Bethesda is great, but Xbox Game Studios — you're not off the hook

Microsoft is building a huge platform for its gaming future, and that includes home-grown games from teams within Xbox Game Studios. A question of quality and consistency has hung over Xbox in recent years as it pertains to games. Can Microsoft change? Does it even need to change?

[RazzerRedux]

Definitely not off the hook. Bethesda being owned by Microsoft doesn't improve Xbox Game Studios game output at all. In fact, for PC gamers like myself, the acquisition is meaningless. I've always bought Bethesda games on PC and I will continue to do so. Meanwhile, Xbox Games Studios continue to languish and lag behind. Great knowing The Initiative is working on Perfect Dark, Playground is working on Fable, and Obsidian is working on Avowed. But until they deliver we are still in this same "wait mode' we've been in for years.

[Father__Merrin]

Well I don't agree with you many times but I will on this one. Bethesda or imo general open world titles specifically rpg like fallout skyrim etc are more suited to PC I've all of them on my comp

[Jericho1337]

The acquisition wasn’t just bethesda though was it. Arkane, id, machine and tango all have a proven track record.

[Orchard]

But why would MS care? They are fine with you buying on PC.

It’s a win for them - previously they got nothing when you bought a Bethesda game on PC - now they get your $$$.

[alb1899]

Of course it will improve MS Studios, just now they will release a time exclusive to PS5 and looks very promising. There's a lot of potential.

[RazzerRedux]

Zenimax/Bethesda will not be a part of Xbox Game Studios.

[No Way]

Razzer - how so?

[RazzerRedux]

@No Way

Xbox Game Studios is the publishing house for The Initiative, Playground, Coalition, etc. Zenimax/Bethesda will continue to self-publish the games for studios under them. Peter Hines made that clear when it was announced Bethesda was being bought by Microsoft.

[Imalwaysright]

RazzerRedux

Bethesda will be a subsidiary of Xbox Games Studios wich means that it will be owned and controlled by Xbox Game Studios. What you're saying doesn't make any sense at all. It's like saying that Poliphony Digital and Retro Studios don't improve SIE and Nintendo game output because they are also subsidiary companies.

[RazzerRedux]

@Imalwaysright

"Bethesda will be a subsidiary of Xbox Games Studios wich means that it will be owned and controlled by Xbox Game Studios. "

According to who? Peter Hines said Zenimax will publish their own games.

"What you're saying doesn't make any sense at all. It's like saying that Poliphony Digital and Retro Studios don't improve SIE and Nintendo game output because they are also subsidiary companies."

My entire statement is predicated on Zenimax not being a part of XGS because they will self-publish. How does Zenimax improve XGS, specifically, if they are not a part of XGS? This is exactly the point Corden is making. If I'm am wrong and somehow Zenimax is going to report to Matt Booty while having autonomy in self-publishing then fine. Unless you have information I don't have, everything I've read suggests Zenimax is going to operate as they always have.

"With Microsoft's acquisition of ZeniMax Media, around 2,300 more people are about to become employed by the increasingly gigantic corporation. Acquisitions often come with redundancies and cuts, however, especially when there are big overlaps, as there are with ZeniMax and Xbox Game Studios.

Speaking with CNBC this week, head of Xbox Phil Spencer avoided specifics when questioned about the possibility of cuts, but he did say that Microsoft isn't planning to meddle.

"Our plan is to leave [ZeniMax] alone," he told CNBC. "ZeniMax has an amazing track record of building great games. Our goal is to make ZeniMax the best ZeniMax they can be, working individually with their studios on the great platform technology that we have, getting their creators' feedback into the things that we need to go build.""

https://www.pcgamer.com/mic...

So Zenimax is going to report to XGS, but XGS can't meddle with Zenimax? Again, if you have different information about how this is going to be structured, I would genuinely love to read it.

[OptimusDK]

Like something I have heard before... Greatness awaits, maybe. Why is Sony always getting a free pass.

