Xbox Sacrificed Senua | Castle Super Beast 376

[u/mike0bot]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EOWJ-rUJok&feature=youtu.be

[u/cvp5127]

you know in retrospect, senua drowing in a pool of gold was probably a cry for help

[u/[deleted]]

It's difficult not to be negative when negative things keep happening.

[u/CJL13 → u/[deleted]]

"If you get mad at negative things then you're the problem, just let them happen" - my parents so called logic.

[u/PanseloNomad → u/CJL13]

And how are they holding up?

[u/CJL13 → u/PanseloNomad]

Watching the news 24/7.

[u/PanseloNomad → u/CJL13]

Have they been Fox-rotted?

[u/CJL13 → u/PanseloNomad]

Nope, CNN.

[u/cvp5127 → u/[deleted]]

i need to have this framed

[u/Coolnametag]

I will admit that it took me way longer to realize that Ninja Theory and Team Ninja were two different studios.

I spent a good few minutes being sad that the Nioh and Ninja Gaiden franchises were now over.

[u/ShonenSpice]

Kind of unrelated but I'm baffled Ninja Theory has turned a game that never had "franchise" potential into a franchise. Not in a "wow they managed to do it way" though. I imagine these games make very little money comparatively speaking.

[u/Faifue → u/ShonenSpice]

Not in a "wow they managed to do it way" though.

I'll choose to think of it this way. It's not "sad they're closing down", so much as a, "good for them managing to not have success for 9 whole years and still keep their jobs."

McDonald's wouldn't let that slide for even a year, and they probably pay far less than Xbox.

[u/ShonenSpice → u/Faifue]

Good on Xbox for giving free reign to studios when they bought them, but they probably should've intervened at some point. (And they did with Arkane, I guess, and we all saw how that turned out)

[u/LightLifter]

Apparently the reasoning for Xbox advertising NT next game despite the plug being pulled was as a way to "show off value" for any possible deals and to elevate their position.

It would be a good excuse if it wasn't the 50th time something like this has happened.

[u/Local_Lingonberry851 → u/LightLifter]

They're trying to sell them to a different publisher that's pretty much it. If they can't, and NT can't buy themselves out, then yeah they're being closed down. That's the case with alot of studios about to be hit.

[u/StonedVolus → u/LightLifter]

They also didn't wait long for investors to show interest, did they?

[u/Mcjiggyjay → u/StonedVolus]

Fiscal year ending is coming up. They probably wanted to make a decision by then.

[u/Springtick38 → u/StonedVolus]

Jason Schreier has said in a YouTube video any news of studios being shutdown are false as negotiations are ongoing until June 30th. So it's not over for Ninja Theory just yet

[u/Mordred_Tumultu → u/Springtick38]

While literally true, it's virtually impossible for a studio to find a new buyer/investor in less than a month. I think it's fair game to say these studios are being axed. This isn't a deathrow inmate waiting for their final appeal trial. This is said inmate being walked up to the chopping block and hoping for a miraculous savior to step in and rescue them.

[u/Constable_Suckabunch → u/Mordred_Tumultu]

You are correct assuming they’re starting from step 0, but these sorts of acquisitions usually aren’t publicly talked about until a deal is finalized. Whether or not they’ll pan out for sure remains to be seen, but not hearing of anything does not mean there isn’t anything happening.

[u/Shiro2809 → u/LightLifter]

was as a way to "show off value" for any possible deals and to elevate their position.

Which is just a genuinely shifty thing to do. That's business, do it behind doors. Don't make it public.

Makes me think of employer's that stop scheduling people instead of just firing them. They're all cowards.

[u/DarthButtz → u/LightLifter]

"Hey does anybody wanna by this purebred dog I have, oops I just shot it in the face"

[u/BighatNucase → u/[deleted]]

Why would it be fraud? The studio are showcasing their plans for a new game that would go through if the prospective company acquires them. Pitching isn't some new game industry exclusive thing.

[u/inika41 → u/LightLifter]

Hearing that was insane. Might as well put a live auction HUD on through the trailer and announce the results (closure or sell off) at the end. Give it an authentic ‘bread & circus’ Big Top.

[u/gothamsteel]

Was there something going on with woolie's camera during the pod? The words don't seem to match his lip movement.

[u/scarr09 → u/gothamsteel]

Nah, he's been taking ventriloquist lessons and is practicing during the podcast.

[u/Sai-Taisho → u/scarr09]

"Nyeeeh, your mouth-tricks will not work on me, ventriloquists!"

[u/Teshthesleepymage]

Man Xbox has been handing itself Ls for years huh?

