it was a staged demo like: the scan of the skateboard by the kid... umm his hands were in the way; facial recognition for your avatar: the kudo guy had sun glasses on and so it shouldn't have worked, heck facial recognition tech cant work if your smiling (look up on a search engine about why you cant smile on drivers license photos anymore); then he lifts his shoe the avatar was all bent wrong and freaking out, if you cant get a simple avatar to turn how will that work in a real game? the guy "putting a tire on the race car", that was totally uninteractive and didnt look fun, he just put his hands up and it put on a tire.... the ps3 demo looked way better for games.

nveenio5455d ago (Edited 5455d ago )

I think we all need to pause for a moment and ask ourselves one simple question:

"Has Peter Molyneux ever delivered on a promise?"

The answer to that question is "NO". Everything dear old Peter hypes fails to deliver even a sliver of what it promises. His company has more dropped games than any other developer of equivalent size. He is a dreamer, and he has great ideas, but he has never evolved gaming even a tiny, tiny bit. (Though Black & White and the Fable series were good fun.)

Given, this technology doesn't come straight from Peter, it's obvious that Microsoft chose the most charismatic exaggerator possible.

When it comes to Project Natal, I believe only LIVE DEMOS. I didn't believe the Killzone 2 CG footage, and I don't believe in Milo, either.

falcon5455d ago

lol this is so fake. at 2:37 she has her right arm in the air, while in screen her arm is stretching down. and did u notice how they change cameras when she started to interact with the water?? they didn't want to show how obviously fake it was.

Shepherd 2145455d ago

your a troll. Your always first poster on the MS forums because you have some kind of a rod up your ass and you feel like you need to defend your big black piece of plastic.

Project Natal looks sweet, and it has the potential to make some truely innovative things. Purple dildo wands aside, PS3's motion control looks equally as good. Go do something with your life instead of waiting for the N4G articles to roll up so you can show everyone how full of piss and vinegar you are.

LordNador5455d ago

that Microsoft is a software company that's more than capable of doing something like this. I've never seen so many people that are so anti-Microsoft in my life, yet have no problem using their Operating System, and I'm pretty sure not every Sony fanboy has a Mac or Linux.

supaflypriest15455d ago

You guys crack me up, more than a few credible sources have already said that this technology is the real deal. I trust them much more than I trust some bitter, scared fanboys, but we will soon see...

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dktxx25456d ago

Surprisingly he makes a good point. But I doubt MS would fake natal, imagine the sh!t they'd be in if they did.

But really, doesn't anyone else find a little boy trapped in your TV a little creepy?

chaosatom5455d ago

If it doesn't have voice recognition then it is a eyetoy, that detects stuff in 3D. Sony could have made it as well, but they opted not to because they already have a ps3 eye camera, that they could use. And probably make it cheap and fast.

jerethdagryphon5455d ago

looks like the video peter narated was faked but not entirly

the milo demo was real but mounted and played back with claire and then played to us on screen
hence the inconsistanceys with her movments and the reflection

the ai itself is fairly basic tone recognition a few key words

and a biometrics esque user list

milo recognizes a face because its stored as a snapsot.
when they show milo laughing at a monotone synthasied joke ill be in pressed otherwise use the right tones and it will laugh cry at what ever.
it has promise nothing more

jromao5456d ago

I was also able to found at 2:17 / 2:18 another "issue" of this mounted presentation, check this minutes and will see the fishes on water will move at speed of light to other positions, I was also able to see her arm that moved on screen before real arm.

Clearly a fake presentation.

gaffyh5455d ago

Agree... it looked completely fake to me....i mean what they did there is almost impossible...

how can that voice recognition work for every person...every language, every accent, the variables are infinite.

Secondly...all those response from the kid are recorded by an actual voice actor....so his responses will be canned...and eventually repeat, and it would be FAKE.

And it seems very paedophillic to me...DO NOT WANT that!...games i do want.

ShabzS5456d ago

arent they demoing this behind close doors to the press ... eurogamers ign oxm all have hands on impressions with the milo and kate game ... this is quite a big accusation here

BRG90005455d ago

The software and hardware are both clearly in the testing phase, so it does not surprise me that there was editing done in the video to make it look like it works how they want it to work and believe they can make it work. The fact that they DID do live demos for a segment of the press, many of whom have come away with positive things to say, is reassuring.

BLaZiN PRopHeT5456d ago

All the major press have used Natal behind closed doors and they say that it works. People want to believe its fake because they feel it threatens their precious console. Fall 2010 when Natal launches with Casual and Hardcore games fanboys are gonna be pretty upset.

lloyd_wonder5456d ago (Edited 5456d ago )

Yeah... AFTER Sony launches their superior motion controls, bundled with every PS3 at $299.99. I'm starting to wonder why Microsoft didn't build Natal around a controller, which would be a no brainer -- giving the strength and appeal of the wii. Instead they say that you can use your own peripheral? I'm thinking Sony patented motion controls with a cam.

