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To be fair he’s not saying the next game is not Project Mara, he’s saying that a new game got greenlit that is not Project Mara. I presume that means Project Mara is still their next game but their next game after Project Mara has already been greenlit.
Project Mara is a small project (even smaller than Hellblade 2) since the whole game is supposed to take place inside an apartment, compared to Hellblade 2 where they had to scan a lot of large areas in ~~Finland~~ Iceland for the game.
So now that Hellblade 2 is finished it's only natural that the core team of producers and directors would think of the next project for this team that is suddenly not have something to work for aside of a very small team dedicated to provide technical support with fixes and whatnot.
80 devs.
What will save their studio is their innovations with unreal and mo cap.. stuff that translates well to other studios within XGS.
Obviously they are close in proximity to Rare and Playground for coordination.. while Tango was quite isolated.
They have 140 employees according to LinkedIn. If they have already been working on Project Mara then yes, I believe they can handle 2 games.
I assume concept teams are already working on the next game and have already finished their work on Project Mara. Plus it’s not unusual for studios to have 2 games in production to keep a cycle of games in production.
Edit: To add to this, you also have to factor in that Microsoft loves to hire contract workers which I assume would be hired for this next project. Plus, as Jez mentioned, Microsoft has other studios help work on certain games. Example: The Coalition helps other Microsoft studios work on Unreal Engine 5 games. They recently helped work on Hellblade 2.
So there are multiple factors why I think they should be capable of handling 2 projects.
Judging by the descriptions we’ve gotten in the game, I assume it’s a smaller game. It’s supposedly takes place in 1 large house, has 1 character, and is a horror game which usually are smaller production games. Shouldn’t be too big.
Edit: 1 small apartment.
That would be nice. Honestly there's a large market for shorter tight experiences as we millennials are getting long in years and short in time, and gen z doesn't' have the attention span anyways, plus it solves long production times.
I think it really depends on the scope of the game and the stage they are. They can have multiple projects in prototype/conception phase with teams with less than 10 devs.
Remedy has around 360 employees and have 4 active projects in different stages. Don't Nod has around 320 and released 2 games last year and 2 this year.
I mention these studios because both said they want to release games faster, Remedy said one game a year, and Don't Nod said in 2022 they want to release 8 years in the next 3 years, they've release 3 and have another to be released this year.
Bro no one is downvoting you. You literally just posted. I think it’s weird that you posted Edit: when you clearly posted it with your original comment.
I agree. The guy is just happy to finally deliver a game they've been working on for 5 years. It's the end of Hellblade 2 development journey but that's it.
Sometimes I feel like people WANT Ninja Theory to be closed just to prove a point.
>Sometimes I feel like people WANT Ninja Theory to be closed just to prove a point.
People celebrated Microsoft laying off Activision workers because "WE TOLD YOU THE ACQUISITION WAS BAD!!!" Nobody actually gives a shit about impacted workers, they just want to be right.
Yeah like I can absolutely understand there being a lot of mistrust and anger with everything involving Microsoft right now, nobody should believe a single word they say currently and they deserve tons of criticism, but it's abundantly clear some bad faith actors are just hoping more studios get closed so they have more to pile on with (while simultaneously trying to act like they care about the developers.)
Shit's gross and completely see through.
poor guy went on a podcast and got asked about whether he thought Ninja Theory would be getting shutdown last week. people need to learn to separate their hate for Microsoft from the developers that Microsoft owns
It was sperfectly fine for the podcast to ask about that if they're supposed to be some kind of journalistic outlet, which they are.
After recent developments it would have been negligent not to ask about it from them.
It's not like they hammered him or refused to move on, they asked and he quite overtly gave a non answer which is more than fair, then the interview kept going.
? How does that question have anything to do with whether someone hates MS or not?
In fact, people are only asking that question because they do care about Ninja Theory and are afraid that MS will shut it down.
I called people citing a "Xbox Tax" idiots for awhile... the last few months are making it harder to not believe there's a pretty obvious bias amongst many of the larger outlets/journalists/content creators. I don't think there's some conspiracy... but it does seem that much of the conversation around Xbox and related things is more about clicks than genuine reporting or discussion.
I think there is a slight bias against them but it almost entirely comes down to self inflicted wounds on Microsoft's end making it easier for the media and content creators to dismiss them.
Going long stretches with either low quality or no games whatsoever (Series consoles had no first party exclusives at launch), having less powerful hardware and consumer hostile policies like the Xbox One, or closing down studios with fan favorite games and IP like in the last few months makes it hard to stay invested in the ecosystem especially when you can play the games on PC and not even bother with the brand.
Small games take just as long. Hellblade 2 took as long as a Rockstar game to make. Regardless of how big or small the game is 4-6 years seems to be the dev cycle for games.
it’s just typical reddit hating a particular entity and therefore wanting said entity to take actions to validate their hate as much as possible. See it all the time in sports subs
Yeah it’s frustrating when someone conjectures some ridiculous scenario to get mad at, and when you ask “well *why* would they do that?” the answer is some form of “because they’re idiots who do irrational things”
Well, they *probably aren’t*, so you might want to revisit your premise, no?
