@themightyant Yes, the company still receives game sales for exclusives, but isn't that the same for subscription services?
People will subscribe to play, and if you do a good job with the service, they will keep generating profit month after month.
I agree that to make a successful live service is a lottery for new IP, but Sony has a huge advantage as Killzone is not new, and they already own a studio who know how to make successful live services, as both Destiny 1 and 2 have earned great success, that can't be a lottery, it is expertise.
Killzone was never as big as COD, that is true, but that is the idea here, to make Killzone bigger than it was before with the help of Bungie. This is not something that will happen overnight, but it can be done with time, they can grow the player base slowly, as even if COD leaves PS eventually it will take a couple of years until that happen.
@themightyant Most likely Microsoft offered a better deal for Sony to add Call of Duty on PS Plus than they would have received from other companies.
Sony can't afford to add COD to PS Plus becase it is a huge AAA, but Sony somehow can afford to acquire exclusivity of entire games from Square-Enix, such as FF7R, FFXVI and Forspoken. And square-enix is not the only company Sony acquire exclusive games from.
They don't need to make Killzone a annual game, They can make it live service (that is already on their plans, as sony want to make 10 live service games). And they don't have to worry about lottery, they own the masters of live service, creators of Destiny (and Halo, with makes them experts in both FPS and Live Service Games), they wouldn't get the whole team to work on Killzone, but some experienced people helping guerrilla would be enough to set the game on the right direction. Sony can also work with other external studios, just like they did with God of War, there was at least 8 studios working on the game, Sony already do that, it would be nothing new to them.
About development cost, they already have those costs with guerrilla to produce Horizon series, they would simply shift the studio focus to develop Killzone. Yes, probably would be more expensive, but part of the budget is already there anyways.
343 issue with Halo has nothing to-do with lottery, it was the studio mismanagement that created all the mess Infinite multiplayer was in, something looks like Sony doesn't have an issue with.
@themightyant If the deal is not signed, Microsoft might not remove COD from PlayStation right now, but they could do that at some point in the future. They will lay low, wait for all those stuff to calm down and slowly remove COD from PS.
Also, even if they don't, by not signing the deal Microsoft will most likely not add Call of Duty to PS Plus subscription, which will make Sony fear of COD Day 1 on game pass a reality, and they wouldn't be able to fight back.
Honestly, I think that have COD on PS Plus is a pretty good deal, and Sony might lose that as well.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think it is easy to make a COD competitor, but I think sony can make a game capable of compete for what they need.
But I'm pretty sure a Killzone with campaign and good online multiplayer in the standards of COD with cross-play between PS5 and PC would at least offset some of the profit Sony will lose with Call of Duty, and if they keep the franchise running long enough it can even cover all the loss. You see, Sony money from Call of Duty is coming only from PS platform, if they had a first-party in the same way on PS and PC they could make this work, and that's a 100% share on PS as it is a first-party, only on PC they would have from 12%-30% cuts from stores.
@themightyant if they block the merger and piss activision (which they did), it is certain Activision will not partner with Sony for exclusive content for a long time, as they also want the merger to go through.
Microsoft said they had no intention to remove call of duty of PlayStation, but that don't legally bind them. There is no contract. That would depend on the good faith of MS, and I think there is no good faith left considerind how hard sony is going against the merger.
What I would do differently is not place the future of my whole company in the hands of a third-party title. I would sing the deal and use those 10 years to turn my dormant FPS franchise into a game capable of compete with Call of Duty to the point my business could run well regardless of players that are out of my control.
Sony has lots of talented studios, and a huge amount of money they spend to take games out of xbox instead of investing in their first party to be less dependent of activision.
@themightyant Sony is not losing face only. They're creating trouble for PlayStation Players.
If this deal goes through and sony don't sign the deal, Microsoft will have no legal bind to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation.
Even if we think about the "bring games to more people" MS will still achieve this with Nintendo, GeForce and other services they're signing with, even without sony there will be more players playing COD. That means regulator will not have a reson to call MS out.
This would result in PlayStation players losing one of the most played games of the plataform. The deal guarantees this won't happen.
Microsoft offered 10 years with game at parity level (even sony doing the opposite today), they offered game on PS Plus subscription, they offered a undisclosed percentage profit over sales on PS. The only thing missing to offer is to make COD exclusive to PlayStation. There is nothing else Microsoft can offers them to make they accept the deal, as Jim Ryan himself stated he "only want to block the merger".
