rymanb writes:
Developer Spotlight is a new series of articles focusing on video game companies across the globe. In each article, we’ll examine a specific developer’s journey in the video game industry; looking at the games they’ve made, the evolution of the company, as well as interviews with the developers themselves! Our first installment focuses on Ninja Theory, a small but growing game developer based in Cambridge (UK) – with Dominic Matthews (of Ninja Theory) answering some questions about the company.
Following the closure of 4 studios, many are now worried for the future of Ninja Theory once Hellblade 2 is released.
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.
@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.
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
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.
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.
If they are smart they don’t put COD on GP day one. It’s one of the best selling games on yearly basis
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.....
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.
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
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..
Also if you punish a studio for releasing a great critically acclaimed game which won some awards then what chance does anyone have
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.
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.
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.
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.
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"
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.
Former Hellblade director and Ninja Theory co-founder has offered an explanation regarding his departure from the now Microsoft-owned studio.
It is a good studio.. i really enjoyed their dmc game that i platinumed it.
I did not try hellblade, because it doesnt tell me much.. Enslaved was very mehhh
Heavenly Sword was good not great. Amazing graphics back in the day but so repetitive and not so engaging in the long run.
I really enjoyed Enslaved and Heavenly Sword back in the day. Wish they'd return to that sort of game. Hellblade isn't really for me to be honest. Not saying it's not a good game, I just couldn't get into it.
That is fair. I enjoyed Hellblade but can definitely see how it isn’t for everyone.
Would like to see how Heavenly Sword would have turned out if developed today. It’s easy to forget that games like Heavenly Sword were unprecedented and in their infancy.
Enslaved has been their favorite game for me. Loved the atmosphere.
Heavenly sword was a staggeringly good game!! One of the most memorable of the PS3 generation in my opinion.
Heavenly sword was good. It had ambitious graphics and as a result the frame rate suffered and as a result the gameplay suffered. But the story was phenomenal. Great acting, especially Andy Serkis as the king.
"Microsoft" we all read between the lines. We have seen the exact same thing happen with many of their other acquisitions
One thing that pleasantly surprised me, was the Switch port, as back then it was my only console. The graphics were amazing and the artistic design helped a lot to enhance the visuals.I took some really impressive screen shots while playing which I still revisit them from time to time to remind me what a capable developer (QLOC) can achieve with weaker hardware.
According to FTC filings, Microsoft acquired Ninja Theory for $117 million.
Ninja Theory is made of very talented and passionate developers.
I´m glad that saw that studio´s potential and chose it to be part of the Xbox family!
Now under Xbox they´re AAA and has all the freedom and resources in the world to deliver amazing games for us!
Thank you Phil and Tameem Antoniades.
@Obscure_Observer
"oh thank you so much Xbox! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! I bend the knee for you my lord!" 🤣🤣
Ninja theory is okay. Not great.
The potential??? Remind us all who they've tapped their potential? What new IP are they working on???
Oh wait...that's right. They needed a cinematic story driven IP ...hellblade was well received so they bought them for peanuts.
And let's see.. what are they currently working on and to what scope compared to before??
Basically the same game but #2
Similar situation to the tomb raider sequel except this time they made this sequel a permanent exclusive.
@knush
Oh crap you're right. Lol that thing was definitely a result of the Microsoft acquisition.
Ninja Theory has alot of potential, but Hellblade 2 needs more action gameplay before I get excited. They did well with Heavenly Sword & DMC games so hopefully we'll see a full blown new action IP from them after H2.
@4sh0W
Just imagine what they could do...people falsely claiming hellblade 2 is like god of war...Heavenly sword, which was a playstation exclusive, was more in competition with god of war.
"Oh wait...that's right. They needed a cinematic story driven IP ...hellblade was well received so they bought them for peanuts."
MS paid $117 million for Ninja Theory which at the time was an indie studio made of only 20 people.
Sony paid $229 million for Insomniac which at the time were made of 400 employees.
That was a steal! Lol!
"And let's see.. what are they currently working on and to what scope compared to before??"
The original Hellblade was developed and produced by only 20 people (Melinda included).
