Microsoft's Shane Kim On Fable 2, Why Marvel MMO Was Canceled And More

Why the Marvel MMO didn't make sense anymore. When Banjo is coming out. Whether Mass Effect is still a 360 trilogy. What will be the best-looking game on Xbox 360…

Last Thursday at the DICE gaming summit MTV Multiplayer met with Shane Kim, head of Microsoft Games Studios. They discussed his publishing philosophy and reviewed the status of Microsoft's major first-party gaming franchises one by one.

The sweeping conversation covered Halo, Gears of War, Alan Wake, and the host of other big Microsoft-backed games under his watch. Kim acknowledged that his studios' line-up is more slender than the in-house offerings of Sony and Nintendo, adding that he hoped MGS' reputation is one of "high-quality premium experiences."

[Mr_Kuwabara]

OMG I was just about to submit this..... -_-

=)

[TnS]

Sorry. :)

Very good interview, in my opinion.

[cellypower]

No Marvel MMO I wanted to see how that would turn out. I am looking forward to fable 2.

[Relcom]

Its so informative. It reveals alot of information about upcoming titles. Great find!!

It pretty much confirms Banjo 3 and Alan Wake for this year.

[ThaGeNeCySt]

I'm not so sure if Alan Wake was confirmed for 2008... when they asked if it was a 2008 game, he said "not necessarily" :(

[Kleptic]

wow...'not necessarily' is now confirmation of a game for this year?...

[-EvoAnubis-]

They canceled the Marvel MMO!? This is the first I'm hearing of it. Why the hell did they do that!? And if they're so pumped about Too Human, why the hell are they burying it by releasing it one week after GTA4?

[ThaGeNeCySt]

the release date hasn't really been confirmed or denied by Silicon Knights or Microsoft... so at this point who knows? I think it's better to either release the game BEFORE GTA IV or some time during the summer when GTA IV's success pushes more consoles to consumers and can potentially have a lot more buyers for the title. But... if it does release May 6th, then RIP Too Human lol

[ASSASSYN 36o]

So according to microsoft no MMO's are going to ever be released.

[ceedubya9]

Sucks about the Marvel MMO! But it seems as though the pricing issue was going to be hard to get around. I'm pretty sure that having 1 million or less subscribers probably didn't seem like a good go for them. I've yet to play Final Fantasy XI again on my 360, just because I don't want to pay the fee to do so. MMOs are a huge investment of time and money, and there probably aren't enough console gamers in Microsoft's opinion to take that plunge. Definitely looking forward to Too Human, Alan Wake, Banjo, and Gears. They really need to get on a Crackdown sequel. Even if Mass Effect does stay exclusive, I'm just glad I'm going to be able to play regardless of what system its on. And why do they not mention Ninja Gaiden 2? That's one of the biggest action titles in the pipeline.

[logikil]

I kind of understand Kim’s position regarding keeping MGS focused. However, looking at Playstation, the 360’s chief competitor, this year is looking chock full of exclusives many of which are coming from internal studios. Sony is not afraid about picking up independent development houses in order to expand the list of Sony exclusive ip’s. I think MS got burned by their pickups (Rare is still a bit of a bust, FASA didn’t lead to too much, and Lionhead has still been questionable) and is now gun shy with respect to expanding MGS. I still don’t understand how they let Bioware, Bizarre, Bungie, Realtime Worlds, get away. It’s not sufficient to just get the ip, in many cases the studios that build the original games are the only ones who can do them justice. I am an owner of all three systems, and at this point the 360 has been my chief gaming box, but this year could definitely shift my focus in the direction of the PS3 unless MS has some serious surprises in store for the year. MS hasn’t been that great at hiding things, so the fact that there is no real news is distressing.

Also one game you didn’t ask about was the rumored Killer Instinct sequel. It’s a love it or hate it game, and I loved it.

[wageslave]

I think we're learning something about the culture inside MS. They recognize that small dev houses do better outside larger organizations. This is just fine.

The development model for videogames is moving to model the dev. model for films very closely, and that business smarts and managment methods are on the East coast, they might be picking up some ideas.

Further, MGS is instead, doing deals with 3rd parties to cherry-pick the best projects. MGS can and does make deals when good things arise in the industry, BioWare and MassEffect are a great example.

All the worry about Bungie and BioWare joining other firms is for not. MS is -- at its core, always been about partnership, enabling 3rd parties and being dynamic.

Building up a big development teams in house that work on projects that *dont* require continuity is illogical. And, I think MS knows this. The teams that do games are assembled on a per-project basis for the most part, the senior leadership, senior creative teams and senior technical people are what builds the project.

MS bringing in more "senior managment people" i think further reflects this knowledge.

[Gina-get-u]

There had better be more to the 360's portfolio of upcoming exclusives than just that. I still find it hard to believe that MS has no big surprises lined up this year, but they ought to start talking about them already. If Shane Kim expects to get by this year on just the titles they talk about here, then the 360 is indeed looking at a glum 2008.

[wageslave]

Here's a good page of STFU:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum...

There is *all kinds* of great games for Xbox 360. That list BTW, doesnt have the sports games (you know, some people pick up a basketball, hockey, golf or football game every now and then...))

The Xbox 360 owners is already the biggest per-year game purchaser of the generation. How many games do you think people need every year?

The year is stacked with so many choices, everyone (PS3 *AND* Xbox 360 owner) is going to have to NOT purchase some games they might like to play.

Your notion of lack of games is empty, shallow FUD. Take it >>

[dantesparda]

Hm, real nice, telling him to "STFU". How would you like it if somebody told you to "STFU"?

