If Sea of Thieves Succeeds?

[Veknoid_Outcast]

pokoko said:

Veknoid_Outcast said:

Yeah, I think Don if off base here. If anything, Microsoft gives its studios too much freedom.

That's a hard one for me to accept when many say that Lionhead shut down partially because they were forced into making a games-as-a-service entry despite having no experience or desire in that direction.

I think the freedom aspect is circumstantial.  If Microsoft doesn't have plans then they might not care that much but if they want something in particular then they'll hand down a mandate.  

As always, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. There's evidence out there suggesting team leads are given a lot of leeway, and also evidence, in the case of Lionhead or Black Tusk, of Microsoft meddling.

In the case of Rare, however, which is at the heart of this thread, there seems to be a clear history of Microsoft being hands-off, often to the detriment of the finished product.