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The Incompetence of Microsoft Studios

LukeTim

Member
To begin, I must admit that the very recent announcement that Xbox One exclusive ‘The Phantom Dust’ would no longer be under development by Darkside games, has left a sour taste in my mouth. Whilst not a studio owned by Microsoft, this announcement does seem representative of the general incompetence and worrying trend of shadiness being practised by Microsoft Studios.

Microsoft Announce Victoria Studio, close them after two years of no output.

Many suspected that this studio would be a key player for the current generation with regards to delivering new intellectual content to bolster Microsoft’s weak portfolio. After two years of absolutely nothing, the studio was subsequently closed. Losing Microsoft a potential development team.

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/12/05/microsoft-to-close-victoria-office

Microsoft Announce An ‘Exciting new IP’ from Microsoft Vancouver, turns into Gears of War.

The sister company of Microsoft Victoria, Microsoft Vancouver (now Black Tusk) were announced as a studio which would be delivering the next big Microsoft IP. One with the scope and impact which was set to ‘rival the Halo franchise’. After a flashy new trailer at E3 2013, after a long period of nothing, it was soon revealed that this relatively small team of roughly one hundred people would now be scrapping their new intellectual property and subsequently become the Gears of War equivalent of 343i for an undetermined period of time.

Microsoft have not commented on the fate of the original IP, nor have they yet showed gameplay footage of the new Gears title.

http://www.pcgamer.com/microsofts-new-black-tusk-studios-headed-by-ex-ea-devs-looking-to-make-the-next-halo/

343i Promise a Tall Order for Halo: TMCC – Game is broken.

I’m sure Gaf members have heard enough with regards to the state of this game. However it can be considered extremely concerning that Microsoft’s flagship IP is capable of being released in an unworkable state. This title was bigged up by Microsoft as a return to form for an IP which took a savage decline in popularity with its previous instalment Halo 4 featuring both a decline in sales and user popularity.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-08-03-microsoft-if-halo-falters-so-does-xbox

Microsoft Announce a new ‘Crackdown’ – No gameplay, no mention of studio.

Microsoft last E3 announced a new Crackdown title coming to the Xbox One. The IP looked in dire condition with the respective failures of both Realtime Worlds and Ruffian. It was therefore a pleasant surprise to find that this IP would find new life, yet we do not know who yet with. To fit the trend of Microsoft over promising and under delivering, one has to wonder whether this new title’s development is even remotely on the table. Or whether in a similar situation to Black Tusk’s new IP, or The Phantom Dust – Whether we may see some ‘unfortunate development issues’ somewhere down the line.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-06-17-dont-call-crackdown-on-xbox-one-crackdown-3

How do you all feel about the practises of Microsoft Studios?
 

flkraven

Member
a mismanaged studio, a rushed game, and an early game announcement = shadiness? I guess all publishers are shady.
 
You act as if Microsoft is the first company to do this? They aren't.

Anyway, most of what you're posting is just complaining about lack of new IP's or no gameplay being shown at an event. It's not uncommon for companies to scrap games that they don't think will do well.
 

ps3ud0

Member
I really hope we dont see the OP quoted like we do with MS's statements on what its gonna do for PC gaming :p - its not like these events happened back-to-back or are that related to each other...

MS seem to care about owning IPs but dont seem to care as much about the personnel that create/develop them. To me those both go hand in hand...

ps3ud0 8)
 
Don't really think they have good internal studios. They got rid of most of them last gen because third parties were doing well for them. Now they are trying to catch up since they aren't number one in sales anymore.
 

2thepoint

Junior Member
don-mattrick-clapping-o.gif
 
Crackdown 3 is developed by Cloudgine. A new studio by the founders of Realtime Worlds.

I do think it's odd that Microsoft never bothered to reveal the devs of the new Phantom Dust till they were booted almost a year after the announcement.
 

Theorry

Member
I really hope we dont see the OP quoted like we do with MS's statements on what its gonna do for PC gaming :p

MS seem to care about owning IPs but dont seem to care as much about the personnel that create/develop them. To me those both go hand in hand...

ps3ud0 8)

Mwah not really. MS was the only publisher who said yes when Insomniac games first piority was that they owned the IP.
 

