Guess they forgot how to make money, instead let's sack a ton of people
Xbox gone crazy. 9000 people sacked
- Thread starter Gingerbread Demon
- Start date
I think they've been hurting for awhile now. It's sad to see the direction they've been heading in, but I also feel like their purchase of Actvision-Blizzard, Bethesda and Obsidian did them more hurt than good seeing as they were such big purchases. At the same time, I think their 'Everything is an XBox' promotion caused a lot of confusion for those with XBoxes making them question their purchase. Their messaging has been quite terrible as of late. Maybe they need a change in leadership, as what they're currently doing is obviously not working. I'm starting to feel like Phil Spencer is part of the problem.
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MS i suspect might be going the route of sega and just becoming a games publisher on pc, ps and ninty, and ditching the cost of the hardware race, hence why we are about to see a 3rd party branded handheld pc, and even though they said another xbox console was on the cards, i think this might be the end of MS hardware, and possibly why they are toting that xbox games owners will be able to play their xbox digital games on pc via W11, and that includes back compat, which would be a massive coup for MS if this becomes reality.
To be honest, I haven't even bought any of their games on PC in the last decade or so. Mostly because their stable of titles weren't games I was interested in playing. Which is why I was so looking forward to what was going to be coming out as a result of their big purchases in increasing their creative output, but talk about squandering opportunity. It's been frustrating watching them flail, even when they have good IPs under their belts. So, even if say their hardware goes away, I highly suspect their management problems will continue. Because, let's be honest, the hardware isn't the problem. It's very good hardware. The problem within the last 10 years or so have been the game releases, and purchasing these big studios was supposed to help solve the problem of a weak stable that the XBox was being criticized for. So, saying you can play your games anywhere doesn't solve anything.
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The only Xbox game in my collection is Sunset Overdrive and that was bought on steam
As somebody who used to work in MS & seen first hand how the people inside DO NOT understand the "Gamer Crowd" that they purport to serve, it's not surprising how they've gone off the deep end.
Let's take a walk along Console History Memory Lane.
6th Gen = OG Xbox, it was TROUNCED by the PS2. Yes, the OG Xbox sold more units than GameCube or DreamCast, but it still got CLOBBERED by the PS2.
7th Gen = Xbox 360, this was the only generation they were even "remotely successful". That was during the initial phase of the PS3 launch, but in the end the PS3 BARELY made more units than the XB360 while the XB360 had their own debacles with the Red Ring of Death and killing of it's Japanese Developer Support by the American side which was how it quickly killed any foreign studio support because the idiots in America thought they knew better than what the locals would like for gaming. The Wii was the "other suprise hit", but it sent Nintendo down it's own Gimmick Based Console that targets it's own audience, effectively making Nintendo a Parallel Console Maker, but not directly competing with all the other players on the market.
8th Gen = Xbox 1, this launch was won/lost at the infamous E3 where they talked about anything but games & DRM along with the stupid way to share games. While PS4 was Faster on Specs, easier to share games, and didn't have DRM non-sense. A disasterous launch that MS never recovered from. Basically, the PS4 beat the XB1 in a 2:1 ratio. It's VERY BAD how they were defeated so handily.
9th Gen = XSX|S, this launch was also disasterous for various reasons, but the marketing behind "GamePass" and never buying games was a VERY bad idea and the majority of their customer base chose XSS over XSX. This didn't help and MS is burning money. Also Total Global Console Units sales are slightly worse @ 2.29 : 1 ratio.
So far, that's 3x Major Failures, and 1x Minor Failure.
The only chance they have for recovery in the 10th Gen is for MS to do something original.
IMO, they should focus on making a portable "Gaming Consolized LapTop" where you can dock it to a Monitor/TV or bring it with you and game where-ever you want.
You BYOC (Bring Your Own Controller) and play wherever you feel like or attached to a Monitor/TV.
