WildConcept6

@somnambulance Double Fine is fine... Hehe, free pun.

But seriously Double Fine was purchased with Psychonauts 2 in hand and it did fantastically commercially and critically (all with Xbox as the publisher). And now, only four years later, they have another game coming and multiple other projects in the works.

Perfect Dark and Everwild were canceled after more than five years of development with very little progress and constant reboots. The Perfect Dark reboot devs came out and told us the trailer was fake, which isn't even that bad (most video game trailers are "doctored"). But the problem came when said dev was explaining how the team was JUST NOW making firm game design decisions, so they wouldn't be outright lying. That's insane. That was the iniatative's only game coming out (and that studio was started in 2018). If Double Fine goes 7 years without releasing ANYTHING and it looks like it'll take them longer still to get a game out, then yeah, you should be worried about them being closed. I mean yeah, it's always about money, but these studio closures also haven't been like a satanic culling.

I don't know if the guy holds any ill will, but this is pretty standard professional adult human behavior. At the very least if he wants to badmouth Xbox he'd do so privately, not publicly. Especially not publicly on the social media platform that Microsoft owns. That type of behavior wouldn't be helpful in searching for new job opportunities.

On another note, I thought the studio head at the iniatative changed a few times and the internal staff kept getting "rebooted"? Or was that the creative director?

@Stoned_Patrol What truly baffles me is that Nintendo and PlayStation still don't have free cloud saves. I hope that next gen they figure that out and simultaneously I hope Xbox does full free online play (for free and paid games). Both of those features should be standard on console, not just PC.

@Stoned_Patrol The only way I see Scalebound coming back is if Microsoft owns the IP and gives it to another studio or team. Heck, maybe they could make a team at Blizzard and have them turn it into a console PVE live service. Interestingly enough, Obsidian started Avowed off as a PVE co-op RPG but they had the sense to pivot and reboot as a single player. Maybe that'd be best for Scalebound, just get rid of the multiplayer co-op promises entirely and turn it into a single player open world or open level action RPG. But I don't see why even bother reviving it. It's not like Scalebound was a popular legacy franchise. It was a new IP. They (Xbox, Platinum Games, or Kamiya) could make the same idea of a game (open world action RPG where you control a dragon) at any time under a new name and different studio, if they wanted to. Arguably, Platinum Games did do this with Bayonetta 3 (at least in some ways the gameplay design feels similar).

I bought both the Series X and S at launch. I was going off to university and my thinking was to have one Xbox at home and one in my dorm. Now five years later (which is crazy, I got hyped for this gen senior year of high school, my order came in my first year of university, and yet now it's been a year since I finished undergrad), the Series S has become my main console. I do a lot of traveling for work and don't have stable living, so investing in a big home entertainment setup or even a really good monitor doesn't make sense. And hopping on an airplane is a lot easier with that tiny beast of a machine. And I've only been gaming more with all the releases these years, so I'm glad I can do so with a modest console I can chuck in my tiny behind carryon.

Honestly, I'm probably more disappointed in how gamers (consumers) responded to the Series S than Microsoft is. Xbox released a budget console that was an innovative marvel for only $300 USD. The fact that it didn't sell like hotcakes is shameful for me as a consumer. The fact that it got attacked and people tried turning it into a scapegoat for all the problems this gen is just depressing. Part of it is on Microsoft and their lack of marketing, but a lot of it is just gamers pushing back against everything Xbox to their own detriment. Gamers have been more kind to the $700 mid Gen upgrade and $450 Switch 2 (that's weaker than the Series S; seriously why is it that everytime a Switch 2 port underperforms it gets kudos "that's impressive for such a small machine" when the Series S got clowned on? Games still cost FULL PRICE on the Switch 2 and the Switch 2 costs MORE than the Series S). To me we've just collectively told the market to screw us over in the future. I don't expect Xbox to do such a budget console again.

The Series X|S launch was really magical, and we squandered it. I'll at least always love both consoles. Truly marvels of engineering and design. And boy do I wish Microsoft kept doing FPS boosts.

