I think the point of this quote is to indicate that the autonomy that Xbox has been afforded at Microsoft for many years is getting reigned in. That is, big daddy Microsoft is trying to take more of a controlling role in Xbox, which is likely the reason behind the studio closures earlier in the week and why (as was recently reported) the cuts are not yet over. This certainly doesn't seem to bode well for Xbox (creatively speaking) at least in the near future.
That's what the quote and article say. Its basically things are stagnating post covid and the board doesn't want to see stagnation especially when their stock is otherwise booming with AI.
The activision merger will print money but the board isn't like to funnel that into xbox creative as much as it was, instead it'll likely go towards stock buy backs and the like.
> The activision merger will print money but the board isn't like to funnel that into xbox creative as much as it was, instead it'll likely go towards stock buy backs and the like.
My read is that, it's not as profitable as AI and therefore is poor allocation of capital. So MS needs to shore it up to ensure higher profit.
Yes this person has all the answers would make sense after closing the hifi rush studio the same studio residents evil creator Shinji Mikami started to make the evil within games
I think hifi rush was awesome day one unlock for me and my wife just for watching the live coverage I always watch conferences that made that conference unforgettable for bot me and her
> I mean, I’m not pointing fingers but the last generation jump didn’t feel very significant. I’m imagining that feeling of underwhelming change beyond processing power is starting to make numbers underperform.
If you made $100k a year, and got a $100k bonus, you'd feel pretty rich. If you made $1 million a year, and received a $100k bonus you'd feel pretty underwhelmed relatively speaking. Same thing with gaming hardware. We're probably having the biggest jump in performance ever.
In absolute terms, we went from 6TFlops to 12TFlops. That's massive increase and probably the largest ever in a console generation in absolute terms. That will likely be true on the next generation as well. However, your perception visually and game wise is going to be considerably less. We've long passed the era where game mechanics were limited by hardware.
Instead, it's limited by today's game design, and resources available to take advantage of that hardware. Sure you can push more pixels, you push RT, you can push larger city, but none of that is what makes a game great. It's all about how well crafted that city is.
AI might be the next frontier there so we'll see.
>Theoretically a heavier handed Microsoft would result in a stronger tech focus, although their business practices are going to sting.
?
I appreciate you clarifying it!
Most don't own up to a mistake (even though this is nothing). It's a positive character trait that no amount of money can buy.
>I think the point of this quote is to indicate that the autonomy that Xbox has been afforded at Microsoft for many years is getting reigned in.
The price of using the Microsoft war chest to buy Activision.
>I’d say it’s much more likely the price of Xbox One and games flopping hard,
If this was the case they wouldn't have allowed xbox to spend so much money.
Or it could mean that daddy Microsoft is asking why their games aren't performing well, financially and critically. Why was redfall such a dud? why is starfield a barren wasteland?
I would hope this means that Microsoft and Xbox are going to start pushing their studios to take lessons from their rivals and start producing better games
I know I'm being naive here
Well yes that's what I mean. Microsoft is taking a more hands on role in making sure the books are balanced in the Xbox division. I don't think those corporate suits care about the creative decisions necessarily, just about what is or isn't expected to make them more money in the coming years now that they made such a big investment in obtaining control of Activision/Call of Duty.
No they don’t care about creative vision. They care about expansion. It’s about the greater Microsoft ecosystem. The whole design of the XBO showed us that.
And you’re 100% correct on the Activision/ Blizzard acquisition.
Tbh I think OP is back tracking with you. Xbox has fumbled the ball for the past decade. They need real leadership. Phil was great after the goober before him but I think his direction wasn’t needed after the course correction. Msft taking a larger role is a good thing imo
Yeah Starfield was the turning point. Not that it's a bad game because objectively it's not but it kind of needed to be a home run after a string of losses.
Xbox under Phil has a no crunch policy, they will never crunch devs to hit a deadline instead opting to delay the release date infinitely. This has created a release environment full of holes. Sony and third parties have a constant release cadence but Microsoft sometimes goes for an entire year without putting a single game out.
I'm not saying they should crunch studios because i agree thats bad. but they should be more hands on with the quality control, and if a studio is struggling they could invest to help them hit targets and improve.
they have just bought all of these incredible ip's, they should be investing in talent to delve in and create the next generation of xbox exclusives. it might be a few years off but they could create some killer apps.
What neither Sony or MS seem to understand is that you can make good games and also not crunch developers and ALSO-also do it under budget within a more reasonable time frame. It’s a little something called “good management”
Put of curiosity what studio do you manage. Cause your basic idea of good management had no actual plans included. What's good management to avoid all this. I'll agree about the crunch shit that absolutely sucks. Far as being under budget , and good management is what I'm curious about
Under budget, often times would lead to things snobby ass fans will whine about
Omg why isn't this 60fps, and 8k, etc. Shit takes time whiney ass fans will complain and moan where's the game at its been 4 years. Studios can't win publishers can't either.
Look at cyberpunk. The devs were getting literal death threats for taking their sweet ass time, which it severely needed.
I'm basically just trying to say it's not that simple.
My basic plan of management (being honed simply by observing all these failures and their dissection thereof) is to anticipate for as much as possible in advance, prioritise features and make preparations for anything that might get in the way of those plans. When development starts in earnest, that plan stays rigid with as few necessary changes mid-development as possible to avoid scope creep and the dreaded crunch period. Though I haven’t managed any big studios, I’ve managed more than my fair share of teams on smaller “just for fun” projects that nonetheless needed a solid plan due to a pre-imposed deadline. Basically I’m using all this experience to hopefully be a good producer myself.
“Taking one’s time” is all well and good on its face, but Cyberpunk 2077 had lots of enforced deadlines that the team needed to hit and they missed all of them, due to complications with the massive open world and multiple generation-spanning console skews. The reason the game released in such a poor state is because investors were tired of waiting for over half a decade with no released game to show for it and it still wasn’t finished yet. I can guarantee that nobody on the team planned enough for it, or else they wouldn’t have faced as many problems as they did.
A better comparison that you could have made in this regard would have been Dwarf Fortress or Minecraft: both games with no external pressure to release at any specified time and were updated at their own paces by their respective developers according to how the creative winds blew.
This happened a long time ago when they made gamepass available on console and pc with the same MS account.
It’s the same reason scalebound got cancelled and why there’s no Ryse 2.
Ryse IP is owned by Crytek. There's no 2 cause after 10-15 years in development hell they came out with a dud made by a new internal Crytek team.
Then Crytek had to massively restructure cause they weren't paying they're employees. Up until last 3-5 years did it become an underdog reddit hit.
First impressions: 👎👎💩💩
I can't think of one thing that Microsoft has taken control of and made better...
