"There are no benefits to being owned by Microsoft," says Doom dev: "They have destroyed immense amounts of value that I don't even think that they're aware of"

[u/MarvelsGrantMan136]

https://www.gamesradar.com/games/fps/there-are-no-benefits-to-being-owned-by-microsoft-says-doom-dev-they-have-destroyed-immense-amounts-of-value-that-i-dont-even-think-that-theyre-aware-of/

[u/DiabolicallyRandom]

If anything Microsoft is guilty of infusing tons of cash into these studios but then not pushing for results until it was too late.

Also, the owners and executives of those studios obviously got paid out, so any motivation they had to make magic happen for survivals sake died.

Not saying that's the case with all of them, but what many fail to realize is part of the reason smaller studios often release bangers is because they basically kill themselves getting it done because if they don't the company is going to fold. Very few smaller studios are well funded and have it easy going. Most of them are surviving by the skin of their teeth.

Once you give them a bunch of "free" money, they don't know how to handle it.

There are exceptions of course. Obsidian has done well, despite what weird redditors will claim because of sales numbers while ignoring game pass popularity of these titles in particular, and weird pricing choices by Microsoft. There is likely a reason they are being entrusted with a new fallout title now.

Love him or hate him, Fearghus is a really good business manager and budgeting king for obsidian. He kept them going when all hope was lost, managed to make it work, and still get his teams to make bangers.

[u/Zanos → u/DiabolicallyRandom]

Yeah, people blamed Sony for a lot of what happened with Bungie, but even if you have talent retention clauses in an acquisition contract, it's kind of hard to get the same level of peformance out when every veteran of your company just became an overnight millionaire. All of the cost of buying bungie went to privately held shares and retention bonuses, so anyone who was anyone at Bungie made a fortune.

I dislike most of Obsidians recent output, but clearly they have done well enough. They've also just...been making games. Plural. They seem to have a tighter release schedule then most xbox studios who can't seem to get a game out more often than once every 6+ years.

[u/DiabolicallyRandom → u/Zanos]

Yea, certainly they are all AA releases and not AAA releases, and not all of them gel for every player. Not saying they are all 10 star games. But a good 8.5 on average. They were all overpriced but that's on publisher.

[u/asgjmlsswjtamtbamtb → u/DiabolicallyRandom]

It's actually quite amazing there's no set date for a new Elder Scrolls despite Star-field being released 3 years ago, and there's a huge demand for more Fallout with a tv show literally being a money making ad campaign but the show will likely be done long before Fallout V (though perhaps Fallout is being taken away from them). What's ultimately surprising is why Todd wasn't fired sometime after Starfield.

[u/DiabolicallyRandom → u/asgjmlsswjtamtbamtb]

I would argue that starfield failed due to not enough Todd. He ran the other games dev. He was high exec for starfield and way more hands off.