If XB makes the day one first party games exclusive to XB I am ok with them dropping day one exclusive games. Gamers have to recognize that exclusivity is not free. If we want exclusives the price is actually buying the full game.
I do like gamepass having really good independent games on day one though. There are many highly rated independent games i enjoyed on gamepass because they were there on day one.
XBOX pulled off a win here for gamers. We will still get the two new Kojima games and they will be available at least on PC and XBOX day one.
Kojima has is known for going outside the box with his games. Whether you are a big fan or not he has a very loyal following. And whether his new games will be great or not really doesn't matter because that cult following will be there.
This is how XBOX needs to keep going. What you do is important, but the publishers and developers you get into your court are even more important. And getting Kojima as primary to XBOX and PC is a huge win for XBOX.
@Cikajovazmaj
I think this is all about user demographics.
The reality is that 95% of people that game are not playing games 5+ hours per week. The probable average person that plays games is more like 3-5 hours per week. Also, the 3-5 hour per week users are likely to just say, "oh well" when they use up their monthly time.
The people that are above 3-5 hours per week are more hard core gamers (that are more likely to visit this site and prefer console/PC over streaming).
Personally, for me cloud gaming is still niche, I use it when I am up town waiting around lineups or gaps between meeting up with friends and sometimes and don't have access to my ROG Ally X, Console, or PC. But I expect that as part of next generation they improve cloud gaming more and that it starts to move more mainstream. Think about it, if I only play less then 5 hours a week it is hard to justify the probable $800-1,000 USD spend on a console or gaming PC. So I may choose cloud gaming for those few hours per week.
I game about 5 hours per week. But I am fortunate that I have a enough dissposable income that I can afford the premium experience and have a ROG Ally X, multiple Series X, and multiple PCs so cloud gaming will be niche for me for the forseeable future. But I can totally understand people with less disposable income using cloud gaming as their primary platform.
I like the operational changes Asha seems to be making and promoting. But, These are PR and cosmetic in nature mostly so far.
The real changes will be in improving the actual gaming experience and games. To that end I liked the disc-to-digital announcement earlier this week. But there is a lot more for XB to do there.
People like to think there is no costs to things but streaming has a cost. XB needs the hardware and data centers to provide streaming. All they are doing is setting this up before it becomes cost issue.
With the console prices expected to be $800-1,000+ in the next generation and if streaming keeps improving, it may become a primary way to game for a lot of people. So, really all they are just ensuring that things are in line to make a profit.
To me, this should've been put in on day one of streaming. It was a miss that they didn't.
@agenttrav My understanding is that 360 game discs are not serializaed so I doubt they will make the feature available. But, yes I would love 360 games to be available too.
If done right this can be really good. If done wrong this can be not so good. XB Cinematic Universe? Most of the games happen at different periods in time. Maybe they could find a way to tie them all together somehow.
@fatpunkslim I really love Halo gameplay, but I felt they could've did more level redesign and improved the graphics a lot more. They say it was a remake, I feel it was more or less a transfer to the Unreal Engine.
Bought and started to play it yesterday as I love Geometry Wars. This game will keep me busy for a while. Really enjoying it. Wish there would be more articles on these types of diamonds in the rough.
I have played some chapters in Halo this weekend. Kind of disappointed in some graphical things (I prefer the more modern graphical style of master chief then this one) but still has the fun gameplay I am used to in Halo games.
@Mr-Cage LOL. Me and my brother in law are playing the game in co-op on insane right now. We like to refer to Cole and Baird as dumber and dumber.
I still enjoy the game though. give me a lancer and turn on the chainsaw any day of the week to enjoy sawing grubs! I would call the game a refresh of the original. It got rid of some issues but introduced its own issues.
Always disappointing when perfectly good people lose their jobs. I understand what they have to do, but that doesn't make it any easier for the people affected.
I think this is perfectly ok for gaming, as long as I am given an option to pay to remove ads (even if I have to pay a small amount). This seems like a good way to get another revenue stream and not overly change the gaming experience which will help with affordability.
