Looking forward to the same enthusiasm as the Hermen Hulst thread. Oh wait, this is about Xbox, never mind, carry on.
haha, exactly.
I don’t get why people just flat out ignore context when it comes to the studios MS acquired. Sure, it’s true that AFAIK the only exclusive content their studios have produced so far is Bleeding Edge and Grounded, but that was expected considering when they bought these studios. They bought them when almost all of them were in the process of making games contractually obligated to be multiplatform or were already working on Xbox titles.
Compulsion - Bought in 2018, then released We Happy Few. Given an expected 2-3 year dev cycle plus COVID delays, it’s not surprising their next game isn’t out yet. But it should be close and people say it’s very innovative.
Double Fine - Bought in 2019 and haven’t released shit. They apparently have multiple projects in the works at various stages, and Psychonauts 2 is coming this year. But again, because of prior commitments, won’t be exclusive.
Playground - Bought in 2018, then released Horizon 4. 92 meta, the best fucking racer ever imho. Have been providing constant updates and content. Rumored to be releasing Horizon 5 this year and are working on Fable.
Inxile - Bought in 2018, was hard at work on Wasteland 3. Microsoft monies allowed them to do much more with the game, it finally released and was fucking great, 84 meta. Is supposedly working on multiple projects now including some kind of shooter RPG.
Obsidian - Bought in 2018, was knee deep in Outer Worlds. It released and was extremely good, 85 meta. Have since released Grounded into early access and its fun. Working on Avowed and supposedly another project.
Ninja Theory - Bought in 2018 and have only released Bleeding Edge. This is maybe the only studio you could accuse of dragging its feet but you have COVID and a small team working on numerous things, including obviously Hellblade 2. It should be close.
Undead - Acquired in 2018 right after SoD2, are now doing SoD3. Also spent of ton of time providing loads of free content for SoD2, so who knows how far into SoD3 they really are.
And then you have the whole Bethesda purchase. We already know of two games they are releasing this year and surprise, they’re PS console exclusive because of prior commitments. But Starfield is strongly rumored for this year and there are loads of other teams working on things.
I realize their purchases haven’t amounted to much yet but it’s common sense as to why when you really look at it. The idea that they can’t have loads of great games coming is bullshit. They’re coming.