Current Events > Microsoft says it needs games like Hi-Fi Rush the day after killing its studio

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/8/24152137/xbox-hi-fi-rush-tango-gameworks-matt-booty

Obsidian and Ninja Theory and even probably Machine Games/343/id are all probably on the chopping block now

Anything to feed the CoD/Fallout/Elder Scrolls machine

Lol MS is so ass backwards in the games race Phil Spencer needs to be fired for xbox to ever be relevant again

Makes sense. They want games like Hi-Fi Rush. They just don't want to *pay* for games like Hi-Fi Rush.

Ah, the hard, hard life of a multi-billion dollar corporation :(

Lol what a scummy company.

Inb4Fenris what abouts this

Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios

Checks out

Kaldrenthebold posted...

Lol what a scummy company.

Inb4Fenris what abouts this

"oh but, but Sony did THIS 20 years ago CHECKMATE fanboys!"

*insert copy-pasted wikipedia list saved on computer next to photos of phil spencer*

Kim_Seong-a posted...

Makes sense. They want games like Hi-Fi Rush. They just don't want to *pay* for games like Hi-Fi Rush.

Ah, the hard, hard life of a multi-billion dollar corporation :(

No no they want people to pay for games like Hi-Fi Rush. The issue is that isn't happening.

They wasted so much money buying companies the shareholders are bitching and moaning

It genuinely feels like the Xbox division is being pulled in two directions right now. Phil Spencer, Matt Booty, and the games division want to keep making more great games with these studios, but the higher-ups above them at Microsoft were looking for ways to cut costs and saw these studios as expendable. They're not on the same page, and situations like this are a perfect example of that.

The funniest part about all this to me is that most of the outcry doesn't give a fuck about Arkane Austin because Redfall sucked.

Unknown5uspect posted...

No no they want people to pay for games like Hi-Fi Rush. The issue is that isn't happening.

Maybe Day 1 Gamepass is a bad idea then.

Unknown5uspect posted...

The funniest part about all this to me is that most of the outcry doesn't give a fuck about Arkane Austin because Redfall sucked.

Prey was amazing, I don't fault the developers for working on shit the suits forced them to and they didn't want.

BakonBitz posted...

Maybe Day 1 Gamepass is a bad idea then.

It probably wouldn't be if games like Hi-Fi Rush actually moved Gamepass subs, but they don't do that either.

Calwings posted...

It genuinely feels like the Xbox division is being pulled in two directions right now. Phil Spencer, Matt Booty, and the games division want to keep making more great games with these studios, but the higher-ups above them at Microsoft were looking for ways to cut costs and saw these studios as expendable. They're not on the same page, and situations like this are a perfect example of that.

Phil and his team run the division. the higher ups may tell them what they want to see from their investments, but at the end of the day they make the decisions on how to make money off these investments, who to cut, who to close and what to cancel. They are just as responsible for all this, IMO.

Unknown5uspect posted...

It probably wouldn't be if games like Hi-Fi Rush actually moved Gamepass subs, but they don't do that either.

It's interesting then considering Microsoft said back during release time that it was a surprise hit, enough that they wanted to invest more into Tango.

This narrative that Hi-Fi Rush didn't do well is pretty odd, I gotta say.

BakonBitz posted...

It's interesting then considering Microsoft said back during release time that it was a surprise hit, enough that they wanted to invest more into Tango.

This narrative that Hi-Fi Rush didn't do well is pretty odd, I gotta say.

They actually threw that out to try and quell the word coming out that Hi-Fi Rush didn't actually do much for Microsoft despite being such a good game.

The game industry as a whole needs smaller, lower budget titles, but as seen with Tango and hi fi rush, those arent good enough numbers wise anymore.

Didnt sony lose like an absurd amount of money on ratchet and Clank rift apart even though it was a great game with fantastic gameplay and art style?

The industry doesnt function from fun games anymore, it needs shit like live service and endless microtransactions to remain stable.

They paid the largest acquisition price ever for Activision Blizzard King, and kill off smaller studios that come bundled with the acquisition. Man, fuck Microsoft.

Alucard188 posted...

