• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Aaron Greenberg (Xbox Marketing) said "Nobody cares about Banjo-Kazooie" at a Flight Sim event

RespawnX

Member
The guy is always making unnecessary shit comments. No idea how he can keep his job. At least not through good marketing, as the Xbox sales figures prove.
 

StueyDuck

Member
He's not entirely wrong. As much as I hate to admit it.

I love BK and old rare. But your average consumer gamer just wants fortnite and ubisoft open worlds and not to think, just consume.

It's all about consumption and content and BK doesn't fit that bill.

The only way it'll come back is on a tiny budget and no expectations.
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
He shouldn't have said that as it's just going to piss off fans.

However, there is some truth to what he's saying. Microsoft tried bringing the series back on the 360 with Nuts and Bolts. Nobody cared and it ended up with disappointing sales.

Why would a new game in the series be any different.
 

Dafegamer

Member
He's not entirely wrong. As much as I hate to admit it.

I love BK and old rare. But your average consumer gamer just wants fortnite and ubisoft open worlds and not to think, just consume.

It's all about consumption and content and BK doesn't fit that bill.

The only way it'll come back is on a tiny budget and no expectations.
But they still have the old heads like me who grew up with those games. Crash and Spyro did 10 mill+ with the remastered trilogy, meaning that there's at least demand for these Type of Games
 

Robb

Gold Member
Microsoft tried bringing the series back on the 360 with Nuts and Bolts. Nobody cared and it ended up with disappointing sales
They brought back a beloved platformer IP after nearly a decade and made it into a lego racing game. No shit people didn’t care. Especially after that initial teaser trailer. What a huge smack in the face that whole ordeal was.

Almost as tone deaf as Nintendo bringing back the Metroid Prime series with Federation Force after approximately the same amount of time.
 

Bernardougf

Member
2GZLTKC.jpeg
 

Yoboman

Member
They brought back a beloved platformer IP after nearly a decade and made it into a lego racing game. No shit people didn’t care. Especially after that initial teaser trailer. What a huge smack in the face that whole ordeal was.

Almost as tone deaf as Nintendo bringing back the Metroid Prime series with Federation Force after approximately the same amount of time.
It's wild to me that Xbox bought Rare and never had them make a straight up new platformer
 
How he is still there is beyond me and then we have this classic from his partner in slime :

“I see commentary out there--'If you just build great games, everything will turn around. ' It's just not true [that] if we go off and build great games, all of a sudden you're going to see console share shift in some dramatic way”

What makes PlayStation and Nintendo successful and have the mindshare they have? It’s not the plastic wrapping in the box is it?

Fuckin hell.
 
Last edited:

kubricks

Member
How the fuck do these people get hired? In a Marketing Department no less?
Is it so hard to just do your work and keep the fucking mouth shut?

He might not be wrong, or might be he is completely right, but nobody needs to hear this from his position publically. Keep these kind of comment in your house with your friends or family member.
 

Klayzer

Member
How the fuck do these people get hired? In a Marketing Department no less?
Is it so hard to just do your work and keep the fucking mouth shut?

He might not be wrong, or might be he is completely right, but nobody needs to hear this from his position publically. Keep these kind of comment in your house with your friends or family member.
Dude can't be bothered to use standard PR protocol.
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Because market might change from 2008?

They brought back a beloved platformer IP after nearly a decade and made it into a lego racing game. No shit people didn’t care. Especially after that initial teaser trailer. What a huge smack in the face that whole ordeal was.

Almost as tone deaf as Nintendo bringing back the Metroid Prime series with Federation Force after approximately the same amount of time.

Both very good points.

Nuts and Bolts was a different take on previous games. Also, if Microsoft put a lot of effort in and made a game that not only respects the originals, but also is a quality platformer like Astro Bot, then they might have a certified hit on their hands.

The question then is, why don't they?
 

SamFo

Member
Aaron Greenberg is disgusting, I mean, both inside and out. You take a look at him, he's a slob. He talks like a truck driver. He doesn't have His facts. He'll say anything that comes to his mind. And, you know, Inside Xbox failed when it was a YouTube show. He failed on that. The likes went very, very low and very bad and he got essentially thrown off YouTube.

His marketing plan was a total catastrophe. And I mean he's basically a disaster.

