[Bloomberg] Microsoft’s Xbox Is Planning More Cuts After Studio Closings, Also Details on game pitches from Arkane & Tango before closure

[vio55555]

It sounds very optimistic to think that we'll get to 2027 and still be talking about "Xbox consoles" or "exclusives". They ain't waiting that long. They may not wait out the year.

Click to shrink...

Yeah that's fair, given the Switch 2 and PS5 Pro are likely to take up 99% of the console oxygen by next year, it's tough to see any sort of hardware future there, so they may not even get a next Xbox.

At some point, Microsoft does have to decide what they want it to be and it sounds like this is starting the shift.

In some sense, I guess I'm okay with Tango being shutdown if it means they're just going 3rd party AAA route.

Tango and Hi-Fi Rush 2 made the most sense as a launch title for next Xbox. But if they're going 3rd party, they don't need Tango or Hi-Fi Rush 2 as blunt and brutal as it sounds. The math makes no sense for small AA titles like that if they're just focused on PC Gamepass and AAA titles.

 

[ClamBuster]

Ninja Theory you are next.

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100%

7 years to make a non full price, 8 hour, releasing on less platforms, game

it's basically everything microsoft detests

 

[Sign My Guestbook!]

This year has seen the end of both Deus Ex and Dishonored.

Who deserved that? Nobody deserved that. Industry eating itself alive.

 

[Drksage]

Xbox won't survive the decade

Click to shrink...

You may be correct

"A majority of our customers are found off of our own hardware, I would hope by earlier than 2030. So, when you asked me if I agreed with this chart that the light green and blue depending on what colors you see there would have to be much larger much earlier. I would say by FY26, '27 that we should be in that position, or we'd have to make a different decision with the business."

After this last couple of months with these type of news, I imagine those numbers are currently taking a nose dive. I wouldn't be surprised if they're already considering the "different decision with the business" part

 

[bitcloudrzr]

Xbox may get one more console launch; a 2027-ish launch with exclusives ready from every possible studio. If that still flops relative to PS6, then they're likely cooked in hardware and highly likely to go full 3rd party route by 2032-2033.

Can't see Nadella and co keeping the hardware business as a money loser if they can't ever get to proper competitive scale again (70-80 million units per generation).

At this point, it's really hard to see any sort of hardware future if they're just focused on the AAA multi-platform (or mainly PC/mobile) titles like Minecraft, CoD, WoW, Candy Crush, Diablo, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, etc.

Click to shrink...

They will not have any exclusives.

 

[CabooseMSG]

Some backstory about a few of these studios:
Sugar & Rockets, Contrail and Arc Entertainment merged and became Japan Studio.
Camden Studio merged with Team Soho (missing on that list) and became London Studio.

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Yea this is a pretty lacking graphic in general, the first few Xbox studios listed all merged into Xbox Game Studios, like Contrail did with Sony. Then you get to Hired Gun, which wasnt a studio, just an internal dev team that ported Halo 2 to Windows lol.

Just a whole lot of missing info with this it seems

 

[FF Seraphim]

Maybe I'm WAY off here but I still think if MS had stayed the course they could have turned Xbox around.

They finally got their enormous roster of world-class studios. If they'd sorted out their production pipelines they should have been able to pump out banger after banger every three months of the year.

If they kept those games exclusive (save for the stuff required multi due to ABK deal ofc), people surely would have bought more Xboxs to play them.

They have an absolutely insane amount of studios AND incredible IP.

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Stayed what course? They have been flying blind since the XB1 came out.
Every year they talk about games but with little to show for it. The games they have released are usually riddled with problems. The one studio that released a banger just got closed down and that game was probably worked on before MS even bought them.
The industry deserves better.

 

[vio55555]

You may be correct

"A majority of our customers are found off of our own hardware, I would hope by earlier than 2030. So, when you asked me if I agreed with this chart that the light green and blue depending on what colors you see there would have to be much larger much earlier. I would say by FY26, '27 that we should be in that position, or we'd have to make a different decision with the business."

After this last couple of months with these type of news, I imagine those numbers are currently taking a nose dive. I wouldn't be surprised if they're already considering the "different decision with the business" part

Click to shrink...

