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Breaking: Xbox is closing down Hellblade creator Ninja Theory

I thought the game coming out was a dlc pack? Is that not the case? We are talking about the one coming to PlayStation, right?

Nvm…read the post again from the other day.

RIP best of luck!
 
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So it's clear as day at this point that they're going to cut virtually everything but Call of Duty, Halo, Gears, Forza, Minecraft, and gaas games like Sea of Thieves, Grounded, and State of Decay. Their "risky" games will be reviving big known big IP like Fable.


And that's it. I'm convinced that if games like Clockwork Revolution weren't so far into development, they'd just cancel them at this point.


Extremely depressing.
 
LectureMaster said:
Imagine defending missteps after missteps - Bungie & Marathon, closing Bluepoint, Laufey and ND drought and not even needing to mention the previous disastrous GaaS strategy.

But of course mckmass8808, the protector of papa Sony will show up with "record high" profits,

auf5f8.jpg
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Record Profits and at the same time:

-BluePoint games ❌
-Japan Studio ❌
-Evolution Studios ❌

And the list goes on… But hey, record profits…

btcsbIhUKgF2Iwyz.gif
 
Lets be honest tho, how many years did these deals help some of these studios that would have been closed long ago without Microsoft?
They got a good 8-9 years out of it.
 
violence said:
Ninja theory did cool stuff. I liked DmC a lot. GG studio.
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Me too but DMC came out in jan 2013, it tells us all we need to know if we have to go back to 2013 game aka 13,5 years back to find one we liked from that studio.
For comparision bluepoint got closed after launching demons souls remaster(instant classic btw) in nov 2020 then being forced to make gaas shit, here it was different, devteam themselfs fucked up.
 
Damn.
Hellblade II was a big miss but DmC was an all-time great.

Bleeding Edge was super fun too even if it was dead on arrival. RIP
 
.....Wow. Just wow.

Like aren't they making a game RIGHT NOW!? Why would you close them instead of at least putting them up as a support studio. Their skills in character animation are nearly unmatched by the other studios Xbox owns, and you'd think they'd have several studios which could benefit from that expertise.

Does that mean Senua, which was literally just revealed a week ago, is cancelled? If you're a NT fan I guess this is some really hard news. What kind of timeline is gonna be if Compulsion can work out a deal to get spun off but Ninja Theory couldn't?

Also gonna warn MS right now: if they close Double Fine, they're gonna damage a good chunk of remaining credibility remains among some of the diehards and industry in general. Tim Schafer's a legend and you know they could make a great Brutal Legend 2 if given the funding. You already got two strikes against you for Tango Gameworks (Shinji Mikami's a legend) and Perfect Dark reboot. Better avoid a third strike at all costs (unless it's Street Fighter; that Third Strike is awesome).

M1987 said:
Why the fuck did they announce Senua last week just to shut them down?
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That's what I'd like to know. Insane if they had a good feeling they (MS) were going to close Ninja Theory but still put Senua in the Xbox Showcase knowing there's a good chance the game wouldn't be completed.

Why TF would you do something like? Just to win cred in a showcase war? Unless Senua's nearly complete and the closure isn't effective immediately (haven't fully read OP yet so don't know); even if it's a delayed closure I think morale would be so low among staff that it negatively hurts Senua development.
 
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It is crazy how many of these studios were doing nothing but "passion projects" and garbage that did not sell.

At least now people stopped pretending like those studios were doing great with their games.
 
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A week after announcing their new game? This is an aimless company and it's insane how Windows money is literally the only thing saving them in the last decade.
 
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LordOcidax said:
Record Profits and at the same time:

-BluePoint games ❌
-Japan Studio ❌
-Evolution Studios ❌

And the list goes on… But hey, record profits…

btcsbIhUKgF2Iwyz.gif
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MSxbox and Sony Ps had allot of disastrous failures, woke and dei infestations and bad decisions in the west. Only Nintendo remain strong. Continue that Nintendo
so-long-katniss-everdeen.gif
 
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thicc_girls_are_teh_best said:
.....Wow. Just wow.

Like aren't they making a game RIGHT NOW!? Why would you close them instead of at least putting them up as a support studio. Their skills in character animation are nearly unmatched by the other studios Xbox owns, and you'd think they'd have several studios which could benefit from that expertise.

Does that mean Senua, which was literally just revealed a week ago, is cancelled? If you're a NT fan I guess this is some really hard news. What kind of timeline is gonna be if Compulsion can work out a deal to get spun off but Ninja Theory couldn't?