They have nothing right now, and a lot will be pushed back to 2022/23.

[RazzerRedux]

You really want to talk about Sony's output? lol...ok. Fact is Sony doesn't need a pass. Sony actually delivers great games. Not sure where you've been the last 8 months but in that time frame Sony released four AAA games including the GOTY. Microsoft brought back Flight Simulator and that's about it. Hell, the last time Xbox consoles were graced with a AAA first party game from Microsoft was Gears 5 back in 2019.

But if you just have to talk about Sony then let's talk about Sony vs Microsoft. Let's talk about the company that has published GOTY winners three of the last four years. Yep.....Sony. Now let's combine the output from Xbox Game Studios and Zenimax/Bethesda during that same timeframe. How many consensus winners? Zero. How many overall came in second? Zero. Third. Zero. The best the combination of all Microsoft's existing and new studios have done in GOTY awards this entire generation is Fallout 4 which came in second to and was blown entirely away by the Witcher 3.

https://gotypicks.blogspot....

Sony has Returnal, Ratchet and Clank and Horizon Forbidden West up next. And you think Sony gets a free pass? Are you insane?

[senorfartcushion]

Definitely an N4G article title. This site has more PlayStation users than any other, hence the obvious bias.

Sony has made an objectively worst console this generation. The storage issues, the controller’s reported haptic feedback issues, choosing form over fiction with the design of the thing, sending cease and desists to baseplate manufacturers. There’s a lot up to now and, though the game library has already put Xbox’s to shame, the console has been a disappointment for me.

[RazzerRedux]

@senorfartcusion

"Definitely an N4G article title. This site has more PlayStation users than any other, hence the obvious bias."

You are confused. The title and article are from Jez Corden of Windows Central, one of the most Microsoft friendly sites around. The article was submitted by rlow1 who is far from a Sony fanboy. In short, you are making up a whole lot of bullshit because you don't like what is being said.

Your subjective opinion on the PS5 is irrelevant.

[Kornholic]

@senorfartcushion

MS has made a console full of bottlenecks. The theoretical tflops count means nothing when your console isn't designed properly.

[P_Bomb]

You do know Returnal is on the cusp of release? Destruction All Stars just dropped.

[Kilua]

Awwwwwww that is so cute

[Tetsdah]

@Razzer

What is bananas is that they had launch games as exclusives. And still have 3rd party new titles coming out, ontop of having a massive 2020. Their output is fairly good, especially in comparison to the competition and 1st year of the ps4.

@Optimus

The possibility of delays still affect either one wouldn't you agree? Infinite can be delayed again as well. Ratchet can be delayed, as well as Horizon. We can only hope MS has more to announce for this year. Because if Halo gets delayed again, that will be another year without a noteworthy exclusive except Medium maybe. They may have surprise announcements and releases, but that can apply for Playstation.

[Godmars290]

@Tetsdah:
"that will be another year without a noteworthy exclusive except Medium maybe."

Think the thing you're missing is that Sony's had several noteworthy exclusives for the PS5's launch, where Xbox only had the one. And odds are that Ratchet and Clank will be out before Halo Infinite.

"And still have 3rd party new titles coming out,"

???

3rd party? You mean games coming to the PS as well? The main complaint about Xbox is 3rd party reliance, that they have to buy studios just to say they have anything effectively 1st party. What's the point of even saying what you said?

[jambola]

because they had a great generation and don't have as much to prove

[Tetsdah]

@Godmars

3rd party such Persona Strikers. Gas that been announced for Xbox? Then they have 3rd party timed exclusives such as Deathloop. Not to mention that if FF16 comes out this year, it may be exclusive to ps5/pc.

Microsoft I'm not disagreeing with Sony having more exclusives. I just find it funny Optimus said Sony is granted a free pass despite having more 1st party, 2nd party, and 3rd party exclusive content.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Of course they're not off the hook they haven't produced yet they just been baking. MS won't be off the hook for awhile the next few years will determine that imo.