@Baler You don't have to think it is true. It is a fact. Officially shared by Rare. Sea of Thieves has 30 million players. It's a fact. Do your search.
It makes no sense to try make a deal with sony right now. They don't want one. Microsofr should sign this agreement with wherever other companies that are willing to do and leave sony behind.
@themightyant Sony lose $20 billion should mean nothing to regulators and shouldn't being even being taken in consideration. Regulators role is to protect consumers and the market in general not multi billion dollar profits of specific companies.
I'm curious about Contraband. I'm excited for the other games too, but I kinda know what to expect from them. Contraband is a mystery to me, so I want to know more about it.
@Sol4ris I don't think so. I think Jim Ryan is purely blind by hatred he doesn't even see the damage he is doing for his own company.
If the deal pass and sony refuses to sign the agreement they lose Call of Duty. If the deal falls Activision will refuse to make exclusive content deals with Sony for the foreseable future as they clearly want to be acquired.
All that he managed to achieve was a huge problem for Sony.
There are lots of people in the comments complaining about the game coming in setember and not in june. Those are the same people that bashed Cyberpunk 2077 to the end because the state the game was.
Game development takes time. Learn to wait, or be used to Cyberpunk effect.
Hell, game industry 'fans' are the worst. Nothing is ever good. Always something to complain.
@StonyKL Game Pass won't damage the industry at all. Just like Netflix didn't close cinemas.
It is another option, that's all.
I've watch Dr. Strange at the cinema, and watched Black Panther on Disney+. Both works great.
Even with all that Disney acquired, there are still lots of big studios like: Paramount, Universal, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. and that is only from classic studios, there are now Apple get in the game with movies too.
Game Pass has lots of great games in it and there are big third parties titles coming to the service. Wo Long, new title from Koei Tecmo coming on March 3rd is a good example, as well as it did in the past with the whole Yakuza series, MLB The Show. And that we are talking only about big titles, there are great smaller titles on the service as well.
As for Microsoft acquisitions, it is the same situation as before. Even if they succeed with Activision-Blizzard there are still other large players such as EA, Capcom, Konami, Sony, Nintendo, Tencent, Embracer, Square-Enix, Koei Tecmo... and that's only a list of big publishers, if we go into studios the list has no end.
Disney and Microsoft, as big as they are becoming, are way too far from being big enough to be able to damage an entire industry.
@shoeses I think both things are true. Yes, I think there were actually licensing issues. And yes, I think they could try to solve it, but it wasn't worth it for them.
I agree with you on game pass tho, it is obvious they're investing all they can on that service.
About games preservation and doing things 'for the fans', I also agree, that's all PR. I think they do those things while it's worth for them to do. And if they can get a couple of good image PR on the way, why not?! That is what I think they do.
In the end, I don't think they lied about licensing, they just thought it was not worth it to try to solve those issues, as it would probably cost too much and would make BC profitability go away. And from here on they did what you said about investing it all on Game Pass.
@shoeses If it was a successful program, it doesn't even make financial logic to 'want to stop'.
The more games they have on BC and or improved, the more money they can make on those older games that don't make profit anymore.
Why would a company that depends on to earn money would stop a program that could make them lots of income?!
Because you have to think this wasn't only for people who already own those titles, but for new people who might be interested in playing them.
Recently I've bough lost odyssey and blue dragon from 360 as I haven't the chance to play back them, and I'm sure more people do the same with older games they didn't play.
So make more BC / Boost titles would also increase Microsoft income as they would have even more sales.
I just can't see why a company would intentionally want to stop making money 'just because'.
@shoeses The licenses and contracts are per game, not per franchise, so it is possible a game from a certain franchise get licensed and other not. Also Sonic, Yu-Gi-Oh, South Park are all licensed IPs, they're not from Microsoft, even when they publish the title with exclusivity.
Some contracts and licenses have other limitations too, not only a due date to expire. For example, if in the contract says a game can only run on a 360 hardware Microsoft can't release the game on Xbox Series consoles without permission even if they still have the rights of 360 version, since emulation only simulates the hardware, but it would be running on another machine, which would be a contract breach.
Now, back to licenses that expire over time, one good example is Forza Horizon, that Microsoft has to delist the previous title every couple years because of music, and we are talking about 2 or 3 years after a forza horizon game releases.
