Microsoft’s New Studios Will Help Them Appeal to the Market in the Future- NPD Analyst

More studios means more content, more content means more chances at appealing to the market.

[UCForce]

It’s up to them. But here two things I want from MS First Party Game:

First, A Single Player Focus game and a Memorable character and great gameplay as well with no MT and no modernization.

Second, in my previous statements, if one of MS First Party Studio want to create a shock value in their game, then MS have to let them do their developers to do their own vision, not interfere them.

Also one more thing, stop saying making Single Player games are so “complicated”. I know it’s hard to make Single Player games, but that is a challenge and I promised to you, MS. If you made Strong Single Player game, your work will pay off.

[TheCommentator]

"MS have to let them do their developers to do their own vision, not interfere them."

Maybe if you quit talking $#!+ all the time and did a little research, you'd have realized years ago that MS does give their studios freedom to do what they want. I'm not even going to bother to provide links because there's so many times it's been talked about.

[thatguyhayat]

No they dont, former lion head studios confirmed in an interview they had no freedom. They had a new ip in development a sci fi game but was told to scrap it and keep developing fable. Look at what happened with scalebound too. The developer didn't want to have a multiplayer in his game but was told to and after difference of opinions they canceled the game. You can check hes tweets if you want. Cause he showed his frustration there

[TheCommentator]

@ that guy

You show me your sources and I'll show you mine! ;P

[neutralgamer1992]

Thecommen

No we don't need to see your source because facts are in front of our eyes. Right when they bought the gears IP they basically told that studio to shelf its new IP in favor of gears

Go ahead look it up since it seems you like looking up things. They are so dumb because when the bought rare they thought donkey Kong was part of the purchase go ahead this is a fact look it up

As a fan of gaming I don't want to sound like I am hating on them I just don't want them to keep making the same mistakes again and again

I am not even asking for every developer to work on single player games but if there is an idea from their developers to take some chances and make a brand new story driven IP give them time and resources

Xbox brand is where it is today because it had early success with Xbox360 and thought we could just keep making the same games. Nintendo and don't both take chances while ms should have learned from both

[trooper_]

Bwhaha, freedom?

There's several developers who complained about working under Microsoft. So why was Scalebound canceled if they gave developers freedom? Oh...wait.

[81BX]

Love the fake concern here. Like every game on xbox is the same. Get over it dudes. MS has turned over a new leaf. While you guys keep crying about the same old talking points, gamers have moved on. Look at all the non freedom devs have. Smh

[Edito]

Yes you a right, many times talked about, they never walked the talk... They just talk... That's what most think they will do, I think they will screw with all these studios.

[UCForce]

@81BX if I remember correctly, Lionhead did want to create a game that was dark and gritty, but MS just completely refused it. MS have another problem that called is their sensitive side which mean MS don’t like their game to have shock value.

Heavy Rain was supposed to be Xbox 360 Exclusive but the game did have kidnapping scene that MS tried to censor it. QD disagreed and they switched to Sony for better results. Like I said, If one of MS First Party Studio want to create a shock value in their game, then MS have to let developers to do their own vision, not interfere them.

[Johnyra]

Triggered.He didn't even say bad things.

[BiggerBoss]

@Commentator

Yeah, im sure that Black Tusk (the Coalition) just LOVED cancelling the game that they were working on just to make a new Gears game. Real creative freedom right there.

[TheCommentator]

@ Bigger Boss

"Black Tusk started with a team of approximately 20 full-time staff in 2012 as the project began preproduction, adding staff to grow to almost 100 by the end of 2013. That’s when the Microsoft Studios mothership presented it with a unique scenario and a difficult choice. We could continue working on the IP we were working on," Crump says. "Or we had the opportunity to take on Gears of War."

"I’d be lying if I said there weren’t some people on the team who were disappointed when they found out the thing they’d been working on for so long was going to be shelved," Crump says. "If you’ve been in the game industry long enough, you’re going to go through project cancellations. People go through this period of mourning a bit. You have to give them that space and time to go through that, the sense of loss that people have around something they’re invested in." But according to Crump, in the end, the final decision was a "no-brainer."

Source: https://www.polygon.com/201...

Any other ignorant comments?

[UCForce]

But still, I rather let them focus new IP instead of Gears. Because it can give them a new identity.

[BiggerBoss]

@commentator

So you would rather ANOTHER Gears Of War game INSTEAD of brand new IP??

