Xbox Has Entered An Agreement To Publish The Next Game From Toys For Bob

They made a smart move going independent so they can't ever be forced to be a COD support studio again. Also Microsoft won't be able to shut down like Tango and Arkane.

Looking forward to Spyro 4 this series has always been my favourite platformer. I prefer to forget that the Sierra games were ever made.

I think that’s the second Xbox deal like this in the last three days.
They seem to be doing more now at Xbox finally.

Is this a sign that MS is finally getting more aggressive with 3rd party exclusivity deals? Guess we’ll see…

Paying to publish these smaller kind of games is cheaper and less risky than funding multiple studios to make them. If they happen to fail then they can just move on and not worry about it instead of continuously paying for the building, wages, Healthcare, taxes, etc.

@RIghteousNixon it's more than likely going to be a third party game to do with either Crash or Spyro still. The studio themselves actually gain more from this since they don't risk getting shut down by them in the future I can't see whatever game it is being exclusive from a studio they recently let go.

@UltraGuy And I will make my own Toys for Me and apply a 60fps update for Spyro Reignited Trilogy and Crash Team Racing.

@BacklogBrad That's Nintendo's strategy. They pay studios to make their games to minimise risks and costs, but in Nintendo's case some of the magic is gone that way.

@RIghteousNixon I was wondering that as well. Microsoft definitely seems to be picking up steam with courting third-party developers for games.

Right now, we have Kojima Productions, Toys for Bob, and potentially Hundred Star all doing games that will be funded and published by Microsoft.

I feel like there was another third-party studio confirmed to be doing something with Microsoft, but I could be wrong.

@Zenszulu

I completely understand why the studio wanted to be independent and it’s pretty clear this will likely be Spryo or Crash. As for the exclusivity topic, MS are publishing it so I guess we’ll see what MS’s thinking is here. I can see plenty of reasons why MS would want a game like Crash or Spyro to be exclusive.

Banjo Kazooie.... LOL

@GamingFan4Lyf The interesting thing is that Microsoft owns Crash and Spyro, so it's like Toys for Bob is a second-party studio now unless they create a new IP, but then Microsoft might decide not to invest in that. I assume that the Crash and Spyro projects would be Xbox exclusives, but who knows.

This is good news. Together with the ZeniMax thing, this makes it a nice day for Xbox.

Always wondered why they didn't let tango gameworks go independent like bungie and toys for Bob. Make a deal where their next two games xbox gets first dibs let they are doing here.

@RIghteousNixon but seeing as it was part of ActivisionBlizzard to begin with and those games were already multiplatform they will more than likely stay that way. They also don't seem to want anything to be exclusive these days anyway.

@Zenszulu

I don’t see it that way. You may wind up being right, but porting 2 live service games and 2 smaller games like Pentiment and Hi-Fi Rush does not equate to no longer wanting exclusive games in my book. Usually when a company like Sony or MS publishes a game from an indie developer, it’s exclusive for at least a year or more. That’s one of the perks to paying for a game to be developed.

@RIghteousNixon You have named games that were original ones not owned by someone else prior Crash and Spyro being part of what was one of the largest third party publishers all but guarantees they will remain multiplatform as a result. It isn't so much the developer but the game they are working on. If it is an original one which I doubt but then it may have an exclusivity period however if it is something to do with Crash, Spyro or even both which given their recent development history it will be then much like Call of Duty it will remain on as many systems as possible.

@Zenszulu

The fact that they are ABK games that were multi-platform doesn’t mean anything. They are now owned by MS and the only game that MS has verified will remain multi-platform is Call of Duty. They are free to do anything they want with the other IP owned by ABK and Bethesda for that matter. Games like Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Spyro, Crash, etc. can be made exclusive is MS wants to make them exclusive and again, the only game they have verified will remain multi-platform is Call of Duty.

@RIghteousNixon Just because they can make them exclusives doesn't mean they will. Since games that were third party only held value because they sold a lot over multiple systems. Suddenly keeping them exclusive on your system that will sell less the the competitors will decrease that value as the games themselves are not systems sellers. That has been proven with any of the Zenimax games that have been exclusive up until this point their games aren't system sellers but have more value like they were when originally purchased in being on as many platforms as possible.