Also gonna warn MS right now: if they close Double Fine, they're gonna damage a good chunk of remaining credibility remains among some of the diehards and industry in general. Tim Schafer's a legend and you know they could make a great Brutal Legend 2 if given the funding. You already got two strikes against you for Tango Gameworks (Shinji Mikami's a legend) and Perfect Dark reboot. Better avoid a third strike at all costs (unless it's Street Fighter; that Third Strike is awesome).
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Probably they moved the talents to others studios and the project, who knows.
 
LordOcidax said:
Record Profits and at the same time:

-BluePoint games ❌
-Japan Studio ❌
-Evolution Studios ❌

And the list goes on… But hey, record profits…

btcsbIhUKgF2Iwyz.gif
Click to expand...
That's why people parroting the "record profits" are mostly useful brand idiots. When you actually dig into their "record" profits it's bleak as fuck. They're milking their current customers, aren't making new customers, and aren't selling games. When the majority of your profits are from subscriptions and MTX that's not a sustainable business model, much less something worth bragging about.
 
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Bridges said:
Damn.
Hellblade II was a big miss but DmC was an all-time great.

Bleeding Edge was super fun too even if it was dead on arrival. RIP
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Hellblade2 bombed in a nasty way, bleeding edge too, thats what happens to devteams that make games that dont sell, man, many studios who made amazing games got closed coz their games didnt sell, my biggest regret from older ones would be clover studio and team ico, from newer ones that still hurt like hell bluepoint is obvious answer :messenger_expressionless:
 
Phil showed off HellBlade 2 when announcing the Series X for the first time. Only fitting that they're the first studio to close down after Phil's departure.
 
FoxMcChief said:
Ninja Theory's only good game was Enslaved.

Nodding Lol GIF by SoulPancake
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So was DmC.

But man this is crazy. Didn't they show a game in n development Sanua or whatever it's called last week ? Gonna cancel it now ? After a week of showing it ?

Do these idiots work on day by day bases ? Why didn't you let them go after hell blade 2 ?



Unless senua trailer was smoke and mirrors and nothing of what was shown was real gameplay ? But that doesn't make sense and doesn't sound right either
 
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If you don't sell consoles, ship copies. If you don't sell those copies, go on game pass. If you aren't engaged with, get shutdown. Nobody played their recent games.
 
skyfinch said:
Phil showed off HellBlade 2 when announcing the Series X for the first time. Only fitting that they're the first studio to close down after Phil's departure.
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It was great idea to show off power of new console, hell i argue its still undefeated graphic fidelity in console space(coz we cant count matrix demo nor that final flying sequence from UE5 ps5 demo, that one was not real time).
 
RafterXL said:
That's why people parroting the "record profits" are mostly useful brand idiots. When you actually dig into their "record" profits it's bleak as fuck. They're milking their current customers, are making new customers, and aren't selling games. When the majority of your profits are from subscriptions and MTX that's not a sustainable business model, much less something worth bragging about.
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The biggest issue i see is that amazing games like Astro Bot while the game was successful from a financial standpoint the sales were super low relative to the PS5 user base, and games like Fornite and a bunch of GAAS shits sells tons… And them people ask on why Sony wants to follow the GAAS route + the DEI shits infesting their studios. I just hope that the PS6 Handheld changes a few things.
 
ChorizoPicozo said:
It just could've been a case of showing somehting in order to not getting shut down.

(we have somehting in the works)
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I doubt this. Remember the fact that it was called Senua and not hellblade?
Intentional.

It's likely MS want to get rid of Ninja Theory but keep the Hellblade IP for themselves just like the other IPs they hoard and do nothing with. It's likely that Ninja Theory is looking for a buyer to spin off like toys for bob but MS keep the Hellblade trademark.
 
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It says they're looking for a buyer; popular choice I'm sure is SIE but I dunno 'cuz SIE already have enough studios who do that type of stuff and if anything they need more teams for studios like SSM & Sucker Punch. They could just hire NT talent instead and get the same benefits.

Honestly if they aren't going to take any IP with them (not sure if it's NT or MS who own the Hellblade IP; I know Sony own the Heavenly Sword IP rights for example), Ninja Theory don't have any value to a prospective publisher to buy them. And some venture capitalist firm buying them is as good as closing them down anyway. I think a big reason Toys for Bob were able to spin off and do their own thing is because they have a really strong relationship with LEGO and those games tend to sell very well, plus they have skills in 3D platformers that could be useful to a company like MS if they ever wanted to do something with Crash or Spyro (IIRC aren't Toys for Bob involved with the new Spyro game?).

Ninja Theory doesn't have that leverage/value and their technical engine & mo-cap/animation skills can be absorbed by hiring employees outright vs. buying the studio. So again, SIE, maybe Remedy, IOI, Eidos etc. hire NT employees but without a very strong IP of their own I don't think Ninja Theory have much a chance of getting bought any anyone worth talking about. Maybe they get lucky and Paramount Games buys them?

