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Lionhead Studios and Press Play closed. Fable legends cancelled.

Juanfp

Member
Sad to kniw all this people lost their jobs. Hope they can find another one :(

This feels weird. I was waiting for the official release of the game and know more about the Press Play game.


The whole thing is odd. Maybe it came from above the Xbox division?

Yeah. Phil haven't tweet something about it and it was so sudden.
 
why would you want them to release a game that they believed so little in they shut down the studio and cancelled it outright?

I guess because they had already invested the money in developing it? But another poster made a comment about the cost of supporting it after release and given that it was a F2P title -- yeah if they didn't have any faith in it that was probably it.
 
Fantastic.

I guess we can wave goodbye to one off risks like ReCore, Scalebound and Quantum Break in the future and just get lots of Forza, Gears, Halo and Minecraft.

RIP Lionhead.
RIP Rare.

I'm not sure how big of a risk something like ReCore or Scalebound is considering MS doesn't have to own/operate the studios involved. Those kinds of partnerships are something I could see continuing.
 

mcrommert

Banned
Microsoft Studios is now publishing only the biggest hits
Let's just recap Microsoft's generation in review:
- Start Lift London
- Downsize the XBLA/Microsoft Studios team because MS doesn't want to be in the business of publishing so many indie games
- Close Microsoft Victoria
- Cancel Black Tusk's original game and make them the Gears studio
- Close Xbox Entertainment Studios
- Buy Mojang
- Merge Lift London with other UK-based small teams
- Promote Kudo to oversee Lift London and other UK based teams
- Kudo transfered out of Microsoft Games
- Spin off Twisted Pixel Games
- Close Press Play
- Close Lionhead

In light of the W10/Xbox One news recently, I would interpret this as the following: Microsoft does not see themselves as a hardware platform owner anymore. As a result, their interest in developing games is no longer about establishing a diverse portfolio (even at a loss), but instead about just publishing games only if they make reliable money with no risk. Hence why they're willing to sign with outside partners, and hence why they're still making Halo, Forza, Minecraft, and Gears. If you were going to transition away from the hardware model but still wanted to publish the odd game and didn't want to shut down the division at all, this is exactly what you'd do. Besides these franchises, almost all of Microsoft's first-party partners are now working on Hololens, and it's not clear that Hololens is going to be a consumer focused gaming product during the Xbox One's lifespan. The exceptions: the Project Spark team (W10/XO--whose game got shut down) and Decisive Games (presumably working on AoE, for W10/XO), and Rare.

As it relates to Press Play, Microsoft's purchase never really made any sense to begin with, just as it didn't with Twisted Pixel, but my thoughts at the time were that it was driven by wanting to have a robust portfolio of indie exclusives as other indie titles went increasingly multiplatform. Neither company had mega hits, although both had some success. In addition, neither company was all that large, so shutting them down isn't just a vote of non-confidence, it's a vote that they aren't even interested in owning those types of companies.

Microsoft did a pretty crap job of making use of Lionhead
Finally, separate from the musing about Microsoft Studios, I think Lionhead Studios has been treated extremely poorly by Microsoft. Microsoft did not secure Black & White from EA or The Movies from Activision when they bought Lionhead. The lack of care about the studio's non-Fable history was palpable. Also let it be noted that every non-Fable game they worked on under Microsoft got cancelled. Which would be OK if they cared about Fable, but here's what they did with Fable:
- Fable 1 gets a late PC port
- Fable 2 never gets a PC port
- Fable 3 gets a GFWL PC port that gets discontinued years ago when they run out of keys, MS never bothers to remove GFWL
- Fable Heroes never gets a PC port
- Fable The Journey never gets a PC port
- Fable Anniversary gets a late PC port with a rocky launch
- Fable Legends cancelled during beta

Microsoft sucks at F2P
Let's talk about free to play, though. Free to play is a pretty exciting business model for publishers and fans alike, if executed properly. MS has really sent some big signals about F2P and their interest in it. How have they done?

