Microsoft Studios has acquired Twisted Pixel, the indie game developer behind The Maw, Splosion Man and The Gunstringer.
Twisted Pixel co-founder and CEO Michael Wilford said of the deal: "It is really exciting for us to solidify our long-standing relationship with Microsoft Studios, who we consider to be the leader in digital distribution and creating new innovations in gaming like Xbox Live and Kinect.
"As part of the family of Microsoft Studios we look forward to bringing even bigger and richer experiences to Xbox and Twisted Pixel fans around the world."
The terms of the acquisition weren't disclosed.
Comments
14 comments so far...
rhyfel on 12 Oct '11 said:
thay will end up just like rare.
kreemi on 12 Oct '11 said:
The quality of thier current output is probably already as terrible as Rare's 360 offerings.
KMakawa on 12 Oct '11 said:
RARE might not be to your expectations anymore, but they are one of the studios that have managed to stay alive in the UK, and have adapted to different strategys to do so. Microsoft have given them a godsend, and RARE have taken it and expanded with it.. the 360 avatars for example are probably one of the most identifiable pieces of branding Microsoft have now. Same for what was Bungie back in the early days, the friends list functionality and join session stuff was actually built by Bungie and adapted by Microsoft into the xbox models..
Rare might not have their old games and still being strong with them anymore, but 1) they don't need to, 2) if they wanted to, they could bring them back.
Black Mantis on 12 Oct '11 said:
Makes sense. I'm a big fan of theirs, only Comic Jumper has let me down so far and even that was decent if a bit repetitive.
squatch on 12 Oct '11 said:
lol. As soon as i saw the title, i thought exactly the same.
jtthegame on 12 Oct '11 said:
cool splosion man is a good game. so that means more good xbox exclusives
robbie111222 on 12 Oct '11 said:
Yawn........
robbie111222 on 12 Oct '11 said:
Microsoft need now to focus their intentions on exclusives rather than kinect for now, this device cost a fortune to market, was given away free on many competitions to give it a huge install base, the technology is innovative their is not arguing this, but seriously rare has been driven to the murky caves of the twIlight zone, rare needs to shine again, people are just being focused on avatars and live experience, what about you amazing AAA titles?.... Nowhere to be seen... Child if Eden omg seriously, monster kiddy games, when will this sloppy money pumped kinect train stop, probably when it reaches failure. What a waste of money can't even do nothing with it now could make a short circuit lookalike.
Joe90_Remy700 on 12 Oct '11 said:
now i agree that the kinect is a bit of a kiddie games gimmik, but are you serious about cant do anything with it? you know that it has been used by english uni students (forget which one) built seasrch and rescue bots with the kinect because of its 3d mapping etc? no? thought not, else you wouldn't make a comment like that.
it'll take devs time to integrate kinect for "core" games but the market is primarily kids/family/parties, same as the wii, because it does have limitations (unless 1: you have a mahoosive warehouse to run around in, and 2: you have the energy to run around)
personally i wouldn't use one as i play mainly shooters, although the features it uses for forza4 (not autovista, the head turning to look at apex's and using hands to steer) are a step in the righ direction for kinect
Joe90_Remy700 on 12 Oct '11 said:
oh yeah, and on topic: splosion man is funny as hell and those sorts of games are what i feel kinect is all about, so fair play MS has another dev working on xbox exclusives
eastldn on 12 Oct '11 said:
5 years for millions yes please
WHERESMYMONKEY on 12 Oct '11 said:
I bet most of the people who bemoan rare have not played any of the games they've made for MS, screw it i'll bet they didn't play half the games they made for nintendo either. They're all still thes ame happy cartoony fun games they made for nintendo. the only exceptions were golden eye/perfect dark and Kiler Instinct.
Everything else they ever made for nintendo was family friendly but highly playable. Just like everything they've made for MS. The only meh game they've made since being an MS studio was perfect dark zero. Which was still an ok game.
Viva Pinata, good for kids; but is also incredibly deep, varied, challenging and obtaining some of the higher level pinatas takes the kind of micro management and balancing that no kid could ever manage.
Banjoe Kazooie, retained all the charm of the original two games but took it in a new and interesting place. experimentation was esential it rewarded injinuity and gave you the tools to craft prety much whatever you wanted. It defied conventions and did something different. essentially creating the bastard child of Banjoe Kazooie and Diddy kong racing.
then we have Kameo which at the time blew my socks off i'd never seen that many enemies in a game before. it was a showcase peice that did its job wonderfully. Much like what kinect sports has done for kinect. It's proof of concept stuff and it works almost flawlessly.
So MS has bought twisted Pixel. A company that has a lot in common with rare. As much as it has a sense of fun and creates brilliant games that everyone can play. MS would be utterly insane not to snap them up.
After playing though the gunstringer i hope they get them working on more kinect titles. It's without a doubt one of the funnest games i've played all year and the best game using the device.
So personally i hope they do end up like rare. still trying to push boundaries, creating memorable games and showing how well they can push whatever hardware they're given.
KillerKing on 12 Oct '11 said:
i'm glad; microsoft are severely lacking in the first party department, and twisted pixel have made some brilliant little titles. i look forward to seeing what they have to offer in the near future.
sijones on 12 Oct '11 said:
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
That is all.