"I really don't care what they do around exclusivity to be honest I own an Xbox so I know I can play all the games they will bring out. If games do or don't go to playstation it makes no difference to me at all. I'll let everyone else worry and argue over the politics in gaming while I just enjoy my hobby playing games I enjoy!"
If more people had these thoughts then the gaming world would be a lot better place!
@Fiendish-Beaver
I don't think that unless you have insider information we don''t that you can definitively say that kind of stuff.
Yes, it sucks that people are let go and they have to get a new job in a tough world. Anybody that has gone through this including me agrees.
But, this does not automatically mean the developer cannot deliver just as quickly.... For example, how many side projects were they working on and how many resources were assigned to them? If there were many levels of management did they maybe streamline decision making? With AI tools people may now be more productive. Were there people between projects just sitting around? Are they centralizing marketing more and taking away the distributed nature it was?
Point is you are interpretting one side of what happened but there are many other sides. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle... A lot of the cuts probably were justified, but I am sure there are also some they will regret. Is it as bad as reported? Probably not, is everyone full of sunshine? Probably not as well.
As for 8 years to make a new game that is not unheard of anymore. GTA V was first release in 2013 and here we are in 2026 just awaiting the latest release. When studios were releasing next games every two years gamers pushed back that quality and innovation were falling. Now they talk 8 years and gamers complain it is too long. I think 5-7 years is about right.
Also new games are highly dependent on game engine changes underneath. If you are putting new content to an existing engine and only doing tweaks to the engine you can get games out faster. But with fulll engine re-writes which Doom 2016 was it takes longer. You will notice there was a large gap in the wolfenstein franchise as well. I think it would be safe to say there was a major re-work of idTech. There seems to be a major new idTech version pretty consistently every 5 years since 2011.
@oopsiezz When you get all these senior people, often they become less hands on and they lose their doing skills. Especially, now-a-days with everything changing so quickly using AI. I doubt they got rid of the best people doing the work. I have seen a lot of lay-offs at a lot of companies. They rarely let go of the wrong people.
@MinervaX76 XB will not have anything fully exclusive to XB only until there is only one console vendor at the very least. Game sales on Steam are important to XB and have been traditionally very imporrtant to both ZeniMax and Activision-Blizzard. They will not stop giving these gamers games on the Steam platform. Now, if XB was to be the lone survivor left on console, I would think XB may reconsider the exclusivity thing because then the competition is these other stores only and they would want to differentiate. But, that is a theoretical discussion that does not seem to have any chance of existing for the forseeable future.
@oopsiezz Maybe the studio was trying to do too many projects at once? Maybe there were too many layers of leads/managers/directors that were slowing development down? Maybe there was some people that were impacted by AI changes in game development over the past few years that have not adjusted to the changes yet.
I am sure people lost their jobs that didn't deserve too. But they have stated that the studio is the same size as the team that made Doom in 2016. Which means the team is very capable of delivering yet another great game.
As for game pitches by a studio there are many game pitches that are done with studios. Some never get started, some get started but cancelled through the process, and there is usually one that makes it to the completion and gets released. We have no idea how far any truely were and where they were at in the process before the studio/XB decided not to go forward with them.
@xboxjapanfan Where are the facts to support your DEI statement?
Also, XB has done the best possible scenario here. XB could have kept the IPs, studio names and shut the studios down entirely. Forcing them to restart under different names without their well known IPs. In the press announcement they also stated the studios were provided “runways” for their next games. Which probably means some level of funding. So, all-in-all given the circumstances XB gave these studios the best possible options. They have left their long term success up to their next game. That’s all a studio can really ask for.
In the end I am an all digital person and inevitably the world will move to all digital. But there is a reality today that there are people that still like physical media and the consumers should have the option until the full death of physical media.
@DJKingaling Unfortunately, this all ends up being about game sales, not game quality. I have been enjoying it too, but not enough people, played the game on GamePass or bought it on other platforms to justify keeping the IP moving forward obviously.
@Romans12 I don’t disagree but, when you buy enough media in your life you soon find it is a nuisance. I have thousands of physical games, CDs, and DVD/Bluray movies. It got totally out of control how much space they took up.
