Xbox Series X | S

[Alex W.]

The PS4 game is explicitly called “Marvel’s Spider-Man” rather than Spider-Man, which I think implies some sort of licensing bollocks outside of the Sony movie/MCU deal.

 

I’m sure Marvel could licence out the character to other publishers in principle but they’re hardly going to do that after licensing it out to Sony’s in-house games dev operation are they?

[Transient Curse]

8 minutes ago, Mogster said:

I assumed the Spidey exclusivity came as part of Sony Pictures' Spidey deal. I think Marvel actually license the character from Sony to use in the MCU movies.

 

Yes,  it's why spiderman constantly gets rebooted - there's something about the contract that says the license reverts back to marvel if it's inactive for a certain amount of time, each film resets the timer. 

[Pob]

I thought Sony actually part-owned the actual character or something.

[FiveFootNinja]

As I understand it Sony Pictures owns the rights to Spider-man and the extended characters (e.g. Venom, etc...) for films. That was a purchase in perpetuity and the reason that Disney have to license Spider-man back from them for use in the MCU films. Basically Sony own Spider-man films.

 

However all other format licenses are owned by Marvel/Disney (including the games) but due to the close connection with Sony on Spider-man (and to facilitate having him in the recent films) Disney arranged a deal for Marvel's Spider-man to be a Playstation exclusive (probably for a period of time). I don't think Sony have ever owned the Spider-man character or games license outright.

 

The WB deal on the face of it sounds good (Batman, Harry Potter, Lego, etc...) but I've yet to see anything that explains crystal clear what is owned and what is leased to have an informed opinion.

[Alex W.]

1 minute ago, Pob said:

I thought Sony actually part-owned the actual character or something.

They have some very broad exclusive rights to the character in motion pictures, but Marvel control the character in every other medium they can. I believe the games are licenced adaptations of  the comic characters explicitly, hence the “Marvel’s” name.

[Uncle Mike]

Any ownership Sony have of Spider-Man is licensing based, not a core ownership. He's Marvel property, it's just the IP was signed out arguably before Marvel understood its value.

[Girth Certificate]

Do Sony own the Spider-Man font? That's the real value.

[Alex W.]

There’s a reason that anything related to the Spider-Man game says “(C) MARVEL” in huge letters.

 

(Where it mentions Sony it’s SIE, not Sony Pictures. Would love to be a fly on the wall in the arguments about what SIE could do without pissing off SP.)

[rgraves]

41 minutes ago, Mystacon said:

If this showcase just ends up being more Forza/Halo/Gears with a couple of new IP’s thrown in then they’re gonna get called out quickly.

 

Really"?  I think that sounds decent enough - updates to the big franchises people will be looking for PLUS some new stuff as well - would that really not be good enough? Crikey, they're not going to win whatever they do are they...

[Transient Curse]

8 minutes ago, rgraves said:

 

Really"?  I think that sounds decent enough - updates to the big franchises people will be looking for PLUS some new stuff as well - would that really not be good enough? Crikey, they're not going to win whatever they do are they...

 

I think the stick that's most often used to beat them with is that they just put out the same games over and over. 

 

I'm hopeful that they will have some new AAA games that aren't from their established stable, those are the ones that will generate most interest (though the buzz about Halo is tangible from where I'm sat). Everyone knows they're getting a Halo, Forza and Gears already.

[bear]

1 hour ago, Clipper said:

people said the good/evil stuff was too simplistic but it gave you alot of latitude in terms of achieving goals. The dark side got incredibly dark as you tested there it seems Purin

 

So the story was focused but your personal character path was your own.

None of the good Vs evil stuff had much in the way of meaningful impact. A few doors you had to be a bastard or an angel to open but that was about it. The original promise was a world where your actions had a meaningful impact. 

 

I guess I just want more games to follow through on what Mordors nemesis system promised at the start of the generation. A fantasy world where your allies and enemies were driven by AI systems instead of the writers pen. Fable seems perfect for that. 

[Mystacon]

5 minutes ago, rgraves said:

 

Really"?  I think that sounds decent enough - updates to the big franchises people will be looking for PLUS some new stuff as well - would that really not be good enough? Crikey, they're not going to win whatever they do are they...

I just think they need some big crowd pleasing announcements, just like Sony did that year they announced the FFVII remake, The Last Guardian and Shenmue 3.

