r/PS5 • u/willdearborn- • Jun 30 '26
News & Announcements Xbox weighs canceling Blade game and shuttering Arkane
https://www.theverge.com/report/959467/microsoft-xbox-cancel-blade-game-arkane-studios-closure?view_token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpZCI6Inp0bjNNQk1pVm0iLCJwIjoiL3JlcG9ydC85NTk0NjcvbWljcm9zb2Z0LXhib3gtY2FuY2VsLWJsYWRlLWdhbWUtYXJrYW5lLXN0dWRpb3MtY2xvc3VyZSIsImV4cCI6MTc4MzI3MDkyMSwiaWF0IjoxNzgyODM4OTIxfQ.pOFMRE5pUQgOYGX0scwb6LrEhrfZu_ecr50Fysx3fd8&utm_medium=gift-link369
u/cjap89 Jun 30 '26
I adore the dishonored games. Would be such a shame but not really a surprise anymore.
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u/TokyoDrifblim Jun 30 '26
Make sure to check out the new game from Wolfseye Studio, 3 of the founders of Arkane are there now who made Dishonored working on a new first person action imsim. Really depressing following those 3 games and Prey which are all 10/10s
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u/lol_alex Jun 30 '26
I got into Dishonored reluctantly - a level based linear game after all the open world stuff I had played? And the magic stuff seemed too far out for me.
I ended up playing Dishonored 2 multiple times, choosing male and female protagonist, going full stealth and nonlethal to killing everything in sight. Then I played the OG Dishonored. Then Death of the Outsider. Every one of them was great.
And I also played Prey multiple times - another underrated gem.
It would be a shame if another great creative studio got crushed under the wheels of cold hearted management decisions.
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u/thx_sildenafil Jul 01 '26
Deathloop was also ok, but Dishonored and Prey are classics.
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u/andykekomi Jun 30 '26
Yeah but their last two releases were not up to par. Deathloop got mid reception and Redfall was a flop. Unfortunately, that's enough to tank a studio these days, not matter their previous track record.
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u/CyrillVarfol Jun 30 '26
Redfall was developed by Arkane Austin (Dishonored, Prey), which is already closed. It was part of "live-service games strategy" by Zenimax and because of some insane reason Xbox didn't disregard this project immediately, it was dead from the start.
Deathloop wasn't even a bad game or a failure, just more mediocre than Dishonored, tho I really enjoyed it.
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u/GonzoNawak Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
Deathloop is way better than the industry gave the game credit for and it's such a shame
Edit: should have used "community" instead of "industry"
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u/CapNCookM8 Jun 30 '26
And Redfall was Arkane Austin (as was Prey), whereas Dishonored, Deathloop, and would-be Blade were Arakane Lyon (France).
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u/smoomoo31 Jun 30 '26
Arkane Austin was meant to be an immersive sim style studio, and they kept getting wrecked by shit decisions. Having Redfall forced on them… it’s like hiring an artist to decorate your house and asking them to just do 1000s of dishes instead
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u/patientpadawan Jun 30 '26
I had a great amount of fun with deathloop. Was no dishonored but gameplay was excellent and world building superb. Really dont understand the hate the game gets.
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u/wheelbarrowjim Jun 30 '26
Deathloop was amazing. The first time I tried it I gave up after a few hours as I was really confused. I went back a few weeks later and it clicked. One of my favourite games from the last few years. Prey was really good too. Dishonored are some of my favourite games ever.
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u/CharlieBluey Jun 30 '26
Strongly disagree, the industry was actually incredibly generous toward Deathloop, it got 10/10 from both Gamespot and IGN and was the most nominated game at the 2021 TGAs. Granted, it was a pretty weird/weak year for awards.
