So, this is the route they're going to absolve MS of responsibility for their latest failure. I've seen warriors saying this too. It took around a day, but here's a new narrative although only the most zealous fans would buy this. XBox and Phil are responsible for their first-party output - no one else. If there was no oversight to see how bad Redfall was, that's still on XBox for not having structures in place to check the progress of their own games. We still haven't heard any official word on this. I wonder if we will or if throwing their first-party developers under the bus will be custom from now on.
I have a specific dislike for the way UraMallas likes to twist things to, ultimately, cap for Microsoft. First off he's ironically reducing Microsoft's value to these acquired studios into a sugar daddy. They're only around to give them money, does that make the studios gold diggers? If al they can contribute is money, what's the value in them acquiring teams that said teams and publishers can't get through taking out bank loans or, in the case of teams, finding other publishers to finance their projects? You would think a platform holder acquiring teams would bring more to the table than just being a bank. You know, like creative contributions?
Secondly they imply two different definitions of the term "credit" so they can conveniently cover bases and give Microsoft "credit" for games like Psychonauts in ways that only come down to money, but try stopping the buck for stuff like RedFall at Bethesda & Arkane because Microsoft's only contribution was...funding? But didn't you just say that Microsoft deserves "credit" for Psychonauts 2 because of their funding? By that logic, don't they also take the responsibility of blame for RedFall because of obvious LACK of funding into the game? A lack of funding that is visibly noticeable upon playing the game or seeing any extended gaming footage?
This isn't even bringing up their lack of hands-on when it comes to guiding the team with creative input, or just setting some milestones that would naturally enforce a certain level of quality control in the final product. We're just talking on the money side here, and for some reason you want to acknowledge it stops with Microsoft when the results are good (Psychonauts 2), but suddenly make it stop at Zenimax & Arkane when the results are not good (RedFall), hiding behind the arbitrary excuse of limited integration?
Also I wouldn't be so quick as to reduce Phil Spencer's role to "who should get fired"; he confers with the leads of XGS and Zenimax regularly, he obviously has to take a look at the games (remember that tweet with him playing The Initiative's game with Drew Perry?), among other things with a team of people under his orders, not to mention communicates with Sarah Bond on matters relating to Game Pass and Aaron Greenberg (useless as he may be most of the time) with social media marketing & messaging. So he knew in some form where RedFall was at, otherwise he wouldn't have called for it to be delayed. Meaning, he also had just as much an opportunity to provide some input to the team and Pete Hines to have a bit more hands-on over Arkane Austin...so you don't get to isolate Microsoft Gaming or Phil Spencer away from stuff like RedFall, but give them praise for games like Psychonauts 2 and HiFi Rush (which would also fall under being possible due to Microsoft's "credit" i.e monies).
And why are these dudes so afraid of people getting fired? I'm not calling for anyone at Arkane or Zenimax to get fired over this either, but even dare suggest people at upper Xbox management maybe need to be let go and these people rush in to shame you for wanting someone to lose their job. First off, these are well-off folks who will be compensated handsomely with severance packages, and have enough of a resume to find work at another company or studio in their field relatively quickly. Ultimately if someone isn't pulling their weight, you don't keep them on payroll. You either demote them or let them go.
There is nothing vile or evil in stating that reality. But like I said, it's not members of Arkane Austin or Zenimax that I feel should take the blame in the form of maybe asking if certain people are a best fit for their position.
Microsoft policies are crippling studios. 18 month contractors, no revenue goal bonuses. And management at Bethesda don't give a fuck, they've been paid their massive acquisition sums.
Bethesda is going to fall apart at the seams if Microsoft hopes hands off will work
Wow! If i were working at Arkane Austin and saw this article I'd straight up leave, it's wild that your parent company is throwing you under the bus like this (and let's be clear Microsoft is 100% throwing them under the bus because a corporate mouthpiece like Jez would always be in contact with Microsoft PR and if they were going to stand behind their studio this article would never be published with that headline). Unbelievable.
I wouldn't mind Xbox if it was actually proper competition. What Phil Spencer did to the brand is irreparable, even their fan base is trash.
Nintendo or Valve don't bother me, I don't want them to do poorly at all, quite the opposite. The same can't be said about Xbox, I want it to die, I can't stand the mediocrity and honestly, both MS and their fans deserve it.
When Phil Spencer was in charge of the MS studios the lack of quality games was the fault of Don Mattrick.
Now that he has occupied Don Mattrick's position for 10 years the fault is of everyone under him.
I wouldn't mind Xbox if it was actually proper competition. What Phil Spencer did to the brand is irreparable, even their fan base is trash.
Nintendo or Valve don't bother me, I don't want them to do poorly at all, quite the opposite. The same can't be said about Xbox, I want it to die, I can't stand the mediocrity and honestly, both MS and their fans deserve it.
I would be happy if the only competition was Mobile,Nintendo and Valve. The industry does not need Microsoft, they have been a burden since day one trying to buy their way in.
Halo was supposed to be exclusive to Apple before they bought the rights to it and put it on their console.
They tried to buy Nintendo and Sega, They destroyed Rare.
It's thanks to them we have paid online and Microtransactions.
MS is a hugely political organisation, so naturally they would direct Jez to think this. Good dog.
But for the rest of us, this scenario is even worse.
The premise we're supposed to believe is that MS buys up a publisher and does nothing with it except keep its games off PlayStation. What value do they bring in this scenario? None at all. They're rent-seeking scum that need to be broken up and put down.
https://twitter.com/JezCorden/status/1653828092916543488 Edit: I think people are misreading this article. The article blames Xbox and Bethesda for different reasons. Bethesda cause of the pure quality of the game. Xbox cause of their lack of involvement is directly related to the quality...
They have been pushing the "Microsoft is hands off" nonsense for years now to absolve Microsoft and Phil Spencer of any blame when they release bad or broken games.
They constantly do it for Halo and 343. Its never Microsoft that did poorly its all 343.
Sony also allows their studios to work freely but they also set them up for success. They have a bunch of support studios they have built or acquired over the years to help work on games. As far as I know Xbox has none.
Sony also has devs from other studios help out during down time.
Microsoft is just not a good publisher. Never really have been. They need to face reality. And them buying up more studios and publishers isn't going to make them a better publisher and will not improve the studios. They need to shut up with all the b.s. and just focus on making great games and give their existing studios the support they need
https://twitter.com/JezCorden/status/1653828092916543488 Edit: I think people are misreading this article. The article blames Xbox and Bethesda for different reasons. Bethesda cause of the pure quality of the game. Xbox cause of their lack of involvement is directly related to the quality...
That's so lame. You should be able to ask what was the point of buying them? Those games were already coming to Xbox anyway so why?
Cancelling the PS5 version was the only thing they did and even Arkane said it before release. Nothing else matters for Phil, he doesn't even talk to them or ask how the game is doing.
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