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Machiavellian on 30 September 2021
Angelus said:
Ryuu96 said:

Doubt X021 is happening and they won't announce them at TGA's.

Back at E3, Jez said that the acquisitions wouldn't be at E3 because Phil apparently said one time they were going to stop doing that because it's not fair to the studios or something to treat them like PR wins, I can't find that quote but I'm sure it's probably true and it's the right decision but who knows when the random drops will happen.

That seems like sort of a clueless statement to make by Phil, if he did in fact say it. If you're announcing the acquisition of a studio/publisher, it doesn't really matter where or how you announce it, if it's someone of any perceived significance to the general gaming public, then people are going to make a big deal out of it regardless, and it'll become a PR situation one way or another. 

Literally, Phil only has to look at what happened with Bethesda as an example of this. They announced it via blog, and on twitter, not on any kind of big stage. And what happened? It blew up in like 2 minutes. Cus of course it did. Are the people at Bethesda gonna feel like they were less "treated as a PR win" because Phil didn't stand on a stage somewhere and say their name? Is getting like a whole ass blog, and everyone at Xbox tweeting "LOOK WHAT WE DID!" really appreciably less fanfare? It's all irrelevant if you ask me. 

I disagree, its all about perception.  While you can make the statement that it does not matter, you probably are not getting the feedback he is getting on the topic.  I doubt he would come to this conclusion on his own and instead was giving feedback on it and made a decision.  At the end of the day, its his job to make those studios happy not make gamers blush with these announcements.



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Angelus on 30 September 2021
Ryuu96 said:

Not the first time he's said more or less exactly this. Seems like he's really hyped about his current project and wishes he could just fast forward to when it's done so he can see people's reaction to it lol



EspadaGrim on 30 September 2021
shikamaru317 said:
Ryuu96 said:

Ugh, I don't like this one bit. The studios they have now definitely aren't enough, they are missing several key game genres on 1st party for starters, fighting, JRPG, and more, and none of those 3 studios he says they are trialing cover those missing genres. They definitely need more than just Tango in Japan if they want to make any real headway there. Don't get me wrong, I do hope that MS acquires all 3 of those eventually, Avalanche, IOI, and Crystal (I want Eidos from Square west as well), but they still need to cover their missing genres and build up a proper 1st party in Japan. 

Hopefully this is just more of Grubb talking out of his ass like usual, afterall Jez just said recently that he knew of several small to mid size studios MS was in negotiations with. I trust Jez alot more than Grubb.

They definitely shouldn’t be satisfied especially when everyone is buying and expanding, if they want to meet that target of 4 AAA games per year they need more and that target goal might not be enough to satisfy the user base if Gamepass does become more successful later on.

The biggest disappointment to me would be them not acquiring more Japanese talent to diversify their portfolio of games/genre/Ip.

I would rather MS spend to make more exclusives that will stay on Gamepass forever vs them paying a ton of money to publishers to put their AAA games on Gamepass day one that will only be temporary. 

MS should target Pearl Abyss imo, they are moving more towards Single Player games and South Korea has a ton of talent where western publishers don’t really have a lot of investments in.

Last edited by EspadaGrim - on 30 September 2021

EspadaGrim on 30 September 2021
trunkswd said:
EspadaGrim said:

Yeah Starfield has the potential of being an IP on the level of Fallout and Elder Scrolls, MS grabbed them at the right moment.

I'd put Starfield as my third most anticipated game after Halo Infinite and Fable. 

I would put it as my most anticipated game of 2022, and that would be including all other games for that year by other publishers/platforms. 

Of games by 1st party I would put Hellblade 2 at the 2nd spot and Fable 3rd.



EspadaGrim on 30 September 2021
trunkswd said:
EspadaGrim said:

I would put it as my most anticipated game of 2022, and that would be including all other games for that year by other publishers/platforms. 

Of game by 1st party I would put Hellblade 2 at the 2nd spot and Fable 3rd.

I loved the Fable trilogy even if they didn't live up to the hype thanks to you know who and I trust Playground to make an amazing game with how good Forza Horizon. I realize they are completely different genres. 

I still liked the trilogy but Fable 2 is way overhyped imo, the Spire was a massive let down and so was the Final boss.



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Angelus on 30 September 2021
Ryuu96 said:
Angelus said:

Not the first time he's said more or less exactly this. Seems like he's really hyped about his current project and wishes he could just fast forward to when it's done so he can see people's reaction to it lol

Been wondering if InXile's project will be one of those early announcement things with how eager Brian is to show it off to the world, Lol.

I mean...almost all AAA games are "one of those early announcement things" lol



Angelus on 30 September 2021
Machiavellian said:
Angelus said:

That seems like sort of a clueless statement to make by Phil, if he did in fact say it. If you're announcing the acquisition of a studio/publisher, it doesn't really matter where or how you announce it, if it's someone of any perceived significance to the general gaming public, then people are going to make a big deal out of it regardless, and it'll become a PR situation one way or another. 

