FragRed

That’s such a huge amount of money to spend when you consider that most of the IP they own aren’t really relevant today, with the exception of the listed above and even then a lot of the games, such as that by Rocksteady and TT Games, are licensed.

Unfortunately I see Rocksteady becoming a shell of its former self no matter if EA, Activision or Take Two buy it. Fully expect a lot to leave and hopefully form a new studio on their own.

@KelticDevil Yeah that’s also true. A lot of their developers from the days of being in the hardware business have long since left and their own in house operations were scaled right back as a result of leaving the hardware business.

@pip_muzz Sega were never successful in Japan with their home consoles either. The Saturn was the only thing that came close, and it’s the system that caused their downfall. I doubt sticking Sega’s name on an Xbox console will do anything to change opinions.

7/10. There was a couple I really didn’t know. But overall I’m pretty glad with the results.

@StrangeBit @carlos82 They could just do a port of the game and alter the look of the car. I assume that's what M2 did with the original Outrun when porting it to the Switch.

@BlueOcean So does that mean Nintendo is needed for the series to continue if they are being asked for funding?

@BlueOcean Nintendo usually has a real strong grip on the games they publish that are developed by third party studios. I also think I saw an art, might have been on Nintendo Life, where one of the people at Koei Tecmo wants to make another game in the series but it was up to Nintendo. I’ll have to try and see if I can find it. It may well be that it’s something like how Bayonetta is, Nintendo seems to have either rights to all future games or first dibs. I know with Fatal Frame there’s a lot of confusion around ownership as I’ve seen a number claim Nintendo co owns the IP but I haven’t seen any confirmation on that.

@BlueOcean What’s the licensing for that series now? I know Nintendo are involved with all current and future releases, but does that affect the games prior to their involvement?

I’m sure they say this in the lead up to each and every Sonic game.

@BlueOcean I think there’s more to why Microsoft has always failed to sell their consoles in Japan than something like xCloud or Game Pass could fix. I think Japan is a territory Microsoft should just accept they aren’t going to do well in, especially when up against Nintendo and to a lesser extent, the PlayStation.

Regarding Microsoft buying a Japanese developer, I’m surprised we haven’t heard anything yet but perhaps no one wants to sell out to them. Again I think Microsoft really need to focus on expanding their audience in the West before they bother with Japan.

I didn’t even know people were seriously thinking that this would be a thing. Platinum Games have a much better working relationship with Nintendo that they do with practically anyone else right now. I’d also be surprised if any Japanese studio would want to join Microsoft, especially given how poorly the consoles sell over there.

@Hobbesyall They will be, just not until July.

Think the problem is that the game had a disastrous launch and regardless what happens to improve the game thereafter, it’s not always enough from a sales perspective and EA are more than happy to cancel a game that doesn’t meet incredibly high profits. I’m just surprised there hasn’t been a third game in the franchise yet.

This doesn’t surprise me to be honest, but I am really interested in seeing more of this game. Sea of Thieves never interested me from the moment it was debuted.

@ShaiHulud I wish but that Developer went bankrupt a few years back. And I doubt Square Enix cares about that franchise anymore.

I won't be buying any next generation consoles any time soon but I am fully hyped to see what they have to show next week. It will help get through the lockdown.

I admit when I read the headline my first thought was that they were worried because it would mean it would make the idea of producing remasters that much more difficult to get away with. But after reading the article, I can kinda understand where the developers were coming from with fears about changing the game though bug fixing I’d have thought they’d be on board with.

Calling it now - Crysis will be the next Anthem from EA.

@SuperNintendoMii I too expect some kind of delay but I don’t think it’ll be a huge delay. More expecting a delay caused by manufacturing problems bought on by factories being currently closed and a lack of new software being ready on time (though Phil Spencer did say that wouldn’t delay launch, I think it will).

@Alpha-2002 Haven't you heard? That's part of a new Bethesda patent. The problem was that since people would tune out after realising the event was going to be nothing but Fallout 76, there would be no one to gas

@Grumblevolcano I hate the timed exclusives of games too but let’s not pretend that Microsoft wouldn’t and hasn’t done this kind of thing themselves.

@FraserG Ooh I remember getting the Crackdown and Saints Row demos on disc and playing them non stop until the games got released. Even learned how to break through the boundaries in the demos and checked out what I could of the surrounding world.

Oh man, this is really sad news. I remember how awesome it was to wait for the monthly gaming magazines back in the 90s. Now they are all one by one shutting as we are virtually entirely online based now days.

@SuperNintendoMii I suspect the way Capcom are right now with their huge successes in Resident Evil and Monster Hunter, they’re too expensive and I think they’re publicly listed so it would definitely have been public knowledge. I could see Microsoft investing in a startup Japanese studio and tempting people away from other developers.

@SuperNintendoMii I remember Phil saying that, and a lot of people immediately jumped to the conclusion that it was going to be Platinum Games. However after the investment from Tencent and the projects they’ve so far announced to be working on, that’s almost certainly not the case. Is there any others they could look at acquiring?

I think Microsoft are going to be launching the Xbox Series X with a readily available strong lineup of games from 3 generations which will be a huge benefit especially as so many will be on Game Pass. Plus all the day one first party titles on Game Pass will help a lot.