VideoGame_Discussion

Groo wrote:

Yeah, they are killing the XS because of the SS support. Its pathetic. I know the S is cheaper and more people bought it because of that. But it makes owning an X pointless. All games run way worse on the X than a PS5. Even their own games they just released on PS5 run better on PS5 than the damn X.

Microsoft should’ve just done what Sony did. Come out with a baseline, digital only SX and make it a little bit cheaper. But no they wanted to make an all digital console a whole lot cheaper than Sony‘s digital PS5 and now look where it got them. For shame.

It got them a butt-ton of gamepass subscribers. That's literally all anyone I know who has one does with it.

And that’s probably all MS cares about at the end of the day. Those lucrative subs.

TalonJedi87 wrote:

With the recent discussion that the game pass deals for developers have gotten a lot skimpier, I can't imagine they were actually making much money on it.

They just wanted the explosive growth and kept throwing money as the subs kept coming in, but now that things have hit a bit of a plateau, they have no idea what to do next. (Because apparently "make amazing games" is off the table)

I mean they ate up all these studios years ago and are only just starting to trickle out games this year. I read an article the other day that said that a lot of those studios development teams that Microsoft purchased are on standby shrugging not knowing what to do next or where it’s going to go. I guess Microsoft doesn’t know either. They were so worried about chasing the cars and when they finally caught the shiny cars they now kinda sorta don’t know what to do with them. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’m sure Hellblade II will do well (even at that locked 30fps nonsense) And that Indiana Jones game looks pretty sweet. But I feel like there’s so much more they could be doing with all these studios by now instead of letting them all hang back and hang around like a turd floating around in the toilet, waiting for them to flush and get on with it.

I don't know why anyone is surprised that they don't know what to do with these developers they bought.

You can just look at the last 20 years of games developed by Rare.

They started off on a weird foot with Grabbed by the Ghoulies, but then the Conker remake at least was pretty well received. On 360 they started pretty strong with Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero, and then got weird again with Viva Pinata.

People thought they had finally got their old mojo back when a new Banjo Kazooie was announced, and then it wasn't really a sequel but a vehicle building game?

Then Microsoft decided Rare's talent would best be realized by making Kinect Sports in 2020. And then again in 2011. And again in 2014.

But wait, Killer Instinct was released in 2013! A reboot of Rare's beloved fighting game series would surely be a project Rare could sink their teeth into. NO. WE WILL GIVE THIS TO ANOTHER DEVELOPER, DOUBLE HELIX, WHOSE MOST RECENT PRIOR RELEASE WAS BATTLESHIP BASED ON THE MOVIE BASED ON THE TABLETOP GAME. RARE MAY ONLY SUPERVISE. FROM A DISTANCE. AFTER THEIR KINECT GAME WORK FOR THE DAY.

At least we got Rare Replay in 2015, a collection chock full of nostalgia and reminders that Rare's best days were behind them as long as Kinect was a thing Microsoft incorrectly believed people wanted.

Finally in 2018 there was Sea of Thieves, a games-as-a-service success story thanks to being different and engaging (and also being free on gamepass)

But what about the Battletoads reboot? Once again Rare would be providing only a support role on an IP they created. The game would be developed by Dlala Studios instead because fudge Rare.

(Back to 2005, It's Mr. Pants! for GBA was kinda fun too)

I am not surprised as much as I am disappointed. I loved Xbox growing up and wanted them to do right and succeed, but they’re just repeating the same mistakes of the past it seems.

I'm not too disappointed. Games still look good on my X.

I am playing Hogwarts Legacy and Diablo 4 on mine. SX still Got the Green on the inside.

YES. About time they came back to this. Please finish adding all the OG xbox and xbox 360 games that haven't been added yet. One of the main reasons I continue to own an xbox is because I can play so many BC games from older generations. The way PlayStation handles this is joke.