- In Summer 2011, Microsoft publishes Age of Empires Online for PC (GFWL). The game was developed by Robot Entertainment, also known as the company that formed when Microsoft closed Ensemble Studios (the previous developers of Age of Empires). Microsoft had Ensemble develop a console exclusive RTS which ended up being a huge hit but then closed them because I guess they didn't want a PC studio? Who knows? The game started as basically a free demo that required you to pay to buy into most of the content. It also started as a busywork grind. A year later, Microsoft, having basically bungled the game's first year, released the game on Steam (still required GFWL) and lowered the prices. This also did not work. Then a few months later they made the game actually F2P--you could unlock all the content by grinding, or pay to accelerate. A little under 2 years after release, they discontinued development on the game. 8 months later they shut down the servers. As the game is online only, it can no longer be played.
- In 2011, Microsoft publishes Crimson Alliance for XBLA as free to play. Except it turns out they don't understand free to play and the game costs money to play. When they are asked about this, they explain that the demo is free to play (as it was for every other XBLA game released on Xbox 360). ??? Great game, no followup, developer is now a support studio for Halo, no chance of game being ported to a modern platform.
- In 2012, Microsoft launches Windows 8. A variety of the launch games for the platform are "Free to Play", including a great little point and click / hidden object hybrid called Adera. The free to play model for Adera is that you can play the first quarter for free and then pay for the rest. So, again, a demo. Other games are actually free to play, but they're versions of games that used to be entirely free. One game is an endless runner called Gunstringer Dead Man Running. Gunstringer is F2P with currency in a similar model to, say, Jetpack Joyride. This game is shut down in 2014.
- In 2012, Microsoft launches Microsoft Flight, a free to play revival of Flight Simulator. Again, the free content is basically a demo, so it's clear they don't understand Free to Play. The game is locked behind GFWL and is PC exclusive. Five months later, they ceased development on the game, leaving it with nowhere near enough content. In 2013, they removed the ability to purchase any of the content or download the game. In 2014, they shut the servers. Note that Microsoft previously killed the team that made Flight Simulator and then created a new team for this project.
- In October 2012, Microsoft launches the first traditionally F2P game on XBLA: Happy Wars, a Japanese-developed tug of war team based hack and slash multiplayer game. This game went pretty well, although they realized that the business model with F2P is attracting as many people as possible so that you can monetize whales, which was at odds with the whole "you need to pay $50 a year to be able to download this game". It's fine, because the developer went ahead and ported the game to Steam without Microsoft. On Steam it has a few million players.
- In May 2013, Microsoft releases Crash Course 2, a sequel to the free Doritos advertorial game Crash Course. It is pretty well received and very popular, millions on the leaderboards near release. Around the same time they release Crash Course Go, a version of the game for Windows 8. Both games are cancelled less than a year after release and the servers shut down effective immediately.
- In July 2013, Microsoft announces Lift London is working on 4 F2P games. None ever release or are announced.
- In September 2013, Microsoft publishes Ascend: New Gods, by Signal Studios, the popular developers of the Toy Soldiers franchise. This is an F2P dungeon crawl 3rd person ARPG, kinda like Kingdoms of Amalur or Elder Scrolls or a more mechanically intense Fable. The game is actually super popular, lots of people play it. Less than a year after release, Microsoft cancels the game, removes it from sale, and gives everyone 3 day's notice about a server shutdown. Also they do not tell the developer, Signal Studios, who is completely blindsided. Signal ports the game to Steam, where it did OK for a while. It's still available. Signal hasn't worked with Microsoft since.
- A little bit before shutting down Ascend: New Gods, Microsoft shows the first footage of Fable Legends. At the time, the game is not specified as F2P, but it's later clarified to be F2P and Xbox One/Windows 10 cross-play. Microsoft teases 5-10 years of support--that this is the Fable series as we know it going forward. Fable Legends is cancelled during open beta.
- In summer 2014, Microsoft betas Project Spark, a game creation game that's F2P with Microtransactions. The game discontinues development and goes free a year after release, the F2P model having not worked at all.
- In June 2015, Microsoft confirms that they are publishing Gigantic, an Xbox One/Windows 10 cross-play F2P MOBA by indie developer Motiga. The game is in closed beta and moving to open beta this summer. Well, maybe, because a month ago the developer announced significant layoffs.

