this post was submitted on 25 Jan 2024
576 points (98.5% liked)
Technology
59148 readers
2260 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related content.
- Be excellent to each another!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
Approved Bots
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I remember people on the Internet talking about the Microsoft Bethesda deal. I saw people saying that it's "actually a good thing" and how Microsoft can contribute more to Bethesda and they'll churn out better games for Xbox. Then I see shit like this and games like Starfield and understand why 99% of the people on the Internet have no fucking clue what they're talking about.
Starfield was basically done with their release development when Microsoft aquired Bethesda
You think Microsoft is at fault for Starfield being mediocre? Okay
You think they’re not?
When Starfield was released Bethesda was already part of Microsoft. Sure, it was mostly done but Microsoft should have realized it was a turd and either delayed the release to rebuild the game or simply cancelled it. Instead they chose to take money from their customers for a game that is clearly not worth the asking price.
It's worth mentioning thought that Microsoft did step in after they bought Bethesda to get the game to even run at 30fps on their consoles.
However, I very much doubt that they would have tried to compromise the vision of the game after paying premium for the company. Keep in mind that Bethesda had delivered some beloved games in the past.
The mistake was to trust them. A mistake that it looks like they don't want to repeat with Blizzard judging by the huge amount of layoffs.
I don't buy that it was purely trust. If you're going to spend $69 billion you have to do your due diligence. You want to know what you're buying. I can imagine Bethesda not noticing they had a problem, they have been working on it for years and if you're so immersed into the development it can be hard to take a step back and take a good look at what you've made. But Microsoft was looking at it with a fresh pair of eyes. There are only 2 options: Either the Xbox division at Microsoft is completely incompetent or they knew they had a stinker and decided to sell it anyway.
They knew what they were buying - a beloved studio that has churned out tons of "classics" over the past couple decades, which has been able to sell and resell one of those classics (Skyrim) for like half a dozen different consoles.
There's actually a third option: Microsoft knew Starfield would sell, stinker or not, because Bethesda has a very loyal fanbase that will eat up anything they put out. It didn't matter to Microsoft whether the game was good or not, they knew they'd make their money either way.
That’s just option 2 I describes, in more words. Basically, they scammed Bethesda’s loyal fans.
You buy it, you own it
Okay. Well they made sure Starfield didn't come out on the PS5, okay. and I promise you that didn't help their numbers at all. Okay. Okay
Ya, THAT was the problem with Starfield. That is didn't come out in the PS5...
And please read comments more carefully next time. I did not say Microsoft was ever at fault, simply that they did not contribute anything to make Starfield better before release. Delays are a thing, but nobody thought it would be worth it to delay Starfield before release. If anything I'd bet money that Microsoft pushed the release
You're right, you didn't say Microsoft was at fault, you just heavily implied it. Maybe you should read your own comment again?
I did. I didn't heavily imply it. Just that Microsoft didn't help.