Does that really sound like creative freedom to you?!

[LandoCalrissiano]

If they didn't give their studios freedom then why would they be putting a lot of their eggs in the indie scene? SoD2, ori, (publishing) cuphead, etc., along with the delays of crackdown shows in recent history that they are fine with earning less revenue that indies bring while giving games they believe in extra time. Things like lionhead and Scalebound must have had problems so large that dumping money into crackdown is a better option than pursuing those things at the time. For a company nicknamed moneysoft sticking with indies and canceling projects doesn't seem like it brings in the bucks, but this grew sales and users which proves something is going right. There is no way in hell crackdown brings in more money than fable. Either they have more freedom than people think, or they really aren't as money hungry as people think, which is it?

[agent4532]

The only studios that Microsoft has given creative freedom and to do as they please is Microsoft Studios and Rare

[rainslacker]

Wasn't the coalition working on a new ip when ms pushed gears into them? Their other two.major studios make halo and forza. Lion head only made fable. Rare I guess was given freedom to make Kinect games. Ms wanted bungle to make another halo.and they didn't want to.

That doesnt seem much like allowing freedom to me. Maybe they're allowed to have more input on the design of the games they are told to make, but to be.able to start.something new ms hasn't really shown they are for that

[TheCommentator]

@ Rainslacker

"Wasn't the coalition working on a new ip when ms pushed gears into them?"
Thanks for reading the quote I pulled from the article.

"Their other two.major studios make halo and forza. Lion head only made fable."
Yeah, but that fact doesn't prove that MS is responsible for the developers only making those games. Again, where's your sources?

"Ms wanted bungle to make another halo.and they didn't want to."
Yeah, that one is true because Bungie wanted to make Destiny, and look how that one turned out. Could you imagine the flak MS would have gotten for producing Destiny instead of another Halo? Wise choice on MS' part, don't you agree?

[rainslacker]

So you're saying that two studios that traditionally made those games, are responsible for always wanting to work on those games? Talented devs, who all have their own ideas for what kinds of games they want to make? That defies all logic.

And so what if Destiny was a bust. And how exactly did it turn out? It made a lot of money, and the first one was pretty good by many people's accounts. The second had some stupid crap attached to it, but that has nothing to do with MS saying no, and not allowing Bungie the freedom they wanted. In fact, MS saying no, is exactly my point.

It's easy to look back with 20/20 vision, but MS didn't take the risk. They didn't afford them the freedom, and nothing really suggests that MS allows their studios freedom, because as I laid out, outside of SoT, none of their studios is making anything new. Even their new studio, the Coalition, is now making Gears, instead of going after what they originally started with.

[TheCommentator]

@ Rain

"Even their new studio, the Coalition, is now making Gears, instead of going after what they originally started with."

Now, I'll repost part of the quote I pulled from the linked article:
"That’s when the Microsoft Studios mothership presented it with a unique scenario and a difficult choice. We could continue working on the IP we were working on," Crump says. "Or we had the opportunity to take on Gears of War."

You obviously don't care about facts as long as they're made up and come out of your mouth. You assume that because the devs are only making sequels that they didn't want to and are being forced? How dumb. Besides Black Tusk, all five of the new MS studios praised MS for their creative freedom too, and Rare, but you can't be bothered with quotes or links when all you want to do is sound important and make trouble.

Pull an article that says MS is forcing 343, Turn 10, or any other devs and maybe we'll talk... otherwise STFU because you remind me of Trump's "fake news".

[Rachel_Alucard]

@UCforce

You're living in dreamland if you ever think anything will come true from MS of all people. They are trying to rake in checks, instead of fans.

[Vasto]

What you saw was just a small sample. More studios are coming.

[Vasto]

https://twitter.com/Nintend...

[Bhai]

Funny, NOTHING... absolutely NOTHING MS does this generation works... BC, cloud, X-play... nothing helped them save upon their falling marketshare... hehehe while Sony keeps loading up more and the highest marketshare all along, this new move itself sees only Ninty getting the upperhand... more proof crap stays crap, no matter what you do... zero improvement, that is xb1 ;)

[Vasto]

LMAO, nothing worked. So clueless about business.
https://venturebeat.com/201...

All we care about is the $$$$$. Thats how you step on the E3 stage and announce 5 new studios, Xbox One X delivering True 4K pc quality performance, Backwards compatibility 4K Enhanced titles and Xbox Game Pass delivering over 150 titles per month for only $9.99.