Microsoft is far too generous with studios when a game isn't working. That's arguably one of their biggest problems. They let games that just aren't working keep being funded and developed until the absolute last minute which makes the fallout worse when they have to cut them off.

Platinum Games has already proven that they could never have made Scalebound the game that was promised. Babylon's Fall tells us that. They got to make the live service they wanted and hyped it up to high water, and it was shut down within what? The same year? The next. Oh and it's funny with they bring up that game and failure less often. I remember when Kamiya had an interview some time ago and said that he and Platinum games didn't know how to do live service back then, but did now, so they could totally finish Scalebound. That was certainly a good laugh.

This was a commissioned second party game, it's not on Xbox to continously work with the studio and figure out why they can't do this game. Especially, not when we know there were issues with the money from the contract being used for other projects at platinum games and miscommunication over the progress of Scalebound. And I'm not a developer that's worked with Japanese publishers and western publishers, but I have worked in Japan and experienced the communication culture in Japan. I find it difficult to believe that Japanese publishers are said to have more open communication, but I also hard disagree and say that doesn't matter. Scalebound was just NEVER going to happen. At most we'd have gotten a Babylon's Fall before Babylon's Fall and Xbox did NOT need that heat back then. They made the right call canceling it.

Ninja Gaiden 4 is going great because Platinum Games is working on their bread and butter (single player action game). Scalebound was like asking a child to make a dish that involved Flambé. Xbox's mistake was ever funding the project at all.

I desperately hope this isn't just a US thing or a one time time, I'm abroad for about another year. And I have so many points saved just cuz there's so little to use them on outside the US (and I imagine the UK).

@jesse_dylan 90 days is a good amount of time. You could buy the discounted gift cards, wait a month and X days, and then use them up during the Black Friday sales!!

Oh god, I'm back in middle school all over again. Oh well: WATER IS NOT WET!! 😉

I can't say I care too much, I mean both because I'm not a huge GTA player and because either way it's several months out and in next year. I have a WAY more to worry about with the way the world is going (and my life in general) with next year than if GTA VI releases in May or October or some other date. And if nothing else this gen has taught me to roll with the punches. There's so many volatile external factors that affect a game's timeline. For all we know a Danny Phantom Phantom Planet meteor could strike the Earth by next year.

@TrollOfWar Thanks for the write up. Oh, man this generation was way oversold. I mean just the fact that we're five years in and games still are struggling to reach stable performance period, much less 4k60. Like what even is the PS5 Pro? Games still aren't making the most of the PS5 and certainly aren't hitting the promises we were sold on for the system. Purely talking about game content, I love this gen. It's been a great stream of games. And hey, all that glitters isn't gold. I don't need 4k60. It's just that, as you said, we were oversold on this generation.

@Pat_trick As someone whose also not a tech guy, I'd love if someone could break down the thinking behind the Series S holding back a generation. Like realistically, the logic just doesn't make sense to me. People were making this argument for games that were cross gen and while also hyping up the Switch (and now Switch 2) for having more support than Xbox. I'm also looking at how games release, and optimization always comes latter. Devs build their games, from what I understand, on PCs and using dev kits and they build their game first and optimize later. Heck, that's recently been some beef between developers and Epic with the latter blaming the former for not optimizing for more platforms sooner. And then there's PC which has far more variation in hardware, including weaker hardware that modern games still release on. All the games being discussed also have been in development for a long time. And then the problems we've seen with games this generation just don't relate back to restraints on the Series S. As far as I've seen it's as simple as games running worse or turning off features on the Series S, but nothing stops those same features from working on other platforms.