They paid the largest acquisition price ever for Activision Blizzard King, and kill off smaller studios that come bundled with the acquisition. Man, fuck Microsoft.

Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin came from the Zenimax acquisition tho. The other studios rumored to be on the chopping block are also from that acquisition.

Unknown5uspect posted...

Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin came from the Zenimax acquisition tho. The other studios rumored to be on the chopping block are also from that acquisition.

You're making my point though. They spent so much money to get this acquisition through to the end zone. And now they're crying poor and saying they're spread too thin. Fuck off.

Maybe subscriptions don't make sense for gaming

you cant spend 85 plus billion for 2 devs then pretend you got no money M$ maybe dont buy activision ehhh

Hinakuluiau posted...

Maybe subscriptions don't make sense for gaming

But what about the very small handful of games with subscriptions that popped off? Now -every- game needs even more success than that

ssb_yunglink2 posted...

Didnt sony lose like an absurd amount of money on ratchet and Clank rift apart even though it was a great game with fantastic gameplay and art style?

no, it actually performed beyond expectations.

CrimsonGear80 posted...

"oh but, but Sony did THIS 20 years ago CHECKMATE fanboys!"

*insert copy-pasted wikipedia list saved on computer next to photos of phil spencer*

You still failed to answer my question. How many copies did PS5 owners buy of Deathloop and Ghostwire Tokyo when it was timed exclusive?

CrimsonGear80 posted...

no, it actually performed beyond expectations.

LMAO. $64 million profit against a $81 million budget is not "performing beyond expectations".

Sony lied about it would only work with PS5's SSD, then when it got ported to PC it was shown to work on standard HDDs LMAO.

Fenriswolf posted...

You still failed to answer my question. How many copies did PS5 owners buy of Deathloop and Ghostwire Tokyo when it was timed exclusive?

i reject your question. it is a meaningless attempt at a "gotcha" question that makes no sense.

Fenriswolf posted...

LMAO. $64 million profit against a $81 million budget is not "performing beyond expectations".

oh what NOW you forget all about the insomniac leaks? you guys couldn't stop talking about them for months, I was sure you had them memorized.

anyway:

https://exputer.com/news/games/ratchet-clank-rift-apart-profitable/

eat up

Unknown5uspect posted...

It probably wouldn't be if games like Hi-Fi Rush actually moved Gamepass subs, but they don't do that either.

No game is. It seems to have hit a limit.

Kaldrenthebold posted...

Prey was amazing, I don't fault the developers for working on shit the suits forced them to and they didn't want.

And how many copies did Prey sell again? MS wasn't the one pushing for Redfall, Bethesda did while it was independent and did the same with Machine Games by forcing them to make Wolfenstein Youngblood a co-op looter shooter.

Alucard188 posted...

You're making my point though. They spent so much money to get this acquisition through to the end zone. And now they're crying poor and saying they're spread too thin. Fuck off.

You mean something that happen pretty much with every corporate acquisition? Is there a law that says MS isn't allowed to shut down loss making subsidiaries?

CrimsonGear80 posted...

i reject your question. it is a meaningless attempt at a "gotcha" question that makes no sense.

My question is perfectly valid.

*Dishonored 2 didn't perform as well as the first game.
*Prey 2 flopped despite receiving critical acclaim.
*Wolfenstein Youngblood flopped due to forced co-op and looter shooter elements.
*Redfall was greenlit during the same time period.
*Deathloop and Ghostwire Tokyo got screwed due to the PS5 timed exclusivity.

Have you every considered that not all of Bethesda's franchises are sellers?

Fenriswolf posted...

My question is perfectly valid.

no it isn't. it's a game from 2 years ago that was no longer only on PS5 as of last year. How much it sold on PS5 two years ago has no bearing on the studio being closed two days ago. Question rejected.

CrimsonGear80 posted...

no it isn't. it's a game from 2 years ago that was no longer only on PS5 as of last year. How much it sold on PS5 two years ago has no bearing on the studio being closed two days ago. Question rejected.

Yawn, so you're denying facts now? Arkane and Tango's games didn't sell when they were timed exclusives on PS5, and didn't sell when they were multiplatform on both PS4 and XB1.