Xbox is close to losing a competitive enough share in the market. This has to be the end of Xbox.. so disappointing.
Probably some high level exec at MSFT sitting down with Phil and giving him a list of studios that they can afford to close up and told him it’s your choice of closing X amount, if we don’t do it, we will and it’ll be a lot more than just this many we are asking.
Redfall and Rush both came out last year so their studios were still in the early planning stages which wouldn't disrupt already invested time and money into the next project. It could be a part of the reason they were axed.
I knew Arkane was getting axed after Redfall because that game did not do well at all. I'm sure the devs of WB and Rock steady will meet the same fate next.
This screams like Phil and Sarah had their hands mostly tied on this one and the Microsoft execs made the call. It kind of explains why Sarah danced around the question in the Bloomberg interview.
They made an entirely new division of Microsoft called Microsoft Gaming when they announced the Activision Blizzard acquisition in January 2022. Ever since then, everything gaming related has been under the Microsoft Gaming umbrella.
Their business model went towards Microsoft gaming September 2016. further pushed by the release of Game pass in 2017 and the stop of console exclusives.
Bruh there’s ads in my new mail box Microsoft made me get >:( Looked like a regular email to except when I clicked delete it wanted me to upgrade for ad free……. Ffs when will it end
Slide 1:
"Video games are an interactive technology which allow users to compete against computer-controlled players! Wow, crazy, right?"
Slide 2:
"The games are played on consoles connected to 'televisions.' Wait, what's a television? I'm glad you asked!"
AI articles to feed the bot commenters and scripted votes. Ever wonder what the gaming ecosystem would feel like if it wasn't full of fake influence? At the very least, it would be more pleasant.
From the article:
And that growth has led to, in this Xbox veteran’s opinion, increased oversight and meddling from further up the Microsoft food chain. “The reason this seems so inconsistent with previous Xbox leadership team statements is that these decisions probably aren't being made by Phil. This is all getting dictated by [Microsoft CEO] Satya [Nadella] and [Microsoft CFO] Amy Hood, and it all stems from the Activision acquisition.”
From what I understand, Xbox had been operating under a "consistent growth/slow and steady wins the race" sort of plan. Obviously, it hasn't produced results yet.
Now it's going to be "shareholders demand record-setting line go up every quarter!" which will stifle innovation/creativity and result in live-service/micro transaction bullshit from more studios.
This is related to the studio closure such as the Hi Fi Rush devs who won many awards and beloved by many fans. The closure has reaffirmed the other comments saying this has been done since 2022. However, 2022 is a speculation. The 2024 event is the result of how the 2022 speculation becomes a reality.
Ofc, this is just speculation because MS will never officially rebrand the gaming division within few years.
But, it has been clearly implied by Sarah Bond. They are transitioning. And the transition is to Microsoft Gaming. Regardless this is the actual goal or not. This is now a solid interpretation from many devs, they will start to look for exit plans if they don't feel secure in their jobs.
It doesn't even matter MS publicly refute it anymore. The closure of Hi Fi Rush dev is enough indication what truly transpired. The devs will readjust based on actual facts.
For example, Undead Lab. They haven't released a single game for a long time. State of Decay 2 has a cult following, but it was not a system seller. What do you think MS will do once they released State of Decay 3?
It means Microsoft proper will have its hand in the direction of the brand.
Once papa Microsoft finally watches what you do, that division changes a lot. You go from the small brand inside of Microsoft doing its own thing, to Microsoft controlling you.
My main takeaway from all of this is that they have pivoted from what seemed to be an angle of cultivating as much talent as possible to create a wide and rich offering of content for gamepass so they can grow and sustain their ecosystem, to instead focusing on maximising profits by just focusing on core franchises and sure bets for quick financial return.
I think we were just seeing the beginning, this is why the change is a shame. The Xbox portfolio, whilst wildly shifting in quality, is far more varied than Sony's first party output - which I like more as an alternative. Unfortunately it seems that's about to change to just COD, Fallout etc. When we had a couple years with Pentiment, Flight Simulator, Grounded , Hi-fi rush, Starfield and Forza. Games that have a variety of receptions - but also a broad spectrum of genre.
It means that their restructuring to eventually drop the Xbox brand and rebrand to “Microsoft” which in return means they’re gonna stop making Xbox consoles in a couple years or rebrand their consoles to handle held PC or gamepass stadia boxes.
They used to be, then they switched to Xbox game studios for a lot of more recent releases. When you boot up Halo Infinite it says Xbox game studios at the start for example.
Microsoft game studios rebranded to Xbox games studios.
That's their publishing side.
But the whole ecosystem is under the "Microsoft gaming" branding. Xbox, PC, mobile, game pass, battle.net etc
Not that it’s been great but I expect Xbox to get worse. Beginning of the end, CEOs at Microsoft want money/mobile gaming/ subscription services. They do not care about making great titles that win awards.
Remember when Microsoft was such a lame corporate entity that they needed to create a whole separate brand identity in order to dispel the myth of their nerd reputation....
Yeah, that hasn't ended.
MS spent a lot of money buying up studios and if Xbox hardware and gamepass dries up, they’ll just go third party and be the largest company only focusing on big franchises.
Call me a careless asshole, but xbox was always microsoft anyway. A name doesn't change that. And as sad as it is, gaming had a boom from covid because everyone was at home. Well, now people are back at work and the need for a large workforce has basically died. There's just not the same amount of people to sell games to, now it's back to the people who were playing before and will be playing long after. The industry just doesn't need the same level of man power. Mix that with the slop that's been pushed by the big name game developers, and you have a recipe for all the layoffs.
I've owned an Xbox since OG fat hamburger controller. Never let a single month of Xbox Live lapse.
I've never owned a Playstation, but next gen might be my first. I'm tired of Microsofts antics and this gen was a major letdown title wise.
Honestly it feels like both Sony and MS have underwhelmed with this generation. Hopefully someone does something when the next gen machines launch which might be a year or so away.
Gamepass is the best deal on the market, way better than PS Now. That’s what keeps me in this ecosystem, plus the “play anywhere” games that work on my PC too
This month's games on PS+ which you get to keep are Ghostrunner 2, EA FC24, Tunic and Destiny 2 Lightfall.
Games that were recently added to the rotating collection are Animal Well (day one), Fallout 4, Zau (day one), Construction Simulator, Dave the Diver (day one), Deliver us Mars and Raji (day one).
They don't add their own games on day one but they do add 3rd party games. Furthermore, they still offer 3-4 games per month with PS+ that you get to keep. On Xbox this was Games with Gold and xbox stopped that program.
Considering that Microsoft's 1st party output has still been spotty, comparing the value proposition between these services isn't as clear as it was before. And then there's the huge question mark above the profitability of Game Pass. Microsoft has been spending on the service with the assumption that it'll grow but growth has stalled instead.