@Friendly You can’t always take the high road. If the high road is doomed to failure you have to get into the mud and use the same tactics the competition uses.
One of the predominant comments I had seen on this site about XB after they went multi-platform was, “Why should I buy an XB now”. That is a very good comment. To me, it was about quality of hardware, OS, services, etc. But to a lot of people those things are not considered and they are more about being able to play more games on one platform. So ask yourself if playing Halo and God of War is something that is most important to you would you buy an XB or PS? Probably PS because with the new Halo remake you can play them on PS only. If you have an XB only you miss out on God of War.
@TheFakulty Nope they are a third party contracted to build the game. The also make the Plague Tale games. And made the XBOX One Exclusive game ReCore.
It is never good when good people lose their jobs. I feel for people every time I hear this stuff happening with companies I have worked with, competitor companies, and places I buy products from.
But one of the things people don't know is how many of these jobs losses are where exactly in the organization. Yes, this one was an art director but what percentage of the layoffs, were cuts to streamline management since Sharma said there were up to 14 layers in some cases (Maybe this art director was one of those cuts)? How many of the cuts are in marketing parts of the organization because I think they are trying to centralize that more? How many were cuts to multi-platform development people since they intend to bring more console exclusives to XB? And how many of the cuts were deadwood that exists in this size of an organization?
@NishimaruX Microsoft is more of a platforms and operating system company then it is a gaming company. I have more confidence in their ability to curate gaming platforms then their ability to manage game development studios.
@8th_Observer I want them to own the Unreal Engine. And I don't think their purchases were the disaster, it was what they did after purchases that made them a disaster. People were iffy on the AKB purchase, but all other people cheered immediately.
@themightyant Making engines vs. buying is essentially a decision that should be made with the IP. The question is there something unique or extrodinary we need to do that no other engine can? If the answer is yes, then an engine should be built, if no, then stick with off the shelf engines where it is easy to find people.
In Microsoft's case they have some really good game engines and game engine expertise. I think that the IW Engine, Creation Engine, Diablo IV engine, and idTech should be invested into because the games that result are unique in lots of ways. They were right to drop Slip Space.
@themightyant Agreed, but the engine is also what makes the game built with it different from other games in the same genre. Sharma did talk about a lack of investment in platforms and key franchises. Maybe this is a realization they need to invest more to highlight their pluses.
Also, scrapping these engines for generic engines would be a total retooling of the developers that use them. It would be like starting from scratch. Probably not desirable. The people that are experienced at optimizing for these engines are not the same people that are good at the unreal engine.
I think Gears really fits with Unreal and the Coalition are masters at it. Halo, I think they didn't have the expertise to make a great engine or they were overly ambitous. So, going to Unreal is ok for now. Ideally I think XB should buy Epic or just the Unreal engine.
@themightyant Sharma did also state that Minecraft and Candy Crush are more platforms. The Creation Engine is a platform as well. Along with idTech.
I don't see this as bad as long as the focus is on making these engines better. These franchises are who they are because of these engines. Flipping Elder Scrolls and Fallout to Unreal probably would not improve the uniqueness of these franchises. And switch Wolfenstein, Quake, and Doom off of idTech would actually make these franchises much worse. I often play these games and marvel at the framerates and detail. idTech is hugely optimized to these types of shooters.
@Friendly
I totally agree. I am not a fan of exclusives. But that is the way console gaming works. If you don't have exclusives you don't get people buying your console, it is that simple. XB has proven that.
As a consumer I am a massive fan of multi-platform everything. I hate buying a Nintendo device, a PS device, and a XB device just to play all the games I want to play. But, the reality is that since XB did multi-platform and the 2 others decided not to play, XB has to go back to exclusives.
A lot of people are calling this bad, and it is bad.
But, at the end of the day these 3,200 job losses are in the following areas it won't be as bad as people think:
1) Studio divestitures. 2) Reduce management layers. 3) Reducing people working on multi-platform versions of games so they become XB exclusive. 4) Consolidate marketing out of studios and centralize it. 5) Consolidate things like battle.net into the XB infrastructure making it more centralized.
