Microsoft has been snapping up mid-sized studios like corporate acquisitions are going out of fashion, and now the social media rumour mill is aflame with speculation that the team in green is about to snap up a studio that’s worked with PlayStation in the past. This opens the floor to a raft of possibilities, from Supermassive Games to Quantic Dream and about a dozen others in between.
The rumour comes courtesy of a Twitter account maintained by someone called Klobrille, whose historical social media activity suggests he likes Xbox just a little bit. Apparently he’s a reliable source, though he doesn’t really add anything to the story other than to say that negotiations are ongoing. Assuming this story is even true, it’s perfectly possible that talks could fall through.
To be honest, we’ve thought for a while that Microsoft dabbles in controlled leaks, and we wouldn’t be surprised if this was another example of that. As such, there’s probably truth to this story – the likes of Ready at Dawn, for example, may fit the bill. Of course it’s all just speculation until anything is confirmed otherwise, so we’d recommend heading to the Winchester and waiting for this all to blow over.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 123
What the heck is a "scuttlebutt"? lol
Sony are getting destroyed by Microsoft lately.
aslong as they don't touch our best studio's (santa monica,naughty dog and now guerilla games) then we are all good.
@Acquiescence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuttlebutt
@BrianC
In what way?
@BrianC If you prefer forum chatter to games, then it's hard to disagree.
@BrianC how exactly?
sure we are losing some studio's (not big ones) but those studio's are yet to deliver for microsoft. for all we know their new exclusives might not be so big successes afterall. and maybe those studio's will eventually crawl back. or get ditched by microsoft. and again unless they touch 1 of our bigger exclusive studio's it should not be such a problem yet.
@BrianC feel embarrassed for you saying that!
plus these are not Sony studios so why you have worded it that way is baffling.
Typical MS: why be talented when you can BUY talent? They do need it more than Sony tho
Sony releases tons of great games and have so many others in the making.Microsoft buys as many studios as money can buy ---> sony is in trouble 🙄
Columbia Pictures, TriStar Pictures, and Screen Gems?
@rjejr I mean, most of PlayStation's studios are all purchases, too. No one said anything about any other company being different.
I think ready at dawn is more believable compared to supermassive games and quantic dream because supermassive games still have a couple of sony exclusives titles in development and I don't think microsoft (and their customers) want expensive story driven adventure games, so no quantic dream.
something is telling me that sony has been doing something about this "problem" in secret.
we already know that they are expanding some of their studio's so they can work on more projects but i think that sony has been making contracts/spending money themselves but just don't let it be known to counter microsoft.
for example making insomniac an offical sony studio,same with quantic dream etc.
'Klobrille' is German and means 'toilet seat'. Jawohl!
Just look at that Twitter account. There's loving Microsoft and then there's this guy.
Good luck with that, Microsoft can buy as many studios as they like but if they are only pushing live services then they take a running jump. I would play the likes of Horizon, God of War and Spiderman 100 times over before I play 10 minutes of a live service. 😁
Certainly doubt that it's Supermassive Games or Quantic Dream. Detroit was fairly successful and there are a couple of PS4/5 exclusives in development by SG.
@LiamCroft Yeah I had a good look through the Twitter account first. He's less subtle than me.
@get2sammyb i don't want to look,because of the possible cringe but is there lot's of green and retweets from phil spencer contradicting something he said in the past? (cause that's what he sometimes does)
@get2sammyb 😂
@jdv95 Microsoft can't touch Santa Monica Studio, Naughty Dog or Guerrilla Games because Sony already outright own them. Third-party studios that are very friendly with PlayStation are also unlikely, such as Supermassive Games, Insomniac Games and Quantic Dream. I think it's going to be a studio like Ninja Theory - a studio that was once very friendly with Sony but ended up getting ditched due to low sales or poor/average critical reception. My money is going on Ready at Dawn, creators of The Order: 1886.
@get2sammyb I'm going to guess you misinterpreted me, b/c I've read your comment 5 times now and I have no idea what you are talking about.
My point was your title reads "Microsoft Is Sniffing After Sony Studio" and those 3 names listed are part of Sony Studios, their film studio, not game studio. It was a joke.
If it makes you feel any better I originally read the title as MS going after Sony Studio, maker of Ape Escape, b/c you dind't put an "A" in front of Sony, but then decided that was too pedantic, even for me, so I went after the film studio joke rather than the Japan Studio joke.
If MS is going after Sony Japan Studio that would be quite the coup.
Edit: In case you somehow don't know about Sony Japan Studio.
https://gamingbolt.com/sony-japan-studio-event-in-december-will-feature-an-exhibition-panels-and-playable-games
@JimmyRowe1994 yeah,they are just buying studio's with a average record or a studio that is almost going under.
the first may just be making average games but for microsoft this time and the other studio's might be taking microsoft's offer to rebuild and grow and then maybe try to leave microsoft again to spread out their wings again.
