The Wednesday letters page features new theories about Nintendo's secrecy regarding the Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, while readers express disgust over corporate buyouts. Games Inbox is a collection of reader letters, comments, and opinions. To join the discussion, email gamecentral@metro.co.uk.
Rescue Package
So this month is only going to get worse for Xbox, huh? Its developers, its fans, and... I would say its execs but they never seem to lose out. How Matt Booty is still there after all this I will never know, except he obviously knows how to play the corporate game, even if I doubt he has ever played an actual video game in his life. I do not know what will be left of Xbox by the end of this month, but it will probably be shy several thousand developers and at least a couple of studios. I would not be surprised if they postponed Project Helix too, at which point the whole charade is over. At this stage, I do not think it is a question of whether Xbox can be saved but whether they deserve to be. They brought in online back in the Xbox 360 era, but what have they done for gaming since then? Brought it to its knees by buying up half the industry and then laying them all off. It is the people at the top I cannot stand anymore. We might complain about Sony never explaining themselves, but at least we only assume they are all awful. Because they never stop talking, we know for a fact everyone in charge of Xbox is.
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The Day Today
That reader was not wrong about it being a new disaster every day for Xbox at the moment. I do not know if a developer as big as Rare will be shut down, but all the smaller ones are toast, as far as I can see. A lot of the blame has to go to Microsoft for buying them in the first place, because I do not know what they were ever expecting from a place like Double Fine, but killing them all off like this is just awful. Hopefully they will be able to buy their freedom and go independent, but I doubt they all will. For those that do make it, I cannot imagine they would ever make a game for an Xbox system ever again. If there ever is a new one. Surely Project Helix must be scrapped by now? Who would ever buy that, especially if it is going to cost over a grand.
Vision
No silver lining. I realise the pointlessness is why everyone hates it, but did no one making that Fortnite AI video realise how it was going to come across and how pointless using AI was going to look in it? It seems like they saved themselves virtually no time, since they cannot trust the AI to do a good job and have to go back and check and change it afterwards. So there is little to no time saved and you still have to employ the artist, because someone needs to be able to fix the mess the AI has made afterwards. Oh, and as a bonus, whenever anyone finds out you have been using AI, everyone hates you and you get terrible PR. When people look back at this era in the future, they will assume we were all mad.
Cabbage. Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk
21 Again
I have not seen it mentioned anywhere, so I thought I would make the point here regarding what we can expect from the Zelda: Ocarina Of Time remake. When we see Link revealed, he is in a foetal position and he even performs an unborn baby-like swish or kick. Coupled with Nintendo's wording that this is Ocarina Of Time reborn, I think we should expect a completely new incarnation of a beloved classic. The teaser trailer was basically the announcement that we are all 'expecting' and a very deliberate attempt to protect what deserves a dedicated reveal or birthday. That is my interpretation anyway.
Bad Edit. GC: Ocarina Of Time's birthday is November 21, Zelda in general is February 21.
Rare Answer
Can anyone answer the question: why did Rare and Nintendo ever decide to part? Two studios that worked so well together and provided much-needed non-Nintendo studio content for each generation. What is going on at Xbox is so depressing, and it is easy to think we are witnessing the last days of Rare. Do you think there is any chance Nintendo might step up again and get them back? I do not even own a Switch 2, but I would be so happy to see that happen.
Chris. GC: The reasons are still unclear after all these years, but it seems to have been a combination of several relatively mundane issues. The most obvious are that Rare's output was dipping in quality and quantity, and they had missed a lot of deadlines for various games, most notably Star Fox Adventures. Nintendo was also moving away from using external Western studios in general, dropping Excitebike 64 maker Left Field around the same time. There is also the fact that they simply do not like buying studios, and while they have done it occasionally, the chances they would make a move for Rare if they became available are very low.
Corporate Dealings
All this news about Xbox and their developers reminds me of EA during the 90s and 2000s. Everyone knew what would happen the minute they bought a new developer: they would be shut down within a couple of years and everything they made would never be seen again. Westwood Studios is the one that hurts me the most from that time, and the only one that survived was BioWare, and that is by the skin of their teeth, because I feel they could go at any minute. It is the same with Xbox, another big ultra-rich American corporation that could not care less about gaming, just the short-term boost they will get from buying a company that they have no idea how to manage. For years we have heard reports of bad management at Xbox, and it never seems to change. It is probably a Microsoft company culture thing, so the only chance these developers have is either breaking away or if Xbox is spun off into its own company. I doubt Arkane or Double Fine can last long enough to benefit from that though, and we will probably hear the confirmation this week or at least this month. I have a bad feeling it is going to be even worse than we currently think.
Focus
Impulse purchase. I do not get Microsoft or Sony for that matter. They spend all this money buying developers, spend silly money to do it, thinking they can do better. Then they realise they have made a big mistake and close the company down. This, in my view, is what is wrong with gaming. Why do they not just leave them alone to do their own thing? In my eyes, this is what is bringing gaming to its knees. Xbox should forget next-gen console and just go developer-only. They would make more money and have less risk of another flop console.
David. GC: You are right, it is a terrible practice, which has brought ruin to so many studios in the last decade. Often the purchases seem to be made for no reason other than a mixture of boardroom bravado and dragon sickness.
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Secret Reasons
Regarding the secretiveness around the Zelda: Ocarina Of Time remake, I think it is possibly the same reason their summer Direct was so Japan-focused. The Switch 2 price rise has already kicked in over in Japan, and that is Nintendo's healthiest market. It feels misguided at this stage to go so hard with a Japan focus, but it seems they might be trying to tightly control the timing and focus of their announcements and reveals to counter specific price rises per region. Since the price hikes in the West are scheduled for September, and they really do need a proper reveal of Zelda by then, it does make sense that they want to counter the impact at that time. As I said right after the Direct, I am not holding out much hope it will be a much better event, but I expect they have been deliberately reserving at least some effort till then. Assuming that is right, though, if Ocarina Of Time turns out to be just a visual and presentational upgrade and maybe some quality of life adjustments, I do not think it is a good idea to give so little info and to encourage months of speculation only for it to be confirmed as essentially something that is not just already available on Nintendo Switch Online but has been reasonably accessible on all their consoles, except three handhelds, since 1998. If it is really the same game underneath, to position that as a late 2026 tentpole release would suggest they are going for some low-hanging fruit as a stalling tactic instead of having higher-effort first-party stuff ready in the short term. It would also be a missed opportunity to offer a really modern take on the classic, one that does not rely on some of the more basic dungeon gameplay that I feel brought down the Link's Awakening remake. It is interesting to think how well the announcement might have landed if none of us had a clue about it. If it is more than a superficial remake and the leaks had not happened, we might have been saying they absolutely nailed it. But as others have said, the leaks had been well documented for months, and it really does not feel like it should have been out of the question to pivot just a little and show or say a bit more.
Panda. GC: That makes perfect sense... which Nintendo rarely does.
Inbox Also-Rans
I was quite interested in those Commodore flip phones until I saw the price. The price rises for all electronics at the moment are just out of control.
Mags. Full props to that company making 'synthetic DNA'. If they are talking companies into buying their nonsense, then I take off my hat to them. I would say Sega should know better, but that seems pretty on brand for them.
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The Small Print
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