OT: Milo was fake. Peter molyneux has always failed to deliver. And Natal was just a fancy Eyetoy video presentation. EA even said that Sony's motion controls were more practical and accessible. Which means great things for third- party support.

heroicjanitor5455d ago

Acting in front of a video. They didn't have much for e3 and had to make an elaborate hoax. It might end up working, but this footage was faked. Her hand on the tv moved before her real hand. There is no other way that can happen unless it was a video.

beardpapa5455d ago

I used the EyeToy on the PS2 @ ToysRuS waaaaay back. I was able to chop barrels w/ my hands and block banana attacks from monkeys. Let me just tell you... that works!

/sarcasm

We don't even know to what extent a "live demo" they showed to the press. They could've easily just shown the koi fish pond and have the press wave their hands at the camera like what Clare did. They could've showed Milo and have someone "pull strings" in the back with a controller. Let's say I was there..., given the sudden shock and amazement of such as announcement at E3, I would come out of this closed-door demonstration like a little school girl saying it works.
Thing is you you could already do something like the koi fish pond on the EyeToy and if they really did have someone controlling Milo, heck you could do that w/ an Eye Toy as well.

LONEWOLF2315455d ago

hahah look at how these peeps bring the WHOLE wiimote rip off into the conversation. Now that device looks hella lame! BUT the stuff you can do with it will more than compensate for its ugly look.

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200°

Why Xbox believes it must cut costs and close studios

Companies, particularly public companies like Microsoft, need to grow.

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eurogamer.net
gold_drake7h ago

i mean its pretty simple, they spent close to 30 billion in acquiring activision, they thought they'd make it bk no problem, and that didnt happen.

its just shit that because of MS's miscalculation alot of people lost their jobs.

Jingsing3h ago

This is exactly what many people said would happen including the CMA and FTC. Lies lies and more lies and they allowed a $69 billion buy out to happen.

gold_drake3h ago

oh yeh it was 70 billion. that was my bad haha even worse.

thesoftware7303h ago(Edited 3h ago)

gold,

You can't be serious, right?

Do you think that MS thought they would make 80bill in a year & Half? They haven't even released titles under MS yet, lol.

But in fact, that A/B revenue is already paying off, look at the last earnings call. That $80 billion is long-term money, my guy, no sane person/company would think they would make that back in any short-term situation, it's a long-term investment.

Let's play silly then. If MS's reason for laying off staff and closing studios was due(which it really was not) to the A/B deal, tell me what Sony's reason was for past studio closures, the recent 900-person layoffs, closing Sony London, shutting down Dreams, and closing Japan Studio? Zipper? Psygnosis? cuts at all their internal studios.

Keep in mind, you are claiming MS's reason is because of the A/B deal; please explain Sony's reason.

Hofstaderman3h ago

You actually still defending them? Sheesh.....

gold_drake3h ago

this is not a sony vs MS debate. dont make it something it isnt.

and of course not, but im pretty sure they thought they'd make more money after the deal. they didnt, and closed off some studios.

its pretty insane to think there is any other reason for the closure of studios in this case.

romulus233h ago(Edited 3h ago)

(It really was) due to the Activision Blizzard deal and the loss of physical sales due to gamepass. You keep bringing up Sony in all your posts about this, stop deflecting and trying to change the topic, this is about MS and what they are doing.

BehindTheRows2h ago

Has nothing to do with Sony. Stay on topic.

notachance2h ago

once in a while you see someone too invested in their make-believe console war that everything happened has to be connected to said war…

a bit of banter between fans is normal, this crusade you’re doing now isn’t.

Chevalier2h ago

Wow idiotic. You bring up very old closures not that there haven't been recent ones from Playstations, but, seriously stop deflecting. This has NOTHING to do with Playstation.

Does Playstation got $3 trillion behind them and daddies wallet? No they don't so stop making a fool of yourself.

Xbox has never been profitable really and they just keep losing money so between their worst hardware sales, terrible 3rd party sales and now terrible 1st party sales.

Gamepass numbers that are no longer being announced shows their numbers after 3 years of missed targets has flatlined. Plus their recent gains up to 34 million were ONLY because they folded Gold members in too. Absolutely take your idiotic rhetoric out of here. Keep on topic without deflecting.

S2Killinit2h ago

Ayayayay with these xbox/MS excuses.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 2h ago
thesoftware73032m ago(Edited 18m ago)

Drake,

"this is not a sony vs MS debate. dont make it something it isnt."

You are correct that it's not an MS Vs Sony Topic, but when exaggeration and imagination mix from a one-sided social group, similar examples are needed to ground radical thoughts; in this instance, the example was that shutting down 3,4,5, even 6 studios during a restructure/ buyout/acquisition is not some anomaly(it can suck) that has to be dissected or spell doom and gloom.