Now, can you imagine how many expired licenses are in a game from 2006-2013 era? Its on earliest 10 year old games. Lots of content are for sure with license expired, even Microsoft can't go over contracts and agreements.
@shoeses It might not be an excuse this time as this involves licensing and other issues.
For example, Lollipop Chainsaw never entered backwards compatibility, and I didn't understand why, until recently the developers announced the remake (with some different musics for licensing reasons).
If your studio is doing a remake, the last thing you want is Microsoft making the old version of your game look great so you lose future sales in the process and risk the remake being meaningless. It is not beautiful, but it is what it is.
Honestly, I don't get the problem with that. The most played games in the world are online (Fortnite, Call of Duty, GTA Online). We are always online on phones, we need to be online for YouTube and streaming services. But when a game with solo campaign requires online connection, it is suddenly a huge issue. In 2006, I would understand the problem, but in 2023?! I don't get it.
The TV Show is developed by Sony Pictures, PlayStation Studios and Naughty Dog.
Also, the show has made The Last of Us game sales grow more than 200%. And no, it wasn't a low sales number as The Last of Us part 1 entered top 20 sales.
Both of those markets are connected. Sony is making TV shows to boost game sales.
@Dezzy70 They can release all those on first half and would still have at least Hellblade 2 for second half of 2023. As they said before, games shown at last E3 were games that would release up to the first half of 2023, so I'm sticking with that until the event.
@Gloki_junior I don`t see Forza being delayed. The event will focus on games that were previously announced as `releasing up to the first half of 2023'. I think every game show on the event will have a set release date.
@IOI There is no uncertainty. They said the game was in development and they will show when it is ready.
Playground Games has done that with every single Forza Horizon game. They only show when it's ready and they have the release date set in stone. That's why Forza Horizon don't suffer from delays and that's why we never see forza horizon bad gameplay as when Halo Infinite was shown the first time (again, causing a delay).
Insomniac showed a teaser trailer of Spider-man 2 and that is it. There is no good to show footage of games that are in-development, and the proof of that is the criticism Rockstar took over leaked footage of GTA 6.
If we want Microsoft to start doing great games we should stop trying to rush things and learn to wait the studio be ready to show what they are working on.
If Square Enix keep doing this, just sell themselves to Sony. If not, they should treat Xbox Players with respect.
They don't announce anything for Xbox, even when there is no exclusivity deal involved (like FF pixel remaster), they just ignore Xbox completely, then complain about bad sales.
I'll not keep buying games from a company who don't support the platform I play.
People who Played Final Fantasy XV and will not be able to Play FF XVI at launch. How can Xbox Players support a company when even new entries in a series aren't guaranteed?!
@Tharsman Yes, but Amazon has much more resources to fund a game than THQ. Even if THQ is doing great, Amazon has just vastly more resources. And that's not only for the money, but all AWS infrastructure that can help Crystal Dynamics.
@Tharsman Maybe its just the money factor. Amazon would finance part or all the game and they got publishing rights in exchange or something like that. Amazon financing could make Tomb Raider huge.
@PhileasFragg I don't know if that would work. Look at Microsoft, their studios keep saying they want to show things when they're ready, and people keep pushing to show things now because "There is nothing big from Microsoft", but if they show quickly and have problems than it comes the "Best is have delayed" narrative. People want super ultra high quality games in short time. This doesn't exists.
Just look at Sony: Horizon Zero Dawn took 7 years in the making, then forbidden west took less time because it was build on the foundations of zero dawn (Decima Engine, Assets, parts of the map, some models and so on)
Microsoft Started acquiring studios in 2018, aside from IPs that were already in development like Redfall and Starfield, it will take some time until we see Microsoft with the same release rate as sony.
This whole Call of Duty on Nintendo destroyed Sony argument with regulators. They're saying Nintendo is not a direct competitor with more mature games, saying they didn't have COD, and this Microsoft move just destroyed it.
It also destroyed the foreclose narrative of the regulators and have put Sony in an awkward position, because they said they 'couldn't survive without COD', Microsoft offered 10 years to Sony, they refuse, but Nintendo accepted, so now the only way they lose COD is by their own decision to not accept the deal.
