"The sudden closure of several video-game studios at Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox division was the result of a widespread cost-cutting initiative that still isn’t finished.
This week, Xbox began offering voluntary severance agreements to producers, quality assurance testers and other staff at ZeniMax, which it purchased in 2020 for $7.5 billion, according to people familiar with the company’s plans. Others across the Xbox organization have been told that more cuts are on the way.
Speaking about the closures more broadly, Booty said that the company’s studios had been spread too thin — like “peanut butter on bread” — and that leaders across the division had felt understaffed. They decided to close these studios to free up resources elsewhere, he said.
Game Pass has not seen the massive growth that Xbox boss Phil Spencer may have been hoping for."
In case you were curious, a Steam account transfer via will is not permitted according to an official response from Valve.
Would be nice if the article's writer looked into and reported whether other digital game libraries could be transferred over via will (Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo, EGS, EA app, GOG, Ubisoft Connect, Rockstar Launcher etc) instead of this half-baked piece but it's probably the same for all of them anyway
This seems like a way bigger issue than mandatory PSN account linking for PlayStation games.
So where is the outcry?
It's not like PlayStation is doing any different.
"You may not sell, buy, trade, or transfer your Online ID, Account or any personal access to PSN Services through any means or method, including by use of web sites."
https://www.playstation.com...
It's not like your account just stops working when you die. Include your email, account id, and password in the will (including the password to your email) and your survivors should have no problem using your games.
PC gamers are a different lot. They don't mind renting their games forever, they don't mind spending money on overpriced equipment, and they don't mind fiddling with settings for hours before they even play the game, but linking a PSN account demands a riot. This is hard to understand, but then again, we all have to draw our lines somewhere.
You sure talk a lot of nonsense.Go look up the percentage of digital sales compared to physical sales of PS5 games, then tell me again about "renting" games.
There is no option at all to buy a physical copy of a PC game... And more people game on consoles for the reasons that make PC gamers a different lot.
it's not so much the linking but the fact that certain countries aren't allowed to access psn...
@anast I have a disc ps5 since launch, initially I bought some disc games, but I can't be bothered to walk to a physical store nowadays... I just buy the titles when they go on special sale or gray market store like CDKeys...
PSN was a different story altogether. It kept people who bought the game from playing in countries that PSN wasn't supported. I never understood the issue anyway.
I don't know if PC stuff is overpriced considering that you can buy a new video card with the same amount of money you'd spend over 5 or 6 years paying to play games online with a console. I'll never pay double to use the same connection. That is what I'll never understand about console gamers. "let me pay an extra hundred & twenty dollars a year to use the same internet I pay for monthly and use on literally every device in my home for free....except for my Playstation"
@Skuletor about 50-60% of sales are digital for most games. Meaning 40-50% are physical....
@Extermin8or3_
Right and where are you getting that information from?
https://www.statista.com/st...
@anast
"Renting games"
In the fourth fiscal quarter of 2023, approximately 77 percent of Sony Corporation's PlayStation gaming sales were generated via digital downloads.
"overpriced equipment"
Some people are willing to pay a premium for better performance, the way you keep talking about the PS5 Pro on N4G proves you're a hypocrite in that regard but whatever, lol
"fiddling with settings for hours before they even play the game"
Most pc games will give the option to scan your system to choose recommended settings or start with moderate settings that will run the game fine but you're free to mess around at your own leisure, to improve performance or quality if you wish to. For those that don't want to, there's free software that can do that for you, such as Nvidia's Geforce or AMD's AMD Catalyst. Geforce Experience even gives you the option of choosing whether to prioritize performance vs image quality with a simple slider for easy optimization, it's not rocket science, like you try make it out to be.
"linking a PSN account demands a riot"
Playstation selling Helldivers 2 in regions without the legal means to create a PSN account by Sony's own standards, then telling people in those regions that already bought the game that they can no longer play the game, isn't a cause for concern? Though you've already heard about that but keep going along with your own narrative because of your weird vendetta against PC on here.
This is hard to understand, but then again, we all have to draw our lines somewhere.
The only way they will know is when an account is active for 300 years, lol.
Ex-Rocksteady directors' Hundred Star is collaborating with Xbox Game Studios Publishing for its first-ever AAA game.
Highly doubt it'll be an actual Batman game that IP belongs to WB Games along with other DC property.
They're making an action adventure game. IMO I think it needs to be another Marvel game despite MS already have Blade as that action Marvel game. Dead Pool? Punisher?
Realistically it'll probably be a new IP entirely.
I agree with you. I think I'll be a brand new IP. Now it could be a superhero themed, kind of like infamous. Speaking of which, Suckerpunch needs to make one after Ghost 2.
I definitely think it'll be super hero themed game 100%. Something MS needs in their portfolio.
Dead Pool or Punisher would be amazing!!!
Don't tease me like that man lol. I see them making a new IP that's like an arkham knight clone
I don't think it needs to be Marvel. It needs to be a totally new IP. That's what Rocksteady should have done after Arkham City. They've pigeonholed themselves as DC devs.
I hope these devs needed support to start/finish (like Stalker 2), vs are basically done with the game but wanted to secure an exclusivity-bonus because they know Xbox needs a system seller (like Titanfall).