Yeah those were the projections that led to the ABK purchase 2.5 years ago.

But now, none of those numbers is realistic. They'd be lucky to reach 50 million by 2030 and more likely than not may peak and start declining as the output falls.

People will start cancelling Gamepass subs and lack of Xbox sales means lack of new buyers.

 

[Joliet Jake]

I assume Xbox will release a new console, but anything they said during that business update podcast can be categorized as complete bullshit at this point.

 

[Starlite]

I'm really starting to wonder how much of this in the hands of the Xbox branch as a whole. It seems like until very very recently, Xbox appeared like it was very eager to assist the studios into their next projects and the like. That Arkane Austin was working on a major update for this month, and just suddenly had to stop everything. It doesn't sound like a closure that was in the planning for a while.

The sudden interest in multiplat releases, the questioning on current Gane Pass price and release methods, and of course these closures all sound like Xbox and it's escapades caught the eye of the rest of Microsoft and that there's a ton of pressure on them to deliver results and profits right now. Like Xbox was kinda free to do its own thing when it was small, not all that significant branch that didn't affect anyone else, but that insane 70 billion chunk the company took for Xbox of all things has the rest in the company starting to question why they're dumping all this money into a strategy without much tangible success.

And honestly it's a good question to have at this point. They spent all this money to effectively have the biggest IP they now own to continue being a multiplat release. If Xbox's biggest franchises are multiplat, why exactly are they playing the exclusivity game? Or rather, how effective is it if people are just gonna buy PlayStations and play CoD there anyway?

 

[Lowrys]

Im not so sure this was ever happening. It like a catch 22. In order to get all of those studios and IP and big games, they needed to spend a ton of money, and that amount of spending was never going to be able to be justified by Xbox' place in the market. The more Phil was allowed to spend the more expectations from Satya and the board. Xbox isn't some charity project. Phils been at the head for 10 years.

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I'm sure you're right. But then why buy all those studios in the first place? I guess the answer is to get the IP. But even that doesn't make sense if they're not making games with the IP.

Seems MS is consolidating around some key IP, but I don't think Halo or Gears are anywhere near what they were back in the day.

 

[Zealuu]

So releasing a game puts the studio next on the chopping block?

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The headsman is sharpening his axe for Ninja Theory as we speak

 

[Arc]

As if people knew that was going to happen
Besides I went on a apology tour yesterday

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Anyone who's ever been through an acquisition knew this was going to happen. We were just threadbanned when we called it out.

No one wanted to hear anything else except how quickly CoD would get added to GamePass. Regulators were shammed for "wasting taxpayer money". It's probably the lowest point in the history of Era.

 

[Dr Pears]

They couldn't build and sustain their own empire of games (Halo, Gears, Forza), so they took away other empires from other people and starting burning them down as well.

People say lack of competition is bad, but bad competition is worse man. Tired of the way Microsoft "competes" since 2013 when I bought the Xbox One despite all the negative press in hopes they actually build cool new games with all their money, but end up cancelling so many of the games I'm interested in like Scalebound and Phantom Dust.

 

[DanarchyReigns]

100%

7 years to make a non full price, 8 hour, releasing on less platforms, game

it's basically everything microsoft detests

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Don't forget digital only.
Meaning if people see an ad (HA), they can't go to Target or GameStop and grab it off the shelf.

 

[NinjaScooter]

I'm sure you're right. But then why buy all those studios in the first place? I guess the answer is to get the IP. But even that doesn't make sense if they're not making games with the IP.

Seems MS is consolidating around some key IP, but I don't think Halo or Gears are anywhere near what they were back in the day.

Click to shrink...

I think the studio spree was to try and support GamePass, but these cuts are the realization that GamePass is probably not the way forward and they no longer need as much content as they needed. The major acquisitions like Bethesda and ABK were pretty GP proof though. Yes they could help give MS content for Xbox and GamePass but regardless it gives them control of some of the biggest games/IP on the planet. It sucks for Xbox owners and long time fans of the brand, but it does allow for MS to pivot into putting AAA tentpole/service games using names like CoD/Fallout/Elder Scrolls/Doom/Diablo/Halo/ect... on every major platform under the sun. My guess is that is where they see their future. Im not sure if we ever see another console with the Xbox branding on it, and if we do it could just be a glorified PC that abandons the Xbox console platform in favor of just being a windows console.

