When we first launched our partnership with Activision in 2010, the gaming industry was in a pretty different place. As an independent studio setting out to build a brand new experience, we wanted a partner willing to take a big leap of faith with us. We had a vision for Destiny that we believed in, but to launch a game of that magnitude, we needed the support of an established publishing partner.
A former Halo and Destiny executive producer has said the live service model is "so much better for developers and players" than the one-off $60 purchase model.
Alan Wake 2, BG3, Tears of the Kingdom, Elden Ring, GoW Ragnarok, Hades, Returnal, Fallout 4, Dishonored, It Takes Two, Untitled Goose Game, Breath of the Wild, both of The Last of Us, Ghost of Tsushima, Sekiro, Psychonauts 2, Control, Celeste, Super Mario Odyssey, Bloodborne, The Outer Wilds, The Witcher 3, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Cocoon, The Dredge, and more and more and more.
Up against Overwatch and Destiny as far as critical acclaim and recognition as 'better' for players.
And, let me be honest, even 'for developers' is a lie. Want to know why? Because it's only good for people who can pump out graphics constantly and not overall quest designers, coders, engine devs, etc.
What this guy means is "we can give a lot of cosmetic content to players, who we think players like more because people spend money on it, and it's best for us because we don't have to pay for a full team to create a new game and just the people to pump out new graphics from one season to another." In no way is his comment a true reflection of what is 'better for players' let alone 'better for the industry stability over longer periods of time.'
This is more investor mindset focusing on maximizing profits by getting consumers to buy less for more while they spend less making it. That's it.
You know what's best for players? Newer, better, and more content that is good and not just cosmetic. Live service isn't that unless you pay $60 a year to them to add more for it (like Destiny and CoD do). Then you might get some improvements and new content. Even then? Not usually.
In terms of player feedback/awards yes but the list you made are all nothing in terms of profit.
Call of duty mobile alone laughs at that list that game is a billion dollar money making machine.
Toss in your apex/mmo/rivals/fortnight/robl ox/minecraft monoploy go or back to console with elder scrolls fallout 76.
Basically there is alot more live service style games that hit or go above the billion dollar mark than your list and that is what the people at top want cold hard cash. Heck alot fo them make a billion + a year
Gta 5 single player profit vs gtao profit as a example now that ps5/series has gtao as a free standalone with gta + there printing cash like its going out of style over there.
Being more profitable isn't better for the consumer or developers. That's better for executives in suits.
@Christopher
Umm exactly who do you think pay's the bill's and hands out the games budgets?
They have 0 care about a games award's/feedback its all profit driven some use to care like sony back in the day now its profit first.
0 likes shows how many are still on copium thinking the big publishers care about them
Well the Poll on the website is suggesting he is massively wrong and out of touch.
A big majority of the vote going to "I prefer one off purchases with paid expansions"
Couldn't agree more.
I'll always think the concept is awesome. Back during the PS3 era I pictured a Spider-Man game that would be the traditional open world swinging playground that they typically are but every comic issue would be turned into dlc. It'd be the entirety of the Amazing line, 2 to 3 issues at a time, turnt to dlc until the entire Amazing line is told in form of a game. That concept eventually made it to the industry and they have consistently fk'd it up with every game that has been made as a "service".
There is nothing like sitting down , popping in a great single player game and blocking out the world.
Sometimes I like to log into Fortnite and Call of Duty and just sit and listen to 12 years call me a n*****, f**, m***** f***** just so I can remember why I like to play single player games.
This is Spencer's mindset after the Activision Blizzard acquisition closed
What a horrifically toxic person, im sure in his mind Microsoft already acquired both Sony and Nintendo and they are all that's left in gaming.
Can't wait for 2027!
so... people who express positivity are toxic in your view? That's basically what you are saying right now. I know its easier to hate but it takes real strength to remain positive in the face of negativity.
As for him living rent free in your head... that will be $9.99 now.