These are not all of Microsoft's F2P failures--I could also talk about the semi-F2P business model of Game Room, which failed, Microsoft's bad attempts to make their old free Windows parlour games (Minesweeper, Mahjong, Solitaire) into money-making opportunities but instead alienating their audience, Age of Empires: Castle Siege (a bad Clash of Clans clone).

I could also talk about the failure of their cloud gaming initiative by exploring how just about every Microsoft server-based game has been shut down. I could also talk about how Galactic Reign, released by Microsoft as a bold experiment in cloud-based rendering of cutscenes -- pay attention if you like Quantum Break -- shut down 6 months after release, leaving players unable to play the game. I could also talk about how all of Microsoft's major initiatives with the Xbox One: Smartglass, Cloud-based Rendering or Computing Features, and Dedicated Servers are all defunct.


Microsoft is the absolute master of failing at things even when it'd be easier to succeed. The good news is, pretty soon they'll have no more internal studios to shut down besides the ones reliably pumping out their biggest franchises every two years. As someone who bought a lot of Microsoft Game Studios titles and really loved so much of what they accomplished on 360, it sucks that shifting corporate priorities and an unwillingness to fully commit to gaming sabotaged so much of what they could have accomplished.

I agree they are moving away from in house development for everything but their most important franchises. Your breakdown of their f2p history is important but you are missing at least one successful game which is killer instinct.

Also the market of f2p is of games that have come and gone..mobile development is seemingly littered with these corpses. I really don't see how microsoft is different in all that.

"Cloud-based Rendering or Computing Features, and Dedicated Servers are all defunct. "
This isn't true at all. Multiple games use azure based dedicated servers on xbox one including titanfall, gears, halo, etc Don't really know what more you expected. Cloud based rendering has taken a long time to actually hit shipping products but we have a big one incoming in the form of crackdown.

Overall Microsoft is bad at f2p...but also what you are seeing is the last xbox leaderships complete lack of understanding of anything involving gaming. GFWL is the mistake of an even older leadership group that never committed to pc the way that the platform demands.
 

Sydle

Member
They are all in it for money. But some of them though have the foresight to invest for legacy. Like Nintendo always tried to with how they approached hardware, and you know what looking back there's still no one that makes hand helds like they do or has the legacy that they do.
Sony has a legacy with their console, they actually were out to prove when they started the console project as just a hobby. The rest of Sony didn't think it would do anything or have significance to the industry.

Microsoft got into video games because they wanted to replace all your electronics in the living room with one box. Even in OX xbox days they wanted a windows device in your living room.
But the great people like J allard had different aspirations. They wanted people to be able to enjoy PC type games in their living room. ANd that's why they signed so many PC developers for games on OG xbox.

It could have had the legacy to me which brought online multiplayer to masses in their living room. I feel that's Microsoft's stamp on the industry which is pretty awesome. But once they saw money in a Microsoft owned service, that's ultimately to me where it fell apart. They didn't care about the software.

Nintendo's foundation is on designed for fun, and artistic taste. Playstations is play for everyone no matter your age, or what ever your into. Microsoft is play together, play with your friends no matter where they are.
They all want to make money, but all got into the business for other reasons on top of financials.

MS got into the console market because they believed the OS would move into the living room and Sony would end up killing Windows. Gates even went to Sony to try to get Sony to put Windows on the PS2 and they turned him down.

This is just Microsoft focusing their gaming division on the things that can drive Windows. Fable Legends and Project Knoxville had little to no hype, plus neither studio has released a big commercial success in years.
 
Whoa calm down, the "bone" is actually performing better than their most successful console...
The 360 was heavily supply constrained at launch. Let's not forget that important piece of information. That's the bare minimum of expectations realized with the Xbox One.
In more important news, let's hope everyone at these studios can get back on their feet quickly. The scene here in the UK has its challenges.
 

Helznicht

Member
That DX12 engine must have been coming along pretty well.