@jdv95 don't fear... that is an impossibility since sony owns them. only sony could sell them to microsoft and of course that will never happen in a million years. only second party developers are at risk here: insomniac, ready at dawn, quantic dream, etc. i think it is a tragedy that ready at dawn was not given the opportunity to make a sequel to the order. maybe they are working on it in secret but it is anyone's guess. if sony threw them under the bus, then it would be best microsoft picks them up — nothing worse than seeing a talented studio left to die over one "disappointing" game. despite its faults, the order showed a lot of promise and built a solid foundation for a great sequel. i think it is the most unfairly judged game this console generation.
Rather than investing in the industry and opening new studios they're just buying up everything, it's a little sad really. I'm surprised they're not just head hunting all the best talent instead.
Yet to see Rare do something great again, i used to be a massive fan and then games dried up after a while on the 360, somehow i can't see the hardcore xbox fans playing the types of games they usually trash that are exclusive to PlayStation with these new acquisitions!
Le sigh to a particular comment or 2 above...
Anyway Microsoft be going Holiday Shopping!
I look forward to seeing what MS does w these acquisitions!
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi buying the best studio's would not mean anything if microsoft does not offer enough freedom to the devs.
as far as i know sony is known for offering a ton of creative freedom to their devs (yes even despite the censorship stuff) which is 1 of the reason our exclusives are so good.
microsoft has been mentioned as not being so free giving which resulted in some games being canceled mainly scalebound.
so even IF microsoft would ever get their hands on a very good studio,if they don't give them enough freedom then the quality could suffer.
@Jriibz
I think RAD have been working on something big for a while , possibly for ps5
OT
Well, its a good thing PushSquare doesn't push any rumour. Only I guess a twitter account of that guy that's a little fond of Ms saying Ms are looking into something needed to be reported.
BTW he says the studio used to work 'a bit', with PS. Could be anyone basically
@BrianC
I wouldn't hold any credence in a random twitter fan boy comment. Even as someone who has no allegiance to Sony (or MS for that matter) and just enjoy gaming on consoles, I still wouldn't consider this news at all. If it turns out to be true, then maybe it is news worthy but until then - so what?
Its no secret that MS need to build up their first party studio numbers too - if they want to compete! Sony had to do that too and Naughty Dog were independent until Sony bought them, GG and SuckerPunch too. They weren't formed by Sony but bought by Sony so its not as if MS are doing any different.
If there is any validity to this story, its most likely to be Ready at Dawn or some other third party developer that has more association with Sony consoles but until something definite is announced, does it matter?
I do think MS would be foolish not to acquire studio's if they have the opportunity to do so. They have the resources and are seriously lacking in Software - odd for a company that made their name in Software. According to the studio's they have acquired, they seem very keen to give them financial backing, creative freedom and a lot of support to realise their ambition - even if their ideas are not within their 'expertise'. For independent studios, that is extremely tempting and offers long term security in a world where studio's are on the brink of closure. It makes sense to align with a 'massive' company.
@JJ2 if they are working on something big, it is a sequel to the order. but i am worried sony threw them under the bus
Ha, The Winchester. I love the little one liners at the end of all the articles.
I love my PlayStation but as I said before, I couldn't give a damn who owns what studio, if a console has enough decent games I'm happy to invest in another machine. The worry is MS may drive some studios into the ground, I guess, but time will tell!
Hopefully Sony acquires Quantic Dream, Supermassive, and Insomniac before MS does...
I think its Ready at Dawn, unfortunately.
@jFug i kinda expect some kinda bomb at whatever event sony will host in the future regarding some studio's they have bought themselves. maybe during their ps5 reveal.
and you never know if sony already made some new deals with those studios behind closed doors. i would be suprised if sony is not countering these buying microsoft buying habits in some way.
That Guy is definetly a fanboy
@rjejr My bad!
Yo Microsoft, hands off my Yakuza.
These rumours come up now and again. I wont worry about it until Sony are not releasing compelling exclusive software. I would be most displeased if one of my favourite devs jumped to xbox but i would like to think that they wouldnt do that. Sony have invested in these studios and curated them into what the1y are now. Admittedly it is business at the end of the day though.
Dont really understand why Microsoft dont build their own studios, rather than forcing exclusivity by buying up existing studios. I have zero respect for what they are doing. Phil Spencer wasnt lying when he said that xbox wont throw money at timed exclusivity like tomb raider again. No, he sees the solution as to simply buy studios and get the exclusive by default. Sony meanwhile have curated strong relationships across platforms.