I think it's probably important to note that Xbox as a gaming company and Xbox was a console/hardware company are two different things. None of the last few days signals to me that xbox is going to be gone as a company, but as a hardware platform? Probably on its last legs.

 

[vio55555]

There's a really bleak future in 5 or 10 years where Microsoft decides that gaming isn't worth it and merges Xbox/ABK/Zenimax in a spinoff with somebody else (like a reverse merger) to wash it off their hands.

Future can get very bleak, very fast for Xbox gaming, and I was pretty bullish on Xbox until recently.

 

[RailWays]

My hopes and enthusiasm for Xbox have been slowly dying over the course of this year and this news is not helping to change that feeling.

 

[Fanuilos]

I'm really starting to wonder how much of this in the hands of the Xbox branch as a whole. It seems like until very very recently, Xbox appeared like it was very eager to assist the studios into their next projects and the like. That Arkane Austin was working on update for this month and just suddenly had to stop now doesn't sound like a closure that was in the planning for a while.

The sudden interest in multiplat releases, the questioning on current Gane Pass price and release methods, and of course these closures all sound like Xbox and it's escapades caught the eye of the rest of Microsoft and that there's a ton of pressure on them to deliver results and profits *right now*. Like Xbox was kinda free to do its own thing when it was small, not all that significant branch that didn't affect anyone else, but that insane 70 billion chunk the company took for Xbox of all things has the rest in the company starting to question why they're dumping all this money into without much tangible success.

Click to shrink...

Starfield releasing and the ABK deal closing so close to one another probably did it. Not to say starfield flopped, but rather didn't grow Xbox/game pass the way they expected/wanted.

 

[Drksage]

The headsman is sharpening his axe for Ninja Theory as we speak

Click to shrink...

 

[NinjaLooter]

All this because Phil Spencer miscalculated the importance of digital libraries. It isn't key to compete.

 

[bitcloudrzr]

There's a really bleak future in 5 or 10 years where Microsoft decides that gaming isn't worth it and merges Xbox/ABK/Zenimax in a spinoff with somebody else (like a reverse merger) to wash it off their hands.

Future can get very bleak, very fast for Xbox gaming, and I was pretty bullish on Xbox until recently.

Click to shrink...

They will not wash their hands of this because of how much money they have spent, and the earning potential of these studios.

All this because Phil Spencer miscalculated the importance of digital libraries.

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I would say digital ecosystems go beyond just libraries, but also not taking on exclusives when they had the chance.

 

[NinjaScooter]

There's a really bleak future in 5 or 10 years where Microsoft decides that gaming isn't worth it and merges Xbox/ABK/Zenimax in a spinoff with somebody else (like a reverse merger) to wash it off their hands.

Future can get very bleak, very fast for Xbox gaming, and I was pretty bullish on Xbox until recently.

Click to shrink...

The companies they bought make a shit ton of money across all gaming platforms + PC + mobile which is exactly why they bought them. The future is not bleak for that. The future is bleak for Xbox as a hardware platform. Those are two different things . But MS is still in a position to be a massive force in the gaming space.

 

[Lowrys]

Stayed what course? They have been flying blind since the XB1 came out.
Every year they talk about games but with little to show for it. The games they have released are usually riddled with problems. The one studio that released a banger just got closed down and that game was probably worked on before MS even bought them.
The industry deserves better.

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Well, I meant actually follow through after acquiring all those studios and sort out their production pipeline.

But yes I agree. The main problem seems to be that MS doesn't have a fucking clue when it comes to producing games, aside from a few notable outliers like Forza Horizon.

Gears and Halo are shadows of former glories. Forza Motorsport was a massive disappointment. Perfect Dark is a niche IP anyway and seems to be in trouble. Who knows whether Fable will be any good. Starfield was supposed to be a system seller and turned out far from that.

