Fable Progress Slow Due to Playground’s Lack of RPG Experience and Frugal Ethos Says Dev

[jehurey 3,299]

28 minutes ago, Remij said:

MS definitely has issues with regards to studio management.  I'm not denying that.  They clearly don't have a handle on their studios and thus they waste/lose a lot of time.... however that's not to say that I'm worried about Fable because it's slow going.  They're essentially building a new team, and a new game (to them)... so there's likely going to be some bumps.

 

I'll point to Guerrilla Games...  They were a Killzone factory... and then they made Horizon Zero Dawn... which took them 7 years from conception to completion.  HZD released 4 years after Killzone Shadow Fall.  Playground Games just released FH5... so they have time.. and at least it doesn't sound like MS will be pushing them to get something out there that isn't done.

 

I have a healthy amount of faith in Playground Games... that whatever they release will be a quality product... whenever it releases.

But there are things with the Horizon IP that wasn't purely in Guerilla's hands.

 

It was Sony putting them in a position to succeed.

 

The lead writer of Fallout New Vegas was put in place to establish the game's lore. One of 20 different story scripts that they oversaw.

 

Sony gave Guerilla the right resources to help ensure that the IP would work.

 

And we see that type of relationship with Nintendo and their second-parties, as well. Sony and Nintendo don't just leave the studio by itself to create the game. They have the right people overseeing it and proving the proper guidance when it counts. David Jaffe has said that God of War did not come together until near the very end of development.

 

How did Microsoft help Crackdown 3 down the stretch?

How did Microsoft help Halo 4 and 5 down the stretch? Or Halo Infinite for that matter?

 

Proper management helps get games out the door. Good management makes developers release games far better than people had anticipated.

 

Insomniac's reputation changed after Spider-man 2018.

Look what Nintendo just had HAL Labs do with the Kirby franchise. Nobody was even expecting that.

[Mr. Impossible 437]

51 minutes ago, Remij said:

MS definitely has issues with regards to studio management.  I'm not denying that.  They clearly don't have a handle on their studios and thus they waste/lose a lot of time.... however that's not to say that I'm worried about Fable because it's slow going.  They're essentially building a new team, and a new game (to them)... so there's likely going to be some bumps.

 

I'll point to Guerrilla Games...  They were a Killzone factory... and then they made Horizon Zero Dawn... which took them 7 years from conception to completion.  HZD released 4 years after Killzone Shadow Fall.  Playground Games just released FH5... so they have time.. and at least it doesn't sound like MS will be pushing them to get something out there that isn't done.

 

I have a healthy amount of faith in Playground Games... that whatever they release will be a quality product... whenever it releases.

 

That's very fair. The difference feels like Sony sort of lets their studios do their own thing and Sony just signs checks. So Guerilla going in a different direction feels more organic than MS having this IP and just handing it over to one of their top studios with the hope they can make an equally good RPG than this team deciding this is the direction they want to head in. We'll see eventually. I dont even think the Fable franchise is that well regarded anyway that people are clamoring for it.

[Remij 4,731]

1 minute ago, Mr. Impossible said:

 

That's very fair. The difference feels like Sony sort of lets their studios do their own thing and Sony just signs checks. So Guerilla going in a different direction feels more organic than MS having this IP and just handing it over to one of their top studios with the hope they can make an equally good RPG than this team deciding this is the direction they want to head in. We'll see eventually. I dont even think the Fable franchise is that well regarded anyway that people are clamoring for it.

I wouldn't be surprised if Playground wanting to do a Fable game came down to "Hey... we're a British game studio... Fable was made by Brits! We should do that!"  lol

 

I honestly don't even know what the hell is up with Microsoft and their mismanagement. It's definitely deeper than any 1 person.. because it was fucked up under Phil, and it's fucked up under Matt Booty.  And yeah.. Guerrilla Games did just organically do their own thing with Horizon.  I know it's not exactly a 1:1 situation.  I made the comparison essentially based on the fact that they're both teams who had worked predominantly on a certain franchise or genre, and decided to branch out to something completely different.  

 

I fully understand the difference between them is that Sony is known for putting out quality games, and they usually have a few big titles that are always upcoming.. which goes a long way to alleviating people's concerns and drawing attention away from their games which do have development issues.  MS definitely isn't afforded that confidence and assurance... and they don't deserve it obviously.  The only way they will is if they start executing on things consistently.

 

There's kind of a lot riding on this for Playground Games.  It either proves they're a top studio which can cross genres... or it cements them as a Forza one trick pony studio.  I guess we'll see if there's any audience left for Fable when it releases.

[TLHBO 2,205]

9 hours ago, jehurey said:

But there are things with the Horizon IP that wasn't purely in Guerilla's hands.

 

It was Sony putting them in a position to succeed.

 

The lead writer of Fallout New Vegas was put in place to establish the game's lore. One of 20 different story scripts that they oversaw.

 

Sony gave Guerilla the right resources to help ensure that the IP would work.

 

And we see that type of relationship with Nintendo and their second-parties, as well. Sony and Nintendo don't just leave the studio by itself to create the game. They have the right people overseeing it and proving the proper guidance when it counts. David Jaffe has said that God of War did not come together until near the very end of development.

 

How did Microsoft help Crackdown 3 down the stretch?

How did Microsoft help Halo 4 and 5 down the stretch? Or Halo Infinite for that matter?

 

Proper management helps get games out the door. Good management makes developers release games far better than people had anticipated.

 

Insomniac's reputation changed after Spider-man 2018.

Look what Nintendo just had HAL Labs do with the Kirby franchise. Nobody was even expecting that.

I have to admit I agree with Jerry. Sony delivers banger after banger, they clearly know what they're doing, how to nuture homegrown studios and for the most part how to market games effectively. This is PlayStation has been such a success every time (bar a few years of early ps3).

 

Nintendo too. They dumped all of Retros games which looked a bit cack and they spit out Metroid Prime, they took Silicon Knights and made them spit out Eternal Darkness.

 

Look at when devs go to xbox. Sunset overdrive a barebones flop, too human, Rare's entire post Nintendo history. Bungie and the Forza devs are the only real successes microsoft has had so its no wonder that the entire Xbox franchise is carried on life support by Halo and Forza every year - except now it seems they have killed Halo by losing Bungie.

 

Microsoft execs and management just dont understand gaming. They cant take an upstart dev or create their own studio and have it hit out bangers, microsoft can only buy already established successes like call of duty or elder scrolls - and history shows they run games and studios into the ground anyway.

 

Whether lemmings like it or not this is the truth. Its why microsoft has mostly always struggled in the marketplace. Their system simply isnt very appealing.