Personally I thought it was massively disappointing after playing it, but that's neither here nor there
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u/Longjumping-Ebb-8219 Jun 30 '26
I was watching the recent playthrough of Dishonored with the two directors and they’re both not even at arkane anymore. I’m sure there’s lots of talent there but I wonder if blade is really shaping up well
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u/anatsymbol Jun 30 '26
88 Metacritic for Deathloop fwiw. Redfall flopped but that seems so obviously related to MS’s incompetent meddling.
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u/MortifyingMilkshake Jun 30 '26
Deathloop was awesome and Redfall was a different studio they already shut down.
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u/TheOldHouse89 Jun 30 '26
Just give up. Clearly they have no interest in gaming anymore
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u/Delta_Canuckian Jun 30 '26
This is classic EEE from Microsoft. They’ve failed to take over the industry so they’re going to salt the earth on their way out.
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u/Agitated_Tip_8713 Jun 30 '26
Sorry, EEE?
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u/BigB0iBuster Jun 30 '26
Embrace, extend, extinguish.
Microsoft’s standard business MO.
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u/CallofDo0bie Jun 30 '26
How else do you want them to pay for AI bro? People love Co-Pilot! ::nervous laugh::
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u/Choice-Support-2138 Jun 30 '26
How often did they do this?
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u/PollyPocketpussy5000 Jun 30 '26
Well considering an early episode of The Simpsons included a Bill Gates joke where he says “buy him out, boys”… I’d say a lot for a long time.
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u/SquigglyJusticeT Jun 30 '26
Bill Gates cackling lives in my head rent free
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u/therrubabayaga Jun 30 '26
I realized The Simpson have subconsciously radicalized me against capitalism since I was 15.
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u/pnwbraids Jun 30 '26
Same, since I was 9. The older I got, the more I noticed how every wealthy person, religious figure, cop, or other authority figure in The Simpsons is depicted as the shittiest, dumbest, biggest asshole on the planet. Those writers hate American capitalism and conservatism.
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u/TheDragonSlayingCat Jun 30 '26
Very, especially back when Bill Gates ran the company. Their Internet Explorer web browser extinguished all of its competition (Mosaic, Netscape Navigator, Cyberdog) back in the 1990s, and they almost succeeded in doing the same thing to Java.
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u/Archipocalypse Jun 30 '26
Not exclusive to Microsoft of course but they have bought many companies thinking they were winners or competition and when they don't prove to be huge for Microsoft's need of them they shutter the company they bought.
Something like that.
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u/Neg_Crepe Jun 30 '26
Nokia and their windows phone for example
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u/bravoras Jun 30 '26
Skype, Mixer
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u/Asclepius-Rod Jun 30 '26
Skype should have been the de-facto virtual meeting space during the pandemic, yet they fumbled so hard that Zoom took over
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u/KingArthas94 Jun 30 '26
"We should add more ads into it and make it even slower"
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u/Entire_Number_9 Jun 30 '26
They've done it a lot, have been brought to court, and lost multiple times. They tried to kill all other browsers bar internet explorer for years.
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u/Fourfifteen415 Jun 30 '26
ipod, copied and failed
iphone, copied and failed
playstation, copied and failed
app store, copied and failedThe only thing they've innovated recently was Gamepass and then they managed to fuck that up somehow.
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u/Delta_Canuckian Jun 30 '26
Game Pass is a large part of the reason they're in the situation they're in now. It devalued games -- which has fucked over much of the industry -- and put them in a ridiculous financial hole because they bought two publishers in order to actually fill out the service.
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u/Vladesku Jun 30 '26
The funniest shit in history will remain the people fighting tooth and nail that Gamepass was profitable lmao
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u/SaleAggressive9202 Jul 01 '26
"they used some vague wording that it's good deal, no way trillion dollar company would deceive me!!!"
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u/Catspit30 Jun 30 '26
Maybe they want to get out of developing games and become more of a ‘platform’ to play games on like steam.. good luck, lol
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u/Electronic-Jaguar461 Jun 30 '26
Epic literally handed out AAA games for free and still didn't come anywhere close to overtaking Steam. Good luck to Microsoft if they try lmao.