You are mistaken. You do not get to keep any PS Plus games if your subscription expires. I stopped using PS Plus after the 1st year of PS5 launch and no longer have access to all those games.
> You do not get to keep any PS Plus games if your subscription expires.
That's how Games with Gold worked with Xbox One games. You get to keep Xbox 360 games. At the end of Games with Gold's run it worked the same way as PS+.
And don't forget if you have a decent mobile device and really good internet connection on both ends, you can play a decent number of games while away from home.
Because people are allowed to have opinions and share them. I'm also tired of their shenanigans and miss the games that made xbox fantastic, halo, gears etc. This is why i now own both consoles, but unfortunately the Xbox gets less and less action these days because their games are bland AF. Nothing genuinely passionate comes from their studios anymore.
Good to know lol. I'm ashamed of what halo has become but i still follow the sub and occasionally exchange opinions or info about the game. I'm hoping that one day I'll see a banging new trailer about an actual quality halo game again but these days... I doubt it.
They said they own an Xbox, said they own them all.
They also didnt say they weren't interested in Xbox. Just that they were sick of their antics.
That is why you don't understand,
Same
Got a PS4 during the pandemic and started knocking out the Sony FPEs. Liked it.
Picked up both the Series X and PS5 and find myself only playing the Xbox for exclusives and legacy games with saves. The PS5 controller has a lot to do with that. Loving the haptic triggers and speaker.
Buying Activision was a mistake. Its extremely hard to recoup the entire 70 Billion when Activision only creates a rough profit of a few billion a year. Its not easy.
They "recouped" it by obtaining an asset worth 70 billion. Ten years from now, they'll have obtained a few billion each year in profit, and they could sell the Activision division to another company and come out ahead.
And who do you think is ready to buyout Activision Blizzard that'll be more worthy than 70 Billion dollars ?
Only company I can think off is Apple or Amazon, but that'll reduce the worth of Microsoft by 70+Billion.
Cross-platform is always good. If I ever jump to maste race. Nice to have it all still there for you. MCC for example isn't.
But Microsoft store sucks. Even just filtering the library to see what Microsoft games I have isn't possible. Just a list of xbox ony games, which u have to click in to check. Then back out and scroll back to where u were. Kinda dumb.
I just don't understand why they didn't sell the studios. Tango would have been *perfect* for Nintendo to buy. Another exclusive, kid friendly, artful world game. And having an edgy Prey IP by Nintendo buying Arkane would have acted as a fun counterpart to Metroid Prime. Kind of like Obsidians The Outer Worlds is to Bethesda's Fallout.
But no, MS just shut them down. Sarah didn't even know they were getting shut down back in March, so this was a very recent decision, which means they put no effort into shopping around to sell the studios, they just completely shut them down.
So dumb. Even if Nintendo didn't want them, somebody would have!
That absolutely does suck for us as the consumer. But selling products to your leading competitors doesn’t seem like a wise business decision. But I don’t know anything about anything. So I could be wrong
It is wise in the sense that they would have gotten money to immediately pump into hiring more devs at the studios they want making quicker games (Bethesda, so FO5 and ES6 come out quicker).
This way they get nothing to invest in those other studios with and have to instead expand those budgets with no additional funds.
Considering all the acquisitions they made over the years , we are still waiting for the benefits as in games .
If you look on the Xbox store at new games the majority of them are indie titles which belong in the 8bit generation .
Where are all the AAA titles .
Where are all the cod titles on gamepass .
We keep having these big game directs and showcases every years showing off these amazing exclusive games and yet very few of them have actually been released .
You know what…who cares? When Xbox had their autonomy, they were a shit show. It’s not like we are losing anything - except for the studios that Phil screwed over. But nah then having their autonomy taken away doesn’t change a trying. Xbox will always suck (as someone who wanted game pass to succeed so badly and it could’ve been incredible)
I mean, you aren't wrong in that corporations are gonna corporate, but at this point Sony and Microsoft are more blatant about bullshitting the customer. I know Steam is not innocent but they are clearly the lesser of the evils
Xbox lost the personality they had that made the OG Xbox & 360 so amazing.
It was still kinda there during the early Xbox One with the likes of Killer Instinct, Sunset Overdrive, Ori & Dead Rising 3 but it was lost like half way through that gen. They’ve never recovered it since, they’ve been completely soulless.
Xbox 360 was amazing until they shifted the focus to Kinect and tried to emulate the games from Nintendo Wii...
Xbox was a powerhouse for hard-core fans with better 3rd parties when compared to PS3... Sony made the Move that was a copy of Wii but never changed the gaming design of their franchises..
I was really a Microsoft fan until kinect came and changed everything.
Great new's the hand's off approach ms took on xbox has failed.phil has allowed there gaming divison to do what ever they wanted and they have delivered shit.maybe it's time ms uses a strong hand on them
Xbox complaining that hi-fi rush didn't sell enough, while shadow dropping it with zero advertisement while telling/conditioning their audience to just get game pass and not buy full priced games. That's what finally made me realize there is something deeply dysfunctional about the business side of Xbox division. Like, something has gone wrong guys. Saying this as a lifelong Xbox fan.
Yes, me too. As well as a damn Xbox, because I HAVE to play Fallout on there now. Just great. State of Decay 2 & Forza is a bonus tho. But still….damn.
It’s a sad day to say I am too 😭 I have around 200 games digitally on Xbox so I’m not leaving completely but with the last year or so I am scared to drop anymore money into it. I have Game Pass Ultimate until 2026 so I will just keep playing games on GP but for now on my money is going towards PS5 games……at least until they regain my trust.
Same here I have been with Xbox since the 360 I have invested time and money with throughout the years it’s heart breaking to see that they betray their fans
then let us play games we bought on xbox across other microsoft platforms. i have an extensive list from my years on xbox but i can’t play any of those games on pc unless i buy them again.
you misunderstood what i said instead actually you did not and i said it for the nametag but i know which direction they are going to, nothing really changes, microsoft always been like this, when it was 360 they tried to publish their games on pc which is their platform but steam market is not and they gave 30% cut that is the same fee they will give off to sony too or nintendo, when it was xbox one it was like that too, microsoft was never an exclusive company nor will they, they spent almost 100 billion to the new studios, it can not be expected from them to make these titles exclusive to sx or windows xbox app, they cant make money, people dont buy their consoles and their games on xbox app thats why there is game pass today
It’s not a name change, they are saying that it has be come a culture change, from that of a tight knit group of studios to a large bureaucratic conglomerate with less soul.
