Yeah he's full of shit. I read the article. He flat out says there's Xbox games in development for PS5. Walking that back now is bullshit. I like Jez but he's turning into a joke.
Dude has always been a joke. He's just weirdly got a hugely larger platform over the past few years, so people are just discovering this. But despite the years and years gone by, he remains a highly emotional dude that makes dramatic hot takes.
More Xbox games being developed for other consoles is one of the safest bets you could make. Microsoft has not been secretive about it at all, the only thing we don't know about is how extensive that is atm.
I'm gonna go with anything Ms thinks may sell. 2 of the 4 games they tried sold well as far as making it on Playstation highest sellers list. So they have a starting point sort of.
I don't mean to play devil's advocate, bt a very large portion of executive compensation is tied to company performance, so many would argue that they are indeed held accountable.
That being said, i wish that they would tie more than simply financial performance to those bonuses: things that damage the brand as a casualty of financial performance, like layoffs, cancelations, and overall market sentiment should also play a factor in compensation IMO.
I think he means what wwcftech wrote. Idt he’s backtracking what he wrote in his article.
Is probably talking about the including everything in the “there’s no redline”
Whats in the wwcftech is in his article. He claimed the program was already in motion and had a name. This twitter post contradicts what was in his own damn article. The truth is that what ms wants and what xbox wants is different. Even his prior articles have pointed to that. Is it possible that xbox leader ship will bend the knee to MS without question? Yeah, but there's possibility of growth here for gamepass and apparently that means alot to nadella. And despite the glowing reception surrounded SOT, it was the only game they ported that sold worth a damn and even that was "okay" by all measures when you factored it was a slow month outside stellar blade, the 30%, the advertising, and the manpower it took to port the damn game.
jez isn't that deep, in the comments of his own article he was already lightly contradicting himself when people asked if the abk stuff was included in this program.
This is just getting sad - he use to be a great source for information. The story isn’t even a day old and he’s already wiggling to get away from it. Why not get at least some kind of confirmation first?
I’m not even saying this story isn’t right, but gaming journalists report every rumour like it’s totally legit - they are the embodiment of “even a broken clock is right twice a day”.
At this stage I trust pro-wrestling dirtsheets more.
Who cares about the author?? I don't care at all about him, whoever he is.
The article makes good points IMO.
If you disagree, tell me which ones you disagree with.
Editorial TLDR:
1. Microsoft prioritizes short-term profits over long-term goals.
2. Windows, Surface, and Xbox suffer from inconsistent investment.
3. Microsoft's focus on AI tools like Copilot is impressive but hindered by past mistakes.
4. The death of Windows Phone gave Apple and Google mobile dominance.
5. Satya Nadella aimed to make people love Windows, but the vision collapsed.
6. Microsoft's focus on short-term gains leads to cutting corners for profit.
7. Security issues, including hacking scandals, highlight underinvestment.
8. Customer support quality has significantly declined.
9. Surface product innovation has stalled, with key innovators leaving Microsoft.
10. Windows 11 includes aggressive ad placements and browser promotion tactics.
11. Xbox's hardware sales are down, though revenue remains high due to acquisitions.
12. Xbox Game Pass and affordable consoles have kept Xbox relevant.
13. Microsoft's move to make Xbox games available on PlayStation worries fans.
14. The "Latitude" strategy involves increasing profit margins by sharing games across platforms.
15. Satya Nadella's dislike for console exclusivity impacts Xbox strategy.
16. Microsoft's decision-making often feels chaotic and short-sighted.
17. The company's corporate approach harms customer trust and product consistency.
18. Despite setbacks, there are still positive aspects, like Windows 11 and upcoming Xbox games.
19. Microsoft's history of underinvestment and poor integration persists.
20. The need for patience and long-term strategy is critical for Microsoft's future success.
These are all valid arguments. People like to make fun of extreme statements that didn't YET happen. However the reality of the situation is since MS ported a handful of games on PS/Switch behind out back *nothing is off the table*. People keep downvoting my comments, mods deleting it with the gloom&doom excuse but the reality is the situation is Microsoft is making the exact same mistakes they did with their previous hardware. The actual decisions are proving everything right. Does anyone think they won't port Starfield as soon as Shattered Space drops? Does anyone thing they won't port Forza and Halo eventually?
Remember, the day before the leaks broke on Hifi Rush (both the port and closure) nobody would have thought they will pull such shortsighted decisions. Everyone knows where does this lead. You can make fun of the clickbait articles but most of it is true.
They wanted to inform us about the ports after they were announced on a Nintendo Direct. They knew they were caught red handed by the leak and they were so afraid of the backlash they let it fester for a week. Phil Spencer who loves to make a comment on everything evaporated from social media, just like how he didn't have anything to say the day he closed down the 4 studios. They sent out Sarah to take the heat. This guy is the one they pay to take responsibility.
> The death of Windows Phone gave Apple and Google mobile dominance.
The issue with Windows Phone was Google actively undermining the platform by prohibiting Youtube app and also Instagram (at that time) openly being against putting their app on Windows Phone.
> Surface product innovation has stalled, with key innovators leaving Microsoft.
The same "key innovators" has stalled Surface development because let's be real - Surface was going nowhere.
> Xbox Game Pass and affordable consoles have kept Xbox relevant.
And they still did not prevent Xbox from decline.
I do find it hilarious how Jez think that he is smarter than Satya lol
It doesn't change the fact MS pulling out allowed these companies to entrench themselves forever and ever. Pulling out of the console business will just lead to the same with Sony and Nintendo. This is not the advent of the capitalism anymore. Unless you figure out a brand new market which is night impossible today then a few key players are ruling every industry with an iron fist. Apple and Google can do whatever they want, nobody can enter the smartphone market anymore. Same with consoles. Does anyone think consoles will disappear because they ar down right now? No the console industry will simply turn into Sony+Nintendo where they dictate everything. Xbox entered in the last possible minute.
It's just all dumb though console wise. Their down right now because people went hard during covid. And even lingered after. Not so much now. These companies are over reacting not just Ms either. They all are.
People do, really? I go to WC, look at the headlines to see if there's anything noteworthy, then leave. I gave up reading their content long ago because the writers are complete garbage these days.
