Not only that but Activision is a very big live-service game company. Which is something Microsoft didn't really have much of. Their profile in that area was honestly pretty small overall. If the acquisition goes through next year it will tremendously boost their presence in that area of the market. They'll just need to do a lot of house cleaning and refocusing since some parts of that company, like Blizzard, are a mess.
Oh year I forgot about Fable, that definitely another to add to the list - maybe 2024?
Publisher of the year 2021. Most of those games were on Gamepass.
The evidence on ground doesn't support your hypothesis.
You…think MS paid $70bn for Activision because Initiative and Undead Labs games might be experiencing delays ?
But even Bethesda's first game isn't out until November - I'm certain Redfall will be delayed.
They'll get Arkane's next 2 games, and we all know i.d. has something great cooking. Bethesda's purchase was extremely smart for them. Starfield is gonna sell gangbusters if it can remotely give the value that Fallout 4 and Skyrim have given.
Maybe it will sell well on PC where more gamers are reluctant to sub. On Xbox I expect most gamers will play via GamePass.
Let me assist you
Double Fine literally said they needed help and that certain bosses wouldn't be in the game without that sweet Microsoft money. So feel free to put on those clown shoes
Double Fine literally said they needed help and that certain bosses wouldn't be in the game without that sweet Microsoft money. So feel free to put on those clown shoes
stevivor.com
Not sure what you're arguing. Someone asked whether the studios Microsoft bought released any games. I answered.So a kickstarter game got more money? How does that equate to a studio that is mismanaged? Because they were independent at the time making a large game that just needed more money? Where is MS COMING in and replacing talent, and the studio culture which was there and had made multiple games?
Please I'm dying to see your uneducated answer……
Double Fine under Microsoft: “Limited integration," says Tim Schafer
Double Fine's Tim Schafer explained what the day-to-day of the company is like now that it has been acquired by Microsoft as a member of Xbox Game Studios. In his words -- or rather, in Microsoft's -- it's a matter of "limited integration".
Well, I mean, nothing is really harder. We were very careful 'cause it wasn't our goal to get acquired; we're very fiercely independent," Schafer told Stevivor as part of a larger conversation.
"But the way that Xbox has been acquiring studios is what they call 'limited integration'," he continued. "I was asking, it seems, like dumb questions, but they were important. Like, 'do we have to change our email accounts to be at Tim at Microsoft or not?' – not that I would ever get that – or 'do we have to put a logo in our lobby, like a big Windows logo?'
And they were like, 'no. No, you keep everything about your company, you still run it the way you ran it all these years. But we provide the money instead of you going out and beating the bushes to find it.'"
The freedom to stop worrying about what Schafer jokingly called "all the terrifying financial matters" meant he could better spend his time elsewhere.
"You know that that's there and checking that big thing off your list is like, '[now] what do I do with 50% of my mental time now?' and then the answer is, think about the game," he said. "Think about creative things instead of thinking about how you're gonna run out of money in three months."
Microsoft] asked us what we would do if we weren't constrained by things like finances and stuff, and one of those like, well, we just finish the game properly with the right amount of polish and also take the time to add back in things that we had to cut, like our boss fights and things like that," Schafer said.
Yea that sounds the same as a bunch of studios they oversee that all had issues internally and took Microsoft to see the games shape to be put into panic mode.
Double fine having financial issues is not the same as a studio that had all its games development funded by Microsoft exclusivity for Microsoft. To then be bought and even though their titles both showed signs the studio needed not only talent but possible re-managed to be at a better place for larger more ambitious titles which was more so encouraged/pushed by Microsoft and internal management.
But please go on….
Sorry, none of that matters. A game can be buggy/unfinished because of gamepass. That is literally what he implied.Publisher of the year 2021. Most of those games were on Gamepass.
The evidence on ground doesn't support your hypothesis.
You…think MS paid $70bn for Activision because Initiative and Undead Labs games might be experiencing delays ?
Yep. Back in 2020.
State of Decay 2 came out in May 2018 so presumably they were working on SoD3 at least since sometime in 2018, right (assuming only some of them were working on updates, patches etc.)?
Yes, but as the OP in this thread says, the game was still in pre-production 13 months ago with no signs of going into full production.
Undead labs grew from 90 devs in 2021 (and 60 devs in 2019) to 125 devs in 2023Didn't want to create another thread, so just adding the following to this one.
It seems like more people have left the studio, which may or may not delay the game. Let's see if we get an update on June 11.
I don't think it's crazy that almost everyone from the original team left since it's been 10 years now. Seems like kinda normal turnover.Didn't want to create another thread, so just adding the following to this one.
It seems like more people have left the studio, which may or may not delay the game. Let's see if we get an update on June 11.
That's nothing strange.
Probably none. But since it's Microsoft people are tend to being "concerned" more
I know people like their Xbox doom and gloom but he was never on the state of decay 3 development team he only worked on 2 and his last gig was the last dlc that just dropped. State of decay 3 has its own lead.Didn't want to create another thread, so just adding the following to this one.
It seems like more people have left the studio, which may or may not delay the game. Let's see if we get an update on June 11.