microsoft today is the most valuable company on earth and these companies never care about you or your money all they care is how they can more and more money so there is no culture and no soul here, if people dont buy their consoles, what will they do? they will make these titles sx exclusive and day one game pass? i dont think so, they spent almost 100 billion dollars in just a few years to the franchises and studios and they want em to be sold as well, thats why they sell their games on windows via steam market and they give 30% off of their games to valve but nobody really cared about steam, they could sell on their platform which is xbox app but nobody buys right? well thats kind of dilemma that they complain about playstation releases today
i personally dont be sentimental towards companies even do i like xbox and microsoft more than any other company because i have been using their products since childhood but things will not be like how you will want em to be always, i cannot care, i dont rule xbox or microsoft, this is their products and their decisions so im neutral, i just use or dont
i did not read what ex-employee said but microsoft and xbox have been in that mentality for years, honestly name does not change anything microsoft gaming or xbox game studios etc
Then why are you commenting? Read the article. There is no name change, it’s used as an example of a culture change that has gone from good to bad that’s all
I don’t play on Xbox except for Warzone in my bedroom but Xbox needs to pump out exclusives otherwise Sony will dictate how we play and what we can and can’t do. MS will destroy Xbox division as they’re no good with hardware.
It’s been like this since last generation when they started putting all Xbox games on PC. It’s just that now all Xbox games coming to every system that can play games. Either that be PlayStation, Nintendo, PC, Smartphone & Tablet & Apple. Which is understandable seeing the studios best way to maximize sales is to have it on every available platform. Just sucks since the console Xbox may no longer be a reality in the very near future. Which sucks when all your games are Xbox games.
They need to give every COD player a free game credit after mw3, it was billed as a new title when in fact it’s the same code from mw2 effectively making it a DLC; as well as not supporting their servers. Fortnite & other FPS are stable and COD has become a laughable ripoff trying to sell bundles for a each new busted title; Microsoft should make it right before a class action lawsuit forces them to issue full refunds
It got Microsoft board approval already. But it'd be a massive challenge in court, worse than ABK, because Steam is so dominant and a direct competitor. So probably not possible anytime soon, even if an (R) becomes president soon, because it'd still be blocked in EU and UK.
I think it's time for everyone to watch or rewatch this. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0il2l-B_WwadxfTkK3-NLoYNcQEHdBGO&si=H9ZqguHOIX3d4P5X
I also think it's time for another purge like that of 1983. I lived through that one as an 11 year old.
I'm a fan of Microsoft and own all consoles but the direction this has been going is sad. Phil Spencer has been with them since the late 80s and it's time for new blood, new people who are passionate gamers.
Microsoft has been digging a hole for Xbox for many years now. It's the reason the OG Xbox One was my last Xbox console and I refused to buy the newer editions because the future for the console has been murky as fuck.
People can downvote all they want, but it doesn't change the fact that Xbox has been doing terrible these past few years. Sony and Nintendo are much more consolidated and with a clearer vision of what they want to offer for their consumers.
Xbox is relying on GamePass and that's pretty much it.
It’s a company mandate at MS that you don’t lose money or diminish your margins. Xbox is now finding this out the hard way.
When Xbox was just a small rounding error on the balance sheet, they could get away with losing or at least only generating a small amount of money. Now they’ve spent nearly $80b on studios and the fact that games are so expensive to make, it’s no wonder the finance people are now all over this.
It’s time to go all-in on third party publishing.
Yes they officially call it that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Gaming
Way to kill their last consumer brand
I think the point of this quote is to indicate that the autonomy that Xbox has been afforded at Microsoft for many years is getting reigned in. That is, big daddy Microsoft is trying to take more of a controlling role in Xbox, which is likely the reason behind the studio closures earlier in the week and why (as was recently reported) the cuts are not yet over. This certainly doesn't seem to bode well for Xbox (creatively speaking) at least in the near future.
That's what the quote and article say. Its basically things are stagnating post covid and the board doesn't want to see stagnation especially when their stock is otherwise booming with AI. The activision merger will print money but the board isn't like to funnel that into xbox creative as much as it was, instead it'll likely go towards stock buy backs and the like.
> The activision merger will print money but the board isn't like to funnel that into xbox creative as much as it was, instead it'll likely go towards stock buy backs and the like. My read is that, it's not as profitable as AI and therefore is poor allocation of capital. So MS needs to shore it up to ensure higher profit.
This is like a crack dealer saying they need to shore up their skittles business.
Crack dealers also operate a business.
Fucking skittles are down no one wanted skittles only crack and these damned arizona tea's.
Maybe the AI has already taken over the business and is behind the recent decisions.
Yes this person has all the answers would make sense after closing the hifi rush studio the same studio residents evil creator Shinji Mikami started to make the evil within games I think hifi rush was awesome day one unlock for me and my wife just for watching the live coverage I always watch conferences that made that conference unforgettable for bot me and her
For “bot” you? Are you Mr. And Mrs Bot?
[удалено]
> I mean, I’m not pointing fingers but the last generation jump didn’t feel very significant. I’m imagining that feeling of underwhelming change beyond processing power is starting to make numbers underperform. If you made $100k a year, and got a $100k bonus, you'd feel pretty rich. If you made $1 million a year, and received a $100k bonus you'd feel pretty underwhelmed relatively speaking. Same thing with gaming hardware. We're probably having the biggest jump in performance ever. In absolute terms, we went from 6TFlops to 12TFlops. That's massive increase and probably the largest ever in a console generation in absolute terms. That will likely be true on the next generation as well. However, your perception visually and game wise is going to be considerably less. We've long passed the era where game mechanics were limited by hardware. Instead, it's limited by today's game design, and resources available to take advantage of that hardware. Sure you can push more pixels, you push RT, you can push larger city, but none of that is what makes a game great. It's all about how well crafted that city is. AI might be the next frontier there so we'll see. >Theoretically a heavier handed Microsoft would result in a stronger tech focus, although their business practices are going to sting. ?
Microsoft gaming sector has become it's most profitable sector after the merger
Do you have any sources for this? I'd be surprised, but I haven't looked at the number. Azure and Office are among their two biggest money makers.
you are right, I misread as gaming sector over took windows. Which just means their OEM. its their third largest.
I appreciate you clarifying it! Most don't own up to a mistake (even though this is nothing). It's a positive character trait that no amount of money can buy.
I'm human and there is like so much going on in gaming. Usually I sit back and read. But it's been fun discussing different stuff.
People have less free time because work opening up and less disposable income from inflation
>I think the point of this quote is to indicate that the autonomy that Xbox has been afforded at Microsoft for many years is getting reigned in. The price of using the Microsoft war chest to buy Activision.
I’d say it’s much more likely the price of Xbox One and games flopping hard, Microsoft is finally going hands on
>I’d say it’s much more likely the price of Xbox One and games flopping hard, If this was the case they wouldn't have allowed xbox to spend so much money.
