Microsoft is offering unlimited Budget to their new Studios.

Source

On a recent Podcast Boogie2988 recalled a conversation he had with Mike Ybarra of Microsoft.

During the conversation, Boogie asked Mike “why would Microsoft buy so many studios at the end of a console generation.” The reason is pretty simple, dominating the next generation. Speaking about the studios they bought, Ybarra basically implied the following, according to Boogie:

He (Mike) said we basically went in there to those companies and said: “what project do you wanna make?” And they are like “what’s our budget?” And he’s “I don’t think you understand, that’s not our question, our question is what games do you want to make? We are Microsoft and we have the budget, we just want to know what game you want to do, what are your wildest dreams”.

Loving this new look from Microsoft. Took a lot of movement within the company. But now that Phil is VP of Gaming it's starting to come together. Hard not to be excited about the future of Xbox.

That's pretty cool to give them the freedom to make what they want and not have to worry about budget issues. I look forward specifically to what Playground Games & Ninja Theory bring. Looking forward to playing them on my PC :)

@dagubot: Honestly, all I want to play is Age of Empires IV :P

Obviously it's an exaggeration, but it shows MS wants to bolster their games lineup, and that's sorely needed. Next gen will definitely be interesting.

Next gen, we're gonna have even MORE Crackdown 3's! Can't wait!

Hope they're not expecting to make a return on these after they're hauled off to Game Pass like plague corpses.

I really like their attitude, hopefully it works out for everyone

It would probably kill you on the inside if you ever said even one slight positive thing about Microsoft...lmfao. The hate is real! ?

They gotta give me something to work with. I'm too jaded with these people to play next gen hopes and dreams right now.

Should get a AAA exclusive finally.

I forgot about this one; looking forward to playing this as well! I'm huge on strategy games...lol.

LOL.

Same story from 2013. Promised all these new amazing AAA games from 5+ studios and nothing came of it.

This is all fake hype.

Didn’t Microsoft claim they are going to make a AAAA game?

LOL

In terms of SW, it's not possible. All MS games going forward are PC/Xbox. If you wanna go company exclusive, then yeah.

That's generally what I meant I should have said platform exclusive. I'm interested to see what the studios have in mind I would love an enslaved 2 but doubt that would happen as the first sold horribly.

"We are microsoft". Sounds like

I hope this works out. Creative freedom and large budgets don't always translate to game sales.

Yeah sure. These studios are going to have more money than they ever had.

Okay? Games for Xbox got big budgets this gen too. Didn't stop Uncle Phil from yanking the rug out from under titles like Fable Legends after spending $75 million on it. Just saying, it doesn't hurt to have a wait-and-see attitude about these things.

No they didn't. MS had to do some house cleaning to get rid of the Execs that didn't care about Xbox and didn't fund it enough. I doubt very much they spent 75 million on Fable Legends.

Every budget has limits. But if MS's future first party games don't turn a profit they won't have the freedom to just keep burning money.

Sigh! Google is your friend.

Xbox itself has been nothing but a money sink. You think this has been some fly-by-night mini operation they do every gen? They spend crazy money on Xbox, and when it doesn't work out, they scale back and wait for next gen. Where do you think all the money from constant price cuts, giveaways, marketing deals, exclusives (timed or permanent), studio acquisitions and console revisions comes from? They lost 5 to 7 billion on the first Xbox console alone. They're not doing anything different here they haven't been doing the whole time.

Microsoft have been making so many poor moves for a few years now that it's refreshing to see them not only still in the game but bolstering their games division. I don't want more exclusivity (I don't support corporations and don't believe it is good when others cannot play a game I am enjoying) but MS dropping out of the console race would be terrible right now and they need to get back in the game.

MS is where studios go to die.

Change my mind.

@BenjaminBanklin: You need to take your own advice friend. Google is really your friend. You appear to know jack shit about Microsoft and Xbox and are purely blinded by an undying hatred towards them and love for Sony where you are also inept.

All you offer is trolling opinions, which mean nothing. Please move along as you clearly bring nothing to the conversation. I bid you good day sir!

More hopes and dreams.

While this is nice to hear hear now we’ve heard similar things from MS in the past. They need to show results before I believe them. It takes more than money to create a fantastic game. You can have an “unlimited budget” and still turn up a turd.

Awesome to hear. I’m really looking forward to seeing all these developer acquisitions start to bear fruit.

I literally made opinions backed up with links and you came in with nothing but feelings. I didn't do a Sony apology tour last gen. I mainly played on 360 before I went to PC. If Sony makes a shit ton of bad moves next gen, being an apologist surely isn't going to help, because the situation wouldn't improve. If Sony spent next gen hyping up their back catalog over new games, I know for a fact that would be a red flag.

@BenjaminBanklin: Done with you troll! Go get learned.

@BenjaminBanklin: Damn you! You finally bring up some good points. I know you have it in you once in a while. I love when you do and are not trolling.

@the-a-baum said:

@BenjaminBanklin: Done with you troll! Go get learned.

