Microsoft Games Boss Promises Higher Quality, Fewer Games

Thanks to the San Jose Mercury News for its article discussing Microsoft Game Studios' new general manager Shane Kim's attitude to development, as the piece notes: "Some of Kim's first acts have been to ax or delay several projects. Since the fall, Microsoft has scaled back its staff of internal game developers from 1,200 employees to about 1,000." But it's argued: "Because there are now so many others making games for the Xbox, Microsoft needs to make fewer titles, Kim said... This shift toward a conservative investing style mirrors the larger shift within the video game industry, where development budgets and marketing costs are reaching Hollywood proportions."

Comments

Microsoft makes some pretty decent games

[linzeal]

They may merely assimilate a good code shop here and there, but they have good taste. Oh if I could only have the hours back wasted on the "Age of" series, sigh. Maybe than I would have a girl, oh well back to my game of star wars galaxies.

Re:Microsoft makes some pretty decent games

[LeoDV]

Microsoft make some awesome products until they are in a monopoly position. DOS was a fine OS, and so was Windows 3.*, same with Word up to 6.0, IE up to 5... They have lots of $$$ and they know how to use it. When they go after a market they make the best products, that is until they've got it locked, at which point it doesn't matter and they slack off : just look at how they stopped development on the bug-ridden, outdated (popup blocking, tabbed browsing anyone?) IE. But on the other hand, since QuickTime and Winamp have the media market, WMP 9 is a really cool piece of software.

It's the same with games (and the console, by the way). Since it's a highly competitive market, they'll know to get the skilled people to work for them, make some really good titles. AoE was pretty cool for a while, there were the Mechwarrior series and the Close Combats... Microsoft are great when it comes to games.

Re:Microsoft makes some pretty decent games

[polyp2000]

Microsoft make some awesome products until they are in a monopoly position.

So how come they are having so much trouble with the X-Box then? If what you are saying is true, then as they are struggling with Xbox at the moment (and not holding the monopoly), surely there should be lots of great games. Instead we see mainly PC ports and a few average multi-plaform console ports.With the noticable acception of Halo and the other launch titles.

Since they are not in a monopoly in the console market (thank god) your comments would suggest that their games should be excellent. As this article suggests though, this isnt the case( why else would they be making promises?). Any how as the old saying goes. If at first you dont succeed, try, try again.

When they go after a market they make the best products, that is until they've got it locked, at which point it doesn't matter and they slack off :

Just imagine, what that statement means for the future if Microsoft manage to get a hold of the console market? I personally think I'll lose interest in the whole idea of console gaming if this happens. Console gaming should be a hotbed of innovation. The last thing we want is anyone slacking off.

nick ...

Re:Microsoft makes some pretty decent games

[TechniMyoko]

Where'd you get your information? They aren't having trouble with the XBOX considering its outselling GameCube. There are tons of XBOX games that I like, moreso than GameCube has (People are complaining about the lack of Cube games) Their games are excellent. But every game (Except Zelda 3) can be better. As for slacking off, look towards the purple cube of non-onlinishness you troll

Re:Microsoft makes some pretty decent games

[edwdig]

You're the one trolling. The GameCube is outselling the Xbox worldwide by a significant margin. In the US, the Xbox is slightly ahead, but the GameCube has been closing the gap since the cut to $99 last fall.

Re:Microsoft makes some pretty decent games

[edwdig]

Windows 3.x was always horrible. Compare it to other things of the time - OS/2, GEOS, GEM, Mac. It had the worst of both stability and usability. It won because of the monopoly position DOS had, and some illegal product tying.

You're forgetting that IE before 4 was a terrible product. IE 3 couldn't render lots of common sites without problems.

Re:Microsoft makes some pretty decent games

[TechniMyoko]

Cube is ONLY outselling in japan, and last time I checked, the majority of /.ers are not in japan. In the US it is slightly ahead (as you admittided), which therefor it outsold Cube. Japan isnt an accurate representation considering most japanese have admitted they dont buy xbox just cause its american and big.