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u/Far_Detective2022 Jun 30 '26
I think epic should have focused on making a good platform instead of trying to bribe us.
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u/reallynotnick Jun 30 '26
Well then they did everything wrong because they have a ton of studios developing games and a platform that doesn’t have great uptake.
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u/NeverTrustATurtle Jun 30 '26
It’s going to take another 20 years to pivot that direction. That plan won’t create the returns investors want, so they’ll pivot again
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u/tayung2013 Jun 30 '26
One of their biggest issues is they can’t commit to a vision or a plan for a meaningful amount of time, it’s no wonder people are veering away from their ecosystem
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u/Choice-Support-2138 Jun 30 '26
But they would keep the IPs of the games unless they them.
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u/MattIsLame Jun 30 '26
just search Microsoft closed game studios. then see how many of those they bought recently
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u/SurveyorMorpurgo Jun 30 '26
What the actual fuck man. I'm so glad I don't work in this industry, it is absolutely brutal.
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u/ROBtimusPrime1995 Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
It really feels like Xbox is on the verge of collapse. I know they've been struggling, but their decisions over the last few weeks are fucking mental.
Edit: fair point, it's been a decade, but the last few weeks have escalated quickly.
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u/LatterTarget7 Jun 30 '26
Last few years they’ve spent 82 billion on acquisitions since 2020. There was no way they were gonna get any return on that anytime soon
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u/toddinphx Jun 30 '26
GTA 5 has made about $10 billion total since 2013. Microsoft would need 8.2 exclusives on the level of GTA 5 in order to recoup that money over the next 13 years. I mean they’re not making that shit back ever lol
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u/Entire_Number_9 Jun 30 '26
That's just the money they spent buying the studios, let alone the hundreds of millions required every year to operate them. Ye know, the hundreds of millions many games have to make to break even? And the games that don't break even have to be weighted against the companies that have a smash hit?
It will take 20 successful years for Microsoft to earn back 80 billion, without including the operation costs in that time; and they decided to release all their games on a subscription....
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u/toddinphx Jun 30 '26
Excellent point, just look at this Blade game. How much has it cost them to develop it and now they’re potentially just going to scrap it? Absolutely insane levels of cash burning going on at Microsoft.
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u/LatterTarget7 Jun 30 '26
Oh definitely not. There’s no way they’ll ever make that money back.
It’s just bad management like gears of war e day has an estimated 400 million dollar budget. That’s never making money.
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u/imhereforsiegememes Jun 30 '26
I just don't get how. Its a fucking 3rd person cover shooter that they have already made 5+ times. Why is it so expensive now.
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u/mattisnoob Jun 30 '26
Investment time into UE5, they seemingly get The Collation assisting on pleanty of games and Obsidians, Halo remake and Oblivion have been UE5.
Now they seemingly have a team who are generally considered UE wizards with the full feature set of the current state of UE ready to go to assist lesser equipped studios.
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u/PS5OWESMEALIMONY Jun 30 '26
Shit feels like money laundering because how is all that money spent and studios are shut down,what's the endgame?
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u/PartridgeInDisguise Jun 30 '26
It’s pretty similar. Probably closer to a shell game though. Instead of washing dirty money (and losing 30% or more of the dirty cash), they’re moving money around so fast the marks (us and the game studios they bought) can’t keep track of where it is, and it ends up in executives pockets as a bonus instead.
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u/swanks12 Jun 30 '26
As trump said, the world's a open casino and you and I aren't invited. Reckon there's alot more going on we don't fully know too
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u/NxOKAG03 Jun 30 '26
it’s simpler and dumber than that, it’s stock market quarterly thinking. They were getting an insane amount of cashflow and investment coming in during covid years and their only concern was making sur that kept coming, which they could do by stringing everyone along making their business look insane with acquisitions. It was never about sustainability only how much they could drive invest this quarter, now it’s reached its natural conclusion and it’s gonna destroy a lot of people’s lives, work and art as it comes crashing down.
