Microsoft making at least four new IPs
- Thread starter GarthVaderUK
- Start date
REMEMBER CITADEL
Banned
Or, you know, some independent studios. The guy is a part of the 1st Party Publishing group, and he does mention working with external partners.
Yes, Frontier, they also did Kinect Disneyland Adventures.
Absolutely, just showing some possibilities of 1st party groups. On the same page in Wikipedia they have a list of 3rd parties they have worked with, but that was a monster list so I did not add those. Considering we already know of one exclusive project that they had attempted with Obsidian, 3rd party exclusives are certainly going to happen.
Yeah, was going to, but it said they had two teams so maybe it was possible.
Microsoft will also probably continue their partnership with Playground, Ruffian Games, 4J Studios, Blueside, Certain Affinity, Remedy, Krome, Iron Galaxy and Signal Studios.
I think they will.
Sony is breathing down their neck and PSN is increasingly becoming a viable alternative with PS+ and all. I think the shakeups with the Live service and how they handle F2P and DD to avoid all the DLC key/on-disc DLC woes of this gen will be one thing to look at for sure. Microsoft spearheaded this online shit and I doubt they will let that slip knowing its still what keeps them ahead, even though its by a much smaller margin.
The other big innovation I expect from them will have to do with Kinect. Yeah yeah Kinect garbage games, but I don't think that's gonna be the case when/if it comes standard in an SKU. Even if its just auxiliary in games, I see making its biggest impact with UI integration, how it handles split screen player identification, etc. and something we don't expect like achievements last gen.
I think I'm the only one on GAF that feels Kinect has massive potential, but they geared the launch of it so that they would get the casuals behind it first while they leave the core games for next gen so all devs can build their games with Kinect in mind.
The second team is most likely referring to Playground Games, yes they aren't first party but they are under Turn 10.
Ah, were they rolled into T10?
Not really but from what I've seen they report to Turn 10 and are under Turn 10's guidance and work with Turn 10.
Phoenician_Viking
Banned
That sounds very interesting. Let next gen roll.
IRCC those four projects are mostly greenlighted. The job listing also refers to actively searching for more projects. I don't think most are all for launch, it's a three year planning so they will roll out slowly.
There are more managers on the team though, this is another guy working there:
Save to assume Gears: Judgment falls under them too.
There are more managers on the team though, this is another guy working there:
Save to assume Gears: Judgment falls under them too.
You can't really infer this about the entire studio when for Horizon, their only title thus far, they have to work with T10 because they're using an IP T10 cultivated. They're still their own studio.
Dont forget that Microsoft takes pitches from 3rd party studios in regards to new exclusive IP as well-
Crysis - Rise
Obsidian - ??? (cancelled)
Will be interesting to see if Epic goes multiplatform with their new stuff as well or if their public push for 8 GB was directed at one manufacturer in particular...
Any other hints out there?
I never said they weren't but they do work very closely with Turn 10.
Clay Davis
Member
wait, obsidian are (were?????) working on a durango exclusive? holy hell, that's pretty big news right there. :O
Until MS cancelled it. Another swell decision by them >.<
Clay Davis
Member
ah, that's some bullshit.
fuck, a new ip from obsidian would have been amazing. what the hell is wrong you microsoft. one step forward, four steps back. jesus. :/
I'm actually pretty darn steamed about that.
Yup, Obsidian really has a curse :|
Not to take away that it is terrible, it shows how far back MS was hunting deals for the next Xbox.
I likely would have insta-bought the 720 if Obsidian was working on a real RPG and MS was properly funding it and giving them the proper amount of time. It's something I wish Sony would have jumped on too because they need a good exclusive Wrpg.
Winterfang said:
Other than dungeon siege 3 they've made nothing but great games. Both as Obsidian and in their previous studio as well.
Speaking as a huge wrpg fan, New Vegas, Kotor 2, and NWN 2 (and more importantly MoTB expansion) are 3 of the best RPGs I've played in my entire life. And Alpha Protocol is one of the more ambitious and innovative RPGs of this generation. For what that's worth anyway, this was a pretty bad generation for Wrpgs.
Winterfang
Banned
has Obsidian ever made a great game? What's everybody's obsession with them?
They always worked in the restrictions of an established game, instead of playing it safe they worked with what they had and made some amazing games. They took their first stab at their own games of course, like Alpha Protocol, while a bit wonky it still was a sight to behold.