Elder Scrolls and Fallout are huge but Bethesda takes forever to make them.

Id are surely cooking Quake or something else but who knows when that'll be out.

CoD is a cash cow but weren't there reports an upcoming instalment doesn't have a lead dev yet, and MS have made cuts to the CoD studios too.

What a fucking mess.

 

[Zealuu]

Anyone who's ever been through an acquisition knew this was going to happen. We were just threadbanned when we called it out.

No one wanted to hear anything else except how quickly CoD would get added to GamePass. Regulators were shammed for "wasting taxpayer money". It's probably the lowest point in the history of Era.

Click to shrink...

Was this a real thing that happened? Lol

Emerging oligopolies are not good for consumers, this is very basic econ 101 shit (it's also very basic marxian economics if you lean that way)

 

[vio55555]

They will not wash their hands of this because of how much money they have spent, and the earning potential of these studios.


I would say digital ecosystems go beyond just libraries, but also not taking on exclusives when they had the chance.

Click to shrink...

What's the earnings potential though if Gamepass is bleeding subs and they basically can't get anywhere near the scale that they were hoping to achieve?

Nadella wanted Xbox to be the Netflix for gaming with 100 million subs and a robust high margin business; not some 3rd party publisher pushing WoW subs and Fallout on PS6/Switch 2 or whatever else.

Plus, the money isn't spent, it's invested in a sense. Xbox could be reverse merged into somebody else and spun off with MSFT shareholders getting an equivalent of a $10-15 new share (per MSFT share) in the new business.

We've seen so many major mergers unwound in the past 5-7 years (GE is obviously the most famous recently but there's plenty of others like AT&T-TimeWarner) that it's honestly not even that unlikely should they end the hardware business and fail at effectively transitioning away from Gamepass.

 

[Windrunner]

Anyone who's ever been through an acquisition knew this was going to happen. We were just threadbanned when we called it out.

No one wanted to hear anything else except how quickly CoD would get added to GamePass. Regulators were shammed for "wasting taxpayer money". It's probably the lowest point in the history of Era.

Click to shrink...

While things are a little slow I just wanted to pop in to say how awesome this thread has been for Era and that it's going to be sad when this is all done and dusted and this thread ends.

In amongst all of the silliness and (some) negativity and (record breaking numbers of) thread bans, this thread has been MAMMOTH and is pretty much the premier place on the net to discuss the acquisition and this whole legal process. It's bought a lot of new eyes and members to Era and they've largely been great additions to the site and welcomed by you lovely lot and it is appreciated :)

As always, huge thanks to Idas for being awesome, but thanks to everyone else who's been taking part and keeping this thread moving and sensible. We very early on agreed not to do the traditional OT2, OT3 etc thing with this (because we wouldn't want past info stuck in older threads, lost to time because of locks) and we're at 1409 pages and over 70,000 posts now 👀

Truly massive and I've loved it. Mostly. Cheers!

#70,405

 

[bitcloudrzr]

What's the earnings potential though if Gamepass is bleeding subs and they basically can't get anywhere near the scale that they were hoping to achieve?

Nadella wanted Xbox to be the Netflix for gaming; not some 3rd party publisher pushing WoW subs and Fallout on PS6 or whatever else.

Plus, the money isn't spent, it's invested in a sense. Xbox could be reverse merged into somebody else and spun off with MSFT shareholders getting an equivalent of a $10-15 new share (per MSFT share) in the new business.

We've seen so many major mergers unwound in the past 5-7 years (GE is obviously the most famous recently but there's plenty of others like AT&T-TimeWarner).

Click to shrink...

If they are still making a lot of money with their games and mtx on other platforms, there would be no reason to spin off. At the end of the day they are still one of the largest publishers.

 

[vio55555]

The companies they bought make a shit ton of money across all gaming platforms + PC + mobile which is exactly why they bought them. The future is not bleak for that. The future is bleak for Xbox as a hardware platform. Those are two different things . But MS is still in a position to be a massive force in the gaming space.

Click to shrink...