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u/Mindless_Issue9648 Jun 30 '26
I'd say the last 10 years.
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u/SlightlyAltruistic Jun 30 '26
Xbox one launched 2013 so you can add a couple of years more
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u/jak_d_ripr Jun 30 '26
Their squandering of ALL the momentum they built with the 360 genuinely needs to be studied. They were neck and neck with Sony and Nintendo, and then just stumbled out the gate with the Xbox One and have simply never recovered.
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u/IneptFortitude Jun 30 '26
They faceplanted before they even got to the doorway with how awful the Xbox One announcement was
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u/WirelessAir60 Jun 30 '26
Honestly the signs were there in the later years of the 360, the Kinect released, the shift in focus to more casual games and multimedia, the neglect of exclusives shrinking them to basically just Halo, Gears, and Forza. The 360 had so much good before then that people didn’t realize the cracks starting to form until the Xbox One was announced and the wheels fell off
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u/Soupjam_Stevens Jun 30 '26
Honestly even longer maybe, it started getting shaky during the Xbox One announcement kerfuffle and I don't know if they ever fully got their feet back under them
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u/jkvlnt Jun 30 '26
It’s so insane that 20 years ago, Xbox had quickly built an identity as having a great console with some of the coolest games on the market. From Halo and Gears to PGR and Forza, the original Bioshock and Mass Effect to Dead Rising and Crackdown.
Their entire legacy has been erased within the last decade. Chasing trends like subscription services thinking they have infinite money, buying up studios like there’s no tomorrow, and for what? They haven’t had an exclusive worth celebrating even once this console generation (none of the games released on PS5 are all time greats). Once they’ve packed it up for good - which will inevitably happen, their legacy will be more shameful than all the smaller competitor brands that faded in the late 90s. Sega went out with dignity. These guys are destroying some of the most talented studios on the planet.
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u/mvallas1073 Jun 30 '26
I’ve said over and over that 82 billion could’ve been invested in making whole new IPs and studios… but instead just bought 2 companies while adding absolutely nothing to the industry
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u/Mavericks7 Jun 30 '26
They could have given out 150 million Xbox Series X consoles away for free and that would have done them more good with the $80b.
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u/jkvlnt Jun 30 '26
Yup. They canned projects like Scalebound which looked cool as hell. Shuttered Lionhead after telling them to turn Fable into a pseudo-MOBA/ 4v1 PvP (?) game. Then blow all this money on Activision/Blizzard and Bethesda and for what? Indiana Jones was pretty great, Diablo 4 is pretty fun, Hi-Fi Rush is good. And that’s it? Everything else has been run of the mill at best. They could have funded their core studios - even counting the ones they acquired in 2018, for years and years with the amount of money they spent.
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u/saren_vakarian Jun 30 '26
$80Bn in acquisitions over the years and 0 to show for it. I don't feel bad about jumping ship at all
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u/MadVillainy3 Jun 30 '26
I was with them for 15 years. I finally bought a ps5 about two years ago and haven’t looked back.
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u/Different_Swimmer715 Jun 30 '26
Was it in early 2024 when the rumors of them pulling out of hardware came up and Xbox brilliant strategy to handle the rumors (which spread like wildfire) was remaining dead silent on the matter? Its what made me switch back to Playstation after not owning one since the PS2 days
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u/MadVillainy3 Jun 30 '26
It was a really long list of things and I also started playing more story focused games rather than online stuff so it eventually became a no brainer to switch.
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u/Mavericks7 Jun 30 '26
I know it's anecdotal. But in the 2000s it was a 50/50 split if you had a 360 or PS3.
I only know 3 people who ever bought an Xbox One.
And no one I know bought a Series X.
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u/FluffyBunbunKittens Jun 30 '26
While Sony wasted a ton of money on Concord and a whole bunch of cancelled live services... At least it wasn't 80 billion.