This comment proves my earlier comment. There is nothing wrong with you. I have surmised that you are a developer and you are not dumb but in order to claim to be 'down with the Xbox' YOU have to become toxic yourself. He did not say anything you are implying. That's a toxic lie. Spencer is not expressing positivity. THAT is a toxic lie. People are not supposed to be positive in the face of consolidation that will lead to a worse situation for all of us. Ignoring that is TOXIC.
^^man i wish i were a developer. I'm just an average joe who tries to be upbeat and optimistic even when the chips are down.
He sees the writing on the wall, and knows that Xbox GamePass will eventually appear on both Sony and Nintendo's systems.
It has to get on ps and Nintendo or xbox is dead by 2027, that's why. Xbox NEEDS gamepass on everything or they are out of business in 2027.
I don't see why people are disagreeing, Phil said it himself that if GP subs don't dramatically increase by then, Xbox is toast. Logically, the only way to pull that off is for them to go third party, as they aren't just going to magically start selling a ton more consoles. Even a new exclusive Bethesda IP hasn't even started to turn things around for them. They have not far from 100 billion dollars to recoup from all these purchases, and their shareholders will be out for blood soon.
Can't wait to have all those Sony exclusives on my Xbox and on GamePass when MS acquires them 🔥🔥🔥
Lol Xbox is going to be only a publisher by 2027 they won't be buying playstation, they need playstation more than anything to survive 🤣 you are trolling or dumb take your pick. Xbox is done, welcome to the future where xbox is a publisher releasing games on everything and playstation and Nintendo carry on as usual.
Xbox exits the gaming industry as Phil said if they don't get over 100M subs on GamePass by then it's not worth staying.
This number ofc being impossible as GP only has 25M subs now.
Vengeance the courts showed Xbox is more profitable than PS. So that make no sense
@phily
No it didn't 🤣 Mandela effect in action in your world huh, Sony breaking records month on month year on year , xbox "we are a publisher by 2027 because no one is buying gamepass" yeah sounds like it's going well over at xbox. You are a clown 🤡
would we be happy if he had come out and said screw nintendo and playstation? so what the heck do we want? MS have the money to buy and publishers are willing to sell. We have cult like fanboys on this site who will defend their box and brand even if their brand is doing wrong by gamers. Until we mature as a community greed with continue to rule supreme
i am so glad i am now a PC gamer. This nonsense has to stop. I have multiple store fronts offering competetive pricing and the ability to use cheat codes in my single player games to enjoy without all the MT
He wishes he had a community of gamers. I guess buying the market and banning gamers from games seems like a community for him, now everyone is as miserable as an Xbox owner
Maybe he's foreshadowing a future where they're no longer making exclusive games... where the Xbox hardware is like... not as important?
No longer making games? They never made games in the first place, thats how ms made the Xbox the least played platform. All they're doing now is buying up an industry and dictating who is and isn't allowed to play, gamers have got nothing from MSs deals except for less options for where to play and two publishers no longer competing.
MS has never seen Xbox hardware as important. Never.
It why they didn't buy vital parts for OG Xbox.
Why the 360 was rushed causing RRoD.
Why 1st edition XB1 was built around Kinect, and technically crippled as a result.
Its why they're talking more about streaming than Series X while not really talking about how Series S sells better. Is hindering the more powerful system.
Even when MS honestly tried making games, PC specs where more important than their own console. Alan Wake - that quantum game/TV I'm not bothering to recall - and that cop game - I'm also brain farting on - all where first shown on bleeding edge PC rigs, and subsequently failed to live up to first reveals for being built down to the consoles they should have been built for.
Phil/MS might be claiming a win because he bought an industry position Xbox has failed to earn, but if MS lives to type, then all that's going to lead to is disappointment and denial.
@God, i couldn't disagree more. It wasn't until XB1 that MS started leaning into PC and cloud.
