Xbox Rumors and Speculation



Translation:

I am biting my tongue. They have revealed to me one of the two studios that Microsoft has bought and has not announced yet. He has been a studio worker himself and I can't say more. But I give you my word that when it is announced, many may freak out more than Bethesda.


squarenix would melt the internets
 
I believe they'll have a major Sega partnership. They did it once in their history already. For OG Xbox they negotiated a bunch of niche exclusives. Would be happy if they had an agreement to bring back a bunch of their niche IPs like JSRF, Panzer Dragoon and Outrun into Game Pass. Bringing Persona to Xcloud would also be a big deal.

If a buyout was under way, we'd know about it. You don't leak or tease buyouts of public companies. Once an agreement is made, it will be public before finalized. They have to give the investors a chance to vote on it.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: wshowers
Talking to my developer buddy yesterday for the first time since the Bethesda buyout, one of the most interesting things I heard was industries reaction to what Microsoft is doing right now. He was telling me beyond these studio acquisitions, Microsoft's hiring spree is like something he's never seen before and they're creating a vortex for talent. Said that developers really like Matt Booty and it's been one of the reasons they've been so successful pulling in talent.

Thought it was worth mentioning because while there's a lot of focus rightfully on studio acquisition, recruiting top talent to existing studios is equally important.
 
Talking to my developer buddy yesterday for the first time since the Bethesda buyout, one of the most interesting things I heard was industries reaction to what Microsoft is doing right now. He was telling me beyond these studio acquisitions, Microsoft's hiring spree is like something he's never seen before and they're creating a vortex for talent. Said that developers really like Matt Booty and it's been one of the reasons they've been so successful pulling in talent.

Thought it was worth mentioning because while there's a lot of focus rightfully on studio acquisition, recruiting top talent to existing studios is equally important.

ask him/her/they for the initiatives hiring info, I’ve requested it but have yet to hear anything lol but seriously
 
ask him/her/they for the initiatives hiring info, I’ve requested it but have yet to hear anything lol but seriously

Didn't get into details of any specific studio. He talked more in regards to Microsoft in general. I never ask for inside info out of respect. Just general developer feelings on state of industry, trends, tools, etc.

Different people have mentioned Microsoft has been hiring lots of contractors in addition to full time employees. I speculate The Initiative is doing a lot of contract work but currently but don't know for sure. I'm no insider. Lol
 
  • Like
Reactions: karmakid
Didn't get into details of any specific studio. He talked more in regards to Microsoft in general. I never ask for inside info out of respect. Just general developer feelings on state of industry, trends, tools, etc.

Different people have mentioned Microsoft has been hiring lots of contractors in addition to full time employees. I speculate The Initiative is doing a lot of contract work but currently but don't know for sure. I'm no insider. Lol

its all good, no worries....but yeah, i feel the initiative is following suit like the other three that be Sony In santa monica. Naughty dog and SSM is kinda notorious for their contract work and kinda blacklisting said contractors if you try to work for neighboring studios... not insomniac but who knows how they’ll be now
 
its all good, no worries....but yeah, i feel the initiative is following suit like the other three that be Sony In santa monica. Naughty dog and SSM is kinda notorious for their contract work and kinda blacklisting said contractors if you try to work for neighboring studios... not insomniac but who knows how they’ll be now

Never knew that and it's pretty interesting. I could see how blacklisting contractors would've been effective in the past. Microsoft is literally employing twice the manpower (if not more) of Sony and has already poached a lot of their creative leads. Don't think the threat of being blacklisted will be very effective anymore. Obsidian, InXile and Initiative have all poached creative leads from their studios and will be using a lot of contractors as well.
 
Yo. The shift in interest for the Series X and S has been substantial. Like, shockingly so. That Bethesda deal really turned the tide. Gonna be a super interesting gen. Im here for it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: karmakid
Added another Naught Dog recruit too. Like I mentioned before, they're sucking up talent. Devs like the Matt Booty sales pitch.
 
I wrote this on Xbox Era in regards to predictions for another big move.