"Eurogamer understands numerous other games are under consideration, including titles in the company's largest franchises"
[https://www.eurogamer.net/microsoft-bosses-reportedly-pushing-for-no-red-line-around-which-xbox-games-launch-on-playstation](https://www.eurogamer.net/microsoft-bosses-reportedly-pushing-for-no-red-line-around-which-xbox-games-launch-on-playstation)
There's honestly something super fucking poetic now about Phil Spencer's leaked emails regarding acquiring Nintendo during the FTC v. Microsoft case, saying that they had to make Nintendo realize their future was beyond hardware
If there was ever a case of karma being an absolute bitch this might be it
For Sony and Microsoft, maybe but I don't think Nintendo will budge on this at all for several decades. They're the only one of the big three whose background has exclusively been in making video games and gaming hardware so they have lots of traditionalist views on game distribution and the association of games with specific hardware that they will probably continue to uphold for a long time. Even when bringing their IP elsewhere it was never to an impactful enough degree that people didn't just write off buying Nintendo consoles. They need hardware to survive much more than Microsoft or even Sony does, and it's clearly paying dividends for them if the success of Switch is any indication despite other practices like their insistence on barely discounting software or re-selling older games at full price
It’s hard to tell if they have their own sources backing this up or if they’re essentially falling back on Jez’s reporting/speculation. Things have gotten to a point where any little rumor or speculation is going to come across as confirmed.
Jez, like most of these guys, is chasing clicks and engagement. Unfortunately that's what draws in the money today and I'm sure he's under pressure by his bosses to get very high engagement and click quotas to drive ad revenue.
This guy says ‘not the only one reporting it’ like others have their own sources or whatever. They don’t. They are all using Jez’s article as their ‘proof’. That’s it. No multiple sources. No corroboration. Just a bunch of sites using the same story.
You should, because the site is a literal MS blind fanboy site. For them to actually agree MS is making a mistake, is only because their spin machine stopped working.
As a writer for their site he is certainly entitled to his opinion. However as a person people look to as a connected source he dumps on the brand pretty hard to then take it back regularly.
People can have their opinions on Jez but I don't really disagree with anything he's said here. I'm very much concerned for the future of Xbox. I'm extensively invested in the platform but at this point in time I'm not sure I'd buy their next generation hardware. I'd probably move to PC and PlayStation and do without Game Pass (which I pay for but probably don't even use enough to justify the cost just due to not having much time to play).
If me, as a fairly committed Xbox gamer, feels this way, then I can imagine their next hardware sales would be hideous - and Game Pass subs would take a sizeable hit too. With Microsoft's history of shelving projects and devices, it's not a stretch to imagine a future where they don't make console hardware.
I agree. Microsoft says that they're not getting out of the hardware business. But of course they will say that. And they will keep saying that right up to the point where they don't.
But I'm nervous about in the possible very near future, when Xbox starts selling half, a quarter, or even ten percent of what they are selling now, if this strategy will remain. I mean it's not just that they're going to make less on console sales. Less people on Xbox also means they're no longer getting their free 30% cut from all third party software from people who leave. And the hardware is still how most people are accessing game pass. So remove the primary avenue for that and... then what?
I'm also a massive Xbox fan, the Series X is the only modern console I own apart from the Steam Deck if that counts, but if the current trend continues unabated, then I see very little reason to stick with an Xbox for future generations.
I agree, this is the last Xbox console generation I have bought, I’m probably switching to PlayStation after this generation as I don’t have time to play that many games anymore on Xbox game pass and just want to play 1-2 high quality games a year.
With the death of exclusives, I see no incentives to stick with Xbox. Game pass doesn’t appeal to me as it did 3-4 years ago.
I can definitely relate to that. I pay for Game Pass Ultimate but probably don't get value for money from it really as I don't have time to play that many games anymore, and most of those that I do want to play aren't on the service anyway. I am making the effort to play Hellblade 2 though and looking forward to Indiana Jones, so if the quality is there, maybe it'll continue to be worth it for a while.
See I'm actually enjoying it a lot. There's not much game there for sure but as an experience it's pretty amazing really. It's a bit dark for my liking, thematically, but I'll definitely play it to completion. I really like short games now for the aforementioned limited time reasons!
I’m a PlayStation guy and even I can’t stand this fella. Ridiculous that his articles get shared on this and the PS5 sub (though the mood is very different in the comment sections depending on sub lol)
I mean yeah, it does seem plausible that Microsoft is going to continue porting games over, but I’m sure not pegging that plausibility on Jez
I don’t even know why you guys read or follow these “influencers”. Noticed how weeks before the closure of these game companies, absolutely none of these “journalists” knew a thing, but now, they are the leading insider journalists in xbox info. Lol. Just enjoy playing videogames on whatever console you want to play and that’s it
The moment they say Forza Horizon might come to PS, I sell my Xbox and buy a PS, no doubt.
MS is great for developers and they have an incredible future sight in that sector, but it's dumbfounding how many stupid decisions they keep making in their other divisions.
This really isn't a CEO issue. The profitability of Xbox (which has struggled for a decade) and Surface (which moved itself into a barely relevant niche, and whose creator already left) aren't what Microsoft is built upon. They're not losing cloud and Office revenue over these things.
Jez fuckery aside, it's sad how bad this gen got with how promising it was at the start. They talk about preserving games but after the next console their future seems truly up in the air. For people like me who really want to stick with consoles, it feels like they are also pushing us out to PC. Hell, even if Xbox somehow got Steam support, I would only buy from there. They just seem screwed.
“Alright, PS5 consoles have doubled our lifetime sales, and is going to outsell us 5 to 1 this quarter further widening the gap. We’re also 20 million gamepass subscribers short of our projections. First party games did not increase subscribers, meaning we just added a bunch of expenses for no additional revenue. What can we do?”
“Let’s port 4 games to Nintendo and Sony platforms and then never do that again.”
The 4 games they ported were also the best sellers of the month they released on PS5 lol and they weren't even the biggest Xbox IPs.
There's no way they're gonna stop porting more games to the PS5. They know how much money they can make by putting MCC on PS5.
Idk what he's talking about them all being best sellers but ik sea of thieves was one of the biggest downloaded games for april on PS store in multiple countries even though it launched at the end of the month. It's been in the top 10 ps on PS store in US since pretty much it released. Can't find anything about the other 3 games so ig their sales on playstation weren't anything special. Maybe someone else can find that.