Smooth on a GTX 970.

Qo4Pu2a.png
 
My condolences to those affected.

I had thought they were having trouble for some time, but I appreciate their contribution to Unreal Engine 4. I was never much of a Fable fan, but I loved Black and White when I was younger.
 
The doom and gloom in this thread is incredible. No one really blinked an eye at this game outside of the most hardcore Fable fans and now it's a sure sign that ms has given up on games.

Maybe the game just wasn't that good and the ship wasn't getting turned. It's a massive shame but that's the way it is.
Wow, at least you're consistent I'll give you that.

Many games don't pan out but the studio isn't shuddered. This is something more than just a game not paning out.


Was it more when Sony shut zipper. When they shut studio Liverpool. When they shut bend.

Studios close. It sucks. Studios that once made classics. The devs that made wipeout. Some of the stuff being written in this thread is just next level amusing and it's very much entertaining me
 
Man I can really understand why Jessica Curry disliked working with a publisher so much. Scary that they can literally just say "no" and that's years worth of work which will never see the light of day. So sad.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
I agree they are moving away from in house development for everything but their most important franchises. Your breakdown of their f2p history is important but you are missing at least one successful game which is killer instinct.

Mea culpa; KI is a notable counter-example that I probably should have included and appears to have been successful for them (although the developer did get bought out from under their noses and it's not clear to me that anyone is actually playing KI F2P as opposed to buying the season passes). Still, unfair of me not to include that.
 
The doom and gloom in this thread is incredible. No one really blinked an eye at this game outside of the most hardcore Fable fans and now it's a sure sign that ms has given up on games.

Maybe the game just wasn't that good and the ship wasn't getting turned. It's a massive shame but that's the way it is.

In that case you cancel the game, not shut down the studio. Santa Monica's game didn't pan out, did Sony shut down the studio?

And what about Press Play?
 

GHG

Gold Member
Maybe they don't think the return would be sufficient to cover the remaining development cost, or up-keep in terms of servers, patches, updates, maintenance etc?

If that's the case then retool the game into being a single player only game and get it out there.

They had been developing the game since 2012. It's bat shit insane to just cancel it like this when its so close to completion. Unpresidented in fact.

I'm convinced there is more to this story but we might not find out what really went on for a while.
 

Drek

Member
Lol youre acting as MS is the only one in this business for money

Quite the opposite in fact. Sony are in it for the money. They release second tier titles all the time because second tier titles pad out the platform library, helping to move consoles early, and by the later stages of a generation second tier titles move enough copies to pay for themselves and then some. It's a worthwhile cycle for keeping studios that haven't nailed a big breakout title open and profitable with the potential of catching such a breakout down the road.

Nintendo is also all about making paper. They've stuck by what they've defined as the "core" franchises and keep iterating on them with a strong focus in quality, even when farmed out to 3rd parties. End result is that Nintendo's "core" titles always sell millions, even on under-performing hardware. In fact, they're frequently the saving grace of under-performing hardware.

Microsoft on the other hand is only willing to get involved in video games as a means to an end - home media convergence being that end. The money that could be made via having a strong stable of second tier studios and IPs serviced by them is not interesting to Microsoft, even though there is a clear window within which you can make good return on investment, something MS has been dubious with on most new initiatives.

Microsoft is not and has never been truly invested in the video game industry. This is where Sweeney is right to question their Windows Store/DX12/executable integration as MS has made it pretty clear they're only engaged as long as there is a clear benefit to the "vision" of the company to be capitalized on. They could dump Windows Store external usage of DX12 and their executable wrapper in a hot minute just like they did with GFWL. As we saw with GFWL MS won't even do basic cleanup on their own products broken by such a move.

They're the least financially motivated of the three platform producers. All they want is to not get left out on the next big thing. Gates and co. built the company on seeing and maneuvering to own the "personal computer" explosion. Since then they've been on the outside looking in at almost every major tech wave that couldn't be simply bought in to and somehow have managed to fail at a good number of the ones where buying into it should have been a viable strategy. They have a toxic corporate culture by most accounts that is entirely incompatible with external studios and branches. I could continue with the negatives but at this point it feels like piling on.

