I have seen far too many of these gaming “anniversaries” come and go without anything worthwhile (I’m still smarting over Mortal Kombat’s worthless 30th anniversary celebration).
Some of us were warning that this would be the fallout of the Activison purchase — you don't get to throw that kind of money around as a division and still keep full autonomy. Unlike Nintendo or even Playstation (which keeps Sony in the black), Microsoft is doing just fine without the Xbox brand. They've shuttered bigger divisions for less, and we know they've attempted to shut down Xbox on at least two attempts. This was purely for profit scaling, and as soon as that deal closed corporate wanted to see a return on their investment. I think they gave Phil and co. a few months to crunch the numbers and make a case, but at this point Xbox is a distant third in the hardware competition. And since the Xbox console install base is considerably smaller than the competition, MS decided to look beyond to get their ROI.
I still think you can look to Microsoft's PC model to see where Xbox is heading. They'll probably do one more hardware box, but you won't NEED it as they'll open up the ecosystem. Kind of like how Microsoft is more than willing to sell you a laptop or tablet, but it's more important to them that you just buy Windows and install it on whatever device you use. Does this mean you need an Xbox soon? Probably not, especially if you own multiple consoles. But they'll be willing to sell you a box if you'd prefer it. They're predominantly a software company, after all (it's even in the name — Microsoft). Which will well-position them for gaming’s inevitable hardware-free future.
That's the future of Xbox at this point, which will surely be folded in under Microsoft Gaming Studios. What matters now is that you're buying Call of Duty and Doom and Halo or playing Candy Crush. They don't want exclusives, they want your money and the quarter-over-quarter growth must continue upward.
It kills me when people say “this makes sense to me” and “XYZ is more confusing.” Because to fans of XYZ, that makes perfect sense too.
Part of our job in brand and product marketing is making all of this as easy as possible for the widest audience possible. Xbox could call the console “poop on a stick” it wouldn’t matter for most here; brand loyalists and educated hobbyists would be there day one. But game console success isn’t defined by selling to the hardcore fans — it’s about widening the pool and making new fans/selling to casual audiences.
In that regard, the Xbox Series name was an unforced error.
The bigger problem might be that after the "turbulent times" you pointed out — does MS have enough goodwill to ask everyone to turn around and fork over another half-grand for a new system? Especially when they feel the promises of Series S/X haven't been realized?
Ideally, future "generations" are half-steps like phones or PCs (something that the PS4 Pro/One X mid-gen refresh paved the way for). Afterall, even a very small power boost would still make Bond's claim of "the most powerful Xbox yet" accurate. But would smaller, muted launches every 2-3 years draw the same level of interest and excitement?
@theduckofdeath Yea I was probably being generous with TM. I guess I was thinking it was faithful to the tone and feel of the original games (pre-Black), similar to Fallout and Last of Us feeling faithful to their source material. Whereas Halo just felt like a movie exec’s impression of what Halo was after playing it for 15 minutes.
I didn’t hate it. I think in another time it would have been better received.
But compared to the quality of other videogame shows like Fallout, The Last of Us, and even Twisted Metal, and Halo was clearly still in the minor leagues.
@InvaderFromSpace Absolutely. The traditional thinking with these types of bad news is that it’s best to drop it all at once, so you might have a bad week or two before everyone moves on — rather than dragging it out with multiple bombshells.
The problem as I see it:
1)These bundles of bad news are dropping so frequently that it’s still dragging out
2) MS is doing nothing with messaging to steer the narrative, choosing to stay quiet as everyone is confused/frustrated and more damaging rumors spread.
Time after time, the most interesting stories on PX this year are how Xbox shoots itself in the foot. I can’t even understand how things are this mismanaged.
@101Force This was my thought too. They couldn't build a streaming device to retail below $130?
But going further, why is this even a box at all? Xbox cloud exists as an app on TVs and smartphones --- why isn't this a HDMI streaming stick, ala Amazon Firestick? It'd be cheaper to manufacture and sell. Looking at this thing, with an ethernet port, HDMI ports and vents — it just feels like MS is overthinking things.
I already have a Series X. But I'd be very interested in a $35-50 HDMI Xbox cloud stick that I can covertly stick into the back of a TV when traveling or moving between rooms. But another box cluttering up space? No thanks.
