Xbox Rumors and Speculation

Klobrille has been hinting MS is picking up a Japanese studio. He just posted this:

 
Klobrille has been hinting MS is picking up a Japanese studio. He just posted this:



Out of the ones he listed I would be most excited for Platinum Games,CyberConnect2, Arc System Works, Mistwalker or Tri-Ace . Especially Mistwalker and Tri-Ace. But knowing MS they'll end up with Cave or White Owls.
 
Out of the ones he listed I would be most excited for Platinum Games,CyberConnect2, Arc System Works, Mistwalker or Tri-Ace . Especially Mistwalker and Tri-Ace. But knowing MS they'll end up with Cave or White Owls.

My sentiments exactly. I can see them announcing that as if it would be a big deal, missing the mark entirely.
 
Who's Psycobaker? Never heard that name before.
Ok, who the hell is Pscycobaker Swery White Owl?

Swery is head of White Owl studios, small Japanese studio. Swery is an established lead in the industry. Popular in Japan. Not in the West.

Don’t know Pyschobaker. Someone mentioned that he called the Double Fine purchase but I’m pretty sure Klobrille hinted at the purchase first. If White Owl gets bought, then I’ll believe he actually knows something.
 
My sentiments exactly. I can see them announcing that as if it would be a big deal, missing the mark entirely.

Better to get small studios they can build up then to just simply take games off PS4. Which is really all you are hoping for if you want them to buy a Platinum type purchase.
 
Better to get small studios they can build up then to just simply take games off PS4. Which is really all you are hoping for if you want them to buy a Platinum type purchase.

Due to Game Pass and Microsoft’s expansion horizontally, I’m good with both. Market will consolidate over the next 3 years. Just a matter with who these studios will align with. Of the platforms, Xbox games will be the most accessible due to the low cost of Game Pass and that it’s on PC and streaming. The exposure that comes with that is why I’m excited for some of these studios who I know have incredible leads but haven’t had enough resources.

That said, people underrate the ability for these studios to get built up. When making new IPs, projects don’t start with a ton of people. They staff up at full production. Japan, like California studios, can staff up with contractors pretty quickly. The key is the leader of the studio and if he has enough pull to bring over a talented team when it’s time to get bigger. Swery is one of the few realistic guys out there who makes sense.
 
Better to get small studios they can build up then to just simply take games off PS4. Which is really all you are hoping for if you want them to buy a Platinum type purchase.

Aside from The Initiative, I'm not expecting smaller studios to bring the heat any time soon. A bigger studio with a good track record could simply bring us quality games faster. I'm not opposed to smaller studios. I would prefer them to build up Mistwalker over getting White Owls or Cave.
 
Aside from The Initiative, I'm not expecting smaller studios to bring the heat any time soon. A bigger studio with a good track record could simply bring us quality games faster. I'm not opposed to smaller studios. I would prefer them to build up Mistwalker over getting White Owls or Cave.

But if Microsoft can't build them into quality studios then there is no reason to believe they wouldn't make a real quality studio worse. Forget whether its a "big deal". They have the studios to they have a great lineup which is the big deal. People are just looking for them to win the console war with whatever purchase they make.

Obviously this won't happen but lets hypothetically say they bought From Software what do you gain from that other than the games being on game pass?
 
But if Microsoft can't build them into quality studios then there is no reason to believe they wouldn't make a real quality studio worse(1). Forget whether its a "big deal". They have the studios to they have a great lineup which is the big deal(2). People are just looking for them to win the console war with whatever purchase they make(3).

Obviously this won't happen but lets hypothetically say they bought From Software what do you gain from that other than the games being on game pass(4)?

1. This has already happened, yes. It doesn't seem likely to happen anymore.
2. Nice, yes. Great, no. Not great enough to fill the void in portfolio with the type of games we are still missing.
3. Yes, no, maybe. It really doesn't matter.
4. From Software's game day 1 on Game pass. No more skipping the Xbox platform. No more per franchise or iteration bs. No more waiting 9 months after it has released, for the possibility of a Japanese anticipated game, maybe hitting Xbox, if at all..if Xbox gamers port beg enough, if it pleases his majesty ..to bring it to us.
 
But if Microsoft can't build them into quality studios then there is no reason to believe they wouldn't make a real quality studio worse. Forget whether its a "big deal". They have the studios to they have a great lineup which is the big deal. People are just looking for them to win the console war with whatever purchase they make.

Obviously this won't happen but lets hypothetically say they bought From Software what do you gain from that other than the games being on game pass?

Winning a console war is really outdated talk. Nobody high up at Microsoft is looking at it like that right now. They’re looking at driving people to Game Pass in whatever way they can. So From Software games coming to Game Pass day 1 would be huge. It’s exactly the type of developer you’d want. They have a really hardcore niche of fans that will get on the platform those games are sold. They’d drive significant mindshare to the Xbox brand.

I think getting a few studios with hardcore followings on PlayStation is smart. Not about weakening PlayStation. I don’t expect Sony to lose much of their base regardless next gen. It’s about bringing in a few studios that have mindshare with PlayStation gamers and would encourage those gamers to either buy Game Pass on PC or Xcloud...if they’re set on their console.
 
Winning a console war is really outdated talk. Nobody high up at Microsoft is looking at it like that right now. They’re looking at driving people to Game Pass in whatever way they can. So From Software games coming to Game Pass day 1 would be huge. It’s exactly the type of developer you’d want. They have a really hardcore niche of fans that will get on the platform those games are sold. They’d drive significant mindshare to the Xbox brand.