The real question isn't if MS are going to pull completely out of the gaming sector, it's when, how jagged is the cut they make to severe themselves, and how much damage does that cause to game development as a whole and PC gaming in particular when they do.
 

failgubbe

Member
They are all in it for money. But some of them though have the foresight to invest for legacy. Like Nintendo always tried to with how they approached hardware, and you know what looking back there's still no one that makes hand helds like they do or has the legacy that they do.
Sony has a legacy with their console, they actually were out to prove when they started the console project as just a hobby. The rest of Sony didn't think it would do anything or have significance to the industry.

Microsoft got into video games because they wanted to replace all your electronics in the living room with one box. Even in OG xbox days they wanted a windows device in your living room.
But the great people like J allard had different aspirations. They wanted people to be able to enjoy PC type games in their living room. ANd that's why they signed so many PC developers for games on OG xbox.

It could have had the legacy to me which brought online multiplayer to masses in their living room. I feel that's Microsoft's stamp on the industry which is pretty awesome. But once they saw money in a Microsoft owned service, that's ultimately to me where it fell apart. They didn't care about the software.

Nintendo's foundation is on designed for fun, and artistic taste. Playstations is play for everyone no matter your age, or what ever your into. Microsoft is play together, play with your friends no matter where they are.
They all want to make money, but all got into the business for other reasons on top of financials.



Yeah i agree on these things and it's a shame that MS doesnt see the value in certain studios but my post was just an answer to alot of people that seem to think that MS is the devil and that they're the only one that wants to make money. We don't know how expensive Lionhead was to run and since they haven't produced anything of value(you can argue that it's Ms fault for allowing them to make Legends etc) for a while maybe they were deadweight
 

Papacheeks

Banned
MS got into the console market because they believed the OS would move into the living room and Sony would end up killing Windows. Gates even went to Sony to try to get Sony to put Windows on the PS2 and they turned him down.

This is just Microsoft focusing their gaming division on the things that can drive Windows. Fable Legends and Project Knoxville had little to no hype, plus neither studio has released a big commercial success in years.

Yea, i know that, and your basically re-iterating what I said. Microsoft wants to own your living room, and I believe who Bill games asked from Sony if they were willing to use Windows operating system for their console, Sony exec told him to fuck off. Best decision they ever made IMHO.

Gates and MS have a bad reputation at putting up a stink when they don't get what they want.

ANd I know this is really harsh, but if they leave, I will not miss them. I enjoyed my time with gears, halo, but in terms of legacy, they just never gave a shit, and I think most of the original; xbox team knew that after 360.

If sega had the means would love them so get back into the fight, but they don't have the capital. But imagine if sega did make a machine with collaboration with MS? Because that's who original XBox kind of was born was through the death of the Dreamcast.
 

Jarmel

Banned
The doom and gloom in this thread is incredible. No one really blinked an eye at this game outside of the most hardcore Fable fans and now it's a sure sign that ms has given up on games.

Maybe the game just wasn't that good and the ship wasn't getting turned. It's a massive shame but that's the way it is.

The problem is that we're not seeing MGS push forward new IPs or successfuly develop the ones they actually do have. It's more of a confirmation of a current trend rather than an isolated event.
 
Microsoft Studios is now publishing only the biggest hits
Let's just recap Microsoft's generation in review:

[..]

Let's all be grateful if Microsoft actually is shifting their focus, and stops buying developers. We don't want more to follow the path of Rare and Lionhead.

I was quite afraid for a while that they would buy out Double Fine, when they were doing their Kinect Party titles, but thankfully that didn't happen. If it had, Double Fine would have been closed now also.
 

oti

Banned
Damn. Why not let the studio finish the game and then close it if it's not succesful?

You just can't do that with a F2P game. It would need people to analyse the data they'd get 24/7, it would need support staff, it would need developers to create new content and balance stuff and most importantly a continued commitment to advertise that game. Don't forget, only like 1%-2% of F2P players actually pay for stuff, so you need to get as many people on board as you can. Releasing a F2P game and then abandoning ship just isn't an option.
 