If they can find a way to sell a "Gaming Consolized LapTop", they have a chance to carve out their own niche which doesn't directly compete against Sony or Nintendo and straddle the line in between.
They can also tap into the TV attached Streaming Box market like Apple TV, Roku, Google TV, every other Streaming Box, etc.
The advantage they would have is that their portable Gaming Console / Streaming Box / Fixed Console Platform that can travel with you where-ever you go.
The Major Streaming Apps and other Fixed Apps can go with you where-ever you want & have a internet connection.
Let's take a walk along Console History Memory Lane.
6th Gen = OG Xbox, it was TROUNCED by the PS2. Yes, the OG Xbox sold more units than GameCube or DreamCast, but it still got CLOBBERED by the PS2.
7th Gen = Xbox 360, this was the only generation they were even "remotely successful". That was during the initial phase of the PS3 launch, but in the end the PS3 BARELY made more units than the XB360 while the XB360 had their own debacles with the Red Ring of Death and killing of it's Japanese Developer Support by the American side which was how it quickly killed any foreign studio support because the idiots in America thought they knew better than what the locals would like for gaming. The Wii was the "other suprise hit", but it sent Nintendo down it's own Gimmick Based Console that targets it's own audience, effectively making Nintendo a Parallel Console Maker, but not directly competing with all the other players on the market.
8th Gen = Xbox 1, this launch was won/lost at the infamous E3 where they talked about anything but games & DRM along with the stupid way to share games. While PS4 was Faster on Specs, easier to share games, and didn't have DRM non-sense. A disasterous launch that MS never recovered from. Basically, the PS4 beat the XB1 in a 2:1 ratio. It's VERY BAD how they were defeated so handily.
9th Gen = XSX|S, this launch was also disasterous for various reasons, but the marketing behind "GamePass" and never buying games was a VERY bad idea and the majority of their customer base chose XSS over XSX. This didn't help and MS is burning money. Also Total Global Console Units sales are slightly worse @ 2.29 : 1 ratio.
So far, that's 3x Major Failures, and 1x Minor Failure.
The only chance they have for recovery in the 10th Gen is for MS to do something original.
IMO, they should focus on making a portable "Gaming Consolized LapTop" where you can dock it to a Monitor/TV or bring it with you and game where-ever you want.
You BYOC (Bring Your Own Controller) and play wherever you feel like or attached to a Monitor/TV.
If they can find a way to sell a "Gaming Consolized LapTop", they have a chance to carve out their own niche which doesn't directly compete against Sony or Nintendo and straddle the line in between.
They can also tap into the TV attached Streaming Box market like Apple TV, Roku, Google TV, every other Streaming Box, etc.
The advantage they would have is that their portable Gaming Console / Streaming Box / Fixed Console Platform that can travel with you where-ever you go.
The Major Streaming Apps and other Fixed Apps can go with you where-ever you want & have a internet connection.
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The ironic thing is, out of all the gaming platorms, only 2 have been really consumer friendly by allow consumers to play their digital libraries and keep preserving games from over the last 25 years right up on todays hardware, and those two are steam and xbox, whereas Sony told consumers they could go climb a rock when it came to BC and their gaming libraries on anything pre PS4, and ninty have no Bc at all for anything pre Switch 1.......so MS did a lot of things right when it came to allowing gamers to acess and keep their digital and physical libraries going, but now for some reason now they have imploded at the top levels of MS, and if MS xbox console hardware does go under, then we have lost 1 of the only 2 platforms that today still offer significant BC to consumers covering 2 decades, and that will be sad.
BC (Backwards Compatibility) is a FAR MORE complicated topic.
1) Sony was using custom MIPs based CPU's for PS1 / PS2. GPU's were custom in-house solutions.
2) Sony was using custom PowerPC based CPU's PS3. GPU was nVIDIA based
3) Sony only started using x86 based AMD CPU's during PS4 / PS5. GPU was AMD's.