Then things will be ok. The concern I will have is if they are laying off people that are building the next games XB is focusing on.
@datamonkey At the time they bought them they had a strategy. That strategy failed, so they are correcting the issue. All of these studios (except Arkane) were purchased individually. While there is the idea of purchasing competitors to take them out of the marketplace and make them disappear, this obviously is not the case here, because they are letting them go back on their own.
I also found this comment very interesting in the release:
"We entered Gen 9 with a smaller install base and a higher cost structure. To grow, we bet on Game Pass, multi-platform, and a broader portfolio of content. While those businesses have created meaningful value, they did not grow at the pace we expected."
So, GamePass and multi-platform didn't do as well as expected. Today's announcement fixes the broader portfolio not doing as well as expected.
I expect there to be significant changes to GamePass and more exclusive announcements based on these comments.
Comments 1,032
Re: Talking Point: What Would Seal The Deal For You With Xbox Project Helix?
I will get Helix pretty much for no reason other then it will be the latest and greatest XB.
Re: Talking Point: How Would You Feel If Xbox Game Pass Actually Dropped Day One Releases?
If XB makes the day one first party games exclusive to XB I am ok with them dropping day one exclusive games. Gamers have to recognize that exclusivity is not free. If we want exclusives the price is actually buying the full game.
I do like gamepass having really good independent games on day one though. There are many highly rated independent games i enjoyed on gamepass because they were there on day one.
Re: Roundup: All The Biggest Reveals From Blizzcon 2026, Including Two Massive Announcements
Nice to see Blizzard is doing well and progressing on new games.
Re: Sony Dropped Kojima's 'PHYSINT' Over Budget, Profits & Timed Exclusivity Concerns, Sources Say
XBOX pulled off a win here for gamers. We will still get the two new Kojima games and they will be available at least on PC and XBOX day one.
Kojima has is known for going outside the box with his games. Whether you are a big fan or not he has a very loyal following. And whether his new games will be great or not really doesn't matter because that cult following will be there.
This is how XBOX needs to keep going. What you do is important, but the publishers and developers you get into your court are even more important. And getting Kojima as primary to XBOX and PC is a huge win for XBOX.
Re: Poll: How Many Hours Of Xbox Cloud Gaming Do You Use Per-Month?
@Cikajovazmaj
I think this is all about user demographics.
The reality is that 95% of people that game are not playing games 5+ hours per week. The probable average person that plays games is more like 3-5 hours per week. Also, the 3-5 hour per week users are likely to just say, "oh well" when they use up their monthly time.
The people that are above 3-5 hours per week are more hard core gamers (that are more likely to visit this site and prefer console/PC over streaming).
Personally, for me cloud gaming is still niche, I use it when I am up town waiting around lineups or gaps between meeting up with friends and sometimes and don't have access to my ROG Ally X, Console, or PC. But I expect that as part of next generation they improve cloud gaming more and that it starts to move more mainstream. Think about it, if I only play less then 5 hours a week it is hard to justify the probable $800-1,000 USD spend on a console or gaming PC. So I may choose cloud gaming for those few hours per week.
I game about 5 hours per week. But I am fortunate that I have a enough dissposable income that I can afford the premium experience and have a ROG Ally X, multiple Series X, and multiple PCs so cloud gaming will be niche for me for the forseeable future. But I can totally understand people with less disposable income using cloud gaming as their primary platform.
Re: 'Your Transparency Is Remarkable' - Xbox Fans Are Loving The New Insight Into Server Outages
I like the operational changes Asha seems to be making and promoting. But, These are PR and cosmetic in nature mostly so far.
The real changes will be in improving the actual gaming experience and games. To that end I liked the disc-to-digital announcement earlier this week. But there is a lot more for XB to do there.
Re: Xbox Is Officially Putting Time Limits On Cloud Gaming For Game Pass Members
People like to think there is no costs to things but streaming has a cost. XB needs the hardware and data centers to provide streaming. All they are doing is setting this up before it becomes cost issue.