As an Xbox first party studio, Ninja Theory has now 200+ employees and Hellblade II will be full AAA game powered by UE5. In term of scope, the original Hellblade only features only small areas to explore, while in Hellblade II gamers will be allowed to explore all areas of Iceland.
"Basically the same game but #2"
Lol. You´re in for a major shock! XD
@obscure
There will be shock...but It think itll be all over you.
The same but number 2 wasnt meant as an insult. I liked the first one..so I know I'll like the second. You probably didnt care for the first one for a couple of reasons.
1. They were you referred to it as a small indie game
2. It wasnt an xbox exclusive
Youll be in shock when its pretty much the same but number 2. Number 2 of any game is ALWAYS bigger.
God of War Ragnarok is essentally God of War but number 2. Same kind of game but bigger in scope.
Obscure
You really think he gives a damn about you or me thanking him? Seriously man does it not bother you at all that you are such a huge fanboy of Xbox and your comments come across like cult members
Be a gamer for gaming these corporations don’t care about any of us. We are dollar signs to them
On topic
I am glad for NT because their last game they struggled so much just to complete it and companies even provided equipment just for them to get the work done. Now they have peace of mind with resources they need. Hopefully they can naturally grow into a bigger studio and make some amazing games
They're mid tier devs at best. Failed to nail one of their biggest shots with Heavenly Sword, went way over their weight limit with DMC: DmC, and got lucky with apparent one-shot, B title Hellbalde. Which MS expects them to make into a franchise?
I'll just wait for the first "Hellbalde better than GOW" article. Cause that's going to be fun...
Mid developer remains mid lol Wake me up when they actually put out something half decent haha
It's funny how no one called them mid tier until Xbox acquired them. People loved Heavenly Sword, Enslaved, Hellblade, etc, but now they're suddenly mid tier? Touch grass.
@porkchop
I mean, you called it out first and you're not wrong.
DmC definitely got the shaft, yet it was successful and a good game. The closest thing they ever released to be considered "mid" was Heavenly Sword.
It's Bad now but great here. https://n4g.com/news/208826...
Even saying support Hell Blade because Shadow Of Wars Microtransactions.
Scroll down a little bit and you'll even see Obscures comment. He may be A hardcore Xbox fanboy but at least he's consistent here. Can't say the same in these comment sections.
While the corporate xbox ass licking is as pathetic as it gets. How is it any different to the Sony usuals in here that sprout this pathetic crap on a daily basis!
They both need to get filtered elsewhere so the grown ups can talk like adults.
Enslaved was just mediocre. So I doubt they'll bring that back. Tbh most of their games were mediocre including Hellblade. That felt like a walking simulator
Enslaved was a sleeper hit which it was and is still a great game to play. If a person who missed out on it I would say snag it off Ebay and play it. It's still one of my favorite games.
It was a good game, but....just good, not great nor it interesting. Maybe the background of the characters aren't well told, lack of lore, just start and play. I gave it 8. Good but easily forgettable. Yeah you may call it mediocre. NT is quite talented, but they lack something.
@Knight
I never felt like their games were great. Just solid or mediocre but that's my opinion. I am still interested in playing Hellblade 2 on PC because of the graphics. I think this game is going to look fantastic on PC
Damn this really puts into perspective yet again how good a deal sony got for insomniac...the workhorse of the industry at this point.
That was the 1st thing that came to my mind, Sony got Insomniac for pennies and they've been pumping out great games since this gen started nonstop. Amazing.
I somewhat disagree. They bought Bungie for the expertise. The largest chunk of Bungie was for talent retention; they paid more to make sure everyone stayed at Bungie. Sony wants talent, IP's are just a bonus because they know they can and will create more.
@MEGANE I know I’m going to get downvoted to hell, because this is n4g and people here hate GAAS games. But how the hell did they lose on Bungie? Do you know how much money Destiny will bring and Marathon will bring? Lol
I get it, but a couple Billion more and they could have bought square enix… a publisher full of IPs… I don’t disagree with acquiring bungie but 3.5 billion and sony can’t even dictated exclusivity? Please.
They have High potential. Add some good combat mechanics and action to go with the graphics and story telling. Ad you got a mega hit.
NT is mediocre at best, they need to get rid of this gay freak here
http://i54.tinypic.com/sx2e...