@Kezelpaso “Absurd” was too strong of a word on my part (blame just waking up). There are definitely worse cases out there; it’s just a surprising step back to me. For instance, there are a few Jurassic Park vehicles they could have used or other WB properties to leverage.
Then again, I’m a massive 007 fan so anything would have a hard time competing with FH4’s pack for me.
You’re not wrong though; they’ve been great at providing free FH5 content up to this point.
This response is honestly pretty surprising. It feels simultaneously defensive and soulless. After all this time and lying low, he’s finally on record…and sounds likes he’s just another suit. Presumably he was given strict talking points from Microsoft HQ, once again raising the question about how in control he really is anymore.
I’ll be honest — this past year my Series X has taken a big backseat to PS5, Switch, and Steamdeck. I was even toying with selling it, but decided to hold off until today’s showcase.
I’m glad I waited; this was fantastic and represented everything I’ve been wanting from my Xbox for years now.
There will surely be questions about what’s going multi-platform and, as we’ve seen with first-party Xbox titles in the last few years, great trailers do not mean a great finished product. And a lot of these reveals were known quantities/leaked beforehand (which is not Xbox’s fault).
But for the first time in a very long time, I’m excited to own an Xbox. Now please MS — just deliver on your promises and stop shooting yourselves in the foot.
Games can become surprise viral sensations without launching on a streaming service (see: Helldivers 2, though that obviously does have a big marketing push being a first-party PS title).
And Gamepass has enough games competing for attention that the game needs to be top-quality anyway to stand out and find a foothold. So it could easily find an audience still --- but it will need a demo.
As subscription services continue stalling and/or falling, it's important to remember not everyone has or wants Gamepass. GP might remove one barrier, but for any game the goal is still just a matter of finding your audience.
@deadmaker Agreed on that point too (though caveat, I hope they DO sell well on Xbox and we continue seeing more).
FF16 and FF7R were fantastic (I'm a little more mid on Rebirth, but I know most people love it). I'm happy they're going to potentially get a wider audience and people who only have Xbox get to finally play them.
1) The more people who get to play games, the better — regardless of console.
2) It’s going to be funny seeing the commentators who swore up and down that SE only puts out trash bend themselves backwards to praise the same games when they’re ported.
I remember when OG Xbox arrived — it was like a drop of punk rock in the console market (ironic, considering their parent company was anything but). They courted developers and publishers and players to make a dream machine that had everything from break-away cords to a hard drive that could rip your own game soundtracks.
That ship has long since sailed. And in some ways, that's understandable. While I'm sure there are still some people at Team Green with that spirit, one has to imagine they're eyeing the door at this point though.
I've been at companies where this kind of stuff has gone down, and morale takes a major blow. The brightest and most talented people see the changes and mass layoffs and find opportunities elsewhere before they're caught off guard too.
It’s so interesting how everyone’s experience differs.
I have a WiFi 5 router, 200mpbs down/20 up speed — so nothing crazy. But when I still had Gamepass it cloud gaming was so flawless that I forgot the game wasn’t running off my SSD. Same with PS+ to be honest. And that’s on both console and phone.
But clearly there’s a wide range of experiences, and that’s going to hold back any major growth.
@Ooccoo_Jr oh totally. Sorry, I was just voicing my frustration with this tactic too. Good CEOs lead, not go radio silent while the customer base and employees speculate wildly (something we’ve seen happen with Xbox a few times over the last year).
Like you I’ve also been warning against the “Uncle Phil” pedestal as well. Couldn’t agree more with everything you said — at the end of the day he’s a corporate executive for a multi-billion dollar organization. He’s not “like us” or a friend; he’s there to sell us a product and keep his company profitable— by any means necessary. It’s interesting to see so many people stop and realize he’s an exec and maybe not everyone’s best buddy afterall.
@Ooccoo_Jr It’s not the job of a CEO to “lay low and keep your mouth shut” during turbulent times for the organization. Especially when you’re the face of the brand both internally and externally.
@CallMeDuraSouka I'm not in gaming, but I am in marketing for major tech company with a very famous public face, and these moves absolutely astound me. I've honestly never seen anything like it from this size of a blue-chip brand.