They optimize for lower hardware on PC, this is not hardware issue, is not wanting to optimize a game properly. Talking as a player and independent game dev whose creators collection game (that doesn't event have access to the whole hardware) runs at 1440p @ 120fps on Series S. I know the graphics of my game aren't great, its a simple space shooting game inspired by asteroids after all, but 120fps is something that was impossible for my game to achieve even on Xbox One X, despite being a super simple game. Xbox Series S CPU is way more powerful than Xbox One, and the GPU is great as well. Some people talk about 6tf vs 4tf but forget about architecture, Series S is a more modern and capable architecture.
@Sakisa Kamiya had its chance and he screw it up and made fun of it in a Platinum live about Wonderful 101 remake, that by the way, it's available on all platforms, except for Xbox.
The reason why Microsoft buy studios instead of acquiring exclusivity of a title its because it will be cheaper in the long run for the game pass model. People saying it's cheaper to buy exclusivity of a single game are thinking only on now.
Let's say Microsoft instead of buying zenimax had acquired exclusivity of Starfield and Redfall, then further had to acquire for ES6 too, and let's not forget the older games currently available on game pass, they would need to license them too, and they would left the service after a time, reducing the valeu of the service. So instead of spending billions on licensing things that will eventualy leave the service is more cost effective and valuable to just acquire the studio.
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Re: The Xbox 360 Controller Is Being Revived By Hyperkin This June
Microsoft still don't license wireless controllers for Xbox. They need to change that.
Re: Microsoft Signs Another 10-Year Deal In Its Bid To Buy Activision Blizzard
@themightyant "that can't be a lottery, it is expertise." I said specifically about Bungie / Destiny.
I'm at work right now, but will be back at Hogwarts legacy later today.
Happy gaming you too.
Re: Microsoft Signs Another 10-Year Deal In Its Bid To Buy Activision Blizzard
@themightyant Yes, the company still receives game sales for exclusives, but isn't that the same for subscription services?
People will subscribe to play, and if you do a good job with the service, they will keep generating profit month after month.
I agree that to make a successful live service is a lottery for new IP, but Sony has a huge advantage as Killzone is not new, and they already own a studio who know how to make successful live services, as both Destiny 1 and 2 have earned great success, that can't be a lottery, it is expertise.
Killzone was never as big as COD, that is true, but that is the idea here, to make Killzone bigger than it was before with the help of Bungie. This is not something that will happen overnight, but it can be done with time, they can grow the player base slowly, as even if COD leaves PS eventually it will take a couple of years until that happen.
Re: Microsoft Signs Another 10-Year Deal In Its Bid To Buy Activision Blizzard
@themightyant Most likely Microsoft offered a better deal for Sony to add Call of Duty on PS Plus than they would have received from other companies.
Sony can't afford to add COD to PS Plus becase it is a huge AAA, but Sony somehow can afford to acquire exclusivity of entire games from Square-Enix, such as FF7R, FFXVI and Forspoken. And square-enix is not the only company Sony acquire exclusive games from.
They don't need to make Killzone a annual game, They can make it live service (that is already on their plans, as sony want to make 10 live service games). And they don't have to worry about lottery, they own the masters of live service, creators of Destiny (and Halo, with makes them experts in both FPS and Live Service Games), they wouldn't get the whole team to work on Killzone, but some experienced people helping guerrilla would be enough to set the game on the right direction. Sony can also work with other external studios, just like they did with God of War, there was at least 8 studios working on the game, Sony already do that, it would be nothing new to them.
About development cost, they already have those costs with guerrilla to produce Horizon series, they would simply shift the studio focus to develop Killzone. Yes, probably would be more expensive, but part of the budget is already there anyways.
343 issue with Halo has nothing to-do with lottery, it was the studio mismanagement that created all the mess Infinite multiplayer was in, something looks like Sony doesn't have an issue with.
Re: Microsoft Signs Another 10-Year Deal In Its Bid To Buy Activision Blizzard
@themightyant If the deal is not signed, Microsoft might not remove COD from PlayStation right now, but they could do that at some point in the future. They will lay low, wait for all those stuff to calm down and slowly remove COD from PS.
Also, even if they don't, by not signing the deal Microsoft will most likely not add Call of Duty to PS Plus subscription, which will make Sony fear of COD Day 1 on game pass a reality, and they wouldn't be able to fight back.
Honestly, I think that have COD on PS Plus is a pretty good deal, and Sony might lose that as well.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think it is easy to make a COD competitor, but I think sony can make a game capable of compete for what they need.