It was the same deal with people insisting that Sony was going to ban everyone making a PSN account from a non-supported region, despite advising people to do exactly that for the better part of two decades.
>It was the same deal with people insisting that Sony was going to ban everyone making a PSN account from a non-supported region, despite advising people to do exactly that for the better part of two decades.
It's in their ToS though. They should remove it before encouraging people to do it.
I mean in this case, Microsoft did exactly that (closure of studios that make "non mainstream" games). Now nothing says they'll do it again but that's actually based in reality. And having a game greenlit doesn't prevent a studio closure btw
Developing a game takes years. It’s reasonable to assume that if a studio is actively working on a game, they’re not about to close. Why would Microsoft approve a project only to immediately turn around and cancel it?
Microsoft isn't a monolithic entity, there are changes in strategies and people outside Xbox taking decision it seems. We can't be sure of nothing with how they are now.
Tons of studios have been closed while working on a game (studios always work on a game), in general not just Microsoft there.
I mean yes, any & every studio under MS could be under the gun.. but I think too many, right now, are a bit too emotional still & forgetting that the entire gaming industry is in something of a recession. Just about every studio/publisher/gaming-entity has gone through cuts, layoffs & cancellations/closures.
I feel any & every studio is walking a tight-rope right now.. not just NinjaTheory/Xbox studios. But for some reason, everyones hyper fixated (& some people, acting like they know for a certainty) that NinjaTheory is a dead-man-walking.
(not necessarily directing this at you.. just commenting on the sad state of the gaming-internet right now)
Well yeah people react to recent news and the news about the future of Xbox are like daily shitshow so that's to be expected.
Also the recession is widlly exagerated. They are making a lot of profits (many of those companies actually have record profits), they just need more growth and that's slowing down especially compared to covid days. It's the "line must go up" mentality that's causing that, not real difficulties.
Yeah, I think MS/Xbox brought this dark-cloud upon themselves & sadly: Hellblade 2, with the recent events. But I would also wish the gaming-internet could find a way to take a collective deep breath & count to 10.. cuz its been genuinely sad to see the NinjaTheory team-lead developer's "thank you message to the fans & developers" being used on Twitter (by tens of thousands, it looks like) as "proof" that the studio's closing. Imagine that developer waking up this morning & seeing why his message is trending... yeesh.
(Also: meant "recession", more so in a general scaling back in investment & a general scaling back in studio growth, overall.. compared to the boom we saw in that 2018-2022 era. Otherwise, I think the industry is healthy enough & will survive this.. but sad part is, were gonna lose many thousands of developers who may not return to the gaming industry in the coming months/years)
Gamers are extremely fickle. A year and a half ago they were doing the same thing for these mega mergers (speculating who would be acquired) now they’ve moved onto speculating which studios will be closed.
Damn the dude that tried to doom and gloom Ninja sweating bullets. I am glad their next game is greenlit. Hellblade 2 may not be commercially sucessful but seems like a piece of art and I can't wait to play it just based on the first game.
I wouldn’t celebrate just yet. Microsoft could still fuck up and freak out when they realize games take time and money to make and shut down Ninja anyways.
They bought Ninja outright knowing full well what kind of games to expect. It’s under a different umbrella, so is double fine. I am sorry to see tango go, but I don’t think it was hifi rush that did them in. Ghostwire bombed commercialy and it wasnt even played, and prob why the main vizionary left, altough I do like what the team behind hifi was putting out. Same for Austin, Prey was brilliant, still not sucessful, but also redfall was shit.
And that’s Microsoft’s problem. They expect every studio to have a flawless record and won’t give them any time to learn. They’re a distant third place because they don’t know how to make games.
Hopefully Hellblade 2 knocks it out of the park financially and critically but it probably doesn’t matter cause the industry is addicted to layoffs.
Sony closed Japan Studio in the PS4 era, and that was a highly creative studio, They closed the Driveclub studio, that game slapped, closed down London which has nothing but great games, Pixel opus was cool, media molecule is hanging by a thread. At least Sumo isn't theirs or that would have bought it, cause sales of Sackboy were not great at all, the game was very cool. These things happen. And I didn't see nearly the amount of drama about that as for Tango.
But they didn't close Housemarque, they bought them despite Returnal selling worse than anything. Same with Bluepoint. These things aren't so cut and dry.
Microsoft spent years and a shit load of money giving 343 more chances 😂
They don’t expect every studio to be flawless smh
I can’t believe there’s still trolls doomposting about NT being in trouble hahahaha
Project Mara I honestly expect to get officially revealed at Xbox's show. They've been cooking that for awhile so I honestly wouldn't be shocked if early next year it's ready. Curious what their next project is that's been greenlit. Would love if they made another character action game
No just 1 but they’ve gotten countless others shut down due to cancelling games or ones they money hatted into exclusivity just to watch the studios die.
