One other, somewhat ominous question always lingers in conversations with Xbox's first-party developers at the moment, which is how they're feeling in the face of the publisher's wildly unpopular surprise closures of award-winning studios such as Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin. Does that sit in the back of your mind as an Xbox-owned developer? Much of the conversation, meanwhile, has centred on the impact of these closures on creativity - can a first-party studio at Microsoft feel safe to experiment and try new things when studios which have done so - and in many cases, done so extremely well - still get closed?
"As a developer - and as a player - it's always sad and it always sucks to see studios close and devs lose their jobs... I really hope all those people land on their feet, because I know our indusutry is better with them in it," Patel said.
"As for me and how I look at things, I guess first and foremost: I don't believe in living in fear. Especially if you need to be invested in the creative process - you have to be invested in what you're making, and you have to believe in it. And I do feel a strong sense of security in being part of Obsidian and, you know, being a part of a studio that was a successful independent developer for almost 15, 20 years.
"I really trust in our leadership," she added. "I trust in our process for making games and I trust in our players and our fans who believe in what we do. I'm definitely sad to hear about what's happened to some of these other studios - it hasn't diminished my commitment, or my belief in what we're doing."
Hansen, meanwhile, added that these situations are never as simple as the developers taking risks, and paying the price when they don't work out. "These are very complex decisions with so much nuance behind what happens, because they're challenging decisions that need to be made at times, and so I don't find that creatively stifling at all. I feel deeply supported, both internally on the dev side and with fans, but also from Microsoft." The situation was "unfortunate", he added, "but at the same time, I'm not afraid."
"As Matt said," Patel continued, "we've been incredible well supported by Microsoft. We've also had Feargus Urquhart at the helm of the studio since its inception. And before that, when it was Black Isle Studios. He knows games, he loves games, and he's been incredibly successful at hauling Obsidian through all of its various iterations. And again, I do want to emphasise that Microsoft leadership and Xbox leadership have also been incredible supportive of what we do, how we make games, and [are] very communicative with us as well."
"The only side effect that I've personally felt since Microsoft aquired us is just more support," Hansen said. "There's less unknowns, less financial risk, and so we're able to take more creative risk - but to do that in a measured way. It's been a really, really rewarding process."
Seriously hate this question being asked to developers, it's almost like: "Yeah, your game is great and all BUT WHAT ABOUT ALL THE CLOSURES? ARE YOU SCARED? ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE CLOSURES? TALK SHIT ABOUT YOUR OWNER! TELL ME! ARE YOU LIVING IN FEAR?! YOU COULD BE CLOSED TOMORROW!"
It's a fucking garbage question for studio teams, don't need to constantly be trying to scare them that they could be shutdown, save that question for the executives, the people that actually make the decision and know who is going to be closed if anyone, the studio developers won't be able to say their honest thoughts either way and all they can all say is some variation of "we'll continue doing what we're doing and hope for the best" what do journalists expect studios to say to this question? Almost all of them will say the same thing, it's fucking annoying.
Last edited by Ryuu96 - on 10 June 2024