So Sony only really starting to offer BC starting with PS4 generation was because Sony decided to join the rest of the PC gaming hardware world by joinging with Team x86 and minimizing the BC pain moving down the line.
Nintendo never promised BC, it only offered very limited BC because they kept drastically changing hardware with each generation.
BC is not a simple solution as you would imagine.
Even MS doesn't have good XB360 BC for many reasons and it's very limited.
OG XB / XB1 / XSX of course are far easier since all 3 are x86 based w/ the last 2x designed by AMD.
I appreciate your insider knowledge. I certainly get the same feeling, and it's always surprised me they've managed to last as long as they have. Do you think it's a systemic issue embedded into the culture of the company?
If they took their XBox attitude to the Windows side of things, I doubt Windows would have lasted as long as it has as it would be in a far worse shape.
Microsoft has always been more of a software than a hardware company, so when I see them misfire so often on the the games within the last 20 years or so, even after large purchases with nothing much to show for it, it's very frustrating and concerning to watch. IMHO, I really wish the Activision-Blizzard sale hadn't gone through as it's quite clear now that it was too much for them to handle with so many cancellations happening.
I don't know if Phil Spencer really has a clue how to manage a floundering division at this point. What I constantly see are excuses and messaging that sounds out of touch with reality. Maybe what they need is someone in charge with a fresh perspective that can cut through the BS. It feels to me like with him having been in charge for so long that they've become complacent, and even if that's not the case, something feels seriously wrong and it's only getting harder to ignore. It feels like we've had way more cancellations and studio closures out of them than game releases lately.
I still think the XBox as a console still has value, but if Microsoft isn't interested in actual hardware anymore, maybe what they can do is license it out like we've seen with some earlier consoles, and let some manufacturers claim it and work out a deal that way that lets MS focus on the games.
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It's more of a "Sunk Cost Fallacy". Remember the Xbox division has been burning money all this time through out the decades.
MS makes so much money, that they can afford to be in the red for decades, something Sony can't do.
It was only after the acquistion of ABK (Activision-Blizzard-King) that was dragged on through the courts for so long and turned into such a bloody expensive endeavor that it changed the financial dynamics.
This along with MS continuing to get their butts kicked, upper management higher up than Phil Spencer decided to step in and over-ride him on certain decisions.
The Windows Team has it's own issues, but that's another story for another day.
If Xbox has one thing, it's all about performance, something the Windows Team seems to have forgotten since their leadership has changed so many times.
It's cancellations to please the "Share Holders" in the short term and for power plays internally.
He's in it to save his own bacon at this point, I wouldn't be surprised if he got fired relatively soon.
That's MS/Redmond in general.
They won't hire that person, the upper management in charge right now (MS CEO Satya Nadella) is a HARDCORE WallStreet Ass Kisser.
Until we can get rid of him and put in a proper engineer in charge, nothing is going to change.
You need to round up the Board of Directors and affect change by getting rid of those who only know how to please Wall Street for the "Long Term Good".
That's because they're getting run by "Bean Counters" who are stuck in a AAA Gambling Addict Mentality.
If you aren't AAA making "Mega Bucks" with 200% or more Profit Margins, you aren't worth funding.
Upper Management ABOVE Phil Spencer's Head isn't interested in it anymore, and they're dragging down the Xbox brand with it.
Don't be surprised if Phil Spencer is canned within 1 year.
K
I have a xbox 360 digital library of over 300 games that work on my present Series X, i have about 25 OG games that work on my series x, so i have been very happy with MS on their BC offering as i have about 90% of my digital 360 libray that i can still play today on my SX, meanwhile over on the PS5 i have not one single PS1,2 or 3 game, digitial or retail that works on either, and that was at a time when Sony were pushing digital on the PS3 platform, so Sony get a big fat 0 for their lack of future planing, and let us also not forget that Sony can indeed emulate digital copies of PS1/2 games which will install and run on the PS5, but why give that type of emulation away for free when you can use it to add value to a £120 a year subscription.