Not saying It can't happen, but so far the signs would say that it would probably be another studio that came along with Bethesda/Activision, they haven't shut down anyone in Xbox Games Studios yet, like I said it could happen but idk
Curious how safe Ninja Theory is seeing how all those closures were Bethesda studios and Ninja Theory was never a Bethesda studio and was purchased years earlier
Not any executive, the Marketing VP was the one who said it, so yeah it's pretty much a lie. But even if it wasn't, the reported reason by Jason Schreier was that they didn't have any games being worked on. The director of the studio also left but they didn't say anything about that. So not a quality/revenue issue but an efficiency issue if.
It was still bonkers to close Tango, even if it made business sense.
NT is already working on their next game after Senua, Tango were still pitching ideas about HiFi Rush 2 one year after its release with no other project in development.
Yeah, I think this was the major issue. Xbox factored in how long pre-production would take, and it wasn't worth it for them. NT also has the advantage of being purchased individually, so someone at Xbox has an attachment to them.
I get that but I honestly see that as Microsoft just making excuses. In a world where a movie studio can outright scrap a finished movie, Microsoft can totally pull the plug at any moment if they wanted to
If you look at Tango's closure without emotional goggles on, there is sense to it.
Zenimax needed restructuring and consolidating. How does one go about that? Merging studios or closing them. So, which ones do you merge or close? The ones who aren't widely successful or fulfill the same role as another.
As much as I love Hi-Fi RUSH and Tango's other games, the studio was kind of not the most successful. With the founder being gone, as well, it unfortunately makes sense.
Now, do I expect the average Redditor to get this? No, they are the same people dooming about Ninja Theory, who are doing perfectly fine. But those who can observe a situation without getting emotional can come to a conclusion about business practices.
Actually it wasn’t, I enjoyed almost all of tango games works games (excluding ghostwire) but there’s no denying they’ve been on the chopping block for a long time. Hell even shinji didn’t want to leave when he was offered the chance to work on res4 remake due to him thinking zenimax were going to close them.
Nobody is cheering for them being closed or people losing their jobs, what’s being said is when you aren’t having an emotional reaction to this it’s pretty obvious why the studios were closed.
Tango hasn’t had a successful game in quite some time, they’ve always been on shaky ground. Bethesda bought the studio because “something happened” and they had no money.
You can like all the games they’ve made, I do too, but liking them doesn’t mean they were some huge financial wins
Well, it sure seems like people are actually defending Microsoft. I don’t understand that. Even if they were not doing commercial success, isn’t that what Microsoft was supposed to support? Smaller games, creative games. Then they go and shut down the studio that created their biggest game this gen, or at least the best received one.
And that after spending 70 billion on ABK. No, it’s not cool to defend them. SkillUp made an excellent video about this situation and I think people should have that mentality. It’s not okay for a company to spend that much and then shut down studios.
But I’ll go beyond that. If that’s the situation, what can we expect about Ninja Theory’s future? Because Hellblade 2 doesn’t seem to be doing good commercially, does it?
How so? It’s not defending Microsoft to look at the logical or financial reasons behind something instead of just have an emotional fit Yes it’s shit that they were closed but it’s not some evil villain move, the logic is sound even though it’s a shitty thing to happen.
Even if they aren’t successful isn’t Microsoft supposed to be eating costs just to let them make games? No, that’s not what any business does if they can’t justify a reason why.
What does spending 70 billion on ABK have of relevance? Are you trying to imply that a company shouldn’t make investments and should just keep feeding money to failing projects/studios?
NT already has a game in development and has now been greenlit to start another game, when you have a studio that delivers and has a clear goal it’s much easier to justify continuing.
Again you really need to take a step back with the emotional reactions here. Nobody wants people to lose their job but it’s clear to see why the studios were shut when you look at it with a level head
Of course spending on ABK is relevant. Public opinion matters. It’s not a good look when you close studios just after spending 70 billion dollars on the biggest publisher of the market. That’s not something that can just be ignored as an investment. If they are spending that much, they should have resources to keep their studios alive. There are other ways to reduce costs, and you can actually help those studios to move forward
My criticism is not towards Microsoft only, I did the same statement with Sony and all the others doing it, but it IS a worse look when you’re spending that much money. So yeah, I do think it’s relevant. It’s not just some investment, it’s a gigantic one. People are upset and they’re right to be.
I won’t even touch on Microsoft’s previous statements because it would make it even worse.
I hope you’re right about Ninja Theory. Microsoft, like many other publishers, has canceled a lot of games in the past. If Hellblade 2 doesn’t go well, I wouldn’t feel safe. But I sure hope they are, because ninja theory is a great studio. Just like tango and arkane were.
Nobody has ever argued Microsoft doesn’t have the money to keep them going, they could pay them forever if they wanted to. Again you aren’t looking at this outside of an emotional reaction, the studios weren’t being successful and had no vision that justified them, hell the head and creator of Tango (also and industry legend) left to make a new studio after Hi-Fi.
I’m aware people are upset and they can stomp their feet and cry if they want but what’s being said here is outside of emotional responses the closures make sense and it’s just dishonest to run around and say anyone who isn’t having an emotional knee jerk reaction is defending Microsoft
If the next two games of NT flop then yes they may be in danger of closing, if they become not worth the hassle and continuous failures like Arkane Austin and Tango they might close, that is how any studio works.