You can have your sales numbers. Give us the $$$$$$$$$$ LMAO
#SoMuchSalt

[Vasto]

You show me your $499 PC playing Forza Motorsport 7 at native 4K / 60 FPS you wont have to give it away. I will buy it from you. LOL

[Vasto]

Xbox One X is a beast. Its actually getting better now that devs have gotten familiar with it.

[Vasto]

Its better than your PC!!!!!!

LOL

[UCForce]

Now I can see you want revenge on Sony fanboys. Hmm, I can see your MS inner fanboy. Like I said, you are happy to see N4G will take over by Xbots. After all, you want this to happen.

[Rachel_Alucard]

I have never seen a bigger shill/fanboy.

[Bhai]

So, you're more delusional than Phil himself hehehe, you think revenues in a 'quarter' gets MS more marketshare i.e. more stakeholders, keener interest, more business partners, more investment from the 3rd party???
This past year ending March 31st 2018 saw Playstation business garnering 18 Billion$ for Sony among other businesses. You add MS' 2.25billion four times (which it is not) and you still end up under 10Billion for the whole year hahahaha XD :D

From the article:
"The PlayStation gaming division saw revenue for the year top $18 billion, an 18% increase over the previous year with credit being given to PS4 software sales as a key component of that growth."

Read here and learn:
https://wccftech.com/sony-g...

So, selling 19 million consoles in year 2017-18, Sony group not only thrives with around 50% marketshare, but is also making TWICE the billions of profit than xb1!!! hahaha... seems, everything MS does really sucks, PROVEN!

[trooper_]

From where?

The clouds?

[agent4532]

I hope not for most of Microsoft 1st party are stuck making one franchise and that's it. Rare is the exception

[RainbowBrite]

Sure. If they make good games

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Those studios were already making Xbox games. So we'll have to wait and see what kind of long term impact it makes.

[jznrpg]

4 out of 5 already made games exclusively for Xbox. So 1 studio is going to change everything?

[ShottyatLaw]

Compulsion made a multiplat, Ninja Theory made a multiplat, and the Initiative is brand new. How you came to 4/5 is beyond me.

Prior to their acquisition, Naughty Dog was only making PS1 games. IMO, that one studio acquisition changed a lot of things.

[TheColbertinator]

How about purchasing a Japanese RPG studio?

[MrSec84]

Hopefully, but let's look at these Studios in a bit more detail to see what they could bring to Microsoft's portfolio of resources.

Playground Games are the best of the bunch, they made an awesome addition to the Forza franchise with the Horizon games, have churned great versions out in a timely fashion.
They now have a second team, which is currently being built up to start working on a 2nd franchise, many believe they're making a new entry in the Fable franchise.

Undead Labs are an A level studio, that just released a bigger State of Decay entry, presumably they'll expand and make a more AA or smaller AAA game in the future, likely another SoD game.

Ninja Theory are a 100 strong studio, they just put out an Indie, small budget AAA experience, that was rated well, they could offer a new IP or work on a new entry in a classic XBox franchise we haven't seen for a while, the former could be more likely.

Compulsion are still busy making We Happy Few, as far as we know this is still a multiplat, so it could be some time before they make a new game for XBox.
They're a pretty small studio, Indie level.

The Initiative are basically around in name only at the moment, they have a boss and maybe a few staff, they haven't really become a studio yet, let alone know the genre or kind of game they want to make.

Only PG's second team, NT and TI will bring new games to XBox in different genres than are currently being made at Microsoft Studios, sure there will likely be new editions in existing franchises that those Studios have worked on, but for the most part there won't be a mass of new content for a good 3 or 4 years, assuming these studios can get focused and make new quality games.

The next generation will begin at the end of next year and it will be a few years after the 4th XBox releases before a reasonable number of new games come to it.

[snkiworld]

MS is D.O.G.S (Destroyer Of Gaming Studios)

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Evolution and SOE say hi

[trooper_]

And yet Sony still has very strong studios so what was your point again 343?

[Bennibop]

Sony closed evolution and created studio Manchester straight after.

[UCForce]

SOE was volunteer to leave Sony and change their name. Evolution closed but they finished their game and Sony created another studio in Manchester. Even Sony building a new studio in San Diego. PixelOpus is Sony First Party Studio that was founded in 2014. Their new game called Concrete Genie. Well, you could say Sony could buy QD and Kojima Productions, but they let them decide, not force them to join.