But I'm pretty sure a Killzone with campaign and good online multiplayer in the standards of COD with cross-play between PS5 and PC would at least offset some of the profit Sony will lose with Call of Duty, and if they keep the franchise running long enough it can even cover all the loss. You see, Sony money from Call of Duty is coming only from PS platform, if they had a first-party in the same way on PS and PC they could make this work, and that's a 100% share on PS as it is a first-party, only on PC they would have from 12%-30% cuts from stores.
Re: Microsoft Signs Another 10-Year Deal In Its Bid To Buy Activision Blizzard
Removed
Re: Microsoft Signs Another 10-Year Deal In Its Bid To Buy Activision Blizzard
@themightyant if they block the merger and piss activision (which they did), it is certain Activision will not partner with Sony for exclusive content for a long time, as they also want the merger to go through.
Microsoft said they had no intention to remove call of duty of PlayStation, but that don't legally bind them. There is no contract. That would depend on the good faith of MS, and I think there is no good faith left considerind how hard sony is going against the merger.
What I would do differently is not place the future of my whole company in the hands of a third-party title. I would sing the deal and use those 10 years to turn my dormant FPS franchise into a game capable of compete with Call of Duty to the point my business could run well regardless of players that are out of my control.
Sony has lots of talented studios, and a huge amount of money they spend to take games out of xbox instead of investing in their first party to be less dependent of activision.
Re: Microsoft Signs Another 10-Year Deal In Its Bid To Buy Activision Blizzard
@Baler sea of thieves is not a free game.
Re: Microsoft Signs Another 10-Year Deal In Its Bid To Buy Activision Blizzard
@themightyant Sony is not losing face only. They're creating trouble for PlayStation Players.
If this deal goes through and sony don't sign the deal, Microsoft will have no legal bind to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation.
Even if we think about the "bring games to more people" MS will still achieve this with Nintendo, GeForce and other services they're signing with, even without sony there will be more players playing COD. That means regulator will not have a reson to call MS out.
This would result in PlayStation players losing one of the most played games of the plataform. The deal guarantees this won't happen.
Microsoft offered 10 years with game at parity level (even sony doing the opposite today), they offered game on PS Plus subscription, they offered a undisclosed percentage profit over sales on PS. The only thing missing to offer is to make COD exclusive to PlayStation. There is nothing else Microsoft can offers them to make they accept the deal, as Jim Ryan himself stated he "only want to block the merger".
Re: Microsoft Signs Another 10-Year Deal In Its Bid To Buy Activision Blizzard
@Baler You don't have to think it is true. It is a fact. Officially shared by Rare. Sea of Thieves has 30 million players. It's a fact. Do your search.
Re: Reaction: Should Xbox Produce A Mid-Gen Upgrade If Sony Launches 'PS5 Pro'?
To me personally, I don't think it should have mid gen upgrades for either console makers. Consoles are powerful enough as they are.
But if sony release a more powerful PS5 Xbox will have to follow suit or the "world most powerful console"slogan will stop making sense.
Re: Microsoft Isn't Currently Talking To Sony About The Call Of Duty Deal
It makes no sense to try make a deal with sony right now. They don't want one. Microsofr should sign this agreement with wherever other companies that are willing to do and leave sony behind.
Re: Microsoft Signs Another 10-Year Deal In Its Bid To Buy Activision Blizzard
@themightyant Sony lose $20 billion should mean nothing to regulators and shouldn't being even being taken in consideration. Regulators role is to protect consumers and the market in general not multi billion dollar profits of specific companies.
Re: Microsoft Signs Another 10-Year Deal In Its Bid To Buy Activision Blizzard
@Baler yeah, Rare and their ruined Sea of thieves game with 30 million players. Can you imagine if they were successful?!
Re: Talking Point: What Do You Want To See Most From The Xbox Games Showcase 2023?
I'm curious about Contraband. I'm excited for the other games too, but I kinda know what to expect from them. Contraband is a mystery to me, so I want to know more about it.
Re: Sony Just Wants To 'Block' Merger, According To Activision Blizzard CCO
@Sol4ris I don't think so. I think Jim Ryan is purely blind by hatred he doesn't even see the damage he is doing for his own company.