With the console prices expected to be $800-1,000+ in the next generation and if streaming keeps improving, it may become a primary way to game for a lot of people. So, really all they are just ensuring that things are in line to make a profit.
To me, this should've been put in on day one of streaming. It was a miss that they didn't.
Re: PSA: Some Versions Of The Same Game Aren't Compatible With Xbox Disc To Digital
@themightyant
I doubt that is the problem. My understanding is that unique identifiers were required by all discs in the XBO onward era.
They are still in beta with the feature, if this is also in the general release then you are correct. But for now I would call it a bug or oversight.
Re: PSA: Some Versions Of The Same Game Aren't Compatible With Xbox Disc To Digital
Wow bugs in a pre-release. How can that be?
Re: Xbox Disc To Digital Is Now Live For Some Users, And Here's A First Look
@FreasurePlanten
It is going to be up to publishers. Microsoft cannot give away digital licenses without publishers agreeing..
Re: Xbox Disc To Digital Is Now Live For Some Users, And Here's A First Look
@agenttrav
My understanding is that 360 game discs are not serializaed so I doubt they will make the feature available. But, yes I would love 360 games to be available too.
Re: Xbox Is Reportedly Pitching Multiple Game Adapations To Hollywood In A 'Bulk Studio Deal'
If done right this can be really good. If done wrong this can be not so good. XB Cinematic Universe? Most of the games happen at different periods in time. Maybe they could find a way to tie them all together somehow.
Re: Roundup: All The Biggest Xbox Reveals From Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026
Crazy Taxi looks so fun!
Re: Halo Studios Reveals Five Main Highlights In Campaign Evolved's Next Update
@fatpunkslim
I really love Halo gameplay, but I felt they could've did more level redesign and improved the graphics a lot more. They say it was a remake, I feel it was more or less a transfer to the Unreal Engine.
Re: The Highest-Rated Metacritic Game Of 2026 Is On Xbox, And We've Never Heard Of It
Bought and started to play it yesterday as I love Geometry Wars. This game will keep me busy for a while. Really enjoying it. Wish there would be more articles on these types of diamonds in the rough.
Re: Xbox Announces Four More Console Features, Including Two Highly-Requested Ones
I like that XB is back to improving the console experience. One step forward. Let's not take two steps back as well.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (August 1-2)
I have played some chapters in Halo this weekend. Kind of disappointed in some graphical things (I prefer the more modern graphical style of master chief then this one) but still has the fun gameplay I am used to in Halo games.
Re: Poll: One Year Later, What Do You Think Of Xbox's Most Recent Gears Of War Release?
@Mr-Cage
LOL. Me and my brother in law are playing the game in co-op on insane right now. We like to refer to Cole and Baird as dumber and dumber.
I still enjoy the game though. give me a lancer and turn on the chainsaw any day of the week to enjoy sawing grubs! I would call the game a refresh of the original. It got rid of some issues but introduced its own issues.
Re: Former Xbox Studio Forced To Layoff 23 Employees To Ensure 'Survival Of Our Studio'
Always disappointing when perfectly good people lose their jobs. I understand what they have to do, but that doesn't make it any easier for the people affected.
Re: Halo: Campaign Evolved Legendary Ending Teases A Halo 2 Remake Is On The Way
@Romans12
I hope they add a few additional missions like they have done for the Halo Campaign Evolved Remake.
Re: Talking Point: How Much Noise Do Your Xbox Consoles Make After All These Years?
All my consoles are quiet still.
Re: Xbox Introduces Free Game Streaming With Ads, Outlines Five Principles They'll Adhere To
I think this is perfectly ok for gaming, as long as I am given an option to pay to remove ads (even if I have to pay a small amount). This seems like a good way to get another revenue stream and not overly change the gaming experience which will help with affordability.
Re: Microsoft Is Officially Bringing Achievements To 'Select' Original Xbox Games
Nice to see this feature. I have long wanted to see this for OG XB games.
Re: Xbox CCO Says Not To 'Overly Fixate' On All Single-Player Games Being Exclusives
@Mr-Cage
"I really don't care what they do around exclusivity to be honest I own an Xbox so I know I can play all the games they will bring out.
