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[I'm nobody]

Jez is an embarrassing individual, someone who will actively ignore all valid points if it's against his precious plastic box.

And yet people still follow him and read his bs

I stop reading when jez name comes up

 

[Yoboman]

So basically what Jiz is getting at is that Microsoft:

1) buys a company
2) tells them "all your games will now be on Gamepass"
3) tells them "cancel anything in development on PlayStation"
4) tells them "fuck off and don't call me"

Great setup for success there. I'm sure regulators would love to hear that the only direction their acquired companies are getting is what platforms they cant be on

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

And yet people still follow him and read his bs

I stop reading when jez name comes up

The die hard Xbox crowd does as does the diehard team blue follow their guys

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Yea, that isn't how it works.

Microsoft aren't just letting Bethesda make all their own decisions. Everything has to be ok'd further up the chain.

Microsoft is fully to blame, along with Arkane and Zenimax.

The way this needs to go is that if Bethesda asks for more time, they should be given the flexibility to not need Microsoft's approval.

But if Bethesda pushes out an absolute turd, Microsoft has the ability to outright shitcan the project (hopefully without being revealed) or force Bethesda to delay it.

The idea that Bethesda has the only say is completely ridiculous

 

[FullMetalx117]

It was a game that was highlighted by Xbox at their own conference. They put their brand and name on it. Usually companies are protective of their reputations/brand regardless of who had the most oversight.

Xbox had their stamp on it and gave it more legitimacy by doing so. They are culpable by association - if they were protective of their brand they wouldn’t have done that, maybe cancel it all together. Doubt the game will recoup costs but was it worth the damage to brand which could be 10x the amount? Most mega corporations would not be allowed to get away with this, this is the golden rule for everyone in a business - don’t put your reputation on the line if you know it’s sucks. I definitely think Satya is not happy with this fuck up and it’s hilarious how Xbox is trying to weasel their way out of the blame.

 

[Ozzie666]

I swear to God, is the entire internet some CIA psych operation? It's either that or humanity and this young generation is screwed.
Maybe people just want to see the world burn and are doing stupid things on purpose.

 

[Punished Miku]

So basically what Jiz is getting at is that Microsoft:

1) buys a company
2) tells them "all your games will now be on Gamepass"
3) tells them "cancel anything in development on PlayStation"
4) tells them "fuck off and don't call me"

Great setup for success there. I'm sure regulators would love to hear that the only direction their acquired companies are getting is what platforms they cant be on

I get being critical. I do. But the flip side is MS instantly overstepping to tell Bethesda, a super successful publisher, how to manage their games. In the process emasculating and humiliating all senior Bethesda development staff. Not trying to shill. There is a normal common sense argument for letting Bethesda finish their games.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

It was a game that was highlighted by Xbox at their own conference. They put their brand and name on it. Usually companies are protective of their reputations/brand regardless of who had the most oversight.

Xbox had their stamp on it and gave it more legitimacy by doing so. They are culpable by association - if they were protective of their brand they wouldn’t have done that, maybe cancel it all together. Doubt the game will recoup costs but was it worth the damage to brand which could be 10x the amount? Most mega corporations would not be allowed to get away with this, this is the golden rule for everyone in a business - don’t put your reputation on the line if you know it’s sucks. I definitely think Satya is not happy with this fuck up

Sony would have never allowed something like Redfall to happen. As bad as Forespoken is, it's just kind of a "miss" for them despite being OK in many areas of production.

But Redfall is essentially completely busted and broken. They just shat it out with almost zero quality control. At least with Deathloop, Sony made sure the game was competent and up to a certain standard. I don't think Sony would have allowed something like Redfall to release in such a sorry state.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

ut the flip side is MS instantly overstepping to tell Bethesda, a super successful publisher, how to manage their games. In the process emasculating and humiliating all senior Bethesda development staff. Not trying to shill. There is a normal common sense argument for letting Bethesda finish their games.

If they are "super successful" why did such an enormous third party sell out? Maybe they weren't as super successful in 2023 as you romanticize them to be based on a 2010 narrative

 

[sendit]

 

[Punished Miku]

If they are "super successful" why did such an enormous third party sell out? Maybe they weren't as super successful in 2023 as you romanticize them to be based on a 2010 narrative

I agree. I posted skepticism from a post from mine 3 years ago earlier today. Point being it is still kind of arrogant to tell Bethesda how to make games. Just being real for a sec.

Still blame MS. Just saying.

 

[Astray]

If they are "super successful" why did such an enormous third party sell out? Maybe they weren't as super successful in 2023 as you romanticize them to be based on a 2010 narrative

They actually had multiple games bomb on launch, like Wolfenstein Youngblood and Fallout 76. Deathloop and Ghostwire didn't sell much either but they sold up before having to worry about it.

 

[demigod]

The die hard Xbox crowd does as does the diehard team blue follow their guys

Who does team blue have? There are a ton of team green shills.