If the deal pass and sony refuses to sign the agreement they lose Call of Duty. If the deal falls Activision will refuse to make exclusive content deals with Sony for the foreseable future as they clearly want to be acquired.
All that he managed to achieve was a huge problem for Sony.
Re: Starfield Is Launching On Xbox This September, Developer Direct Arriving In June
There are lots of people in the comments complaining about the game coming in setember and not in june. Those are the same people that bashed Cyberpunk 2077 to the end because the state the game was.
Game development takes time.
Learn to wait, or be used to Cyberpunk effect.
Hell, game industry 'fans' are the worst. Nothing is ever good. Always something to complain.
Go find another hobby.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (March 4-5)
Still playing Hogwarts Legacy Main Story for now.
Re: Xbox Game Pass Launches Enable 'Secure Success', Says Indie Publisher
@StonyKL Game Pass won't damage the industry at all. Just like Netflix didn't close cinemas.
It is another option, that's all.
I've watch Dr. Strange at the cinema, and watched Black Panther on Disney+. Both works great.
Even with all that Disney acquired, there are still lots of big studios like: Paramount, Universal, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. and that is only from classic studios, there are now Apple get in the game with movies too.
Game Pass has lots of great games in it and there are big third parties titles coming to the service. Wo Long, new title from Koei Tecmo coming on March 3rd is a good example, as well as it did in the past with the whole Yakuza series, MLB The Show. And that we are talking only about big titles, there are great smaller titles on the service as well.
As for Microsoft acquisitions, it is the same situation as before. Even if they succeed with Activision-Blizzard there are still other large players such as EA, Capcom, Konami, Sony, Nintendo, Tencent, Embracer, Square-Enix, Koei Tecmo... and that's only a list of big publishers, if we go into studios the list has no end.
Disney and Microsoft, as big as they are becoming, are way too far from being big enough to be able to damage an entire industry.
Re: Talking Point: What Happened To Xbox's 'Resolution Boost' Program?
@shoeses I think both things are true.
Yes, I think there were actually licensing issues. And yes, I think they could try to solve it, but it wasn't worth it for them.
I agree with you on game pass tho, it is obvious they're investing all they can on that service.
About games preservation and doing things 'for the fans', I also agree, that's all PR. I think they do those things while it's worth for them to do. And if they can get a couple of good image PR on the way, why not?! That is what I think they do.
In the end, I don't think they lied about licensing, they just thought it was not worth it to try to solve those issues, as it would probably cost too much and would make BC profitability go away. And from here on they did what you said about investing it all on Game Pass.
Re: Talking Point: What Happened To Xbox's 'Resolution Boost' Program?
@shoeses If it was a successful program, it doesn't even make financial logic to 'want to stop'.
The more games they have on BC and or improved, the more money they can make on those older games that don't make profit anymore.
Why would a company that depends on to earn money would stop a program that could make them lots of income?!
Because you have to think this wasn't only for people who already own those titles, but for new people who might be interested in playing them.
Recently I've bough lost odyssey and blue dragon from 360 as I haven't the chance to play back them, and I'm sure more people do the same with older games they didn't play.
So make more BC / Boost titles would also increase Microsoft income as they would have even more sales.
I just can't see why a company would intentionally want to stop making money 'just because'.
Re: Talking Point: What Happened To Xbox's 'Resolution Boost' Program?
@shoeses The licenses and contracts are per game, not per franchise, so it is possible a game from a certain franchise get licensed and other not. Also Sonic, Yu-Gi-Oh, South Park are all licensed IPs, they're not from Microsoft, even when they publish the title with exclusivity.
Some contracts and licenses have other limitations too, not only a due date to expire. For example, if in the contract says a game can only run on a 360 hardware Microsoft can't release the game on Xbox Series consoles without permission even if they still have the rights of 360 version, since emulation only simulates the hardware, but it would be running on another machine, which would be a contract breach.
Now, back to licenses that expire over time, one good example is Forza Horizon, that Microsoft has to delist the previous title every couple years because of music, and we are talking about 2 or 3 years after a forza horizon game releases.
Now, can you imagine how many expired licenses are in a game from 2006-2013 era? Its on earliest 10 year old games. Lots of content are for sure with license expired, even Microsoft can't go over contracts and agreements.
Re: Talking Point: What Happened To Xbox's 'Resolution Boost' Program?
@shoeses It might not be an excuse this time as this involves licensing and other issues.