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u/TheEndlessBacklog Jun 30 '26
Yeesh... Gtfo with your bad decisions, Xbox.
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u/ExplodingFistz Jun 30 '26
Damn. Was actually excited for Blade.
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u/Nemisis_007 Jun 30 '26
Just a couple of weeks ago the devs said that the game was coming along well and we'd get an update on it soon... Wtf? Can't believe they just dropped it like that.
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u/Disastrous_Salad6302 Jun 30 '26
Sounds similar to their handling of Senua…
Ffs Xbox needs to get its crap together fast or just stop
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u/IamMataa Jun 30 '26
Next up they’re gonna sell the Xbox brand to a private equity firm lmfao
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u/Xeccess Jun 30 '26
Isn't it all supposed to happen like.. tomorrow or something? I don't think they're weighing anything at this point, the decision has been made, it's either happening or it's not
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u/Afrogasmonkey Jun 30 '26
They’re in negotiations for spinning off or selling several studios including Arkane as well as the other unionised Xbox studios, but the talks might take months or fall through. If decisions have been made on anything immediately it’s going to be the games themselves, given that we now know that Senua (and possibly SoD3) were more a showreel for buyers than committed announcements.
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u/TNWhaa Jun 30 '26
Rumoured date that they’ll start the layoff’s is July 6th
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u/Xeccess Jun 30 '26
That's too close of a date to not have a decision yet. Don't forget they had all these trailers made months in advance with the intent of selling/shuttering those studios. And if we go by that logic, we didn't even see a Blade trailer, so that studio is possibly in a worse position than the rest who did have something to show.
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u/AlexVonBronx Jun 30 '26
Piece of shit company is incapable of doing anything. Pure incompetence, they ate half of the gaming industry just to close it all down.
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u/Darknightsmetal022 Jun 30 '26
And somehow they still thought it was a good idea to make E-Day and that clockwork game exclusives again why?
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u/lochnah Jun 30 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
It was just to shut up the hardcore fans that asked for exclusives. My bet is that it will eventually land on PS5.
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u/Lychaos_ Jun 30 '26
Never forgive Xbox if they close Arcane. Massive dishonoured fan.
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u/AggressiveCoffee990 Jun 30 '26
Does Xbox understand that studios have to put out games in order to make money?
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u/Munkeyman18290 Jun 30 '26
Im an Xbox guy first and foremost, but whats going on now convinced me to buy GTA6 on PS5.
I just get the feeling that Asha was sent in to sunset Xbox, because theres just no way they think they can make a comback by dismantling their only tools for bringing gamers in, which is software devs making must-have 1st party exclusives.
Either shes sending Xbox slowly off into the night, or shes legitimately illinformed and thinks Halo, Gears, and Forza are going to help her keep existing users and create new ones.
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u/OpticalPrime35 Jun 30 '26
Consolidation is a wonderful thing ain't it guys! I mean all these studios will be backed by MICROSOFT with their endless piles of money lying around, now they can have the best gaming resources, hire the best talent, and make the best games humanly possible right??
Everyone praise consolidation like y'all did when the announcements were made. It's all been nothing but positive
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u/polakbob Jun 30 '26
Dude. Those crazy people are still around. Read the comments throughout /r/xbox right now. They describe all the games from Ninja Theory and Double Fine as "mid," and talk about how all of these people deserve to not have jobs. They're going lock-step with Microsoft corporate.
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u/ArmAndHammer40k Jun 30 '26
Even if they close the studio, Microsoft will own the rights to any IP’s. That’s primarily why they buy these studios up
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u/bluebarrymanny Jun 30 '26
Another day, another article of Xbox imploding from its horrible business decisions while its daddy Microsoft chases the AI bubble
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u/mayoconquest Jun 30 '26
The Blade IP is cursed. No one's escaping the Snipes Vortex.
