After discovering that Turn 10 has a " No comment policy" for their employees, basically censoring them with the threat of disciplinary action, when it comes to being asked about why the decision was made to remove searchable custom public lobbies from Forza games, I decided to do a little investigating to find out why. Unfortunately, because of the nature of that policy, it made getting an answer from the people directly involved impossible. I was, however, able to debunk one common misnomer I’ve come across.
In looking for answers to why Turn 10 got rid of and doesn’t seem to be willing to bring back this feature that many have been hoping for I often came across speculation that it wasn’t Turn 10’s decision at all, but Microsoft’s. Reasons why this might be so varied, from Xbox Live’s structure on Xbox One not being able to support it, to the lobbies causing security risks with XBox Live, and others. So I decided since it was impossible to get a direct answer from anyone at Turn 10, I might as well go to where I knew I could get some answers, Microsoft, through an acquaintance that has worked for them for quite some time, and is directly involved with Xbox One.
I ran my questions past this individual, and while he/she (this person, reasonably, wants to remain anonymous) had some thoughts, he/she wanted to check with a colleague to confirm what he/she thought. I received my answers today, and while, unfortunately, I still don’t have a direct answer as to the reason why searchable custom public lobbies were removed from Forza and have never returned, I was able to confirm that these decisions were made solely by Turn 10 and that Microsoft and Xbox Live have nothing to o with it. In fact, I was assured features like this were well within Xbox Live’s capabilities and that there is in no way any policy dictated by Microsoft against utilizing them. In fact I was told that several existing games have features that, while not lobbies in racing games, utilize the same functionality that Turn 10 would use to create these lobbies. I’m not a “tech” person whatsoever, and didn’t begin to understand the technical jargon related to doing so, but my acquaintance does that type of thing for a living, and he was convinced by all of what he told me that the answer to why we aren’t able to play Forza online how we’d like to is something only Turn 10 can answer.
Which brings us back to the initial question: Why is Turn 10 hiding the truth about why we can no longer have searchable custom public lobbies in our Forza games? I wish I knew.
They don’t have CPLs for the same reason they don’t say how many are in the public lobbies. There just aren’t a lot of people playing MP at any given time. Ok, I’m just guessing, but it sounds reasonable.
I have often wondered the reason for certain features not being used on newer games, and am even curious, but assume there is a reason and understand that we are sometimes not likely to be given their specific reasons. Could have anything to proprietary information, to licensing, to confidential information. I am curious, but I don’t feel they owe me an explanation. If they want to talk about it great, I am curious.
My guess is, if T10, has a ‘no comment’ policy, then it is not a topic that should be discussed or debated on the forums, that T10 is hosting for the community. Just my opinion.
I don’t work for T10 though.
- I am not saying T10 has a no comment policy (OP did)
- If they do, it does not matter if you work for T10 or not, if they do have a no comment policy, this is their forum, and I can only guess its likely not a topic for discussion.
Again, just an opinion. I am not saying folks can’t talk about what they want, I don’t host or moderate.
They have a no comment policy on everything, so by that reasoning the forums wouldn’t exist.
Curious what the why they have a community manager though, I mean what’s the point?
DogonCrook, I am not saying they have a no comment policy on the topic at hand, OP did that.
I know of only a few things on the Forums that are not to be discussed, Bans, Reason for Bans etc.
I can’t comment on to the validity of the OPs comments, only suggested that if it was a ‘no comment topic’ it might be something that should not get debated here.
I took it as a no comment policy on any of their decisions, but who knows. Maybe that’s assuming too much but given that the devs have no input here it certainly rings true.
That said I can’t fathom what good it would do to halt discussion on it, it will just happen elsewhere more publicly, and frankly the somewhat obvious attempts to hide negative criticism hasn’t done them any favors.
You are aware that Turn 10 is a Microsoft studio, right?
Is it X-Files week and nobody told me, T10 Hiding the truth???
I’ve seen other posts this week about MS employees sitting in lobbies kicking players who were too quick for the league.
Some of these posts are beyond ridiculous.
Ya some of these have been pretty funny.
My friend said that his friend said that his friend said it was T10. Welp ok case closed.
Servers cost money
So what games are they?
I know of zero.
There were rumours about PCars after a recent update but I have heard opposing stories about what was done. I don’t have the game and can not check.
If there are games out there that use MS dedicated servers and have searchable public lobbies then lets hear which games they are.
Why is that i have read on the project cars forums that its microsofts decision about not having cpls as they are under the same restrictions
If none of the official sources are willing to go on record about this topic then it’s not confirmed, and unsubstantiated accusations are not appropriate discussion topics for this forum. If users would like to see searchable custom lobbies added to FM6 the Features Wish List is open for adding that request. Any other criticisms or requests for comment can be directed to the developers at forzafb@microsoft.com.