If games do or don't go to playstation it makes no difference to me at all.
I'll let everyone else worry and argue over the politics in gaming while I just enjoy my hobby playing games I enjoy!"
If more people had these thoughts then the gaming world would be a lot better place!
Re: DOOM Director Elaborates On The State Of The Studio Going Forward
@Fiendish-Beaver
I don't think that unless you have insider information we don''t that you can definitively say that kind of stuff.
Yes, it sucks that people are let go and they have to get a new job in a tough world. Anybody that has gone through this including me agrees.
But, this does not automatically mean the developer cannot deliver just as quickly.... For example, how many side projects were they working on and how many resources were assigned to them? If there were many levels of management did they maybe streamline decision making? With AI tools people may now be more productive. Were there people between projects just sitting around? Are they centralizing marketing more and taking away the distributed nature it was?
Point is you are interpretting one side of what happened but there are many other sides. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle... A lot of the cuts probably were justified, but I am sure there are also some they will regret. Is it as bad as reported? Probably not, is everyone full of sunshine? Probably not as well.
As for 8 years to make a new game that is not unheard of anymore. GTA V was first release in 2013 and here we are in 2026 just awaiting the latest release. When studios were releasing next games every two years gamers pushed back that quality and innovation were falling. Now they talk 8 years and gamers complain it is too long. I think 5-7 years is about right.
Also new games are highly dependent on game engine changes underneath. If you are putting new content to an existing engine and only doing tweaks to the engine you can get games out faster. But with fulll engine re-writes which Doom 2016 was it takes longer. You will notice there was a large gap in the wolfenstein franchise as well. I think it would be safe to say there was a major re-work of idTech. There seems to be a major new idTech version pretty consistently every 5 years since 2011.
Re: Former Xbox Dev Compulsion Games Shares Open Letter To 'Studios Across The Industry'
Sounds to me like this is an effort to work with other struggling independents to pool resources/technologies because they can't go it alone.
Nothing wrong with that. They are getting creative to solve their problems and become profitable.
Re: DOOM Developer Addresses Concerned Fans With Message About Xbox Layoffs
@oopsiezz
When you get all these senior people, often they become less hands on and they lose their doing skills. Especially, now-a-days with everything changing so quickly using AI. I doubt they got rid of the best people doing the work. I have seen a lot of lay-offs at a lot of companies. They rarely let go of the wrong people.
Re: Forza Horizon 6 Reportedly Tops The List Of Steam Releases For Gross Revenue In 2026
@MinervaX76
XB will not have anything fully exclusive to XB only until there is only one console vendor at the very least. Game sales on Steam are important to XB and have been traditionally very imporrtant to both ZeniMax and Activision-Blizzard. They will not stop giving these gamers games on the Steam platform. Now, if XB was to be the lone survivor left on console, I would think XB may reconsider the exclusivity thing because then the competition is these other stores only and they would want to differentiate. But, that is a theoretical discussion that does not seem to have any chance of existing for the forseeable future.
Re: DOOM Developer Addresses Concerned Fans With Message About Xbox Layoffs
@oopsiezz
Maybe the studio was trying to do too many projects at once? Maybe there were too many layers of leads/managers/directors that were slowing development down? Maybe there was some people that were impacted by AI changes in game development over the past few years that have not adjusted to the changes yet.
I am sure people lost their jobs that didn't deserve too. But they have stated that the studio is the same size as the team that made Doom in 2016. Which means the team is very capable of delivering yet another great game.
As for game pitches by a studio there are many game pitches that are done with studios. Some never get started, some get started but cancelled through the process, and there is usually one that makes it to the completion and gets released. We have no idea how far any truely were and where they were at in the process before the studio/XB decided not to go forward with them.
Re: Compulsion Games, Double Fine & Undead Labs Issue Xbox Departure Statements
@xboxjapanfan
Where are the facts to support your DEI statement?