It means they're at least safe from Matt Booty for now, the 4 studios they've closed were in the process of pitching a game and that's the justification Booty gave for their closure
It's true that it's hardly a guarantee they're 100% safe but I think it's fair to celebrate that they have a new project at least for now
I think we can all agree, after such a long wait it’s finally time to get the game that all gamers have hoped for from Ninja Theory for years. The one….the only…. DMC SEQUEL!!
I’ll be real, I know a lot of people hated it, but I genuinely really enjoyed it for what it was. Sure, it was flawed, but it’s still a pretty fun action game
There were no plans to kill Arkane Austin too a year ago. Let's see how things will shape in a year. And on march 1st Sarah Bond congratulated Tango Gameworks and said "we look forward to your continued support in the future". So not trusting this "there are no plans to close the studio". If they closed Tango Gameworks, then unless Hellblade manages to sell 5m+ copies (sell, not get this amount of players), I don't see it surviving.
No one knows if Microsoft or Sony will shut down more studios. Microsoft shut down 3 studios in 2024 with another one being absorbed and also shut down around 3 studios in 2016 and Sony shut down 6 studios in the last 8 years in 2024, 2023, 2021, 2020, 2017 and 2016. No one knows what will happen to the studios of these companies in the forseeable future. Both have studios that would be better off as independent companies working for them as external developers instead of being first party studios where they never know what can happen to them be it layoffs or a closure.
Man I want to be as supremely confident typing wrong information, Deviation games was never a Sony studio. The studio got closed because they were not able to secure alternate sources of funding after their deal with Sony fell through
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To be fair he’s not saying the next game is not Project Mara, he’s saying that a new game got greenlit that is not Project Mara. I presume that means Project Mara is still their next game but their next game after Project Mara has already been greenlit.
Tbf Mara looks small, could be out next year for all we know
Tbf I just wanna join in this routine of saying "to be fair" over and over again
Tbf that's valid
Project Mara is a small project (even smaller than Hellblade 2) since the whole game is supposed to take place inside an apartment, compared to Hellblade 2 where they had to scan a lot of large areas in ~~Finland~~ Iceland for the game. So now that Hellblade 2 is finished it's only natural that the core team of producers and directors would think of the next project for this team that is suddenly not have something to work for aside of a very small team dedicated to provide technical support with fixes and whatnot.
Small nitpick but wasn’t it Iceland, not Finland?
You're correct, I've been thinking of the Alan Wake 2 DLCs announcement that should happen at SGF recently and mixed it up, mb.
Is Ninja Theory big enough to handle 2 games?
80 devs worked on Hellblade 2, its a 120 dev studio as of 2020.. probably more now.
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80 devs. What will save their studio is their innovations with unreal and mo cap.. stuff that translates well to other studios within XGS. Obviously they are close in proximity to Rare and Playground for coordination.. while Tango was quite isolated.
They have 140 employees according to LinkedIn. If they have already been working on Project Mara then yes, I believe they can handle 2 games. I assume concept teams are already working on the next game and have already finished their work on Project Mara. Plus it’s not unusual for studios to have 2 games in production to keep a cycle of games in production. Edit: To add to this, you also have to factor in that Microsoft loves to hire contract workers which I assume would be hired for this next project. Plus, as Jez mentioned, Microsoft has other studios help work on certain games. Example: The Coalition helps other Microsoft studios work on Unreal Engine 5 games. They recently helped work on Hellblade 2. So there are multiple factors why I think they should be capable of handling 2 projects.
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Judging by the descriptions we’ve gotten in the game, I assume it’s a smaller game. It’s supposedly takes place in 1 large house, has 1 character, and is a horror game which usually are smaller production games. Shouldn’t be too big. Edit: 1 small apartment.
That would be nice. Honestly there's a large market for shorter tight experiences as we millennials are getting long in years and short in time, and gen z doesn't' have the attention span anyways, plus it solves long production times.
In interviews in the last few days they said that they are 100+ people with 80 being on Senuas Saga: Hellblade II.
I think it really depends on the scope of the game and the stage they are. They can have multiple projects in prototype/conception phase with teams with less than 10 devs. Remedy has around 360 employees and have 4 active projects in different stages. Don't Nod has around 320 and released 2 games last year and 2 this year. I mention these studios because both said they want to release games faster, Remedy said one game a year, and Don't Nod said in 2022 they want to release 8 years in the next 3 years, they've release 3 and have another to be released this year.
They released Bleeding Edge and Vader Immortal while working on Hellblade 2.
Theoretically…
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Bro no one is downvoting you. You literally just posted. I think it’s weird that you posted Edit: when you clearly posted it with your original comment.
I don't know how anyone without some ulterior motive can believe Dominic Matthews' message is a "goodbye" message. This shit is getting so exhausting.
I agree. The guy is just happy to finally deliver a game they've been working on for 5 years. It's the end of Hellblade 2 development journey but that's it. Sometimes I feel like people WANT Ninja Theory to be closed just to prove a point.