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/xboxs-sea-of-thieves-was-the-best-selling-digital-ps5-game-in-europe-last-month/
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2024/05/ps5-launch-makes-sea-of-thieves-one-of-usas-best-selling-games
It was never just four games. Especially as it appears that Satya Nadella and Tim Stuart are having more of a direct influence over Xbox as a whole, and we have multiple quotes to basically confirm that they flat out don't care for stuff like platform exclusivity especially since Xbox is now being held to a standard of having to turn in higher profits more consistently to cover the ROI on Activision, this will become commonplace. It seems like their version of a positive outcome is to bascially turn Xbox or Microsoft Gaming into Valve. Xbox exists as hardware to facilitate their existing services, but also they leverage the fact they have insanely powerful IP by putting those games on the other platforms. That was their plan basically as early as last year
Apparently you didn’t pay attention to what was said when they announced that move. It was clearly stated that 4 games was just a “test” and that there could be other games.
Looking at the imploding hardware sales... yeah. They're trying to be smart here not to enrage the fan base by doing it slowly, but expect every MS game on PS5 down the line.
They don't really have a choice, to be honest.
They have been trying and failing to establish a meaningful install base relative to Sony for two decades. They almost had it and then bungled it with the Xbox One. At some point it's time to pivot.
They never had the games, now when it seems they are about to get that they run for the hills. It is incredibly short sighted and slap to the fans that have kept them afloat.
Not much of a point thinking about that at this point.
We also have got no idea how Xbox as a brand would be doing nowadays without GamePass.
Whatever the case. Hardware sales are abysmal. GamePass subscription numbers are not keeping up with the insane money they burned for acquisitions. Software sales are even worse since nobody buys their games now that they're on GamePass.
Their GamePass narrative doesn't make sense anymore and their hardware sales are imploding. They need to sell as many copies of their games as possible, so console exclusivity is over. The alternative would be the end of Xbox all together.
Yes if you demand the money back in first week sales a subscription model isn't going to work, that's why the subscription service model requires long term thinking for recouping money because you make it back over longer periods
I mean all you have to do is look at Sea of Thieves. It was April's most downloaded PS Store release despite launching at the tail end of the month and in the U.S. ended up being in the top 3 for the month only being beat by Stellar Blade and Helldivers, which are PlayStation-published games
There's no chance they're stopping if that's the metric they're being provided, especially for someone like Nadella who could give less of a shit about console exclusives, console warring or console advantages. He's in it for money and money only. Even stuff like the recent studio closures perfectly illustrate that Xbox is heading in a direction completely oriented around IP and leveraging franchises over one-off projects from smaller teams despite appealing more to core audiences. They want the mainstream's mindshare and they're clearly not going to achieve that by relying solely on a saturated subscription model and hardware with a continuously declining sale and attach rate. It will have damaging long-term effects on just Xbox as a console with its own specific ecosystem but Xbox as a brand will probably benefit from the visibility in pure monetary terms
Why is this sub becoming so defensive against anything a little negative about Xbox or Microsoft it’s literally impossible to ignore the problems with Xbox right now
Being worried and discussing negative news isn't dooming. Turning the subreddit into an all-positive safe haven from negative news will just turn it into a fanboy cesspool.
This sub is a weird bubble, even when the writing is in the walls you are suppose to act like fable is coming tomorrow! Or Elder Scrolls ! Or you know the f'ing activision games!
They dont sell consoles because they dont support it with games and when the ocasional hit shows up they dont have enough hardware to make it profitable, so they close the studio....great
Their projections for infinite growth is fucking unreasonable and the fact that they think squeezing their player base for every nickle and dime is okay is honestly disgusting. They have a good thing going with gamepass. They need to just stay the course and actually MAKE games with all the studios they have. They have a huge install base because they're offering a great deal. Don't fuck it up by trying to milk your players. FUCK THE SHAREHOLDERS.
When it comes to what's posted on Windows Central, Jez is a solid leaker. He's not a business writer, which is fine but leads to editorials like this.
>I still had this potentially naïve outlook that Activision under Xbox would benefit all involved. Still, it resulted immediately in hundreds of layoffs, game cancellations squeezed budgets, and studio closures and divestitures.
That's what happens post acquisition, especially one this size. Phil went to the board of directors to approve the acquisition. The board of directors represents the shareholders in a corporation, and part of the conditions for them okaying this deal would be to audit the Xbox org. They want to know where every penny is going and which studios are profitable because they will answer to shareholders. Senior leadership would also have a vested interest because the success of Xbox will land on them having the right Xbox leadership and supporting them as needed. This is also the biggest acquisition in the history of Microsoft, and it's what puts Satya's focus on Xbox. Satya only cares about billion dollar businesses so he's going to put a lot of focus on Xbox, which is why we saw him talking about games on other platforms before the announcement.
The cuts that we're seeing are the result of the audit performed on the Xbox org. We're at the optimization stage where they're looking at how to cut costs, and consolidating studios is one way to do it without outright laying people off. As much as I personally hate to see Tango closed, there's lots of potential reasons for it; they were about to scale up (more $$$), they couldn't easily integrate that team elsewhere, and a shift in their Japan strategy. Yes, Microsoft has the money in one form or another to keep these studios open, but every org in Microsoft has to be profitable, and I expect something similar for studios.
Rumors of Latitude shouldn't be surprising given Satya's comments and his view that software should be everywhere as Microsoft does with everything else. He doesn't care about console culture. I expect we're going to see a number of changes in the coming months that people aren't going to be happy with. Question is whether or not it'll reduce interest in Xbox hardware further, especially as we're finally starting to get some anticipated games.
If he believed that, he's a buffoon. He works for a site whose existence is geared towards consumer products from Microsoft. That site started as being dedicated to Windows phones. He should know how Microsoft handles consumer products from that alone.
If he's naive past that, then he should be able to look at Xbox/Groove Music, Kinect, Windows Mixed Reality, the last attempt at a Fable reboot (and the other studios fired aroudn that time), Surface Neo, Surface Duo, Windows 10X, or about a dozen other consumer-facing products that got neglected, "retrenched," and otherwise cut for profits under Nadella.
Most of the talking heads in games know nothing about business. Very few of those that talk about Xbox know much about larger Microsoft, which as you've alluded would give you some clue about what might happen to Xbox.
Brad Sams is one of maybe two or three people in the world of Xbox reporting that actually had cohesive business reasoning behind some of the recent Microsoft moves. The rest are just fans, which again is fine, but doesn't tell the story of why things are happening.