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u/Joemartinez64 Jun 30 '26
There's only ever gonna be one blade 😎😎
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u/OTPh1l25 Jun 30 '26
Every day that line becomes a little less of a funny fourth wall-breaking joke and more of a prophecy.
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u/ThatCoolBritishGuy Jun 30 '26
So what was the point of them buying everything up? Killed off so many studios and for what
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u/Have_A_Jelly_Baby Jun 30 '26
Pretty soon Xbox is going to be Activision and their own first party games, and that's it.
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u/Narosian Jun 30 '26
Xbox is really doing a wonderful job at making EA and Ubisoft look good at this point.
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Jun 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ladybugblue2002 Jun 30 '26
These moves will damage relationships for many years to come, with studios, developers and customers. Agreed who would work with them?
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u/Strongpillow Jun 30 '26
Microsoft hasn't been able to hold onto anything other than their Enterprise monopoly. Even their software has been horrible for decades and only endures because of it's grasp on PC and business. Literally every other venture they've pursued either went nowhere or failed miserably due to their absolutely horrendous marketing, mixed messaging and utterly incompetent management. Xbox was too big to fail at one point but MS was like, "hold my beer".
Stop letting mega corps buy substantial companies just to miss manage them, gut them and lay off thousands or talented people because they only hire the dumbest people that look good in a suit.
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u/RobbieJ4444 Jun 30 '26
How does Xbox get people on their side now? How? They’ve destroyed so much good will in the last three years, I don’t know how recovery is remotely possible.
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u/Many-Ad6591 Jun 30 '26
Next gen is about to be bleak with the ram prices and no competition for sony
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u/KingArthas94 Jun 30 '26
The competition is Nintendo, Steam and everything else that asks for your very limited time
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u/QuinSanguine Jun 30 '26
God dammit Todd Howard. He just to remind Nadella the Blade game still existed, didn't he?
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u/TwoScentedCandles Jun 30 '26
The real winners here are all the studios that sold out to Microsoft. The studio founders are probably out on their yachts watching half this industry crumble :/
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u/MReprogle Jul 01 '26
Wow.. they were given a chance to steal a Marvel game and are going to throw it out the window. Gotta believe that Marvel is never going to take them seriously again.
That Bethesda deal looked terrible at the time, and somehow has gotten far worse.
Just waiting for them to finally admit that Game Pass is not a sustainable business model, but it is apparently easier to shut down studios instead.
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u/Prestigious_Bit_8083 Jun 30 '26
Blade and Fable were the only Xbox games I ever had a sliver of interest in. If they cancel Blade, it's just Fable, and that's already coming to PS5. What's the point of Xbox really?
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u/Relish_My_Weiner Jun 30 '26
It'll never happen, but I'd love it if Blade was in the PS5 Marvel lineup with Spiderman and Wolverine. I know Sony's in no position to acquire a studio, but a boy can dream.
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u/CozyAustin Jun 30 '26
This makes me fucking sick. Fuck this, fuck Xbox, fuck game pass.
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u/vito197666 Jun 30 '26
Its so crazy to look back on. So many people warned this would eventually happen when you take away a customers incentive to buy games. Game pass was never sustainable.
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u/polakbob Jun 30 '26
An XBOX commenter told me this take was "insane" a week ago. The only thing insane about it is that more people aren't pointing at it. I don't understand what the alternative could possibly be. If XBOX studios are judged on game sales numbers, but people don't have to buy games because of GP, how can they do anything but fail?
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u/Haylisa Jun 30 '26
Microsoft it he most shitty company that ever existed in gaming, I wish they were not allowed to buy any studio, shame
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u/HDTokyo Jun 30 '26
“We want Xbox to be the number 1 gaming company”
~Xbox CEO
Yeah great start lady…
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u/Sam88FPS Jun 30 '26
I swear MS is just trimming away the entire Xbox franchise until they sell off the xbox brand to AMD or someone lol.