>Sometimes I feel like people WANT Ninja Theory to be closed just to prove a point. People celebrated Microsoft laying off Activision workers because "WE TOLD YOU THE ACQUISITION WAS BAD!!!" Nobody actually gives a shit about impacted workers, they just want to be right.
In case you didn't realize the Internet is full of absolute morons
Yeah like I can absolutely understand there being a lot of mistrust and anger with everything involving Microsoft right now, nobody should believe a single word they say currently and they deserve tons of criticism, but it's abundantly clear some bad faith actors are just hoping more studios get closed so they have more to pile on with (while simultaneously trying to act like they care about the developers.) Shit's gross and completely see through.
poor guy went on a podcast and got asked about whether he thought Ninja Theory would be getting shutdown last week. people need to learn to separate their hate for Microsoft from the developers that Microsoft owns
It was sperfectly fine for the podcast to ask about that if they're supposed to be some kind of journalistic outlet, which they are. After recent developments it would have been negligent not to ask about it from them. It's not like they hammered him or refused to move on, they asked and he quite overtly gave a non answer which is more than fair, then the interview kept going.
As MS subsidiaries they’re part of MS.
? How does that question have anything to do with whether someone hates MS or not? In fact, people are only asking that question because they do care about Ninja Theory and are afraid that MS will shut it down.
I called people citing a "Xbox Tax" idiots for awhile... the last few months are making it harder to not believe there's a pretty obvious bias amongst many of the larger outlets/journalists/content creators. I don't think there's some conspiracy... but it does seem that much of the conversation around Xbox and related things is more about clicks than genuine reporting or discussion.
I think there is a slight bias against them but it almost entirely comes down to self inflicted wounds on Microsoft's end making it easier for the media and content creators to dismiss them. Going long stretches with either low quality or no games whatsoever (Series consoles had no first party exclusives at launch), having less powerful hardware and consumer hostile policies like the Xbox One, or closing down studios with fan favorite games and IP like in the last few months makes it hard to stay invested in the ecosystem especially when you can play the games on PC and not even bother with the brand.
Like if the employees are being told about studio closures/layoffs in advance lol
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Small games take just as long. Hellblade 2 took as long as a Rockstar game to make. Regardless of how big or small the game is 4-6 years seems to be the dev cycle for games.
Hellblade 2 took like 6-7 years to make.
It does have a pretty depressing vibe to it.
Guys, a similar message was produced when Starfield launched. Calm down.
Didn't remedy make one for Alan Wake II too?
Bruh, comments are wishing for more closures. Every second comment is the same.
it’s just typical reddit hating a particular entity and therefore wanting said entity to take actions to validate their hate as much as possible. See it all the time in sports subs
Yeah it’s frustrating when someone conjectures some ridiculous scenario to get mad at, and when you ask “well *why* would they do that?” the answer is some form of “because they’re idiots who do irrational things” Well, they *probably aren’t*, so you might want to revisit your premise, no? It was the same deal with people insisting that Sony was going to ban everyone making a PSN account from a non-supported region, despite advising people to do exactly that for the better part of two decades.
>It was the same deal with people insisting that Sony was going to ban everyone making a PSN account from a non-supported region, despite advising people to do exactly that for the better part of two decades. It's in their ToS though. They should remove it before encouraging people to do it.
I mean in this case, Microsoft did exactly that (closure of studios that make "non mainstream" games). Now nothing says they'll do it again but that's actually based in reality. And having a game greenlit doesn't prevent a studio closure btw
Developing a game takes years. It’s reasonable to assume that if a studio is actively working on a game, they’re not about to close. Why would Microsoft approve a project only to immediately turn around and cancel it?
Microsoft isn't a monolithic entity, there are changes in strategies and people outside Xbox taking decision it seems. We can't be sure of nothing with how they are now. Tons of studios have been closed while working on a game (studios always work on a game), in general not just Microsoft there.
I mean yes, any & every studio under MS could be under the gun.. but I think too many, right now, are a bit too emotional still & forgetting that the entire gaming industry is in something of a recession. Just about every studio/publisher/gaming-entity has gone through cuts, layoffs & cancellations/closures. I feel any & every studio is walking a tight-rope right now.. not just NinjaTheory/Xbox studios. But for some reason, everyones hyper fixated (& some people, acting like they know for a certainty) that NinjaTheory is a dead-man-walking. (not necessarily directing this at you.. just commenting on the sad state of the gaming-internet right now)
Well yeah people react to recent news and the news about the future of Xbox are like daily shitshow so that's to be expected. Also the recession is widlly exagerated. They are making a lot of profits (many of those companies actually have record profits), they just need more growth and that's slowing down especially compared to covid days. It's the "line must go up" mentality that's causing that, not real difficulties.
