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Microsoft Closes Redfall Developer Arkane Austin, HiFi Rush Developer Tango Gameworks, and More in Devastating Cuts at Bethesda

Varteras

Member
Colt is SPICY today lol
Tongue GIF
 

Majukun

Member
The reason they haven’t done more sweeping changes to Game Pass yet is because they have painted themselves into a corner with Game Pass by committing, repeatedly, to put all first party games on the service “day one” and spending the last 6 years conditioning their most hard core fans to expect certain benefits from Game Pass.

If they try to make sweeping changes to it, they will face significant backlash, probably more than they get from closing developers. We saw how many torches and pitchforks came out when the price increase rumor of Xbox Live Gold came to light. Imagine what would happen if they came out and said “Game Pass Ultimate will remain the same price but you won’t get first party games day one and we’re ditching EA Play.”
You talk like they are not receiving backlash now after closing a bunch of beloved studio, allegedly to keep alive something that they do know does not work and is a money sink... Just to make changes anyway down the line, unless you think that ms would keep alive a cancerous part of their business model just because of 'backlash'

Regardless if you are selling subscriptions or consoles, you need good exclusive games, and from what we seen so far, MS studios have missed the mark multiple times... Even if they ditched gp and go back to the Playstation formula, who is gonna buy a console for redfall?
 
well, I mean. If the decision was already made, holding to it (for PR purposes ) it's kind of cruel for the devs.

the reality of the situation is that making this announcement after these things:

1. HB2's critical reception/quality of the game
2. and the content of the showcase.

It would have the same result, and even worse, due to proximity bias. MS has a lot of games that have been in dev hell/MIA. Fear would be present no matter what.
 
I'd like to see the whole western branch of the industry crash and burn and I'm not joking. Let only ashes remain, and let a myriad of little indie and AA studios emerge from the rotting corpses of these companies.

Let me get this straight... you want to punish all western studios and publishers because MS and Xbox is shit?!

WTF kind of logic or rationale is this?!?

I don't even.... I can't....


No Way Wtf GIF by Harlem
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
I think the future of MS is a software company with ALL their games being gaas and it all being under GamePass. Like, COD, Sea of Thieves, Blizzshit, Age of Empires, Halo, Forza, Gears, everything. And all the stuff that is not that - like stuff like Hellblade 2, Avowed, Indy, Fable - will just not be released by them anymore, they'll shut down those studios too. They don't want to spend money on these games and see them disappear like Shartfield making no impact. Too much of a risk.

I could be wrong of course. I probably am wrong. But that seems to be the way the wind is blowing.
 

Nydius

Gold Member
You talk like they are not receiving backlash now after closing a bunch of beloved studio, allegedly to keep alive something that they do know does not work and is a money sink...

And you seem to forget that people (especially the media) have the memory of a gnat. They will weather the blowback over closing studios easier than they would deal with making major changes to Game Pass. The media will stop talking about Arkane and Tango by the end of the week; Major changes to Game Pass would be headline bait for weeks, maybe longer.

To add to this: To an observer closing studios sucks but they can rationalize it away but making a change that directly impacts their wallet? That becomes a big issue whether or not it’s justified.
 
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nial

Member
Here's the credits for Hi Fi Rush...


Doesn't look like a cheap indie game to me. Again, 3 million players (on GamePass no less) with a laughable completion rate is a Suicide Squad level bomb. We didn't want to act like it because some of us enjoyed the game.
Take an actual look at the page, there are like less than 100 people from the actual development staff credited. Everything else is localization, QA services, legal staff and stuff like that.
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
Of course? They collaborated with Sony for a project that was having a hard time in materializing, which led to Sony stopping production of their game.
They were indie, Sony didn't have any say in their future. Unlike MS with Tango.

How do you know the exact same issue wasn't happening with Tango's next game?
 
Let's not forget part of why this is happening, the industry backed the wrong side in the Woke vs unWoke divide, Woke gamers don't buy games as much as nonWoke gamers, real gamers don't like that shit, it makes people check out.

Starfield could have been a bigger hit if it hadn't been for the ugly NPCs you take one look and it leaves your wallet closed, in the case of Tango, Ghostwire was sunk by some dipshit translating a line as "all property is theft"

Kick the Woke douches OUT of this industry or face more closures and money lost, gamers don't like that shit, don't want these people here, this is not your audience.
 

FunkMiller

Member
I think the future of MS is a software company with ALL their games being gaas and it all being under GamePass. Like, COD, Sea of Thieves, Blizzshit, Age of Empires, Halo, Forza, Gears, everything. And all the stuff that is not that - like stuff like Hellblade 2, Avowed, Indy, Fable - will just not be released by them anymore, they'll shut down those studios too. They don't want to spend money on these games and see them disappear like Shartfield making no impact. Too much of a risk.

They will likely try all of those things.