Yeah, I’ve always said that Xbox actually cares about the past generations that allows gamers to play the majority of their games from the first generation of Xbox to now on modern consoles whereas Sony is just like yeah F U pay me more to stream the old stuff whereas MS is like hey if you got a disc from 2001 fire it up! (Mostly). I’m actually happy to hear that they’re getting a team together too bring forth even more old-school Xbox games from older generations to be able to play on modern consoles. There’s still a handful in my collection that are missing from BC and I’m hoping that they’re going to once and for all just announce that every single game will be playable from Xbox and Xbox 360 on modern Xbox consoles.

TalonJedi87 wrote:


I don't know if this means they're adding more games though. Back in 2021 they specifically said "we have reached the limit of our ability to bring new games to the catalog from the past due to licensing, legal and technical constraints." (technical being the games that require peripherals).
https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2021/11/15/70-new-back...

Ya I recall that too so that article they posted recently is a bit perplexing then.

It reads to me as though they are reaffirming their commitment to hardware.

If you click through to the story instead of just reading the twitter post, they also specifically mention preserving your digital library, so I don't think more OG Xbox BC is what they are announcing.

Finally! Been waiting for Jedi Survivor to make it to Gamepass. Letting people here know in case they were considering buying it. Supposedly coming out on Thursday.

https://www.xboxachievements.com/news/star-wars-je...

Play it! it's buggy and has some glitches but I had fun with it for sure. Can't wait for the next one.

Downloading it now. Fallen Order wasn’t perfect either but definitely was a lot of fun. I’m hearing good things about Survivor. I was playing RDR2 but going to pause that and play this because I only have a few months left on my GPU sub and not sure if I want to renew.

Jedi Survivor was great minus some glitches. I’m still salty I can’t platinum it cause of a stupid glitch where 2 priorite shards won’t spawn.

Oh that sucks to be so damn close.

Super frustrating dude. And I tried all the YouTube tricks around it and still nope. Hopefully they patch it but I’m not holding my breath as it’s been a year now and they still haven’t addressed it.

Staraang wrote:

Is it less challenging/easier than the 1st game? I had to rage quit the 1st one because i got stuck on some of the more harder Souls-like sequences. I'd like get back into it with the sequel.

Simon_Belmont wrote:

Didn’t try it yet, hope to be able to play this weekend. You should give the first one another whirl. I’m not even that great of a gamer but managed to muddle through it. You’re almost certainly a more hardcore gamer than me and can likely beat it if I can.

I would get frustrated too and had to try some sequences particularly boss battles repeatedly. I found the key is to build up your skills. Initially I tried over and over to beat some enemies when I first encountered them. Nearly ragequit myself until I realized some of them are nearly impossible until you’ve leveled up especially by acquiring some of the really powerful attacks.

I’ll try the 2nd game out and report back.

Alright, got to play Survivor some. Got past the first boss and it's overall quite similar in gameplay to the first game. Overall mechanics and controls are the same and just as good as ever. Some of the camera angle issues are still there but I know this was a bigger deal to others than me. The stances and new skills are cool. There haven't really been any significant puzzles yet. So far I wouldn't call the game especially difficult but a big part of that is I'm already familiar with the controls and some of the fighting tactics.

The thing that struck me most especially when I started the game is how the graphical detail of the environments has been improved. Coruscant looks amazing. So far I'm enjoying the story but it's really just getting started so we'll see how it goes.

Microsoft has shutdown four Bethesda studios, Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog Games, and Roundhouse Studios. The closure of Arkane Austin, means the people who paid for the premium edition of Redfall will now not get the DLC they paid for (which is already over a year behind schedule). And Alpha Dog is the team who made all the modern Doom games. And Tango Gameworks is the team that made Hi-Fi rush, which was a massive hit. And Roundhouse is just being merged into Zenimax Online to work on ESO.

