The whole piece is worth a read but to me this paragraph sums it all up:
“Who even knows what would please these people? They say they’re focusing their resources on bigger games, then they say they need smaller games. They say they love your games, then they shut your studio down. They make more money than they’ve ever made before, then they cut costs repeatedly, drastically, and cruelly. They buy more studios than they can manage, so the answer is not to use that aforementioned money to hire more (or perhaps better) managers, but to have fewer studios so management’s job can be easier.”
Xbox is offering voluntary severance agreements to producers, quality assurance testers and other staff at ZeniMax as part of a broader cost-cutting initiative
Give it a year. Thankfully Toys for Bob was able to buy themselves out, otherwise surely they would have either been shut down or put to work in the Call of Duty mines.
Microsoft has released its latest financial results, showing significant growth in gaming revenues — thanks in no small part to the acquisition of Activision Blizzard....
There have been rumors and speculation, but that’s not what MS is saying.
“More interestingly, [Xbox President Sarah] Bond teased a roadmap focused on next-generation hardware.
“'And what we’re focused on there is delivering the largest technical leap you will have ever seen in a hardware generation, which makes it better for players and better for creators and the visions they’re building,” Bond explained in the recent episode of the Official Xbox Podcast.'”
I hope everyone who plays Call of Duty next year on Game Pass takes a moment of silence for the ~2000 people that had to lose their jobs to make it possible.
This is a fascinating deep dive into the development of the game, with many people involved giving interviews. Instead of being in a long development hell, Lionhead knocked out the game in a stunning 18 months - which made Microsoft happy, but resulted in the cutting of a ton of content.
Crucially, the creator allows players to make modifications that aren’t always possible in other RPGs, letting them modify a characters genitals (choosing between preset options), identity (male, female, non-binary/other), and voice. [Lead character artist Alena] Dubrovina says including those options was about giving players...
“What’s more frustrating for those working on SCP, and the wider Starfield modding community, is how difficult it is to work with Starfield’s code without official modding tools and support. This isn’t helped by the delayed mod tools from Bethesda, which the company says are coming at some point next year.”
“Assuming Arkane will continue development, clearly there are many areas for technical improvement, with some annoying visual glitches, oversights and outright bugs remaining in the updated code. I’m not sure that any amount of patching will make Redfall a truly good game, but Arkane has at least delivered the performance...
GamesIndustry.biz: Microsoft's mystifying mismanagement (www.gamesindustry.biz)
If you’re a developer working for Xbox, what can you do to secure your job?
Eurogamer: What is the point of Xbox? (Opinion) (www.eurogamer.net)
The platform holder has repeated the same terrible mistakes for over a decade. The reason is simple: its priorities are back-to-front.
Bloomberg - Microsoft’s Xbox Is Planning More Cuts After Studio Closings (www.bloomberg.com)
Xbox is offering voluntary severance agreements to producers, quality assurance testers and other staff at ZeniMax as part of a broader cost-cutting initiative
It's Time To Stop Giving Xbox Boss Phil Spencer A Pass (Opinion) (kotaku.com)
Microsoft closes Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin and others (www.gamingonlinux.com)
Call of Duty and Diablo boost Microsoft's gaming revenues, but Xbox sales continue to fall (www.gamesindustry.biz)
Microsoft has released its latest financial results, showing significant growth in gaming revenues — thanks in no small part to the acquisition of Activision Blizzard....
Opinion: Phil Spencer, long cast as Xbox’s saviour, may be remembered as the man who killed it (www.videogameschronicle.com)
Microsoft to lay off 1900 people across Xbox and Activision Blizzard (www.eurogamer.net)
The Inside Story Of Fable 3, The Game That Broke Its Creators' Hearts (www.thegamer.com)
This is a fascinating deep dive into the development of the game, with many people involved giving interviews. Instead of being in a long development hell, Lionhead knocked out the game in a stunning 18 months - which made Microsoft happy, but resulted in the cutting of a ton of content.
Bethesda responding to negative Starfield reviews on Steam (www.eurogamer.net)
How the Baldur's Gate 3 character creator brings modern flair to old school fantasy (www.gamedeveloper.com)
Crucially, the creator allows players to make modifications that aren’t always possible in other RPGs, letting them modify a characters genitals (choosing between preset options), identity (male, female, non-binary/other), and voice. [Lead character artist Alena] Dubrovina says including those options was about giving players...
Starfield group fixing Bethesda's bugs say their job is tough as mods feel an afterthought (www.eurogamer.net)
“What’s more frustrating for those working on SCP, and the wider Starfield modding community, is how difficult it is to work with Starfield’s code without official modding tools and support. This isn’t helped by the delayed mod tools from Bethesda, which the company says are coming at some point next year.”
Microsoft has control issues (www.gamesindustry.biz)
The effort to squash unlicensed controllers hurts plenty of paying customers, and might not even achieve its goals
Spider-Man 2 fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game ever (www.eurogamer.net)
2.5m copies shifted on first day
Digital Foundry - Redfall's 60fps patch works - but this isn't the redemption story we were hoping for (www.eurogamer.net)
“Assuming Arkane will continue development, clearly there are many areas for technical improvement, with some annoying visual glitches, oversights and outright bugs remaining in the updated code. I’m not sure that any amount of patching will make Redfall a truly good game, but Arkane has at least delivered the performance...
Inside Nintendo in the 1990s: Star Fox, late nights and making the N64 (www.eurogamer.net)
There are some great stories from legendary program Giles Goddard (Star Fox, 1080 Snowboarding) in this piece....
It's official, Microsoft now owns ABK (news.xbox.com)