Also, XB has done the best possible scenario here. XB could have kept the IPs, studio names and shut the studios down entirely. Forcing them to restart under different names without their well known IPs. In the press announcement they also stated the studios were provided “runways” for their next games. Which probably means some level of funding. So, all-in-all given the circumstances XB gave these studios the best possible options. They have left their long term success up to their next game. That’s all a studio can really ask for.
Re: Video Game Retailer Urges Xbox To 'Stand Behind Consumer Choice' By Supporting Physical
In the end I am an all digital person and inevitably the world will move to all digital. But there is a reality today that there are people that still like physical media and the consumers should have the option until the full death of physical media.
Re: Xbox Announces 3,200 Job Cuts And Four Studio Departures
@Friendly
Do I like it, “No”. Do I think it is necessary for XB to compete and continue to exist? “Yes”.
Re: Report: Xbox Cancels Avowed 2 And Puts Obsidian To Work On New Fallout Game
@DJKingaling
Unfortunately, this all ends up being about game sales, not game quality. I have been enjoying it too, but not enough people, played the game on GamePass or bought it on other platforms to justify keeping the IP moving forward obviously.
Re: Here's The New Lineup Of Xbox Game Studios For July 2026 Onwards
@AverageGamer
You are correct. My mistake. For some reason I always thought it was Absobo. Not the first time I am wrong and definitely not the last.
Re: Halo Studios Makes A Point Of Highlighting 'Physical Discs' For Campaign Evolved
@Romans12
I don’t disagree but, when you buy enough media in your life you soon find it is a nuisance. I have thousands of physical games, CDs, and DVD/Bluray movies. It got totally out of control how much space they took up.
Re: Xbox Announces 3,200 Job Cuts And Four Studio Departures
@Friendly
You can’t always take the high road. If the high road is doomed to failure you have to get into the mud and use the same tactics the competition uses.
One of the predominant comments I had seen on this site about XB after they went multi-platform was, “Why should I buy an XB now”. That is a very good comment. To me, it was about quality of hardware, OS, services, etc. But to a lot of people those things are not considered and they are more about being able to play more games on one platform. So ask yourself if playing Halo and God of War is something that is most important to you would you buy an XB or PS? Probably PS because with the new Halo remake you can play them on PS only. If you have an XB only you miss out on God of War.
Re: Report: Bethesda Faces 'Significant Overhaul' At Xbox, Will Focus On Key Franchises
@NishimaruX
I know but they are still dangerous.
PS: Loved Red Dwarf.
Re: Report: Bethesda Faces 'Significant Overhaul' At Xbox, Will Focus On Key Franchises
@NishimaruX
Poor analogy... Tin cans can be very dangerous to open (even when they are already open). They are sharp on the edges.
Sorry.... I couldn't resist lightening the topic.
Re: Here's The New Lineup Of Xbox Game Studios For July 2026 Onwards
@TheFakulty
Nope they are a third party contracted to build the game. The also make the Plague Tale games. And made the XBOX One Exclusive game ReCore.
Re: Obsidian, id Software & Others Confirmed To Be Affected By Xbox Layoffs
It is never good when good people lose their jobs. I feel for people every time I hear this stuff happening with companies I have worked with, competitor companies, and places I buy products from.
But one of the things people don't know is how many of these jobs losses are where exactly in the organization. Yes, this one was an art director but what percentage of the layoffs, were cuts to streamline management since Sharma said there were up to 14 layers in some cases (Maybe this art director was one of those cuts)? How many of the cuts are in marketing parts of the organization because I think they are trying to centralize that more? How many were cuts to multi-platform development people since they intend to bring more console exclusives to XB? And how many of the cuts were deadwood that exists in this size of an organization?
Re: Here's The New Lineup Of Xbox Game Studios For July 2026 Onwards
@TheFakulty
Asobo
Re: Report: Bethesda Faces 'Significant Overhaul' At Xbox, Will Focus On Key Franchises
@NishimaruX
Microsoft is more of a platforms and operating system company then it is a gaming company. I have more confidence in their ability to curate gaming platforms then their ability to manage game development studios.