Like there's even the games that DID skip Xbox because it took them more time to optimize for the Series S... and how exactly does that hold back the entire generation when those games just optimize later? Like you could make the argument that Xbox loses games because of the Series S (though you'd have to ignore that Xbox has more support than ever), but that's not what a lot of people are saying. A lot of people are acting like the Series S specifically is to blame for the generation not feeling "next Gen". And I don't get that. I could see complaints for next gen with cross Gen having to start with supporting the Series S, but that's not the case. And again, speaking of cross-gen, we just recently started seeing AAA games on the whole drop last gen consoles (and a non-zero are now supporting the Switch 2 at launch). Like, I just don't get it logically. How do all of these interviews of devs having a hard time "optimizing" for the Series S come back to the Series S "holding back" the generation? The idea of it being a bottleneck would denote that devs START the development process with the Series S, but that's not the case. Most seem to not even think about it until they're near the end of development.

I like how we're still having these same conversations five years later. It's the same with Game Pass. At what point can people move on and stop being so fixated at blaming the entire world's problems on Xbox? And man you can really tell the bias (or rage baiting) when articles quote it as "devs struggled to make BF6 work for the series S."It really is as simple as this: The Series S requires more optimization; it is more difficult to develop for, but all platforms benefit from the work that is put in optimizing for it. Developers are always going to have a harder time with it, but that doesn't make game development suffer. Just like it never has when developing for different hardware on PC.

I'll always go out to bat for the Series S. I don't doubt that it's harder for devs, but at time where games are optimized less often than ever all while prices are soaring, well I'm at least glad the Series S exists. I think it's kept devs grounded this gen and gamers (consumers) have really benefited from it. If I'm a consumer on Xbox, Playstation, PC, or Switch, I don't give a rat if developers had a hard time optimizing a game they (or more accurately their publisher) want to charge $70 for. More if you consider all the dlc and extra editions these days. What matters to me is that they deliver a stable gameplay experience that makes the most out of the hardware that I bought to play their game which I'd also have to buy; a lot - far too many - games this generation have skimped on that. And it's just frustrating how media and some gamers want to enable that behavior just to take a stab at Xbox or to rage bait and get clicks or over some sense of solidarity for another platform.

@GeeEssEff I mean, not really my point. My comment was mostly just a salty joke taking aim at what Nintendo is doing right now. Plus the fact that anyone could call the game a clone of anything points out the insanity of what Nintendo is doing right now trying to patent an entire genre. It's gotten to the point where they filed a patent for summoning a creature and having it fight for you. Game development is an art form that is consciously and subconsciously built up and inspired by the games that came before to create an ever evolving landscape of new experiences. Trying to patent gaming concepts is insane and an affront to the entire industry. Again Nintendo taking inspiration from Minecraft or even Animal Crossing (even if they own it) while trying to lockdown an entire game genre and patent related generic gameplay mechanics, then that is "some dark humor from Nintendo".

@somnambulance I just want to point out that people are saying the exact same thing about Silksong (it being overrated), and I just find that hilarious. I think they're all great and it's even more great that all these indie games have seen such success this year, all being incredibly different from each other too! But man, we're never going to recover from the inevitable fallout from whichever game wins TGA. This is where TGA shines really. They're incredibly biased and don't have the best judging system, but boy do they get coverage and that coverage generates buzz for every game regardless of what got picked. Because no matter who wins people WILL be salty. That's happened in years where there wasn't even much competition. Boy can you imagine this year? Break out the popcorn and get to lurking on socials.

I mean it's gotta be one of these four right: Expedition 33, Silksong, Split fiction, and Hades 2? All three launching in the same year will spark endless debate about who got snubbed. Especially with them all being indie games and not from any hated AAA publishers (even Split Fiction gets a pass considering EA has minimal involvement).

@GeeEssEff Pokémon Minecraft Clone Game is some dark humor from Nintendo with them trying to patent an entire gameplay genre. 🤦🏿‍♂️

@Nighto4 Yeah this is currently the exaxt same as it was for Hades. Early access on PC & full release on PC and Switch only (even the cross save feature returned). Then PS and Xbox several months later. Would've be great if following the success of Hades 1, we got a simultaneous multiplatform release for 2, but oh well. Maybe if history is repeating itself we'll get a GP launch when it comes to Xbox. Almost definitely an Xbox Play Anywhere again.