Without Xbox though, how are they selling Gamepass subs? There's no real path forward for Gamepass either if Xbox fails and I don't think that's been analyzed enough.

Their own projections have Xbox subs as a majority of Gamepass through 2030.

 

[Sydle]

I'm really starting to wonder how much of this in the hands of the Xbox branch as a whole. It seems like until very very recently, Xbox appeared like it was very eager to assist the studios into their next projects and the like. That Arkane Austin was working on a major update for this month, and just suddenly had to stop everything. It doesn't sound like a closure that was in the planning for a while.

The sudden interest in multiplat releases, the questioning on current Gane Pass price and release methods, and of course these closures all sound like Xbox and it's escapades caught the eye of the rest of Microsoft and that there's a ton of pressure on them to deliver results and profits right now. Like Xbox was kinda free to do its own thing when it was small, not all that significant branch that didn't affect anyone else, but that insane 70 billion chunk the company took for Xbox of all things has the rest in the company starting to question why they're dumping all this money into a strategy without much tangible success.

And honestly it's a good question to have at this point. They spent all this money to effectively have the biggest IP they now own to continue being a multiplat release. If Xbox's biggest franchises are multiplat, why exactly are they playing the exclusivity game? Or rather, how effective is it if people are just gonna buy PlayStations and play CoD there anyway?

Click to shrink...

The multi-plat releases had to have been decided a while back. I don't understand how Rare would have gone through the whole process on something like Sea of Thieves just recently.

I think it was much farther back that Phil, Satya and Amy were thinking of a multi-plat future, or at least one where their content is widely accessible and consumed by many more people than what the Xbox console could do alone.

Phil's email from 2020 with a proposal to buy Sega said it would all stay multi-plat.

Then Amy Hood's testimony revealed there was never a proposal to take CoD exclusive that crossed her desk when weighing the acquisition. That on top of Phil's testimony that there was no console growth modeled into the ABK deal. They had to have had those points of view back in late 2021 before committing to the deal.

My guess is that when Game Pass and xCloud didnt reach their targets in 2022, something meant to get their games in front of way more people, then they started having to think about other ways to get their current IP to make more money.

 

[Eamon]

They will not wash their hands of this because of how much money they have spent, and the earning potential of these studios.


I would say digital ecosystems go beyond just libraries, but also not taking on exclusives when they had the chance.

Click to shrink...

Their entire approach around the Series Launch is truly baffling. Anyone of us here on Resetera could have told them that their plan was bad and wasn't gonna work.

 

[bitcloudrzr]

Their entire approach around 2020 is truly baffling. Anyone of us here on Resetera could have told them that their plan was bad and wasn't gonna work.

Click to shrink...

Big bets always work, what do you mean?

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Without Xbox though, how are they selling Gamepass subs? There's no real path forward for Gamepass either if Xbox fails and I don't think that's been analyzed enough.

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This is assuming they still want to bother with Game Pass at all. They may not think it's worth pursuing any longer now that it's becoming clear that games don't actually make money on Game Pass and Game Pass isn't growing enough to cover for that.

 

[poklane]

What? You mean this thrilling tweet isn't enough?


View: https://twitter.com/Xbox/status/1788285447699046602

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They're really just gonna push this game out with the marketing budget about equal to the cash I have in my wallet, and then punish Ninja Theory when the game doesn't get millions of new Game Pass subs and 10mil subs huh?

 

[Starlite]

Starfield releasing and the ABK deal closing so close to one another probably did it. Not to say starfield flopped, but rather didn't grow Xbox/game pass the way they expected/wanted.

Click to shrink...

Be it irony or karma, Xbox bought Bethesda expecting them to be developing critically and commercially lauded games as they typically do, but the games that they had in the works at the time of acquisition were some of the weakest releases either studios have ever made. They were probably expecting the next Dishonored and the next Fallout/Skyrim and instead they got…well they got what they got. Can't even fall back on id or Doom because they're (probably) not even making Doom and whatever they are working on is years out. Makes me wonder what things are looking like behind the scenes at Activision right now.