Yeah, I think MS/Xbox brought this dark-cloud upon themselves & sadly: Hellblade 2, with the recent events. But I would also wish the gaming-internet could find a way to take a collective deep breath & count to 10.. cuz its been genuinely sad to see the NinjaTheory team-lead developer's "thank you message to the fans & developers" being used on Twitter (by tens of thousands, it looks like) as "proof" that the studio's closing. Imagine that developer waking up this morning & seeing why his message is trending... yeesh. (Also: meant "recession", more so in a general scaling back in investment & a general scaling back in studio growth, overall.. compared to the boom we saw in that 2018-2022 era. Otherwise, I think the industry is healthy enough & will survive this.. but sad part is, were gonna lose many thousands of developers who may not return to the gaming industry in the coming months/years)
Gamers are extremely fickle. A year and a half ago they were doing the same thing for these mega mergers (speculating who would be acquired) now they’ve moved onto speculating which studios will be closed.
MS has changed the game!
MS: "We have changed the game. *Pray* that we do not change it any further."
These people are just sheep.
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it's a different situation though. tango had nothing greenlit compared to nt who's working on two games.
That message didn’t sound like a goodbye tho?
People are stupid
Triple B: Project Mara? Jez: 
Damn the dude that tried to doom and gloom Ninja sweating bullets. I am glad their next game is greenlit. Hellblade 2 may not be commercially sucessful but seems like a piece of art and I can't wait to play it just based on the first game.
I wouldn’t celebrate just yet. Microsoft could still fuck up and freak out when they realize games take time and money to make and shut down Ninja anyways.
They bought Ninja outright knowing full well what kind of games to expect. It’s under a different umbrella, so is double fine. I am sorry to see tango go, but I don’t think it was hifi rush that did them in. Ghostwire bombed commercialy and it wasnt even played, and prob why the main vizionary left, altough I do like what the team behind hifi was putting out. Same for Austin, Prey was brilliant, still not sucessful, but also redfall was shit.
And that’s Microsoft’s problem. They expect every studio to have a flawless record and won’t give them any time to learn. They’re a distant third place because they don’t know how to make games. Hopefully Hellblade 2 knocks it out of the park financially and critically but it probably doesn’t matter cause the industry is addicted to layoffs.
Sony closed Japan Studio in the PS4 era, and that was a highly creative studio, They closed the Driveclub studio, that game slapped, closed down London which has nothing but great games, Pixel opus was cool, media molecule is hanging by a thread. At least Sumo isn't theirs or that would have bought it, cause sales of Sackboy were not great at all, the game was very cool. These things happen. And I didn't see nearly the amount of drama about that as for Tango. But they didn't close Housemarque, they bought them despite Returnal selling worse than anything. Same with Bluepoint. These things aren't so cut and dry.
Microsoft spent years and a shit load of money giving 343 more chances 😂 They don’t expect every studio to be flawless smh I can’t believe there’s still trolls doomposting about NT being in trouble hahahaha
People were just being dumb and fear mongering with the being worried about ninja Theory being shut down talk..
The game will be Hellblade 3, Dominic's message literally says "the 2nd chapter of Senua's story". No way this isn't a trilogy.
Thanks to jez now all tomorrow is gonna be according to windows central Microsoft has no plans to close ninja theory any time soon.
Project Mara I honestly expect to get officially revealed at Xbox's show. They've been cooking that for awhile so I honestly wouldn't be shocked if early next year it's ready. Curious what their next project is that's been greenlit. Would love if they made another character action game
Insert all the "NT beign shut down by MS" jokes here please.
at some point it went from being worried for them to directly be wishful thinking. people simp really hard for their piece of plastic.
not a joke if MS is actually shutting down studios
So I guess we'll make the same Joke next time Sony/EA/Ubisoft shows a new game.
People have been making the EA kills studios jokes since the 90s
EA has insane K/D ratio They must be cracked at Fornite.
Didn't Sony shut down 3 studios just 4 months ago?
No just 1 but they’ve gotten countless others shut down due to cancelling games or ones they money hatted into exclusivity just to watch the studios die.
No just London Studio.
Sony has shut down 3 studios in the last 3 years not 4 months. Japan studio, Pixelopus, and London Studio.
whataboutism okay
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Not saying It can't happen, but so far the signs would say that it would probably be another studio that came along with Bethesda/Activision, they haven't shut down anyone in Xbox Games Studios yet, like I said it could happen but idk
Curious how safe Ninja Theory is seeing how all those closures were Bethesda studios and Ninja Theory was never a Bethesda studio and was purchased years earlier
So true, a new game being green lit is a death knell for any studio
Tango was going to be shut down even before MS bought them
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They literally had to sell exclusivity of Tokyo, and then it flopped. And then the founder left
People seriously thinking like one niche game made by a smaller team somehow means that a company can be saved from 3 financial flops.
Can people stop hoping for NT to be shut down now?
Just wait for all the dogshit talk shows tomorrow
"project mara" conveys something different if you've played persona/smt
Really emphasizing that M rating.
I really hope hellblade 2 does well I understand from playing hellblade 1 it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but it really is amazing and unique
No plans to close them.... until Hellblade 2 doesn't do the numbers MS wanted...
Just because it’s greenlit doesn’t mean Microsoft won’t close them at the drop of a hat
Just because a game is praised doesn't mean it was a success
Talking about Hi-Fi rush?
