Fumanchu said: badgenome said: Euphoria14 said: Why does Microsoft keep cutting jobs in their gaming department? Edit - It says "could" but it sounds like it is almost sure to happen. I just do not understand why MS is cutting though while I haven't heard about Sony cutting any and they aren't doing as well right now in sales like MS is. Poor devs. I assume Ensemble and ACES were dropped because Microsoft doesn't see them as very important for their console, which obviously is a much higher priority than Games for Windows. Bungie weren't cut, but were rather let go. Very literally. They wanted out to keep from being absorbed by Microsoft Games Studio and losing their identity. I think it's because Microsoft has ambitions of turning MGS into a powerhouse publisher, judging from their actions and also from things that Kudo Tsunoda has said. They seem to think it's more desirable to work closely with third parties to make their "first party" games than to go through all the expense of keeping up a bunch of studios. I'm not sure I understand the strategy as their actions seem to contradict their intentions. How do you get to be a big 'powerhouse' publisher without owning lots of studios? I think there's a dimishing number of quality third-party developers that aren't publishers themselves or in some way affilitated with another large 'powerhouse' publisher, and the ones that are available MS runs the risk of them being snatched up. I'm not sure a lot of developers would want to partner with MS as their publisher as obviously it means exclusivity, for if they were to partner with EA, Sega or Activision for example they could presumably double their profits through benefitting from a multi-platform release. Who do you see MS turning to for 'first party' games?

It's a strategy that has some definite pitfalls (particularly studios being acquired by other publishers, as Bioware was), and I'm not at all sure that it's the best way to go. However, the more they talk about MGS, the more it seems to me that this is the direction in which they want to go. Of course, I could be way off base, and maybe all this talk about "restructuring around Microsoft Games Studio" will result in more in-house development.

One thing that does make sense to me is the idea that instead of having to pay upkeep on a bunch of first party studios, they can keep assets free with which to approach somebody and say, "Let's make a game." I don't know that it really matters to a studio whether a game is multiplatform or exclusive as long as they're getting compensated. And if Microsoft offers to shoulder the financial risk, that is probably incentive enough for smaller developers (ones like From Software and tri-Ace).

Edit: Maybe even in the case of a sizeable developer with a monster franchise like Gears. Epic doesn't seem too keen on taking it multiplatform (if they even can, legally). They sound plenty happy to have Microsoft doing the heavy lifting in terms of promoting the hell out of the games.

Well I think the fact that the Rare games have been met with average sales and average reviews, they might want to restructure to reduce costs, especially with resources being poured into avatars and NXE, which will not really bring any direct money in

were these not the same areas it was working on before??

Microsoft: We’ve said our piece on Rare restructuring

February 17th, 2009 @ 11:05
By Patrick Garratt

banjo19

Microsoft PR has refused to confirm or deny whether or not staff are to be shed at Rare this morning, following confirmation that the studio is to be restructured.

“To be honest, we have nothing to add to the statement,” a spokesperson told VG247.

“We’ve come out and said, ‘This is what’s going on,’ to avoid any confusion. We feel that we’ve said our piece and don’t want to say anything more.”

Insiders have intimated this morning that proposed staffing changes are “serious”.

Rare issued a statement earlier today saying that now was the time to “restructure our current approach so we can speed development and better manage the scale required to create high quality games.”

Rare published four projects last year, namely a second Viva title, a DS Viva, Banjo Nuts & Bolts and Avatars for NXE.

they may move people around to different projects...but i doubt that we will see many, if any, fired.

DavidValbu said: Rare, let me give you an advice: the best restructuration you may have is to come back to Nintendo.

 

DavidValbu, let me give you some advice, don't troll threads about people losing their jobs.

Legend11 said: DavidValbu said: Rare, let me give you an advice: the best restructuration you may have is to come back to Nintendo.   DavidValbu, let me give you some advice, don't troll threads about people losing their jobs.

Dude. give it a rest. This thread is not about job losses at all. Its about Rare ruining their reputation and everybody has an opinion on that

 

megaman79 said: Legend11 said: DavidValbu said: Rare, let me give you an advice: the best restructuration you may have is to come back to Nintendo.   DavidValbu, let me give you some advice, don't troll threads about people losing their jobs. Dude. give it a rest. This thread is not about job losses at all. Its about Rare ruining their reputation and everybody has an opinion on that

Looks like I need to give you the same advice as the other poster.

I think their NXE work may be the main reason why Rare is still around!

megaman79 said: Legend11 said: DavidValbu said: Rare, let me give you an advice: the best restructuration you may have is to come back to Nintendo.   DavidValbu, let me give you some advice, don't troll threads about people losing their jobs. Dude. give it a rest. This thread is not about job losses at all. Its about Rare ruining their reputation and everybody has an opinion on that

I didn't get that from the title of the thread or from the OP. Also to the guy saying Rare should go back to Nintendo, are you aware Nintendo sold them off in the first place?