Either way, Sony are a business too. They know what they are doing. Microsoft probably are leaking things here and there to build momentum for next gen. Wheras Sony probably have a game plan of their own. Wisely they are playing their cards close to their chests atm. But next year they will have a lot to say.
@Rob_230 yeah i agree regarding the silence from sony.
sure it's nice to talk to your fans here and there,but when they are so deep in ps5 development,i think it's wise to keep as much secret as you can until the right time to talk has come.
and when sony's ps5 plans are secure and definitive they will begin to talk.
it's wise to let microsoft do the talking,and then sony doing possible counters to microsoft's plans in secret. (with counters,i mean 1upping microsoft's plans or not doing what microsoft are doing if they don't see it being successfull)
so far, MS seem to have bought a bunch of studios that have 1 decent game between all of them, but even if sony was filing for bankruptcy and selling all their studios to microsoft, i still wouldn't buy an xbox.
@leucocyte I’m guessing you’d more likely go PC Gaming or just never game again?
Im not sure how these things work but wouldnt sony want to aquire all the studios that have made awesome games for ps4 so to keep them around and on their side?
If so then why have they just let them go?
@Gmork___ maybe they have done that,but unlike microsoft wants to keep it secret untill the right time.
also i don't think that they would try to buy every studio that has a good relationship with them,afterall they are heavy in the ps5 development which also costs money.
microsoft is spending more money on studios because they have to but sony most likely is doing some spending of their own. just not as much as microsoft ,since they are not in a position to resort to that tactic.
I heard hitman might be exclusive to Microsoft .word up son
Housemarque is probably what the evil green greedy monopoly wants. That money could of gone towards expanding the industry with new talent and a new studio dedicated towards them, instead of more of these low blow cheap shots made towards cutting down PlayStation's awesome gaming library of gaming excellence.
One thing's for sure, it looks like MS are gearing up big time for the next gen. They are clearly going for content next gen (only 5 years too late) and taking a leaf out of Sony's first party studio book.
Time for Sony to bolster theirs imo!
@jdv95 yes Sony need imsomiac games.quantic dreams.suppermassive to be exclusive for PlayStation.word up
@jFug haha that's what I said also.the rumor is microsoft is trying to buy io.people who makes hitman.word
So this guy is admitting that PlayStation is the best place to play, and that Sony has the best first and second party games. Sounds about right.
@Rob_230 building studio from ground up is much more difficult then buying an existing studio. After all, some of the best studios and exclusives for playstation were/are made by studios which Sony had bought, not built from ground up. Let's check some facts before pointing fingers.
@RidingMower yeah, just like Sony expanded the industry with guerilla games, naughty dog, sucker punch, media molecule or with attempted buyout of insomniac games. Wonderful expansion, indeed.
@jdv95 Mojang, playgrounds games, ninja theory, inxile, Obsidian certainly aren't studios with average records.
@jdv95 Exactly this. I agree. They just need to come out swinging with a quality launch line up spread over the first year of life. They will be fine. I still dont believe Sony are back to their arrogant ways like some insist on here either.
I think Sony were hurt by the launch of ps3, and by the damage caused to the wider business during the economic crisis. They know what got them where they are today and the role that PlayStation played in bringing them back into the black. Im confident.
Someone here said that MS is destroying Sony? Hahaha.
@Kidfried Sea of Thieves and State of Decay 2 are great examples of MS doing great.
Word up son.
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi this is just like how they were during the 360 days just throwing money at everything
Why is there a pouting beardy bloke with lipstick on in the article pic?
@ApostateMage is it doing it for you?
Considering Microsoft's track record of first party management, my heart goes out to all the studios they've taken hostage.
@kyleforrester87 Maybe after a few more Guinness.
@BrianC getting destroyed by buying studios that we won’t see anything from for years while Sony has been releasing hit after hit with more to come lol ok.
@NecuVise mojang hasn’t done anything since Minecraft while inxile and ninja theory def have average records even obsidian these last few years.
@JimmyRowe1994 well nt only made one game for Sony, it's not like they made multiple exclusives. Their first game, kung fu chaos, was exclusive to XBox, then heavenly sword was for PS3, then 3 multiplatform games ( with hellblade being a timed exclusive because they couldn't afford to put the game on every platform at the same time, and PlayStations larger install base
Microsoft needs to do what they can honestly, I haven’t bought an Xbox One game since Cuphead was released.
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi BT, you know they did open a new studio, the initiative
@jdv95 if you watched the studio videos, or read articles on the subject, most if the studios acquired by Ms recently only did it BECAUSE they allowed creative freedom, I'm pretty sure ninja theory wouldn't be bought if they couldn't make ambitious games
@Rob_230 do you all really disregard the fact that they literally just made a new studio in June, they're doing a mix of both acquisitions and startups, bt start ups cost waaay more to do. I actually like both consoles and read up on a all these subjects, not hard to find.