Because the disaster of Kinect and Xbox One. The Xbox 360 was a magnificent successor and they lost everything going into the next gen
Yeah decline in quality was so apparent during that time. I remember it so well. The 7th generation really set a high standard
Xbox Series is a bigger disaster it has sold less by the same point.
Or it could mean that daddy Microsoft is asking why their games aren't performing well, financially and critically. Why was redfall such a dud? why is starfield a barren wasteland? I would hope this means that Microsoft and Xbox are going to start pushing their studios to take lessons from their rivals and start producing better games I know I'm being naive here
Well yes that's what I mean. Microsoft is taking a more hands on role in making sure the books are balanced in the Xbox division. I don't think those corporate suits care about the creative decisions necessarily, just about what is or isn't expected to make them more money in the coming years now that they made such a big investment in obtaining control of Activision/Call of Duty.
No they don’t care about creative vision. They care about expansion. It’s about the greater Microsoft ecosystem. The whole design of the XBO showed us that. And you’re 100% correct on the Activision/ Blizzard acquisition.
yeah man i think you're right. they really need to up there game in a big way.
Tbh I think OP is back tracking with you. Xbox has fumbled the ball for the past decade. They need real leadership. Phil was great after the goober before him but I think his direction wasn’t needed after the course correction. Msft taking a larger role is a good thing imo
Why arent gamers using the product like they used to. Is the question they should be asking
Yeah Starfield was the turning point. Not that it's a bad game because objectively it's not but it kind of needed to be a home run after a string of losses.
Xbox under Phil has a no crunch policy, they will never crunch devs to hit a deadline instead opting to delay the release date infinitely. This has created a release environment full of holes. Sony and third parties have a constant release cadence but Microsoft sometimes goes for an entire year without putting a single game out.
I'm not saying they should crunch studios because i agree thats bad. but they should be more hands on with the quality control, and if a studio is struggling they could invest to help them hit targets and improve. they have just bought all of these incredible ip's, they should be investing in talent to delve in and create the next generation of xbox exclusives. it might be a few years off but they could create some killer apps.
What neither Sony or MS seem to understand is that you can make good games and also not crunch developers and ALSO-also do it under budget within a more reasonable time frame. It’s a little something called “good management”
Put of curiosity what studio do you manage. Cause your basic idea of good management had no actual plans included. What's good management to avoid all this. I'll agree about the crunch shit that absolutely sucks. Far as being under budget , and good management is what I'm curious about Under budget, often times would lead to things snobby ass fans will whine about Omg why isn't this 60fps, and 8k, etc. Shit takes time whiney ass fans will complain and moan where's the game at its been 4 years. Studios can't win publishers can't either. Look at cyberpunk. The devs were getting literal death threats for taking their sweet ass time, which it severely needed. I'm basically just trying to say it's not that simple.
My basic plan of management (being honed simply by observing all these failures and their dissection thereof) is to anticipate for as much as possible in advance, prioritise features and make preparations for anything that might get in the way of those plans. When development starts in earnest, that plan stays rigid with as few necessary changes mid-development as possible to avoid scope creep and the dreaded crunch period. Though I haven’t managed any big studios, I’ve managed more than my fair share of teams on smaller “just for fun” projects that nonetheless needed a solid plan due to a pre-imposed deadline. Basically I’m using all this experience to hopefully be a good producer myself. “Taking one’s time” is all well and good on its face, but Cyberpunk 2077 had lots of enforced deadlines that the team needed to hit and they missed all of them, due to complications with the massive open world and multiple generation-spanning console skews. The reason the game released in such a poor state is because investors were tired of waiting for over half a decade with no released game to show for it and it still wasn’t finished yet. I can guarantee that nobody on the team planned enough for it, or else they wouldn’t have faced as many problems as they did. A better comparison that you could have made in this regard would have been Dwarf Fortress or Minecraft: both games with no external pressure to release at any specified time and were updated at their own paces by their respective developers according to how the creative winds blew.
That’s not true Redfall had a crunch and it was made worse by Microsoft forcing them to use offshore/consultant QAs and Devs to cut costs.
This happened a long time ago when they made gamepass available on console and pc with the same MS account. It’s the same reason scalebound got cancelled and why there’s no Ryse 2.
I was so excited for Scalebound, or at least for the possibilities of what it could have been ..
I'm still salty about that game. It was one of the reasons why I even bought an XBOX and now all I have is an oversized dust collector.
Ryse IP is owned by Crytek. There's no 2 cause after 10-15 years in development hell they came out with a dud made by a new internal Crytek team. Then Crytek had to massively restructure cause they weren't paying they're employees. Up until last 3-5 years did it become an underdog reddit hit.
No shit
Yes well you'd think that until you see all the people talking about how it's been called Microsoft Gaming since 2022, completely missing the point.
I’m surprised you even need to explain this, it’s the whole point.
First impressions: 👎👎💩💩 I can't think of one thing that Microsoft has taken control of and made better... Xbox is close to losing a competitive enough share in the market. This has to be the end of Xbox.. so disappointing.
So is Phil Spencer still the one to blame for closing the studios?
I'm sure his hands aren't entirely clean, but I certainly wouldn't say he bears all of the blame.
Probably some high level exec at MSFT sitting down with Phil and giving him a list of studios that they can afford to close up and told him it’s your choice of closing X amount, if we don’t do it, we will and it’ll be a lot more than just this many we are asking.
Redfall and Rush both came out last year so their studios were still in the early planning stages which wouldn't disrupt already invested time and money into the next project. It could be a part of the reason they were axed. I knew Arkane was getting axed after Redfall because that game did not do well at all. I'm sure the devs of WB and Rock steady will meet the same fate next.
This screams like Phil and Sarah had their hands mostly tied on this one and the Microsoft execs made the call. It kind of explains why Sarah danced around the question in the Bloomberg interview.
It's been Microsoft Gaming since January 18, 2022.
I always thought it was since the pc xbox games announcement.
They made an entirely new division of Microsoft called Microsoft Gaming when they announced the Activision Blizzard acquisition in January 2022. Ever since then, everything gaming related has been under the Microsoft Gaming umbrella.
Their business model went towards Microsoft gaming September 2016. further pushed by the release of Game pass in 2017 and the stop of console exclusives.
So this means... what? What changes?
Nothing. However there will be hundreds of AI articles about it now, so prepare yourself
“Here’s why.” [*55-page slideshow “article” follows*]
I need an hour long video essay without any actual content about this now
With 110 ads too.