[Hockey11]

LOL 90% of those games are multi or not coming out this year. And Haze is down there even though it is not coming to the 360. So yea the 360's lineup is pretty dry. Try to prove me wrong.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Looks as though Mass Effect will stay 360, I didn't think MS would let that one go. I would have loved more news about Alan Wake but thats probably for GDC. I would also imagine Gears 2 news at GDC and more Fable 2 and Ninja Gaiden than you can shake a sword at.

[Hockey11]

Its coming to the pc too

[The Milkman]

Yea there is another MMO coming "The Age Of Conan". But sucks that we wont get to see Marvels MMO on the 360.

[titntin]

Well - there little here to dispel the impression that the line up is kinda short for the 360 this year.
Don't get me wrong, I'm very interested in the titles that there are, but it's simply not enough in the face of the oppositions line up.
I hope they do announce GOW2, as the line up really needs it - hell, I need it!! :).
I know that MGS has a lot of time and effort invested in a motion sensing device and games, but I don't think this is too clever and will not convince potential WII customers to choose a 360 instead...

Lets hope Fable 2 and Banjo will help to strengthen the lineup and repay some of the huge sums MGS studios paid for these dev houses, as you would have to say the investment in these studios looks like a bad buy from the current returns....

[wageslave]

There is no impression that 2007 wont be a great year.

FFS, Lost Odyssey isnt even released yet. I'm still working through the 2007 games I already own, and there are many many must-have games for 2008.

Thi sis just off-handed talk. Xbox 360 will again be the premier console, and yes, I know that MGS4 & FF are big names. Im more than willing to forgo another FF and MGS for the opportunity to play the games available on Xbox 360 in 2008.

[robbo918]

You said "X360 will again be the premier console". Fanboy worlds aside when was it the premier console? It had no competition its first year and Wii is beating both PS3 and X360 so at this stage if one was named premier it would be Wii. For you to pretend that because you are willing to forgo FF and MGS to play the X360 doesn't mean anyone else will. Usually your posts are pretty good even if I don't often agree but this one is lame IMO. I do agree with the part that M$ has a pretty good 2008 lineup.

[witchking]

There are undoubtedly a ton of games coming out for the 360 in 2008. But 1, many of them are multiplatform and 2, many of them are no-names.

Fable 2 and Splinter Cell are two that carry some franchise recognition and will garner a level of excitement. But that simply can't compare with the Halo 3 phenom from 2007.

Now, another one of these could become the next BioShock or Mass Effect and simply sweep everyone up in their greatness (maybe Too Human, for instance) but so far that's not happening, and so it is leaving the door open for Sony to press its own advantage in 2008. And that's not just an MGS4 statement. I don't think we'll see FFXIII until 2009, but the PS3 is getting a lot of play out of KZ2 (not sure why, the first one sucked) and LittleBigPlanet. The kind of energy that BioShock produced for 360 in 2007 seems to be swinging to these titles for the PS3 in 2008.

And let's not forget, even with the amazing year that the 360 had in 2007, even with the release of Halo 3, and the staggering number of sales for games like GH3, COD4, BioShock and Mass Effect on the 360... even with all the "there are no games for the PS3"... the PS3 still outsold the 360 worldwide in 2007.

So while I think the 360 will still have an overall sales lead over the PS3 at the end of 2008, I think Sony may come close to halving that 7m unit lead that MSFT currently enjoys.

[wageslave]

"I think ‘Banjo’ is going to be a big hit for us this holiday.”"

- Shane Kim == Me very happy.

Yeah Banjo!

[Hockey11]

Ive seriously never tried any BK game because I didn't have a n64. What do they play like and what do you basically do?

[DarkSniper]

Jumping ship.......

[Lagbox plzfixme]

yar

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

What do they have in commen? answer: you have lost somthing from each of them this gen. :) have a nice day.

[Hockey11]

What did we lose from UBI? And who cares, Sony didn't try and stop them so they obviously didn't care so why should we. Sony isn't M$ and doesn't pay 50 mill for just exclusive content.

[Kleptic]

he is probably referring to Splinter Cell: conviction...a title from the 'other' stealth action series...as long as the PS3 had day 1 access to the king of this type of game, there isn't a PS3 owner alive the least concerned...

[AngryHippo]

.....have an as yet unnanounced game coming out this year. I went to a market research event where one of the developers demoed it. its beig made by sega and its a bit devil may cry/god of war but include magic and guns with some absolutely savage finishing moves. Keep an eye out, the game looks stunning too.

[TwissT]

From last years Fable 2 vids from GDC I'm thinking Lionhead is trying a whole new approach to being immersed into the game with the whole having a dog, I think this is an awesome idea due to the fact that dogs are very lovable and they are so loyal and it makes you seem like you really have a dog. Man Fable 2 will be awesome.

[GameOn]

When does that game come out?

[eagle21]

Sony and Nintendo, but mostly Sony, have an 2008 line-up that any REAL GAMER can get excited for. GTAIV, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Home, MLB 08': The Show, Metal Gear Solid 4: Gun's of the Patriots, any many more just to end Spring. Shared by a HUGE Blu-ray WIN in May, it's gonna be a long summer for......lol

[mintaro]

i hope they give more insight on Alan Wake at GDC

[Leathersoup]

Microsoft doesn't want MMOs on the Xbox because when people play MMOs they play for long, extended periods. This leads to warm 360s an we all know what happens when the 360 gets too warm. ;)

[sleepbox]

the very fact that MTV is used with the 360 makes me think less of MS.