For example, Lollipop Chainsaw never entered backwards compatibility, and I didn't understand why, until recently the developers announced the remake (with some different musics for licensing reasons).
If your studio is doing a remake, the last thing you want is Microsoft making the old version of your game look great so you lose future sales in the process and risk the remake being meaningless. It is not beautiful, but it is what it is.
Re: New Info Suggests Xbox Developer The Coalition Has 'Cancelled' Two Games Recently
There is nothing canceled.
The problem with this sort of news is that they are about information we shouldn't even have.
It is an unannounced project, that alone should be reason enough for us to not worry about the sorts of cancelation.
There is no cancelation of something that wasn't even announced to the public yet.
Cancelation are problems when its like Scalebound in the past, or if Microsoft come out and canceled Forza Motorsport before its release.
Every studio tries lots of things, and not everything become a full fledge project.
People should start to stop giving attention to this and consider only information officially released by the devs. No announcement, no cancelation.
Re: Redfall Requires 'Persistent' Online Connection Even In Single-Player
Honestly, I don't get the problem with that. The most played games in the world are online (Fortnite, Call of Duty, GTA Online). We are always online on phones, we need to be online for YouTube and streaming services. But when a game with solo campaign requires online connection, it is suddenly a huge issue. In 2006, I would understand the problem, but in 2023?! I don't get it.
Re: Activision Blizzard Thinks Sony's 'The Last Of Us' Can Help Justify The Xbox Acquisition
@UltimateOtaku91
The TV Show is developed by Sony Pictures, PlayStation Studios and Naughty Dog.
Also, the show has made The Last of Us game sales grow more than 200%. And no, it wasn't a low sales number as The Last of Us part 1 entered top 20 sales.
Both of those markets are connected. Sony is making TV shows to boost game sales.
Re: Starfield 'Possibly' Delayed Out Of Xbox's First Half Of 2023 Release Window
My guess is June 2023
Re: Xbox Exec Confirms Overall Length Of January's 'Developer_Direct'
@Dezzy70 They can release all those on first half and would still have at least Hellblade 2 for second half of 2023. As they said before, games shown at last E3 were games that would release up to the first half of 2023, so I'm sticking with that until the event.
Re: Xbox Exec Confirms Overall Length Of January's 'Developer_Direct'
My guesses:
Minecraft Legends: March
Forza Motorsport: April
Redfall: May
Starfield: June
Re: Xbox Exec Confirms Overall Length Of January's 'Developer_Direct'
@Gloki_junior I don`t see Forza being delayed. The event will focus on games that were previously announced as `releasing up to the first half of 2023'. I think every game show on the event will have a set release date.
Re: Xbox Exclusive Redfall Is 'Arkane Blended With Far Cry 2 Or Stalker' Says Game Director
It's the game I'm most excited so far.
Can't wait.
Re: Pick One: Which Xbox Game Studios Title Are You Most Excited For Right Now?
@IOI There is no uncertainty. They said the game was in development and they will show when it is ready.
Playground Games has done that with every single Forza Horizon game. They only show when it's ready and they have the release date set in stone. That's why Forza Horizon don't suffer from delays and that's why we never see forza horizon bad gameplay as when Halo Infinite was shown the first time (again, causing a delay).
Insomniac showed a teaser trailer of Spider-man 2 and that is it. There is no good to show footage of games that are in-development, and the proof of that is the criticism Rockstar took over leaked footage of GTA 6.
If we want Microsoft to start doing great games we should stop trying to rush things and learn to wait the studio be ready to show what they are working on.
Re: Pick One: Which Xbox Game Studios Title Are You Most Excited For Right Now?
Redfall is the one I'm the most excited since the announcement.
Starfield, Fable and Perfect Dark are also on my list, but is is to choose just one it is Redfall for sure.
Re: Xbox Fans Want To Know What's Going On With Square Enix In 2023
If Square Enix keep doing this, just sell themselves to Sony.
If not, they should treat Xbox Players with respect.
They don't announce anything for Xbox, even when there is no exclusivity deal involved (like FF pixel remaster), they just ignore Xbox completely, then complain about bad sales.
I'll not keep buying games from a company who don't support the platform I play.
People who Played Final Fantasy XV and will not be able to Play FF XVI at launch. How can Xbox Players support a company when even new entries in a series aren't guaranteed?!