Literally, Phil only has to look at what happened with Bethesda as an example of this. They announced it via blog, and on twitter, not on any kind of big stage. And what happened? It blew up in like 2 minutes. Cus of course it did. Are the people at Bethesda gonna feel like they were less "treated as a PR win" because Phil didn't stand on a stage somewhere and say their name? Is getting like a whole ass blog, and everyone at Xbox tweeting "LOOK WHAT WE DID!" really appreciably less fanfare? It's all irrelevant if you ask me. 

I disagree, its all about perception.  While you can make the statement that it does not matter, you probably are not getting the feedback he is getting on the topic.  I doubt he would come to this conclusion on his own and instead was giving feedback on it and made a decision.  At the end of the day, its his job to make those studios happy not make gamers blush with these announcements.

That's certainly possible, that the inside perception of these studios is very different to how people on the outside will view it. And sure, if it makes those studios happier not to have the acquisitions ever announced on any stage, don't do it. From the outside though, it really makes no difference whatsoever, and at the end of the day, the perception from people on the outside will determine how much of a PR storm the news of an acquisition is going to be. So if I'm Phil, and people at Bethesda (just as an example) told me "yo Phil, we'd really appreciate not being turned into some big Xbox PR story just cus you've acquired us," I'd tell them like "listen guys...I'll announce it however you think might make you most comfortable, but ultimately, even if I send this as little blurb statement to some print newspaper, it'll be on the internet and blow up like a nuclear storm in pretty much no time at all, and then you ARE going to be an Xbox PR story...it's unavoidable. You're going to have to make your peace with that."

The only acquisitions that you can try to shield to some degree from this type of frenzy, are going to be much smaller ones, that don'/haven't made any big games that people are really invested in. 



kenjab on 30 September 2021
shikamaru317 said:
Angelus said:

I mean...almost all AAA games are "one of those early announcement things" lol

For real. I can't think of any big games that MS has announced recently that weren't announced many years in advance of their release:

  • Everwild- Announced 2019, was aiming for 2022 at the time, now rumored aiming for 2024 after a reboot
  • Fable- Announced 2020, rumored aiming for 2023 release
  • Hellblade 2- Announced 2019, rumored aiming for 2023 release
  • Outer Worlds 2- Announced 2021, rumored aiming for 2023 or 2024 release
  • State of Decay 3- Announced 2020, rumored aiming for 2023 or 2024 release
  • Avowed- Announced 2020, rumored aiming for late 2022 or early 2023 release
  • Perfect Dark- Announced 2020, rumored aiming for 2023 or 2024 release
  • Forza Motorsport reboot- Announced 2020, rumored aiming for release late 2022
  • Contraband- Announced 2021, rumored aiming for 1st half 2023

Edit: I guess there is Forza Horizon 5, but Forza Horizon games have always been announced 3-5 months before release

Safe bet that inXile's AAA RPG will be announced at TGA's or E3 2022 despite not aiming for release until 2024. 

I know this is off-topic of your post, but man, 2023 is certainly shaping up to be a kick-ass year. Looks like Starfield could be the handle that turns on the tap of constant games.



Switch: SW-3707-5131-3911
XBox: Kenjabish

Machiavellian on 30 September 2021
Angelus said:
Machiavellian said:

I disagree, its all about perception.  While you can make the statement that it does not matter, you probably are not getting the feedback he is getting on the topic.  I doubt he would come to this conclusion on his own and instead was giving feedback on it and made a decision.  At the end of the day, its his job to make those studios happy not make gamers blush with these announcements.

That's certainly possible, that the inside perception of these studios is very different to how people on the outside will view it. And sure, if it makes those studios happier not to have the acquisitions ever announced on any stage, don't do it. From the outside though, it really makes no difference whatsoever, and at the end of the day, the perception from people on the outside will determine how much of a PR storm the news of an acquisition is going to be. So if I'm Phil, and people at Bethesda (just as an example) told me "yo Phil, we'd really appreciate not being turned into some big Xbox PR story just cus you've acquired us," I'd tell them like "listen guys...I'll announce it however you think might make you most comfortable, but ultimately, even if I send this as little blurb statement to some print newspaper, it'll be on the internet and blow up like a nuclear storm in pretty much no time at all, and then you ARE going to be an Xbox PR story...it's unavoidable. You're going to have to make your peace with that."

The only acquisitions that you can try to shield to some degree from this type of frenzy, are going to be much smaller ones, that don'/haven't made any big games that people are really invested in. 

You are correct that no matter how any purchase is done, there will be talk about it and depending on the purchase the level of conversation and reporting will match.  I would assume that if he made such a decision its because, the perception would be that the studios are like trophies when announced at big events instead of partnerships.  As the saying goes, you can do the right thing but deliver it the wrong way.  Centering the messaging in a way that make the studios feel like they are a part of something instead of like they are sold out or something along those lines could be where that perception could be coming from.



EspadaGrim on 30 September 2021
Ryuu96 said:

Follow up to that Grubb quote, he said in the same statement that he feels that MS may make a move for more acquisitions due to inflation.