He said no one cares about Banjo, And, you know, coming from Aaron, that's pretty low because when you look at him and when you see the mind, the mind is weak. I don't see it. I don't get it. I never understood -- how does he even get on the live stream?

I'll probably block Aaron because he doesn't tell the facts. As an example, I'm worth many billions of gamerscore. Now, it's nothing to brag about. I'm worth many billions of gamescore. It's very simple.

He said I was trolling. Now, I never was trolling. He said I trolled three times. I never trolled. I never trolled but he said I trolled.

So probably I'll block him because it would be fun.
 
Last edited:

Robb

Gold Member
The question then is, why don't they?
Who knows. My best guess is they don’t think it appeals to their audience. Looking at Xbox Game Studios there’s a humongous gap in ‘family games’, imo.

I was hopeful they’d make new Crash and Spyro games given the ActiBlizz deal, but then they just got rid of the studio and people that made those very titles. They don’t seem to have any interest in these types of games. Which makes it very annoying that they now own all of these IP.
 
Last edited:

Skifi28

Member
I'll probably block Aaron because he doesn't tell the facts. As an example, I'm worth many billions of gamerscore. Now, it's nothing to brag about. I'm worth many billions of gamescore. It's very simple.

He said I was trolling. Now, I never was trolling. He said I trolled three times. I never trolled. I never trolled but he said I trolled.

So probably I'll block him because it would be fun.

GBBFdxD.jpeg
 

Calverz

Member
Both very good points.

Nuts and Bolts was a different take on previous games. Also, if Microsoft put a lot of effort in and made a game that not only respects the originals, but also is a quality platformer like Astro Bot, then they might have a certified hit on their hands.

The question then is, why don't they?
If I was a betting man, they probably looked at the sales numbers for the remasters back on the 360. The sales numbers for nuts n bolts and realised they weren't high enough. Probably more recently they looked at how Yooka-Laylee was received (mediocre sales numbers and middling reviews iirc) and thought the demand isnt there. They probably view banjo fans as a vocal minority.

This is me just speculating. Its not my opinion on the matter.
 

StueyDuck

Member
But they still have the old heads like me who grew up with those games. Crash and Spyro did 10 mill+ with the remastered trilogy, meaning that there's at least demand for these Type of Games
You are correct. And I was there for both.

But then you have crash 4 which performed less, and let's not even talk about that crash rumble game.

The main issue though is that these pubs can only think on the fortnite/Netflix level. So they want all the money, not just some, and in that scenario he isn't wrong in saying banjo doesn't hold that weight anymore.

Kids want the latest rapper with symbols in the name doing the floop floop dance and most adult gamers just want to consume, just give them the same thing they already have but with a plus or an iteration on the number at the end.

Again I hate it to be true, because I'd love a rennaissance of old school game design and skill to return but it's just not what pubs and devs look at.

The best chance is Playtonic taking what they did with yookalaylee (which i enjoyed, even though it wasn't perfect) and really blowing it out the water with a bigger budget in the sequel
 

thomasmahler

Moon Studios
What a strange way to see things.

Banjo is just an older IP they have in their catalogue that could be used to make a statement in the 3d Platforming space.

Me and my folks are Moon could probably make a Banjo Threeie and as long as it’s an excellent game that could compete against games like Mario Odyssey, of course people would care a great deal about it then.

You just actually have to do something with the IP you’re sitting on.
 

Astray

Member
As inflammatory as his comments are, there's a certain honesty in them that one can't really ignore, especially when the rest of his federation are PR-trained and give boring nice guy answers that they never ever follow up on.

To be fair, it's pretty difficult to figure out what customers want when you only listen to obedient yes men in your current fanbase who are willing to lap up literally everything you do.

These guys haven't had any honest feedback for over a decade now.
That's another thing, they pushed so much shillery, FUD and bullshit onto the internet that they can't really find any good feedback they can build a go to market plan on.
 
Just for fun:

Perfect Dark sales 2.52m
Perfect Dark Zero sales 1m

Fable trilogy total sales 7m

Banjo Kazooie sales 3.65m
Banjo Tooie sales 1.5m

This idiot usually says shit that he has no fucking clue about. All to get social media attention and engagement.

An embarrassment to the MS brand image. Don't take him too seriously.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
What a strange way to see things.