"In fact, for PC gamers like myself, the acquisition is meaningless. I've always bought Bethesda games on PC and I will continue to do so."

that's why for 5 years they've been putting their games on PC for PC gamers like yourself. So MS gets paid you get to enjoy so no nothing changes on your end.

[Orchard]

It may not impact XGS but it will have a huge impact on Xbox since Zenimax will be part of Xbox. That plus they’ve made good forward looking investments in XGS - just got to wait for them to come to fruition.

But at the end of the day, it won’t really matter to MS because Xbox is a Xbox - it doesn’t matter where Zenimax sits within the Xbox organization.

Realistically though, it will probably get merged into XGS at some point - once all the acquisition dust settles.

[Zeref]

We weren't in a wait mode, we were in a drought. To be in a "wait mode" you need to have something to wait on. We know what we're waiting for now, which isn't bad at all.

Can't wait to taste the tears when them Bethesda games are announced to be exclusive to Xbox 😏

[Notellin]

Pete Hines statement you keep referencing.

"But the key point is we’re still Bethesda. We’re still working on the same games we were yesterday, made by the same studios we’ve worked with for years, and those games will be published by us."

Looks like the games we know about are still being published by them. Everything in that statement is past tense and also vague.

But sure you can just run with whatever you want around here. This comment section is all about misinformation and speculation.

[RazzerRedux]

Past tense and vague? Are you serious?

"those games will be published by us."

How does "will be" refer to the past? Everything under development by Zenimax will be published by Zenimax. Phil Spencer explicitly said they were going to leave Zenimax as a publisher intact and "leave it alone". Why would Microsoft keep the publishing arm of Zenimax if Zenimax was not going to publish anything? There is nothing vague vague about any of that.

@Zeref

"We weren't in a wait mode, we were in a drought. To be in a "wait mode" you need to have something to wait on. We know what we're waiting for now, which isn't bad at all."

You mean you didn't know Halo had been in the works all these years? Wait mode or drought, fine, call it what you want, but MS wasn't delivering the games.

"Can't wait to taste the tears when them Bethesda games are announced to be exclusive to Xbox "

They won't be exclusive to Xbox. They will be on PC and that is where I will play them, as always.

[FanboysKiller]

They wanna utilize their tools , abandoning other platforms is a silly idea , look at Minecraft, it's not exclusive.

[Magog]

Funny you chose Hellblade for the pic since they bought that studio too. Their "organic" studios aren't making anything new or exciting.

[No Way]

Didn't realize you knew of all the titles?

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Well they haven't released anything yet? Stupid comment good lord.

[on_line_forever]

Hi guys I came from the future and I want to tell you Bethesda still use the outdated engine

[Kornholic]

Yeah, it's quite funny to realize that MS doesn't actually create anything, they just buy. They don't create new studios, they buy well established studios whereas Sony cultivates studios and then buys them.

[BlackTar187]

Beth is good with a ton of hype. The lack of polish on their games means they well never be great unless they fix their sh*t practice

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

Always a waiting game with MS...

[Godmars290]

How have they ever been off the hook? How didn't the hook get buried deeper with the Halo infinite reveal that as soon turned into a delay?

[Rambokind]

If Bill Gates acquires you, you probably won't be happy with what results. Just sayin'

[Orchard]

Bill Gates has had nothing to do with Microsoft for a long time...

[Darkborn]

I've always liked Id or avalanche studio games much much more than Bethesda or zenimax. That's what worries me more. I'm sure Microsoft is going to give them no budget and expect big things just to put on game pass for 10 bucks. I don't see the next elder scrolls being as huge as skyrim for basically free on game pass without charging like 5 times the amount with hundreds of small DLC that locks eveythjn interesting behind paywalls. Basically, mobile game versions of greed. Imagine if skyrim launched for only 10 bucks with all DLC free. Bethesda would have been shut down.

[Highrevz]

There’s only an issue if you care about comparing them to the competitors, even then it’s down to a matter of personal taste.