See ya. It's not like I'm going anywhere.

I was just thinking about how when MS let the Call of Duty deal go to Sony and Phil said he would rather spend the $$$ on first party games. A lot of us lemmings went along with that in what was it 2015? Games never came/

I can see how and why people would call out Phil for being a liar. But that really was the beginning of the tightening of the budget on Xbox. For those not aware Phil was not not at the head table and had to answer to head of Windows Division Terry Mierson. (Forgive me on spelling if wrong) Terry was also in charge of the Windows 10 game store and refused help from Phil as he wanted to keep Windows Teams and Xbox Teams separate. Phil is finally able to work on it.

Good old Terry's job became redundant and old Phil got promoted to VP, and now reports directly to the CEO, who is in lock stock and barrel in on the importance of a gaming division. I don't know how many of you have ever seen a cruise ship or a giant Cargo ship. They take a very long time to turn around. MS is like that giant and finally turned in the right direction.

You wanna hate, go ahead and hate. Talk is cheap and I along with everyone is waiting to see what is coming. But in the meantime and am enjoying the extreme proconsumer attitude of Xbox. Almost hoping they stay in 2nd place next gen too. Too many of you fanboys think this is good thing for consumers when one company dominates. It isn't. It's best when they are all neck and neck.

lol, how many promises has MS made to xbox fans this gen that they have either compromised or completely pulled a 180 on?

Beginning of the gen there were supposed to be 20 Xbox exclusives...

E3 2017 they promised over 40 exclusives...

Phil said generations are dead, then end up being the first to confirm a next gen system..

Phil said single player games are dead...then Horizon, Zelda, Mario and GOW all setting record sales had him looking stupid and trying to backtrack on his words..

lol "MS PR" promising anything concerning gaming is a joke without them producing results. Their credibility is 0 at the moment.

Blank check? Lemmings get a grip, MS's word means sh!t and this won't mean anything until we see them produce those results.

This!

Not saying this isn't a bad move by MS and they are learning why they screw up this gen, but I need results, not a portfolio. Show me something good MS, me and my wallet will talk.

This isn't PR. Unless you can prove MS orchestrated this release of information. As I stated earlier, the "unlimited" is clearly exaggeration. Businesses need to function on a profit, but that's not to say that MS doesn't have deep pockets for devs. Similar to Sony with their top-line devs.

Anyone actually believe this?

My underlying point stands.

No results, no reason to get excited/give credit.

MS has done nothing on the games end this gen to give them the benefit of doubt on anything they say on a game/s they're working on.

Unlimited money?! What kind of sorcery grants you unlimited money???

Do they have a bank account up inside Nikki Minaj ass???

This is a whole new leadership. I could agree in the past. But those MFers are long gone. Electronic gaming is going to hit the Trillion Dollar mark soon. And MS wants a bigger piece of the pie.

They see what R* and others are pulling in and trying to get some of their own. Hell that MineCraft Deal has paid for itself by 3 times by now. GamePass is also a game changer where they can easily make 4-5 Billion a year alone. That funds lots of games children! Then there is software, hardware and XBOX live etc.

Next Gen Gonna be lit!

If I were arguing your overall point, I would have stated that. I agree that they need to prove themselves, but they have been making leaps and bounds with that regard.

@watercrack445: Exaggeration on the claimant's part.

Well it will be very interesting to see what they can come up with. It seems Phil is really making a big push for next gen and it seems the higher ups are backing Phil up. Only time will tell if they can create some quality IPs again, sorry the last few IPs released have been very lack luster. Exciting times we live in and can't wait to see what happens over the next 3 years.

So the Sony fannies cried about MS not focusing on games and now they are crying that they are. These are the same people who claim to be "objective". LMAO.

That's an inherently bad idea. We saw what happened to Duke Nukem Forever.

Give the studios a budget to make the game they want to make (doesn't have to be a AAA budget or anything) based on what you think it will sell. See if it sticks. If it does, great. More money can be thrown at a sequel.

It's a good outlook, and they have the talent.

Or, you know, just some great games. Would prefer they don't have the "AAA" title, doesn't mean much these days except "big ad campaign".

Nobody is gonna throw an unlimited amount of money at a project. It's an exaggeration, but it shows that MS is starting to clue in.

You're right.

And I think the conversation shouldn't be about money, but rather MS no longer micromanaging (or, in other words, meddling with) the studios and allowing the studios to make the games the studios want to make. MS has no clue what games I'm willing to buy.

There's that famous Frank Zappa interview where he talks about this in the music industry.

They've bought studios...now asking you loyal xbox fans who spent $500 on the X to wait til next gen for their next system and believe.

Leaps and bounds?

Exactly. To add to that, Xbox would only have console exclusives and that's it.

Scalebound... That's what they should go back and make with an unlimited budget.(Not sure how OP got unlimited budget out of what was said.)

MS needs the right people at the executive board level. Team Xbox is taking over Windows client business from Windows team which handles Windows Server related business.