Someone who was 18 when Skyrim came out will be like 35 for ES6’s release…
That’s insanity and a big slap to the face to their own fans.
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“Some of you will not have jobs this time next year, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make!”
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That 64 cents lost in every dollar invested statistic keeps rattling round my head - I look at financial reporting every day as part of my job and I can’t easily see how they’re getting to the figure.
Either like before they’re cherry-picking, but then I’d expect caveats to be in the text, or they’re including acquisition costs in which case I’d have expected it to be even higher given the huge cost of ABK (and if it is that, then actually they’re doing fine?! You never get back an acquisition cost in a few years).
Maybe it’s write downs or actual losses, but then we’d have seen both of those in the financial reports.
My other thought was they mean running costs (given we’ve been told the “accountability margin” is 3% but they haven’t specified their definition of what’s included in that) - so for every dollar Xbox makes it has costs of 64 cents, so a 36% profit margin but that seems too good, even in the world of 50 to 80% profit margins of big tech it doesn’t feel like they’d be going after Xbox for that.
If anyone’s found any information how that number was put together I’d appreciate it - it kinda feels to me like their staff and us are being gaslit with cherry-picked statistics in order to justify huge cuts, so the actual source may help understanding (to a degree, they’re still a multi trillion dollar company)
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Yep!
I mean, I get that Todd really wanted to try a new IP for a change, but this insanely long without TES and Fallout is just no good.
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This kinda thing is why I can’t fault a more IP focused approach - utilising all of these great IP under Xbox is something that should have been happening the whole time. I get that giving developers creative freedom and pushing new IP is good, but there should always have been a balance with these things - and Xbox has enough teams and enough 3rd party contacts they could have always have been capitalising on both approaches.
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Just have Todd like oversee of the stuff if he wants that much control over it but have another studio build it at this point, they can’t really afford to wait any longer.
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They should reset MS leadership, Nadella and the board of investors that regardless the situation keep sucking millions and millions. Bunch of parasites!
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No, what was insanity was me just putting almost every point I got in Skyrim towards “Two Handed Strength” and owning every enemy in the game with a couple of strikes of my great sword. When I told Jess that game was so easy and overrated. He walked out of my life and half way across the country…years later after meeting his future soul mate …nvm
Point is, don’t put every point in one slot…yeah
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Reckless speculation: Bethesda have put ES6 and Fallout 5 off for so long because they know they don’t have their fastball anymore. The idea of those games will probably be better than the reality.
Honestly, I can see that for TES after the insane hype of Skyrim and how the genre has evolved over the years. But not Fallout. I can’t explain why though, but I feel that way.
The idea of holding off releasing a commercially big IP that is sure to be a hit because of such reasons is laughable. They simply taking too long in development like many others in the industry.
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I do worry a little particularly for ES without a TV series, but both in general, that they’re not as huge as they were a decade ago - and that if it takes years more to produce them they may not be as huge in sales as everyone expects.
Us older gamers will be there Day 1 (assuming Xbox keeps the same QA levels as Starfield rather than letting Bethesda go back to releasing buggy games) but I worry younger reviewers, influencers and gamers may not like the quirks (loading screens, able to collect so much useless tat that you’re forever emptying your inventory and trying to find the good stuff) that the rest of us put up with due to awesome side missions, the great lore and the sheer scope of the games.
Plus there are other games going bigger now in terms of scope, size and how the world operates around you - Fable may be a key example there - and I’m unsure if Microsoft will actually shut up and pay the necessary size teams for as long as it’ll take to make Elder Scrolls and Fallout sized games without doing layoffs and pivoting again…
Another two hander! That’s my playstyle too, bash things on the head with a huge sword, it seems to solve most problems
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I always put all my points into pickpocketing and then got all confused when my rank 100 sneaking skills/rank 1 combat skills character was getting their teeth kicked in.
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SOD ended up being (IMO) one of xbox’s best IPs and I wanted it to be up there with Halo and Forza in the grand scheme of things but wasn’t meant to be but at least it still exists along with Undead Labs.
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SoD2 was a success despite launching broken. SoD3 has potential to be a hit, and I hope it does.
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Microsoft reducing funding not only hit their studios but even industry at large with multiple studios losing their funding. Imagine if they had used fraction of their infinite money to be a haven and advocate for studios and build a strong relationship with the industry that would see you as a savior in these hard times, imagine the PR that it would buy you long-term and the trust from studios, just look at how Apple built their reputation with their developers and industry and how they are rewarded now with the most successful consumer business, but nah, can’t think long-term at all.
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That’s crazy isn’t ID tech engine not popular in the industry. Wouldn’t it be hard to contract their IPS out.
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This is just disgusting. This WILL affect their capabilities, and WILL affect their quality, which WILL affect their commercial performance. The loss of not just jobs, but historic people who are some of the best at their jobs in the industry when it comes to engineering, the loss of irreplaceable knowledge and experience is hammering, and can NEVER be regained. Fuck this shit man
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