Edge :
The ID@Xbox program is being hailed as a success by indies releasing games through the initiative, but Microsoft must revise its launch parity policy if Xbox One is to become as indie-friendly as rival PS4.
During GDC Microsoft announced that that it has sent Xbox One devkits to over 250 independent studios, and it also confirmed a roster of 25 self-published games to be through ID@Xbox in the coming weeks and months. While the indies we spoke to at the GDC launch event were delighted with how much friendlier Microsoft has been in recent months, there were still lingering concerns over launch parity.
Many indies have voiced their concerns over the clause, and even Sony has taken a swipe at its rival’s stance on indie self-pubishing – before GDC PlayStation’s VP of publisher and developer relations Adam Boyes tweeted a ‘list’ of platforms developers are not allowed to release their games on before they hit PSN.
Disney Dreamlight Valley devs have officially teased the second part of the paid expansion titled The Spark of Imagination.
Starting out a new farm, but need help choosing a name? Check out this article for a 100 farm name ides for Stardew Valley.
Waiting a decade for new instalments in franchises as massive as Fallout and Elder Scrolls feels like a waste.
Microsoft have Obsidian but I feel it's Bethesda who just don't want to play ball as they've always said they want to do it themselves.
Once MS bought Zenimax in 2020 they should have put the Outer Worlds 2 on the back burner, allow Bethesda to finish off its own Space RPG with Starfield (despite totally different tone why have two in your first party portfolio with two developers who's gameplay is a tad similar) and got Obsidian for one of their projects to make a spiritual successor to New Vegas.
When the Elder Scrolls VI is finished Bethesda can then onto the main numbered Fallout 5 themselves.
The Outer Worlds 2 started development in 2019 so putting it on the back burner wouldn't have been the end of the world, they'd have always come back to it once Fallout was done and it would have been nicely spaced out from Starfields release once they had most likely stopped supporting it and all the expansions were released.
If they did this back in 2020 when they bought Zenimax and the game had a good, steady 4 - 5 years development, you might have seen it release in 2025.
We are literally going to be waiting until 2030 at the very earliest for Fallout 5 and all they seem bothered about is pushing Fallout 76.
Its not just only Todd not playing ball.
Obsidian have made a name for themselves in delivering stellar RPGs, but most famous once have always been sequels/spin-offs to borrowed IPs like KOTOR 2, Neverwinter Nights 2, Fallout: New Vegas, Stick of Truth etc.
Obsidian wants to invest more in their own original IPs like Outer Worlds or Pillars of Eternity with Avowed.
Similar to what Bluepoint & inXile wants to do or Kojima is doing (i.e not involving anymore in Konami's IPs).
So yea, even if New Vegas has the most votes from 3D Fallout fans, Obsidian just wants to do their own thing, like any aspiring dev studio and MS is likely currently respecting that.
But a future Fallout game from Obsidian will surely happen. Founder Feargus Urquhart has already stated an year ago that they're eager to make a new Fallout game with Bethesda, New Vegas 2 or otherwise. Urquhart was the director of the very first 1995's Fallout game after all.
And don't forget Brian Fargo and his studio inXile, as Brian Fargo was the director of Fallout's 1988 predecessor: Wasteland
Obsidian should take over the FO IP. They're do far better with it than Bethesda who hasn't made a great game for almost 15 years
I disagree. Part of these games is the support for the mod community. If they move to releasing a "next game" every 2 or 3 years, the modding support plummets and the franchises turn into just another run of the mill RPG.
Make the games good enough to withstand the test of time, to keep people coming back to them and expanding on them with mod support.
I dont think anyone is saying they need to come out every 2 years (not to mention almost no game is released that quickly anymore)
By the time Fallout 5 comes out, it will be more than 15 years since Fallout 4 came out (same with ES6 coming out 15 years after Skyrim). Even if you want to use F76 as the metric for the most recent release, that one came out in 2018. It will be a miracle if F5 comes out before 2030
The point is that for a studio that doesnt seem to operate with multiple teams doing several projects at once, that their projects normally take 4-5 years as a minimum, and that now they even added Starfield to the rotation, it becomes a 15+ years waiting period between releases for each series, which doesnt make sense. Imagine that Nintendo only released a mainline Mario or Zelda game every 15 years…
They either need to start developing more than 1 project at a time, let someone else take a crack at one of the IPs or significantly reduce their development times
Why should someone else take a crack at one of the IPs? Look at what happened to Final Fantasy as a recent example - there is pretty clear FF fatigue setting in because they are now pumping out titles in the franchise every few years. Pumping out more games faster doesn't always make a series better.
There are plenty of options to make new games, not just create more titles in the same universe at a faster pace.
Yeah I’m going to say it, who cares about the modding community when making a game? Half the time developers only tolerate modders because they fix there game for them.
Yeah, let's all advocate for smaller gaps between series' releases, then we'll probably get headlines about how the series have dropped in quality and they could have benefited from more time in the oven. Let them cook.
"how the series have dropped in quality and they could have benefited from more time in the oven" So every Bethesda game then? Got it.
Listen, I would agree if this was about From Software or something, but Bethesda?
🤣
C'mon now. What timeline are you from?
Think about it, they're already bug filled messes on their current schedule, can you imagine how much worse it would be if they rushed things?
Bethesda [or Microsoft] would have to reallocate internal and external studios towards fallout and elder scrolls titles. Bethesda has the issue of developing 2 big IPs that are large RPGs on rotation. If you want more Fallout and Elder Scrolls, development will have to be outsourced.
They need to kill the whole policy and just have studios confirm their games are coming to Xbox One along side PS4 when doing interviews and etc
In Phil We Trust.
That is such a rich person elitist policy and everyone knows it.
The gamers at Microsoft don't want that, it's the Guys at the top who need to separate themselves from the rest of society and be "better" than everyone else.
* People like that don't admit their failures or faults, and thus can't accurately judge the situation because they are too into the smell of their own farts.
* No normal intelligent person who plays games, wants other gamers to be prevented from playing these good games.
It's a butthurt policy by people who can't accept that a game might be better on a different console or might run a little bit smoother.
It's pathetic.
I used to LOVE Xbox. I used to defend them about anything. I see through the BS now.
The smartest thing they've done in the past year is get rid of Mattrick and Let Phil Spencer run the company now.
MS still have these kinds of policies in place??? Wow... I mean I expected it because of their reputation, but I honestly thought I was being paranoid and judging them off their past, but man they're still pulling this kind of crap.
Why? Does it make a difference at this point? They're clearly losing in the sales department, word of mouth is spreading and this kind of press does nothing to help. just drop these archaic policies.
The parity clause just reeks of fear on Microsoft's part and these types of clauses do nothing positive for gaming it only benefits MS. Phuck everyone else right?