I'm right in the target audience demo and I haven't seen so much as a lowstakes YouTube or display ad. But I don't feel like I've seen much of a push for any Xbox game this gen, and barely a push for the system in general (outside of the pre-launch "power your dreams" campaign).
@GamingFan4Lyf This right here. I let my GPU subscription lapse — like you, I was take it or leave it. I have a big backlog across all my systems, and often found myself playing games I owned on Xbox more than GP. Couple that with lack of free time and it just didn't make sense to keep it.
But I was bummed about missing out online play — the one thing of Gamepass I still really used. Then I got a Steamdeck.
I re-bought the Master Chief Collection for $10 and a few other Xbox Studios games for dirt cheap. And I can play them online for free on Steam. If MS found a way to make a similar offer on Xbox it'd be huge.
Then again, they're also the ones who introduced paying for online game to consoles, so it'd be quite a 180.....
My guess when it comes to CoD on GP: they're going to thread the needle. Older CoD games will be on there, mayyybe last year's. Current ones will not.
People will get mad, but honestly: Xbox has kind of reneged on their promise of Day-1 AAA games already, due to the lack of those exclusives hitting the platform. We certainly aren't getting the "one a quarter" that was promised. This might help make the transition for subscribers easier.
Either way, all of this is a headache as Xbox put all its chips on both rapidly expanding and pushing GP.
A game with no microtransactions or live service elements
Zero marketing (this game comes out in two weeks!)
No physical release
Now it might come to other consoles.
All like Hi-Fi Rush.
With reports that more Xbox Studios are on the chopping block, I'm suddenly really worried for Ninja Theory.
Not good. Be prepared for a massive talent loss at Xbox studios soon. With morale low and rumors of more cuts coming, the best and brightest are going to voluntarily hit the exits — before they risk being thrown out.
What is this, a threat to buy more games before they shut more studios?
I swear, Team Green's comms are so confounding. Everywhere I have ever worked, the marketing and PR teams go on a blackout for a day — often more — following particularly bad news like layoffs.
Meanwhile Xbox is spending the day promoting new ways to give them your money.
Agreed with everyone here, this isn't a great look. They need to go radio silent.
Jeff Grub: Hi-Fi Rush underperformed
Microsoft's response: No it didn't, we're very happy!
(Six months later Tango is shut down)
I guess we know Jeff was right. This whole thing feels like Tango was set up to fail though. Hi-Fi Rush was Day 1 Game Pass. You can't boast this about your service and then bitch that a game underperformed in sales and axe the studio. Especially when they made a decision to not market it and shadow-drop it. It was a fun experiment, but maybe it didn't pan out the way they hoped. That wasn't Tango's decision, but they're (and we're) paying the price.
@themightyant Exactly. He was towing the company line but he also felt like a genuine guy and understood that great communication is the most important thing with a customer base --- even when it's bad news.
Matt Booty, Phil Spencer, and the rest of the current exec team just don't strike that same chord for me despite them really trying to be front-and-center.
1) This is so upsettingly classic 90s Microsoft: spend an insane amount of money, buy a company, then gut it out of all the good things.
2) Why is it still so hard for Xbox to effectively communicate and stop providing these non-answers? Larry Hyrb was right in his recent tweet — when he was here he believed comms were key.
It feels like it might be too little, too late for this. Steamdeck has a strong foothold and the market is getting crowded with competitors. Does MS really want to divert more resources to trying to wrestle away users from a market dominator again? It'd be like joining the console fray all over again for Team Green. For instance, Valve has basically removed itself from game dev and focused squarely on its handheld and storefront — can Xbox add that to the multi-front war its already fighting?
Outside of that, my biggest Qs:
1) Will MS let an Xbox-branded handheld be completely open? Like, can I emulate Playstation and Nintendo games like I can on SD or a Ally? They've shut down avenues to emulate on the Series consoles and haven't made it easy (understandably from a legal perspective). And surely Xbox won't let users buy and play games from competing stores like Steam --- would they? This could be a big test of how the Xbox brand views brand safety standards.