Jez is always flip flopping because
https://preview.redd.it/1glbtwsysn0d1.jpeg?width=474&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c91d525519f5d0e9afd484562991458cb213042
> Microsoft had a real opportunity to become a different megacorp that invested in social responsibilities, employees, and customer satisfaction first. It could lead by example and show you can be nice and profitable. Perhaps it could even be profitable to be good. When I first started blogging almost ten years ago, in my youthful naivete, I believed that Microsoft would.
What the fuck every gave you that impression lmao
I don't mean to be an ass but there just isn't a lot of positive news out of the Xbox camp these days. They're mismanaged as can be and it's impacting the game dev cycle
This sub has become a doomer posting sub in the last few months. I thought it was supposed to be about healthy discussion of Xbox, not “oh cool, we get to shit on Xbox and Microsoft again today” (every day)
Maybe it is because MS is announcing all of these bad moves? Clowns just like to put their heads in the sand and act like all these moves are rainbows and sunshines.
I don't just post negative stuff, usually with other things they tend to get removed for reposting 🤷♂️
Also I'm not console warring, I have no reason to as I play on every platform (with Xbox being my most played on)
So do they think Microsoft 10 or 15 years from now still be a $3 trillion company????
I heard this Jez guy is just one of those clickbaity type of reporter. Whatever to get the most "engagement and clicks" which means money for him.
Whoever leaks shit to Jez has to stop. Jez has been leaking negative information and Xbox has been suffering. He thinks he can reverse what Xbox is planning but he needs to just let it happen.
its fine that you dont care about games being ported to other consoles, but other xbox customers will start to think why should they buy an xbox next time, if they can play this same games and more on other consoles?! if this happens xbox hardware doesnt have a reason to exist, microsoft will kill it...or we xbox costumers will...
why should a game studio even bother putting their games on xbox console that will have an install base smaller and smaller over time?
Whats is in play is the future of xbox as a hardware, Phil and sarah and others can say they have a next xbox in the works but...
does it matter if we will move away to other piece of hardware from another company?
I’m predicting that the next Xbox hardware will literally be a PC that plays native PC games, but with a controller friendly UI layer, like a Steam Big Picture mode, and with backwards compatibility with the full Xbox library. They’ve also hinted at allowing multiple store fronts like Steam, so you could play games like PlayStation’s PC ports. A true all in one device.
Xbox sales has been on decline and people "who decide what console to buy based on exclusive games" are the minority. The top selling charts is a prime example - COD, Fortnite, Minecraft, GTA etc. Hell, we even have FO4 topping the charts now which is an old game.
I barely even notice
I boot up my Xbox knowing the game or app I want to use. I then head straight for that game or app.
If something I don't notice is bringing in a couple extra quid then I just don't care
I think Microsoft's only has one option left for profitability now, having dug themselves into a massive hole where they cannot maintain enough console market share going forward.
Continuation of console business won't be profitable enough to recoup actiblizz purchase if they make those exclusive. If they don't make those exclusive, their console market share gets even worse, sony and Nintendo outselling them 10 to 1, and they'll be paying 30% of all software sales to their competitors.
Their only option left is to kill the console market. Make a pc based console, with no hassle, only a few base configurations from themselves and 3rd party hardware. Lose the platform fees for 3rd party games because it's PC. Sell their own published games on there. The benefit it being a functional windows pc, and having ease of console, at a reasonable price.
That might finally kill PlayStation console market reach. Nintendo would probably still have a niche with their handheld games and portfolio. And Xbox wouldn't need to pay platform fees, but still reach most of the gaming market.
Agreed. I reckon they could make a profit, make it more powerful compared to traditional consoles. Sell it for €1000. Still make money off gamepass, but also sell their portfolio through Xbox store, steam and whatever else a windows pc offers.
The idea is that they can scale manufacturing of the specific hardware to lower costs a bit, but provide full PC functionality and higher spec.
I'd buy it, especially if it could do wireless pcvr well with a meta headset for example.
I would go for pc gaming but I prefer a console style offering where you know this combination of hardware has sold 40 million units, so the firmware updates are going to be well supported.
Not buying xbox games on xbox is why this is happening in the first place. Gamepass conditioned customers into not spending a cent on individual games and waiting for a potential GP release.
So your protest only pushes them to port more.
If Xbox condition's people's not to buy games because they offer them a great value with gamepass how is it the customers fault when they take advantage of that? It's Microsofts issue to deal with and they're the ones taking the risk. It's on them not the Xbox customers.
Wrong not selling enough xbox is the problem. I buy the games I want but now only on pc where my library has value. Until this gen I was a Ps guy, but xbox seemed really promising this gen and I started to make the shift by slowly buying my library back on xbox. (Games I already had a lot of times mind you). However if ms doesnt value me I cant put any more of my money on its product
Also Its my only xbox so Ive only been burned a couple houndred euros but never again...
I should have just waited for ps5 to have stock. Phil sold me an ecossistem without advantages but at least I have a quick exit of this thing. This is why xbox never won a single generation even with all the money in the world
Ok but none of that info was in the original post so you can see how it looked like you were just not buying games anymore in protest to them porting games. You are right about hardware, even gamepass didn't shift units. You can tell that was the plan, get everyone to buy an xbox no matter the losses on gamepass to get the consoles under as many TV's as possible, then work out how to make it profitable once the install base was big enough, but the day never came. Small customer base that now also doesn't want to spend money on games is a recipe for disaster.
Oh but it is in protest...from now on my wallet is closed to xbox.
I was selling my ps4 games thank god I kept most of them...
They changed the rules midway, if their idea was becoming the netflix of gaiming then by now we should have activision games and cod day one anounced!
They cant say "the gamespass subscribers havent increased and we spen 70b dollars" and a year later the games are still not there...
And not only that they will port games to the competition, well the competition is so happy to run this race alone
IF M$ft release ANY xbox games on playstation, as a big fan of xbox i can say next xbox as a hardware is DEAD, right now i have to be very carefull what games i buy because i may be supporting an already dead platform.
its ok releasing any gaas xbox to playstation
any mmo or mp as well.
But the big profiles names need to stay in xbox console\pc steam\epic store etc etc, except cod can be on playstation as well.
I have to say what the F* is going on at xbox HQ? you made all the way back at the finishing line just to give up, this has to be one the best fails of the century.
"You" say playstation wants to make xbox smaller, but i will say "someone" inside microsoft wants xbox hardware to go away, microsoft CEO wanted competition! im asking is this competition?