I’ve been arguing against the “temper the expectations” group and had been predicting something big to come soon for over a year. I have 0 inside sources. I just follow what Nadella and Hood keep saying. Nadella sat on the board of Netflix, understands what it takes to make a content driven, paradigm shifting, engagement focused product work not just in the US but in the entire world.

I am in the midst of writing an article for Xbox Era but will share this graph from Business Insider that tells a lot of the story.


image


Netflix is now closely approaching 200 million subscribers. These are feasible numbers for the Netflix of gaming within the next 10 to 15 years due to the quickly changing landscape of local tech, cloud tech and the internet. Game Pass lucked out due to everyone being stuck in-doors and it’s numbers are likely inflated ahead of schedule however that doesn’t matter when the early years of a service it’s all about mindshare and spreading awareness of your product. You can see it took Netflix 5 years to go from 7 to 23 million but due to improving technology for streaming video and casting their net world wide, they had single years after that where they’ve done close to that amount or more. In comparison, Game Pass is on a great pace.

In order for Microsoft to have that sort of bump outside of the west in a few years, they’ll need to make another major move. Something that appeals to parts of Europe outside of the UK and Japan. Basically Sony territories. Netflix is spending 17 billion in content this year and a lot of that content is to target parts of the world outside of the US. I’m not predicting anything big gets announced in 2020 but I expect something big to happen again. They’ve got a lot on their plates to finish the Bethesda deal first…but maybe that’s why Bethesda operates independently. Makes it easier to expand fast. Basically I think it’s just a question of when another big thing happens. Not if.
 
Last edited:
I wrote this on Xbox Era in regards to predictions for another big move.

I’ve been arguing against the “temper the expectations” group and had been predicting something big to come soon for over a year. I have 0 inside sources. I just follow what Nadella and Hood keep saying. Nadella sat on the board of Netflix, understands what it takes to make a content driven, paradigm shifting, engagement focused product work not just in the US but in the entire world.

I am in the midst of writing an article for Xbox Era but will share this graph from Business Insider that tells a lot of the story.


image


Netflix is now closely approaching 200 million subscribers. These are feasible numbers for the Netflix of gaming within the next 10 to 15 years due to the quickly changing landscape of local tech, cloud tech and the internet. Game Pass lucked out due to everyone being stuck in-doors and it’s numbers are likely inflated ahead of schedule however that doesn’t matter when the early years of a service it’s all about mindshare and spreading awareness of your product. You can see it took Netflix 5 years to hit 23 million but due to improving technology for streaming video and casting their net world wide, they had single years after that where they’ve done close to that amount or more. In comparison, Game Pass is on a great pace.

In order for Microsoft to have that sort of bump outside of the west in a few years, they’ll need to make another major move. Something that appeals to parts of Europe outside of the UK and Japan. Basically Sony territories. Netflix is spending 17 billion in content this year and a lot of that content is to target parts of the world outside of the US. I’m not predicting anything big gets announced in 2020 but I expect something big to happen again. They’ve got a lot on their plates to finish the Bethesda deal first…but maybe that’s why Bethesda operates independently. Makes it easier to expand fast. Basically I think it’s just a question of when another big thing happens. Not if.

sooooooo, if I get this right, correct me if I’m wrong, but, you’re saying Europe needs more Bollywood games in GP and Kpop games for Asia?
 
sooooooo, if I get this right, correct me if I’m wrong, but, you’re saying Europe needs more Bollywood games in GP and Kpop games for Asia?

I'm not sure what sells out there but this sounds about right. LOL

Seriously wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft is trying to purchase someone like Capcom. If unsuccessful, will look for expensive partnerships for day 1 content from publishers who have mindshare in those regions.
 


Moon isn't happening. Tomas Mahler has said it both on and off the record. He wants independence, has funding for his next game and believes its the game that will put his studio on the map as a AAA dev. The others are just logical guesses.
 
Moon isn't happening. Tomas Mahler has said it both on and off the record. He wants independence, has funding for his next game and believes its the game that will put his studio on the map as a AAA dev. The others are just logical guesses.

isn’t moon like 20 or less people scattered across North America and or the world?