@NecuVise i appreciate that, but still stand by what i say. I was referring to studios like Santa Monica, Sony Japan studios etc rather than the likes of Naughty Dog, Guerilla etc. Sony put the effort in with those studios and look at what they are creating. God of War is a masterpiece.
Did Microsoft get so tied up in backwards compatibility they forgot about new games? I have read they had over 100 people working on making 360 titles BC. They need something! so they are trying to fix it I don't fault them.
I bought a X360 late in my PS3 life. I have looked twice at Xbox One to see if the games I wanted would justify a purchase with just Sunset Overdrive and Cuphead, I could not. I love my PS4 Pro but owning more then one console has never been out of the question for me.
My last thought is I am sure PS4's install base is something that is very hard to walk away from.
I repeat it every time one of these articles (rumor or confirmation) comes up about MS buying studios but I'd like to see Sony, at the very least, lock up Insomniac. Ted Price doesn't want to sell but anybody can be convinced if the $$$ are right.
@Gamer83 funny thing is they might as well join sony some of there best sellers are ps4 exclusive and most of there fan base is on playstation that and they never would have gotten to make spider man without sony
@Areus
I thought Sunset Overdrive was the real test. They made a great game, Xbox One owners avoided it for the most part. Not only that, as much as I liked the game, it's not as good as some of Insomniac's best like games in the R&C and Resistance series, certainly not as good as Spider-Man. Insomniac's best work has been on PlayStation, that's where the studio gets the sales. A buyout makes sense, both sides just need to get the money to work out.
Any studio acquired by present day Microsoft seems destined to go the way of Rare I think, so it had better not be Insomniac they're acquiring! I'd be sad if they got Quantic Dream or Supermassive, as I've enjoyed some of their games (especially Until Dawn), but I wouldn't mind too much if it was Ready at Dawn that they're acquiring. Loved the Shaun of the Dead reference too btw - one of my favourite movie quotes of all time!
@Gamer83
I feel Insomniac has become too big a fish to swallow. They are one of the most prolific studios. They are always on a few projects releasing soon.
I'd rather Sony create or expand their own studio and they have been doing just that even if they also lost some. They could also acquire studios that are struggling and expand then and I feel Ms has been doing right in that regards recently
I don't know why Pushsquare is posting this story. It's as if they don't listen to their own advice from a few days ago about fake rumours. The guy was saying last month that Ms was in negotiation with Turtle Rock.
Ms still can acquire more studios and it might be even right that studio worked 'a bit' with ps at some point but that shouldn't even be a story at this point.
@MistressTonberry what you said makes no sense, Ms that acquired rare in early 2000s was different than Ms today, plus rare chose to work with kinect for those very low yrs because they thought it was gonna be the next big gimmick like the wiimote.
Plus. Most of rares staff left before they were acquired, Nintendo had the chance to fully buy them bt chose not to because they saw the decline coming
@JJ2
What ms is doing is basically what most big publishers do, inquire on buying a studio, I mean look at Thq Nordic , they've bought more studios than ms this yr.
@Gamer83 sunset overdrive is an underrated gem that probably got overlooked because it was a silly kiddie looking shooter game instead of a dark Sci-Fi game. If released today, it would probably sell better because of the fortnite effect ( colorful silly shooters that can appeal to kids)
@Neku I wasn't criticising the MS of the early 2000s as I was a 360 gamer between the PS2 and PS4 eras and thought they had some great exclusives - I just think they've gone down hill massively since then with regards to their games side, and that Rare has been one of their casualties. Personally, I hope that MS do up their game next gen as that would keep Sony from getting arrogant again (just not with Insomniac!) As for the Kinect then I never liked it personally - I just really feel that Rare became a wasted studio once MS put them to work on Kinect-centric games, which they may have wanted to make at first because it was considered a big trend for a brief period, but probably not for quite so long a period of time, as I don't think they've ever really recovered from that!
@Neku
Yea I just mean they seem more logical compared the the crazy stuff they did the previous years with buying Mojand for Billions and screwing their most interesting projects and studios
@dark_knightmare2 lol I guess Sucker Punch must be awful because both Ninja Theory and InXile made games that scored better than the failure Infamous Second Son
Microsoft studios on average right now are better than Sony's, regardless of what fanboys want to believe, the scores and numbers don't lie
Language please - Quintumply
@3Above Kind of like how Sony BOUGHT ND, Guerrilla, Sucker Punch, Bend and Media Molecule?
Microsoft built Turn 10, 343i, Coalition and the Initiative.
