people need to get used to the idea that brand-name recognition doesn't mean anything anymore once said brand no longer represents what it once did. very few ga

people need to get used to the idea that brand-name recognition doesn't mean anything anymore once said brand no longer represents what it once did. very few game development studios perpetuate the internal mindset they became known for, as its constituent developers get ship-of-theseus'd out. sure, you might have some fans of the old brand now working there, but merely being a fan of something doesn't necessarily confer the ideology and mindset of those who created the thing you were a fan of. as time goes on, you get to the point where studios hire fans of the latter-day output of the studio, rather than the earlier stuff, such that the studio drifts farther and farther away from its former identity. then, especially after a massive corporation like Microsoft buys the studio out completely, the studio becomes a mere husk of its former glory—completely different people with an entirely different mindset continue to wear its skin. perhaps after more of this corporate downsizing continues to occur, people will start small, passionate studios again, and this time maybe some of them can effectively gatekeep when hiring so as to perpetuate a brand identity/mentality going forward—but I doubt this will happen in any significant way.