Sigh......from your own link......

Despite that, Obsidian states that they're still on good terms with Microsoft and are certainly open to developing titles for them.

Im pretty sure Cows gushed over Corrine Yu, the programmer who worked on Halo 4's lighting, leaving 343 for NaughtyDog to work on Uncharted 4 a few years back.

So theres that.

The reason I counted 2nd party studios was explained in the very post you quoted. Sony was directly responsible for these studio's closures. Most of these studios had only ever made games for playstation. Some were directly assembled by Sony. You'd have no problem blaming MS if a similar fate had happened to Remedy. Hell, ReadyAtDawn even had buyout rumors leading up to The Order 1886's release. After the flop, sony told them "umm...nevermind".

Also, lol at that Xbox closure list. Almost all of those studios closures predate 2007, some of them are shit from the OG xbox era, 2003-2004, etc. Funny that you have to go back that far to make this narrative work considering the closure of EVERY single Sony studio I listed, with the exception of Incognito (2009), took place north of 2010.

Most of those other studios you listed were small incubation teams, support teams, and tech development teams. Not full game studios. All of the Sony studios I listed, their closure was the direct result of a high/mid profile Sony flop (in some cases, a string of flops) that cost Sony alot of money.

Platinum games is not a second party studio. MS cancelled their game because they spent Microsofts money developing a game that was not Scalebound.

@xantufrog:

Didnt see your edit.

The premise I was replying to was that Microsoft was the "great destroyer" of developers, and that MS is where studios go to die.

I simply pointed out that Sony is responsible for FAR more 1st and 2nd party flops that resulted in studio closures since the PS3 era, than anything similar MS has ever done. Either shut down by Sony's hand alone, or (in the case of 2nd party) by cutting ties after a flop (or several) and leaving them high and dry.

Then enlighten me. At least what they've closed down in the last 10 years or so. Or even in the 360 era. Nothing comes close to the list above.

So far, all Cows talk about is:

Ensamble Studios

Lionhead

Rare (not closed, but they still pretend to be mourning their loss even though they never cared for any of the 5 or 6 traditional games they made in the xbox era before making kinect games, that cows claimed they wanted)

Studios, both first party and 2nd party (where Sony was their sole partner) that shut down because of Sony in the last 10 years:

Incognito

Lightbox interactive

Big big

Slant six

Zipper interactive

Eat Sleep Play

Guerilla cambridge

Superbot

Sony Liverpool studio

Evolution studios

All of the above studios were either shut down by Sony, or otherwise had all their ties cut by Sony (effectively the same thing, as those studios were all 2nd party, with Sony as their only partner. Some of them were assembled by Sony solely to make certain games. Like Superbot, to make PS All Stars(lol) ) directly after a Sony flop.

And I didnt even count Factor 5, a formerly reputable developer, who bet on the wrong horse and got caught up in PS3's shitstorm with Lair. Or Free Radical, their PS3 exclusive, Haze, was the beginning of the end for them.

And before you mention how long ago this was, your entire premise of MS being the devourer of developers hinges on 2002-era fanboy talking points about Rare. You could never produce a similar list in the same timeframe, with xbox.

No amount of Scalebound or crackdown 3 memes will ever make MS equivalent to Sony in the PS3 era.

Wont be much of an "arms race".

Sony cant just materialize money they dont have.

Microsofts new studios wont stop hiring.......

https://ticgamesnetwork.com/news/the-initiative-brings-in-more-big-talent

The Initiative is Microsoft’s premier new first-party studio headed by Darrell Gallagher. It is no secret that Microsoft wants to make this studio the crown jewel of their first party studios. This has become even more clear thanks to a postfrom Darrel Gallagher himself on Linkedin that has since been deleted.

Now this list of people may not mean much to a lot of people outside of the industry, but thanks to some work from users on Resetera, we are able to piece together the body of work that these developers have worked on.

Brian Westergaard worked on God of War (2018) as the lead producer.Annie Lohr is the recruiter and worked at Respawn.Christian Cantamessa – the writer from Red Dead Redemption is at the company.Blake Fischer – Senior Director of Portfolio Planning for MS, but now working with The Initiative.Daniel Neuburger & Lindsey McQueeney are from Crystal Dynamics

This is some very serious industry talent Gallagher has managed to recruit. Cantamassa was one of the key writers for Red Dead Redemption and Westergaard played a big role in 2018’s masterpiece God of War. While it may be a while before we see anything from The Initiative, there is no doubt that they will be a studio to watch in the coming years. Especially if they continue to recruit such top-tier talent.

Are you interested in what The Initiative could bring to Xbox? Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to check back for the latest gaming news and information.

@recloud:

Lol. Obsidian is a nobody studio now, just like Ninja Theory, amirite?

You've never played Fallout New Vegas, or either of the South Park games? Those were pretty high profile games.

Be careful. You guys know they're eventually gonna come for Insomniac right? "Insomniac who? Never heard of them"

On phone, about to board plane for work so cant post links, but I'll update this.

The rumor is from ResetEra, from the same guy who leaked Playground Games acquisition. My opinion, they made the best modern fallout game by far.

Discuss.