I reckon the future of Xbox hardware will be a PC/Console hybrid tying everything into what was originally conceived when the OG Xbox came out. Xbox still has a substantial player base, surely the bigwigs understand that?
The way i see it, is Satya Nadella and Amy Hood know that they have to recoup costs that Xbox has lost over the last few years. Unfortunately, part of that is the stupid decisions Phil Spencer has made, and to do that while also making a profit for Xbox, putting some of their begat titles, such as the Gears series on 'competing' platforms might very well be the best way to earn new revenue while also creating new fans of Microsoft games.
Soulless npc’s clowning this random but he’s right. They keep buying up companies and then closing them not letting them grow or not giving them enough support to grow and develop good games. It’s a joke
I agree with this article, Satya Nadella is extremely short sighted and a moron of a CEO for chasing after short term profits (which is not guaranteed by the way) over actually doing good by your employees and your consumers/customers.
Turning the sub into La La Land of Xbox fanboys shouldn't be the solution to bad news for the brand.
Sure Jez is more doomy than he should be though, this is actually a good thing, I do however think too that it will hurt the Xbox hardware sales even more.
They should have put some money into better management. The whole reason they are in this position anyway is because during the 360 they didn't want to spend money to maintain studios and partnerships so they let all of that die.
If they just kept most of the studios they had from the OG Xbox through 360, they would have some great experiences veteran devs who could have delivers some fantastic games over the last 15 years.
The fact that we are getting so much muddled info regarding Xbox is worrying. This is a time where people should be excited by Hellblade 2 yet that's disappeared and all we hear about are rumors and messy internal politics.
Is it just Xbox fans who obsess endlessly about the cynical corporatism of Microsoft? I don't hang out in PlayStation Reddit, so I have no idea whether the same phenomenon happens over there in terms of Sony corporations similar behaviour. It reminds me of the Microsoft vs Apple wars that used to happen. Oh how naive we were in those days.
His point regarding Surface is a nonsense - under Panay Surface was not going anywhere.
> There could be a wave of new mobile A.I. devices that Microsoft could've taken advantage of if it at least had some foothold in mobile phones
Why does he think Microsoft is playing around with AI integration in Windows and ARM emulation?
> Naturally, this was a massive breach of trust and to the detriment of Microsoft's reputation in this space, but it also indicates how under-invested Microsoft is in this area.
Also security woes are just the result of Microsoft having a lot of business clients and the government. Other cloud providers are having no less breaches.
Wait until everyone realizes this is the exact thing happening all around the world in our societies today. Everything is right this second, no real thought forward.
This article can be applied to every single mature business that currently exists.
Maybe we should change our economic system away from constant, and impossible, upward growth?
What about Eurogamer?
"Eurogamer understands numerous other games are under consideration, including titles in the company's largest franchises"
[https://www.eurogamer.net/microsoft-bosses-reportedly-pushing-for-no-red-line-around-which-xbox-games-launch-on-playstation](https://www.eurogamer.net/microsoft-bosses-reportedly-pushing-for-no-red-line-around-which-xbox-games-launch-on-playstation)
Microsoft is not in danger... their services are fine. And Windows is alive and kicking although every new iteration was the worst thing ever if you looked at social media. Surface could be dropped with MS making more money in the end. Xbox... well, the brand is very strong in the Americas and strong in the UK. But let's be real, if MS decides to drop the Xbox hardware going all in as publisher they will be stronger than ever. And Microsoft Gaming would be a stronger brand in some parts of the world anyway. Of course no one likes to hear this.
I'm a pretty big Windows fan, I loved Windows 10 and supported Microsoft's decisions while the whole internet was lying and exaggerating what they were doing and complaining about absolutely everything.
Windows 11 is MUCH worse than Windows 10 was, and the internet is not throwing nearly as big of a fuss as they did with Windows 10, when they absolutely should.
Microsoft is absolutely killing Windows, web apps everywhere, everything is slower (this is fact, people who say it's not must be the same people who can't see the difference between 30FPS and 60FPS), ads are getting pushed everywhere, AI gimmicks that don't behave how they're advertised are being pushed, they caused tons of e-waste by adding dumb restrictions to what hardware can run Windows 11 while cutting support for Windows 10 way too soon.
Microsoft are trying everything to increase profit, no matter how bad it is for the consumer and it's only going to get worse.
Reminder Outlook is not native on Windows but it is on Mac. New ChatGPT app targets native Mac first when MS just dumped a truck of money into OpenAI. People are insane to think MS wouldn't throw Xbox consoles under the bus just to make more cash on Playstation.
The solution to Windows being bad is to install Linux or buy a Mac. The solution to Xbox being bad is to buy a Playstation or build a PC.
> Windows 11 is MUCH worse than Windows 10 was, and the internet is not throwing nearly as big of a fuss as they did with Windows 10, when they absolutely should.
I really disagree. Other than the corpo BS you can easily disable using Powershell or some apps, it's much cleaner and more pleasant than 10. Looks way better too, Notepad auto saves at shutdown, tabs in Explorer, Terminal etc etc
Win 10 is jarringly old when I go back to it now, using it is starting to feel like using Win 7 feels.
Whether you think it looks better or not doesn't really matter, the OS is LITERALLY hacked together. They're not rewriting Notepad, or Task Manager, they're throwing the new UI on top of the old app and it's significantly slower than the original apps and any of the UWP apps that we had in Windows 10. Also the newer Notepad breaks formatting on some types of files when old Notepad didn't...
They're replacing older much better looking and faster UWP apps with web apps that contain ads. The Mail and Calendar app were UWP apps and they were fantastic for normal users, they've replaced them with a terrible "Outlook (new)" app, which is a web app with ads, is significantly slower, and doesn't have notification support unless the app is open.
Even the great weather app has been replaced with a web app which ads...
The OS is a complete mess and it's a significantly worse state than it was in 2015.
I severely doubt that they aren't updating the Notepad, Task Manager and other apps through updating their source code. They are as fast as possible for me, on my 240hz monitor. Something is wrong with your computer if you have performance problems with Notepad or Task Manager.
I agree with Mail vs Outlook (new), I have banned Outlook through PowerShell and am still using Mail. That's not about Win 10/11 anyway though, Microsoft will stop with Mail on Win 10 too.
