Microsoft To Close Xbox Sports Game Studio

AbyssLeaper writes "Microsoft is closing its Xbox sports game studio in Redmond and laying off 76 employees. In a Seattle Times article, Robbie Bach, Microsoft's Xbox chief, cites the difficulty of competing in the game development space and the expansion of 3rd party support - this move wasn't surprising based on their focus on making the Xbox profitable. MSNBC/Seattle Post-Intelligencer speculates that it might also be due to an increased partnership with EA Sports." We previously reported on many XSN Sports titles skipping 2004.

Comments

No One Cares...

[johnkoer]

Based on the lack of reaction to this article, no one really seems to care that XSN titles are not coming out. EA sports dominates the console sports market right now, but NFL2K5 gives madden a run for its money. The Xbox sports titles always felt like second rate games to me.

Re:No One Cares...

[shufler]

"Right now?"

EA has dominated the console sports market since 1991. (NHL Hockey is the earliest EA game I am aware of).

XSN

[SightlessMind]

I had honestly never heard of XSN before reading this article. Perhaps that's part of the problem?

I think it's sad

[Sp00nMan]

Microsoft only tried making sports games good with XSN for one year.. It really had some potential. Heck, I think Top Spin is one of the best tennis games to come out in a long time. If only they didn't have so many bugs with the XSN release, this might not have happened.

Re:I think it's sad

[PainKilleR-CE]

I think that's possibly the worst thing about this announcement. Their yearly titles may not have been the best (though their first year or two weren't bad, 2003 wasn't a good year for them), but the other titles (Top Spin, Links, etc) were very good. Hopefully they'll consider keeping some of those titles to compete in the less-dominated markets, but looking at the layoffs and so forth, it seems unlikely.

Why more sports games?

[Matt Perry]

Does anyone here play and buy sports games? I'm wondering what the appeal is in creating yet another football or basketball game. Do the newer ones deviate from the rules to create a new type of game, or is it just better graphics and sound? Or are game studios working on games based on other sports? It seems to me that one could only create so many football games before covering the same ground, yet there seems to be a new "Madden" game every year.

Not being a sports game player I'm wondering how the game developers are keeping sports games new and different.

Re:Why more sports games?

[johnkoer]

I play and buy sports games, however I usually buy one year behind the curve. This allows me to play the games I want for a fraction of the cost ($10-$15 versus $50). The reason to buy the updated sports games is the updated content and additional features of the game. Once every few years there will be a major update to the gameplay or graphics engine, however there are always additional features that make the game more fun. Most of the EA games now contain some sort of Franchise mode which allows you to run a team for multiple years and control all sorts of aspects of your team. Some games allow you to even run the financials of the team and control everything from parking costs, to stadium equipment, to the cost of a beer at the game. The basics of the games don't change that often, its the new little extras that really make a game spectacular. The updates between versions is not worth $50 to me, but for $10-$15, I will give it a shot.

Re:Why more sports games?

[PainKilleR-CE]

Does anyone here play and buy sports games? I'm wondering what the appeal is in creating yet another football or basketball game.

I do, occasionally, but not in the "pick up the new one as soon as it comes out every year" way that seems to be the foundation of the genre. Therefore, I can't help you understand this mentality, because I don't understand it myself.

Do the newer ones deviate from the rules to create a new type of game, or is it just better graphics and sound?

It depends on the title, as well as the year. Sometimes the updates are fairly minor, other times they do a fairly good job of revamping the interface and adding some new features that actually make it worthwhile. More often than not, though, the biggest reason people will cite for buying more than one game in the same sport on the same console is to get the roster and stat updates, as well as any rule changes the league may have implemented. I know a handful of people that can tell you what's new in Madden 2005, but, in the end, it all sounds pretty minor to me (but again, I'm not an overwhelming fan of these games).

Or are game studios working on games based on other sports? It seems to me that one could only create so many football games before covering the same ground, yet there seems to be a new "Madden" game every year.

There are games for other sports, and, of course, every sports game studio will probably try to put out a game for anything that seems remotely popular, even if it's just a passing fad. The only games that seem to get yearly updates, though, are the longer-standing titles: football, basketball, soccer, baseball, hockey (with pro and college versions for some). There are the tennis, golf, snowboarding, skateboarding, etc games that get updated more or less often, but in some cases they only rarely get multiple titles (from the same developer) on the same console (snowboarding and skateboarding may be the exceptions here, but those titles haven't been as long running in their current inception as the others). Racing titles seem to go both ways, depending on the nature of the individual title (i.e. new NASCAR games every year, but GT games occur far less often).

Not being a sports game player I'm wondering how the game developers are keeping sports games new and different.

Most of them really aren't, although they've also branched out into more titles in some areas, such as the "street" versions of basketball and football. This doesn't really impact the core titles. Madden 2005 is Madden 2004 + XBox Live support + new rosters/stats/whatever + a handful of new features that probably won't be noticed by all but the most rabid fans. Casual sports game players are probably best served by checking the reviews and picking up the best title for the particular season + console they're shopping for at that particular time, though if they're looking to save some money, looking at the previous year's titles may be even better (though this year Sega's NFL title is $20, so why not?). Most won't be missing out on much if they only buy 1 title for a particular sport per console generation, as most of the major updates come with the new consoles (updated graphics + sound, maybe changes in the interface, etc), and the time between console generations allows for a large number of small changes from one year to the next, which will be much more noticable after 3-5 years of such changes.

Amped not cut!!!11

[Mike Hawk]

Thank god. MS is the only party out there making a real snowboarding game. Please don't cut Amped MS. For Me.

Re:Amped not cut!!!11

[bigman2003]

Yes- the article says that Links (best golf game available) and Amped (good game too) are not getting canned.

Also- the other two XSN games that are worth a shit: Top Spin (made by PAM) and Rallisport Challenge (Made by DICE) won't be affected.

I've never played their hockey, basketball, or football games- but those are the ones getting cut. I'm not sure about their quality, but I heard they were pretty bad.

In general, I am not a huge fan of EA games- the only one that I really like is NBA Street 2. The rest just seem a little too 'canned'. Good solid games, but nothing thrilling. So I hope that this announcement causes Sega to really step up and support the Xbox even more. They support it very well now, but maybe in the next generation it will be their primary platform.

It's Just Payment to EA

[blueZhift]

I can't say that the demise of Microsoft's inhouse sports division is a great surprise. The benching of the titles after EA agreed to support Xbox Live was the first sign that the price of EA support was going to be high. This just closes the deal. Don't be too surprised if Sony cans 989 too. EA is so far ahead in the game now, that competing head to head with them just doesn't make sense. Sega's now ESPN branded titles have been pretty good and the low price is great too. But unless Sega sees really good sales, I wouldn't expect those titles to last much longer either. Usually low game prices mean either the game has already sold millions or the game has hardly moved and it's time to clear stock. So a $20 NFL 2K5 is either good news, or not... Unlike the XSN titles, the 2K series have been of quality that many believe is on par with EA's titles, but have made hardly a dent in EA Sports' market share.

Sports is a critical sector to fill for any console. Some attribute the success of the Genesis to the EA sports titles that were superior to their SNES counterparts. Also many attribute the failure of the Dreamcast to EA's boycott of the console. I'm sure these lessons weren't lost on Microsoft as they did the Xbox Live deal with EA. Oh well, at least Amped will be coming back.

Re:Microsoft's intentions

[Guppy06]

"Microsoft is in to get into your bedroom as a multi-function entertainment machine"

Microsoft bought out Realdoll?