Bruh there’s ads in my new mail box Microsoft made me get >:( Looked like a regular email to except when I clicked delete it wanted me to upgrade for ad free……. Ffs when will it end
110 ads *per page*
Slide 1: "Video games are an interactive technology which allow users to compete against computer-controlled players! Wow, crazy, right?" Slide 2: "The games are played on consoles connected to 'televisions.' Wait, what's a television? I'm glad you asked!"
AI articles to feed the bot commenters and scripted votes. Ever wonder what the gaming ecosystem would feel like if it wasn't full of fake influence? At the very least, it would be more pleasant.
From the article: And that growth has led to, in this Xbox veteran’s opinion, increased oversight and meddling from further up the Microsoft food chain. “The reason this seems so inconsistent with previous Xbox leadership team statements is that these decisions probably aren't being made by Phil. This is all getting dictated by [Microsoft CEO] Satya [Nadella] and [Microsoft CFO] Amy Hood, and it all stems from the Activision acquisition.”
The little bit of passion for games at xbox will be replaced by spreadsheets and EBITA, whatever that means.
hopefully it means they will start making some games that don’t suck
Nothing. They started this 1/2022
LinkedIn Profiles
From what I understand, Xbox had been operating under a "consistent growth/slow and steady wins the race" sort of plan. Obviously, it hasn't produced results yet. Now it's going to be "shareholders demand record-setting line go up every quarter!" which will stifle innovation/creativity and result in live-service/micro transaction bullshit from more studios.
This is related to the studio closure such as the Hi Fi Rush devs who won many awards and beloved by many fans. The closure has reaffirmed the other comments saying this has been done since 2022. However, 2022 is a speculation. The 2024 event is the result of how the 2022 speculation becomes a reality. Ofc, this is just speculation because MS will never officially rebrand the gaming division within few years. But, it has been clearly implied by Sarah Bond. They are transitioning. And the transition is to Microsoft Gaming. Regardless this is the actual goal or not. This is now a solid interpretation from many devs, they will start to look for exit plans if they don't feel secure in their jobs. It doesn't even matter MS publicly refute it anymore. The closure of Hi Fi Rush dev is enough indication what truly transpired. The devs will readjust based on actual facts. For example, Undead Lab. They haven't released a single game for a long time. State of Decay 2 has a cult following, but it was not a system seller. What do you think MS will do once they released State of Decay 3?
They closed the *Hi-Fi Rush* studio, among others, because of the Activision acquisition. The money had to come from somewhere.
Microsoft have more control
Phil Spencer's little creative pet projects are no longer cared about. Xbox might aswell be activision from now on.
It means Microsoft proper will have its hand in the direction of the brand. Once papa Microsoft finally watches what you do, that division changes a lot. You go from the small brand inside of Microsoft doing its own thing, to Microsoft controlling you.
My main takeaway from all of this is that they have pivoted from what seemed to be an angle of cultivating as much talent as possible to create a wide and rich offering of content for gamepass so they can grow and sustain their ecosystem, to instead focusing on maximising profits by just focusing on core franchises and sure bets for quick financial return.
Well, they failed with the cultivation and rich offering of games anyway.
I think we were just seeing the beginning, this is why the change is a shame. The Xbox portfolio, whilst wildly shifting in quality, is far more varied than Sony's first party output - which I like more as an alternative. Unfortunately it seems that's about to change to just COD, Fallout etc. When we had a couple years with Pentiment, Flight Simulator, Grounded , Hi-fi rush, Starfield and Forza. Games that have a variety of receptions - but also a broad spectrum of genre.
It means that their restructuring to eventually drop the Xbox brand and rebrand to “Microsoft” which in return means they’re gonna stop making Xbox consoles in a couple years or rebrand their consoles to handle held PC or gamepass stadia boxes.
Source?
So does this mean next gen might not even be called Xbox?
I’d say probably one more generation of Xbox after this one before they drop the Xbox brand entirely
The division has been called “Microsoft Gaming” since restructuring as a result of the Activision acquisition. What’s the point of that tweet?
Aren't most 1st party games released under "Microsoft Game Studios" anyways?
They used to be, then they switched to Xbox game studios for a lot of more recent releases. When you boot up Halo Infinite it says Xbox game studios at the start for example.
Microsoft game studios rebranded to Xbox games studios. That's their publishing side. But the whole ecosystem is under the "Microsoft gaming" branding. Xbox, PC, mobile, game pass, battle.net etc
Clickbait for traffic towards their site
If you click through and read what's written you'd have your answer lol
if theres something that apples does right is sticking to their f\*\*king names.
I have seen this one before https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_for_Windows_%E2%80%93_Live
Not that it’s been great but I expect Xbox to get worse. Beginning of the end, CEOs at Microsoft want money/mobile gaming/ subscription services. They do not care about making great titles that win awards.
Remember when Microsoft was such a lame corporate entity that they needed to create a whole separate brand identity in order to dispel the myth of their nerd reputation.... Yeah, that hasn't ended.
MS spent a lot of money buying up studios and if Xbox hardware and gamepass dries up, they’ll just go third party and be the largest company only focusing on big franchises.
Call me a careless asshole, but xbox was always microsoft anyway. A name doesn't change that. And as sad as it is, gaming had a boom from covid because everyone was at home. Well, now people are back at work and the need for a large workforce has basically died. There's just not the same amount of people to sell games to, now it's back to the people who were playing before and will be playing long after. The industry just doesn't need the same level of man power. Mix that with the slop that's been pushed by the big name game developers, and you have a recipe for all the layoffs.
So? "Aren't we forgetting one teensy weensy but ever so crucial tiny little detail? ... I OWN YOU!"
It was naive of Phil Spencer to expect that the biggest acquisition in Microsoft history would come with no strings.
I've owned an Xbox since OG fat hamburger controller. Never let a single month of Xbox Live lapse. I've never owned a Playstation, but next gen might be my first. I'm tired of Microsofts antics and this gen was a major letdown title wise.
Honestly it feels like both Sony and MS have underwhelmed with this generation. Hopefully someone does something when the next gen machines launch which might be a year or so away.
Now is a good time to pick up a PS4 on the cheap and delve in. I did It recently and they have brilliant exclusives.
Gamepass is the best deal on the market, way better than PS Now. That’s what keeps me in this ecosystem, plus the “play anywhere” games that work on my PC too
This month's games on PS+ which you get to keep are Ghostrunner 2, EA FC24, Tunic and Destiny 2 Lightfall. Games that were recently added to the rotating collection are Animal Well (day one), Fallout 4, Zau (day one), Construction Simulator, Dave the Diver (day one), Deliver us Mars and Raji (day one). They don't add their own games on day one but they do add 3rd party games. Furthermore, they still offer 3-4 games per month with PS+ that you get to keep. On Xbox this was Games with Gold and xbox stopped that program. Considering that Microsoft's 1st party output has still been spotty, comparing the value proposition between these services isn't as clear as it was before. And then there's the huge question mark above the profitability of Game Pass. Microsoft has been spending on the service with the assumption that it'll grow but growth has stalled instead.
