Ninja Theory trends on X as gamers fear for studio following Tango Gameworks closure

Following the closure of 4 studios, many are now worried for the future of Ninja Theory once Hellblade 2 is released.

[RaidenBlack]

better sell than close

[Sonic1881]

How is it going to sell well when it's also releasing on gamepass 🤔

[Sephiroushin]

Meant better to sell the studio and not closing it 🤦🏻 not to sell more games….
and games are sold anyways, you can buy it on xbox (not recommended if you got gamepass) but many pc gamers prefer to buy on steam than deal with the xbox app or pc gamepass!

On a side note to OP, the sales of studios wont happen though, especially when they want to retain the IPs, and well nobody is gonna buy a studios without its IPs; the other publishers that want a certain dev from the studio that are closing on their team can try to grab them as soon as they see they notice of the studio.

[RaidenBlack]

@Sephiroushin
Well hypothetically speaking, Ninja Theory can be sold to Sony at a lower rate sans the Hellblade IP.
Sony can then welcome them to work on the Heavenly Sword IP, which they still own.
Will be a nice proposition for Sony who can continue to offer a God of War-like hack n slash in their portfolio via Heavenly Sword 2, whilst Cory Barlog & co. decides to take a break from the God of War IP & venture some other genres.
On top of that, Ninja Theory was also interested in a sequel to Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and such Sony can come to a deal with Namco Bandai regarding the Enslaved IP.

[badz149]

selling the studio wouldn't be an attractive offer unless they come with their IPs. MS wants to keep these IPs, so even if MS is selling just the studio, no one would wants them

[Lightning77]

Because they're next come next year. HB2 won't hit some impossible metric within MS so they're getting axed in 2025. Leave gaming now MS.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Ninja theory might as well be gone in 2025 at this rate

[notachance]

Every xbox studio is in danger now because there’s just no way they’re gonna rake in big money from game sales because of gamepass, even CoD was rumored to not come to gamepass because it would canibalize their sales number.

[neutralgamer1992]

If they are smart they don’t put COD on GP day one. It’s one of the best selling games on yearly basis

[Hofstaderman]

Satya will make sure that doesnt happen. As you rightly put it; why kill the cash cow?

But then again, it is MS after all.....

[thesoftware730]

I agree and disagree. They should not put it on GP, but CoD makes real money from the overpriced MTX that people buy for over a year. They also have it all linked up to the Mobile CoD, which will incentivize Twitch spending from consumers.

[neutralgamer1992]

Software

That’s true but keep in mind COD is the best selling or top 3 selling game every year. So yes micro transactions money is there but so are billions more

They should have tiers of GP subscriptions and the higher end tier received AAA games while everyone else gets them in 60 days

[MontyeKristo]

Wouldn't putting it on Gamepass be smarter? Cod is typically played, I believe, for far longer than 6 months.. if you get everyone playing the game for a year, on Gamepass, you've essentially doubled your profit. $10 a month for a year $120 compared to selling the game once for $60.

Not to mention MT's, on top of it. Sell on PS5, PC and Switch, keep it on Gamepass for Xbox and PC. Much smarter in my opinion..

[-Foxtrot]

Also if you punish a studio for releasing a great critically acclaimed game which won some awards then what chance does anyone have

[Elda]

After this mess, I highly doubt the next installment of COD will be on Gamepass day one. It'll probably land on Gamepass 6 months after release date.

[Noskypeno]

Like I said earlier, I wouldn't even mind. There's a good selection of games on GP already, and it gives me time to play my backlog of games while allowing the games that need to sell millions of copies to make a profit a chance to succeed, a win win scenario.

[badz149]

not putting CoD on GP is sort of a violation of their own marketing though. they said ALL MS 1st party games will be on GP day 1, not some. CoD is 1st party, so to not put it on GP day 1 would be considered as false marketing.

[Elda]

Get ready...lol!

[Rynxie]

Ninja theory games were never big sellers. I could be wrong, but I doubt hellblade 2 will sell millions. I would rather they go independent and make heavenly sword 2.

[solideagle]

heavenly sword is Sony owned IP. this will never happen as original didn't sell enough...

Wikipedia: "In 2008, it was reported that a sequel to Heavenly Sword was in-development at SCE Studio Cambridge, but was canceled due to Sony no longer seeing it as a commercially viable product"

[Flewid638]

I remember. I feel like the amount of time & technology that has passed would make a sequel a big seller now. The game has enough legacy recognition to build hype.

[SimpleDad]

Hi-Fi Rush scenario: released on Gamepass - no sales, release on PS5 - handful of sales, than an email from dr. Phil:
- we so proud of your creative and immersive world and you will always be in our hearts...
but you know where the door is.

[badz149]

err...Dr Phil has nothing to do with this. Phil Spencer has no PhD

[andron]

Original Ninja left already.....

[purple101]

xbox has closed more studios this year, than they have released games. let that sink in

[Barlos]

I mean, it doesn't matter how good it is, if it's on Gamepass then it won't sell.

If I were working for Ninja Theory or any MS studio i think I'd be looking for another job. I wouldn't think anyone would be safe.

[Profchaos]

I just don't know how tango and arkane got shut down when Microsoft let toys for Bob leave the stable.