Wow I’m A little shocked to hear about Tango. I loved hi-fi rush. I guess this is just Microsoft realizing that gee maybe we shouldn’t have spent $68 billion on a single studio. And billions before that on smaller studios when it doesn’t look too sexy on our annual financial report card.

The entire industry has a HUGE cost problem. Games are too big and too expensive. Things really need to change. Even Media Molecule was on the chopping block for Sony when they had their wave of cuts recently. It just sucks and makes me worry for devs like Ninja Theory and Obsidian if their games don't hit. If Tango can make Xbox's most critically acclaimed game in a decade and still get shut down, then anything is possible. And I feel for Arkane Austin. I didn't play Redfall and I know it wasn't a hit, but Prey was very good.

Hope those folks all land on their feet.

Heavyd814life wrote:

It seems to be pretty much entirely western studios getting axed.

Even when Japanese companies like Sony are cutting, you don't see news about anyone at Polyphony Digital for example facing job cuts. Instead you hear about Naughty Dog (American), Insomniac (American), Guerilla Games (Dutch), and London Studio (British).

Maybe it's not the entire industry that has the cost problem.

(Insert smug looking Nintendo picture here.)

Gamers are creating an environment where nothing but new AAA is acceptable. Severely criticizing remakes, games inspired by others, sequels etc. [ironically they buy the same crap repeatedly, guard it from criticism and sink thousands of hours into it annually] Companies have naively started going down that road- big money big new game. @benstylus may be onto something in a sense because it does seem that more eastern influence on a company equates to more willingness to stick with what works and subtly build on it - as opposed to overly ambitious earth shattering reinventions of gaming that the western climate (gamers) is seemingly calling for.

Even an industry layman can tell you that the money is in the annual rehashes and recurring franchises. This sucks for gaming in general but it’s the obvious path of least resistance. I was hopeful that things like big mergers would equate to taking on the easy money from the annual cash cows and mobile; and then reinvesting it in more creative experiences- but unfortunately it looks like raking in that easy money is the only true desire.

I mean, I guess it’s the same application for the movie And film industry. Instead of creating new original ideas, they just are now relying on existing IP’s and rehashing and creating requels and reboots galore because it’s the safer route and they are simply banking on peoples nostalgia. And let’s get real folks, Nostalgia, like sex, sells and is one hell of a drug.

Archer wrote:

Alpha Dog only did the 'Mighty Doom' mobile game, not the reboot and 'Eternal.' I played about 10 minutes of 'Mighty Doom' before I couldn't take it anymore. Arkane Austin is a shock, but I think Tango Gameworks was heading this way already. Most everyone behind their major releases had already left, including the founder. Maybe there just wasn't enough creativity there anymore. I'm speculating of course.

I do agree there's a inflated budget problem, but I don't think it's just games. We've seen this in film for a couple of decades already.

I also don't think it's on the consumer either. The industry was a glut, especially the PS4/Xbox One era, with remasters and half-baked re-releases that no one asked for that big publishers were trying to make a quick buck on, and we're still seeing that a little. But new IPs just take time, AAA or not. That does lead to over-inflated budgets. That fact is, and this is more obvious in games than movies, tech is expensive. Games aren't hour long 2D hops from the 80s and 90s anymore that 10 or less people could make. To make a cinematic game takes a lot of tech and a lot of money. Though some indies are finding a better balance.

People complain about it, but I think SEGA has it right with the 'Like a Dragon' series. Sure there was some low moments and padding within certain entries, but for the most part, that whole series is at the top of cinematic story telling, with, for my money, some of the best narratives in gaming, but they reuse assets like there's no tomorrow. I'm guessing one of those games is a fraction of the cost to make than any of Sony's narrative games, yet their stories stand right next to them.

I'm not entirely sure it's all nostalgia. Some of it is just familiarity.

Take for example people who go to McDonalds when they travel. They aren't necessarily going because they have such fond memories of past McDonalds trips, they are going because it's more or less a known quantity.