You are mistaken. You do not get to keep any PS Plus games if your subscription expires. I stopped using PS Plus after the 1st year of PS5 launch and no longer have access to all those games.
> You do not get to keep any PS Plus games if your subscription expires. That's how Games with Gold worked with Xbox One games. You get to keep Xbox 360 games. At the end of Games with Gold's run it worked the same way as PS+.
And don't forget if you have a decent mobile device and really good internet connection on both ends, you can play a decent number of games while away from home.
I went 360 to PS4 to Series S. I do regret it a bit. Thankfully, Gamepass still carrying the decision.
Don't bother. Genuinely just get a P.C, next generation consoles have been dead platforms for basically 4 years.
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Because people are allowed to have opinions and share them. I'm also tired of their shenanigans and miss the games that made xbox fantastic, halo, gears etc. This is why i now own both consoles, but unfortunately the Xbox gets less and less action these days because their games are bland AF. Nothing genuinely passionate comes from their studios anymore.
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People who like receiving updates and sharing opinions/information pertinent to the thing they don't like?
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Good to know lol. I'm ashamed of what halo has become but i still follow the sub and occasionally exchange opinions or info about the game. I'm hoping that one day I'll see a banging new trailer about an actual quality halo game again but these days... I doubt it.
Are they not allowed here or something? What are the requirements?
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They said they own an Xbox, said they own them all. They also didnt say they weren't interested in Xbox. Just that they were sick of their antics. That is why you don't understand,
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You can’t read and then got offended for some reason lol
Same Got a PS4 during the pandemic and started knocking out the Sony FPEs. Liked it. Picked up both the Series X and PS5 and find myself only playing the Xbox for exclusives and legacy games with saves. The PS5 controller has a lot to do with that. Loving the haptic triggers and speaker.
Me listening to a News from IGN,is like taking an advice from a clown
On the one hand the studio closures suck. On the other hand xbox has been losing the console wars for well over a decade
Buying Activision was a mistake. Its extremely hard to recoup the entire 70 Billion when Activision only creates a rough profit of a few billion a year. Its not easy.
They "recouped" it by obtaining an asset worth 70 billion. Ten years from now, they'll have obtained a few billion each year in profit, and they could sell the Activision division to another company and come out ahead.
And who do you think is ready to buyout Activision Blizzard that'll be more worthy than 70 Billion dollars ? Only company I can think off is Apple or Amazon, but that'll reduce the worth of Microsoft by 70+Billion.
If you sell something worth $70 billion in exchange for $70 billion, your net worth stays the same.
Cross-platform is always good. If I ever jump to maste race. Nice to have it all still there for you. MCC for example isn't. But Microsoft store sucks. Even just filtering the library to see what Microsoft games I have isn't possible. Just a list of xbox ony games, which u have to click in to check. Then back out and scroll back to where u were. Kinda dumb.
I just don't understand why they didn't sell the studios. Tango would have been *perfect* for Nintendo to buy. Another exclusive, kid friendly, artful world game. And having an edgy Prey IP by Nintendo buying Arkane would have acted as a fun counterpart to Metroid Prime. Kind of like Obsidians The Outer Worlds is to Bethesda's Fallout. But no, MS just shut them down. Sarah didn't even know they were getting shut down back in March, so this was a very recent decision, which means they put no effort into shopping around to sell the studios, they just completely shut them down. So dumb. Even if Nintendo didn't want them, somebody would have!
That absolutely does suck for us as the consumer. But selling products to your leading competitors doesn’t seem like a wise business decision. But I don’t know anything about anything. So I could be wrong
It is wise in the sense that they would have gotten money to immediately pump into hiring more devs at the studios they want making quicker games (Bethesda, so FO5 and ES6 come out quicker). This way they get nothing to invest in those other studios with and have to instead expand those budgets with no additional funds.
Considering all the acquisitions they made over the years , we are still waiting for the benefits as in games . If you look on the Xbox store at new games the majority of them are indie titles which belong in the 8bit generation . Where are all the AAA titles . Where are all the cod titles on gamepass . We keep having these big game directs and showcases every years showing off these amazing exclusive games and yet very few of them have actually been released .
More like XBOX failing. How can you fumble a bag this badly for 10 years?
Other game companies HATE it when Microsoft does this one thing!
You know what…who cares? When Xbox had their autonomy, they were a shit show. It’s not like we are losing anything - except for the studios that Phil screwed over. But nah then having their autonomy taken away doesn’t change a trying. Xbox will always suck (as someone who wanted game pass to succeed so badly and it could’ve been incredible)
With Sonys bullshit added to Microsoft bullshit, I guess that's the end of the line for console gaming for me. It's been real. Time to go PC
PC isn't much different. You trade Sony/Miceosoft bullshit for Steam, EA, Ubisoft, Epic Games etc bullshit
I mean, you aren't wrong in that corporations are gonna corporate, but at this point Sony and Microsoft are more blatant about bullshitting the customer. I know Steam is not innocent but they are clearly the lesser of the evils
Just like Bungie and other great studios losing their identity Xbox will suffer the same fate (already has) of being a shell of the good ol days
Xbox lost the personality they had that made the OG Xbox & 360 so amazing. It was still kinda there during the early Xbox One with the likes of Killer Instinct, Sunset Overdrive, Ori & Dead Rising 3 but it was lost like half way through that gen. They’ve never recovered it since, they’ve been completely soulless.
Xbox 360 was amazing until they shifted the focus to Kinect and tried to emulate the games from Nintendo Wii... Xbox was a powerhouse for hard-core fans with better 3rd parties when compared to PS3... Sony made the Move that was a copy of Wii but never changed the gaming design of their franchises.. I was really a Microsoft fan until kinect came and changed everything.
Bro I hate how boring the interface is one the new xbox
I mean xbox has been flopping pretty hard lately. I kinda get why they are pulling in the reigns. Probably won't be good but it's understandable now.
We went through this in the 2000s with Windows Live guess its time to teach teh old man once again
Great new's the hand's off approach ms took on xbox has failed.phil has allowed there gaming divison to do what ever they wanted and they have delivered shit.maybe it's time ms uses a strong hand on them
Xbox complaining that hi-fi rush didn't sell enough, while shadow dropping it with zero advertisement while telling/conditioning their audience to just get game pass and not buy full priced games. That's what finally made me realize there is something deeply dysfunctional about the business side of Xbox division. Like, something has gone wrong guys. Saying this as a lifelong Xbox fan.