 

Halo/Forza/Gears have their fan base, but as has already been said, they’re expected. New IP is welcomed and important and is always present. What they’re usually missing is the stuff that generates real excitement. Imagine if later today we got announcements on a new Splinter Cell, a Silent Hill remake, a new Perfect Dark, Batman exclusive to Xbox. Those are the sort of hype generators Microsoft need to get people excited, in my opinion.

[thesnwmn]

As much as people dicked on Bugsnax (not me!) and some of the other bits and bobs in Sony's show it had variety. Microsoft need a show that isn't Forza Horizon + some brown games. They have the properties available even before they create new IP (specifically at least some of Rare's passed stuff in Banjo and Viva Piñata and now Sea of Thieves).

 

I have precisely zero interest in anything but Forza out of MS's recent line up (oh and Flight Simulator). I also have little interest in Sony's AAA line up either but I can appreciate that it hits a wider range of notes and has done for pretty much all of this generation.

 

If I was honest MS' problem is sometimes not their actual output but the perception of it. They've had some other games State of Decay and Sea of Thieves but they have this terrible habit of having every one of their major shows dominated by Forza, Gears or Halo.

[bear]

Buying WB games seems like the sort of thing that MS and Warner would need to announce to the stock market as soon as it happened due to the size of the deal. The rumour is WB want $4Billion. I don't think that sort of deal could be held back in order to to get some buzz from a YouTube stream. 

[Mr. Gerbik]

28 minutes ago, Uncle Mike said:

Any ownership Sony have of Spider-Man is licensing based, not a core ownership. He's Marvel property, it's just the IP was signed out arguably before Marvel understood its value.

Marvel went bankrupt in the late nineties. Superhero movies were more miss than hit at that point and they needed the money. Hence selling movie rights to anyone who would take them. That's why Marvel had to start their cinematic universe with Captain America and Iron Man and such, those were characters nobody was interested in so they still happened to have those rights.

 

The X-Men movie license was also lost permanently to Fox the same way. It took buying up Fox to get them back.

[gospvg]

FFS I now have a work meeting at 4pm!

[Boozy The Clown]

I hope the show opens with a Batman vs Spiderman game now.

[Transient Curse]

1 hour ago, Mystacon said:

Splinter Cell, a Silent Hill remake, a new Perfect Dark, Batman exclusive

 

It's interesting that I agree with you but those titles would largely leave me cold in principal - they might well show those games and they could be the thing I'd be most keen on. 

 

However, reading those names just makes me think "Eh, remake, old franchise" and for a lot of people Perfect Dark won't even be something they've heard of, a 360 launch title?  15 years ago? You've got to be 20 something to remember it. I'm not trying to pick on your selection, I know you're just pulling things out of the air, but the fact remains that established game franchise means a sequel that people are familiar with because there's been a release in recent memory OR it's an old game that half the audience have never heard of.  I'm not sure that's a world beating strategy. 

 

I'd prefer to see Microsoft airing amazing new IP of their own that grabs the imagination OR uses franchises that either would make amazing video games or be the video game that everyone always wanted. 

 

Alien: Isolation (yes, I know it's a 40 year old movie and would fall foul of my own "but the young people!" complaint and to be fair they have kept the movies alive with sequels, etc) would be the kind of template I'd like to see, a franchise that everyone knows and a game that uses the franchise well. 

 

I'd love a really good Ghostbusters game (I kinda get away with that one since we were supposed to have a new movie in cinemas right now), so if they could find a way to make it work well, vs previous games that'd be great! I'm not sure it's possible. 

 

That sort of thing would generate real excitement, IMO.  Far more than putting out a remake of a horror game or an exclusive game that features a character already well established in video games. 

 

 

[SuperCapes]

Gonna drop this cheeky Meowster Chief in here. Me and the Cat are hyped... at least she seems excited... My wife thinks I am mad...

[bear]

Poker Smash 2 would be a system/Gamepass subscription seller.

[Mr. Gerbik]

7 minutes ago, Mystacon said:

Halo/Forza/Gears have their fan base, but as has already been said, they’re expected. New IP is welcomed and important and is always present. What they’re usually missing is the stuff that generates real excitement. Imagine if later today we got announcements on a new Splinter Cell, a Silent Hill remake, a new Perfect Dark, Batman exclusive to Xbox. Those are the sort of hype generators Microsoft need to get people excited, in my opinion.

Exactly this. Microsoft and uncle Phil always put on a good, decent show - arguably better than Sony, but Sony often has big OMFG HYPE MEGATON type announcements that has the internet going crazy for weeks. Like Boozy jokingly said earlier, all Sony needs to do to overshadow the Microsoft show is post a single tweet with the GTA6 logo tomorrow. Microsoft could do with a big OMFG reveal on top of their no doubt decent showing.