2) As we've seen on other portable PCs, it takes effort to scale down games to get them to run accurately. Presumably Xbox will dedicate the time and resources to do this for first-party titles, but is it potentially asking too much of 3rd-party devs to now consider testing and optimizing for Series S, Series X, and a portable Xbox (along with Playstation, Nintendo, PC, etc)? Or with the sunsetting of the FPS Boost and Backwards Compatibility teams, will those resources be diverted to handle this on behalf of the third parties? Will it still require game publishers to sign off like BC did?
3) Running Xbox games natively would be great, but apps like XBPlay already stream really well for portable handhelds and phones. Steam sales are so steep they blow PS/XB/Nintendo out of the water. Epic and GoG give out free games frequently. Basically a Steamdeck is an upfront cost commitment but you could never spend another cent and have a lifetime of games to play. What's the value prop that Xbox will use to peel away these users or attract prospects away? It has to be as powerful and more affordable. Just playing your Xbox library on the go won't be enough without it being competitive from a performance and cost perspective. Especially if it's less capable.
Comments 458
Re: Xbox Reportedly Told To 'Go Dark' On Social Media Following Latest Round Of Layoffs
This is standard procedure for brands during times like these. I’m glad Xbox learned their lesson from last time.
Re: Xbox Is Cutting 650 More Jobs, Confirms Phil Spencer In Letter To Employees
MS saw people being briefly more mad at Sony and had to fix that.
Re: Rumour: 'Whole Slate' Of Modern Final Fantasy Games Expected To Release On Xbox
Oh cool.
(Reads “Jez Cordon suggested”)
Nevermind.
Re: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater Socials Updated For 25th Anniversary
I have seen far too many of these gaming “anniversaries” come and go without anything worthwhile (I’m still smarting over Mortal Kombat’s worthless 30th anniversary celebration).
I’m not holding my breath.
Re: Xbox Boss Phil Spencer Comments On Indiana Jones PS5, And Microsoft's Plan Moving Forward
Some of us were warning that this would be the fallout of the Activison purchase — you don't get to throw that kind of money around as a division and still keep full autonomy. Unlike Nintendo or even Playstation (which keeps Sony in the black), Microsoft is doing just fine without the Xbox brand. They've shuttered bigger divisions for less, and we know they've attempted to shut down Xbox on at least two attempts. This was purely for profit scaling, and as soon as that deal closed corporate wanted to see a return on their investment. I think they gave Phil and co. a few months to crunch the numbers and make a case, but at this point Xbox is a distant third in the hardware competition. And since the Xbox console install base is considerably smaller than the competition, MS decided to look beyond to get their ROI.
I still think you can look to Microsoft's PC model to see where Xbox is heading. They'll probably do one more hardware box, but you won't NEED it as they'll open up the ecosystem. Kind of like how Microsoft is more than willing to sell you a laptop or tablet, but it's more important to them that you just buy Windows and install it on whatever device you use. Does this mean you need an Xbox soon? Probably not, especially if you own multiple consoles. But they'll be willing to sell you a box if you'd prefer it. They're predominantly a software company, after all (it's even in the name — Microsoft). Which will well-position them for gaming’s inevitable hardware-free future.
That's the future of Xbox at this point, which will surely be folded in under Microsoft Gaming Studios. What matters now is that you're buying Call of Duty and Doom and Halo or playing Candy Crush. They don't want exclusives, they want your money and the quarter-over-quarter growth must continue upward.
Re: Four Years Later, People Are Still Getting Confused By Xbox's 'Horrible' Console Names
It kills me when people say “this makes sense to me” and “XYZ is more confusing.” Because to fans of XYZ, that makes perfect sense too.
Part of our job in brand and product marketing is making all of this as easy as possible for the widest audience possible. Xbox could call the console “poop on a stick” it wouldn’t matter for most here; brand loyalists and educated hobbyists would be there day one. But game console success isn’t defined by selling to the hardcore fans — it’s about widening the pool and making new fans/selling to casual audiences.
In that regard, the Xbox Series name was an unforced error.
Re: Xbox Reportedly 'Exploring Potential' For Various New Game Pass Tiers
I miss Xbox Live.
Re: Talking Point: Do You Think This Generation Will Be A Short One?
The bigger problem might be that after the "turbulent times" you pointed out — does MS have enough goodwill to ask everyone to turn around and fork over another half-grand for a new system? Especially when they feel the promises of Series S/X haven't been realized?