Banjo is just an older IP they have in their catalogue that could be used to make a statement in the 3d Platforming space.

Me and my folks are Moon could probably make a Banjo Threeie and as long as it’s an excellent game that could compete against games like Mario Odyssey, of course people would care a great deal about it then.

You just actually have to do something with the IP you’re sitting on.
I hope one day Microsoft reach out to you. I think Moon are the only studio that could do a third entry justice.

After hearing your comments 5 years ago it seemed like this was the most obvious match ever, it’s disappointing as a Banjo fan that things didn’t move in that direction (however No Rest for the Wicked looks great).



 
What a strange way to see things.

Banjo is just an older IP they have in their catalogue that could be used to make a statement in the 3d Platforming space.

Me and my folks are Moon could probably make a Banjo Threeie and as long as it’s an excellent game that could compete against games like Mario Odyssey, of course people would care a great deal about it then.

You just actually have to do something with the IP you’re sitting on.

Holy shit. This is a match made in heaven.

Imagine if Spencer greenlights w/e project Moon presents them in the form of a vertical slice, and Thomas posted this first on Neogaf of all places. Lol
 
Big difference between no no cares or it doesn't sell like it used to.
In money terms it means the same thing. Not worth it. What next a sequel to Ape Escape


The game didn't even make it in the top 10 best selling UK games .. keep it coming
 

JimboJones

Member
I mean with that attitude people won't care, there was (maybe still is) an opportunity to make it into something people do want
 

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
Greenberg is the champion of 3D platformers. He was more excited about Crash than anyone. Just ask demigod demigod . If he's saying no one cares about Banjo, he's probably talking about Nutella.
 
This fat dipshit should have been fired ages ago. One of the most useless gaming industry people of all time - I can't think of a single thing he's actually contributed to the Xbox brand.
 

Generic

Member
Spanish youtuber and personality "Puerta al Sótano" was recently at a Flight Sim event. Aaron Greenberg was there too. PR person apparently asked fans which games they wanted to see again.

"Puerta al Sótano" answered "Banjo-Kazooie" and apparently Aaron said "Nobody cares about Banjo Kazooie".

Source:




Pretty funny that the random tweet announcing Tooie on NSO garnered 25 thousand likes.



If true, just goes to further prove that Xbox have no regard for their own studios’ gaming heritage.

She's right, 25k is nothing. Games nowadays need to sell over 10 millions of copies to be considered successful.
 

tkscz

Member
In money terms it means the same thing. Not worth it. What next a sequel to Ape Escape


The game didn't even make it in the top 10 best selling UK games .. keep it coming
So Heisenberg007 Heisenberg007 already proved you wrong in terms of how well Astrobot did, let's go over your first comment there.

In terms of money, it far more depends on the full budget of the game. Not just development budget but publishing budget as well.

With the tools that are currently out there, a small team could easily make a feature filled Banjo Kazooie 3 that looks graphically pleasing and gameplay fulfilling for less than $5 million. Indie devs do it all the time.

Microsoft has equipment, in-house engines and studios to house the work, so a lot of what some companies need to spend is something they already pay/paid for. A small team of 40 people would take about two years to make a game at $5 million, with publishing cost being about the same. Selling the game at $40 they'd only need to sell a quarter of a million units to break even. Banjo doesn't have the 7 million unit pull it did back on the N64, but the game could easily sell more than 2 million units at full price.

While we don't know Astrobot's budget, it has been said it was a low budget game that took two years to make, so definitely under the $100 million+ games Sony has been producing lately, so lets say it cost $50 million to make and another $50 million to publish. At $60 a unit this game would pass even at 2 million units sold, which the game has passed by this point. That would include the 25% of units sold in stores instead of on the Sony play-store.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member


Top comment nails it:

This is just bad taste to say this about any IP you own, no matter how small. It's like if Nintendo said nobody cares about F-zero, it may be true to some extent, but why upset fans like that?

MS itself doesn't care about 99% of the IPs they own. They're just IP collectors to E.E.E.

Care is an illusion. He is just saying the quiet parts of their corporation out loud.
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
Saying he is the reason Xbox lost makes even more sense
I said one of the main reasons. Given how awful the marketing for Xbox has been over the past few years, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to hold the head of the marketing responsible.
 
Top Bottom