One step closer toward every new game being on Xbox, cloud gaming, and XPA (PC).

Weird because auto-redeem isn't even a good deal. It's basically just a way to trick you into wasting reward points without thinking about it. I remember when it released and everyone hated it. Back then I frequented the Ms Rewards subreddit and it was just called out as a scam there. The move itself is probably more concerning than the actual loss of auto redeem. Man, this really just reminds me that one time I missed out on a big game pass ultimate rewards point discount like a year or two ago. Darn you "being-in-another-region".

I've been playing it since early access on Steam, so I'm not concerned, but it is unfortunate because this game is fantastic. I've already lost more hours in it than the first game. Hopefully everyone can play it before long. Heck, hopefully this is a GP game again when it comes to Xbox or at least XPA with cloud gaming available. Oh and they threw "Olympus Aflame" in the trailer, LET'S GOOOOO!!! That's been my favorite track since the Olympus update.

We still need Battle Network on Xbox, and I still wish Capcom would embrace Xbox Play Anywhere for these collections. If I were Microsoft, I'd be pushing for it with the ROG Xbox Ally coming: these types of retro remastered games would literally be perfect for the device.

@Decimateh older Japanese games have been ported to Xbox. Also Digimon Survive launched day one on Xbox consoles. Or was that a series? Anyway, yeah not likely. But also not impossible 😏

Really helpful writeup for shifting through the upcoming games. Quick question, is Towa indie? I thought they were a Bandai game?

It's pretty much what people are saying: there's no point in Xbox doing all these cloud gaming collabs if they don't expand and improve XCloud. I really think "next Gen" is going to happen on more of an ecosystem level for Xbox and encompass everything, and I think we'll see a full release of Xbox Cloud Gaming in the next year.

@Decimateh Hey, there's a non zero chance of Bandai announcing Digimon Story complete edition for Xbox with XPA support as a shadow drop on game pass. It'd be PERFECT for getting Xbox fans hyped for the upcoming Digimon Story Time Stranger (first Digimon Story on Xbox).

Tokyo Game Show has been FANTASTIC for Xbox these past few years. There's a lot of growth to be had by Xbox in Asia and that's usually where we'll see it. And it's honestly pretty easy to please Xbox fans at TGS. Just give us some ports (there's still a ton to be made), some more gameplay on upcoming games, and at least a couple of new games. Ninja Gaiden 4 already makes this a great show.

@Ricky-Spanish yowzers. Sounds like something right out of a sitcom

@Ricky-Spanish Nope. Not even. This one is getting Xbox Full Screen App software support POST LAUNCH. That massive price tag is all lenovo.

@Techno92LFC You'll have to speak for yourself there bud. As a kid I tried to jerry-rig ways to play my Xbox console in the car. Usually just settled on my DS 😅.

Xbox Cloud Gaming is great for these side quests. They can put it on anything with a slight internet connection and do all these collabs, and all of a sudden people who would never have bought a console, have XBOX on their devices home screens. And for gamers it generates a lot of buzz (through positive and negative chatter).

@Ricky-Spanish I'd agree with the drivers seat, but this isn't remotely new in the backseat. As a kid (over a decade ago now), we had tons of stuff to distract us in the backseat. That's literally what handheld gaming is. But I remember my aunts car having a TV and DVD player that came down. I remember my mom buying a specific car strap for my iPad to put it on the back of the front seat for me to play games or watch stuff. Car trips can get long and children have very short attention spans and depending on how many adults are in the car, there may not be anyone to really watch them. Everyone's different (every kid is different), but I'd rather them distracted playing a game then causing disruptions that could distract the driver because cars just aren't a good environment for kids to be stuck in for long periods of time. Not a great all around solution regardless. But I think it's fine enough to leave up to parents. Really this reality can and has already been achieved. And it's not going to stop happening. Parents will distract kids by whatever methods they can.

