Microsoft pratar om när det är "rätt läge" att utannonsera nya spel

Vi vet alla hur det brukar gå. Spel utannonseras alldeles för tidigt och dör lite under tiden som utvecklarna samt utgivarna försöker hålla hypen vid liv. I andra änden av spektrat har vi utgivare som väntat för länge med själva utannonseringen och på köpet aldrig riktigt hinner bygga hype för sin produkt. Med andra ord är det en hårfin balans mellan att utannonsera för tidigt och för sent. I en nygjord intervju med Xbox-bossen (för "first-party production") Shannon Loftis pratas det en hel del om hur detta fungerar hemma hos Microsoft.

"Games are a highly experimental medium. And it's a line that we have to walk between talking to gamers about the games we would like to make and knowing that we are going to be able to deliver them. The worst part of my job is when I have to break promises. Obviously we had Crackdown 3 planned for a November 7 launch and we had to announce a few months ago that we had to move it."

Hon fortsätter sedan med att prata om Microsoft resonerar i dessa frågor.

"For every game announcement that we do, we have to decide when is the right time to talk to people about this, how much code do we have to have in place, how much risks do we have to have mitigated. It gets very mundane around technical risks; and do we have a core mechanic that we like."

"Game design in general is turning more into a dialogue rather than a monologue and finding ways within our ecosystem and use our early access program, Game Preview, to get gamer input, I think is one possibility. I think radical transparency is something I would love to try at some point as a game developer. Like, 'Hey, here's three takes on a a concept, which one do you want?' Pretty sure Xbox boss Phil Spencer would be supportive."

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