 

I would like a Splinter Cell reveal the most but I would say that of course

[SeanR]

Phil walks out

 

xbox logo

 

three shots, the usual suspects

 

”yeah yeah, new halo, new forza, new gears of war blah blah blah.. AND THIS”

<hyperkinetic video of new new stuff>
 

<mic drop>
 

<walks off>
 

then the devs of each game pop up, to say a bit about each of their games.

 

job done.

[Revival]

18 minutes ago, thesnwmn said:

As much as people dicked on Bugsnax (not me!) and some of the other bits and bobs in Sony's show it had variety. Microsoft need a show that isn't Forza Horizon + some brown games. They have the properties available even before they create new IP (specifically at least some of Rare's passed stuff in Banjo and Viva Piñata and now Sea of Thieves).

 

I have precisely zero interest in anything but Forza out of MS's recent line up (oh and Flight Simulator). I also have little interest in Sony's AAA line up either but I can appreciate that it hits a wider range of notes and has done for pretty much all of this generation.

 

If I was honest MS' problem is sometimes not their actual output but the perception of it. They've had some other games State of Decay and Sea of Thieves but they have this terrible habit of having every one of their major shows dominated by Forza, Gears or Halo.

 

You've just self fulfilled your own prophecy of not recognising the variety is there.

 

This gen alone there's been first party RTS, RPG's, VS fighters, Arena Brawlers, Pirate sims, Open world Zombie games, Strategy games etc from the Xbox side. Many of those genres untouched by the other platform holders so the idea there is no variety is massively inaccurate.

 

 

[Pob]

Is Perfect Dark rumoured? I don't have any history with the series but a spy-themed stealth/action game in a near-future high-tech city with lots of grappling between and crawling on the outside of skyscrapers would be awesome. Elements of Mirror's Edge, Crackdown, Splinter Cell and Arkham City. There remains a huge gap in the market for a modern spy game.

[Vemsie]

3 minutes ago, Pob said:

Is Perfect Dark rumoured? I don't have any history with the series but a spy-themed stealth/action game in a near-future high-tech city with lots of grappling between and crawling on the outside of skyscrapers would be awesome. Elements of Mirror's Edge, Crackdown, Splinter Cell and Arkham City. There remains a huge gap in the market for a modern spy game.

It's rumored that The Initiative is working on it (but people are saying conflicted things about whether they'll be there today or not). Some people think they are not working on Perfect Dark though but on the spy game that was in development at Black Tusk (now The Coalition).

[RubberJohnny]

Perfect Dark would be the worst announcement they could make, they're already associated with two past-their-prime scifi shooter franchises, why would they triple down rather than do something in a different setting, a different genre?

 

This demand for remakes and nostalgia is the worst. New things, ta.

[rgraves]

32 minutes ago, Wahwah* said:

 

I think the stick that's most often used to beat them with is that they just put out the same games over and over. 

 

I'm hopeful that they will have some new AAA games that aren't from their established stable, those are the ones that will generate most interest (though the buzz about Halo is tangible from where I'm sat). Everyone knows they're getting a Halo, Forza and Gears already.

 

Yeah, so we're hopeful they show off some of the big franchises (like Halo), and some new IP - something nobody has seen before. A mixture of stuff.

 

They have been pretty confident with each step in this build-up, they are saying this will be games, games, games...I'd be amazed if they fumble this...I think it's going to be epic, and I can't wait.

[thesnwmn]

9 minutes ago, Revival said:

You've just self fulfilled your own prophecy of not recognising the variety is there.

 

This gen alone there's been first party RTS, RPG's, VS fighters, Arena Brawlers, Pirate sims, Open world Zombie games, Strategy games etc from the Xbox side. Many of those genres untouched by the other platform holders so the idea there is no variety is massively inaccurate.

 

I'd accept that. And as a broadly casual observer these days I see some of it but I still completely associate them with 3 franchises.

 

Anyway, I hope to be proved wrong this afternoon but I fully expect all the fanfare on stage to be around stuff we associate with them and almost montages of 'the rest'.

[Steven]

2 minutes ago, RubberJohnny said:

Perfect Dark would be the worst announcement they could make

 

Ray-traced Wall Guy? In.

[Bojangle]

There's been rumours of a third person reboot of Perfect Dark for a couple of years now. As much as I loved the original, Zero killed any interest I had in the series but I guess it's not irredeemable as a franchise if they try something new with it. 

I hope we finally see the worst kept secret in the industry today.