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Amazon just bought Double Helix Games, Microsoft to announce new dev. partner soon

Rathalos

Rathalos

Play Monster Hunter!
The news that broke out yesterday concerning the future of Double Helix Games, the the developers behind the new Killer Instinct game is still making waves. Essentially, Amazon.com has acquired Double Helix Games, therefore it became uncertain all of a sudden what exactly the future of Killer Instinct was. However, according to several sources (EventHubs, Polygon), Microsoft has every intention of continuing the franchise.

In addition to this, Microsoft intends to announce their new development partner in the near future. It is very unclear what the future will bring for Killer Instinct in this whole ordeal, but from the sounds of it, once the smoke clears of this news we should have a promising horizon regarding Killer Instinct.

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Update: In a statement, a Microsoft spokesperson told Polygon that Microsoft Studios will be working with a "new development partner" on Killer Instinct for Xbox One.

"We have thoroughly enjoyed working with Double Helix and wish them success in their next endeavor," a Microsoft spokesperson said. "We want all of our loyal fans to know that the Killer Instinct team at Microsoft is not changing and that the franchise will remain with Microsoft Studios. We remain dedicated to delivering a great experience and plan to announce our new development partner soon. We're excited about the future of this popular franchise." ~ Polygon
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Read more about this at EventHubs, Polygon and TechCrunch.
edited/promoted by STORMS*
 

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EGGXI

EGGXI

Scary Bat
Interesting to say the least, but I honestly don't think it will affect KI.

Amazon bought DH presumably because they want their own VG dev, but I don't think they'll pass on making games for MS, if it's an Xbox Exclusive IP it has MS money behind it.

I also imagine there is a contract somewhere specifying that DH has to do X amount of content before calling it quits.
NoobHunter420 said:
This is irrelevant, Microsoft owns the rights to KI.
KI won't be coming to any other platforms.
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I don't think anyone is saying that, the fear is that Amazon will want them to work on something else only for their console, so KI's future will bite the dust, which I don't thinkit will
 
F

Fred Marvel

It's actually Freddy Marvel
i cant see how this would be good for KI, if Amazon wants them to do other projects then that would be where their allegiance would lie right?
 
Red Reaper

Red Reaper

The Hyrax Whisperer
Rathalos said:
I honestly don't know.

IDK maybe Amazon will be lenient with them and let them continue working on KI for a bit.

But in the long run, they probably won't be working on the franchise for much longer.
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I don't know if this means anything but:

"Amazon says that Double Helix’s current lineup of games and other future developments will be supported, following the acquisition."
 
Rathalos

Rathalos

Play Monster Hunter!
NoobHunter420 said:
This is irrelevant, Microsoft owns the rights to KI.
KI won't be coming to any other platforms.
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Of course not.

It just means that DH now has other priorities then KI, and could very much have to abandon the franchise.

MS with either abandon the IP again, or get someone new to design the game. Which would suck, since DH have done a great job so far.
 
Rathalos

Rathalos

Play Monster Hunter!
Well that's something.

I wonder how big their internal team is, and who is apart of it.

I also wonder what this means for someone like Filthyrich.
 
Killphil

Killphil

A prop on the stage of life.
It means Killer Instinct Prime in 2015. New characters will be $1 off on Amazon. Every 3 characters gets you a free mp3 download. :joker:

Nah but for real, how long will Amazon let them continue working on it? Is this internal team specific to MS then? And yea, I wonder what would happen IF some other designer is contracted to produce the next KI game.
 
Rathalos

Rathalos

Play Monster Hunter!

Well it seems like the franchise is going to live on. Probably with a transition to a new developer and some help with w/e internal team MS has in place.

I will never understand MS.

They should have bought Double Helix.
 
Killphil

Killphil

A prop on the stage of life.
trufenix said:
For KI? A fighting game? Are you high? Microsoft wouldn't even buy Bungie, and they're the reason the XBox exists.
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off topic: I thought MS owned Bungie, and in order to "free" themselves from MS they had to give up the rights to the Halo franchise?
 
T

trufenix

bye felicia
Killphil said:
off topic: I thought MS owned Bungie, and in order to "free" themselves from MS they had to give up the rights to the Halo franchise?
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Bungie was first party, which is basically ownership (See: everyone who makes decent games for Nintendo platforms) but they've always been a seperate entity and therefore "free" to do other projects (since I don't think they ever abandoned the Mac). Since Halo 3 (or maybe reach) they haven't really had a hand in any Halos. I wouldn't be surprise if the trilogy. A similar arrangement was made with Realtime Studios and Crackdown and now Epic and Gears, and I suspect Silicon Knights could've got on the same gravy train if Too Human had been worth a damn.

This is in contrast to say, Rare or Twisted Pixel who is literally owned by Microsoft or Naughty Dog and Sony or Clover (RIP) and Capcom or even NRS and WB.
 
T

trufenix

bye felicia
Rathalos said:
They did buy Bungie. They owned them for a long time, but eventually Bungie bought itself back from MS.
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The point is they let them get away and kept the game. Right now DH is known as the maker of (maybe) one of the hottest titles on a system with about 3 exclusives and lets not forget, its free. A year ago, they were the guys who made that shitty Silent Hill and a bunch of bad movie > game ports. Why would they buy them when they already own everything KI will accomplish?
 
Rathalos

Rathalos

Play Monster Hunter!
trufenix said:
The point is they let them get away and kept the game. Right now DH is known as the maker of (maybe) one of the hottest titles on a system with about 3 exclusives and lets not forget, its free. A year ago, they were the guys who made that shitty Silent Hill and a bunch of bad movie > game ports. Why would they buy them when they already own everything KI will accomplish?
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They only let Bungie go because if they didn't, Bungie would have imploded, they were fed up with MS and wanted freedom. Both parties got a sweet deal out of it. Bungie got freedom, MS got the IP rights, money, and Bungie had to create two more Halo games for them, which were ODST and Reach.

They would buy them as an investment for the future, to build up their stable of games, because all they have right now is Halo/Gears/Forza.
They needed a stable developer that could continue to develop the IP for the future. And DH was perfect for that, they were small, cheap, and the fans loved them.

Anyway. MS commented.

http://www.polygon.com/2014/2/5/5384672/report-double-helix-games-acquired-by-amazon

"We have thoroughly enjoyed working with Double Helix and wish them success in their next endeavor. We want all of our loyal fans to know that the Killer Instinct team at Microsoft is not changing and that the franchise will remain with Microsoft Studios. We remain dedicated to delivering a great experience and plan to announce our new development partner soon. We're excited about the future of this popular franchise."
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So yep. New developer.
 
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