Funny thing is several Sony studios like Guerrilla Games started off making multiplats, and the incredibly mediocre Sucker Punch studio started on the N64
@JJ2 well the biggest one is scalebound, and supposedly platinum games were using ms money on nier automata, they would constantly miss deadlines, stuff like that. Pretty sad that failed to come into fruition. Idrk what happened with fable legends
@MistressTonberry they went down mostly because of Steve ballmer and others who wanted XBox to help leverage windows instead of just be about gaming. They didn't have good direction, bt hopefully now Phil can lead them to a level of success similar to the earlier to mid 360 days, more competition the better
@Acquiescence I love that word! I’ve said for years that if I ever get a little dog, that would be it’s name!
@Neku
Oh yea I've heard many tales about it being platinum s fault only. It's going to become a full legend in a few years. Haha kidding a bit but whatever
@batosaims7 dude what are you smoking saying MS studios are better on average than Sony’s that’s not true lol. They haven’t had a critically acclaimed game in years nor have won any goty awards which usually go to Sony or Nintendo. You fanboy out by calling sucker punch garbage when they made the sly cooper series,resistance series and infamous which were all hits and reviewed well even infamous second s**** as you so childishly put it which scored an 81 metacritic which btw it was cute you only brought that one up in your ridiculous comparison and let’s not forget there’s tons of hype for their next game ghosts. If you’re a MS fan cool but the fact is their hot garbage when it comes to exclusives and they run studios into the ground which are both facts so has a famous MS employee once said “Deal with it”
@JJ2 no one said it was all pg fault, Ms also are to blame because they moved up some of the deadlines, making it harder To meet and giving them more Mo ey without seeing much progress, . It was 50/50 on each side
@Neku
Thats not what I felt you were saying, like many Ms supporters have been saying, but your following comment cleared it up. That's more reasonable. Honestly sht happens and projects fall apart like it happened for Sony e. g. Santa Monica dead SF project but what is unforgivable is the way Ms marketed Scalebound for years with nothing but a Cg to start with and kept promoting it until the last few months going 'oh BTW, it's dead'.
@Derpie1 - no, i wouldn't go to PC, unless a lot more games started running on linux. i'd either not bother or wait for another manufacturer to enter the market.
@JJ2 I feel you.... Iirc it was a mutual decision to cancel it, but I like that crackdown 3, even if it's not that wanted, got as much development as possible . The way it's been in developmental hell, you'd think that would be canceled
"speculation that the team in green is about to snap up a studio that’s worked with PlayStation in the past"
So... pretty much any studio in existence, then.
@leucocyte ah.
@Porco Sony owns the IP for The Order, so not likely.
@Neku Ah, that kind of explains to me what went wrong with the Xbox platform between the late 360 and Xbox One era - I actually didn't know the reason why Xbox had declined so much until I read your comment! I hope they can get it together for the next gen as I think having decent competition is good for PS - resurrecting Scalebound somehow would be a good start! Phil definitely needs to up his game a lot if he wants Xbox to get back on a level playing field with Sony again though.
@MistressTonberry they can't, they abandoned the trademark for scalebound recently
@Neku What a shame - before it was cancelled it looked like Scalebound had the potential to be a great Xbox exclusive!
@MistressTonberry It's the very reason I sold my Xbox One. Scalebound's cancellation was the final nail in the coffin.
Sony has nothing to worry about. They have plenty of studios, and probably will make an acquisition in the near future. Plus they seem more inclined to expand their studios. Guerilla Games is moving into a new building that allows them to have at least 400 employees, which means they will be able to work on two games at the same time quite easily. Plus there's older news but still recent that Sony opened up a new San Diego studio. It's unclear if it's purpose is for new IP or existing IP. Rumors have it that they'll be the ones to develop future Uncharted games with likely some supervision from key Naughty Dog staff.
@InsertUsername That cancellation is still something I can't get my head around - could've been a great new IP for them, but the big exclusive Xbox gamers got instead ended up being Sea of Thieves...I just don't understand what those at the top of MS were thinking! I'm clearly no gaming expert, but it looks like they need better staff, at least on the company direction side of their gaming operation!
@MistressTonberry They seem high on the games as a service model. If that's what these studios are for, then I have zero interest in Xbox in the future. Far as I've heard, Scalebound's cancellation was due to creative differences between MS and Platinum Games. It was also claimed that Platinum was having issues meeting deadlines, but imo, I just think MS was making things difficult for them.
@InsertUsername i know they do... if rad is working on a new game with sony, it is likely the order sequel is what i said.
@Porco Never heard any rumors of them working with Sony again, though I wouldn't be bothered by it. I feel that while The Order 1886 was a let down due to excessive QTE's and not enough gameplay, the story itself was quite impressive imo. I just hope if there is a sequel, it'll be an improvement, and not more of the same.
The thing is MS have had nothing since X1 came out it's Forza, Gears Halo and fans have been getting fed up ever since the X1X came out as "THE CONSOLE X1 SHOULD HAVE BEEN". But acquisitions are every where the issue is MS destroyed RARE and look at them now or what they did during the 360 era.
