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goopy20 on 02 January 2020
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shikamaru317 said:
goopy20 said:

Which studios are we talking about here? They got Ninja Theory and Obsidian, which make ok games but that's still peanuts compared to all the studios Sony has under its belt. All Sony studios have between 200 and 300 developers while something like MS's new studio, the Initiative, has like 32 employees. Other than that we know MS will just be releasing more Halo, Gears and Forza's. Not bad games, of course, but historically Sony has been a lot better at building studios and new AAA ip's.

The Initiative- AAA studio being built slowly with top tier talent from some of the best studios in the world. Believed to be working on a new AAA story driven 3rd person game, which is confirmed for announcement in 2020. Other 1st party studios are providing some development assistance while they staff up, since they don't want to rush the staffing process. 

Playground Studio 2- AAA RPG studio being built slowly with top tier talent. Believed to be working on a Fable Reboot.

Ninja Theory- AA studio capable of developing AAA games by using technology to make up for the developer deficit. They made Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice in 3 years with a team of just 20 people, and they are expanding that team for Hellblade 2. They also have a 3rd project other than Hellblade 2 and Bleeding Edge in development.

Obsidian- 1 AA team working on DLC for The Outer Worlds and a sequel to The Outer Worlds. 1 AAA team rumored to be working on a 3D Pillars of Eternity game that plays like Skyrim. 1 A team working on Grounded. 

Double Fine- One of the top indie/single A developers in the industry, with multiple hits under their belt. Unknown what they are working on besides Psychonauts 2, though it is highly likely that they have multiple games in development at once given their track record. 

Compulsion- AA studio. Their first game, We Happy Few, was shaky at best, but they are currently staffing up for a new IP, and they're hiring AAA talent for that project, including most recently 2 developers who formerly worked at Eidos Montreal on Deus Ex and Thief. 

Meanwhile they're rumored to be searching for more studios to acquire right now, with scouting teams spotted in Poland and Phil Spencer saying in interviews that he would like to get an Asian 1st party studio.

Doesn't Playground make the Forza Horizon games? Anyways, we will see. But lets be honest here, building new successful ip's to keep things fresh isn't exactly MS's strong suit. Since the original Xbox launched almost 2 decades ago, they have only managed to build 3 successful ip's (Halo, Gears and Forza) and they have been desperately trying to clamp onto them ever since, even when those franchises aren't that popular anymore. Compare that to Sony's studio's who are given the creative freedom to try new things and come up with games like: Horizon Zero Dawn, Spiderman, TLOU, Ghost of Tsushima etc.

I'm sure MS knows they will never beat Sony with their exclusives so it's a smart move to launch a more powerful console. Risky move for sure because if they launch $100 or more expensive than the ps5 and the extra performance doesn't really translate to that much better graphics, they are pretty much screwed. Also, if Sony's console does fit normally under most people's telly's it could also be a problem for MS. Still, if these rumors are true I have to applaud MS for having the balls to go all out on their next console's hardware.