If events unfolding are to be believed, and it seems that way, most of the people who created the games that made the xbox franchise are leaving Microsoft. Tired of making the same games, heavy handed MS management, and of not getting paid or rewarded properly, the stars of Microsoft are breaking free or leaving. Quoting Bizarre Studios: "We've got some great friends at Microsoft, and it's been a great partnership. But after four iterations, it's time to let someone else bring something new to the franchise. It's sad to move on, but great to tackle something new." Microsoft is unable to retain talent. With the possible loss of all the key Bungie employees after Halo 3, Microsoft seems to have chosen the lesser of evils; to cut Disney-Pixar kind of agreement with Bungie and keep the team together in exchange of first crack at the first few games made by the studio. Give the choices this is quite an intelligent decision, as it keeps competitors from gaining critical people, and though it diminishes profits, it keeps content on the 360. However, this burnout also means that there is no Halo 4 underway. When there is one, it would mean that any new game would be at least four years away. Besides costing microsoft a large part of any profits for this game, it also means that past the current year, the Xbox 360 will go back to losing money. Some would argue the Halo RTS is another halo game for the system with a closing release date, but RTS games are faster to develop and sell far less, but perhaps with some bundling it could get close to Halo 3 in first day sales. So here we are with Xbox 360 at it's greatest success, now facing the loss of all of the talent that made the franchise (argueably). The 360 has a bright future for 3rd party publishers, but for microsoft the recent changes foretell a path back towards loss that grows with it's success. Worse still, stripped of it's talent Microsoft would no longer have the Halo crutch to lean on. With growing criticisim of their ability to provide proper attention to their Windows Vista, one has to wonder how much longer their shareholders will tolerate this ultimately expensive and so far profitless adventure. -A
I feel kinda depressed after reading this... I've been a big fan of the Xbox through the years and it seems as though this is the last run or something. It sucks that Halo 3 can do so well but they're still hurting.
I dunno. Developers have pretty much been leaving publishers and rebranding since, well. Forever. I don't see how it spells DOOM when it happens to Microsoft.
Considering that nothing is confirmed with Bungie, and that it's Ensemble Studios handling the Halo RTS, I wouldn't play Taps just yet...
the fact is MS went into the console war thinking there's money to make and when it realises there isn't really great deal of money to be made it will leave the console market to pursue another venture where it thinks can make money...
I think MS went into the gaming industry so they could take over your living room and have everyone living in a Microsoft world (i.e. watching a movie on your Xbox360 that you're streaming from your Media Center PC while your Zune is syncing with the latest additions to your music library). I imagine MS is in it for the long haul, and only sees the gaming bit as a stepping stone on the path to much more control over the American household.
I wouldn't worry, 360 has still a bright future ahead, I think it's a good move, MS got the best out of Bungie, Halo thanks to MS put Bungie on the map. And MS I think got most of what it could get out of it. So no hard feelings there Bungie needs to focus on new franchises, same for Bizzare PGR is great and for me more entertaining and fun than Gran Turismo. But seriously what can you get in PGR5 that you don't have in 3 and 4? I think the scenario here is the same MS manages to secure a great franchise but this franchise is over pretty much, so no hard feeling. At best it will keep investors happy. If you see annoucements of games like Resident Evil 5 or COD$ being delayed on 360 or cancelled then I would worry. At the moment everything is getting delayed on PS3 and PS3 is still lagging in sales. The challenge for Microsoft is to get some new franchises, they still have Rare, Forza... I think Microsoft did and is doing very well in listening to its audience, XBL is prime example. Time for a new era, some challenges ahead but when your name is Microsoft doors open more easily...
Before Halo became an Xbox title it was already quite highly anticipated by the PC community, so saying MS put Bungie on the map is a bit of an overstatement.
Maybe you're right but according to Bungie only Microsoft took them seriously on Halo, that is really the game that made Bungie very popular having Microsoft to publish and support them was definitely an asset.
Looks like its true. I personally think there's no way you'd let your star player leave unless you were seriously thinking about quitting the console business.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/oct07/10-05BungieEvolvesPR.mspx Not much of a change really... they just won't have MS telling them what to do. MS will still publish for them and they'll still just be making games for the 360.
Sure, but they can make games for ps3 and microsoft can't say a thing. I'm sure they are putting 100% of their energy into their OWN IP they own, rather than some MS owned franchise, and you can bet your butt it will be on other platforms. This is like your car becoming a TAXI, and saying it's the same thing. MS no longer owns Bungie and now must "pay by the mile".
Yep. That's why they started. What matters more is that there are more MS machines, not how much money they make. They make their money through the tech service they provide to enterprises, and it has created a large computer IT industry, where without MS software, there really wouldn't be a huge IT industry there is now.
I don't really think anything too terrible is going to happen to the Xbox 360, at least. If it does, more clearance games for me.
It's purely about profits. They no longer own or control entitites that made a good portion of their profits. I guess one of you own stocks, if you did you'd understand what this means to a stockholder.
Yes. Lower risk. If they have an exclusive publishing contract with Bungie then it´s all set. (as far as I have heard they still have a right of exclusivity concerning the publishing of future Bungie titles, so MS actually can decide whether they want them or whether they appear on other consoles, at least for some time) But on the other hand, they don´t have to share the risk that is involved in long-time game making. Developing huge games is always a big risk, one that brought Microprose back then on the verge of extinction (and finally killed them off). Rex Nebular was an adventure costing millions of Dollars to make and when it shipped it came on so many disks that back then the company had to sell several hundred thousand copies at full price just to break even. Things like that are the real killers, when the plug on some projects isn´t pulled fast enough or when they crack the timeframe too much, their success can very much decide the fate of a company. If Halo would just have been a mediocre success, Bungie may not even exist anymore (wonder how much money MS poured into the studio to get the game). Remember, MS has supported quite some game studios in the past, buying them or financing their ideas. But when the success stalled, they got dropped (and rightly so). Remember that RTS from the Roberts gang? It sure may have looked great, but I think Erin Roberts said in an interview that it didn´t play well, so it got shelved in final beta. Soon afterwards, Digital Anvil was no more. Offloading this financial risk of developement back onto individual companies can and will be seen as a smart move by shareholders. They still got the publishing rights, they got the IP, they give up some control for financial safety. A very smart move in my eyes.