More games are better but exclusives and decent AAA games are always few and far between each other.
There’s not much for any platform coming this year so what ever platform you main we are all going to be waiting.

All I hope is that the next elder scrolls is great and comes available asap.
I’m slightly more excited for Avowed and that should help the wait for TES

[TheCaptainKuchiki]

I think MS bought Bethesda only because they couldn't hide how bad XBGS is anymore...

[Orchard]

Or because they’re a successful business and like any other successful business - they want to expand and grow their revenue.

[Highrevz]

People like that don’t want them to change or grow.

[anast]

Bethesda hasn't been great for at least 19 years. They made Morrowind during this time think about that ...19 years. At least they are in good company with MSXBX. I mean it seems that they share the same philosophy. To make it worse, Fallout 4 and Skyrim are not fun unless "you" mod them so that they are barely recognizable. At any rate, hopefully ES6 returns to something like Morrowind.

[enkiduxiv]

You are stretching the truth here quite a bit. Morrowind was there first break out hit. After that, oblivion and Fallout 3. Even if you want to argue that Skyrim is overrated, they have three huge hits before their decline. I’d say it started in 2015.

[anast]

No truth stretching. Profit of off bad video games does not necessarily that Bethesda did not decline after the release of Morrowind. They began to cut corners and released inferior titles: Oblivion, Fallout 3, Fallout 4, Skyrim and 76. The truth is that everyone wanted Morrowind and or Fallout 1/2, but instead of refining and expanding of what made them great, they released shells of video games and the modders did the rest. Oblivion, Fallout 3 and etc. were not and are not good games, they are the only thing available, if you want to play in those open worlds. So gamers bought them anyway and will continue to do so.

[enkiduxiv]

@anast Sounds like Rose colored glasses to me. Morrowind was basically their first hit. By your standards the studio is what? A one hit wonder?

Morrowind is more like a crpg of the late 90s, but it is hardly the perfection of Bethesda’s open world/immersive sim formula.

But let’s be honest, you didn’t play any of these games. You referenced Fallout 1/2 and those games weren’t even made by Bethesda. You’re just arguing to make some kind of misguided point about the console wars like the overgrown toddler you are.

[S2Killinit]

Yeah keep eating away at the industry because MS didn’t plan ahead. You know, since making games wasnt all that integral to their game plan as a console manufacturer.

[senorfartcushion]

N

[BrainSyphoned]

Was*

[RgR]

I've pretty much waited since the launch of Xbox One for a great game from Microsoft.

Many years later I'm still waiting.

Buying a bunch of studios simply shows the lack of talent and trust in what they had.

Microsoft has nothing to do with the success of their recent acquisitions. Pretty much no game released by their studios will be 100% purely Microsoft's doing through support or actual guidance.

Even their own ip which theyve had for many years, fable and halo, have seen severe lack of talent or guidance as it regards to what fans, their target audience, want.

I just invested into a gaming laptop that will be allow me to game for the next 2+ generations. I no longer have a reason to purchase a series s or x.

No point in hooking a decayed fish.

[jambola]

Bethesda is great?

[masterfox]

Can Microsoft change?
answer: Nope , and the perfect example is the released of the xbox series x, that thing didn't release a single game that it can be called a next gen game, second is that MS still trying to sell their consoles by promoting their subscription services like there is no tomorrow, literally if you want to buy an xbox series is just because you want the so called Gamepass and that's it, as always MS forgot or not even trying to bring new game experiences that uses their console high specs, they seem like they only care for selling you subscriptions so you are able to play old games.

Said it lots of times, MS is trying to get full control of your gaming habits and Gamepass is part of that control, is funny how people forgot all the DRM practices that xbox one wanted to implement, I still remember you Don Matrick lol, and you know there are still two remaining MS staff members that wanted to implement all that DRM to the present day, Phil Spencer and Major Nelson the can't turn the Switch guy XD.

So yeah good luck if you still have hopes for MS gaming division.