@VeganH I mean the PC handheld market is definitely still for early adopters and the full screen experience software is also still new software. Microsoft is Microsoft. It's better for everyone involved that they're getting in early and will have things out in the wild to force them to make improvements as feedback (really complaints) roll in. The software will only get better. But neither ASUS nor Microsoft are solving all the problems of handheld gaming overnight. I think generally speaking if you're looking for a perfect or even really solid gaming experience, then it'll be best to wait. Let things learn and improve.

@Ricky-Spanish It's crazy to me because it's like twice as much as the first Legion Go and the performance boost isn't umm, well it's not "twice as much" 😅

@Godot25 The ROG Ally is super confirmed. Previously they were the only other handhelds mentioned to be getting it nest year. Microsoft has already commented that all handhelds will get it eventually, and they said the rollout would start with the ASUS ROG Ally products (or they'd at least be early on, I imagine due to the partnership).

It'll eventually be on everything and as it keeps rolling out, it'll be interesting to see the effect it has. SteamOS is great but Linux isn't windows. Even Valve reports like 95% of all steam gamers on windows, so a boost to windows gaming is a big deal and that boost being Xbox branded is an interesting watch.

Not really an issue for me. This is software and only going to improve. The ROG Xbox Ally is an early adopter product for this software. I was only ever going to get it when they start rolling out the Xbox Full Screen experience to more windows handhelds and eventually more windows devices.

@somnambulance Yeah, thats exactly what it is. I think for Microsoft (Xbox) what matters here is getting the software out there. I see it like their copilot+ push or what they always do with new iterations for windows. They partner with OEMs to get it out there on shiny new dedicated optimized hardware (windows has to support so many different platforms and there's ALWAYS a ton of bugs). So hardware sales probably matter more to the hardware manufacture and Microsoft just wants to get the world taking about the full screen Xbox mode.

@GameOverScreen It's mostly just the accumulation of hype. Hollow Knight was massively acclaimed in its genre, and people were looking forward to the sequel. But with Silksong disappearing hype just kept building and buzz kept being generated and the fanbase anticipation kinda permeated in pop-culture. There's probably a bunch of people who are like "I don't get it." But all that really matters is that there are masses more who have "heard of" the game and are hyped to at least check it out. I wouldn't be surprised if some people buying it didn't even know what they were actually buying. But it's only $20 (or free on GP) and according pop culture this is like one of the most anticipated games ever.

What a great get for Xbox Play Anywhere and Game Pass. The team at ID@Xbox (or whomever) is probably fist pumping that they inked out this deal ages ago. Also, hopefully these stores have learned some lessons ahead of GTA VI's launch.

@armondo36 I had the opposite takeaway from this. The devs said that Game Pass encouraged them to make sure they had a great onboarding experience and were prepared for people that would be entirely new to the game genre. I don't see those as negatives and making all games only available for 90 days (including first party) would just add a time limit stressor to every game in the catalog or that gets added. And if it's every game then it wouldn't encourage any one game to be played more than any other game doing that.

Plus games becoming more accessible is just generally better for everyone. I'd say devs thinking about how to retain more gamers is always good.

@Kilamanjaro and that's a very fair assessment. It was first announced e3 2016. Xbox needs to do a better job of pushing it. Thankfully we have seen a LOT of growth for the program in the past few years, but it's still too infrequent. Like I said I'm hopeful that the bigger titles coming (from first and third party) raise consumer interest (thus publisher) and the overall unification of the Xbox ecosystem helps bring games to the Xbox PC store and thus increases the number of games that want to do Xbox Play Anywhere. And with next gen looking more like a vision than a single console, with that AMD announcement, Microsoft could very well make it a requirement.