If that's the case then retool the game into being a single player only game and get it out there.

They had been developing the game since 2012. It's bat shit insane to just cancel it like this when its so close to completion. Unpresidented in fact.

I'm convinced there is more to this story but we might not find out what really went on for a while.


lol yeah completely changing the entire concept of the game is just "retooling"? That would cost even more money. The money spent is already spent. You can't unspend it, but you have to make smart decisions about how much more money to put into something that you have no faith in.

And it's not really unprecedented. The history of this industry is littered with games that were canned just as they were going to ship for a variety of reasons.
 

mcrommert

Banned
Mea culpa; KI is a notable counter-example that I probably should have included and appears to have been successful for them (although the developer did get bought out from under their noses and it's not clear to me that anyone is actually playing KI F2P as opposed to buying the season passes). Still, unfair of me not to include that.

Thats also a good point...f2p on killer instinct (and i think gigantic too) is more about selling the game to a player with basically a demo. Lets be honest though...in the market microsoft holds (console and some pc) f2p as it exists in the mobile market doesn't really exist...there are games like dota where you buy hats and lol where you buy characters...but sellling boosts and gold and whatnot on consoles and pc? not really

Also we need to chill with the "xbox is over" nonsense. None of us have much of a sense of what the situation was with lionhead and why this decision was made. But i really do think phil and the others have decided that running studios for non blockbuster games is too expensive and they are instead contracting reliable studios (platinum, iron galaxy) to make them.
 
The doom and gloom in this thread is incredible. No one really blinked an eye at this game outside of the most hardcore Fable fans and now it's a sure sign that ms has given up on games.

Maybe the game just wasn't that good and the ship wasn't getting turned. It's a massive shame but that's the way it is.

Its a continuing example of MS abandoning the platform in general. Everything is going to PC, MS has shut down or closed the majority of its 1st party studios, cancels new IPs that are developed in house, etc. At the rate they are going the Xbox brand will have no "legacy" feeling to it at all and just be a Windows 10 box on your entertainment stand. Cool for people that want that but a far cry from the Xbox in its heyday.

As someone who adored their 360 its pretty disgusting what MS has become with the Xbone
 
To be fair there were a ton of layoffs at SSM.

Layoffs are to be expected if they have nothing to work on, I'm sure even if the game would've released most of the layoffs would've still happened except for maybe Stig Asmussen. A bit like for Sucker Punch.
 

Papacheeks

Banned
Quite the opposite in fact. Sony are in it for the money. They release second tier titles all the time because second tier titles pad out the platform library, helping to move consoles early, and by the later stages of a generation second tier titles move enough copies to pay for themselves and then some. It's a worthwhile cycle for keeping studios that haven't nailed a big breakout title open and profitable with the potential of catching such a breakout down the road.

Nintendo is also all about making paper. They've stuck by what they've defined as the "core" franchises and keep iterating on them with a strong focus in quality, even when farmed out to 3rd parties. End result is that Nintendo's "core" titles always sell millions, even on under-performing hardware. In fact, they're frequently the saving grace of under-performing hardware.

Microsoft on the other hand is only willing to get involved in video games as a means to an end - home media convergence being that end. The money that could be made via having a strong stable of second tier studios and IPs serviced by them is not interesting to Microsoft, even though there is a clear window within which you can make good return on investment, something MS has been dubious with on most new initiatives.

Microsoft is not and has never been truly invested in the video game industry. This is where Sweeney is right to question their Windows Store/DX12/executable integration as MS has made it pretty clear they're only engaged as long as there is a clear benefit to the "vision" of the company to be capitalized on.
They could dump Windows Store external usage of DX12 and their executable wrapper in a hot minute just like they did with GFWL. As we saw with GFWL MS won't even do basic cleanup on their own products broken by such a move.