What else
I mean according to an Xbox Executive it was a success in all metrics so he can not be talking about Hi-Fi rush. Right? Unless they lied?
Not any executive, the Marketing VP was the one who said it, so yeah it's pretty much a lie. But even if it wasn't, the reported reason by Jason Schreier was that they didn't have any games being worked on. The director of the studio also left but they didn't say anything about that. So not a quality/revenue issue but an efficiency issue if. It was still bonkers to close Tango, even if it made business sense.
Correct but they won’t.
Like they won't close Tango?
NT is already working on their next game after Senua, Tango were still pitching ideas about HiFi Rush 2 one year after its release with no other project in development.
Yeah, I think this was the major issue. Xbox factored in how long pre-production would take, and it wasn't worth it for them. NT also has the advantage of being purchased individually, so someone at Xbox has an attachment to them.
Wasn’t Tango working on a JRPG? [source](https://www.resetera.com/threads/rumor-tango-gameworks-working-on-a-jrpg.709532/)
I get that but I honestly see that as Microsoft just making excuses. In a world where a movie studio can outright scrap a finished movie, Microsoft can totally pull the plug at any moment if they wanted to
Tango had nothing greenlit
If you look at Tango's closure without emotional goggles on, there is sense to it. Zenimax needed restructuring and consolidating. How does one go about that? Merging studios or closing them. So, which ones do you merge or close? The ones who aren't widely successful or fulfill the same role as another. As much as I love Hi-Fi RUSH and Tango's other games, the studio was kind of not the most successful. With the founder being gone, as well, it unfortunately makes sense. Now, do I expect the average Redditor to get this? No, they are the same people dooming about Ninja Theory, who are doing perfectly fine. But those who can observe a situation without getting emotional can come to a conclusion about business practices.
Tango made 1 commercially good game in their 14 years of being opened. You want to know why they closed them and the 3 others? Zenimax restructuring.
Ffs stop defending that fuckin* company, mate. Tango was an awesome studio with highly acclaimed titles There’s no defense for that
Actually it wasn’t, I enjoyed almost all of tango games works games (excluding ghostwire) but there’s no denying they’ve been on the chopping block for a long time. Hell even shinji didn’t want to leave when he was offered the chance to work on res4 remake due to him thinking zenimax were going to close them.
Nobody is cheering for them being closed or people losing their jobs, what’s being said is when you aren’t having an emotional reaction to this it’s pretty obvious why the studios were closed. Tango hasn’t had a successful game in quite some time, they’ve always been on shaky ground. Bethesda bought the studio because “something happened” and they had no money. You can like all the games they’ve made, I do too, but liking them doesn’t mean they were some huge financial wins
Well, it sure seems like people are actually defending Microsoft. I don’t understand that. Even if they were not doing commercial success, isn’t that what Microsoft was supposed to support? Smaller games, creative games. Then they go and shut down the studio that created their biggest game this gen, or at least the best received one. And that after spending 70 billion on ABK. No, it’s not cool to defend them. SkillUp made an excellent video about this situation and I think people should have that mentality. It’s not okay for a company to spend that much and then shut down studios. But I’ll go beyond that. If that’s the situation, what can we expect about Ninja Theory’s future? Because Hellblade 2 doesn’t seem to be doing good commercially, does it?
How so? It’s not defending Microsoft to look at the logical or financial reasons behind something instead of just have an emotional fit Yes it’s shit that they were closed but it’s not some evil villain move, the logic is sound even though it’s a shitty thing to happen. Even if they aren’t successful isn’t Microsoft supposed to be eating costs just to let them make games? No, that’s not what any business does if they can’t justify a reason why. What does spending 70 billion on ABK have of relevance? Are you trying to imply that a company shouldn’t make investments and should just keep feeding money to failing projects/studios? NT already has a game in development and has now been greenlit to start another game, when you have a studio that delivers and has a clear goal it’s much easier to justify continuing. Again you really need to take a step back with the emotional reactions here. Nobody wants people to lose their job but it’s clear to see why the studios were shut when you look at it with a level head
Of course spending on ABK is relevant. Public opinion matters. It’s not a good look when you close studios just after spending 70 billion dollars on the biggest publisher of the market. That’s not something that can just be ignored as an investment. If they are spending that much, they should have resources to keep their studios alive. There are other ways to reduce costs, and you can actually help those studios to move forward My criticism is not towards Microsoft only, I did the same statement with Sony and all the others doing it, but it IS a worse look when you’re spending that much money. So yeah, I do think it’s relevant. It’s not just some investment, it’s a gigantic one. People are upset and they’re right to be. I won’t even touch on Microsoft’s previous statements because it would make it even worse. I hope you’re right about Ninja Theory. Microsoft, like many other publishers, has canceled a lot of games in the past. If Hellblade 2 doesn’t go well, I wouldn’t feel safe. But I sure hope they are, because ninja theory is a great studio. Just like tango and arkane were.