Same on your library, very fair. Game consoles are frustrating in that way with your library just kinda stuck. Back when Xbox was still selling movies & TV there wasn't even a question of every movie you bought also being on Windows. You know, you wonder if Microsoft did Xbox Play Anywhere at the start of the Xbox One generation would everyone have bought into it and their DRM push (which is now just everything)? Oh what ifs. All we can really hope for is that it steadily grows. And I'm curious if any video game console ever has a solution for what's become of our libraries with consoles being so walled. Or if we'll just have to keep waiting for the inevitable (either another xbox one/PS4 transition where compatibility is just lost or consoles themselves inevitably eventually dying out). It's a weird state tbh. Like how bad would movies & TV be if every DVD player manufacture had different versions of each DVD that you could only sometimes* use with their DVD players? Even digital stores let you use movie purchases across any device as long as the storefront is available. And then there's services like Movies Anywhere connecting storefronts. Meanwhile in gaming 😅...

@Banjo- I don't think Microsoft would avoid selling it if they didn't have any plans for it or think it was worth money. And I love the idea of Rare working on these projects with other studios (be they first party or second party).

You know, I'm going to be optimistic. The mass cancelation COULD be good for future game projects IF Xbox genuinely learns from what went wrong here. A lot of resources were freed up (and unfortunately a lot lost, but staying optimistic) and if any work was done there's even assets and design ideas to use. There were less actual studio closures than in the prior big layoffs (well literally just one first party studio). And there is still clearly keen interest in gaming and Microsoft consistently doing really well as a publisher if nothing else. There's a lot of worrisomes to be had, but being optimistic I do think this could even be a good moment for Xbox. It all depends on how they grow from here (if at all).

I feel like an OG modern warfare movie would go hard. But really I feel like COD is like Minecraft in the sense that it doesn't actually matter what they do. It would be pretty hard to "screw up" a COD movie. Like critics might dislike it, but the general audience would just want an action movie. It was like this with the live action Transformers movie. All the general audience cared about was a dumb summer action flick that entertained them long enough to be worth it.

Oh wait. I just realized this is Paramount. Why'd they even buy COD rights? Is Hasbro mad at them or something? Just do another G.I. Joe movie (but hey, if we're getting an USA military industrial complex movie verse that leads to crossover with G.I.Joe and COD well I'd watch that, and then I'd... watch other people use the Duke skin (I don't play COD)).

@Sol4ris The problem is that Machine Games is busy with their own projects. Its what you get into with pulling from the IP treasure box. Studios have to be both free and WANT to work on that IP.

@abe_hikura Lol. Tell that to the same Paramount that bought the rights to do a Halo TV show only to do a generic Sci fi show with some Halo set pieces...

@Kaloudz I mean that's 100% gotta be how it works. Phil constantly says they have to run a profitable business and Microsoft IS a big penny pusher. We also know that they've chosen to focus investments on "AI" (unfortunately) like the rest of big (speculation) tech, which is what sparked the blanket cuts across Microsoft.

And this is what we saw. What was canceled were projects that were being funded but not going anywhere after 4 or 5 or more years. And the only studio closed was one that failed to put out ANY game in 7 years and it was looking like that'd be 8 if not 9 years. But that's also why I'm not as worried about Rare as I am Turn 10. Even after the Everwild cancelation SOT is still massive and it just got bigger due to the PS port. It's only continuing to grow. I think Rare needs something else (new) before too long, but I also think they have the time to make that something else. The big issue though is just the question of, "Why did Everwild not pan out?" because if it was due to issues at the studio then those need to be hammered out before the next game development projection. That said Turn 10 should also be fine at the size they are currently. They can support the latest Motorsport which is meant to be a forever game AND help other studios (a big reason why Xbox wants everyone on Unreal) until it's time for the next big Motorsport game.

It is a scary time in general in the world economy and especially the USA economy. The job market is god awful right now, prices are terrible, and yet we just keep seeing AI stocks surge which has a very "roaring 20s" feeling for people. That's not even getting into the other big issue affecting the economy (which I don't know if it's taboo to mention here, and I kinda hate that I even feel like it could be). It feels volatile right now. It IS volatile right now. And this is falling COVID-19 and the gaming industry over expanding and now needing to pull back, general tech industry woes, massive saturation in the gaming industry (too many games), skyrocketing costs for development, and stagnating markets due to fights for the attention economy. It's tough right now and it's scary. I am concerned for everyone employeed in the industry. Sony isn't even chasing AI and they've canned a similar percentage of developers and closed so many studios due to bad investments and increasing costs. We've seen console hardware prices RISE this generation (now even the OG switch) from all manufacturers. Publishers continue to lay off workers and shutter studios each year. And it really sucks, and feels really scary, because companies like Microsoft AND Sony and a lot of publishers actually are reporting massive numbers for revenue that's still higher than ever. Where is all that money going and how bad are profit margins? It's crazy times right now. I just hope there's a light at the end of the tunnel and I worry it'll be a really long tunnel.

