DandyWire

@kmdevine_24 This is getting out of hand.

Three days ago...

Ninja Theory, Double Fine, Compulsion Games. All closing or at risk today. Development costs have become unsustainable. One underperforming game after years of work is enough to seal a studio's fate. No margin for error. The model is broken. And we keep acting surprised.

@ReforgeGaming Xbox had its best showcase in years last week. And now this. This is what "we're committed to our studios" looks like in practice.

The Verge is reporting that Ninja Theory was told on a call they will be closed down and are now hoping for a buyer. Xbox is officially the grimiest company. You use them to pad your showcase with a trailer and then close them a week later. Pound sand, Microsoft.

@mrpyo1 And the worst part is that "bad in sales" sometimes just means "didn't sell 10 million copies in the first week." The bar is impossible and the consequences are permanent.

In todays gaming world it feels like if a studio does 1 game bad in sales it has a big risk of closure, insane where we at today 💀

@CultureCrave @GameSpot Fable is shaping up to be something special.

There are over 1,000 NPCs in 'Fable' and they are all voiced by real actors 🎮 • ~100 actors were cast to voice the game's 'living population' • No Gen AI was involved (via @GameSpot)

@JezCorden Hard to argue with that, it's exhausting to follow. The games are there. Everything around them isn't.

Xbox is in constant chaos and it's tiring.

While everyone was busy fighting about exclusives, almost nobody gave the new Fable trailer the attention it deserved. It had real charm, personality and finally felt like Fable again. That's exactly the kind of quality Xbox needs right now. February 2027 feels too far away.

@XboxTimdog Exactly. If they had invested more in communication, things would look very different today.

Great post and it’s on Xbox to communicate this. The crazy thing about Xbox is they get all the work done but they struggle to make people understand it.

@JezCorden Ads in games aren't inherently bad, think about product placement for example. Death Stranding did it. Intergalactic is doing it with Porsche and Adidas. The line is when it breaks immersion. Keep it organic and most players won't even notice.

Why Xbox (and others) are considering the role of "ads" on console. windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox/wh… 🔽 "Even before the current memory crisis and various other crises, the volume of players spending literally *nothing* on consoles like Xbox and PlayStation is increasing, and whales are increasingly not making up the difference. When you're selling hardware at a loss, that's a problem."

Phantom Blade Zero releases October 29, a couple of weeks before GTA 6. When asked about the competition, the director said they don't even think about it. Only the quality of the game matters. We'll find out in October.

@Senninsage I can agree with that. Sony has been playing it safe for years. I need some fresh air from them, something that can amaze again.

@dandywire They're excited because Playstation isn't producing very much that seems new and exciting. It isn't an accident.

This past weekend proved one thing. Playstation's most die hard fans really are more excited for Xbox Studio games, especially Gears of War: E-Day, Fable, Clockwork Revolution. Elder Scrolls 6 wasn't shown, but they want that. Same for Blade, and they are envious of Game Pass.

@IGN Nobody should have to support a game they don't enjoy just to keep a studio alive. Bad management at its best.

@PaulTassi @febrik @Forbes Playing it right now because of the update. What a way to say goodbye to a game that defined a generation.

How To Unlock Destiny 2’s Two Secret, Final Endings via @forbes forbes.com/sites/paultass…

@eXtas1stv At least they're being honest about it. Now let's see if the exclusives actually follow through.

MÁS DE MATTHEW BALL 🚨 El nuevo CSO de XBOX afrima que: "Ha resultado difícil articular por qué deberías elegir una consola Xbox". Y cree que "Los exclusivos son una forma importante de hacerlo" y que tal vez "por eso hemos visto un cambio tan rápido hacia los exclusivos". También afirma tener "la obligación de trabajar más duro y con mayor claridad para explicar por qué deberías ser un jugador de Xbox".

Marathon is one of the best looking games I've played this year. But style can only carry you so far when every fight feels chaotic, the screen is a mess of effects and you're constantly running on empty. Bungie built a beautiful world. Then made it boring to play in.

@IdleSloth84_ Having Major Nelson back for FanFest just feels right. If Xbox wants to rebuild its connection with fans, he's one of the few who can actually pull it off.

Major Nelson says he'll be working with XBOX by hosting more FanFest events in 2026

@MIDNITEAFTERD2 Consoles sales boost? Absolutely. Back to 2nd place? Probably not but I don't think that's the tragedy people make it out to be. Xbox and PC are one ecosystem (Play Anywhere, cross save) so I always think about the platform as a whole but I get why not everyone sees it that way.

@dandywire But can they sell consoles and get back to 2nd place? I just can't call it an exclusive when it's on PC even though they have a have presence there..... Ya know?

Gears of War E-Day looks like a return to what made the series great. Dark, brutal, gorgeous. This is the Gears fans have been waiting for. And it's exclusive to XBOX.

Bungie waited until the last update to finally get it right. The best version of Destiny 2 exists. It just took them killing the game to make it.

@JezCorden A more global Xbox and better localization would definitely help but Xbox need clearer messaging, better marketing and a strong brand identity. All those things are lackluster right now.

Now Xbox is working back towards exclusives, my complaining campaign will once again return to localisation efforts, and becoming a more global Xbox. It is a geopolitically tricky time, particularly for U.S. Big Tech, but Xbox has a huge opportunity to serve global, non-English communities better.