Arion

Member
Sony has done similar things in the past; The last guardian, Driveclub, Killzone's fake resolution. all publishers have done "shady" things which in reality is just bad PR.
 
Microsoft Announce a new ‘Crackdown’ – No gameplay, no mention of studio.

Microsoft last E3 announced a new Crackdown title coming to the Xbox One. The IP looked in dire condition with the respective failures of both Realtime Worlds and Ruffian. It was therefore a pleasant surprise to find that this IP would find new life, yet we do not know who yet with. To fit the trend of Microsoft over promising and under delivering, one has to wonder whether this new title’s development is even remotely on the table. Or whether in a similar situation to Black Tusk’s new IP, or The Phantom Dust – Whether we may see some ‘unfortunate development issues’ somewhere down the line.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-06-17-dont-call-crackdown-on-xbox-one-crackdown-3

Cloudgine which are owned and directed by Dave Jones who headed Crackdown 1 are building the cloud tech for the game so its not like we don't know who is involved but another developer will be helping them.

I don't think much of what you said is "shady" to be quite honest. Poor management... well there are some cases of it but MS Victoria was the base where Mattrick was going to work out I believe and when he left it was shuttered very quickly. It was supposed to grow into a big studio and that didn't happen so not everything is quite so cut and dry.
 

SEGAvangelist

Gold Member
Mwah not really. MS was the only publisher who said yes when Insomniac games first piority was that they owned the IP.

It also looks like they cancelled Ryse 2 because they wanted the IP out of the deal, though.

Edit: Oops. Quoted wrong post. Meant to quote the one you to replied to.
 

2thepoint

Junior Member
Crackdown 3 is developed by Cloudgine. A new studio by the founders of Realtime Worlds.

I do think it's odd that Microsoft never bothered to reveal the devs of the new Phantom Dust till they were booted almost a year after the announcement.

What if Cloudgine is just an illusion?

What if agent Phil is carrying out his mission, as directed by Kazuo Hirai?

Destroy the studios from within.

z_archiwumm.gif
 
OP, I have my doubts Microsoft can deliver on much of what they promise. I mean, Phantom Dust didn't seem to be a huge chore, but they either picked the wrong studio, their heart was into the game(really doubt it will do great sales), or there was some sort of personality conflict.

I would love to hear more from some members of the PD remake development team.
 

mcrommert

Banned
We have no understanding of what happened at the studio whose relationship with Microsoft was ended. You think they would do that for no reason? If we had information it would be one thing.
 
These aren't conditions exclusive to Microsoft. Sony have done a fair bit of mismanagement in recent years and have shut a few studios.
 
Have to hand it to Microsoft, despite their gross mismanagement of their internal studios they've done a much better job at securing and releasing good software at a faster rate than Sony and Nintendo, at least at the start of the generation.

One has to wonder however how much this strategy of timed exclusives will pane out. In my opinion without a steady stream of quality exclusive games (real ones), they're going to have a hard time "fighting" against Sony once their studios start pushing out their releases. They had a good headstart in the previous generation and Sony had made a fair amount of cock-ups that allowed them to stay in front for the majority of the cycle, but this time around they didn't have either the launch period advantage and the cockup advantage, they are almost in an inverse position from Sony in the previous gen.

With that said, I think it's impressive how quickly Microsoft was able to turn things around instead of sticking to its guns but its a shame that they shoved early adopters under a bus for it with the removal of Kinect and the severe price drops with early adopters having nothing to show for it.

Microsoft's mismanagement of their first-party studios is the main reason I have little faith or interest in the console.
 

Adam Blue

Member
Since these annoucments, Xbox management has seen some drastic changes. They are trying to make things right, even if there are a few sacrifices (devs mad about dropped Kinect).

I'd give Spencer some time.
 