I don't think Xbox wanted to or should part with the IP, so this makes sense. It's very different from Tango where the entire studio was purchased and ONLY a new IP sold. Microsoft still hasn't given them the rights to Evil Within.

The problem isn't Perfect Dark, it was the studio and entire game development. When developers are publicly saying they were still making design decisions like five years after announcement (6/7 years after the studio was formed with this being the studio's ONLY project since Xbox established it) then the only thing you can do is cancel it. Xbox would 100% LOVE if another studio and publisher said they'd make the game AND pay for everything, but they aren't willing to give up such an iconic IP over one failed game de cycle.

I feel like there's going to be the "well if Xbox isn't doing anything with Perfect Dark" general responses to this online, but I'll say I'm glad that Take-Two didn't take over the franchise. I don't need it to be THAT Microtransaction heavy. And I don't want Perfect Dark to part from Xbox (rare) no more than I want Halo to part from it. It's just incredibly unfortunate that game development for the now canned reboot went so bad. I'll keep saying it, but what I hope is that Xbox learns they CAN'T just be hands off and supportive. Not every studio is Obsidian. A firm hand is needed (really a whip is needed) at times.

It's just bonkers to me how this generation has gone. Like just thinking about what was promised vs reality.

@Kaloudz I'd be surprised considering how big Sea of Thieves is. Turn 10 got downsized because Forza Motorsport was largely a failure and they don't need that many people for just small and periodic updates.

Rare definitely needs SOMETHING before long, but they should have plenty of time to get it. Maybe even like a return to AA sized games and doing that in tandem with Sea of Thieves. SOT as of now is like one of the biggest games Xbox is putting out and it just got a huge boon through PS. They have time. It just depends on what the studio is capable of doing with it. Like that they haven't really been able to put out Everwild or even show a gameplay trailer (like confident issue to show gameplay for it) in all that time since reveal is bad. But it's not an impossible place to come back from. Though I do wish that'd been canceled sooner if it just wasn't working.

Any significance with a former Rare guy also being the head of XGS? Also, with Everwild I'm disappointed that we never saw any actual gameplay of it. Disappointed and concerned. Though Chief of Staff is a very different job than heading up a game and I'm sure there were issues outside the purview of "executive director". Hopefully she has a great career at XGS and XGS has a great time going forward.

I had a lot of fun. I hadn't really, like really, played a Kart racer since MK 8 deluxe. I also had no idea that the game included, at least visually, sonic rider boards. I exclusively played as Jet. I'm actually looking forward to the release, and I might buy it at launch just to stick it to Nintendo and their egregious (arrogant really) pricing for MK World. Probably not actually. I'll still buy on sale 😂.

@smoreon This is entirely my position. I don't think the issue lies with UE5 alone, but I also don't think the engine is blameless. I just wish they'd take responsibility where they need to, work to address the problems they see, and move on. But I also wish developers and publishers overall would do this. I don't want them scapegoating UE5 either. I just want every end point to start acknowledging and addressing the issues. Heck, I partially put gamers in on that. It's up to us to hold games accountable, but it's also up to us to have reasonable expectations. It's gotten out of hand this generation with every AAA game thinking it needs to deliver a bazillion different things just to succeed. And that probably brings us to oversaturation issues that's not really anyone's fault but a reality of the industry we've built. And it goes on and on. I'm sure there's lots of different people to blame, but I'm even more sure that nothing ever got improved by pointing fingers.