The Initiative, Microsoft's 'AAAA' Studio: "We're a small-scale studio doing small-scale projects"

[102020393023445948594 2,223]

https://www.windowscentral.com/xbox-game-studio-initiative-talks-staying-small-staying-agile

 

WHAT?

 

Wait, WHAT?  

 

Quote

However, The Initiative also looks to set expectations going forward, claiming "staying small, and staying agile, will actually be our strength." Followed by words from Gallagher, the studio lead states "the bar is high" and "the challenge for us is making sure we deliver on those expectations." It indicates The Initiative is starting small for its early projects, leveraging a tight team focused on innovation – not scale.

 

OMFG  

[McWicked 825]

Which team is this again?  What'd they make?

[102020393023445948594 2,223]

Just now, McWicked said:

Which team is this again?  What'd they make?

this was the big AAA studio, the new one they made.

 

Headed by the guy who did the tomb raider reboot. this was supposed to be their uncharted-level game studio.

 

Turns out it's another indie scale dev, the likes of undead labs. Doing 'Small projects" now.  

[TLHBO 2,158]

The Lemshit faction is being eviscerated.

[McWicked 825]

...I don't see a problem with this.  Have them make mid-tier games.  Industry needs that right now.

 

As long as it's not GaaS bullshit.  

[kaz 2,439]

55 minutes ago, McWicked said:

Which team is this again?  What'd they make?

does it matter? its all garbage lol

[jehurey 3,227]

Phil Spencer's bullshit is catching up to him.

[Cooke 2,026]

It's funny and all but wasn't hellblade made by a small indie studio? 

[Remij 4,670]

 

[-GD-X★ 7,729]

16 minutes ago, Cookester15 said:

It's funny and all but wasn't hellblade made by a small indie studio? 

nah. ninja theory made some big games. 

[Remij 4,670]

Dev size means SWEET FUCK ALL...

 

Bodycount so perturbed  

[McWicked 825]

Stardew Valley and Minecraft were each made by a single developer.  

[madmaltese★ 2,549]

Strange because they were the studio touted to be the MS' version of Naughty Dog. 

[McWicked 825]

34 minutes ago, madmaltese said:

Strange because they were the studio touted to be the MS' version of Naughty Dog. 

Compared to your average GaaS title, making something like Uncharted is probably seen as "small-scale".

[JonDnD 2,607]

39 minutes ago, madmaltese said:

Strange because they were the studio touted to be the MS' version of Naughty Dog. 

Why spend money on big games when they can produce indie budget trash and hype it on GamePass ?

 

I mean if they break a 6.0 mc they already beat most of MS 1st party devs . The bar is set low 

[Twinblade★ 3,891]

3 hours ago, -GD- said:

nah. ninja theory made some big games. 

Yeah but Hellblade was made by a small team within ninja theory. Which makes me wonder what exactly everyone else has been working on. They must be close to announcing something.

Edited March 14, 2019 by Twinblade

[lynux3 2,049]

lmao, wow. This was supposed to be a big AAA studio on par with Naughty Dog, Guerrilla Games or Santa Monica Studios, etc. Now it sounds like they're going to attempt to be a Ninja Theory. That's a disappointment.

[madmaltese★ 2,549]

6 minutes ago, JONBpc said:

Why spend money on big games when they can produce indie budget trash and hype it on GamePass ?

 

I mean if they break a 6.0 mc they already beat most of MS 1st party devs . The bar is set low 

It is something I have been saying for a while. That with MS moving forward and emphasising the gamepass model that it would suggest much more smaller titles with short dev cycles as opposed to big bugdet 5 year in development type games. 

[JonDnD 2,607]

57 minutes ago, madmaltese said:

It is something I have been saying for a while. That with MS moving forward and emphasising the gamepass model that it would suggest much more smaller titles with short dev cycles as opposed to big bugdet 5 year in development type games. 

And that would be OK, if the games they made were actually good. If you put out low, mid budget AA - AAA games most people would not complain.

 

But when you consistently put out cheap, 5...6.0 flops and nothing else besides Forza, people will not buy your platform or services. You have to have quality. Not sure why MS thinks releasing crap games into a service is going to help them.

 

Imagine if they had a God of War, or Mario Galaxy launching in GamePass.

[madmaltese★ 2,549]

5 minutes ago, JONBpc said:

And that would be OK, if the games they made were actually good. If you put out low, mid budget AA - AAA games most people would not complain.

 

But when you consistently put out cheap, 5...6.0 flops and nothing else besides Forza, people will not buy your platform or services. You have to have quality. Not sure why MS thinks releasing crap games into a service is going to help them.

 

Imagine if they had a God of War, or Mario Galaxy launching in GamePass.

True, in the end it's quality exclusives that matter and draw people to a platform. 

It's why I had raised the idea previously that it would be smart of MS to really do something ballsy and actually release a game exclusively (or launch exclusive) to Gamepass. A major game too. Like a Gears 5.