Ideally, future "generations" are half-steps like phones or PCs (something that the PS4 Pro/One X mid-gen refresh paved the way for). Afterall, even a very small power boost would still make Bond's claim of "the most powerful Xbox yet" accurate. But would smaller, muted launches every 2-3 years draw the same level of interest and excitement?
Re: Halo TV Show Cancelled By Paramount+ After Two Seasons
@TheSimulator Oh I was thinking before YouTube, in the dark, dark days of late 90s/early 00s videogame adaptations.
Re: Halo TV Show Cancelled By Paramount+ After Two Seasons
@theduckofdeath Yea I was probably being generous with TM. I guess I was thinking it was faithful to the tone and feel of the original games (pre-Black), similar to Fallout and Last of Us feeling faithful to their source material. Whereas Halo just felt like a movie exec’s impression of what Halo was after playing it for 15 minutes.
Re: Halo TV Show Cancelled By Paramount+ After Two Seasons
I didn’t hate it. I think in another time it would have been better received.
But compared to the quality of other videogame shows like Fallout, The Last of Us, and even Twisted Metal, and Halo was clearly still in the minor leagues.
Re: Hallmark's Musical Xbox Ornament Sounds Like A Must-Buy This Christmas
Look, all love to Xbox and all, but I’m not going to junk up my tree with this.
Re: Talking Point: If You Had To Limit Yourself To Three Xbox Games, What Would They Be?
Master Chief Collection
Rare Replay
Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection
I’m the kind of guy who finds a genie and wishes for more wishes.
Re: Microsoft Rewards Is Making Big Changes Relating To Xbox Game Pass
@InvaderFromSpace Absolutely. The traditional thinking with these types of bad news is that it’s best to drop it all at once, so you might have a bad week or two before everyone moves on — rather than dragging it out with multiple bombshells.
The problem as I see it:
1)These bundles of bad news are dropping so frequently that it’s still dragging out
2) MS is doing nothing with messaging to steer the narrative, choosing to stay quiet as everyone is confused/frustrated and more damaging rumors spread.
Re: Microsoft Rewards Is Making Big Changes Relating To Xbox Game Pass
Time after time, the most interesting stories on PX this year are how Xbox shoots itself in the foot. I can’t even understand how things are this mismanaged.
Re: 'Tipster' Suggests Xbox Will Stop Marketing Consoles In Certain Markets
How can you stop what you never started?
Re: 'Blur' Is An Xbox 360 Classic That Deserves Backwards Compatibility
This is why emulation is so important.
Re: Xbox Patent Reveals What 'Keystone' Streaming Device Might Have Looked Like
@101Force This was my thought too. They couldn't build a streaming device to retail below $130?
But going further, why is this even a box at all? Xbox cloud exists as an app on TVs and smartphones --- why isn't this a HDMI streaming stick, ala Amazon Firestick? It'd be cheaper to manufacture and sell. Looking at this thing, with an ethernet port, HDMI ports and vents — it just feels like MS is overthinking things.
I already have a Series X. But I'd be very interested in a $35-50 HDMI Xbox cloud stick that I can covertly stick into the back of a TV when traveling or moving between rooms. But another box cluttering up space? No thanks.
Re: Forza Horizon 5 'Universal Icons' Car Pack Brings Star-Studded Lineup To Xbox
@Kezelpaso “Absurd” was too strong of a word on my part (blame just waking up). There are definitely worse cases out there; it’s just a surprising step back to me. For instance, there are a few Jurassic Park vehicles they could have used or other WB properties to leverage.
Then again, I’m a massive 007 fan so anything would have a hard time competing with FH4’s pack for me.
You’re not wrong though; they’ve been great at providing free FH5 content up to this point.
Re: Forza Horizon 5 'Universal Icons' Car Pack Brings Star-Studded Lineup To Xbox
The 007 pack for Forza Horizon 4 gave us ten unique and iconic cars for $10.
Giving us 3 and passing them off as 5 for the same price is absurd.