Three said:
I doubt this. Remember the fact that it was called Senua and not hellblade?
Intentional.

It's likely MS want to get rid of Ninja Theory but keep the Hellblade IP for themselves just like the way they like to hoard other IPs they do nothing with. It's likely that Ninja Theory is looking for a buyer to spin off like toys for bob.
Click to expand...

Yeah it's most likely MS retains Hellblade IP ownership because it can work for transmedia and maybe a studio like Coalition or Playground could do something with the IP in the future. They don't need to keep a hold of it, but these companies love IP hoarding.

My thing is, Ninja Theory just don't have much a shot being purchased without some notable IP ownership to their name. Not by any publisher or platform holder that matters. Only potential exception I can see is maybe Paramount Games because they've recently talked about wanting to expand their presence in gaming. Ninja Theory might bring something of value to them.
 
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Woopah said:
Wasn't Hellblade 2 the first Xbox Series game shown? What a turnaround this generation.
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It was, and pretty sure it was cgi/in engine only, not realtime and obviously no gameplay:

There u got, official xbox yt channel, title clearly states in engine.

Bluepoint and their DS remake was first true showcase of ps5 power and they arent among us either, kinda awful fate too, this one totally underserved unlike ninja theory :(
 
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analog_future said:
So it's clear as day at this point that they're going to cut virtually everything but Call of Duty, Halo, Gears, Forza, Minecraft, and gaas games like Sea of Thieves, Grounded, and State of Decay. Their "risky" games will be reviving big known big IP like Fable.


And that's it. I'm convinced that if games like Clockwork Revolution weren't so far into development, they'd just cancel them at this point.


Extremely depressing.
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Considering the current state of most their franchises, that's what they should focus on. Their last gears was Gears 5, Halo Infinite was a mess at launch and they can't afford for ESVI to end up being another Starfield.

Once(if?) they get their house in order maybe they will start taking on riskier stuff.

For me personally, I'm pissed about Perfect Dark, tens if not hundreds of millions wasted and we didn't even get to play whatever mediocre crap they were working on.
 
RafterXL said:
That's why people parroting the "record profits" are mostly useful brand idiots. When you actually dig into their "record" profits it's bleak as fuck. They're milking their current customers, are making new customers, and aren't selling games. When the majority of your profits are from subscriptions and MTX that's not a sustainable business model, much less something worth bragging about.
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This, their business isn't growing, it's shrinking. PS5 has not done as well as PS4 even with less competition and a bigger market. This is probably why they are changing course, they are starting to see it in the data.

Anyone with a MBA can find ways to grow immediate revenue by milking customers for more money short term. The same shit you can do at Chipotle you can do at Sony. Normally, though, it is not sustainable long-term.
 
That's ridiculous. Are they going to have someone else finish Senua - if not why announce it, unless they are really making these as snap decisions and didn't know they might close them a week ago.
 
analog_future said:
So it's clear as day at this point that they're going to cut virtually everything but Call of Duty, Halo, Gears, Forza, Minecraft, and gaas games like Sea of Thieves, Grounded, and State of Decay. Their "risky" games will be reviving big known big IP like Fable.


And that's it. I'm convinced that if games like Clockwork Revolution weren't so far into development, they'd just cancel them at this point.
Click to expand...
I doubt they're all that excited about Fables prospects.
 
Senua actually looked pretty good too. I'm convinced MS does not plan shit more than a day in advance. Straight up 15 years of baffling decisions. Almost gotta admire the consistency
 
LordOcidax said:
Record Profits and at the same time:

-BluePoint games ❌
-Japan Studio ❌
-Evolution Studios ❌

And the list goes on… But hey, record profits…

btcsbIhUKgF2Iwyz.gif
Click to expand...
Well, saying that PS is more profitable than ever is nothing but a fact. Despite many missteps, they still have a successful gaming division.

Comparing Sony and Microsoft at this point is just bad faith.
 
Rumors now including ID Software and Bethesda Studios apparently. There's zero chance they close those studios down, that's borderline sacrilege.

Maybe some layoffs sure. But c'mon....those are historic studios and for good reason. You don't just close them down. It'd be like SIE closing Polyphony Digital after taking a break from GT to make an Omega Boost 2 that "only" sells 4-5 million.
 
I'm not really shocked, honestly. Since Microsoft bought Ninja Theory in 2018, the studio's new output has basically been Bleeding Edge and Hellblade II. Bleeding Edge came and went quickly, and Hellblade II, while technically impressive, doesn't appear to have sold particularly well.

Game Pass muddies the waters, but if a studio has been owned for around six years and has shipped two new games, neither of which seem to have become major commercial hits, then a corporate shutdown isn't exactly hard to understand. Sad for the staff, obviously, but not shocking from a business perspective.
 
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