Up until then, getting you on Xbox hardware so you buy games via their platform was the ONLY business model that existed. Of course they saw their hardware as important. The OG Xbox had built-in ethernet and was quite a bit more powerful than it's rival PS2. The RROD wasn't on purpose in the 360. The Kinect was a hardware play to gain superiority in the way Nintendo did with their controllers. Now that they have pulled in PC and have expectations around Cloud, maybe they're pivoting their investments to a sector they think they can "win" in, but that's a relatively new concept.
I believe they said it’s more about Gamepass on everything under the sun and that sub model, a possible future without consoles. Now they own most of the industry, crazy!
The deal is done. Activision Blizzard is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Microsoft after two years of regulatory investigations.
Replies(8)Well no new games are coming out of these acquisitions, this is about control over the industry and IP hording for a subscription service. Seeing what a disaster subscription services have been for Hollywood I can't wait for MS to bring the joys of that to gaming.
This entire endeavour is to line the pockets of a handful of extremely wealthy people, they'll dump it as soon as they've sucked it dry or wrecked it.
If this doesn't help to up subscription services for Microsoft by the allotted time frame then nothing. Otherwise a shift to sub-services being the primary way we game and the consequences that come with that.
Microsoft now has 35 Game Studios, while Sony has 14 Game Studios. This is huge.....
Replies(1)
and yet...nothing that compares to, even - ratchet and clank in terms of fun, anyway
More isn’t always better, especially when Microsoft has such a poor track record of handling its own exclusives like Halo and Gears of War. And now Microsoft is in a position where its games are competing with its other games. Developers will be let go. Franchised will die.
And all they can produce is average content for their all you can eat buffet of games instead of allowing these studios to craft evergreen titles
I mean the only thing that has happened so far with these acquisitions is a noticeable downgrade in quality and value in the games produced under MSs management. The only undeniable banger released, Hi-Fi Rush, they really didn't give a sh!t about, just shadow dropped it with quite literally zero marketing. Even to this day the only things I've heard about it have been from word of mouth. So probably just more of that 🤷♂️
"they really didn't give a sh!t about, just shadow dropped it with quite literally zero marketing."
Yeaaaah that's not at all what happened but hey let's just make up things because it's N4G and that's what we do around here.
So sure let's run with that.
https://www.ign.com/article...
Literally the trending term regarding it's release by pretty much anyone that covered it. So who made up what now? 😂
I mean he's not wrong lighting, they did drop it with zero marketing lol
I remember shadow drop was the word of the month and how there should be more shadow drops
Or you could enlighten people with your superior knowledge...but sure let's just run with not actually making a point.
You literally just killed your own argument. It went viral, internally so they shadow dropped it.
Not MS didn't care about the game and didn't want to market it.
Congrats at killing your own argument.
@crows I make way more points than anyone here. Isarai literally just took down his own argument so read his link.
No i didn't LMAO don't know how you came to that conclusion. If it went viral internally, why not drop, at the very least, a trailer and some banners for the game? That game dropped with nothing. Not like MS don't have the money. Even after launch I really don't recall seeing any official marketing for it. Again, if they cared about the game, even minimal marketing would show that.
Also, THAT is not my point, but a sidenote to my point. My point is so far MS has shown nothing but poor management excluding the one game. Every other game has launched with a ton of cut corners, disappointments, and/or caveat to get some fun out of it be it microtransactions, waiting for a roadmap of updates to fix it, or ignoring blaring issues.
It went viral internally? What does that even mean? LOL you still haven't countered anything that was said, because you can't reute facts. I make more points than anyone! Lmao
@Kwiet just read the freakin article isarai linked it for godsakes.
"That's how it actually built up within Bethesda...Some people had played it and they spoke about it to their other [colleagues]. They're like, 'Did you see that game that they're making there?' There's this weird sort of viral positivity to this just playing this game, and Game Pass just felt like an excellent opportunity to let something...lose that skepticism immediately by just playing it and people just talking about it."
It was a positive reception internally and was Skepticism if it was an actual good game or not. A surprise drop that paid off. So I ask again where did MS say didn't the game was crap and didn't care about marketing it like isarai?
Again he owned himself.