Unknown5uspect posted...

It probably wouldn't be if games like Hi-Fi Rush actually moved Gamepass subs, but they don't do that either.

This strikes me as not making sense. I don't see how any one particular game releasing on gamepass would move sales of the service. Rather, the deciding factor to a person would be the entire library of games available through the service. Hi Fi Rush being added there would be a small fraction of the pull for potential customers and blaming it for not moving sales seems questionable at best.

Fuck dude, I never considered the possibility of id getting shuttered. Turns out megacorps buying all the shit is bad, actually

CrimsonGear80 posted...

Phil and his team run the division. the higher ups may tell them what they want to see from their investments, but at the end of the day they make the decisions on how to make money off these investments, who to cut, who to close and what to cancel. They are just as responsible for all this, IMO.

https://www.ign.com/articles/phil-spencer-and-the-battle-for-xboxs-soul

I spoke to two former longtime Xbox employees, separately, and both lamented the current state of the business. One told me, prior to this weeks awful studio closures, I had lengthy conversations with a bunch of Xbox founders, and we all came to the same conclusion: its no longer Xbox, but Microsoft Gaming. Ouch.

The other chatted with me at length after the Bethesda bloodbath, and believes Xbox is now too big to quickly or easily get its house in order. There is just too much surface area. You have, effectively, three huge companies at play and Microsoft never really finished [the] integration with Bethesda. [And] Activision is like three times the size Xbox was. They added, Xbox 360 launched with a few hundred people. Last I heard Xbox is now almost 30,000 people.

And that growth has led to, in this Xbox veterans opinion, increased oversight and meddling from further up the Microsoft food chain. The reason this seems so inconsistent with previous Xbox leadership team statements is that these decisions probably aren't being made by Phil. This is all getting dictated by [Microsoft CEO] Satya [Nadella] and [Microsoft CFO] Amy Hood, and it all stems from the Activision acquisition.

The long-tenured ex-Xboxer continued: The situation Xbox was in when they made this call was much different. [They] couldn't keep consoles in stock, making money hand-over-fist with Game Pass growth [the Activision acquisition] seemed like a no-brainer.

"Now, console sales are down. Post-COVID recession. Game Pass slowing. The acquisition was more costly and time-consuming than anyone expected. And the focus on fighting the FTC probably cost them time they would have spent thinking through the people and studio implications.

I 100% believe this is a board-level decision. Xbox was a huge profit center, so Satya approved a huge merger. Now, games are slowing, and Microsoft stock is skyrocketing and there is no way Satya is going to let Xbox drag it down.

This is all my opinion, of course, butI'm fairly certain these are not decisions being made only by Xbox leadership.

Thats not to absolve Spencer for his role in all of this (unlike the tone-deaf Wont someone think of the multi-millionaire executives? response of former Xbox higher-up Mike Ybarra). He is, after all, the person in charge of the entire organization. The buck stops with him. The Bethesda and Activision-Blizzard acquisitions happened on his watch. As such, he is no more shielded from criticism for being, by most accounts (including my own), a nice guy than the star professional athlete is for underperforming on the field/court despite regularly signing autographs for kids before games.

So even sources within the gaming industry believe that there's a power struggle at Microsoft, with Phil Spencer and the Xbox team trying to go one way but Satya Nadella and the Microsoft higher-ups trying to go another way. It makes perfect sense, considering how much praise Spencer showered on Hi-Fi Rush for its success in the past only for this to happen now, seemingly against his own wishes. Obviously as the article says, Spencer and the Xbox division aren't blameless in all of this, considering it was the ABK acquisition that attracted more of the higher-ups' scrutiny on the Xbox division in the first place. But to put all of the blame on him and say that the higher-ups above him at Microsoft aren't influencing things is just incorrect.

Calwings posted...

So even sources within the gaming industry believe that there's a power struggle at Microsoft,

Literally says :"This is all my opinion, of course"

so yeah good for this guy but i have to use common sense here and the HEAD of the division shares some if not most of the responsibility when studios are closed and layoffs happen under his watch.

the very last paragraph there spells it out.

fuck m$