[AgeInTheCage]

Xboxone is dead to MS, these 5 studios are hard at work working on games for the xbox 2. I think im going to sell my xboxone and cut my losses till i see what xbox 2 has to offer.

I could care less for yet another forza, halo, gears. i held onto my xbox thinking they were going to make a new fable game, im sure its still in the works, but for the next xbox.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

If it still dead why are the games coming to XBO?

[AgeInTheCage]

3rd party multi-plats and Forza, halo, gears, Big YAWN. When they unveiled these 5 new studios and none of them had nothing to show on xboxone it told me everything i needed to know, also during the unveiling compulsive liar phil said xbox is hard at work on the next console.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

You go on endlessly on Xbox threads. The only thing yawn is your comments. Same thing everyday.

[Razzer]

Hope so! More games for my PC!

[corroios]

Microsoft’s New Studios could Help Them Appeal to the Market in the Future. That's the real title.

Any big budget game take at least 3 or 4 years to make. Lets wait and see.

[DialgaMarine]

I feel this whole “future tense” thing has just gotten so dry and dead at this point. I wouldnt be surprised if we’re seeing the same exact articles 3+ years from after the next Xbox launches.

[dragonyght]

The studios Microsoft acquire were already making games exclusivity for them, except for Ninja theory. don't expect that much of change.

[DialgaMarine]

Initiative is new, but it’s likely they’ll be working on projects based off one of their established IP’s. It’s crazy how difficult it has become to envision a new MS IP that is worth a damn. Shovelware GaaS + their same tired IP’s just seems to be the norm for them.

[Knightofelemia]

Out of the new studios Microsoft just bought Ninja Theory is the only one that is a wait and see what they pump out. They have made some great games except that DMC game. Playground Studios was a given fact they make some Forza games still couldn't believe it took Microsoft this long to buy them. Undead Labs their games are alright again still couldn't believe it took Microsoft this long to buy them up to. Compulsion Games I know nothing on them it's a wait and see how their game turns out.

[superchiller]

I knew this was Trollingbolt the second I saw the title. Don't give them the clicks, terrible website.

[AK91]

Ninja Theory certainly will not too sure about the others.

[Aenea]

More new content? That depends if they make the studios bigger or not.

From the 5 new studios only 1 is actually new, 2 already made Xbox exclusives, the other 2 already made multiplats that also released on Xbox so without changes to those 4 studios their output will not suddenly double...

[ClanPsi1]

But they aren't new studios, so there won't be any more content. They will make as many games as they used to, so there will be the same amount of content as before.

[Tross]

If they actually use these studios to produce more than one title, then yes.

[nismo370]

Stupid article

[Bronxs15]

is the heavenly sword ip with ninja theory or sony? anyways would love to see a sequel to heavenly sword or enslaved on xbox. but i know that ninja theory is super creative so they are probably cooking up something new.

[Bronxs15]

i thought ms would have announced that they purchased moon studio. the devs that did ori are amazing.

[shinoff2183]

I'm just glad ps4 gets we happy few before ms destroys that dev

[tontontam0]

MS: we acquired playground games.

XBOX FANBOYS: OH SHIT MS IS ON THE ROLL PLAYGROUND GAMES WILL NOW BE MAKING EXCLUSIVE GAMES FOR MS.

[Tobse]

Cant wait to see what studios ms is going to buy. Best thing about this is seeing all of the same fanboys cry about it that say ms has no exclusives

[Broomfondle]

Is this before or after they shut them down?

[agent4532]

It depends, for 343 studios got stuck making only Halo games and has not done anything else but Halo games. I hope undead labs does not end up making State of Decay only. That's one of my concerns.

[yeahright2]

Depends on how they're handled. If they only pump out mediocre, broken games with a "only $10 with gamepass" and followed up by, "hey I know your month is about up, but we fixed some issues and have some DLC coming, better re-up that gamepass."
Then no.
So I'll wait and see. but I will say, I'm actually open to buying an xbox next gen, something I didn't think I'd even consider after what they tried to do and they've been doing this gen.

[dreue]

Games, it is all about games.....

[subtenko]

They arent new studios reallly... The only thing new was the official announcement from them. business as usual.

[King_Lothric]

"More studios means more content, more content means more chances at appealing to the market."

This is totally assuming that the content is going to be good which you can't assume.

New studios does not automatically translate to good games.