Re: Phil Spencer On Recent Studio Closures: It's About Running A 'Sustainable Business'
This response is honestly pretty surprising. It feels simultaneously defensive and soulless. After all this time and lying low, he’s finally on record…and sounds likes he’s just another suit. Presumably he was given strict talking points from Microsoft HQ, once again raising the question about how in control he really is anymore.
Re: Gears Of War: E-Day Dev Is 'Not Retreating' From The Modern Gears Saga
I mean, I’d be okay we all retreated from Gears 4 and 5.
Re: Poll: How Would You Grade The Xbox Games Showcase 2024?
I’ll be honest — this past year my Series X has taken a big backseat to PS5, Switch, and Steamdeck. I was even toying with selling it, but decided to hold off until today’s showcase.
I’m glad I waited; this was fantastic and represented everything I’ve been wanting from my Xbox for years now.
There will surely be questions about what’s going multi-platform and, as we’ve seen with first-party Xbox titles in the last few years, great trailers do not mean a great finished product. And a lot of these reveals were known quantities/leaked beforehand (which is not Xbox’s fault).
But for the first time in a very long time, I’m excited to own an Xbox. Now please MS — just deliver on your promises and stop shooting yourselves in the foot.
Re: There's A New Retro-Style Power Rangers Game Heading To Xbox In 2024
The trailer just says Steam. I don’t see anything about consoles?
Re: Huge New Report Sheds Light On Xbox's Plans For 2024 And Beyond
I keep forgetting Moss is in the next Fable….
Re: Here's The Complete List Of Xbox 360 Exclusives Disappearing This July
Meanwhile, there’s still emulation to keep these alive. Sure, can’t get ‘em on Xbox, but you can play many for free on PC or Steamdeck.
Re: Hypercharge Unboxed Dev Saddened By Claims It'll Be 'Dead' Without Xbox Game Pass
Games can become surprise viral sensations without launching on a streaming service (see: Helldivers 2, though that obviously does have a big marketing push being a first-party PS title).
And Gamepass has enough games competing for attention that the game needs to be top-quality anyway to stand out and find a foothold. So it could easily find an audience still --- but it will need a demo.
As subscription services continue stalling and/or falling, it's important to remember not everyone has or wants Gamepass. GP might remove one barrier, but for any game the goal is still just a matter of finding your audience.
Re: Square Enix To Include Xbox As Part Of 'Aggressive' New Multiplatform Strategy
@deadmaker Agreed on that point too (though caveat, I hope they DO sell well on Xbox and we continue seeing more).
FF16 and FF7R were fantastic (I'm a little more mid on Rebirth, but I know most people love it). I'm happy they're going to potentially get a wider audience and people who only have Xbox get to finally play them.
Re: Square Enix To Include Xbox As Part Of 'Aggressive' New Multiplatform Strategy
1) The more people who get to play games, the better — regardless of console.
2) It’s going to be funny seeing the commentators who swore up and down that SE only puts out trash bend themselves backwards to praise the same games when they’re ported.
Re: Bethesda Trademark Hints At New DOOM Announcement For Xbox Games Showcase
More specifically, the rumor its DOOM: Year Zero, a prequel. Can’t wait.
Re: OG Xbox Creator: I Believe In Xbox, Despite This Week's 'Tragic' Job Losses
I remember when OG Xbox arrived — it was like a drop of punk rock in the console market (ironic, considering their parent company was anything but). They courted developers and publishers and players to make a dream machine that had everything from break-away cords to a hard drive that could rip your own game soundtracks.
That ship has long since sailed. And in some ways, that's understandable. While I'm sure there are still some people at Team Green with that spirit, one has to imagine they're eyeing the door at this point though.
I've been at companies where this kind of stuff has gone down, and morale takes a major blow. The brightest and most talented people see the changes and mass layoffs and find opportunities elsewhere before they're caught off guard too.
Re: Xbox President Says xCloud Is Enjoying 'Tremendous Growth' Right Now
It’s so interesting how everyone’s experience differs.
I have a WiFi 5 router, 200mpbs down/20 up speed — so nothing crazy. But when I still had Gamepass it cloud gaming was so flawless that I forgot the game wasn’t running off my SSD. Same with PS+ to be honest. And that’s on both console and phone.
But clearly there’s a wide range of experiences, and that’s going to hold back any major growth.