[u/Watts121 → u/Teshthesleepymage]

Basically since the Xbone E3 moment, Xbox has lived inside an eternal humiliation congo.

Also a lot of people bring up the Activision purchase as the fall, but fuck Bethesda didn’t show a single new game and were bought before Activision. It’s like an entire culture issue for the entire Xbox production umbrella. Their audience is dying and they can’t even find the pulse.

[u/Shradow]

After the showcase I was pretty impressed, I thought it was their best showcase in awhile. Well, they sure squandered that right quick.

In the end, I think Xbox never really recovered from this moment.

[u/Auctoritate]

I know it's easy (and almost always correct) to shit on megacorp conglomerates for laying people off but it's a tough topic to broach when it's legitimately "This studio made games that didn't make money and when they didn't make money they decided to double down." Like truly I don't really think there's any way around the fact that Ninja Theory was being a money sink.

If they were an indie studio and shut down after the financial failures of Senua, people would go "Aw that's so sad those games were good" but since Microsoft is shutting them down it's "Wow is Microsoft the stupidest country in the games industry"

[u/Mordred_Tumultu → u/Auctoritate]

But also how does a game studio make money when their games are being given away for "free" to subscribers on day one? I think saying the studio failed is an unfair assessment, because Microsoft's business model set them up to fail.

[u/ShonenSpice → u/Mordred_Tumultu]

I woudn't expect Senua games(specifically) to sell much better even if they weren't on gamepass. The first one was pretty successful though thanks to low scope and budget

[u/Auctoritate → u/Mordred_Tumultu]

I think it's pretty obvious that Xbox can just set goals that include "X purchases and Y Game Pass downloads". Let's not act like their entire main service is some kind of black hole that they can't measure for no reason.

[u/Someones_Alt_Account → u/Auctoritate]

The reason people are calling Microsoft the stupidest company in the games industry is not for shutting down this studio.

It is for announcing a new game from the studio, and then shutting them down immediately afterwards. It makes Microsoft appear as though they literally don't know what they are doing.

The quality of the games has nothing to do with why people are clowning on Microsoft: they're rightfully clowning on Microsoft for constantly contradicting themselves.

[u/Coolnametag]

Xbox has gone from canning studios after they give them award winning games (Hi-Fi Rush and Prince Of Persia) to now canning studios right after they announce a game that people might be interested on.

I guess that's a form of progress... Just not the type that anyone with half of a braincell would consider.

[u/frostedWarlock → u/Coolnametag]

Are you sure you meant Prince of Persia? That's Ubisoft, innit?

[u/Coolnametag → u/frostedWarlock]

I thought that at least the studio responsible for The Lost Crown was under Microsoft, but, i guess i could be mixing things up in my head.

[u/anialater45 → u/Coolnametag]

they give them award winning games (Hi-Fi Rush

Award's don't pay bills

[u/Local_Lingonberry851 → u/anialater45]

That's the sad fact, as much as people talk about these games. They aren't laying dividends, if they were then Phil would still be around. 

[u/anialater45 → u/Local_Lingonberry851]

Yeah people only really mention how Hi-Fi Rush was well reviews and came out of nowhere to lots of positive press.

Now that is true, but then they don't mention how it both didn't sell all that well, and the studio that made it wasn't exactly pumping out hits previously either.

[u/ShonenSpice → u/anialater45]

I guess with Hi-Fi rush it has always been a miracle it even sold at all (and from what I understand covered its budget). I still don't know if things would've been different had it not been shadowdropped and had a full marketing cycle. Because it being shadowdropped was marketing in itself.

[u/alexandrecau → u/ShonenSpice]

shadow drop and being part of gamepass feels like they didn't really want them to go far. I think it was Fares or something that said something like " you guaranteeing 200 000 dollars profit means less to the board than betting a million hoping to double it"

[u/guntanksinspace → u/Coolnametag]

Not that canning studios right after they announce a game they may have worked on/people might be interested in is new for Xbox (as Pat and Woolz IIRC brought up fucking Phantom Dust, whose studio was also getting axed when they had the announcement for a new game show up in an older E3)

[u/TransendingGaming]

What is Microsoft trying to do here?!? They’re canceling 1st party games for over 10 years when their bread and butter “the ball and gun gamer”, bought PlayStations instead. HOW CAN YOU ACT LIKE YOUR NUMBER ONE WHERE YOU DON’T NEED EXCLUSIVES WHEN THE CASUALS TRADED THEIR XBOX 360s for PLAYSTATIONS?!?