Tbf Klob didn't label it as 1st party, he said Xbox Studios which is accurate, Xbox Game Studios Publishing comes under Xbox Game Studios and they are the ones who are publishing Ninja Gaiden 4 and XGSP isn't just "Here's some money now go make this" but a team consisting of around 200 developers of all varieties, from creative directors to writers to tech, etc.

So it's not 1st party as Microsoft doesn't own the IP but it is an Xbox Studios project. As for what that is called, gamers invented the term 2nd party for that, but I say invented because the majority of the industry doesn't actually recognise 2nd party as an official term. It has been said multiple times by those in the industry that 2nd party isn't a term used by them.

Microsoft in recent history didn't bother publishing stuff they didn't own the IP of, I can't remember the last time they did, Lol. I could be forgetting something but over the Xbox Series Gen and later half of the Xbox One Gen they pretty much switched to only publishing IP they own, now they've changed that so Idk what they consider these things to be anymore.

I know PlayStation uses the term second-party, which Shuhei Yoshida confirmed further and had articles written on the subject. So it doesn't seem like something gamers invented. At least I wouldn't think game companies would adopt a term that gamers invented lol.

This was Yoshida's quote, which is exactly how I've always viewed the matter: “We call second-party when an independent company created the game and funded it or joint funded it, so the IP is still owned by that company. A recent example is Rise of the Ronin by Koei Tecmo. PlayStation published that game so we call it second-party.”

This ties into what Ninja Gaiden 4 would be considered. At least this also means that the game will never leave GP. At least theoretically.

Yeah but Tbf to me he made that quote in 2025, haha, I think the term was still made by gamers but co-opted later by some studios/publishers cause it works, here is what Insomniac said on the matter once.

Insomniac Games: Sony Interactive Entertainment is the publisher of the game. It's 1st Party.

Greg Miller: That's how it works? I thought they had to own the studio to be first party. Wouldn't this be second party?

Insomniac Games: 2nd party doesn't really technically exist except to indicate outside studio doing a 1st party game

Greg Miller asks: So Spidey is First AND Second?

Insomniac responds, with an example for another franchise they developed for Sony

Think of it more as inclusionary. Ratchet is a 1st party game. Insomniac is 2nd party developer.

===

We also used to have people calling things 2nd party simply because the studio wasn't owned, even if the IP was owned by the publisher.

This was Microsoft's stance on the matter back in 2014.

And Insomniac went as far to say this, they too said people made the term up, haha.

Insomniac Games on X: People made 2nd party up to deal with Rare's "status" back in the day. No one really "uses" that in development" / X

And despite Shu saying that.

Sony once considered Spider-Man to be 1st party before they even owned Insomniac (and they don't own Spider-Man either).

Sony also considers Death Stranding to be 1st party and don't own the studio nor the IP (IIRC?)

We can't even take Xbox's word from a year ago. How you think we can take their word from over 10 years ago?

Seriously though, I actually am starting to think you're right about some companies having co-opted the term in more modern times. In concept, it does make sense. A studio like Team Ninja or Kojima Productions aren't under Sony or Microsoft's payroll. They don't have any sort of creative oversight. So it's like, how can you honestly consider releases like that first party?

Would be funny if gamers created the idea and companies started going "you know, these people may be on to something" and if we'll start to see the term brought up more often going forward. Because it is odd Yoshida straight up admitting to the term.

See my next post, Sony does the same even despite Shu saying that

Most publishers just consider anything they publish to be 1st party, though that doesn't mean it was never used, but basically 2nd party was created for the reasons Insomniac stated, it was invented by gamers/journalists largely due to Rare, Lol. But it's rare for actual developers and publishers to use it.

And in fairness, publishing can often sometimes come with some creative oversight even without owning the IP, like even not owning the IP, Microsoft and Sony have developers assisting on development in various ways and offering suggestions, advice, etc.

But yeah Shu says that but Sony's top brass considered Spider-Man 1st party when they didn't own the studio or IP and considers Death Stranding to be 1st party without owning the IP or studio.

Hmm, I honestly thought they'd just pump the game out and move on but I'm starting to feel like they may stick around and do an expansion, but they never had one planned so there's no chance one could come until 2026, if I had the choice I'd want them to move straight onto Avowed 2 because I never bother with expansions, Lol. Didn't play any of The Outer Worlds ones either.

Just darted through 7 Oblivion Gates in under an hour only because I wanted to hit 30 closed before wrapping up the main story, Lol. That's a nice number and halfway, that's good enough for me, I've got to get to Doom! But I'm really struggling to take myself away from Oblivion, Lmao.