In the wake of the major Xbox layoffs that took place last week, we’ve seen lots of people sharing their thoughts on the situation – and one of those is the EA Japan GM Shaun Noguchi, who had a few things to say on social media recently (as reported by IGN).
Noguchi made clear that his thoughts “do not represent the position of EA”, but nevertheless expressed his sorrow for the situation at Xbox, highlighting that he feels “deep pain” over it and that he hopes everyone affected will be able to “shine again in their next field”. Here’s a bit of his Twitter post, translated from Japanese into English:
“The gaming industry is supported by each and every creator and staff member who has diligently worked on development at the forefront. As someone in the same industry, I feel deep pain regarding this decision.”
“The frustration of something built over a long time not seeing the light of day, and the reality that gamers who were looking forward to it cannot even experience it—both are truly regrettable.”
After this, Noguchi provided a native English reply to someone who asked whether “pulling the plug” and re-pooling those resources elsewhere would be beneficial, suggesting that long-in-development games deserve to ship.
In addition, he advised that games shouldn’t be announced “when they’re still half baked”:
“This is just my personal opinion but if a game was in development for 7~10 years, canceling feels like the worst move. That’s a decade of work, potentially a quarter of someone’s entire career completely lost. Even if the final product isn’t what people originally expected, I think it still deserves to ship. Something is better than nothing for both the team and for the players.
But also, don’t announce games when they’re still half baked. If there’s no clear delivery path, no realistic scope, just don’t show it yet. Hype with no follow through burns trust both for fans and the studio inside.”
Noguchi doesn’t mention any specific titles here, but something like Rare’s Everwild seems to fit the description – a game that first started being prototyped around a decade ago, and was announced nearly six years ago.
Many publishers announce games way in advance, and Xbox was doing it a lot ahead of the Series X and Series S launches a few years ago, but it’s obviously backfired in the case of Everwild and Perfect Dark. Should they have waited longer to reveal them? Should they have shipped those titles anyway instead of cancelling them? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments section below.
[source x.com, via ign.com]
Fraser is the News Editor at Pure Xbox, where he spends his time reporting on the biggest stories in the world of Xbox and beyond.
AloJapan.com