Xbox Series S/X: Thread 03

[hudson]

It's a great catch. Nobody can turn a blind eye to a single player Elder Scrolls game. You buy them and its remasters across all the platforms, even if you don't even play them much (you tell yourself you will one day) and now you will maybe need to stretch for a Series S to enjoy them further. I'm happy to have one and Game Pass.

[Cassius_Smoke]

I think it's a big punt on Bethesda. Fallout 4 wasn't great and 76 was...well fallout 76.
I think there is a 50/50 chance Starfield will be just meh at this point. TES6 is anyone's guess, but skyrim is a tough one to follow, especially after all this time.
Obviously it does give MS access to a lot of other titles and creative talent.

[hudson]

I think it's a big punt on Bethesda. Fallout 4 wasn't great and 76 was...well fallout 76.
I think there is a 50/50 chance Starfield will be just meh at this point. TES6 is anyone's guess, but skyrim is a tough one to follow, especially after all this time.
Obviously it does give MS access to a lot of other titles and creative talent.

I'm sure they will learn from their mistakes and hopefully, MS themselves will gatekeep in the name of quality.

[teddymeow]

I don't like TES as a series. Or Fallout so in reality this deal doesn't do much for me.

Of all of the Bethesda output since PS2 / Xbox I've liked Dishonored 1 & 2, Doom 2016 and Prey. That's it.

If Microsoft can actually get the teams responsible for Fallout to release games with less bugs it will be a hell of an achievement.

[nonny]

I don't like TES as a series. Or Fallout so in reality this deal doesn't do much for me.

Of all of the Bethesda output since PS2 / Xbox I've liked Dishonored 1 & 2, Doom 2016 and Prey. That's it.

If Microsoft can actually get the teams responsible for Fallout to release games with less bugs it will be a hell of an achievement.

Yeah I'm not hugely into Fallout but Skyrim was and still is a superb game. I'm also stupid as I literally just bought the entire Dishonored series (doh!) albeit for a few quid.

I've yet to try Prey but heard good things and of course the last two Doom outings have been stellar. For every Fallout 76 mistake I do find Bethesda have enough decent output to make this a formidable exclusive lineup, depending on precisely what they make exclusive of course...

There's also the scope of technical sharing across teams. I'm sure MS can help with the bug testing and there was also that Orion cloud streaming tech id Software demoed which I'd love to see come back in some form for xcloud stuff.

[CMcK]

The only Bethesda games I’ve ever bought are Puzznic on the PlayStation and DOOM (2016) and Doom64 on Xbox One.

[fishbowlhead]

This deal did nothing for me personally, don’t like really anything there making right now or even since Skyrim. Plus there all such bug ridden messes I struggle to see how anyone can actually enjoy most of them.

Hopefully MS can reign them all in, get product quality up and introduce better testing and product quality.

Though if MS had stopped getting rid or or running Studios into the ground so much over the years they’d already have top tier Studios set up and outputting already.

[Cassius_Smoke]

MS has a pretty poor record with game studios.
If you do a quick comparison between Insomniac and Rare for example. Sony have owned Insomniac for a year and they've put out a Spiderman game, remastered the other spiderman game and have Ratchet and Clank coming soon.
MS have owned rare for a few years and we've had Sea of thieves and battletoads. Neither are exactly system sellers.
I think you can compare the two because Rare has some cracking games under its belt in the past, and Insomniac does too. MS just don't seem interested in using them. And that's the case for most of its studios.
I suspect MS bought Bethesda, not just because of its history, but because its got two very big system selling titles coming that are nearing completion, and MS probably don't have anything of that quality lined up yet.
Im very interested to see how this plays out in a few years.

[dataDave]

To be fair MS have owned Rare for twenty years now, and they've produced a lot more than just Sea of Thieves and Battletoads.

That said, they've certainly been massively under-utilised compared to 90s Rareware. They could have had ten times as many games out. Whether they'd be good games or not is another topic entirely.

[nonny]

True... I loved Viva Pinata and Kameo back in the day, plus before Sea of Thieves we got that lovely rare replay compendium. Then of course Sea of Thieves is a service game, so they've spent years adding to it and rightly so, as it was barebones at launch and it's amazing now.

Insomniac have done well but honestly Spiderman wouldn't have existed without Sunset Overdrive and effectively they've released the same game 3 times. Not saying the output isn't stellar, but effectively it's a bit like playground games releasing Forza Horizon sequels, their evolving a base game not releasing a brand new experience each time.

[Neon Ignition]

I'm pretty much now expecting everything after the first 12 months to be Xbox/PC only which given this is a buyout is pretty much how it should be. You look at Skyrim and it seems insane MS would cut the next games ability to sell as widely as possible but Skyrim is a lone beacon in that regard for Bethesda. Typically their biggest games circle the same kind of sales other major titles do so having ES6 on Xbox is a big win for MS but in reality a minor loss for Sony (particularly now we're reaching the point where a generation of gamers know it as nothing but a 2 gen old retro title).

I think broadly Bethesda doesn't deliver Xbox with a AAAA level IP beyond the possibility that ES6 can carry over some of Skyrim's fever but it does do an immense amount of work solving the platforms content problem. MS would do well to announce a slew of titles and dates from all its acquisitions too. Series S/X's biggest selling point remains the lack of availability of PS5 units on the market and they need that barren slate not to be so empty when that situation changes.


Rare... sad to say but as a gamer I just find them irrelevant. Even the most interesting Rare related projects in the last few years and coming years are coming from everyone but them. I'm mostly mindful of Obsidian. The Bethesda buyout possibly being a sore point and one that renders them a little unnecessary. That being said MS still has the benchmark of Double Fine, no offense but that buyout still makes no sense.

[nonny]

I think the most interesting part to watch is how they approach this. They've already said they'll keep Bethesda as a separate entity which is fair enough but I hope they do share tech across that divide as internal teams such as the Coalition as an example really do put out near bug free games consistently, and on the flip side teams like id software have amazing experience in scaling and squeezing the most from their engines.

So I hope to see teams benefit across borders and share ideas and techniques. Raise the level across the board. Plus of course these teams may get to play with a bit more budget and less time constraints...

I dunno, I don't think you can just base the expected output on previous history precisely because it's a huge change.

[Brad]

The next elder scrolls will not be coming to PlayStation. That’s the entire point of buying them. If ms are sensible they’ll just let them carry on making the games they do but only for ms platforms, enjoying a surge of Xbox purchases with each exclusive release. Otherwise why buy them? It’ll take years to recoup the investment merely on game profits and it’s not like Bethesda games don’t always come to Xbox and pc anyway. No, the goal is to starve PlayStation of Bethesda content. Good move, I hear Skyrim is popular

[fishbowlhead]

No, the goal is to starve PlayStation of Bethesda content. Good move, I hear Skyrim is popular

Looks at Bethesda games, shrugs shoulders, I'm fine with this.

In all seriousness though Bethesda do not make system sellers so yes that's the goal of MS with the buyout, but its not going to have the effect they think it will.

[Cassius_Smoke]

I think it's a good move, all be it expensive. Would TES6 tempt me to get an Xbox? No. As much as I liked Skyrim, I know the console would collect dust once I've played the new one. Plus I don't trust MS output of games and I don't trust Bethesdas quality enough to buy a console. I don't think I'll be the only one thinking this.

Edit: I jumped on to the Xbox seriesX subreddit to see what people had to say and it was pretty lukewarm. Lots of talk of Gamepass stuff and 4k enhancements of skyrim and such but no circlejerk about it ending the PlayStation or anything. Surprising.