"But I'm pretty sure they thought they'd make more money after the deal. They didn't, and they closed off some studios."

But they did make more money, a lot, actually; the last earnings call showed a huge growth in profit, almost all due to A/B revenue.

"its pretty insane to think there is any other reason for the closure of studios in this case."

The fact that they did make money, kinda throws this out the window, and besides, you don't wake up and say, hey let's close a studio, you look at the output, you look at the dev as a whole, the long term and short term, you weigh it against all other studios and goals, you keep key members, ect..then you close if they are the weakest links...which by MS analysis they were.

Again, I will make a small Sony comparison, just so some of you can understand and see past the bias; Insomniac, ND, and Bungie have made some of the best games ever created, yet Sony saw fit to cut jobs in every of these studios, even tho Insomniac & ND are the biggest producers of PS games, leagues ahead better than Tango and Arkane, yet, they saw cuts, mind you, while being the TOP produces of PS first party. They were told to cut costs, and more jobs may be on the line, and Bungie is being threatened by a hostile Sony takeover. Put that in perspective, as I know that layoffs and dev closures are different, but if the best of the best is getting cut off, it is less than surprising, that lesser studios are closing.

@Cheva,
My response fits well with your comments as well. You even went on to prove that the dev closures are not just due to A/B acquisition. Then you point out Sony has less money than MS, inferring that MS should keep devs open that they see as lesser earners, while Sony having less money makes it okay to close them. lol...it doesn't work that way.

gold_drake25m ago

im not reading all of that. u have ur opinion, i have mine.

thats rly it.

but this aint sony vs ms.

ApocalypseShadow6m ago

You're trying to compare a 100 billion company to a company that has 3 TRILLION worth. SIE has to live or die on their own. And in turn, PlayStation has helped the main company again and again. Sony has to balance out what is working and not working in the company.

While Xbox has Daddy Warbucks footing the bill to keep the platform afloat. They have been bleeding money from Nvidia hardware in the OG Xbox, the RROD fiasco, the attempted 2013 DRM nonsense and the lies about being the most powerful console in the world and the losses of paying out millions to prop up a service hoping it catches on with enough subscribers to justify its existence.

They're not comparable if Xbox isn't allowed to live or die by its actions. It's subsidized. Revenue isn't profit. And if they were profiting on their own, they wouldn't be closing developers. If they were profiting, they wouldn't need Daddy Warbucks spending 80 to 100 billion buying up 3rd party publishers to sustain a loss leading platform.

They stopped announcing game sales, stopped announcing hardware sales, stopped announcing game pass subscribers, they are putting games on their competitors platforms but you're telling us that they are doing great even after killing jobs and closing developers at Xbox.

Stop drinking the Kool aid. You're drunk.

anast3h ago

They are going to use AI for a large portion of the game development process. Upper management need bonuses and the shareholders need more money. So, people will lose their jobs.

Skuletor3h ago

Maybe they were already using AI to make business decisions, which would explain why they closed Hi-Fi Rush's studio, then said they need more games like Hi-Fi Rush not long after that announcement.

Crows902h ago(Edited 2h ago)

They shouldn't have bought any studios. Some is okay...but they went on a shopping spree...stupid

Einhander19722h ago

The better question is why did Microsoft buy publishers for a service they were subsidizing they knew couldn't support.

And why are so many websites trying to make people feel sorry for Microsoft instead of truly criticizing the fact they are closing studios and killing jobs that would have been fine if Microsoft themselves hadn't gotten involved.

Quit feeling sorry for Microsoft and start feeling sorry for the industry and the all the gamers who are actually losing out.

THIS IS MICROSOFTS FAULT.

RNTody2h ago

The first thing that happens after any major acquisition or merger is a consolidation of the whole new portfolio, which includes cutting any excess, bloat or portfolios that don't fit the larger MO of the big boy. So far, it's been par for the course with Microsoft and that's why gamers have been so against this acquisition. Tango Gameworks is the beginning. You think Microsoft wants to pay to keep small timers like Ninja Theory in business?

There is absolutely zero evidence to suggest that Microsoft will improve any of these studios, but plenty to suggest that they will get rid of what they don't need and hold onto the IP. The real agenda of the acquisition was always to acquire The Elder Scrolls, Diablo, Fallout, Call of Duty, Candy Crush etc. that will create millions in passive revenue stream for Microsoft regardless of where the games release. Microsoft simply wants their cut.

Because of Games Pass Microsoft has no interest in investing in new IP which is risky and requires creative talent they can neither nurture nor manage. Game Pass has also not grown in the way Microsoft expected it to, even post acquisitions. Therefore the logical thing to do, without serious money makers to release, is to cut as much cost as possible.

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Vader821d 6h ago

No 7 days to die is criminal