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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Why are Sony and Microsoft closing first party studios?

So both sony and microsoft just recently closed a first party studio (Sony = Evolution Studios; Microsoft: Lionhead Studios).

Why do you think are they doing this? IMO its extremly important to have as many first party studios as possible as a console manufacture. Both studios arnt known to be unsuccesfull either.

Driveclub from evolution studios sold 2mio units retail so far, adding digitally sales we are probl around 2,5-3 mio units. Its the most beatifull racing game so far and its also more then microsoft is selling with the forza series on their xbox one.

Even if a game/project turns out to be unsuccesfull, those studios could easily just work on other games/ips. Especially Microsoft is not in the need of saving money as well.

 

So why are they doing that?



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Because they know that Nintendo will make a comeback in 2017 and nothing will stop them.



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In Sonys case I think its just about the cost of having more employees.



I'm pretty sure Microsoft closed the studio because the last kinect fable was very bad and fable legends wasn't looking good. They must have eyes on another studio continuing the fable franchise, its sad but it does make sense.

For Sony well I don't really know, they are focusing on second party, which I don't agree with, but Driveclub did get quite bad reviews and press, their racing game is just Grand Turismo, makes a little sense but I don't like the decision either.

Overall first party IS extremely important especially with the prices dropping on PC- hardware and games while offering better quality overall, obvioulsy PS4 and Xbox one have a cheaper step in value and make all games "easier" to play but without exclusives, not many would own it.

In the end the real question is, are driveclub and a bad fable really those "killer" exclusives, I don't think so, they should invest that money in other first party studio's, like Microsoft buying the Minecraft creator recently.




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Also maybe because Evolution Studios has not done a decent game since forever and they prefer not to fund studios that can't keep up with today's quality in the industry.



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Because the industry is dominated by third parties, so having a good first party lineup is important, but not the most important. Both studios encountered a ton of trouble with their recent games (DriveClub is great now, but it took months to get there), so I can understand the desire to cut ties with them as they're very selective with their 150+ man studios.



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Because they've analyzed the data and determined that those studios give a poor return on investment. As simple as that.

Lionhead, especially, has been a money sink. Their last game was so poor that it was cancelled even after $75M had been poured into it. Certainly, an argument can be made that Microsoft was at least partially responsible for that mess but that doesn't change the bottom line.

Evolution is tougher since a lot of their problems have been bad luck. They were a good studio overall.

Under that is the fact that Microsoft and Sony are finding that supporting specific games from third-party developers is more cost efficient. They get to pick and choose which IP they back and, if things don't work out, they can just walk away.



malistix1985 said:
I'm pretty sure Microsoft closed the studio because the last kinect fable was very bad and fable legends wasn't looking good. They must have eyes on another studio continuing the fable franchise, its sad but it does make sense.

For Sony well I don't really know, they are focusing on second party, which I don't agree with, but Driveclub did get quite bad reviews and press, their racing game is just Grand Turismo, makes a little sense but I don't like the decision either.

Overall first party IS extremely important especially with the prices dropping on PC- hardware and games while offering better quality overall, obvioulsy PS4 and Xbox one have a cheaper step in value and make all games "easier" to play but without exclusives, not many would own it.

In the end the real question is, are driveclub and a bad fable really those "killer" exclusives, I don't think so, they should invest that money in other first party studio's, like Microsoft buying the Minecraft creator recently.

It still didnt make sense to me to close the studio then. Just dont make a new driveclub/fable legends game but a new IP or reboot a old IP (like recently ratchet and clank). Evolution studios dont HAS to be racing games right? they did other games before as well. Same with lionheart. But fable in general was a beloved and successfull series, fable legends was mainly hated because it wasnt fable 4. If that game wouldnt be made by Lionhead and wouldnt have fable in its name, it wouldnt be hated at all imo.



I'm pretty sure if MS won the "console cycles" and had no one to touch them...they would close down everything except maybe 343 and Black Tusk... whatever they are called now. They don't want lots of studios, they want to own IP's and buy exclusives. They didn't just close Lionhead either, they shut down Project Spark, put Phantom Dust on hiatus and closed the studio Press Play.

They don't own playground games and many of the other kinect studios were transferred to other parts of MS.



Because they want to cut out the cycle of long development and poor returns.

3rd party content dominates the industry. What money that could be spent developing an exclusive game for 3 or 4 years that could potentially fail (Driveclub), the money can be better spent creating marketting and DLC deals with 3rd parties on real system selling content like Grand Theft Auto, Star Wars, FIFA, Call of Duty, Battlefield and so on.

Furthermore, the money can be pushed towards indie developers, giving the platform that same "exclusive" push at a fraction of the cost.