Sure they could check Google for a highly rated local hole in the wall, but what if they don't like it? Better to just stick to what you know.

And in a world where rentals stores are all but dead and games typically cost $60-$70, sticking with what you know is seen by most consumers as the safer option. Maybe you won't get wowed as often, but you also aren't likely to get burned as often.

TalonJedi87 wrote:

Entertainment is the opium of the people. It is the blue pill of a soulless world.

This is unfortunate for those involved, but I don't see how it's much different vs. what's been happening to EA, Embracer, Square-Enix and others, i.e. I don't think explicitly blaming M$ nor the merger with Bethesda made this worse necessarily. Seems likely that Bethesda and ActBlizKing were going to shrink anyhow. Not absolving crummy execs either, plenty of blame to go 'round. The pandemic caused studio's to grow and demand for games went up when the world was in lockdown, that ended, economy hasn't recovered, games are absurdly expensive to make, especially when trash like SBI and Blackrock DEI crap gets crammed into the mix. Plus overall gaming is likely shrinking a bit for a number of different reasons. Not trying to open the DEI/SBI can here, but it's a growing factor in the industry and right or wrong, lots of gamers are rejecting it and that's having effects on sales.

Specifically for these 3 studios:
Arkane Austin - Redfall was a huge screwup for a very hyped game that surely M$ and Bethesda wanted/expected more out of. Prey and Dishonored earned them a rep that they completely tarnished with Redfall.
Tango Gameworks - Hi-Fi Rush was solid and their previous The Evil Within games were good too, but Hi-Fi should've gone to PS5 sooner and like someone else said, the founder left and surely many other key talents followed him.
Alpha Dog Games - Mighty Doom was alright, it was a phone game so what does one expect. I played it a good while ago but I simply don't spend real $$ on mobile games.

Slickriven wrote:

Mobile is such a weird space. Either you hit it huge and rake in billions or you stay small. There really aren't any halfway success stories in thst space that I'm aware of.

Redfall was not that bad. It was worse than Dishonored 2, and the expectations were too high for Redfall to meet them, but it was fun. It’s even less of a big deal given that it was on Game Pass day one. Arkane Austin deserved better.

I just read that Alan Wake 2 still hasn't recoop'd it's dev costs. I feel that it being digital-only significantly impacted sales, but general consensus seems rather positive for the game and it sold well enough. But this would have sunk other studios. That's a pretty scary business to be in.

Hi-Fi Rush is great, and I can't imagine that studio is all that big? But if profits weren't strong enough MS just doesn't want the risk and with hardware tanking, and all that spent acquisition money, they need to build a bit of a war chest.

Anxiouz wrote:

I loved the first 'Alan Wake,' but I still primarily purchase physical and I know a vocal minority spoke out against the choice of digital only. That said, I fully expect a physical release once all the DLC is out. What really hurt AW2 was being an Epic Store exclusive. Not being on Steam is was really hindered its sales. I wonder if they count the money they got from Epic as part of re-couping devs costs or not. I'm guessing not.


I played this on Game Pass, like most. I'm guessing, over the past year, Microsoft is finding that putting these games on Game Pass is severely affecting sales and the breakdown of subs is not making up the cost difference. It's another game that I would've bought physically in a heart beat, and was excited for the announcement from Limited Run Games that they will be doing the physical, even if it is LRG. Hopefully that still happens. I understand the thought process of having smaller games being perfect for a subscription service, I agree with that to an extent, but it doesn't seem to be worth the cost even with smaller budgets. Who knows at this point. I think Microsoft has worked themselves into a corner with Game Pass. That I could've told them from early on.

Gamepass is the new PS farm system. Get that word of mouth out there and then get the sales.

I don't know. Most of the games on Game Pass are also available on PlayStation's premium service or their monthly freebies anyway. There are exceptions, but it's a pretty big overlap. Unless people are itching to get something on PS before it hits those options.