 

[Crayon]

Who does team blue have? There are a ton of team green shills.

Yeah I was kinda wondering... I only know what's posted on here and era when I was there and there's always ms apologetics but i can't think of Sony ones. Except Shane betenhausen lol but ain't heard from him in minute.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Who does team blue have? There are a ton of team green shills.

I can’t think of any hardcore shills other than maybe that red dragon dude but definitely not in the “press” like Tom Warren, Colt, Jez, etc

 

[Varteras]

The die hard Xbox crowd does as does the diehard team blue follow their guys

At least they have champions. We of the PC Master Race get... PC Gamer...

 

[MasterCornholio]

They're not blame free and they need to be more hands on with their devs.

More like every bad game equals this from Microsoft.

Someone needs to draw a line somewhere.

 

[Robb]

It’s their studio, they’re to blame. Not being involved enough was obviously a mistake in this case.

 

[Madserb2023]

Interesting excuse. They should have been involved considering how important the next year of releases is going to be for them. So they aren't incompetent, they're just negligent.

 

[Fess]

It is probably true that Xbox doesn't micromanage Bethesda. Matches the hands off approach everyone has described.

Doesn't mean they aren't in charge and responsible for the games. If they decide to be hands off, that is their blame for deciding to not be more involved.

I dont really find this that hard to believe though. They even separate out Bethesda in the E3 shows. Xbox and Bethesda show. I dont think Redfall has the XBG Studio intro when you start it up. Not sure. Doesn't really matter though. Very inside baseball nonsense. Its an Xbox game.

Yeah saying how they’ll stay hands off is kinda how they calm studios when they’re acquired. But it’s clearly not working. Some of the studios MS now own don’t seem to have good enough quality control internally. There is no quality consistency. There is Arkane releasing a buggy mess of a MC60 game they’ve worked on for I don’t know how many years and there is Playground pumping out MC90+ releases and doing polished DLC on new maps in a year that could’ve honestly released as stand alone games.

I have no idea how to solve it. Maybe put together a QC team of people from Playground, id software, The Coalition etc that play test everything and can even go in and improve things before any marketing department can start locking up a release date?

 

[Heisenberg007]

 

[Heisenberg007]

The die hard Xbox crowd does as does the diehard team blue follow their guys

Genuine question: Are there any "blue team" journalists like Jez?

 

[Withnail]

Microsoft using a client journalist to disown their own game is a new low for them.

 

[Heisenberg007]

What is Xbox Ambassador and Xbox MVP?

Check out this post for details. https://www.neogaf.com/threads/phil...-hear-the-feedback-ign.1636574/post-266168788

 

[Dr. Suchong]

 

[Nydius]

What is Xbox Ambassador and Xbox MVP?

I can't speak to the MVP program but if it's anything like the Windows/Office MVPs, they at least have some sort of actual direct connection to and oversight from Microsoft. If a Windows MVP starts handing out bogus information on their support forums, for example, they can (and will) be stripped of their status.

Ambassadors are just a viral marketing campaign that turns Xbox fans into brand marketers. I know, I'm in the program. It's literally just a web "game" within the brand. They have seasons, each of which have a different theme, and then you visit every month or so and they have "missions" for you to do which consist solely of visiting videos, visiting blogs, or visiting official forums to earn "XP" toward your next level. Then they encourage people to go to other forums and post what they're given through the Ambassador program. They also have a Discord server to reinforce the narrative.

Here, see for yourself. They just switched over to promoting Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in addition to their normal game promotions and newly added accessibility "quest" hub. I enrolled years ago. I realized how pointless it all was when I hit "level 2 ambassador". I have better things to do with my time than constantly doing these meaningless quests.

 

[shaddam]

Shit and trouble have no owner as the old saying says

 

[Stare-Bear]

Its nowhere close to that bad. Picture the cost to MS reputation if they canceled it. Scalebound ×1000.

Nobody was EVER excited about Redfall... From the get go people were confused about what it was, didn't like the look of it and with every new trailer gamers only had more questions..

 

[Hoppa]

I have been told by multiple sources

 

[Heisenberg007]

Its nowhere close to that bad. Picture the cost to MS reputation if they canceled it. Scalebound ×1000.

Or they could just cancel it without ever announcing it. If they didn't announce the game in 2021 and just canceled it, I don't think anybody would be mad at them.

In 2022 or 2023, they could just say that "Arkane Austin started working on a game but it wasn't working out as well as we thought, so we decided to move on to another project that the team was really excited for. Now that they have the financial security from Microsoft to not chase after trends and make the game that they really want to, we want to give them every opportunity to deliver fans the best Arkane has to offer. Therefore, the new game will take some time, but it'll be worth it."

I'm sure there would be threads on the Internet praising Microsoft and how this acquisition is already benefiting studios like Arkane.

 

[TheTony316]

Jez had no issues with praising Microsoft for Hifi Rush...

 

[Tommi84]

So why they were BOUGHT in the first place if itnwasn't for overseeing the production? Just to remove some games from competitor's console? Gotcha!