IMO give these guys the time and money, something amazing will come. They kind of showed it with their Kickstarter for Project Eternity.
Clay Davis
Member
it really does. I just don't understand it sometimes. such a talented developer. one that rarely missteps or releases a poor game and they just can't catch a break.
absolutely. it's such a shame to be learning this now. I wonder what their reasons were? really bloody disappointed with this news. this could have been a break out moment for them. just imagine...financial, development and marketing support from microsoft? what could have been.
yes. yes it was and I just couldn't agree more with everything you've said here. knights of the old republic 2 still stands as my most played and most loved rpg. no-one comes close them in story telling, gameplay, pacing, character development, pretty much everything. it's heartbreaking to see such an amazing studio treated like this.
what? what? WHAT? they rarely release a bad game. as derrick said, they've developed some of the best rpgs I've ever played. they are just god tier when it comes to role playing games, I don't believe there's a single developer that's even in their league in the rpg genre.
I literally could not agree more. I'm undoubtedly coming off as a crazy fanboy, but obsidian just stirs that feeling / response from me.
metalslimer
Member
Did Sucker Punch just get called a C tier studio? Anyway, my dislike of MS only increases with them not funding an Obsidian RPG. The thing Obsidian could accomplish with a real budget and no overlord forcing them to rush out a game would be amazing. I assume MS would let them considering how long Alan Wake was in development.
They deserve some heat for sure, but then looking at what bethesda shat out with Skyrim, Obsidian working with a much smaller budget put out a much more functional game.
They deserve some heat for sure, but then looking at what bethesda shat out with Skyrim, Obsidian working with a much smaller budget put out a much more functional game.
Winterfang
Banned
Any list of Obsidian RPG's? Those are the guys that worked on Alpha Protocol and Alien vs Predator right? They seem mehish.
KOTOR 2, NeverWinter Nights 2, Fallout: New Vegas are among some of their games.
Maybe the game they showed MS was just not that great.
Would like to see them redo Alpha Protocol though.
metalslimer
Member
Fallout New Vegas is in my top 5 games of the generation.
Or it was going to require a signficant time investment and didn't look like it would sell 6 million copies.
We've listed the games they made so I'll go a step further and say most of the top people there worked on the early fallouts, planescape torment, Icewind Dale series, and Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines.
Basically if you've played a classic Wrpg someone from Obsidian was key in making it. They know how to make a Wrpg better than any other studio.
We are always so quick to shout bullshit when a game is cancelled. Think about it logically, do you think they would cancel a really good game? I feel if the game is good, like really really good, do you think it would be cancelled? I think not. Sure I get that you might want Obsidian to do well but they are not really a proven studio when working on an original IP. So for me, when I hear a game is cancelled, no matter how much I would want the game, I always think there is a good reason for it. You forget, these games were greenlit and funded by these companies so cancelling them must be a tough but probably the right decision.
Alx
Member
That could have been a deal-breaking point... from the messages above, I get the impression that Obsidian requires both money and time to get good results. If MS wanted a game for the Durango launch, they had a very precise deadline to meet. If they couldn't do it in time, it would have been a good reason for MS to cancel it and look for another game to publish.
But I suppose we'll never know for sure the reason of that cancellation...
Not necessarily. A lot of times games are cancelled because of a change in direction by the publisher *stares at MS suspiciously*, or because they simply changed their mind about funding whatever type of game they were funding. Both of which has happened to Obsidian in the past with the Aliens project and that Disney game they were making. Simply looking like it's going to suck and cancelling it is actually not as common of an occurrence as you'd think. Way too many sucky games come out for that to happen.
That's a shame then, because it wasn't always that way and I don't think we should settle for that just being the case. When the generation started, up until the advent of Kinect, 360 was probably my favorite of the three consoles. These days, I dunno, maybe it's PS3? I can't even really decide, they're all shitty in their own way, but I definitely think Sony has consistently been trying to release compelling exclusives and don't always rely on the same few core IPs. There is new stuff they're constantly attempting, even if it doesn't always work out well.
I just feel they really went downhill after they decided to focus on Kinect. When this shit was coming out, people kept saying "stop trollin', Amir0x, there's no reason to believe Kinect is going to take any focus away from their traditional stable of games."
And here we are, all this time later, and my fears were pretty much perfectly realized. I guess the lesson here is: "resources are limited, make sure you really want the shitty gimmick that the latest game company is pimping." Of course I never actually wanted Kinect, but that's besides the point.