It’s a bit strange that they’d rather invest in this game than Tangoworks’ TWO canceled projects; or just trust a single dev from their existing massive stable of talent to emerge with a system-seller themselves anytime soon.
Either way, it is just cool that we’ll likely get a new IP from the geniuses behind the Arkham Trilogy. I wonder how creative they’ll get now that they aren’t married to an established franchise.
This is about the former co-founders of Rocksteady and their new studio. So naturally it makes people think its Batman related with the way its worded, even though its not.
Exclusive? Sure
This year alone Microsoft has changed their plans so much with Xbox regarding multiplatform releases as they step closer to just being a full blown third party publisher and it's only been 4-5 months, imagine where we'll be once this game is finished. It will be a completely different landscape.
I don't think MS will ever go completely full 3rd party with all of their games. I can see them looking towards expanding their own mobile store and moving into Mac as ways of expanding. I'm sure ms will bring more exclusives over to ps and nintendo, but I don't think it'll be as many games as you think it will. I hope I'm wrong.
The ever contradictions thoughts and actions of MS definitely says otherwise MS changed up so much on the past 6 months of the year I lost count.
Though I'm more declined to believe they also won't go full 3rd party also.
But.
This year they're having Renaissance a super bowl of gaming with Gamepass this year. BO6, older ABK games, Avowed, Indy and other 3rd party exclusives all to grow and expand gamepass. If these games don't grow the service or grow only a little bit. Then you can fully expect MS to hit the red button and put everything everywhere. Satya will have full Xbox take over doing what he wants from that point on next year.
It's up to Xbox to advertise these games and gamepass in the next 6 months or so get the word out.
The more the news evolves the more I'm inclined to believe we will see MS embrace full third party status but not call it third party in their word soup ways.
It will be Xbox everywhere plays best on a Xbox.
Next gen Xbox is rumoured to be a reference design similar to the 3d0 where any company can make and sell it.
If you're offloading hardware costs to a third party yet still profiting from the games then you've cut out losses on the hardware you still have a store front that users can use and still make a 30 percent cut on that.
Your games sell for a profit on PS and Nintendo platforms and on Xbox reference hardware along with PC
You lose .kney on DLC and games sold on a competitor storefront they are seemingly already comfortable with this.
The ms bean counters are coming for the ROI that was promised they don't care if they kill the brand as it stands Xbox was never a profitable business it was always just done for reputation
@Lightning the would end the console then. No one would buy Xbox over PS at that point cause now you get both with just a PS. If GP flop for them, Logically, rolling back on GP would be the smarter than to do. No more day 1 title. Less quality titles. They'd lose subs but people would go back to buying the games.
@Philly They could scale back gamepass put Indies only, AAA 1st party games coming 4 to 6 months from release. The thing is MS will have to tell their fans to buy their games again and that's gonna take years and years to condition them to buy games again. MS will lose money from that also. They'll lose out on gamepass revenue, lose out on games sales because their fans don't buy as many games anymore.
I can't see them scaling back or axing gamepass it does make them allot of money, they just want more money from it. They're not gonna condition their fans to start buying games either.
As I said they'll go full 3rd party and yes you ate right, if they do that then there would be no reason to buy the next Xbox. I know j won't be, you better hope the next 6 months they advertise the games and GP there little hearts out because this could be it.
Like, I can see them porting flight simulator, but not the Forza games.
I can see them porting state of decay 3, but not halo or gears.
I think sony will get blade, doom and elder scrolls 6, but not perfect dark or fable.
Spawn (as well as master chief) are the only characters I associate with Xbox. Are there more I can’t remember?
Yeh big game, do you know the name of the lead character. Or team of lead characters. I don’t
Also the chick from gears 5 seems to pop up on all their modern advertising I can't remember her name either.
Cars also feature heavily in a Xbox ad it's always master chief front and centre with cars and maybe a gears character hanging around
Industry insider Dusk Golem reveals that there is no Resident Evil 1 Remake in the works. Instead, Capcom are reportedly in active development of Resident Evil Zero and Code Veronica.
RE Zero would be better to do first over RE1 because they can tie the story into RE1 more.
The original RE Remake was weird because Rebecca never mentioned anything about what happened in Zero and it felt so disjointed because Zero was developed during the Remake and they clearly didn't share any notes with one another.
LOL! A phone call from you? ROFL! They have been remaking RE games for YEARS! It was a matter of time!
We already know 😂
"Speaking about the closures more broadly, Booty said that the company’s studios had been spread too thin — like “peanut butter on bread” — and that leaders across the division had felt understaffed. They decided to close these studios to free up resources elsewhere, he said"
So what you're saying is...you bought all these studios and you guys can't run them.
Jesus.
Reports are suggesting that Game Pass will be getting a price hike soon and that Call of Duty may not be added to the day one offering. I honestly have a hard time believing this but it does beg the question why exactly did GP fail? I think the answer is that it just didn't get the growth that it anticipated. Jim was right but I wish he wasn't because at the end of the day, its gamers, devs and other front-line workers who have to absorb the blow for Spencer and team's miscalculations.
For all the armchair executives who were calling for Sony to release its big-budget AAA games on PS+, the same exact thing would have happened at PlayStation. Game Pass has killed Xbox. Congrats.