As much as anyone wants to think it will happen Microsoft won't be keeping any of these games exclusive anymore. It would be nice if they did will all of these extra studios at their disposal and make a load of great new exclusives but the fact seems to be they only purchased these publishers for the stuff they already know that will make them money by continuing to publish them the same way they used to.

@Zenszulu

Absolutely. Just because they can make them exclusive doesn’t mean they will and likewise, just because they used to be multi-platform doesn’t mean they will stay multi-platform.

And once again, we will agree to disagree in regards to your stance on what MS plans to do with exclusivity from here on out. I don’t buy the 3rd party rumors one bit and I think MS and Xbox are just as interested in getting exclusives as they always have been.

@RIghteousNixon It's not simply my stance though it is there own words and the fact they have been releasing games on other platforms and based on recent developments they will keep doing so. They won't suddenly change that new direction and keep all these expensive new ips to themselves in the hope they sell consoles. They have came to the realisation that unless there is a huge shift they will be behind their competitors. Trust me I would love a world where each platform had loads of exclusives still that made you want to get the system I don't think buying a huge publisher and then keep all their stuff to yourself if the way to do it though. That has to be done by making your own original stuff or having developers and publisher just want to make a game for your system because they want to because they feel it will sell well and get noticed.

@Zenszulu They have not be releasing games, they released just 4. You make it sound like the release on a monthly basis. Not everything will be released everywhere.

@demian That is so far and none of them are exactly from the recent ActivisionBlizzard purchase. Not sure why people think they have brought one of the largest third party publishers to keep the big sellers to themselves that is the whole reason they were put under scrutiny to begin with because people didn't want them doing that. So as I have said previously unless it's original games that aren't attached to existing ips then there is a chance they will remain exclusive but they haven't purchased ActivisionBlizzard so they can get to work on new original games it was for existing ips.

@Zenszulu

No, it’s many people’s stance, but as of right now, it’s nothing more than opinion. There is zero actual evidence that MS plans on releasing exclusives on other platforms on a regular basis, especially its big name exclusives. It’s all just rumors at this point.

Releasing live service games like Grounded and Sea of Thieves on other systems is damn smart and I have absolutely zero doubt that Sony will at the very least have internal discussions about doing the same exact thing with many of their live service games in the future. As for Pentiment and Hi-Fi Rush, those are pretty much the same as what they did with Ori. So the only real change I have seen from MS is releasing Live Service games on other systems years after they have already been out.

So once again, we will agree to disagree in regards to MS’s plans with exclusives in the future and make no mistake about it, at this point, the idea that MS is doing away with exclusives or doesn’t care about exclusives anymore is absolutely 100% opinion. And again, it’s one I absolutely 100% disagree with.

Xbox is now 2nd in overall revenue, Xbox is making more money per gamer than both PS and Nintendo, Game Pass is the most successful sub service in gaming, and they now have more first party studios than Sony or Nintendo. Hardware sales are not the only metric for success in this industry. In fact, in my opinion it’s not even the most important metric. People thinking that Xbox is hanging onto life by a thread are fooling themselves. Don’t get me wrong, MS needs to do better with Xbox hardware sales, but I don’t buy for a second that MS is just going to start releasing everything on other systems, completely change their goals for Xbox, and basically doom the Xbox brand simply because they are struggling with hardware sales when by all other metrics, they are doing pretty well.

@Zenszulu

They bought ABK to give a steady stream of games to Game Pass and for the mobile market, which will dwarf the console market in overall revenue and profit. They didn’t buy ABK for the money they can potentially make on other consoles outside of COD. That money will be a drop in the bucket overall. The console market in general is stagnating.

As of right now, MS is making FAR more money off of ABK then they would have with the cash they spent on ABK being in bonds or money markets. So MS is already seeing significantly more profit with that 68 billion then they would have otherwise. Besides COD, they don’t need to put anything on PS in order for this deal to be a huge success.

@Zenszulu no one said anything about the existing franchises of abk they will remain multiplatform.
I'm only commenting that you make it sound like they are releasing everything to other platforms, when in reality its only 4 smaller games. So they are not releasing, they just released some.

@demian then you misunderstood I didn't say they were releasing everything and my whole point was about the existing stuff that was already established by Activision-Blizzard so yes my entire comment was about existing stuff by then and if Toys for Bob made a Crash/Spyro game it would be multiplatform but an original game stands more chance of being exclusive.