Microsoft Could Be on Its Way to Acquiring Playground Games

[GTPNewsWire]

This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:

Microsoft Could Be on Its Way to Acquiring Playground Games

This article was published by Joe Donaldson (@Joey D) on June 10th, 2018 in the Gaming category.

 

[Crazy Taylor]

It does make sense for Microsoft to accquire it, seeing that Horizon is the benchmark for open world racing.

 

[CCLOPES]

It does make sense for Microsoft to acquire it, seeing that Horizon is the benchmark for open world racing.

Yah it's not like Need For Speed has been doing the same thing for 2 decades.

 

[Northstar]

Yah it's not like Need For Speed has been doing the same thing for 2 decades.

You don't have to be the first in order to be the benchmark.

 

[PzR Slim]

Yah it's not like Need For Speed has been doing the same thing for 2 decades.

Oh no. someone said something positive about another game, I must respond! What's wrong with this hobby summed up right there.

 

[Crazy Taylor]

Yah it's not like Need For Speed has been doing the same thing for 2 decades.

Played NFS payback recently. NFS open world died at least after Carbon. Last good NFS game way Hot pursuit 2010.

Lots of NFS had borrowed idea from Forza Horizon.

 

[SlipZtrEm]

Yah it's not like Need For Speed has been doing the same thing for 2 decades.

Well, for one, it hasn't (NFS didn't go open-world until later in the franchise, then left that for a while before returning).

Two, it isn't really the benchmark for open world driving games. NFS hasn't been a critical darling in a while, and TDU is dead (for now). FH3 is the highest-rated racing game this generation (besides Mario Kart).

 

[bf3]

Yah it's not like Need For Speed has been doing the same thing for 2 decades.

Doubt it,deffo not 2 decades.
There was other games who did it before NFS.
But Forza Horizon was perfected and NFS was nowhere close to it

 

[Silver Arrows]

Yah it's not like Need For Speed has been doing the same thing for 2 decades.

NFS as it stands is very much a broken down husk compared to what it once was. As much as Ghost Games has tried to make all NFS fans from different eras happy, they have reached a middle ground where few are happy. Rivals was a launch title that really did little to improve anything. 2015 was an unmitigated disaster. Payback, while easily the best in the Ghost generation, is still very much an average title.

So while NFS may have been the industry leader once upon a time, it, like GT, is coasting on past success to lead them to success, forgetting that times, and the market, change.

 

[Ameer67]

It's official.

 

[Crazy Taylor]

Think FH4 really just upped the bar. Leaving EA in the dust.

 

[Nielsen]

This could support my suspicion that Turn 10 will close down in the not too distant future. The brightest minds from Turn 10 could move over to Playground Games, which should be straightforward now that it goes first-party, leaving everything Forza in more focused and consistent hands going forward. FH3 makes the newer FM7 look like a trainee's effort, and FH4 probably will underline this impression to the point where Turn 10 might as well not develop another title on their own.

 

[Crazy Taylor]

MS snapping up devs, ups the ante some. Start of 1st party affiliated dev war? Or maybe not.

 

[Josh Ragland]

This could support my suspicion that Turn 10 will close down in the not too distant future. The brightest minds from Turn 10 could move over to Playground Games, which should be straightforward now that it goes first-party, leaving everything Forza in more focused and consistent hands going forward. FH3 makes the newer FM7 look like a trainee's effort, and FH4 probably will underline this impression to the point where Turn 10 might as well not develop another title on their own.

Probably won't happen as development time will increase and MS wanting to launch a title every year will not be possible

 

[Nielsen]

Probably won't happen as development time will increase and MS wanting to launch a title every year will not be possible

Yes, but Microsoft may not want to launch a Forza title every year forever when quality takes the sort of dip FM7 did.

 

[SlipZtrEm]

I appreciate the suggestion that MS would shut down one of its longest-running studios because of a single blip in its track record.

 

[Sanji Himura]

MS snapping up devs, ups the ante some. Start of 1st party affiliated dev war? Or maybe not.

Actually, you are not too much further from the truth since they did send out letters of intent to acquire Ninja Theory among others.

 

[NLxAROSA]

Think FH4 really just upped the bar. Leaving EA in the dust.

I think FH3 already did that. EA couldn't match it with Payback, by a long shot. FH4 is just taking it a few steps further. This E3 has so much goodness in it, it's absolutely awesome! 👍

 

[Crazy Taylor]

I think FH3 already did that. EA couldn't match it with Payback, by a long shot. FH4 is just taking it a few steps further. This E3 has so much goodness in it, it's absolutely awesome! 👍

Too right. Seems to be something good for everyone.

 

[Dopplegagger]

Yes, but Microsoft may not want to launch a Forza title every year forever when quality takes the sort of dip FM7 did.

Hopefully that dip in quality serves as a wake up call to Turn 10, and causes them to do better next time. I do not want to see FM go away, I would rather the series became a little more focused and make the game more realistic... But that will never happen. Especially since it still prints money for Microsoft.