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Redfall proves that MS should really have a more hands on, competitive approach with their studios.

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
So for Redfall i was 100000% convinced that it was a terrible project pitched by MS that they demanded Arkane to make.... until i saw the news that it was actually a project that Arkane initially decided to do.
This hands off approach doesn't work very well for MS for many reasons but if even the studios are pitching terrible games why didn't Phil step in and cancel that junk?

In an era where MS needs good games more than ever it seems stupid to greenlight stuff like Redfall which everyone knows will be a failure. Either that or Phil unironically thought it would be a success and greenlit it
IMO Xbox should not be affording creative control until they can get themselves some success with Xbox, then they can let the studios go ham since they know whatever is made will be a hit.

Playstation does it best here, they take a new IP made by a studio, stretch it out for as long as people will love it, then when it's not relevant or interesting to people anymore, they either reboot it or shift focus. ND is a great example, they're always on their toes, Crash to Jak to Uncharted and now TLOU. Sony doesn't let little random shovelware tier passion projects clog up ND's resources just to come out to universal hate from the gaming community and critics

They need to supervise these studios more and constantly be comparing themselves with Sony's output in order for them to get their best AAA titles out. They can't get away with releasing games like Redfall, Gunk and Halo Infinite when their competition is selling 40 million in the span of 2, going on 3 years.
 

feynoob

Banned
Not only that, they also need to update their fking review department.

I can't believe those hobos gave the game double digits score. The fk they were smoking there? Like how the hell do you expect this game to be good? I don't understand it.
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
They need one of these …

shuhei-yoshida.jpg
 
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64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
Like how the hell do you expect this game to be good?
that's what i mean here. Phil should have given them 3 months to make it look on par with Forza, if not that then can the project
If anyone else saw that junk being marketed as one of MS's biggest exclusives they would have cancelled it immediately. They need better quality control
 

feynoob

Banned
that's what i mean here. Phil should have given them 3 months to make it look on par with Forza, if not that then can the project
If anyone else saw that junk being marketed as one of MS's biggest exclusives they would have cancelled it immediately. They need better quality control
3 months isn't enough. The game looks like it needs another 2 years with core fix.
 

killatopak

Member
pitching terrible games why didn't Phil step in and cancel that junk?
My best guess is that it was in their pipeline of continued releases. It was supposed to release last year but they reluctantly delayed it due to its state.

If the stars aligned for MS, they wouldn't have a lean year like last year but everything was probably delayed due to circumstances like covid or something.

It probably wasn't some groundbreaking game but something to tide the year over just to have a game released for that year. The bugs were probably unexpexted for them since they already gave them an additional year.

Everything is just my conjecture.
 

reksveks

Member
This is the same story as Bleeding Edge and yeah, they need to make take more of a control. I think they are fearful of being the big parent company who comes in and forces change which scares people but at this point they can't afford to be so hands off.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Just more intervention wouldn't necessarily make the game any better.

Phil Spencer blamed lack of integration and intervention because Arkane was a bought studio. So what happened with Halo Infinite that had no integration problems of course?

I've been saying this for quite some time now: the state of AAA games has changed dramatically over the last few years because Sony significantly upped the game. Microsoft hasn't been able to keep up with it.

Now they don't have studios, processes, and technology to truly make these AAA games.

They are very good at AA games still: Psychonauts 2, Pentiment, Grounded, Ori (!), Hi-Fi Rush, etc. But when it comes to AAA games, those games turn out to be like AA because of the aforementioned reasons: Halo Infinite, Crackdown 3, Redfall, etc.

Unless Microsoft strengthens those areas: tech, support staff, experienced devs, no 18-months contractor policy, etc., things will not improve by merely intervention or hands-on approach.
 
Just more intervention wouldn't necessarily make the game any better.

Phil Spencer blamed lack of integration and intervention because Arkane was a bought studio. So what happened with Halo Infinite that had no integration problems of course?

I've been saying this for quite some time now: the state of AAA games has changed dramatically over the last few years because Sony significantly upped the game. Microsoft hasn't been able to keep up with it.

Now they don't have studios, processes, and technology to truly make these AAA games.

They are very good at AA games still: Psychonauts 2, Pentiment, Grounded, Ori (!), Hi-Fi Rush, etc. But when it comes to AAA games, those games turn out to be like AA because of the aforementioned reasons: Halo Infinite, Crackdown 3, Redfall, etc.

Unless Microsoft strengthens those areas: tech, support staff, experienced devs, no 18-months contractor policy, etc., things will not improve by merely intervention or hands-on approach.
Yes first MS need to develop in house graphic engine so that they are not relied on UE4 or 5.
 

Robb

Gold Member
Yeah, I’m not sure how things work at Sony but it feels like studios actually communicate and help each other out over there. Either that or they have people that can introduce things other studios are doing to each other and spread know-how efficiently. Whatever it is MS needs it.

At MS I get the impression every studio work on their project in their own little bubble and then everyone just hope things turn out great.
 

kyussman

Member
Not only that, they also need to update their fking review department.

I can't believe those hobos gave the game double digits score. The fk they were smoking there? Like how the hell do you expect this game to be good? I don't understand it.
That's what you get for having Jez Corden and colteastwood do your internal reviews.
 

Bitmap Frogs

Mr. Community
Yeah, I’m not sure how things work at Sony but it feels like studios actually communicate and help each other out over there. Either that or they have people that can introduce things other studios are doing to each other and spread know-how efficiently. Whatever it is MS needs it.

At MS I get the impression every studio work on their project in their own little bubble and then everyone just hope things turn out great.

It’s their corp culture.
 
Their whole strategy with throwing money at the problem, seems utterly inefficient.
They need quality before quantity. Acquiring one big publisher with Bethesda was a good move to catch up, and getting some smaller studios as well seemed alright too, but before grabbing another big one, they should have formed a master plan that should by now already show some results. It does not though and it seems like Bethesda did not do much other than provide Sony with one okay critically overhyped timed exclusive, one mediocre timed exclusive but not much more other than next gen upgrades. 343 launching okay but afterwards failing, The Initiative bascially invisible. FS outsourced, one thing that was done well, and only the Forza guys seem to do a very solid job.
The hw decisions seem alright, but whoever plans and greenlights and checks what is supposed to release when, with a minimum bar for quality, trying to avoid those Nintendo like big breaks in between seems entirely missing. They should maybe stuff it with smaller projects, maybe get some timed exclusives with all that money even though that can only be a very short term solution. Sony generally is strongest later in a gen, so we are not even there yet, but also has a solid cadence from the start. MS despite now having many teams, appears almost like not moving forward, nothing seems to fall in place and we either get a phenomenal end of the year and also 2024 and so on or something is really off and they just don't get anything done for no reason.
 
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