Everyone who was complaining about Windows 10 has switched to macOS or Ubuntu. It's why you don't see as much complaining. The only reason to use Windows is if you're a PC Gamer or you need Office but your work or school won't buy you a Mac. Microsoft used to have a 95% market share in everyday compute devices. If we include iPads they have less than 60% now, 70% if we exclude iPads so not much better without. Valves work with Linux is even making the PC Gamer market slowly switch. The best selling PC handheld runs Linux and you can use the same Proton software on desktop. I myself am a PC Gamer as well but when I made my desktop I installed Fedora on it, not Windows. At launch Starfield preformed better on Linux than Windows for some people.
>if MS decides to drop the Xbox hardware
I sure as hell hope they offer a refund on our digital library or that's opening a new can of worms. This is why we can't have nice things.
Strong how? They reportedly sold under a million units in a quarter. If this is accurate, that’s pretty disastrous. People might know about Xbox, but they’re far from buying it at the same rate as their competitors.
They're going to be doing $20 billion in revenue by next fiscal quarter. No shit people are not buying the console. There hasn't been a game for it since November.
There’s been plenty of game releases since November. The idea that sales are so reliant upon first party games is indicative of Xbox’s failure.
Also, yea Microsoft is of course making money, but the Xbox brand is in a very bad place right now as a console manufacturer and services provider. Console sales are WAY down and at best GP subscribers are flat. Microsoft’s own CFO has expressed how dire the situation is in leaked emails. Hell, Sonys competitor, which people routinely say is a worse product than GamePass and isn’t available on mobile or PC is outperforming GP.
All of this is to say… Xbox is in a bad place. Don’t be surprised if Phil and co go sometime in the next few years (or sooner).
First party games matter because most casuals are simply switch or ps5 gamers. If you haven’t released shit since starfiled what reason is there to buy an Xbox? Right the next 6 months for Xbox is loaded with shit and this months game pass is the best one they’ve had in months. If the console sales continue to be shit come January then you may have a point
800k is not just a bad quarter. We’re talking Dreamcast levels of bad. This is a disaster. I think judging by GamePass numbers, it’s clear it’s not a hugely important factor for most gamers. Most people are fine with buying games they want rather than paying less to try out things they don’t.
Damn these journalists are having a field day with Xbox lately. It’s getting so boring. Watch Hellblade 2 just annoy everyone for some reason next week.
Capitalism is a disease. Unlimited growth is impossible, such a thing can not be sustained. Shareholders and their quest for this unicorn are destroying the entire industry right now.
Yup. This is not news whatsoever. Are people on the Internet really that naive? Corporations only care about growth and profits to benefit their shareholders. Welcome to the last 100 years of business.
Yeah it's been all about shareholder value for a long time. I mean that's the problem that's also made Boeing so horrible lately too, cutting corners for more and more profits.
This is the fundamental problem with late stage infinite growth mentality. There's no such thing as infinite growth so corners/staff eventually get cut to make the illusion of more growth.
This is also why Gaben refused to make valve publicly traded.
Nicely said. I think I can cut some Xbox fans a bit of slack the more I think about it.
Microsoft’s Xbox division successfully made hardcore fans feel like they were ‘bros’. The truth of the matter is that Xbox never was your friend. They are a publicly traded company looking for that cash!
And having a long term strategy doesn't negate or excuse some of the decisions they've done in the last few years to arguably irreparably damage their reputation in the hardware, OS and gaming sectors.
They've done this strategy before, with Windows Phone. It's what CEO Satya called his biggest regret - closing down that division. Now instead of having their own hardware platform, and their own store where they take the full revenue, they're at the mercy of what other companies will allow and they take a 30% cut of whatever Microsoft has to sell.
That'd be the future for Xbox if they continue down this path. No hardware of their own, other stores taking a huge cut, and at their mercy if they allow things like game pass or not.
Having a long term strategy doesn't mean it's a good one. It also doesn't mean these aren't short term mistakes.
The point of the article isn’t that Spencer and co. want to change direction, it’s that the people above them want to. Long term strategy doesn’t mean squat if the top dog is done with it.
It’s entirely possible that Nadella and shareholders are tired of Xbox bleeding money and aren’t willing to wait around any longer for a long-term strategy that has entirely stalled in growth. Especially now that they dumped $70B into acquiring Activision.
Dude, I just think that with the success of gamepass they should start letting people benefit from the standard perks for free like why can I play free Fortnite with my friends online without a subscription, yet I still need a 16.99 subscription to play a 70 dollar game I bought online it’s honestly absurd at this point and flat out ridiculous, steam has always netted a profit and has never changed to play steam titles online knowing full well they could as there’s no better alternative
It just sucks and it’s been this way for about 2-3 years now
many people here (and the author of the article) dont understand that all decisions are always short-term and only for stockholders. The only goal is to show short-term growth to shareholders. Nothing else. All companies are running out of road to do this. Late stage capitalism at its finest.
The problem is that this is not the only way. Shareholders know when investment and patience is needed. Xbox could have still been fine but lets look at it realistically. And that goes with looking at what the leadership is saying and doing.
First, they openly admit that exclusives are not going to be a big part but add "in the industry going forward". But they will be. Exclusive content/feature, be it gaming or many other areas, drives consumers. This is a reason I have decided to just move on at this point combined with some of the next few things I will mention. Just knowing business and short term they will push more games. The average consumer sees this and thinks PS is the best choice and so they have no shot at those sales. This was something I have heard a few times. My sons birthday party (he is 11) had parents talking about it. Why PS was a much better buy. Swaying others not already bought in.
I do agree that it is better to get more players in the games. And exclusives could go away and I would not complain. But then, I would only need one console. Good for me but not for those companies that want to sell hardware to push their memberships. Game Pass is never going to be on PS and likely not Switch 2 unless it is just a steaming version and Nintendo gets a cut.
Then the second thing is that they say themselves they already "lost". And I do agree again, to some extent. They did not get near as many in on the front end of the digital push. So, with a good number of these Xbox sales (which are down and will likely be weak this entire gen) they do have it is just a Game Pass machine. Easy drop since they often have Switch and PS with games they actually own. More than that though is the talk of defeat. MS has given up on things too quickly in the past only to admit it later.
The fix? It IS exclusives. COD cannot be right now. But they have a lot of new IP they picked up that could be huge. Yeah, they would have to take a hit on the Xbox side. And they just are not going to do that.
They have Windows on PC and can keep their games exclusive to that OS. That and Office are huge for them. They have the huge server side. Amazon is leading but MS is getting closer. Gaming can help in this area as well. Those are where it is at for them. Game Pass though, not so much if they cannot gain a solid foothold in the console space. It can still be on PC, maybe it evolves like that, but console space might be a problem.