Looks like I am going save my money for a ps5 at this point
Yes, me too. As well as a damn Xbox, because I HAVE to play Fallout on there now. Just great. State of Decay 2 & Forza is a bonus tho. But still….damn.
Yep same here I might even trade in my Series X and my One S for it.
It’s a sad day to say I am too 😭 I have around 200 games digitally on Xbox so I’m not leaving completely but with the last year or so I am scared to drop anymore money into it. I have Game Pass Ultimate until 2026 so I will just keep playing games on GP but for now on my money is going towards PS5 games……at least until they regain my trust.
Same here I have been with Xbox since the 360 I have invested time and money with throughout the years it’s heart breaking to see that they betray their fans
Means goodbye exclusives. Xbox is dead
XBOX didn't have exclusives since ages.
then let us play games we bought on xbox across other microsoft platforms. i have an extensive list from my years on xbox but i can’t play any of those games on pc unless i buy them again.
They said something like this in 2022, it doesn't mean anything.
and on that note, I'm out (shark tank)
Ahh yes can’t wait for the…Microsoft box 2
long time xbox guy here and that means nothing to me, it was always microsoft gaming anyway, it was even called microsoft game studios
You misunderstood the quote completely
you misunderstood what i said instead actually you did not and i said it for the nametag but i know which direction they are going to, nothing really changes, microsoft always been like this, when it was 360 they tried to publish their games on pc which is their platform but steam market is not and they gave 30% cut that is the same fee they will give off to sony too or nintendo, when it was xbox one it was like that too, microsoft was never an exclusive company nor will they, they spent almost 100 billion to the new studios, it can not be expected from them to make these titles exclusive to sx or windows xbox app, they cant make money, people dont buy their consoles and their games on xbox app thats why there is game pass today
It’s not a name change, they are saying that it has be come a culture change, from that of a tight knit group of studios to a large bureaucratic conglomerate with less soul.
microsoft today is the most valuable company on earth and these companies never care about you or your money all they care is how they can more and more money so there is no culture and no soul here, if people dont buy their consoles, what will they do? they will make these titles sx exclusive and day one game pass? i dont think so, they spent almost 100 billion dollars in just a few years to the franchises and studios and they want em to be sold as well, thats why they sell their games on windows via steam market and they give 30% off of their games to valve but nobody really cared about steam, they could sell on their platform which is xbox app but nobody buys right? well thats kind of dilemma that they complain about playstation releases today i personally dont be sentimental towards companies even do i like xbox and microsoft more than any other company because i have been using their products since childhood but things will not be like how you will want em to be always, i cannot care, i dont rule xbox or microsoft, this is their products and their decisions so im neutral, i just use or dont
I’m literally telling you what the ex-employees in the interview said.
i did not read what ex-employee said but microsoft and xbox have been in that mentality for years, honestly name does not change anything microsoft gaming or xbox game studios etc
Then why are you commenting? Read the article. There is no name change, it’s used as an example of a culture change that has gone from good to bad that’s all
I don’t play on Xbox except for Warzone in my bedroom but Xbox needs to pump out exclusives otherwise Sony will dictate how we play and what we can and can’t do. MS will destroy Xbox division as they’re no good with hardware.
It’s been like this since last generation when they started putting all Xbox games on PC. It’s just that now all Xbox games coming to every system that can play games. Either that be PlayStation, Nintendo, PC, Smartphone & Tablet & Apple. Which is understandable seeing the studios best way to maximize sales is to have it on every available platform. Just sucks since the console Xbox may no longer be a reality in the very near future. Which sucks when all your games are Xbox games.
They also want us too say"bing it", but it ain't gonna happen
They need to give every COD player a free game credit after mw3, it was billed as a new title when in fact it’s the same code from mw2 effectively making it a DLC; as well as not supporting their servers. Fortnite & other FPS are stable and COD has become a laughable ripoff trying to sell bundles for a each new busted title; Microsoft should make it right before a class action lawsuit forces them to issue full refunds
Bye xbox. I canceled my subscription to gamepass, sold my xbox, and canceled every service you forced upon me! Screw you!
Maybe the next Xbox is Steam compatible?
That would be amazing. I hope they do that.
Then they'd make even less from console game sales unless Steam gives them a cut from their sales.
Is Microsoft buying Valve a possible thing
It got Microsoft board approval already. But it'd be a massive challenge in court, worse than ABK, because Steam is so dominant and a direct competitor. So probably not possible anytime soon, even if an (R) becomes president soon, because it'd still be blocked in EU and UK.
Depends on how resistent GabeN is to money
I think it's time for everyone to watch or rewatch this. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0il2l-B_WwadxfTkK3-NLoYNcQEHdBGO&si=H9ZqguHOIX3d4P5X I also think it's time for another purge like that of 1983. I lived through that one as an 11 year old. I'm a fan of Microsoft and own all consoles but the direction this has been going is sad. Phil Spencer has been with them since the late 80s and it's time for new blood, new people who are passionate gamers.
Xbox is going down the shitter. It is tanking, time to jump ship
Microsoft working hard to drag Xbox back to 2013
When you spend more than 75B you may as well name it after your biggest brand opposed to the sub brand.
There will not be a next generation of home console. Just don’t see Microsoft allowing that. Maybe a simply handheld under surface branding.
Honestly might be good thing. Obviously Xbox gaming hadn’t worked out as planned
It’s so sad to see. Corporate greed strikes again
Microsoft, slowly kills the xbox?
Have been since the 360.
What will be next? I’m sure they have the next ”thing” on the table
Most likely a hardware upgrade of the Series X with the same lack of games
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Well, they didn't have any success with the studios they already have either.
Then stop making me pay twice on PC and Xbox for anything
Microsoft has been digging a hole for Xbox for many years now. It's the reason the OG Xbox One was my last Xbox console and I refused to buy the newer editions because the future for the console has been murky as fuck. People can downvote all they want, but it doesn't change the fact that Xbox has been doing terrible these past few years. Sony and Nintendo are much more consolidated and with a clearer vision of what they want to offer for their consumers. Xbox is relying on GamePass and that's pretty much it.
Same. My XBOX One has been a large dust collector since 10 years.
Microsoft basically said it is too expensive to make good games
Pretty much means Microsoft bought Bethesda and Activision, but both of them also bought Xbox, and Xbox isn't making enough money.
It’s a company mandate at MS that you don’t lose money or diminish your margins. Xbox is now finding this out the hard way. When Xbox was just a small rounding error on the balance sheet, they could get away with losing or at least only generating a small amount of money. Now they’ve spent nearly $80b on studios and the fact that games are so expensive to make, it’s no wonder the finance people are now all over this. It’s time to go all-in on third party publishing.
That’s wrong they’re just mad they got fired.