Sony have been just as bad and have done the same too
@dark_knightmare2
Because their studios are better on average, Sony has good studios like Santa Monica but they have too many mediocre studios like Sucker Punch and Poly Phonies and of course PixelOpus. Sucker Punch made Sly Cooper (decent game at best) like 15 years ago. What did they make this gen? A crap Infamous flop and its terrible expansion pack. 2 of Sony studios, Sony Japan and PixelOpus made games that scored a 50, that drags their studio average down.
Resistance (a decent FPS) was made by Insomniac who are NOT owned by Sony. Infamous didn’t score an 81 either, it scored an 80 and its expansion scored a 73. That means that 9 of Microsoft’s studios put out higher scoring games this gen. The fact that you have to lie and also think Insomniac is a Sony developer is hilarious
Forza Horizon 4 was critically acclaimed, more so than Spider-man which failed to get a 9 on IGN (8.7 lol) GOTY usually goes to multiplats or Nintendo. 2015 Witcher 3, 2016 Overwatch, 2017 Breath of the Wild, 2018 will be Red Dead Redemption 2. Hell Fortnite won GOTY over God of War at the Golden Joystiq award
InXile Wasteland 2 = PC GOTY winner, yeah that's right, a low budget kickstarter studio won a GOTY award, something Sucker Punch and Bend will never win.
Funny thing is Sony ran more studios into the ground than MS and Nintendo combined. They kill too many studios and are too anti consumer.
Even Ninja Theory, who with less than 20 people put out a game that blew Sucker Punch and Bend out of the water, said that Sony is too controlling with their studios. Hellblade won more awards than every Sucker Punch and Bend game combined. When they were making Heavenly Sword, Sony kept interfering and making unreasonable demands
@batosaims7 - your source that sony is "too controlling with their studios"?. i don't think any other publisher would have indulged studios the way sony did with the last guardian and have done with dreams. sony has 15 different IPs with a metacritic average of 85 or better. microsoft has 5. but that's just metacritic.. 'better' is and always will be subjective. if MS didn't have forza this gen, it would have practically nothing.
MS have the money to buy Sony - not that Sony need, want or would be likely to sell. They are more likely to sell off aspects (like they did with Vaio) than sell the whole company. MS have a Market value of ~$750bn and Sony are valued at ~$60bn. I don't want MS to buy Sony by the way as competition is great for us consumers. MS could buy EA, Activision etc too of course.
Sony also bought up studio's too and have a decent collection that they look more inclined to build up than invest in new studio's. MS have formed new studios as well don't forget - most recently the initiative, but also 343i in 2007.
Both MS and Sony have closed studio's too so you can't say that MS will 'ruin' these. Guerilla Cambridge for example. Rare weren't forced to make Kinect games either, they wanted to make Kinect games as they saw it was innovative and suited their artstyle too. You can't say because MS did 'X' 10yrs ago, they are always going to do 'X'. As for the new studio's, MS asked the studio's what games they wanted to make, the studio's said what budget do we have, and MS said we're Microsoft....
Watch any developer video that they have made since joining MS, they are say the reason for joining was creative freedom, financial backing and the support of ALL MS expertise and resources.
Time will tell. MS NEED studios to make games and it makes sense to buy up studio's with the talent there and build them up (if needed) to releasing quality games for Microsoft gamers - not just to compete with Sony but Steam too.
I hope to see MS compete, offer game of the year contenders too. Quality and quantity - as a gamer, the more quality games I get to play, the better.
@BAMozzy MS can't buy Sony anyway. Business doesn't work that way. They'd have to be willing to sell. Plus the fact that Japanese companies(especially Sony) won't sell to a foreign company that isn't Japanese. If they were to sell it will be a company within their own region.
@InsertUsername I said that in the first paragraph. MS have the financial muscle to buy Sony easily - not that Sony would sell to MS and if they 'had' to sell, would sell off aspects - like they did with their PC division rather than sell anything to MS. I know Japanese companies also won't sell to foreign companies but my point was that MS have the financial muscle to buy a company like Sony let alone any independent studio they want (assuming they want or need to sell).
MS could buy EA or Activision if they really wanted - not that it makes sense to buy any of these as they are seeing 'growth' so you don't buy when the price is high - unless you really, really want. They are so big and wealthy that they 'could' buy Sony easily IF Sony were available to buy - they are not we know and the Japanese Government wouldn't allow it but the point is, they have more than enough money to buy Sony so literally any studio or publisher isn't 'financially' out of MS's reach. Being financially able to buy these is NOT saying they will or realistically 'could' but finances isn't the issue.
