Microsoft’s always indicated that it wants its own Naughty Dog, and so after Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice launched first on PlayStation 4 – it’s just bought developer Ninja Theory. The acquisition does make sense: it’ll presumably allow the Cambridge developer to work on much bigger games, without having to worry too much about funding and such.
It’ll be a bitter pill to swallow for PlayStation fans, though, as the firm has a long history with PlayStation, having made Heavenly Sword, of course. It is what it is, though.
Comments 48
This is sad for gaming.
They want more talent to bolster their weakest aspect, and after just teasing their next system too, it's obvious where this talent is going.
Rest in peace. Relegated to (IMO) the worst of The Big 3 consoles. It's probably a good thing in the long run, because a strong Xbox is better for the industry as a whole, but it's still a shame for non-Xbox owners.
buying studios lol.
Not complaining myself as its great for Xbox to have a talented Studio in their stable and shows they are committed to the future of gaming - not just Hardware and Windows.
Of course for 'just' PS owners, its disappointing but then they do have great studio's making great games too...
I'm more worried that microsoft buy insomniac lol
Sony should buy Quantic Dreams Ready at Dawn insomniac and bluepoint
Please Sony, buy Insomniac and we will be good. ^^
At least it means MS could finally expand on their exclusive portfolio. They need more than just Ori and whatever else, but it's a decent start.
Darn, there goes my hopes of a Enslaved remaster.
If they ever do anything enslaved related i will be very sad to miss out. This was the one xbox moment that left me shocked tonight.
I guess that (sadly) means no more ninja theory titles for me - i am not bitter, but it is sad.
Microsoft will just run them into the ground like they do with all the studios they buy.
For me personally, I couldn't care less, as they didn't make any games that spoke to me. It's not like Microsoft bought From Software.
I just don’t want everyone freaking out that Sony needs more studios just because Microsoft has 5 new studios. We just came off of a masterpiece like God of War & a great game like Detroit. Now we have at least 4 heavy hitters coming. No worries.
Bloody stupid of them considering MS don't have much interest in making SP games.
Especially after all that talk about wanting to own their own IP and creative freedom only to sell up to probably one of the worst publishers they could have joined up with considering the games they make.
A part of me hopes Sony retaliates with buying more studios as well. Insomniac, Kojima Productions and From Software would do nicely.
@jdv95 It's what Microsoft have always done admittedly. Halo was gonna be a Mac game.
Reminds me of how I felt when I heard that MS bought out Rare. Maybe we will see a Ninja Theory Replay in a few years on Xbox 4 or whatever they call it.
@Areus I'm still baffled why they didn't buy insomniac games years ago.
@slampog I think they offered/tried, but were refused.
Personally, Enslaved is the only NT game I recall buying. I really enjoyed it, but this doesn't bother me a great deal.
Really glad I didn't buy Hellblade now. Screw them. Microsoft is a vile company.
@HeathenFriar I know, makes me annoyed that I got the platinum for it, since clearly they don't value my custom anymore.
Sony should start developing Heavenly Sword 2 now. 😋
But then again they wanted the freedom to what the want well we can that was Bull. 😁
Still sad to never play a game from them again. 😪
Insomniac Games don't want to be bought. It's as simple as that.
I'm ok with this. If it works better for them financially, it's better than goimg bankrupt. Most of theit games will probably be on PC too, it doesn't havd to be goodbye.
Ugh! Don't get me wrong. I get it. I really do.
But as one of their biggest fans ever since Heavenly Sword came out, this is disappointing. As long as they release their games on PC I should be good.
Still
@HeathenFriar They were close to bankruptcy some time ago (I think). Their games are generally well received but never sell well.
From a business point of view, it makes sense. It's either than or shutting down at some point.
Hopefully, this way they'll keep the team together.
@DLB3 Thanks for the info. This helps a great deal.
Ehhh, Sony should buy them. They will be wasted at Microsoft.
@Areus
It sounds crazy, but if I were running Sony I'd certainly give it a shot. I don't know if Ted Price would sell Insomniac or not, he seems to love that his studio can go anywhere it wants. Quantic Dream and Bluepoint should be purchased for sure.
@Flaming_Kaiser
Why does it have to be 'never' though? Xbox is a piece of plastic, just like PlayStation. It's not poison, you won't get sick from having something that says Xbox on it in your home. And I say the same thing to the Xbox fans who say things like they're interested in games such as Uncharted or The Last of Us but will never play them because they're only on PlayStation. I just don't get the fanboy mentality. Preferences are fine but some people go a bit far.
Sweet move! Good luck to the guys. Now can Sony give us Heavenly Sword 2 pls!
@HeathenFriar
MS is vile but Sony is so perfect and wonderful? Some of you need to stop, seriously.
I feel sorry for Ninja Theory - they pick the wrong platform to make exclusive for.
@Gamer83 Did you see me say that Sony is "perfect" somewhere? They're not, but Microsoft is a blight on the industry IMO.
RIP Ninja Theory, shame to see a good company be bought out like that by Microsoft.
Congrats to Xbox and to Ninja Theory. It is a sad day for the rest of us. Let's hope they don't get ruined like Rare...
@HeathenFriar
It's no more of a blight than Sony and there are some big third party publishers I could think of that are worse.
@NomNom
Rare was garbage before MS got it. This stupid narrative that 'MS ruined Rare' needs to end. Nintendo is sometimes a crazy company, it is not a stupid company. It wouldn't have sold off Rare, the only company besides Nintendo itself that consistently made good games for N64, if something wasn't up.
No loss here.
After all that talk about the freedoms of being a indie developer and being independent. I don't get this studio.
Surprised to see how many people in the comments section were in the acquisition meetings so they can judge if its a good decision for Ninja Theory or not
Good luck to them and hope they make some more cool games 😎
shame for those only play on playstation, though it's of little consequence to me personally as the only game of theirs that interested me was enslaved odyssey to the west, and i believe namco bandai owns the IP. apparently it only sold about 700,000 across all platforms though, hence why there was never a sequel.
They should join Bethesda if they want big company behind then. I understand why they join big company, bud join to Microsoft to do games only for XBOX? They betrayed everything they said for last year. How they want to be idependent atc ..
honestly apart from Enslaved and DmC no other Ninja Theory game ever interested me so it's no big loss for me
but if it means XBOX can put out some more games then all the power too them
just seems a bit strange when not long ago they was going on about how great it was to be independent and own their own IP's then they let MS buy them
they are not in the same league as Naughty Dog my man takes a long time to get to the status of a lot of Sonys studios.
Controversial opinion, but I've thought they only made one good game (Hellblade) and one okay game (Enslaved) with therest being utterly meh. Still, all the best to them.
@get2sammyb To be fair neither Ninja Theory and look how hollow their words were. If I were Sony I'd be giving them a call after Spiderman comes out and asking them to name their price because you run the risk of losing them to a company that won't make PlayStation games.
@Gamer83 You're an idiot if you think Sony is anywhere near as bad as Microsoft. Seriously, get a clue. Saying "they're all the same" doesn't make you look smart or wise, just lazy and unintelligent.
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