Microsoft won't ever cancel games News
Xbox 360 News by Games Industry.biz
Just a week after Sony called time on Eight Days and The Getaway PS3, Microsoft Game Studios Europe has pledged never to cancel any of its games.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, business development manager Peter Zetterberg said, "Maybe we sometimes announce [games] earlier than we should, but we stick with them, we have our resources team work with them as much as we can.
"It's crunch time down in Guildford now and we have people working their butts off to make Fable 2 happen. We do not, we shall not cancel games."
Zetterberg says that he sees around 600 game concepts a year, ranging from a piece of paper to a full-blown presentation with a demo, video and concept documents.
Of those submissions, about 30 go into a discussion meeting to be evaluated. Of those, perhaps five might go into a greenlight process, and then three might get signed.
Microsoft Game Studios Europe has the autonomy to greenlight a project, but when it commits to large franchise developments it obviously needs approval from the rest of MGS, Zetterberg said.
MGS Europe has a slightly different role than the team in the US, and is focused on genre diversity and local values.
"We need to find games that are globally accepted, that people love on a global basis," Zetterberg said.
"Like music or singing, things that we all love. Then we can nail the local values to it."
In Europe, Zetterberg observed, local values are more important because there are 25 countries, 20 languages and so many different cultures.
"There's a reason why Microsoft hasn't been that successful in the past on the continent, because they sit in Redmond and it's hard to understand how to make 15 games for a smaller European market," Zetterberg said.
"We've always moved on a global basis and this means that sometimes we have missed out on the smaller things. If you look at World of Goo or Crayon Physics, these can be easily overlooked by a large corporation that thinks global."
For more from Zetterberg, go and say hello to GamesIndustry.biz.
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bcstereotype
12/06/08 @ 10:13
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Uhh ... I know this wasn't MGS Europe's call - but what about that Marvel MMO that was a 360 exclusive?
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JediMasterMalik
12/06/08 @ 10:14
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Such a dumb statement, of course they're going to cancel games, every games company has to.
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"Vanguard "
damn beat me to that one , wasnt heavenly sword a MS game 1st what a load of spin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Ca...
Edited 3 times,
most recently on 12/06/08 @ 11:26
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The internet sure is quick.....
They claim they have cancelled a game...
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 12/06/08 @ 11:31
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seasidebaz
12/06/08 @ 10:36
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"We need to find games that are globally accepted, that people love on a global basis,"
Oh, you mean those featuring guns and / or cars? |
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monkie_king
12/06/08 @ 10:54
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I don't think the 360=guns/cars thing works anymore, since the PS3 hype of late has been around GT5 (cars), Resistance 2 (guns), KZ2 (guns), MGS (guns), Hazelol (guns), GTA (guns, cars), Motorstorm 2 (cars) etc.
There's only really LBP and SingStar doing anything different. The Wii owners can gloat though. |
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Penguinzoot
12/06/08 @ 11:23
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"It's crunch time down in Guildford now and we have people working their butts off to make Fable 2 happen. We do not, we shall not cancel games."
Maybe it's just me, but that makes it sound like Fable 2 was in line for the chop at some point. |
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Moonprince
12/06/08 @ 11:26
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"It's crunch time down in Guildford now and we have people working their butts off to make Fable 2 happen. We do not, we shall not cancel games."
It's that bad huh? |
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farticusmaximus
12/06/08 @ 11:32
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"Oh, you mean those featuring guns and / or cars?"
The 360 has a far more diverse catalog than the PS3 with higher quality titles in every genre apart from ego-fuelled coma-inducing stealth-associated geriatric documentaries, a genre the 360 is blisslfuly free of. In the future you might consider thinking up comebacks that arent completely shit, and utterly wrong. |
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seasidebaz
12/06/08 @ 12:07
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Sorry, I shall re-do my comment:
"We need to find games that are globally accepted, that people love on a global basis," Never going to happen. GLOBAL also includes JAPAN. Oh well, better luck next time ;) |
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subtlesnake
12/06/08 @ 12:34
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"Maybe it's just me, but that makes it sound like Fable 2 was in line for the chop at some point. "
I think he means 'happen this year'. |
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i believe what he is referring to is not canceling games that are mid or late development
the marvel mmo hadn't even reach alpha (though i could be wrong) as for vanguard, that wasn't an xbox title in fairness though, that was a stupid comment to make on his part, you simply cannot make statements like that in this industry |
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The Bodybuilder
12/06/08 @ 15:55
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In context (remember guys, it's good to read), he means not cancelling games that have been greenlighted, specifically greenlighted by MGS-Europe. No doubt such a statement will bite him in the ass though.
It leads to two questions; 1. Just how big is MGS-Europe? Clearly, MSs problem has been that HQ-america has too much control and too isolated on american views and what america wants (just like america then). There's like, rare and the makers of fable, but who else? 2. Wasn't BC cancelles after getting greenlighted? |
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The Bodybuilder
12/06/08 @ 16:11
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In context (remember guys, it's good to read), he means not cancelling games that have been greenlighted, specifically greenlighted by MGS-Europe. No doubt such a statement will bite him in the ass though.
It leads to two questions; 1. Just how big is MGS-Europe? Clearly, MSs problem has been that HQ-america has too much control and too isolated on american views and what america wants (just like america then). There's like, rare and the makers of fable, but who else? 2. Wasn't BC cancelles after getting greenlighted? |
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they cancelled that true fantasy online or whatever it was?
its a bit of a stupid statement, not cancelling games isn't a good thing...I guess they are trying to say they plan their titles well etc but really, it's stupid. Plus, the getaway should have been made, I was interested to see what the PS3 coud do, since it wasn't multiplatform like GTAIV. |
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they cancelled that true fantasy online or whatever it was?
its a bit of a stupid statement, not cancelling games isn't a good thing...I guess they are trying to say they plan their titles well etc but really, it's stupid. Plus, the getaway should have been made, I was interested to see what the PS3 coud do, since it wasn't multiplatform like GTAIV. |
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makeamazing
12/06/08 @ 17:49
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This has to be the most stupid comment Ive ever read from a company.... what is wrong with them... idiots.
The news of PS3 games being cancelled was pretty much in the news etc, it didnt need any more press as it was everywhere already..... but gloating and coming out with stupid comments like this wont win him any friends (keeping quiet would have been the best option). I can pretty much bet 100% there will be games cancelled by MS... games get cancelled at various stages of a games life, to say they would never is rediculous in the extreme. I hope they cancel a game next week as punishment for stupidity. |
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subtlesnake
12/06/08 @ 22:32
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"The news of PS3 games being cancelled was pretty much in the news etc, it didnt need any more press as it was everywhere already....."
Peter Zetterberg's comments were taken from one of his answers to an interviewee's questions, but were then 're-launched' on gamesindustry.biz to give the fanboys something to argue about, as usual. http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/mi... It's the same thing every week - a developer/PR person makes some comment in an interview that nobody bothers to read anyway, that could be seen as controversial, and news sites jump all over it. Cue 100 page comment threads full of indignant ranting - as the story makes it's way round the various tired blog sites, and everyone gets to have their say - about an article that they can't even be bothered to read, that's been taken out of context by a journalist looking for the page hits. |
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Triggerhappytel
12/06/08 @ 22:34
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"Well, when have Microsoft Game Studios ever made a bad game... ?"
Blinx, Brute Force, Nightcaster, Azurik, etc. Or, was this sarcasm? Damn this hard to fathom means of communication.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 12/06/08 @ 23:36
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