I think getting a few studios with hardcore followings on PlayStation is smart. Not about weakening PlayStation. I don’t expect Sony to lose much of their base regardless next gen. It’s about bringing in a few studios that have mindshare with PlayStation gamers and would encourage those gamers to either buy Game Pass on PC or Xcloud...if they’re set on their console.

The reason why you know its not a good thing is if Sony or Google bought them people here would be pissed.
 
The reason why you know its not a good thing is if Sony or Google bought them people here would be pissed.

Sure I guess. Google especially. I just don’t like how limited they are. Sony no. I expect Sony to make some purchases that’ll piss off Xbox only gamers. Even if I wasn’t multi console, I know Sony will follow Xbox eventually in having games more accessible. Either through a PC store or streaming. Market will consolidate. The upside of that is the reason it’s consolidating is games will get more accessible and it’s making the big companies more aggressive. It’s also driving a lot of investment. A lot of devs will get bigger. Lot more money thrown at Indie talent. Sony could buy Remedy. Microsoft could buy a dev that Sony gamers like. It’s fine.
 
https://www.windowscentral.com/gamescom-opening-night-live-feature-over-15-publishers?amp

What you need to know
  • Geoff Keighley has announced Gamescom Opening Night Live, a presentation to open Gamescom 2019.
  • Gamescom will feature "world premiere content and announcements" from more than 15 publishers.
  • The show will be held on August 19, 2019 at 8:00 p.m. CEST/2:00 p.m. EDT/11:00 a.m. PDT.
  • The Gamescom show floor will be open from August 20 through August 24, 2019.
Interestingly enough, Xbox Game Studios is one of the publishers mentioned, despite the fact that Xbox is holding its own dedicated Inside Xbox show for Gamescom 2019 earlier in the day. Maybe they are saving a reveal for this show, or perhaps it will be a rehash of whatever they announced already.

Other publishers and developers that will be present include (but aren't limited to) 2K, Activision, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Sega and Ubisoft.
 
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https://www.windowscentral.com/gamescom-opening-night-live-feature-over-15-publishers?amp

What you need to know
  • Geoff Keighley has announced Gamescom Opening Night Live, a presentation to open Gamescom 2019.
  • Gamescom will feature "world premiere content and announcements" from more than 15 publishers.
  • The show will be held on August 19, 2019 at 8:00 p.m. CEST/2:00 p.m. EDT/11:00 a.m. PDT.
  • The Gamescom show floor will be open from August 20 through August 24, 2019.
Interestingly enough, Xbox Game Studios is one of the publishers mentioned, despite the fact that Xbox is holding its own dedicated Inside Xbox show for Gamescom 2019 earlier in the day. Maybe they are saving a reveal for this show, or perhaps it will be a rehash of whatever they announced already.

Other publishers and developers that will be present include (but aren't limited to) 2K, Activision, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Sega and Ubisoft.
I swear they got another studio announcement and its a Japanese studio.
 
I wanna say their next studio they announce is Moon Studios, the devs behind Ori...since they’re the only other studio to have footage, in the background, of the Xbox game studios trailer for e3.
 
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cI3jgL6.png
 
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We will see because I think this show will be B-rated compared to E3.

From the last 3 shows tells me this will be no different.
 
I wish they were that agressive in other areas.

They are. Just not how they did it before. People underestimate the investment in their support studios and ability to back these smaller studios up. There’s a reason they’re going with a lot of smaller creative studios rather than 4 or 5 big ones. Reason why the Initiative is operating so lean right now despite being stacked with well known industry vets. Won’t become clear until they start showing what they’re working on.

There’s an assumption right now that all these AA studios mean a steady stream of 6.5 metacritic rated We Happy Few and State of Decay 2 type games from Xbox next gen. Couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s hard to explain how advances in Machine Learning, APIs, remote collaboration combined with the fact Microsoft leads the tech industry in these areas will allow these AA studios (who for the most part are well run) to make games that look and feel AAA. Microsoft already has studios outside these 15 that are creating tools that will greatly shorten the technical side of dev time.

They’ll likely be adding a couple more studios soon that will probably generate more complaints than excitement but I’d suggest gamers wait and see what the next projects are before complaining about studio sizes or lack of investment in 3rd party exclusives to prop up a piece of plastic.
 
They are. Just not how they did it before. People underestimate the investment in their support studios and ability to back these smaller studios up. There’s a reason they’re going with a lot of smaller creative studios rather than 4 or 5 big ones. Reason why the Initiative is operating so lean right now despite being stacked with well known industry vets. Won’t become clear until they start showing what they’re working on.

There’s an assumption right now that all these AA studios mean a steady stream of 6.5 metacritic rated We Happy Few and State of Decay 2 type games from Xbox next gen. Couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s hard to explain how advances in Machine Learning, APIs, remote collaboration combined with the fact Microsoft leads the tech industry in these areas will allow these AA studios (who for the most part are well run) to make games that look and feel AAA. Microsoft already has studios outside these 15 that are creating tools that will greatly shorten the technical side of dev time.

They’ll likely be adding a couple more studios soon that will probably generate more complaints than excitement but I’d suggest gamers wait and see what the next projects are before complaining about studio sizes or lack of investment in 3rd party exclusives to prop up a piece of plastic.
I agree with you. But some gamers can’t wait. Or some “have heard this all before”.