Xbox Game Studios: What's the key to success in next generation?

[Amnesia]

In January 2018, Matt Booty, esponsible for Xbox Game Studios, was promoted to head of Xbox Game Studios. He will be in charge of applying this new strategy. Between 2018 and 2019, Microsoft therefore goes into high gear. Seven new studios have joined the "family": Playground Games, Compulsion Games, Undead Labs, Ninja Theory, InXile, Obsidian and Double Fine.

Most had previously worked closely with the Xbox division. For better and for worse. The announcement of the acquisition of Double Fine at the Xbox conference at E3 2019 has greatly surprised the entire industry. Relations between the two parties have been known to be icy for many years. Tim Schafer, founder of the studio, had even severely criticized Microsoft's policy towards independent studios when the Xbox One was launched in 2013. How did Spencer and his team succeed in convincing so many studios in such a short time? join even the most recalcitrant? The charismatic and jovial Tim gives us part of the answer.

“When they started talking to us about the acquisition of studios, we said that we were not looking to sell. But after having lunch with Matt Booty, and hearing the vision for his business and the Game Pass ... I started to see two things that were important to me. The first was that we could keep our culture. I was worried, I was like: "Will I have to put a big Windows logo in our lobby and change my email address to @ microsoft.com?" And Booty replied: "No, none of that, you stay your own business, you are just part of our team." Of course everyone said that, but I believed it a bit because I was starting to understand their vision of the Game Pass .
With the Game Pass, it doesn't make sense to acquire Double Fine and then force us to develop lots of DLC for Forza. This is not what you would expect from a studio like ours. And the Game Pass seems to be a great opportunity to have a variety of games, a plethora of unusual content ... I can see how the type of games we make could fit in. "

Beyond this anecdote of the Xbox Game Pass which is specific to the history of Schafer, it is the whole new general policy of the Xbox division which seems to be bearing fruit. The video game industry is a closed universe where all the big names know and discuss together. The financial aspect but also good feedback on the reality on the ground and the respect of the word of the leaders of Xbox surely helped the studios to accept the proposal of Microsoft. As often, actions are more important than speeches of good intentions.

Xbox Game Studios enjoy surprising autonomy

However, the most surprising thing in this case is the virtual freedom of Xbox Game Studios to run their business as they see fit. Xbox seems to support them only financially and logistically.

The very experienced Brian Fargo, founder of InXile, accustomed to overturning mountains for decades to finance his independent game projects, has long been surprised by this new behavior from Microsoft.

“It was a unique opportunity in the market, and I had all the background information on why I thought it was a good idea. I prepared it all, sat down with Matt and said this is what we want to do, and he said, "If that's what you want to do, then perfect." It was finished in 60 seconds It was crazy for me because we are used to a six month back and forth process with a million questions.
I had to see Matt a second time and say, "I just want to make sure you understand that this is what we are doing. And he said, "I like the idea so much that I don't want to see anything about it, otherwise you're going to over-interpret my remarks and change your vision." It's a true story. "

Xbox Game Studios: a talented and united “family”

Even the developers thought the green giant would dictate their behavior. Feargus Urquhart, boss of Obsidian, still laughs today at the disbelief of his teams and enjoys not begging for missions from publishers or launching fundraising campaigns via Kickstarter.

“In the spring or summer of last year, I had a number of employees who were very disappointed because they thought it would be more different [laughs]. Not at all because we weren't supported, but because they thought we would have been part of that "great Microsoft." The only really different aspect of my daily life is not having to be the type who receives money from publishers. It has also changed the way we approach development. Often, as a freelancer, the way you develop games is dictated by the partner, because it's their money and they have a way of wanting you to make a game. It's cool to put in practice these years of experience and say "hey, we can make the games the way we want to make them."

But that's not all. This freedom for the creation of games is accompanied by a strategic freedom for the future of studios. The various studio managers are free to satisfy their wildest ambitions. While Brian Fargo has stacked quality hires with recognized industry talent to consider producing AAA games, Urquhart and Obsidian have preferred to make the most of other Microsoft studios and divisions, including research labs. users and technical teams.

The key to success for Xbox Game Studios would therefore be to trust them completely, to guarantee them autonomy in creative, strategic and managerial choices, and obviously to support them financially in their projects. The first results of this strategy are already visible, since small projects like Grounded and Bleeding Edge or qualitative jumps on projects in progress before the acquisition of studios like Wasteland 3 probably could never have been done.

However, for the gaming community, the big Xbox Games Showcase conference , scheduled for July 23, 2020 at 6 p.m. and devoted mainly to the discovery of the next games from Xbox Game Studios, will undoubtedly be the Great Moment of Truth.

 

[An IMDB tomato]

The first results of this strategy are already visible, since small projects like Grounded and Bleeding Edge. And yeah two pretty mediocre games, one is too easy, very young audience access and the other crushed by the competition even before its release, even the guy who made a video on it had to do another after the game came out to see the progress, still hasn't done it. Quite disappointed with its two good studios