Re:Microsoft makes some pretty decent games

[edwdig]

Japan is the 2nd largest market for games. It's not something you can just talking aside when talking about console sales. Especially not in this situation. The Xbox has a slim sales lead over the Cube in the US and Europe, but is hugely behind in Japan. Perhaps if the Xbox had a huge lead in the regions its ahead ignoring Japan would be interesting. But right now, ignoring Japan is just tossing aside the numbers you don't like to make your side look better.

Tossing aside Japan can really change the outlook of consoles. The N64 was only outsold by the PS1 3:2 in the US, and that's largely because the last year or two of the N64's life had a large reduction in the number of games available. But in Japan, the PS1 outsold the N64 somewhere around 10:1, which had a huge effect on the worldwide numbers, and is where all talk of the N64 not doing well talk comes from.

The Japanese aren't buying the Xbox not because the system is American, but rather because the games are all catered to American tastes. Selling NFL Gameday with all English text & packaging in Japan isn't going to sell. Nor will selling lots of First Person Shooters.

Cost vs. Methods

[October]

Personally I think it's a little worrying that budgets for games have spiralled up so quickly to approach the level of hollywood blockbusters, while the process of making games is still somewhere in the early 1900s, by hollywood standards. I'm glad to see studios favoring quality over quantity, but I'll be happier when the processes mature to similarly modern levels. Once we cut out the majority of wasted work, schedule overruns, and plain old bad planning I think we'll start seeing what games can really do.

Fewer first-party titles? Higher quality games?

[wheresdrew]

Taking a page from Nintendo's book?

Re:Fewer first-party titles? Higher quality games?

[nifboy]

I was wondering how they could actually have *fewer* games, myself.

Microsoft Games Boss

[vjmurphy]

When I read the first part of the headline, I thought this was going to be an information on how to beat the Microsoft Games Boss. Something like:

* Press X-X-Y while pressing both triggers
* Jump up
* File antitrust lawsuits
* Fire wave-motion gun
* Go to Court

Re:Microsoft makes some pretty decent stuff

[MachDelta]

And its not even only their software. Just look at the perhiphrials market (keyboards, joysticks, wheels, etc), where Microsoft actually makes some competetive products. I'm primarilly a Logitech man myself, but my Microsoft sidewinder wheel is actually a pretty good piece of hardware (even if the software bundled with it sucks :P)

High Quality != High Budget

[codexus]

Sure they are going to invest more money in the games and with the new capabilities of the graphics cards we are going to see some amazing graphics.

But they are going to be even less willing to take the risk to innovate than before. A high-quality game isn't just last year's game with prettier graphics.

Pajitnov

[arhar]

What I'm wondering is... does Alexei Pajitnov (the inventor of Tetris, for both of you who didn't know that) still work for Microsoft games division? It's kind of sad how he didn't make anything of notice since then ...

Microsoft shrinks while EA grows?

[Dustin_00]

EA just announced they are trying to double in size every 5 years while Microsoft is cutting back on game dev? What does Mr. Kim have to say about EA's direction? So Microsoft is saying that it wants to produce quality games -- so it wants to only create million-selling items? Yet by cutting out all its sports titles they have left the field to be owned by EA in an areana where quality versions guarantee return of the faithful on an annual basis. The MMORPG market is flooded -- so killing Mythica kind of made sense. Except for the fact that then leaves them holding AC which has to compete with the next generation from other companies. Mythica would have been the "quality" replacement they're claiming they want to produce. Very sad. All this just seams to point to the reality that Microsoft doesn't have the stomach for a protracted building of a franchise that has more potential than Gate's Dreamworks (see http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,61358,00.ht ml). If Microsoft is truely about producing quality games, then it must realize that it could easilly cut down on marketing budget since allowing Mods, level editors, and online play all build community and word of mouth that buys you far better sales than an add in any Nothing-Gets-Less-Than-4-Out-Of-5-Stars game "review" magazine. Sigh.