It seems weird for a platform holder to do this.
Comment on Xbox Has Had More Studio Closures Than First Party Game Releases So Far In 2024
ME5SENGER_24@lemmy.world 6 months agoThat’s by design. Force your opposition to sell, bankrupt them and write off the loses. Shrink the industry and force players to sign up for your subscription services.
I’m not a fan, but it’s hard to see this wasn’t their plan from the get go
paraphrand@lemmy.world 6 months ago
TachyonTele@lemm.ee 6 months ago
They also now own all of the IP those studios created.
Mikelius@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Sure, but what good is an IP if you can’t generate new products to attract and keep users?
TachyonTele@lemm.ee 6 months ago
What really gets me, and this touches on your comment, is that the execs said that they need to have the teams make what they specialize in. And then they turn around and force all the studios to make games that not at all anything they’ve ever made before.
Zehzin@lemmy.world 6 months ago
They don’t care about being a platform holder
paraphrand@lemmy.world 6 months ago
I guess you can do that when you own Windows.
shinratdr@lemmy.ca 6 months ago
The sad part is this might actually end up being a net positive in the long run. Their two biggest acquisitions were Bethesda and Activision-Blizzard, one company that has started their decline and another that is deep into it.
Microsoft pissing away $100B to buy these companies only to turn around and kill them 5-10 years later will end up breaking up the gaming conglomerates that have killed the western games industry. The only sad part is all the people that will lose their jobs and all the classic IP that will be squandered.
Katana314@lemmy.world 6 months ago
In a way, in Activision/Blizzard’s case, it seems more like it slightly postponed their death.
Tango Gameworks, however, was murdered.
Defaced@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Enhance, embrace, extinguish. That’s the Microsoft way, their success has always and will always be built off the backs of others they’ve fucked over.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 6 months ago
The industry historically hasn’t shrunk when studios close like this. There just ends up being more bespoke studios all over the world with former developers from those studios.