My understanding is that the Xbox brand and console market in general seems to be in crisis. Consolidation and restructuring are part of being a large corporation, but what you describe sounds awful. Management Hell.
From what I remember Microsoft has been releaseing dud after dud since XBOX One's release. Everytime they hype something up as the next big thing it falls flat on its face. Nothing has worked out in their favor apart from maybe the Game Pass thing (which I don't understand how it is possibly going to work out in the long term). I remember that there used to be a problem with publishers messing too much with studios and their ability to make games so Microsoft went the opposite direction of letting studios do their own thing as much as possible. I guess that's finally coming to an end.
What made Bethslop appeal to normies was the sense of "endless" exploration. How they could come to the decision to replace that with loading screens baffles me. Did the higher ups not realise their own strength? Are they surrounded by yes-men?
I suppose they wanted to break out of the box they've been in and finally try to create their own thing. The problem is that they weren't even good at designing games in their own box. So what made them think they could possibly design a wholly new game that doesn't use the old formula as a crutch? The only thing I can think of is ego and hubris. They've been making "hit games" blowing so much smoke up their own ass that they gaslit themselves into thinking that they are hot shit. But like I said, their games are trash.
It's disappointing that so many of the unwashed masses have such low standards that they can't see it but the only explanation I can think of is that because Bethesda has a very specific kind of "formula" to their games that is found nowhere else that means that they remain uncontested in their corner of the gaming space. The one and only time anyone gave them competition was New Vegas and we all saw how that worked out, especially with the TV-Show spitting on the west coast.
But this time around they broke that tradition. They didn't rely on that formula. And all of the sudden people that would otherwise be in their comfort zone of braindead zombie mode aren't in it and start to 'think'. That's dangerous for a braindead zombie mode kinda game, you don't want your audience thinking.
I doubt this will carry on over to the next game they make though. So long as it relies on the same formula it can have the same dogshit quality that Skyrim has and people will lap it up, cause it's the comfort food they want to turn their brain off to after a stressful day at work.
I hate the Evil Within is not getting a sequel but Starfield is.
Preach.
Evil Within is a great series.
Starfield is also fucking weird because if you want a Bethesda game in space, you have the Outer Worlds by Obsidian.
Eh... Nah. The combinations of all the little things in a Bethesda game that makes it what it is isn't quite there in Outer Worlds. On a surface level it is but when we get down to the actual way the game is structured and plays, not really. For example, you can't reverse pickpocket armor onto people and have them wear it.
The whole situation is fucked. I don't belive Bethesda is capable of embracing the cultural shift necessary to create something new. They've had their formula for over 20 years, with unprecedented financial gains.
Oh absolutely not. The way they make games is taking for-fucking-ever to develop a game and it HAS to be THE smash hit. They aren't in the kind of position to afford being able to experiment or develop things on a smaller scale. It's all or nothing.