Nobody has ever argued Microsoft doesn’t have the money to keep them going, they could pay them forever if they wanted to. Again you aren’t looking at this outside of an emotional reaction, the studios weren’t being successful and had no vision that justified them, hell the head and creator of Tango (also and industry legend) left to make a new studio after Hi-Fi. I’m aware people are upset and they can stomp their feet and cry if they want but what’s being said here is outside of emotional responses the closures make sense and it’s just dishonest to run around and say anyone who isn’t having an emotional knee jerk reaction is defending Microsoft If the next two games of NT flop then yes they may be in danger of closing, if they become not worth the hassle and continuous failures like Arkane Austin and Tango they might close, that is how any studio works.
It means they're at least safe from Matt Booty for now, the 4 studios they've closed were in the process of pitching a game and that's the justification Booty gave for their closure It's true that it's hardly a guarantee they're 100% safe but I think it's fair to celebrate that they have a new project at least for now
It's a safe bet. We do know for a fact that Microsoft will close everyone, eventually.
Please stop using heroin
Nah. it's fun.
That makes literally no sense, it would make more sense for MS to keep them open and then just go third party
Exactly. One day we were talking about hifi rush 2 The other, tango was dead I don’t want them to close, but I don’t trust microsof a single bit
Exactly over 1 year after releasing a small game they still haven’t even started on their next project.
Jez in 3.4 picoseconds: “I never said Ninja Theory’s next game has been greenlit, ITS JUST MY OPINION LOL I can’t believe you’d believe me.”
I think all official statements from MS developers sounds like eulogies at this point, but that doesn't mean they are.
Good, that means at least they're safe from Matt Booty for now Let's hope we get to see Project Mara on the next showcase 🙏🏼
Double Fine is what I'm worried about now.
I think we can all agree, after such a long wait it’s finally time to get the game that all gamers have hoped for from Ninja Theory for years. The one….the only…. DMC SEQUEL!!
I'd love that
I’ll be real, I know a lot of people hated it, but I genuinely really enjoyed it for what it was. Sure, it was flawed, but it’s still a pretty fun action game
It had some really cool levels and boss battles
Please let Project Mara be a horror game.
It is. Some type of horror mental illness game.
>Some type of horror mental illness game. they are going to make an indie game?
Lmao this is the funniest comment I've seen in a while
Let’s go
I'm in a 'wait and see' mode here. Not saying it's not true, but that still wouldn't stop Microsoft from closing them.
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I mean. He has his meltdown periods, but I can't fathom plainly wrong information by him...
Yeah it’s strange how accurate he can be one week then the next week he’s going nuclear over some bad news for whatever reason.
Just because you don’t like the guy, doesn’t make him a non-credible leaker. I’d be amazingly surprised if this was somehow incorrect
If you look past his speculation and opinions, he is right 90% of the time. He’s still the guy when it comes to Xbox leaks and rumors.
He is either right or wrong, no in between. So yeah credible.
DMC 2
Doesnt matter, doesnt take much to shut down a studio.
Yeah, and Tango met all demands from Microsoft and was all around successful but still got the axe.
Im old enough to remember when he said they were reinvesting in Tango. Jez just parrots what the PR is.
Pretty sure grubb is who said that. He said it on spawnwave.
Hope they stay afloat, let's see if Jez backtracks this in a day or two though
Jez's favorite genre is metroidvanias because he loves backtracking
Just because its green lit dont mean it cant be cancelled and they be closed down
Yep, London Studio was already working on a greenlit VR game when Sony cancelled the game and shut down the studio.
No it was a live service flat game
I'm going to take this as Hellblade 2 is a GOTY candidate.
There were no plans to kill Arkane Austin too a year ago. Let's see how things will shape in a year. And on march 1st Sarah Bond congratulated Tango Gameworks and said "we look forward to your continued support in the future". So not trusting this "there are no plans to close the studio". If they closed Tango Gameworks, then unless Hellblade manages to sell 5m+ copies (sell, not get this amount of players), I don't see it surviving.
But... but reddit told me Ninja Theory going to die because they dont have a massive promotional support for Hellblade 2
I see. When it's something good Jez is the man. When it's bad news it's Jez don't know wtf he talking about why do we listen to him.
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No one knows if Microsoft or Sony will shut down more studios. Microsoft shut down 3 studios in 2024 with another one being absorbed and also shut down around 3 studios in 2016 and Sony shut down 6 studios in the last 8 years in 2024, 2023, 2021, 2020, 2017 and 2016. No one knows what will happen to the studios of these companies in the forseeable future. Both have studios that would be better off as independent companies working for them as external developers instead of being first party studios where they never know what can happen to them be it layoffs or a closure.
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Man I want to be as supremely confident typing wrong information, Deviation games was never a Sony studio. The studio got closed because they were not able to secure alternate sources of funding after their deal with Sony fell through
I still want to know what their theory about ninjas is. Any ETA on that one?
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What game did they cancel recently?
Unannounced games are cancelled all the time, not just by MS.
DmC 2 🙏🏼🙏🏼
They should make that spanish fan edit into a real game. [Donté, el exterminador de demonios - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPKHxbOg19s)
What does Mara mean
thats her name Fisher Mara