To say that Microsoft has been making some “curious decisions” under the Xbox brand is a bit of an understatement when you consider all that’s been going on in the last week or so alone. However, in spite of all the negative press, one of its biggest purchases, Activision, has revealed that they’re opening up a new dev studio in Warsaw, Poland, called Elsewhere Entertainment. The team is headed up by former members of studios like Naughty Dog, CD Projekt Red, Bungie, and even Ubisoft! So, if nothing else, they’ve got the all-star talent to make the next big game for Activision. But that raises the next question: what are they making?
Thankfully, Activision announced on a blog that it wants the team to be “exclusively focused on creating a new narrative-based and genre-defining AAA franchise”.
They continued by noting:
“The team’s underlying mission encourages everyone to explore and collaborate creatively to craft a franchise with an enduring legacy that resonates far beyond games. Elsewhere is opening its search for best-in-class talent from across the industry and around the world to help create a state-of-the-art and next generation gaming experience.”
There are many ironies to this studio’s creation. The easiest one to point out on the Activision side is that the company hasn’t always had the best experience with narrative-based titles and has been focusing heavily over the years on games that are more “live-service” in nature and get lots of revenue from microtransactions. That has bitten them in the butt more times than once, which could explain why they are trying a different tactic with Elsewhere Entertainment.
The other irony is on the Microsoft side of things. They shut down multiple studios under the Xbox banner, many of which were under the Bethesda umbrella, and cited that they did this to keep things “healthy” for the company and the industry. They also cited that they needed games that were just like the hit 2023 that one of the studios they shut down had made.
So why are those companies shuttered or their employees put in other places, but Activision gets to make a new studio for a new IP featuring industry vets? It sends a bad message about what’s going on under Microsoft’s leadership and that certain companies under their banner might be getting special treatment.
It’s definitely something to keep an eye on, especially if Xbox lays off even more people in the coming months.