I don't feel like this tactic is sustainable in the long-term, and I think what we're seeing are the effects catching up to them. It feels incredibly expensive and foolhardy, especially when it comes down to the livelihood of those developers that end up being affected. It becomes highly disruptive. Thankfully the games industry has started to adopt unions.
So with all that you've been saying, it sounds like he might be soon thrown under the bus. Although I'm far less optimistic than you, and I give it 6 months, or whenever the next group of firings happen. I don't think his job can take much more of it.
You have to ask Sony why they put Backwards PS1/2/3 Emulation behind a Pay Wall.
That's on them.
As for "Future Planning", you have to remember that PlayStation LeaderShip changed after PS3.
Ken Kutaragi, the Father of the PlayStation was fired after the failure of PS3 for nearly losing.
Despite winning PS1 / PS2 generations by a "Land Slide", he almost cost the entire Sony Corporation with his gamble with the PS3 and nearly losing.
Sony had enough vision to restructure & bring in Mark Cerny to be the Father/Architect of the PS4/PS5 Hardware moving forward that is developer centric.
So you can thank Sony for making that man the Chief Hardware Visionary / Leader of the PS Hardware design moving forward in time and joining Team x86 on AMD.
History is "Very Complicated", and things happen that change course.
As for Xbox Series, I wonder what's going to happen once they move to the next generation.
Who knows what is going to happen post XSX|S.
MS has more reason to offer you backwards compat, but it's also a bit easier since 3/4 generations were x86 based and they controlled the platform for the XB360 so they knew how make PowerPC worked internally.
They just allowed you to DL a new binary for the XB360 games they got to own / work with.
Even then, that's a limited selection with 632 Back Compat Games / 2155 XB360 Games Library.
That's just under 30% backwards compat.
It's better for all those who are fired to start up new studios and make new games.
Depending on those large Publishers isn't going to work.
The AAA model is too volatile and we need smaller companies to make Single-A & Double-A games.
We'll see, but MS has been on "Cruise Control" for a while and the Xbox division is the one that has been the most badly beaten, but also one of the most important.
PC Gaming is the lynch pin that holds the DeskTop OS popularity for MS Windows in tact.
No matter how they feel about it, the VAST majority of PC gaming sits on MS' shoulders.
And that's why many people still buy Windows OS.
If they lose that, that can start a avalanche they can't stop.
Right now, there's A LOT of excess Snow Build Up that hasn't been cleared out.
If you know what I mean!
^^The PS3 bc is also more annoying because here in the EU/UK, we never even got the PS3 with PS2 bc, so we also got another "unlucky chumps" from Sony way back at the PS3 launch......Sony just seems to hate us over here for some reason. ha
So if they released the ps3 now in the EU/UK it could be seen as brand new
"from a certain point of view" to quote Obi Wan
`^^^^And i would rush to buy on in a heartbeat. 
`^^^^And i would rush to buy on in a heartbeat.
You'd be caught in the stampede
"TV, TV and movies...TV, TV, TV, television, TV...sports, sports, sports..." And lots of Call of Duty.
The PS4 launch event was underwhelming, but it looked good compared to Microsoft's shitshow.
Microsoft believes AI is the future and thinks shunting all it's money there is good for business at the cost of actual people. AI can help with all sorts of things but making video games is not one. I'm sure AI could help with playtesting for bugs and locating error in code but the inspiration for making a game, the imagination for creating levels, worlds and the soul of a video game's story - AI cannot and will never be able to do it. AI is a tool to assist but all these companies think AI should essentially be in charge.
A decision that will bite them all in the ass in the end.
A decision that will bite them all in the ass in the end.
I always liked this one...."TV, TV and movies...TV, TV, TV, television, TV...sports, sports, sports..." And lots of Call of Duty.
I still get the giggles.
The PS4 launch event was underwhelming, but it looked good compared to Microsoft's shitshow.
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