Re: Recent Studio Closures Tied To 'Long Term' Health Of The Business, Claims Xbox President
@Ooccoo_Jr oh totally. Sorry, I was just voicing my frustration with this tactic too. Good CEOs lead, not go radio silent while the customer base and employees speculate wildly (something we’ve seen happen with Xbox a few times over the last year).
Like you I’ve also been warning against the “Uncle Phil” pedestal as well. Couldn’t agree more with everything you said — at the end of the day he’s a corporate executive for a multi-billion dollar organization. He’s not “like us” or a friend; he’s there to sell us a product and keep his company profitable— by any means necessary. It’s interesting to see so many people stop and realize he’s an exec and maybe not everyone’s best buddy afterall.
Re: Recent Studio Closures Tied To 'Long Term' Health Of The Business, Claims Xbox President
@Ooccoo_Jr It’s not the job of a CEO to “lay low and keep your mouth shut” during turbulent times for the organization. Especially when you’re the face of the brand both internally and externally.
Re: Recent Studio Closures Tied To 'Long Term' Health Of The Business, Says Xbox President
Side note: I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist, but the fact that we haven’t heard from Phil so far has me starting to wonder….
Re: Recent Studio Closures Tied To 'Long Term' Health Of The Business, Says Xbox President
That’s a lot of words to say nothing at all.
Re: Xbox Is Reportedly 'Considering' Hellblade 2 For PlayStation 5
@CallMeDuraSouka I'm not in gaming, but I am in marketing for major tech company with a very famous public face, and these moves absolutely astound me. I've honestly never seen anything like it from this size of a blue-chip brand.
I'm right in the target audience demo and I haven't seen so much as a lowstakes YouTube or display ad. But I don't feel like I've seen much of a push for any Xbox game this gen, and barely a push for the system in general (outside of the pre-launch "power your dreams" campaign).
Re: Former Microsoft Exec Gives 'Two Reasons' Why Xbox Closed Bethesda Teams
@GamingFan4Lyf This right here. I let my GPU subscription lapse — like you, I was take it or leave it. I have a big backlog across all my systems, and often found myself playing games I owned on Xbox more than GP. Couple that with lack of free time and it just didn't make sense to keep it.
But I was bummed about missing out online play — the one thing of Gamepass I still really used. Then I got a Steamdeck.
I re-bought the Master Chief Collection for $10 and a few other Xbox Studios games for dirt cheap. And I can play them online for free on Steam. If MS found a way to make a similar offer on Xbox it'd be huge.
Then again, they're also the ones who introduced paying for online game to consoles, so it'd be quite a 180.....
Re: Former Microsoft Exec Gives 'Two Reasons' Why Xbox Closed Bethesda Teams
My guess when it comes to CoD on GP: they're going to thread the needle. Older CoD games will be on there, mayyybe last year's. Current ones will not.
People will get mad, but honestly: Xbox has kind of reneged on their promise of Day-1 AAA games already, due to the lack of those exclusives hitting the platform. We certainly aren't getting the "one a quarter" that was promised. This might help make the transition for subscribers easier.
Either way, all of this is a headache as Xbox put all its chips on both rapidly expanding and pushing GP.
Re: Xbox Is Reportedly 'Considering' Hellblade 2 For PlayStation 5
A game with no microtransactions or live service elements
Zero marketing (this game comes out in two weeks!)
No physical release
Now it might come to other consoles.
All like Hi-Fi Rush.
With reports that more Xbox Studios are on the chopping block, I'm suddenly really worried for Ninja Theory.
Re: Xbox Apparently Still Needs Smaller Games For 'Prestige And Awards'
This literally makes no sense.
No surprise, coming from Matt Booty.
Re: Report Claims Xbox Is Planning More Cuts Following Studio Closures
Not good. Be prepared for a massive talent loss at Xbox studios soon. With morale low and rumors of more cuts coming, the best and brightest are going to voluntarily hit the exits — before they risk being thrown out.
Re: Latest Rumours Suggest Perfect Dark Reboot Isn't Going Smoothly At Xbox
It's been an open secret for some time that this game is having a lot behind-the-scenes struggles. Which drives me mad, I'd love another PZ.