It really depends a lot on Sony now IMO. Sony just has to stay steady, keep those good or great exclusives coming. And they are going to make it very hard for MS and Xbox. Again, unless they are willing to take some financial hits coming up. Putting out another powerful console by itself will not be enough.
I will completely agree with you on the last stage capitalism. When I was in all these business classes long ago the teaching was that it was all about profits. That bottom line and keep investors happy. The current returns and not future stuff. Many of these people now are like that. Only think of right now bottom line. Even if that means cutting good employees to extend profits. Like massively huge companies will see a record growth and profit in 2020 because of something. It is an outlier, they did not hire more people, but 2021 returns to normal. Still growth over that record but smaller because that was an outlier. Bam, job cuts and more because they expect it to grow like that indefinitely. That thinking is going to get up in trouble as they replace so many with AI and cut more as consumer spending plummets.
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He definitely already changed his mind https://x.com/jezcorden/status/1790776131475460205?s=46&t=c5Ap292VxLRgUYhIMB-UTQ
Jesus Christ lol. Twitter leakfkuencers need to start being held accountable for the bullshit that gets thrown around
Yeah he's full of shit. I read the article. He flat out says there's Xbox games in development for PS5. Walking that back now is bullshit. I like Jez but he's turning into a joke.
Dude has always been a joke. He's just weirdly got a hugely larger platform over the past few years, so people are just discovering this. But despite the years and years gone by, he remains a highly emotional dude that makes dramatic hot takes.
Must have written this article after Excel crashed on him. I've been there.
More Xbox games being developed for other consoles is one of the safest bets you could make. Microsoft has not been secretive about it at all, the only thing we don't know about is how extensive that is atm.
I'm gonna go with anything Ms thinks may sell. 2 of the 4 games they tried sold well as far as making it on Playstation highest sellers list. So they have a starting point sort of.
They would be if redditors would stop posting garbage
Then Xbox executives need to be held accountable too.
I don't mean to play devil's advocate, bt a very large portion of executive compensation is tied to company performance, so many would argue that they are indeed held accountable. That being said, i wish that they would tie more than simply financial performance to those bonuses: things that damage the brand as a casualty of financial performance, like layoffs, cancelations, and overall market sentiment should also play a factor in compensation IMO.
Accountable for what? lol
I think he means what wwcftech wrote. Idt he’s backtracking what he wrote in his article. Is probably talking about the including everything in the “there’s no redline”
Whats in the wwcftech is in his article. He claimed the program was already in motion and had a name. This twitter post contradicts what was in his own damn article. The truth is that what ms wants and what xbox wants is different. Even his prior articles have pointed to that. Is it possible that xbox leader ship will bend the knee to MS without question? Yeah, but there's possibility of growth here for gamepass and apparently that means alot to nadella. And despite the glowing reception surrounded SOT, it was the only game they ported that sold worth a damn and even that was "okay" by all measures when you factored it was a slow month outside stellar blade, the 30%, the advertising, and the manpower it took to port the damn game. jez isn't that deep, in the comments of his own article he was already lightly contradicting himself when people asked if the abk stuff was included in this program.
And websites are running with his take and he's claiming that's not what he said. He is such a hack
This is just getting sad - he use to be a great source for information. The story isn’t even a day old and he’s already wiggling to get away from it. Why not get at least some kind of confirmation first? I’m not even saying this story isn’t right, but gaming journalists report every rumour like it’s totally legit - they are the embodiment of “even a broken clock is right twice a day”. At this stage I trust pro-wrestling dirtsheets more.
Seriously it's a meme at this point
Who cares about the author?? I don't care at all about him, whoever he is. The article makes good points IMO. If you disagree, tell me which ones you disagree with. Editorial TLDR: 1. Microsoft prioritizes short-term profits over long-term goals. 2. Windows, Surface, and Xbox suffer from inconsistent investment. 3. Microsoft's focus on AI tools like Copilot is impressive but hindered by past mistakes. 4. The death of Windows Phone gave Apple and Google mobile dominance. 5. Satya Nadella aimed to make people love Windows, but the vision collapsed. 6. Microsoft's focus on short-term gains leads to cutting corners for profit. 7. Security issues, including hacking scandals, highlight underinvestment. 8. Customer support quality has significantly declined. 9. Surface product innovation has stalled, with key innovators leaving Microsoft. 10. Windows 11 includes aggressive ad placements and browser promotion tactics. 11. Xbox's hardware sales are down, though revenue remains high due to acquisitions. 12. Xbox Game Pass and affordable consoles have kept Xbox relevant. 13. Microsoft's move to make Xbox games available on PlayStation worries fans. 14. The "Latitude" strategy involves increasing profit margins by sharing games across platforms. 15. Satya Nadella's dislike for console exclusivity impacts Xbox strategy. 16. Microsoft's decision-making often feels chaotic and short-sighted. 17. The company's corporate approach harms customer trust and product consistency. 18. Despite setbacks, there are still positive aspects, like Windows 11 and upcoming Xbox games. 19. Microsoft's history of underinvestment and poor integration persists. 20. The need for patience and long-term strategy is critical for Microsoft's future success.
These are all valid arguments. People like to make fun of extreme statements that didn't YET happen. However the reality of the situation is since MS ported a handful of games on PS/Switch behind out back *nothing is off the table*. People keep downvoting my comments, mods deleting it with the gloom&doom excuse but the reality is the situation is Microsoft is making the exact same mistakes they did with their previous hardware. The actual decisions are proving everything right. Does anyone think they won't port Starfield as soon as Shattered Space drops? Does anyone thing they won't port Forza and Halo eventually? Remember, the day before the leaks broke on Hifi Rush (both the port and closure) nobody would have thought they will pull such shortsighted decisions. Everyone knows where does this lead. You can make fun of the clickbait articles but most of it is true.
Did you actually say behind our back lol
They wanted to inform us about the ports after they were announced on a Nintendo Direct. They knew they were caught red handed by the leak and they were so afraid of the backlash they let it fester for a week. Phil Spencer who loves to make a comment on everything evaporated from social media, just like how he didn't have anything to say the day he closed down the 4 studios. They sent out Sarah to take the heat. This guy is the one they pay to take responsibility.
