Alan Hartman has been the studio head of Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 Studios since 2005.
Hartman has been promoted to head of Xbox Game Studios, overseeing Turn 10 and its sister studios such as 343 Industries, Obsidian Entertainment, and more.
The former head of Xbox Game Studios, Matt Booty, was recently promoted to president of Game Content and Studios, overseeing Xbox Game Studios and Bethesda Softworks / ZeniMax Media.
This. bottom line for them is cash and the forza brand has been on an upward trend in that respect. Unfortunately that trend does not equate to customer satisfaction.
The saying in education is that you get promoted to your highest level of incompetence. It looks like that the saying may apply to video games. (The alternate saying is ‘mess up and move up’ or something very nearly like that)
I thought Dan Greenawalt had left the company. He always used to be the face of T10 but I never really saw him speak on the new game in the lead up to release or anything.
No, he’s still with Turn 10, and made a few public statements about the game on the run-up to release; Esaki, obviously, was the major face of the production.
I wish there were eyes on this game like there are eyes on Call of Duty right now for being such a mess because neither Esaki nor Greenawalt should get to hide and send underlings out to take all of the blame and the heat. They’re the project lead and GM of the franchise, respectively. Why aren’t they out there right now? Because someone on that level has to be, and if it’s not going to be them, then yes, Hartman should speak up since this technically happened on his watch. And if he has to, then I hope he does it with the guarantee to both of them that their careers end the moment his words do, because they have essentially failed at their jobs.
When I read this announcement it pretty much marked the expected end of my Xbox consumership. If the next game to come out of Xbox studios is anything like this I will be done with them. Most my games are PC anyway. My kids will just have to suffer until I can get them all PS5s.
I can’t help but wonder what metrics they evaluate themselves by when they can keep their jobs & even get rewarded/promoted after repeatedly performing like this for years.
4 titles in a row in this series have seen reductions in features, little (or nothing) new & innovative added, declining sales, deteriorating quality, worsening customer satisfaction, shrinking player engagement, and little ongoing/regular (favorable) coverage by “iNfLuEnCeRs.”
All typical outward signs seem to indicate the brand has been in major decline for a while, with no hopeful signs of bouncing back.
So I’m guessing that whatever criteria they rate themselves by internally are completely disconnected from customers, from quality, & from the genre/market/competition.
They seem to be working for some other audience & for some other purpose towards some other goals that have little (or nothing) to do with making great racing games that players will love.
The frontman for this game is Esaki. Blame Esaki, if you are disatisfied with a reason. Hartman, being the former head of T10, not FM8, is irrelevant here. Don’t let the emotions take over you.
I’d advise caution & subtlety when naming names (or avoid it altogether) with accusations and/or unfavorable labels.
No matter how well-deserved anyone might feel it is, it’s easy for feedback to get deleted & dismissed (and for users to get banned) if comments are interpreted as “abusive personal attacks…”
…which opens the door for game companies to play the victim of a (rightfully) dissatisfied audience and use that as an excuse to disregard feedback & avoid engaging with the community (until it’s time to hype up the next installment).
Personally, I think it shows very poor leadership to get out front for hype & praise only to dodge & hide & downplay & use scapegoats & make excuses after failure.