Re: Amazon Games To Publish Next Tomb Raider, First Details Revealed
@Tharsman Yes, but Amazon has much more resources to fund a game than THQ. Even if THQ is doing great, Amazon has just vastly more resources. And that's not only for the money, but all AWS infrastructure that can help Crystal Dynamics.
Re: Amazon Games To Publish Next Tomb Raider, First Details Revealed
@Tharsman Maybe its just the money factor. Amazon would finance part or all the game and they got publishing rights in exchange or something like that. Amazon financing could make Tomb Raider huge.
Re: Metacritic Reveals The 10 Worst-Rated Video Games Of 2022
@PhileasFragg I don't know if that would work. Look at Microsoft, their studios keep saying they want to show things when they're ready, and people keep pushing to show things now because "There is nothing big from Microsoft", but if they show quickly and have problems than it comes the "Best is have delayed" narrative. People want super ultra high quality games in short time. This doesn't exists.
Just look at Sony: Horizon Zero Dawn took 7 years in the making, then forbidden west took less time because it was build on the foundations of zero dawn (Decima Engine, Assets, parts of the map, some models and so on)
Microsoft Started acquiring studios in 2018, aside from IPs that were already in development like Redfall and Starfield, it will take some time until we see Microsoft with the same release rate as sony.
Re: Poll: What Is Your Xbox Game Of The Year For 2022?
1) Pentiment
2) TMNT: Shredders Revenge
3) As Dusk Falls
4) A Plague Tale: Requiem
5) Grounded
Re: Gabe Newell: Valve Trusts Microsoft, 10-Year Call Of Duty Offer 'Wasn't Necessary'
This whole Call of Duty on Nintendo destroyed Sony argument with regulators. They're saying Nintendo is not a direct competitor with more mature games, saying they didn't have COD, and this Microsoft move just destroyed it.
It also destroyed the foreclose narrative of the regulators and have put Sony in an awkward position, because they said they 'couldn't survive without COD', Microsoft offered 10 years to Sony, they refuse, but Nintendo accepted, so now the only way they lose COD is by their own decision to not accept the deal.
Sony arguments are done.
Re: Many Studios Are Desperately Struggling With Xbox Series S, Claims Developer
They optimize for lower hardware on PC, this is not hardware issue, is not wanting to optimize a game properly. Talking as a player and independent game dev whose creators collection game (that doesn't event have access to the whole hardware) runs at 1440p @ 120fps on Series S. I know the graphics of my game aren't great, its a simple space shooting game inspired by asteroids after all, but 120fps is something that was impossible for my game to achieve even on Xbox One X, despite being a super simple game. Xbox Series S CPU is way more powerful than Xbox One, and the GPU is great as well. Some people talk about 6tf vs 4tf but forget about architecture, Series S is a more modern and capable architecture.
Re: PlatinumGames Would Still Be 'Very Happy' To Work With Xbox On Scalebound
@Sakisa Kamiya had its chance and he screw
it up and made fun of it in a Platinum live about Wonderful 101 remake, that by the way, it's available on all platforms, except for Xbox.
https://twitter.com/ZhugeEX/status/1236012772300861442?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1236030039331921920%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=
Re: PlatinumGames Would Still Be 'Very Happy' To Work With Xbox On Scalebound
I am all in for Scalebound, but not with platinum. Find another studio.
Re: Starfield Is A 'Much Bigger Project' Than Past Bethesda Games, Says Ex-Dev
@Exerion76 With all the gameplay they showed last time you expecting a delay?!
I don't think it is going to happen.
Re: Is This Our First Look At Hideo Kojima's New Xbox Game?
I think it's Death Stranding 2, those strings are just like the ones on the first logo.
Re: Rumour: Xbox Is Talking To 'Major' Japanese Publishers About Acquisitions
The reason why Microsoft buy studios instead of acquiring exclusivity of a title its because it will be cheaper in the long run for the game pass model. People saying it's cheaper to buy exclusivity of a single game are thinking only on now.
Let's say Microsoft instead of buying zenimax had acquired exclusivity of Starfield and Redfall, then further had to acquire for ES6 too, and let's not forget the older games currently available on game pass, they would need to license them too, and they would left the service after a time, reducing the valeu of the service. So instead of spending billions on licensing things that will eventualy leave the service is more cost effective and valuable to just acquire the studio.