I don't really agree with your claims in the OP at all. In particular, what's 'shady' about not knowing who's developing Crackdown? It was obviously announced way too early which I personally dislike, but it does not strike me as 'shady'.
 

tomhan

Member
I don't think over promising and under delivering is a Microsoft studios issue, I think this is an issue with almost all the large studios this generation. To be honest I don't even think that these Microsoft internal studios are the most egregious perpetrators of doing this.

I think there are multiple large third party developers that are more guilty of this type of deception.
 
It also looks like they cancelled Ryse 2 because they wanted the IP out of the deal, though.

We know that Crytek were in a difficult financial position, perhaps they wanted the IP as security because they don't want another situation of someone buying a game and them losing an exclusive IP they have invested a lot into?

As it is, we're seemingly not getting Ryse 2 either way though.
 

Freeman

Banned
If if people fall for CG trailers in this day and age its not MS's fault. Partnering with MS is also something studios should be well aware at this point, the track records speaks for itself.

Its not like they are purposelessly sabotaging their own line-up of games. They are working if what they have.

MS PR on the other hand is shady as fuck, they'll lie in everyone's face at first opportunity.
 

Shabad

Member
This is a combination of poor management and miscommunication, and a direct result of Xbox One negative hype that Microsoft tried to supress by showing as many games as they could, no matter how premature it was.

I am not sure I would call that shadiness though.
 
These aren't conditions exclusive to Microsoft. Sony have done a fair bit of mismanagement in recent years and have shut a few studios.

They have indeed but for very different reasons I believe. Most studios thrive and improve under Sony's banner and help whereas almost every studio Microsoft has purchased has withered or died.
 

8bit

Knows the Score
Microsoft last E3 announced a new Crackdown title coming to the Xbox One. The IP looked in dire condition with the respective failures of both Realtime Worlds and Ruffian.

A rushed sequel that should really have been an expansion pack doesn't really scream respective failures for RTW & Ruffian. APB was a failure but not for any reason that could be be blamed on MS.
 

Corpsepyre

Banned
The problem with MS studios is that they announce games WAY too early, in the form of CGI trailers, to build hype. They then continue to not show the game for a year or more. It sucks.
 

Kinyou

Member
The implication was of a deliberate misleading of consumers.
Why would that be the case?

Do you think the cancelled 8 days by Sony was also a deliberate misleading of consumers? Things get canceled, that stuff happens. You have a point with incompetence, but why would they deliberately run studios into the ground?
 

GHG

Gold Member
The problem with MS studios is that they announce games WAY too early, in the form of CGI trailers, to build hype. They then continue to not show the game for a year or more. It sucks.

This is not always true.

Take Forza Horizon for example. Announced and released in the same year.

The biggest issue they have is that they seem to have adopted the EA/Ubi mentality of forcing games out the door even if they are not finished or playtested properly.

The end result is buggy games, huge patches and frustration for the end user.
 

mejin

Member
Since 2010 I read Microsoft is doing her best with first party, but it seems they never improve. Their 3rd gen on the market and they still need to pay developers to develop their own ips.
 

GHG

Gold Member
Sony has done similar things in the past; The last guardian, Driveclub, Killzone's fake resolution. all publishers have done "shady" things which in reality is just bad PR.

These aren't conditions exclusive to Microsoft. Sony have done a fair bit of mismanagement in recent years and have shut a few studios.

I thought this thread was about Microsoft?

If you want to discuss Sony's recent mishaps and mismanagement issues then go ahead and make a thread.
 
The biggest fuck up for me was MS shutting down Ensemble Studios.
And the BUNGIE story (making them a Halo Studio / Halo forever).

Given how badly they were screwing up Halo 2 in an attempt to also make a new IP (and that when this happened they had only done 3 Halo games) I don't consider the situation all that unfair. Perhaps later on they would have been given a chance to make something else too but its not like there isn't two sides to that story.
 
This is why I moved to Sony this gen (ditching the 390k gamerscore in the process). The first party support from MS is shameful. I don't want to play shooters and racers for another gen.
None of their IP's have the polish of Sony and Nintendo games.
 
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