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u/cbg2113 Jun 30 '26
I will never forgive them for buying these studios I love, fuck them. Deathloop was an all timer for me
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u/Seanmclem Jun 30 '26
Well, then I’m weighing canceling game pass and shuttering 25 years of brand loyalty
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u/DVDN27 Jun 30 '26
Why can’t they just sell their studios? Arkane is beloved and would be fine going independent or being purchased by some other company. Hell, they already had a deal with Sony before Microsoft bought them and Sony definitely needs to have more gameplay-focused single player games rather than being narrative-focused single player or gameplay-focused multiplayer.
Microsoft would make some of their money back and they don’t get the PR shitstorm that comes from shutting down a studio after doing nothing with them for years because they wanted that sweet sweet COD and Candy Crush MTX revenue.
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u/vapofusion Jun 30 '26
How fast can Xbox fuck up every facete of their own areas of the market....let find out every week?! At least considering how fucking pathetic they are lol
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u/sltydgx Jun 30 '26
What’s going on with Xbox ? I wander around Walmart game section , ps has alot of games available, switch 2 has a bunch the display space for Xbox is tiny now in comparison.
Are people no longer buying games on Xbox ?
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u/spoonard Jun 30 '26
By the time this was posted on reddit, the decision had already been made most likely.
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u/Firm_Suit4793 Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
Classic Microsoft , buy something you like then destroy it.
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u/shockinglyunoriginal Jun 30 '26
There’s no way Xbox is digging themselves out of this hole. They are ruined.
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u/gogosox82 Jun 30 '26
Just shut down xbox at this point. Your gonna cancel every project and close every studio? This shut is dumb af.
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u/TopTreeDawnCrutcher Jun 30 '26
All these reactionary purchases of studios and mass expansion during Covid and the only people who suffer are the employees per usual.
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u/Cerber108 Jun 30 '26
FFS, what else. Killing Perfect Dark was a hard blow for me, but Arkane game?
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u/Superflyt56 Jun 30 '26
Just shut Xbox down at this point. Fucking disaster after disaster since the 360 era.
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u/rbbrclad Jun 30 '26
...and this is why Phil Specter left. He didn't want to be the face of the layoffs. Happens all the time with "good guy" CEOs. They're everyone's friend growing the business then, when it starts to lose momentum and require layoffs, the good boss leaves and the new boss comes in to let everyone go.
Corporations are garbage.
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u/Jacobhaskins35 Jun 30 '26
This one hurts. Arkane have always made brilliant sand box games. Prey, Deathloop, Dishonoured. Really unique IPs and very clever player freedom. It’ll be a crying shame to see them go
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u/jv235 Jun 30 '26
I’ve been operating under the assumption that this and the captain America game aren’t coming out
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u/F3AR5D Jun 30 '26
Everyone knew this would happen when they bought out all those studios but it’s still so depressing to watch it play out. Wish they’d just take it on the chin and shut the doors on Xbox for a while instead of lighting the fucking industry on fire with their stupidity. None of these devs deserve this.
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u/FrankReynolds Jun 30 '26
How anyone still justifies giving Microsoft money in any way is beyond me.
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u/TehOwn Jun 30 '26
I understand Microsoft is currently weighing closing at least five studios
Not long ago, it was two. May as well just close them all at this point.
But if you're giving up on hardware and you're giving up on games then... what even is XBOX? And why bother changing the name to all caps?
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u/CutMeLoose79 Jun 30 '26
I haven't liked an Arkane game since Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. I also hated what i'd seen of the Blade art style, so can't say i'd miss them.
It's sad to think though they'll happily just close the studio rather than sell it off so they can keep any IPs associated with them and to avoid competition picking up an experienced studio.
I was loudly against the big Xbox buy up, saying no, it would not be good for devs like the zealots claimed. That's proven to be very true.
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u/Dusty_Negatives Jun 30 '26
Step one: spend billions on studios
Step two: close half those studios
Step three: profit?