@dark_knightmare2 Microsoft vs Sony OWNED Studios, Microsoft studios have a higher review average. Bloodborne is not made by a Sony developer, neither is Spiderman or the Shadow of the Colossus remake
Basically, Sony own studios made Horizon, God of War, AstroBot, Uncharted 4 but they also made garbage Knack, Gran Turismo Sport, Infamous Second Son, Entwined, Drive Club, Killzone, Infamous First Light etc
Sony Japan makes Astrobot, they also made Knack 1 and 2, that brings their average down. If you make 2 crap games and 1 good game, you’re batting a 33% average out of those 3 games. If you make 4 games, 2 of them are good and 2 are crap, then you’re at 50%
Sony studios make too much crap.
Meanwhile Obsidian made 4 80+ games since 2013 (start of gen) an 80, 85, 88 and 89. Obsidian’s last 2 games are an 88 and 89 (same score as Horizon) but with 1/20th the budget. InXile was a PC GOTY award winner, a GOTY award which is something Sucker Punch and Bend will never win, 2 of InXile games have an 81 (higher than Sucker Punch this gen). Hellblade won more awards than every game Sucker Punch and Bend Studios combined did and that game was made by less than 20 people.
Nope no lie, Game Awards last year was Breath of the Wild, before that was Overwatch, Witcher 3, etc
I looked at the list of GOTY awards for Uncharted 4 and 90% of are small no name sites that have maybe 300 visitors per month. None of the major and relevant outlets gave Uncharted 4 GOTY because the game was basically Uncharted 3 with a new coat of paint. Overwatch sucked too but at least it was new and wasn’t stale and the same game like Uncharted 4 was.
The original comment you made was that InXile, Ninja Theory and Obsidian have average scores yet their scores this gen and recently blow Sucker Punch, Guerrilla Games, Bend, PolyPhony, Media Molecule, San Diego, PixelOpus and Sony Japan out of the water in terms of their scores this gen. So by your logic, Sony’s studios must be below average.
Its fine that you enjoy mediocre studios like Sucker Punch and Bend but lying about their Metacritic score like you did with Infamous Second Son (lol 81) isn’t going to help you.
@batosaims7 dude we weren’t just going by game awards we were going by total goty award which Uc 4 took so once again you were trying to reach and are going to sprain your arm oh and it’s cute you’re trying to discredit that by saying no name sites smh sad. You are counting obsidian games that were made before the MS acquisition and most being on ps4 so once again nice reach. You said I lied oh no I was off by one point in regards to infamous Second son sue me lol. You call sucker punch mediocre when their output shows the exact opposite and please quit acting like infamous second son was bad because it wasn’t an 80 metacritic score is good and it sold well and you look like a fool trying to say that especially when there’s such hype for their next game ghosts but nah you’re right their mediocre lol. You skirted around my whole previous post and tried to cherry pick and that just won’t work fanboy because like I said when MS can actually have a goty winner and more than a racing game score 90 plus on metacritic like Sony and Nintendo have done numerous times this gen then you can talk. Oh btw Sony owns bloodborne it’s their ip and Sony japan helped make it so you failed there and Spider-Man was made by a studio sony hired and it’s exclusive to their system while shadow of the colossus is absolutely a Sony ip made by one of their own studios irregardless of bluepoint handling the remake so once again you tried to pull a ridiculous reach and failed. Everyone knows MS studios aren’t on the level of Sony’s and Nintendo’s you can go see that same opinion on most gaming sites and MS knew this which is why they went and bought a couple of mid tier developers so hopefully they can churn out some worthwhile exclusives next gen and not get embarrassed like they have since the original Xbox when put up against Sony and Nintendo’s output
@dark_knightmare2 I can make a blog and give Big Rigs GOTY, it means nothing. Fortnite won GOTY over God of War at Golden Joystiq. For the record I like God of WAr more than Red Dead 2 but it doesn't change the fact that Red Dead 2 is going to blow it out of the water at the game awards.
Sony owns Bloodborne, Microsoft owns Ori and the Blind Forest and Killer Instinct (high 80’s games) they also own Fru (84) I didn’t count them because they weren’t made by Microsoft owned studios.
I’m also counting studio talent. You said that Obsidian, Ninja Theory and InXile have average scores when those 3 alone destroy nearly every Sony studio, their scores destroy Sucker Punch, Guerrilla, BendOver, PolyPhonies, Meida Molecule, San Diego and Sony Japan this gen.
The fact of the matter is you know Sony studios can't compare which is why you thought Insomniac was a Sony studio, why you use games not made by Sony studios becaus you have no choice, Sony's own studios don't have the talent. You know this is which is why you LIED about Sucker Punch and Infamous Second Son score.