Re: Report: Bethesda Faces 'Significant Overhaul' At Xbox, Will Focus On Key Franchises
@8th_Observer
I want them to own the Unreal Engine. And I don't think their purchases were the disaster, it was what they did after purchases that made them a disaster. People were iffy on the AKB purchase, but all other people cheered immediately.
Re: Report: Bethesda Faces 'Significant Overhaul' At Xbox, Will Focus On Key Franchises
@themightyant
Making engines vs. buying is essentially a decision that should be made with the IP. The question is there something unique or extrodinary we need to do that no other engine can? If the answer is yes, then an engine should be built, if no, then stick with off the shelf engines where it is easy to find people.
In Microsoft's case they have some really good game engines and game engine expertise. I think that the IW Engine, Creation Engine, Diablo IV engine, and idTech should be invested into because the games that result are unique in lots of ways. They were right to drop Slip Space.
Re: Report: Bethesda Faces 'Significant Overhaul' At Xbox, Will Focus On Key Franchises
@themightyant
Agreed, but the engine is also what makes the game built with it different from other games in the same genre. Sharma did talk about a lack of investment in platforms and key franchises. Maybe this is a realization they need to invest more to highlight their pluses.
Also, scrapping these engines for generic engines would be a total retooling of the developers that use them. It would be like starting from scratch. Probably not desirable. The people that are experienced at optimizing for these engines are not the same people that are good at the unreal engine.
I think Gears really fits with Unreal and the Coalition are masters at it. Halo, I think they didn't have the expertise to make a great engine or they were overly ambitous. So, going to Unreal is ok for now. Ideally I think XB should buy Epic or just the Unreal engine.
Re: Report: Bethesda Faces 'Significant Overhaul' At Xbox, Will Focus On Key Franchises
@themightyant
Sharma did also state that Minecraft and Candy Crush are more platforms. The Creation Engine is a platform as well. Along with idTech.
I don't see this as bad as long as the focus is on making these engines better. These franchises are who they are because of these engines. Flipping Elder Scrolls and Fallout to Unreal probably would not improve the uniqueness of these franchises. And switch Wolfenstein, Quake, and Doom off of idTech would actually make these franchises much worse. I often play these games and marvel at the framerates and detail. idTech is hugely optimized to these types of shooters.
Re: Xbox Announces 3,200 Job Losses And Four Studio Departures
@Friendly
I totally agree. I am not a fan of exclusives. But that is the way console gaming works. If you don't have exclusives you don't get people buying your console, it is that simple. XB has proven that.
As a consumer I am a massive fan of multi-platform everything. I hate buying a Nintendo device, a PS device, and a XB device just to play all the games I want to play. But, the reality is that since XB did multi-platform and the 2 others decided not to play, XB has to go back to exclusives.
Re: Xbox Announces 3,200 Job Losses And Four Studio Departures
A lot of people are calling this bad, and it is bad.
But, at the end of the day these 3,200 job losses are in the following areas it won't be as bad as people think:
1) Studio divestitures.
2) Reduce management layers.
3) Reducing people working on multi-platform versions of games so they become XB exclusive.
4) Consolidate marketing out of studios and centralize it.
5) Consolidate things like battle.net into the XB infrastructure making it more centralized.
Then things will be ok. The concern I will have is if they are laying off people that are building the next games XB is focusing on.
Re: Xbox Announces 3,200 Job Losses And Four Studio Departures
@datamonkey
At the time they bought them they had a strategy. That strategy failed, so they are correcting the issue. All of these studios (except Arkane) were purchased individually. While there is the idea of purchasing competitors to take them out of the marketplace and make them disappear, this obviously is not the case here, because they are letting them go back on their own.
Re: Xbox Announces 3,200 Job Losses And Four Studio Departures
I also found this comment very interesting in the release:
"We entered Gen 9 with a smaller install base and a higher cost structure. To grow, we bet on Game Pass, multi-platform, and a broader portfolio of content. While those businesses have created meaningful value, they did not grow at the pace we expected."
So, GamePass and multi-platform didn't do as well as expected. Today's announcement fixes the broader portfolio not doing as well as expected.
I expect there to be significant changes to GamePass and more exclusive announcements based on these comments.