They're the least financially motivated of the three platform producers. All they want is to not get left out on the next big thing. Gates and co. built the company on seeing and maneuvering to own the "personal computer" explosion. Since then they've been on the outside looking in at almost every major tech wave that couldn't be simply bought in to and somehow have managed to fail at a good number of the ones where buying into it should have been a viable strategy. They have a toxic corporate culture by most accounts that is entirely incompatible with external studios and branches. I could continue with the negatives but at this point it feels like piling on.

The real question isn't if MS are going to pull completely out of the gaming sector, it's when, how jagged is the cut they make to severe themselves, and how much damage does that cause to game development as a whole and PC gaming in particular when they do.

.
^
This guy get's it.
 
The doom and gloom in this thread is incredible. No one really blinked an eye at this game outside of the most hardcore Fable fans and now it's a sure sign that ms has given up on games.

Maybe the game just wasn't that good and the ship wasn't getting turned. It's a massive shame but that's the way it is.



Was it more when Sony shut zipper. When they shut studio Liverpool. When they shut bend.

Studios close. It sucks. Studios that once made classics. The devs that made wipeout. Some of the stuff being written in this thread is just next level amusing and it's very much entertaining me

Zipper were giving chance after chance and failed, and they waited for the game to tank numerous times. Bend was canned when? Pretty sure they are making a new PS4 game, Liverpool was a small studio.
 
The problem is that we're not seeing MGS push forward new IPs or successfuly develop the ones they actually do have. It's more of a confirmation of a current trend rather than an isolated event.

What's quantum break, what is sunset overdrive, what is recore,what is scalebound, what great forza games have they released. A great halo game.

People are commenting before thinking.
 
Lol youre acting as MS is the only one in this business for money

A major difference between Microsoft and Sony/Nintendo is that Microsoft makes most of their money doing other shit. A moderately successful console business doesn't really move the needle for Microsoft, doesn't add much to their bottom line. They needed to grow it into a big business to justify it's existence.

Sony and Nintendo are simply operating on a different scale. They are all in the business of stacking paper, but Microsoft is in the business of staking paper to the moon and back.
 

Haunted

Member
RIP

Microsoft in full retreat as a development studio outside of their biggest core franchises.

I know it's just the usual corporate doublespeak, but obvious lies like this
I speak for all of Xbox when I say that despite this news, we remain committed to the development communities in the UK and Europe
really fucking annoy me in light of their actions and the direction they're going into.

As Tim Sweeney recently noted - judge Microsoft by what they have done and continue to do and not by what they say.
 
Microsoft is the absolute master of failing at things even when it'd be easier to succeed. The good news is, pretty soon they'll have no more internal studios to shut down besides the ones reliably pumping out their biggest franchises every two years. As someone who bought a lot of Microsoft Game Studios titles and really loved so much of what they accomplished on 360, it sucks that shifting corporate priorities and an unwillingness to fully commit to gaming sabotaged so much of what they could have accomplished.

Wow, amazing review/summary.

Any thoughts about Rare?
 

Azerth

Member
If that's the case then retool the game into being a single player only game and get it out there.

They had been developing the game since 2012. It's bat shit insane to just cancel it like this when its so close to completion. Unpresidented in fact.

I'm convinced there is more to this story but we might not find out what really went on for a while.

i dont think it could have been retooled.
 
I am shocked there was ever a fable 2. I guess people liked the first one enough for the series to ride on the coattails of it's quirky brit charm?

. It's bat shit insane to just cancel it like this when its so close to completion. Unpresidented in fact.

No it isn't. not really. games get cancelled all the time when they are 100 percent complete and ready to ship. This is just a high profile example.
 

prwxv3

Member
The doom and gloom in this thread is incredible. No one really blinked an eye at this game outside of the most hardcore Fable fans and now it's a sure sign that ms has given up on games.

Maybe the game just wasn't that good and the ship wasn't getting turned. It's a massive shame but that's the way it is.



Was it more when Sony shut zipper. When they shut studio Liverpool. When they shut bend.

Studios close. It sucks. Studios that once made classics. The devs that made wipeout. Some of the stuff being written in this thread is just next level amusing and it's very much entertaining me

Bend was not shut down bro
 
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