Combine that with their own weak heavy-hitter releases with Halo and Forza and nothing else, it's really not surprising they're in the state they're in. But they really only have themselves to blame. Their ability to manage studios that actually need guidance has been hilariously bad for many years.

 

[Squarealex]

Welp

 

[NinjaScooter]

Without Xbox though, how are they selling Gamepass subs? There's no real path forward for Gamepass either if Xbox fails and I don't think that's been analyzed enough.

Their own projections have Xbox subs as a majority of Gamepass through 2030.

Click to shrink...

They don't sell GamePass subs. GamePass probably dies with Xbox, or becomes some diminished thing like EA Play or Ubi+. Their future isn't GamePass. Their future is in becoming the biggest video game publisher on the planet.

 

[Fat4all]

gamepass made sense back when they were selling a box and spending a fuckton on games for it

but its clear that box is going away, and so is a lot of the deals they used to make to get games on it

expect gamepass to be phased out as well

first they raise the price and make it more tiered, then they start shifting it back

they'll still have a subscription for online play/cloud, but you're gonna have to buy CoD outright

 

[jroc74]

Wait so:
MS: Tango's game is furthest out so we're shutting it down
Tango: If you lets us hire more, we could speed up dev process
MS: No

Am I reading this right??

Click to shrink...

I have no words....

I saw the tweets clarifying it but I agree with those saying its damn near the same thing. Only thing different is if more Zenimax teams/studios were in the pitch stage....more Zenimax studios might have got closed or layoffs.

Now all eyes are on XGS....for who's next.....


¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Maybe I'm WAY off here but I still think if MS had stayed the course they could have turned Xbox around.

They finally got their enormous roster of world-class studios. If they'd sorted out their production pipelines they should have been able to pump out banger after banger every three months of the year.

If they kept those games exclusive (save for the stuff required multi due to ABK deal ofc), people surely would have bought more Xboxs to play them.

They have an absolutely insane amount of studios AND incredible IP.

Click to shrink...

Has anyone ever thought maybe this was their plan all along? And they decided to make hardware an afterthought years ago?

 

[vio55555]

They don't sell GamePass subs. GamePass probably dies with Xbox, or becomes some diminished thing like EA Play or Ubi+. Their future isn't GamePass. Their future is in becoming the biggest video game publisher on the planet.

Click to shrink...

If that's really their goal, then they need to buy more. And folks around here will hate it even more.

Like Roblox and Sega and a couple others. Keep the biggest titles and just focus on iterating those. But it also involves tons of layoffs; like several orders of magnitude larger than what we've discussed.

Hell, the real target should be Steam (but 0 chance Gabe would ever sell to MSFT so that's more of a long term aspiration).

 

[PlanetSmasher]

If that's really their goal, then they need to buy more. And folks around here will hate it even more.

Like Roblox and Sega and a couple others.

Hell, the real target should be Steam (but 0 chance Gabe would ever sell to MSFT).

Click to shrink...

That's the opposite of what they should do. Being the biggest publisher on the planet doesn't mean "having the most games", it means "making the most money". Buying a bunch more publishers just raises their operating costs even higher and makes it harder for them to, y'know. Profit.

We're seeing them pivot AWAY from mega-expansion in real time to focus on critical high-value IP. They want to be Super Activision, and look at how many games Activision typically puts out in a year. Hint: it's not a lot.

 

[NinjaScooter]

If that's really their goal, then they need to buy more. And folks around here will hate it even more.

Click to shrink...

They really don't. Compare them to most other third parties and they dwarf them. FFS its Activision + Blizzard + King + Bethesda + Xbox internal + Minecraft.

They own some of the largest IP in gaming. The issue for them as a hardware company is that those games/IP didn't get that big by being relegated to the smallest platforms. So if push comes to shove you dump the platform.

Xbox's biggest obstacle right now isn't the ABK acquisition, or Bethesda, it's Xbox hardware/Gamepass.

 

[vio55555]

That's the opposite of what they should do. Being the biggest publisher on the planet doesn't mean "having the most games", it means "making the most money". Buying a bunch more publishers just raises their operating costs even higher and makes it harder for them to, y'know. Profit.