There would have been room for people to work on cod surely.

Alongside that 343 hasn't done anything worthwhile since well ever they hemorrhaged money developing the slipstream engine which was so bad it's not even being used for the next halo game and they butchered the one good franchise Microsoft had yet they get a pass

[badz149]

Toys for Bob left MS and ABK with nothing but its people. sort of like a resignation from MS and ABK if you like but it's not like they bought themselves out like Bungie either.

[Profchaos]

It makes sense but tfb staff must of been performing some sort of work for Activision that gap surely needs to be filled.

Unless tfb was on the chopping block aswell

[badz149]

@Profchaos

but it was not like TfB got off scott free though. before they decided to leave by signing an agreement with MS and ABK, based on the report:

"It's not all sunshine and rainbows. 86 employees were let go earlier this year as part of broader cuts at Xbox, and its physical studio in Novato, California has shut down. It's possible Toys for Bob's move to independent development was part of a broader move to save the studio long-term, and didn't come without a heavy cost."

their studio was being torn apart by MS, so they decided to leave to save their people. let's hope they get back and running soon with their new game.

[fsfsxii]

We are witnessing the death of xbox lets gooo
I hope the people affected land on their feet asap tho

[SimpleSlave]

Hardly any games and a whole lotta closing down studios. I didn't realize Microsawft was spelled Embracer Group. Weird...

[PassNextquestion]

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice after selling 500,000 copies turned a profit only 3 months after it's launch. Hellblade sold over 1 million copies by June 2018.

Gamepass won't help a game like this as it's single player that takes about 8 hours to finish. Cheaper just to get a month of gamepass finish it and play other games aswell.

[ocelot07]

I really hope the Xbox fans that are interested in this actually buy it and not rent it. Or if you are on the fence try it for a hour on gamepass if you enjoy it buy it. If you don't fair enough uninstall.

I don't expect anyone who has no interest in supporting this. I'm not as I couldn't get into the original.

[Jingsing]

The is short so it is a double negative for Microsoft. Less likely people will double dip on it.

[Rikimaru-00]

didn't some developer already stated that game pass is not good.

[ocelot07]

Revolver digital just came out saying they much rather sell games to gamers rather than have them on subscription services like gamepass and ps+.

[MetroidFREAK21]

I have no interest in this personally

[talocaca]

This game will very likely not sell. The original was relatively well received but bot a huge seller.

This is a sequel, given for free on Game pass and not available on other platforms.

It's not a game that is big enough to drive subscriptions, and very few people will actually pay for the game.

This "business" model is a mess and Microsoft is to blame 🤷‍♂️ the game would have done well as a $50 multiplatform release.

Ninja Theory should've known better.

[Noskypeno]

If Microsoft were smart they would let the games sell for 3 months at regular price for a chance at making money, then put the games on game pass after that, like what Hollywood used to do. Even tho Microsoft is a trillion dollar company that can afford to support these companies even if they don't make a billion in it's first year, they have to listen to people that tell them to stop the support if it's not a major success.

[ocelot07]

Agreed,

Bet you in 6 months or 12 months they will release it on ps5. But it won't sell all that good compared to if they released it same time as Xbox.

[RNTody]

It's inevitable. Watch this space. There's no way Ninja Theory is part of MS' future plans. Their games have a niche audience.

We'll see Ninja Theory go independent in future.

[Relientk77]

Toys for Bob are so lucky they got to leave and be Indie. Microsoft probably would have closed them too.

[jwillj2k4]

“Shut it down.”

What was the point of these mergers to take the ips and destroy them?

[Barlos]

They're not destroying the IPs. It's the IPs they want, not the studios.

[jwillj2k4]

That’s essentially the same thing. Look at rare.

[badboyz09]

Gamers not buying games lol

[anast]

Walking sims aren't known to pull in a ton of money. They are next. Good thing the bosses of Ninja Theory cashed in.

[Elda]

I've stated this in a couple of articles that XB fans should support Hellblade 2 by buying the game first & foremost instead of renting the game. Solely sales matter. If the game doesn't sell well MS may shut Ninja Theory down as well.

[Traecy]

Before that happens more than likely Hellblade 2 will release on the PS5 to see how well it sells.

[Walalon]

Anyone working on any studio on the hands of MS are shaking like crazy and we all know why... They can "make a great game" and still lose his/her job because stupid suit guys that thinks they now better the market than people who make games. It's so sad and this year beat up last year in losing jobs and it's just May...

[BlaqMagiq1]

Mark my words. This will sell terribly, get middling review scores, Xbox will say it didn't meet expectations, and they will shut down Ninja Theory. Not a matter of if, but a matter of when.

[Hereandthere]

Microsoft, Sarah and phil are going to toss them in the trash after hellblade 2 releases, you best believe!!

[repsahj]

First, they sell it separately, and then, after 6 months, they should put it in GamePass. No matter how good your game is, not many people will buy it if it is released at the same time on GamePass.

[Skuletor]

Ninja Theory employees must be updating their CV's as we speak.

[Jingsing]

If not buying it means it comes to PlayStation then I guess I'm not buying it.

[gleepot]

I think we all know where this is heading. This game has had a very long development time and bloated budget. It's not the type of game to sell gangbusters. They will close.