And then Microsoft will leave the gaming industry.

The writing is most definitely on the wall.
 

Tg89

Member
Let's not forget part of why this is happening, the industry backed the wrong side in the Woke vs unWoke divide, Woke gamers don't buy games as much as nonWoke gamers, real gamers don't like that shit, it makes people check out.

Starfield could have been a bigger hit if it hadn't been for the ugly NPCs you take one look and it leaves your wallet closed, in the case of Tango, Ghostwire was sunk by some dipshit translating a line as "all property is theft"

Kick the Woke douches OUT of this industry or face more closures and money lost, gamers don't like that shit, don't want these people here, this is not your audience.
Lol what the fuck is this shit.

Starfield fucking sucks man, you could replace all the NPCs with Stellar Blade skins and the game would still be dogshit.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
Take an actual look at the page, there are like less than 100 people from the actual development staff credited. Everything else is localization, QA services, legal staff and stuff like that.
Everything goes into a games budget.

I have a bridge to sell you if you think Hi Fi Rush was deemed anywhere close to being a commercial success. It clearly flopped.
 
B-but I was told that allowing Xbox to buy out massive swaths of the industry was going to make gaming better for everyone and guarantee more innovation, better titles, and better career opportunities for everyone in these companies! Gaming Utopia only possible with Xbox!
 

Perrott

Member
I hope World’s Edge is safe. AOE4 and AOE2 DE are so good.

Redfall devs, I saw that coming a mile away. Losing Tango sucks but their games just kept flopping sadly. If they were a viable business Im sure they could’ve negotiated their independence like Toys for Bob.
World's Edge sucks. The most recent Age of Empires expansions have game-breaking bugs still unresolved years after launch, which is totally unacceptable.
 

Crayon

Member
When the 4d master plan to go 3rd party is complete, you will see that they were just sandbagging the whole time and are actually really good at the game business.
 
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Reactions: Isa

F0rneus

Tears in the rain
FUCK


IGN understands Redfall's May update would have added the ability to play offline, which in turn would have helped with keeping the game alive in the future. Unfortunately for players, it will never see the light of day.
 
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Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
Not by any relevant amount.
Why would money spent contracting out not be considered relevant? Dave Ramsey ah you are not.
Oh, I don't deny that. I blame Microsoft's shitty business strategy and that stupid shadow drop without any marketing behind, though.
That was partially true. The other aspect everyone pretends to ignore is that Tango Gameworks was built to make dinosaur games. We're in the Live Service or big AAA IP era. It was only a matter of time before the asteroid hit.
 

Woopah

Member
How do you know the exact same issue wasn't happening with Tango's next game?
Because Tango isn't a independent studio.
Let's not forget part of why this is happening, the industry backed the wrong side in the Woke vs unWoke divide, Woke gamers don't buy games as much as nonWoke gamers, real gamers don't like that shit, it makes people check out.

Starfield could have been a bigger hit if it hadn't been for the ugly NPCs you take one look and it leaves your wallet closed, in the case of Tango, Ghostwire was sunk by some dipshit translating a line as "all property is theft"

Kick the Woke douches OUT of this industry or face more closures and money lost, gamers don't like that shit, don't want these people here, this is not your audience.
This has nothing to do with woke. Not everything is about a culture war.
 
Let's not forget part of why this is happening, the industry backed the wrong side in the Woke vs unWoke divide, Woke gamers don't buy games as much as nonWoke gamers, real gamers don't like that shit, it makes people check out.

Starfield could have been a bigger hit if it hadn't been for the ugly NPCs you take one look and it leaves your wallet closed, in the case of Tango, Ghostwire was sunk by some dipshit translating a line as "all property is theft"

Kick the Woke douches OUT of this industry or face more closures and money lost, gamers don't like that shit, don't want these people here, this is not your audience.
y'know, I'm as anti-woke as the next guy, but this? this's one helluva stretch, son...
 

bender

What time is it?
Let's not forget part of why this is happening, the industry backed the wrong side in the Woke vs unWoke divide, Woke gamers don't buy games as much as nonWoke gamers, real gamers don't like that shit, it makes people check out.

Starfield could have been a bigger hit if it hadn't been for the ugly NPCs you take one look and it leaves your wallet closed, in the case of Tango, Ghostwire was sunk by some dipshit translating a line as "all property is theft"

Kick the Woke douches OUT of this industry or face more closures and money lost, gamers don't like that shit, don't want these people here, this is not your audience.

We need a quantum leap reaction.
 
That game just doesn’t seem particularly posed for success. I hope I am wrong.

Tango is such a shame. All their games were pretty solid and didn’t seem they bombed so it’s a very weird and crap move on MS part.

If Sony was quick on the draw they could pick up devs and have an excellent dev team ready to go.
I don’t see them cranking out the sort of games Sony want to release. Obviously they don’t sell well enough to justify budgets
 
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