We're seeing them pivot AWAY from mega-expansion in real time to focus on critical high-value IP. They want to be Super Activision, and look at how many games Activision typically puts out in a year. Hint: it's not a lot.

Click to shrink...

Those purchases would be accompanied by massive cuts to everything that's AA or less.

They really don't. Compare them to most other third parties and they dwarf them. FFS its Activision + Blizzard + King + Bethesda + Xbox internal + Minecraft.

They own some of the largest IP in gaming. The issue for them as a hardware company is that those games/IP didn't get that big by being relegated to the smallest platforms. So if push comes to shove you dump the platform.

Xbox's biggest obstacle right now isn't the ABK acquisition, or Bethesda, it's Xbox hardware/Gamepass.

Click to shrink...

That's just not what Nadella was sold on 2-3 years ago, and I'm not sure the MSFT bean counters will see the same long-term value in that type of business. Like it's easy for us to talk about the value there as gaming fans, but Wall Street isn't going to see the value in that.

NFLX gets a huge premium over everyone else in media because of the dominance of their streaming sub numbers creating a flywheel effect devaluing their hits and misses. The product is commoditized and all the value accrues to NFLX as a result of having a gigantic sub base paying in every month regardless of hits or misses. That's what Spencer sold Nadella on:

That's why NFLX is worth $250-300 billion and Disney is worth <$200 billion.

Becoming a traditional 3rd party publisher is not what Nadella was sold on 2.5 years ago where they'd be paying 15-30% cuts to Sony/Nintendo and not having a robust sub business that mitigates misses.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Those purchases would be accompanied by massive cuts to everything that's AA or less.

Click to shrink...

Which is most of what Sega makes. So what would they be buying Sega for?

 

[Cosmic]

I've been a fan of Xbox since the original. I've always been lucky enough to also have a PlayStation but have tried to keep Xbox as my main over the years due to the investment in the ecosystem. What is happening now is really quite unbelievable.

At the end of the day, scrutiny should absolutely be aimed at Xbox leadership, that's what happens when you are the figureheads of the brand and they are paid well for it.

That being said, clearly the acquisition and Xbox doing so well has brought the absolute worst kind of people into the mix internally at Microsoft that it really does appear the Xbox team have lost complete control of the business. I just can't believe that these decisions could be made by anyone that has been involved in the gaming industry and understands the business unless there is a ridiculous amount of pressure being put upon them by upper management.

These are the kind of descions, that if allowed to continue will absolutely crater the entire thing.

Anyway I'm done with console gaming, I've had enough of it. I really didnt want to have to purchase a PC but fuck it.

I hope everyone affected by the layoffs can find new roles and very much pray for a time where there is some stability in the industry.

 

[LJ11]

I kind of feel like it's the opposite. The ActiBlizz purchase was a sound one, and a buffer or safety net in case the bottom fell out of GamePass/Xbox console, which appears to be happening. I imagine that might have also been the understanding for Phil when MS signed off on such a massive purchase. They weren't just gonna let him spend $70 billion to keep GamePass and Series X on life support.

This is of course, not quite what people who are fans of Xbox as a hardware brand and platform thought they were signing up for. Bad news for them but it allows MS some angles to pivot their business in a more successful direction since people simply aren't buying what they are selling right now.

Click to shrink...

They essentially became too big to fail with these purchases. In some shape/form their gaming division will exist, it may be completely different to what it currently is (was), but at least they're going to be in the game. They may not be in the console game, but at the very least they'll be a mega publisher.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

Which is most of what Sega makes. So what would they be buying Sega for?

Click to shrink...

to kill Monkeyball

 

[Geg]

View: https://x.com/jasonschreier/status/1788331836306792883

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So instead being closed for pitching games, they were closed for shipping a completed game and being in between projects. Great lesson for the rest of the teams at xbox!

 

[Pai Pai Master]

So instead being closed for pitching games, they were closed for shipping a completed game and being in between projects. Great lesson for the rest of the teams at xbox!

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spread yourselves thin while rushing your games out the door without post-launch support or die

 

[Niks]

holy shit, morale at the XBOX studios must be rock bottom