 

[systemr123]

Interesting excuse. They should have been involved considering how important the next year of releases is going to be for them. So they aren't incompetent, they're just negligent.

Negligent aaaaand incompetent.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

He'd be singing a different tune would the game be a 90+

The game would have been 90+ if it didn't have numerous problems it has so yeah - if the game is successful it's mostly because of some quality.

 

[Kumomeme]

So basically what Jiz is getting at is that Microsoft:

1) buys a company
2) tells them "all your games will now be on Gamepass"
3) tells them "cancel anything in development on PlayStation"
4) tells them "fuck off and don't call me"

Great setup for success there. I'm sure regulators would love to hear that the only direction their acquired companies are getting is what platforms they cant be on

also buy those already has established reputation and pray they gonna keep deliver as always and dont fuck up.

 

[reksveks]

My only post on this topic, it (xbox/MS gaming) should be blamed for Redfall'S failings, it's a hit on the brand and therefore they are responsible for it.

 

[Boss Mog]

They promoted it as their big first party exclusive but they weren't involved? That's pretty stupid of them or it could just be a lie to try to shield themselves from blame. Either way, it's not a good look.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

So why they were BOUGHT in the first place if itnwasn't for overseeing the production? Just to remove some games from competitor's console? Gotcha!

You have posters arguing a few times in the previous week that Microsoft should give Arcane a 'blank cheque' for their next game. Well, they did that with Redfall, wonder how that turned out.

Here's the thing:
If you have a well-run operation and project management you don't give a damn about oversight, because there is nothing to oversee. People that complain about oversight are always the ones that make such oversight necessary by their actions.

 

[StueyDuck]

It's both true and false.

True because Bethesda still operates independently (apparently) within the MS corporate structure. And the game was always gonna be multiplatform to begin with. Meaning this wasn't greenlit by MS first party productions.

False because at the end of the day the buck stops at Xbox and Phil and if this was a stinker when they took over their internal leaders should have had the foresight to shit can the project and start something new.

 

[GHG]

People that complain about oversight are always the ones that make such oversight necessary by their actions.

Truer words have never been spoken.

This has been especially true in recent years with the rise of WFH. As somebody that excusively hires remote workers it's become more apparent than ever that not everyone is of the right mentality for WFH and some people's personalities necessitate rigid schedules along with micromanagement.

 

[StueyDuck]

Jez is an embarrassing individual, someone who will actively ignore all valid points if it's against his precious plastic box.

Jez is probably the biggest fanboy chode out there and has 0 insider knowledge.

I don't know why anyone gives this fool the time of day. He's just your regular fat guy console warrior on Twitter.

 

[Heisenberg007]

What's worse is that if Microsoft/Xbox does not take responsibility for this, it means they are throwing Bethesda/Arkane under the bus. They're blaming their own studio for the failure of an Xbox game. The same studio they just acquired 2 years ago as part of the $7.5 billion acquisition.

This cannot inspire confidence in their studios, and I can't imagine how heartbreaking and morale-draining it would be for developers.

I don't think that's the right message that Microsoft would like to send to its studios -- especially if it intends to acquire more.

 

[Stare-Bear]

Being acquired by Microsoft is bad news for any studio. They've shown it time and time again over the past 2 decades...

 

[Banjo64]

This is some pretty shameless attempt at narrative control from Microsoft. Can this company sink any lower than it has done over the past year?

 

[Banjo64]

What's worse is that if Microsoft/Xbox does not take responsibility for this, it means they are throwing Bethesda/Arkane under the bus.

 

[SCB3]

Xbox wasn't involved? Arkane decided to pull the PS5 version all by themselves?

Xbox was involved in Psychonauts 2?

I can't keep all this straight.

Xbox wasn't involved with Scalebound either, it just decided to cancel itself

On a side note, I hope Redfall gets fixed, Back 4 Blood and the Warhammer games proved there is a market for this, but it needs that unique killer game

 

[Kadve]

EA wasnt involved with Anthem development in any way either. Look who took all the blame there though

Hell they argubly saved it from becoming a big loss for Bioware.

 

[SCB3]

This is some pretty shameless attempt at narrative control from Microsoft. Can this company sink any lower than it has done over the past year?

Were you not around for the Don Mattrick era, it can go lower, a lot lower

 

[Dick Jones]

Were you not around for the Don Mattrick era, it can go lower, a lot lower

Like releasing a next gen console with no first party games?

 

[xHunter]

Jez Corden when Bethesda releases a good game:


Console warrior made into a "journalist" lmao

Edit:
In this article about HiFi Rush he doesnt even mention Bethesda once, but rather uses Microsoft and Xbox:

Hi-Fi Rush shatters the narrative that Xbox Game Pass hurts game sales

Hi-Fi Rush has lapped PS5 console exclusive Forspoken on Steam, despite its availability on Xbox Game Pass.

www.windowscentral.com