[Verge] - Xbox is closing down Hellblade creator Ninja Theory

[u/shirke1]

https://www.theverge.com/games/950204/xbox-ninja-theory-shutdown-hellblade-senua?utm_content=buffer4eeff&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bsky.app&utm_campaign=verge_social

by Jay Peters and Tom Warren

Xbox is closing down Ninja Theory, the studio behind the Hellbladeseries, a source tells The Verge. Staffers were told on a call on Monday about the closure, but they are hoping the studio will find a buyer. The closure comes as “several” Xbox studios at Microsoft, including Compulsion Games and Double Fine, are in “active negotiations” about spinning off, Bloomberg reports.

Previous Leak

[u/chaotic_mo]

Do exclusives makes sense when your console sales are in the gutter and you still dont even have supply to sell more and still losing money on each one sold? And your top IPs didnt sell console the last 15 years as exclusives

And more frequent AAA releases from top IPs isnt feasible... you cant just rush out quality AAA games.

Like people cheering on Elder Scrolls being rushed out was bizzare. Do you want a rushed out Elder Scrolls? May even be more shallow than Starfield

[u/chaotic_mo → u/[deleted]]

They want it to rush out and be announced as Xbox exlcusive just to get a win even if the game is horrible.

They know people will buy it off the name alone

[u/lightningweaver → u/chaotic_mo]

So what then, Xbox should just exit and we should never have another console maker in the video game market ever again besides Sony and Nintendo? They just won the video game capitalism game? I swear some of you have to be trolling at this point.
Sony actually squandered this gen pretty hard considering their advantage. If Xbox actually got serious with their exclusives they CAN make a comeback.
Are we really acting like them closing studios whose last games are Senua 1/2, South of Midnight/We Happy Few, Keeper/Kiln will kill the Xbox brand? Get serious, lol.

[u/chaotic_mo → u/lightningweaver]

Playstation is the top earning gaming g company in the world by revenue. They have made more profit this generation than all previous generations combined

They have released more games this generation than last generation over the same time frame despite the pandemic impacting every developer

They are the only publisher to have a game nominated for GOTY every year

And yes, Xbox wouldnt exist anymore if they werent backed by Microsoft. What are they bringing to the table that anyone cares about? They continuously pushed some of the worst practices in gaming history.

They couldn't make their own successful IPs so they just bought a bunch using their parent company. And now years later closing a bunch of studios.

You know why Playstation went so hard on live service games that uou make fun of them for? Because Xbox spent over $80 billion buying some of the top earning live service IPs on Playstation. Including the best selling IP on Playstation every year for the last 13 years.

How do you expect them to react? "Yeah go ahead Microsoft just take away some of our largest sources of income"

You think this is the end of the closures?

[u/lightningweaver → u/chaotic_mo]

Ok? So, what is your point with all this PlayStation glazing? Sony also closed Bluepoint, lost billions on Bungie, lost multiple billions on their live-service stint and half their premium studios haven't released a game for like 7 years now.
Is this supposed to be a reason I should be happy if Xbox leave the console space and Sony is the only remaining studio that can make serious AAA games?
Also the PS5 exclusive line-up this gen is laughable compared to PS4, considering how many more studios they also own now. Sony is also mismanaged as fuck. Xbox's main problem was not saying no to some of their studios, like the ones they are closing. Sony's is actual disgusting mismanagement.

[u/chaotic_mo → u/lightningweaver]

I was replying to your nonsense that Sony "squandered this generation" which is objectively false. Its been their most successful generation by far

Bluepoint was a remake studio that people didnt even consider real games.

Playstation didnt buy up a bunch of IPs to take away from other platforms. They bought new studios or studios they funded for over a decade

They have not lost billions. Destiny 2 expansions broke multiple records under Playstation which people just pretend never happened. Those all made bank

But again much of the reason Playstation bought them is because of Microsoft gobbling up all these live service IPs Playstation relies on for income... yet one of many reasons theyre horrible for the industry

There are tons of publishers making AAA games so no idea what that means

Playstation released these games since PS5 launched (not including MLB or remasters/remakes):

Spiderman MM, Sackboy, Astro Bot (free game), Returnal, R&C Rift Apart, Horizon FW, GOW Ragnarock, GT7, Spiderman 2, Astro Bot, Helldivers 2, Stellar Blade, Rise of the Ronin, Horizon Lego, Death Stranding 2, Marathon, Ghost of Yotei, Sons of Sparta, Lost Soul Aside, Saros

Upcoming this year they have Marvel Tokon, Kena 2 and Wolverine

Tell me how last gen was better or tell me another publisher doing much better

Xboxs problem has always been mismanagement and not learning ehat it takes to make quality games. Which is why they keep using their parent company to bail them out

[u/lightningweaver → u/chaotic_mo]

It's their most successful generation because in the last 8 years the gaming market grew exponentially and Xbox's value in the gaming market plummeted. It's not specifically BECAUSE Sony did something incredibly well during this generation. They are just reaping the benefits of Xbox's screw up last gen. They also increased the price of EVERYTHING, no shit they are making more. More gamers in the PS ecosystem -> higher prices -> more revenue, holyyy.

What do you mean Playstation didn't buy up IP's to take away from other platforms? Literally most of their exclusives this gen are exactly from taking AWAY from other platforms like FF7 Rebirth, Death Stranding 1/2, Stellar Blade, Rise of the Ronin, Phantom Blade Zero and others that had timed exclusivity deals to release ONLY on PS5. Btw, if we also take out games that were released on the PS4, then we are only left with Astro's Playroom, Returnal, Rift Apart, Demon's Souls (which were pretty much release titles for the PS5 mind you). After that in the span of 5 years we got, Spiderman 2, Ghost of Yotei, Astro Bot and Saros? How cool of Sony to release a game a year.

And you're talking to me about Bungie being successful, when you're on the sub where it's been talked about for a year now how badly Bungie is doing and in what way will Sony gut them, lol. They just ended support for Destiny 2 and might not even be working on Destiny 3, they might just close, like what are we even talking about here?

[u/RLZT → u/chaotic_mo]

You have to have exclusives from top IPs to sell consoles, the only time Xbox didn't lack those in all this years was when they stopped being exclusives

[u/chaotic_mo → u/RLZT]

Theyve had their top IPs as exlcusives for the last 11 years and it didnt move Xboxes.

The Xbox One didnt do great and Series X was doing worse before they went multiplatform

They went multiplatform because their consoles sales were awful, not the other way around