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Ryuu96 said:
What logic is it to say that people can't be excited for a game that they've never played? That describes every single currently unreleased game, so nobody can be excited about any upcoming games because they've not yet played it? They shouldn't believe they should come to market because they have not yet played them? That logic is very odd. I'm willing to bet the only reason people are still there is because either the union is making it more difficult for Microsoft to just straight up lay people off or because Microsoft is just totally clueless and cancelled a game without thinking about what comes after for the employees, I'm leaning towards the former since even the employees don't know what their future is right now, when Arkane Austin was shutdown it was immediately known that some were being sent elsewhere to other projects. We don't have to defend every single decision Microsoft makes, and speaking of Arkane Austin, when they were shutdown, Matt Booty gave some bullshit answer about how the resources would be diverted to other critical projects, such as Zenimax upcoming new IP. Only for a year later for Microsoft to cancel that upcoming new IP, they're totally clueless on what they're doing. I was excited for the upcoming new IP because we already heard rumours prior to the cancellation about it which sounded cool, I was excited because I love The Elder Scrolls Online and it being a very solo friendly online title, that is what I loved about it and if that was the case for their upcoming MMO then I would have played that too. Then after it was cancelled we got even more information about the project and it sounded awesome, unlike with Perfect Dark, there is not a single insider who said that the game didn't sound and look cool, every single person who has leaked info about it has only had praise for it, even the fucking executive leadership team at Xbox was banging on about how amazing it was. Why else am I annoyed? Because it was a braindead decision. ZOS is one of Bethesda's most profitable studios, they've successfully supported an MMO with great content for over 10 years now, if any studio has proven that they deserve a chance to take a "risk" with a new IP then it's ZOS. This is a studio that was bringing in big profits and a studio that was according to all reports running on schedule. If you're going to cancel a project from one of the most profitable studios across XGS/BGS that didn't do anything wrong then that just tells me you've became incredibly risk averse as a company and anything is on the chopping block the next time that Microsoft wants to divert some more money to AI, it tells me that anything you announce at E3, I'm going to think has a chance of being cancelled. And I would argue there's an opportunity to provide Destiny some competition considering how much of a fuck up Bungie is lately. They've basically also said to ZOS that TESO better remain popular for another 6-10 years otherwise you're getting shutdown next, because if TESO popularity starts dying down, then they're screwed, there is no way around it, they can't just spin a project out of thing air, because Microsoft just cancelled their last one which was only a few years from release. So basically a combination of the game sounding awesome based on rumours, the fact that ZOS is dead if TESO popularity starts dying down and what it says to every other Xbox studio that one of the most profitable Xbox studios isn't allowed to take a chance. It's utterly naïve to believe that any Xbox studio is safe under Microsoft now. |
Its not about being excited for a game, it's the belief it should come to market when you have not played it, those are very different things. I have been excited about a few movies I seen trailers for but when the movie came to market and I watched the movie it was trash. My point is that the game evidently was troubled. It was still in preproduction after what 5 years. The game evidently had some huge issues it was not meeting. With that said, at what time do you believe someone should pull the plug because things just isn't moving. How much money and investment do you continue for a game when it probably already over budget.
We forget a lot of times that making games is a business and its a risky business because you really do not know a lot of times what will be successful and what will not. Just because MS the parent company has a lot of cash does not mean the Xbox and gaming department isn't under stress to not be profitable. I believe Phil stated this a few times. The days of MS splurging money like mana from heaven is long gone. The games department now needs to stand on its own and operate like any other department with a budget and profit margin.
From Perfect Dark, Everwild and this MMO from Bethesda Online, all were troubled games. When is the time to pull the plug when you can see that things are not coming together.
Also, I am not defending MS, I just do not believe every game should come to market just because it had a pretty trailer or something. A game should come to market because it is a good game and that it will be successful for the market it made for. When a game goes over its budget, the success for the games decreases a lot. It then needs to really hit the market hard or it bombs.
Also to your last point, yes, TESO should remain popular because what is the result of it not staying popular. If gamers leave the game, then the game doesn't generate money and if it's not generating money, it has failed as a product. Games are a business so a product not making money is a drag on the resources of the department. Making games is not a charity so the team should have some type of incentive to keep the game going. If you believe that a company should spend endless amounts of money because they have it to keep something going that isn't profitable that isn't how business work. The teams need to continue to believe in what they are doing and produce quality product that gamers want to continue playing and spending on. Yes its a hard balance but its a balance that needs to be done and done well.
Last edited by Machiavellian - on 16 July 2025