Yup. It just feels though as if it didn't used to be that way, Microsoft at least attempted to court developers to make games early on and at least tried to do a few interesting things once-upon-a-time.
That's why I'm pretty happy to hear about the "four new IPs" stuff, but I'm always equally pessimistic until I find out whether it's real gaming IPs or some shite garbageware for Kinect.
Karak
Member
That is of course if the alpha was canceled because MS woke up on the wrong side of the bed as people like to pretend...or if there was an actual reason like it not going the way it was promised in one of the hundreds of ways that is possible. I love Obsidian but...well its Obsidian. The problems could lie in either place and its not the first of the canceled next gen games, won't be the last. Could even be that whatever was being created didn't put the new system in the best light. I do agree that Obsidian seems to need a bit more help that some other studies. But I dig what they finally release.
yep win8, windows rt their tablets and phones..steve balmer.sucky sucky.
If it looked really good then surely someone else would pick it up.
Obsidian's success has primarily been with sequels to other people's franchises so its difficult for me to say they really are a guaranteed blockbuster developer.
Delusibeta
Banned
Well, we can immediately discount the Rare game and the Lionhead game, so that's two new IPs, both of which will probably be Kinect-driven.
SquiddyCracker
Banned
Bravo, Microsoft!
How many of them will come out on the platform that made you the company you are today?
How many of them will come out on the platform that made you the company you are today?
You can't make a new IP unless someone hires you to do it. They're not their own publisher, they can't just make whatever they want. So when someone hires them they're likely going to want them to work on one of the properties they own.
I would kill for a Black & White game using Kinect 2. Many gamers would never have played it, so it would kinda count as a new IP.
As for RARE...I am sure they can make new IP's but the majority of gamers just want to see them do good on their old IP's.
Delusibeta
Banned
I would kill for a Black & White game using Kinect 2. Many gamers would never have played it, so it would kinda count as a new IP.
As for RARE...I am sure they can make new IP's but the majority of gamers just want to see them do good on their old IP's.
Fairly sure EA owns the Black & White IP, so that is never going to happen. Frankly, I think both studios have made their best games and everything they produce going forward will probably be dreadful.
SniperHunter
Banned
I am guessing all of them will be sci-fi or shooters, as those two are the most popular genres at the moment
New ip by Epic
New IP by Black Rock
New IP by Crytek
New IP by Rare....
right? at least two of these are guaranteed to become the next gears or halo.
New ip by Epic
New IP by Black Rock
New IP by Crytek
New IP by Rare....
right? at least two of these are guaranteed to become the next gears or halo.
Karak
Member
Yep. As long as they didn't have any clauses refusing them the assets then the pres/ceo blah blah blah is free to shop it around. Lots of games have actually switched systems and publishers this way.
Really unsure about Lionhead but maybe without Peter, they could actually have some sensible project direction.
As for RARE, I always live in hope that they put enough time into the Kinect grind-stone that MS let them have another go at a launch title. Kinda like they had to pay for Perfect Dark Zero.
Clay Davis
Member
any reason in particular we should discount the rare and lionhead game?
lionhead without molyneux is basically them starting over again. I can't wait to see what the bring to the table without anyone over-promising and utterly failing to deliver, thus poisoning the well for future games from the same developer.
rare. well, rare is one I'd discount too, but I remain hopeful / optimistic that they will deliver.
REMEMBER CITADEL
Banned
That platform's been dead and burried since 2005.
This is strange point. First parties always leave their past consoles. I guess you could argue it's not entirely positive, but it's entirely expected.
Clay Davis
Member
I think he means that xbox as a platform is different to the one at the start of this generation.
/shrug
What? They are working on live-action shows, and interactive live action entertainment (think Sesame Street TV or something for adults). Not a game development studio.
Psycho_Mantis
Banned
I think it is only natural to be skeptical of the quality of these titles as they are mostly done by new first party studios. I just hope MS include some diversity and not everything becomes a shooter.
dragonelite
Member
I has actually hoped Ryse would have been an even more darker Sort of elder Scrolls kind of RPG. From the not used leaked concept art it looked so good. Even had a sort of persistent world to it a kind of mmo sort to say(Asian, Europe, Persian, barbaric and African art work). Even the reveal trailer had warriors from different region being ready to fight a common foe. It had a kind Conan vibe to it.
Instead they went what looks like generic roman empire stuff the second reveal kinda felt like insomniac second reveal of Fuse imo.
Maybe microsoft own uncharted series...??