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Rumour Microsoft aims to have outside contractors for future Call of Duty Games

I saw the thread title and was about to come in here and say "that worked great for Halo!" but you already beat me to it.
 
On the one hand, I can almost see the logic of "maybe this will let them pull some of those studios out of the CoD mines so they can work on things that aren't CoD". Selfishly, as someone who doesn't care at all about CoD, I'll admit that's an appealing prospect to me

On the other hand, ehhh this could obviously go real sideways for them. The way companies use contractors to avoid having to pay full-time employees is bone-headed and shortsighted and really hampers the chance for any kind of institutional knowledge to build up (something that's crucial for maintaining quality over the long term)
 
BlackthornOrion said:
On the one hand, I can almost see the logic of "maybe this will let them pull some of those studios out of the CoD mines so they can work on things that aren't CoD". Selfishly, as someone who doesn't care at all about CoD, I'll admit that's an appealing prospect to me

On the other hand, ehhh this could obviously go real sideways for them. The way companies use contractors to avoid having to pay full-time employees is bone-headed and shortsighted and really hampers the chance for any kind of institutional knowledge to build up (something that's crucial for maintaining quality over the long term)
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If that were true why gut those studios? Seems that Microsoft intends to keep those studios on CoD and just replace the fired employees with contractors.
 
I really hope they fold what’s left of Raven back under id although I’m sure anyone from the old days is long gone by now.
 
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Dardan Sandiego said:
Is this person credible?
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There's a small part of my monké brain that needs constant reminders that anyone can inflate Musk's wallet for $8 a month with that blue check these days.

I mean, I'm cynical enough to believe it regardless, but I guess only time will tell.
 
This means those studios get to escape the COD mines right? right? ...right?

I'll be honest - I've never really seen the quality of COD being above just average so I really don't think that they're gonna risk screwing it up because I don't think the series has much of an identity to lose in the first place. The franchise is the definition of a boring "america fuck yeah hoo rah, kill foreigners" shooter to me (speaking as a non-american).
 
Razgriz said:
This means those studios get to escape the COD mines right? right? ...right?

I'll be honest - I've never really seen the quality of COD being above just average so I really don't think that they're gonna risk screwing it up because I don't think the series has much of an identity to lose in the first place. The franchise is the definition of a boring "america fuck yeah hoo rah, kill foreigners" shooter to me (speaking as a non-american).
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I presume all the hype of COD is FOMO:
• Its multiplayer
• Friends play it
• It takes some level of skill
 
Can Xbox just go third party already? They clearly have absolutely zero foresight as to what their actions will cause, and they even admitted they can’t compete with Sony/ Nintendo in terms of games. It’s this exact strategy that caused halo to completely implode, why would they think to use it again
 
Pillydillsy said:
Can Xbox just go third party already? They clearly have absolutely zero foresight as to what their actions will cause, and they even admitted they can’t compete with Sony/ Nintendo in terms of games. It’s this exact strategy that caused halo to completely implode, why would they think to use it again
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Because the vultures at the top still have some meat to pick.
 
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This will become more and more common now that development team sizes are through the roof. Retro Studios hired quite a few independent contractors to work on Metroid Prime Remastered. This will actually open up the door for a lot of workers to work for themselves and take contracted work. It wont be ideal for everybody, but I could see a decent size chunk of the workforce being independent contractors a decade from now.

If you think of game development like building a house, you need all sorts of different laborers, but you do not need them all for the entire duration of the construction project. You can imagine how inflated construction cost would become if this is how construction worked. Its true in game development that many employees will have worked on multiple projects over the span of a given games development, but this can still be a tough thing to manage to make sure you aren't staffing for the "peak season" all year round.

They need to create a union. This will hardly make everyone's life all sunshine and rainbows, but it would help set some minimum standards going forward. Especially as we see a shift towards more contracted workers.
 
Goodtwin said:
This will become more and more common now that development team sizes are through the roof. Retro Studios hired quite a few independent contractors to work on Metroid Prime Remastered. This will actually open up the door for a lot of workers to work for themselves and take contracted work. It wont be ideal for everybody, but I could see a decent size chunk of the workforce being independent contractors a decade from now.

If you think of game development like building a house, you need all sorts of different laborers, but you do not need them all for the entire duration of the construction project. You can imagine how inflated construction cost would become if this is how construction worked. Its true in game development that many employees will have worked on multiple projects over the span of a given games development, but this can still be a tough thing to manage to make sure you aren't staffing for the "peak season" all year round.

They need to create a union. This will hardly make everyone's life all sunshine and rainbows, but it would help set some minimum standards going forward. Especially as we see a shift towards more contracted workers.
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Contractors on game dev aren't new and for sizable studios, are commonplace. The problem is that Microsoft's historical strategy for contractors basically nukes the idea of maintaining staff continuity and historical knowledge. Assuming the most extreme scenario comes to pass and a future COD is developed entirely by teams of contractors that cycle in and out because Microsoft doesn't want to keep permanent staff, then the franchise is just being put in the same hole that Halo fell into.

And at this point, while this is all apparently speculation more than evidenced fact, Microsoft does not deserve the benefit of the doubt based on their handling of 343 and their blase willingness to axe dev staff across disciplines from the studios they just paid $69 billion to acquire.
 
Regardless of what you think of the quality of the games themselves, CoD with its legions of support studios is one of the better ran ships in AAA gaming. Every year they manage to release something resembling a working product and support the games with new content years down the line. I want to say I'd be shocked if Microsoft were willing to blow that all up to save a few bucks and yet...
 
Forks said:
Regardless of what you think of the quality of the games themselves, CoD with its legions of support studios is one of the better ran ships in AAA gaming. Every year they manage to release something resembling a working product and support the games with new content years down the line. I want to say I'd be shocked if Microsoft were willing to blow that all up to save a few bucks and yet...
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Better ran ships? What are you talking about???
 
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