The head of Microsoft Studios, Matt Booty, told MCV about the strategy that the company adheres to in the development of the gaming direction. According to him, Microsoft is interested in online games and gaming services.
Answering a question from journalists about the publishing policy of Microsoft Studios, Matt Bootie said that the company recognizes the importance of singleplayer projects with a strong plot, but they are not a priority for it.
“We appreciate and love single-player games with 20-30 hours of gameplay, they will always find a place among the published titles. But now we are focusing on online titles that are interesting to stream and arrange esports competitions on them. In this vein, the duration of the gameplay plays a big role,” said Buti.
In addition to the multiplayer and social components, Microsoft Studios tends to multiplatform their titles, because it meets the interests of customers.
“The choice of platform largely depends on the specific game or franchise, but we always try to give our players the best experience. For example, Minecraft is published on 20 platforms, and we strive to make the title as playable as possible on each of them and bring pleasure to gamers,” said the head of Microsoft Studios.
Matt Bootie noted that Microsoft’s brand strength allows it to experiment with new distribution formats. To do this, the company relies on the fame of the studios and the scale of the projects that are created under its supervision.
He cited as an example the promotion of the Game Pass subscription for the Xbox Live gaming service. Recall that at the beginning of 2018, Microsoft decided to give access to all Game Pass holders to new exclusives coming out on the Xbox platform.
The first of these games was the online action adventure Sea of Thieves by Rare studio, released in March this year. According to Buti, the excitement around Sea of Thieves helped to promote the Game Pass service, and this in turn had a positive impact on the sales of the game both within the subscription and separately from it.
Buti believes that Microsoft Studios as a publishing house should continue to test the viability of promising innovations in the gaming industry, be it a subscription system, progressive graphics technologies or new gaming devices.
Matt Bootie took over Microsoft Sutdios in January 2018. He replaced Phil Spencer, who moved to the top management of Microsoft. Previously, Bootie headed the support and development department of the Minecraft franchise.
Also on the topic:
- The leader of the Minecraft team headed the Microsoft gaming division
- Microsoft has included future Xbox exclusives in the Xbox Game Pass subscription
Source: MCV