Don’t worry, Sucker Punch, Bend, Poly Phonies may all be mediocre and no talent studios, but at least you can get a Santa Monica game in 4-5 years
You’ve lost this argument, badly. Go home
@batosaims7 If you think games like Infamous and Gran Turismo are bad then you either have bad taste or your just an xbot just trying feed your own little narrative.
@AdamNovice You're not very bright are you? My comment was in response to a Sony fanboy (then again look where we are) who said InXile, Obsidian and Ninja Theory games get average scores despite their scores being higher than Sucker Punch and Poly Phony especially this gen.
This by that logic, if they're average, Sucker Punch and Poly Phonies must be flat out bad.
@batosaims7 Sure Jan
@batosaims7 hey man just wanted to tell you how so right you were that rdr 2 was going to blow gow out at the game awards
@dark_knightmare2 I can take an L on that one even if I'm right about everything else. Although RDR2 did win 4 awards as oppose to God of Wars 3.
On another note, Outer Worlds looks great, Microsoft's next big franchise. MS now has 3 RPG studios where as Sony has zero lol
Speaking of that, you know who' are never going to win an award? Sucker Punch, Poly Phonies and Bend
@batosaims7 outer worlds is coming to PS4 how is that a win lol not to mention you weren’t right about anything else. Horizon and GOW are both action rpgs so yeah sony does have two studios that make rpgs. Oh no what will Sony Santa Monica ever do they had one less award than rdr 2 but wait GOW won the three biggest with best action/adventure,best game direction and the ultimate award that rockstar would have loved to get GOTY not to mention so far GOW has more goty wins than rdr 2 so once again you’re wrong. Sucker punch and polyphony have both won awards in the past so once again you’re proven wrong god it’s so easy. Speaking of that,you know who’s never going to win an award? Any of MS studios not named playground lol seriously when was the last time any of their studios were truly celebrated. You seriously need to give it up everyone has seen you’re a diehard fanboy who won’t ever admit he’s wrong even though facts and history of proven you to be so you just move along and I’ll do the same. Have a nice day
@dark_knightmare2 Outer Worlds is a Microsoft owned IP, I'm sure they appreciate every PS4 sale of the game lol they know that people will come running for the sequel, and no, God of War isn't an RPG, according to the Playstation Store and Sony it's an Action game. Just because a game has some minor RPG elements doesn't make it an RPG
Horizon is an Action/RPG not a full RPG like what Obsidian and InXile make. Not to mention that Guerrilla Games isn't on Obsidian or Playgrounds level so its moot.
Lol you're so desperate that you actually think God of War is an RPG. Then again you were also so desperate that you tried to pass off Insomniac, Kojima and From Software as if they're first party Sony owned studios too lmao you WISH
Any MS studio not named Playground, same thing applies for any Sony studio not named Santa Monica because Naughty Dog didn't win in 2016 and got beaten out by Overwatch of all games lol you know when Guerrilla makes their mediocre FPS that's not going to be celebrated and its not going to win any awards either as Guerrilla can't do shooters to save their lives.
When did Poly Phonies win awards? Like 15 years ago when they actually made good games and not the worst scoring racer of 2017?
Sucker Punch hasn't won jack except for maybe some obscure award for sound track for one of the Infamous games. Meanwhile Ninja Theory, with less than 20 people made a game that won more awards than every Sucker Punch and Bend Studio game combined...YIKES...
That's what happens when you have talent. InXile, NT and Obisidan outperformed and outscored Sucker Punch and Bend despite having limited resources lol how embarrassing. I really hope Ghost comes out in 2019, so we can witness Obsidian and Outer Worlds stomp Sucker Punch and Bend into oblivion and put them in their place once and for all.
I also like how you pretty admitted that you lost the argument about average scores, went quiet for a few days, came back when God of War won its GOTY and still somehow managed to lose another argument
Its time to stop, Santa Monica is great but that's just one studio and they won't be making another game for 3-4 years. When Sucker Punch and Bend are what you have to look forward to, you know things are bad.
@batosaims7 alright bro you’re really starting to annoy me you’re a brain dead fanboy who has got proven wrong over and over yet wont give up. MS is nowhere near Sony or Nintendo’s level when it comes to exclusives that’s a fact,Sony and nintendo have destroyed MS every gen when it comes to highly acclaimed exclusives especially this one that’s a fact,MS studios aren’t has acclaimed and talented has Sony’s and nintendos that’s a fact so just move along enjoy your barren Xbox and lets call it a day.
@dark_knightmare2 Remember when you said InXile, Obsidian and Ninja Theory had average scoring games...
Then when you found out Sucker Punch has even lower scoring games then they do..you first tried to lie by saying Sucker Punch's turd was an 81...
Then you ran out of this article for a few days
Then you tried to lie again today by calling God of War an RPG
You're terrified of me. I own you, plain and simple
@batosaims7
Bet that cut deep God of War winning 2018 game of the year
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