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Breaking: Xbox is closing down Hellblade creator Ninja Theory

Frustrated The Miz GIF by WWE
 
Perhaps they showed it of to throw them a bone and have a new investor get interested in them? I'm trying hard to find the good in this....but it's not really possible. Weren't they in negotiatons with MS earlier today? Sigh.
 
I called that 4 months ago. I also said years ago that the Activision acquisition would be the pillar for Microsoft to eventually gut its gaming division in the name of profits, cutting it down to just a few major studios that generate guaranteed returns and turning everything into a multiplatform business. Game Pass + Activision deal was a massive flop for Microsoft.... imo.

Don't be surprised if Microsoft is forced to sell Activision soon. GTA 6 is coming, and nobody will want to play COD for months/years... in fact the franchise is already declining absurdly 💀
 
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If anyone is surprised or doubtful of this, you either have the memory of a goldfish or are willfully ignorant. This is Microsoft.

They announced Perfect Dark. Went silent on it for years. Showed off a gameplay concept trailer. Then canceled it and closed The Initiative.

They closed Tango Gameworks after they released Hi-Fi Rush. An award winning game. Then, right after, started talking about how they needed more games like it.

And how could you forget Ensemble Studios? The makers of Halo Wars who got closed down RIGHT BEFORE THE FUCKING GAME RELEASED!

This kind of shit is right up their alley.
 
lol this is what happens when you spend 7 years making a walking simulator. what a shitty non game hellblade 2 really was. shouldve shut the studio down the day that game came out.
 
Banjo64 said:
so allow the studio to completely fuck around in iceland for 6 years forensically capturing the underside of a bunch of rocks for a game that releases to a completely middling reception and terrible sales - then let them keep going to announce their next game but then pull the plug 2 weeks later?

yep, that's M$ alright.
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When you got companies like MS who make $100B profits per year, every department and employee will pay little attention to costs as they think everything is a free riding rounding error.

Then shit hits the fan and everyone is like...... Duhhhh..... What?...... Why?...... How come?
 
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Can't have any complaints about this one. Spent the best part of a decade making an albeit very pretty tech demo movie game that pulled less than 4K CCU on Steam.

Digital Foundry will be devastated.
 
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I remember Enslaved was a good game that got too preachy at the end.

Hellblade was ok but also the kind of game to uninstall just after reaching the credits.
 
How the fuck can you announce a game and then 8 days later, shut down the studio?

The Western AAA games industry needs to be burned down and started again.
 
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we are going to see a golden era of indie development I think. As painful as it is in the current moment, we are going to see some good things happen in the near future.

All these big studios are being shut down, laying off great talent. Friends and colleagues will group and form new studios, will be more hungry.
Whilst big games cost a lot more to make these days, smaller indie-scope games have never been easier to get going and with AI to boost / fill in the blanks of lower budgets.

This is how great things come about. We've been in a period of comfortable stagnation for long time.
 
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Roufianos said:
I mean, hardly surprising after Hellblade 2 and we all know Senua would have flopped also, that IP has zero appeal. But why announce the game last week?
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If the response to that reveal would've been "omg I can't wait to play this" the studio would've lived.

Instead, the response was *yawn* and Microsoft pulled the plug before these idiots spend another 8 years on a game nobody is interested in.
 
I'm not surprised by this, but I'm bummed. I enjoyed Hellblade for what it was. Looking at Steam reviews, it seems most people who played it feel the same. I was looking forward to an iteration that had substantial gameplay. Figured that would never happen, then they gave hope showing Senua at their show, only to cancel it the next week.
 
Such a shame cause Enslaved was alright and their combat in DmC wasn't bad. The corny dialogue and their Dante comment with DmC was the only time I ever thought badly about them. They were definitely a name you thought of when it came to action games. I'm kinda surprised.
 
Camreezie said:
Not surprising at all, thanks for DmC. Shame they wasted so long on Hellblade
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NT tried their best at making an IP nobody wanted. Their way of a Hollywood series. You'd think after HB2 that's enough to move onto something else.

Then suddenly you got a third HB Senua game.

Figure that one out. Nobody needs to be a veteran product manager to know that's retarded.

But when MS paid the bills for 8 years, you can goof off in hopes any trainwrecks are forgiven, and the next HB game will just be funded by corporate coffers yet again.
 
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Northeastmonk said:
Such a shame cause Enslaved was alright and their combat in DmC wasn't bad. The corny dialogue and their Dante comment with DmC was the only time I ever thought badly about them. They were definitely a name you thought of when it came to action games. I'm kinda surprised.
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The only thing I remember from DmC is:

"Make this town your bitch like me"
 
Sad news, but not exactly unexpected. Ninja Theory only released two games in the last decade, and both were sales disappointments.

I still don't understand why they doubled down on Hellblade and made a sequel, they should've focused on something else instead.

Anyway, RIP.
 
StueyDuck said:
That would of been my call (and ive said as much many times)

There is no doubt they were an expensive studio, extremely high production over extremely high development times.

Reminder that hellblade 1 wasnt even an Xbox / Ms game. So that means in all of their time as a MS studio they made roller pigs or whatever that gross ass game was called that flopped before it even released and Hellblade 2 that was like 5 hours long and barely a game with an overly inflated budget for cinematic and shouty face zoomies but nothing else

They were no doubt a leech compared to other studios
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Fine, but then why show off their game at the showcase?
 
anybody who played the pretentious pos, walk slop that is hellblade 2 should not be surprised. a couple hours in i was like there was a gameplay designer that got payed alot of money for this lmao.
 
gametimedecision said:
Fine, but then why show off their game at the showcase?
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because i don't think anyone at team Xbox genuinely know what is going on at the moment, i said it in another thread but it looks like no one is actually behind the wheel steering the ship...

like sure, axe the studio if needed, but i agree still showing the game is crazy, but it's most likely because none of them even knew what the long term plans were.

It has happened before though where studios were axed but still contracted to finish or other studios have taken the final leg over the finish line too so i don't know if the game is 100% dead myself. There is precedent of this happening to games before in the past. I can't remember off the top of my head but both scenarios have definitely happened.
 
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