I'm talking to 12 years olds I swear... I have to be. Y'all are actual children.
Bro stop, you're just making yourself look stupid 🤣😂
" where did MS say didn't the game was crap and didn't care about marketing it like isarai"
First off learn how to construct a sentence, damn near had an aneurysm trying to read that.
Second, I literally called the game "an undeniable banger", quite the opposite of "crap"
Third, MS didn't "say" anything, and that's the problem. Ironically you proved what I'm saying. Despite it "going viral internally" MS for whatever reason still didn't have any confidence in it. Instead they looked at something obviously good with "skepticism", and so didn't market it as not to dump more money into it. They actually cannot see something great sitting right in front of them.
"viral internally, why not drop, at the very least, a trailer and some banners for the game?"
Why does it matter? It had over 2 million players and Tango even opened up new posistions and expanded the studio. Complaining for no reason.
"Again, if they cared about the game, even minimal marketing would show that."
Nintendo dropped Metroid Prime remaster from GameCube with out advertisement I guess they "didn't care"about that game also right? Btw that game also turned about to be a success. So where does it say MS didn't give a shit about Hifi like you claimed?
Sometimes just releasing a game is better than over hyped ad campaigns. Yes they even advertised the game afterwards through ads on social media Xbox store etc. You're not winning this argument so might as well stop while you're ahead.
As for the rest your comment your taking about Redfall. What Microtransactions? Forza or Redfall doesn't have Microtransaction? Question why do you make up things?
"Why does it matter?" ... So when you've been proven wrong, you just say it doesn't matter? 🤣If it doesn't matter why are you so hellbent on proving otherwise? I couldn't have asked for a funnier argument. And if you want the answer to that go back and read my comments, learn to read and do your own research. Figure it out.
Been seeing this for years since Crackdown 3 was one of my earliest realisations that the quality wasn't there and gamepass with simply a dumping ground.
Sure they may have one big game per year that receives a little extra love but happily shive something like halo infinite out there to be picked apart for a few weeks by the masses
"First off learn how to construct a sentence, damn near had an aneurysm trying to read that.
Second, I literally called the game "an undeniable banger", quite the opposite of "crap"
I was multitasking. This how it all went down.
You said "Hi-Fi Rush, they really didn't give a sh!t"
You linked an article that went completely went against your little theory in fact they said it was a positive reception internally. I asked where didn't say MS didn't give a crap about the game?
"Third, MS didn't "say" anything, and that's the problem."
Ok cool so clearly did give a damn about the game. Btw the shadow drop was 100% on Tango.
"MS for whatever reason still didn't have any confidence in it."
Not enough confidence they showed it off at the xbox direct and dropped it that same day? Again it was Tangos call to do so not MS. You don't have any facts just the typical "MS is bad 100% of the time because so that must be it!" Argument. Yeah it's not gonna fly and you'll have to try harder than that.
"Why does it matter?" ... So when you've been proven wrong,"
Proven wrong about what!? You didn't prove Jack. You were concern trolling about hi fi not having marketing and said MS didn't care about the game. In which I not only showed you where you were wrong in your own post, that you linked, you decided to make up claims that MS didn't care about the game. In which again they made a whole direct about Hifi and dropped out that same damn day hence "shadow drop" and it was Tango who made that call.
One last time and keep up. I said why does it matter in the grand scheme of things when the game was a success regardless of marketing? Context is everything.
It's a K. O. I told you were losing this one.
Smart of you to avoid the microtransactions comment. You knew you were wrong.
HOLY SHIT!!
Probably run back to ms if they get a offer
This is great news for Bungie and the game. Activision put too many restrictions on them. The game could head in exciting directions now.
Divorced and have taken full custody of their child. About damn time.
Yeah well it makes no difference now, they got a taste of the money and Destiny won't change in the future
I think people will get suckered into Destiny 3 with this now thinking it'll be improved without Activision but they are too far gone, they are better continuing to improve Destiny 2 with the community they have as their little money pit and make a new single player driven game with drop in/out co-op.