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shikamaru317 on 09 January 2024
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Esparadrapo said:
shikamaru317 said:

Youngblood was kind of a turd, but I think the whole GaaS RPG shooter thing was pushed on them by Zenimax leadership because they were struggling at the time financially and hoping that GaaS could make them some money. Cyberpilot was also kind of a meh VR experience from what I've heard, though I haven't played it myself. However, before those 2 missteps they released Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, which got like an 87 average score between it's original 3 platforms (with the less good late Switch port averaging 79 I believe). The preceding 2 Wolfenstein games got respectable scores as well, I believe an 80 average on The New Order and a 75 average on the cheap standalone expansion The Old Blood.

I think Machine has the potential to pull off an 80+ meta on Indiana Jones as long as the Xbox tax doesn't hit them too hard. Even 85+ might be possible, though less likely than when they were 3rd party thanks to the Xbox tax. 

Hoping for a 80+ tells volumes. I don't think they were the right choice for this franchise.

Well, I don't think Disney had any better options when they made the Indiana Jones deal with Zenimax sometime between 2019 and early 2021. They were kind of desperate to license out their IP after foolishly closing down their own gaming division several years prior. Starting around about 2019 or 2020 we saw Disney chucking out IP licenses left and right to whichever studios made the best offer presumably. 

In an ideal world I'm sure that Disney would have wanted the Indy license to go to Crystal Dynamics or Naughty Dog since both studios already had experience making the style of game that works best for Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider reboot trilogy and Uncharted respectively, but Disney had kind of got burned in their previous Crystal Dynamics Avengers deal when that game flopped hard, and Crystal Dynamics seemed to want to get back to Tomb Raider after taking that Avengers break. Meanwhile Naughty Dog has moved on from Uncharted and seems to only care about TLOU these days, so I doubt they even put in a bid for Indiana Jones when they heard Disney was looking to license it out. Zenimax presumably made the best offer in terms of licensing cost percentages and such out of all of the interested parties for Indiana Jones. 

Is Machine the ideal studio for Indy? Maybe not, they have never made a single 3rd person game, have never made an action-adventure game with puzzle elements incorporated, etc. However, they are a technically proficient studio that has proven capable of pulling off good graphics within the id Tech engine, and they have had some games review well. Assuming they made smart hiring choices for lead and senior positions on Indy early in it's development, preferably some former Naughty Dog or Crystal Dynamics/Eidos devs who worked on Uncharted or Tomb Raider reboot trilogy games previously, they may just be able to pull off a good 80+ or even 85+ Indy game imo. Alot will be clearer once we actually see the game in action next week.