Re: Reaction: Xbox's Push Towards 'Microsoft Gaming' Looks More Drastic Than We First Thought
PureMicrosoftGaming.com just doesn't have the same ring to it...
Re: Xbox Insider Update Aims To 'Improve' Sale Searching On The Microsoft Store
What is this, a threat to buy more games before they shut more studios?
I swear, Team Green's comms are so confounding. Everywhere I have ever worked, the marketing and PR teams go on a blackout for a day — often more — following particularly bad news like layoffs.
Meanwhile Xbox is spending the day promoting new ways to give them your money.
Agreed with everyone here, this isn't a great look. They need to go radio silent.
Re: Xbox Fans React Angrily To Closure Of Bethesda's Tango Gameworks
Jeff Grub: Hi-Fi Rush underperformed
Microsoft's response: No it didn't, we're very happy!
(Six months later Tango is shut down)
I guess we know Jeff was right. This whole thing feels like Tango was set up to fail though. Hi-Fi Rush was Day 1 Game Pass. You can't boast this about your service and then bitch that a game underperformed in sales and axe the studio. Especially when they made a decision to not market it and shadow-drop it. It was a fun experiment, but maybe it didn't pan out the way they hoped. That wasn't Tango's decision, but they're (and we're) paying the price.
Re: Xbox Studio Shutdowns Are A 'F***ing Gut Stab', Says Arkane Lyon Boss
"You say we make you proud when we make a good game. Make us proud when times are tough. We know you can, we seen it before."
Well-worded and great point.
So Redfall wasn't the best. Prey was incredible. One game hits below expectations and they get axed? All the previous goodwill is wiped?
Re: Xbox Exec Provides Reasoning Behind Bethesda Studio Closures
@themightyant Exactly. He was towing the company line but he also felt like a genuine guy and understood that great communication is the most important thing with a customer base --- even when it's bad news.
Matt Booty, Phil Spencer, and the rest of the current exec team just don't strike that same chord for me despite them really trying to be front-and-center.
Re: Xbox Exec Provides Reasoning Behind Bethesda Studio Closures
1) This is so upsettingly classic 90s Microsoft: spend an insane amount of money, buy a company, then gut it out of all the good things.
2) Why is it still so hard for Xbox to effectively communicate and stop providing these non-answers? Larry Hyrb was right in his recent tweet — when he was here he believed comms were key.
Re: Microsoft Gauges Interest In 'Handheld Gaming' Devices With New Survey
It feels like it might be too little, too late for this. Steamdeck has a strong foothold and the market is getting crowded with competitors. Does MS really want to divert more resources to trying to wrestle away users from a market dominator again? It'd be like joining the console fray all over again for Team Green. For instance, Valve has basically removed itself from game dev and focused squarely on its handheld and storefront — can Xbox add that to the multi-front war its already fighting?
Outside of that, my biggest Qs:
1) Will MS let an Xbox-branded handheld be completely open? Like, can I emulate Playstation and Nintendo games like I can on SD or a Ally? They've shut down avenues to emulate on the Series consoles and haven't made it easy (understandably from a legal perspective). And surely Xbox won't let users buy and play games from competing stores like Steam --- would they? This could be a big test of how the Xbox brand views brand safety standards.
2) As we've seen on other portable PCs, it takes effort to scale down games to get them to run accurately. Presumably Xbox will dedicate the time and resources to do this for first-party titles, but is it potentially asking too much of 3rd-party devs to now consider testing and optimizing for Series S, Series X, and a portable Xbox (along with Playstation, Nintendo, PC, etc)? Or with the sunsetting of the FPS Boost and Backwards Compatibility teams, will those resources be diverted to handle this on behalf of the third parties? Will it still require game publishers to sign off like BC did?
3) Running Xbox games natively would be great, but apps like XBPlay already stream really well for portable handhelds and phones. Steam sales are so steep they blow PS/XB/Nintendo out of the water. Epic and GoG give out free games frequently. Basically a Steamdeck is an upfront cost commitment but you could never spend another cent and have a lifetime of games to play. What's the value prop that Xbox will use to peel away these users or attract prospects away? It has to be as powerful and more affordable. Just playing your Xbox library on the go won't be enough without it being competitive from a performance and cost perspective. Especially if it's less capable.