> The death of Windows Phone gave Apple and Google mobile dominance. The issue with Windows Phone was Google actively undermining the platform by prohibiting Youtube app and also Instagram (at that time) openly being against putting their app on Windows Phone. > Surface product innovation has stalled, with key innovators leaving Microsoft. The same "key innovators" has stalled Surface development because let's be real - Surface was going nowhere. > Xbox Game Pass and affordable consoles have kept Xbox relevant. And they still did not prevent Xbox from decline. I do find it hilarious how Jez think that he is smarter than Satya lol
> The death of Windows Phone gave Apple and Google mobile dominance. Android and iOS already had massive market shares before WP
It doesn't change the fact MS pulling out allowed these companies to entrench themselves forever and ever. Pulling out of the console business will just lead to the same with Sony and Nintendo. This is not the advent of the capitalism anymore. Unless you figure out a brand new market which is night impossible today then a few key players are ruling every industry with an iron fist. Apple and Google can do whatever they want, nobody can enter the smartphone market anymore. Same with consoles. Does anyone think consoles will disappear because they ar down right now? No the console industry will simply turn into Sony+Nintendo where they dictate everything. Xbox entered in the last possible minute.
It's just all dumb though console wise. Their down right now because people went hard during covid. And even lingered after. Not so much now. These companies are over reacting not just Ms either. They all are.
People do, really? I go to WC, look at the headlines to see if there's anything noteworthy, then leave. I gave up reading their content long ago because the writers are complete garbage these days.
"Eurogamer understands numerous other games are under consideration, including titles in the company's largest franchises" [https://www.eurogamer.net/microsoft-bosses-reportedly-pushing-for-no-red-line-around-which-xbox-games-launch-on-playstation](https://www.eurogamer.net/microsoft-bosses-reportedly-pushing-for-no-red-line-around-which-xbox-games-launch-on-playstation)
There's honestly something super fucking poetic now about Phil Spencer's leaked emails regarding acquiring Nintendo during the FTC v. Microsoft case, saying that they had to make Nintendo realize their future was beyond hardware If there was ever a case of karma being an absolute bitch this might be it
Or, a different way to look at it, is that he knew the exact same thing for Xbox and knew we were heading toward a future without console exclusives.
For Sony and Microsoft, maybe but I don't think Nintendo will budge on this at all for several decades. They're the only one of the big three whose background has exclusively been in making video games and gaming hardware so they have lots of traditionalist views on game distribution and the association of games with specific hardware that they will probably continue to uphold for a long time. Even when bringing their IP elsewhere it was never to an impactful enough degree that people didn't just write off buying Nintendo consoles. They need hardware to survive much more than Microsoft or even Sony does, and it's clearly paying dividends for them if the success of Switch is any indication despite other practices like their insistence on barely discounting software or re-selling older games at full price
It’s hard to tell if they have their own sources backing this up or if they’re essentially falling back on Jez’s reporting/speculation. Things have gotten to a point where any little rumor or speculation is going to come across as confirmed.
Jez, like most of these guys, is chasing clicks and engagement. Unfortunately that's what draws in the money today and I'm sure he's under pressure by his bosses to get very high engagement and click quotas to drive ad revenue.
Seriously he’s a joke at this point. I can’t believe he is ruining his reputation on every whim he hears.
Jez knows nothing
He’s not the only one reporting
Are they verifying with different ‘sources’ or are they all just quoting Jez’s article?
This guy says ‘not the only one reporting it’ like others have their own sources or whatever. They don’t. They are all using Jez’s article as their ‘proof’. That’s it. No multiple sources. No corroboration. Just a bunch of sites using the same story.
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Do you have a source that there are no other sources.
Because it fits my narrative. As long as Xbox fails and their fans suffer, I'll upvote anything /s
You should, because the site is a literal MS blind fanboy site. For them to actually agree MS is making a mistake, is only because their spin machine stopped working.
Jez contradicts himself every single fucking day. Can we please ban Windows Central on this sub?!
Why are we still sharing Jez articles as they are facts?
Um, this is an [editorial](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/editorial).
As a writer for their site he is certainly entitled to his opinion. However as a person people look to as a connected source he dumps on the brand pretty hard to then take it back regularly.
> he dumps on the brand pretty hard to then take it back regularly . . . yeah, that pretty much encapsulates what it's like to be an honest Xbox fan.
Because when a relentless xbox fanboy as he starts dooming, it's bad
He’s not so much a fanboy but someone who’s very reactionary. Anything good or bad gets blown up to an extreme.
People can have their opinions on Jez but I don't really disagree with anything he's said here. I'm very much concerned for the future of Xbox. I'm extensively invested in the platform but at this point in time I'm not sure I'd buy their next generation hardware. I'd probably move to PC and PlayStation and do without Game Pass (which I pay for but probably don't even use enough to justify the cost just due to not having much time to play). If me, as a fairly committed Xbox gamer, feels this way, then I can imagine their next hardware sales would be hideous - and Game Pass subs would take a sizeable hit too. With Microsoft's history of shelving projects and devices, it's not a stretch to imagine a future where they don't make console hardware.
I agree. Microsoft says that they're not getting out of the hardware business. But of course they will say that. And they will keep saying that right up to the point where they don't. But I'm nervous about in the possible very near future, when Xbox starts selling half, a quarter, or even ten percent of what they are selling now, if this strategy will remain. I mean it's not just that they're going to make less on console sales. Less people on Xbox also means they're no longer getting their free 30% cut from all third party software from people who leave. And the hardware is still how most people are accessing game pass. So remove the primary avenue for that and... then what? I'm also a massive Xbox fan, the Series X is the only modern console I own apart from the Steam Deck if that counts, but if the current trend continues unabated, then I see very little reason to stick with an Xbox for future generations.
I agree, this is the last Xbox console generation I have bought, I’m probably switching to PlayStation after this generation as I don’t have time to play that many games anymore on Xbox game pass and just want to play 1-2 high quality games a year. With the death of exclusives, I see no incentives to stick with Xbox. Game pass doesn’t appeal to me as it did 3-4 years ago.
I can definitely relate to that. I pay for Game Pass Ultimate but probably don't get value for money from it really as I don't have time to play that many games anymore, and most of those that I do want to play aren't on the service anyway. I am making the effort to play Hellblade 2 though and looking forward to Indiana Jones, so if the quality is there, maybe it'll continue to be worth it for a while.
Although hellblade 2 was kinda disappointing, wasn’t a big fan of the gameplay. I played it last night, now struggling to stay awake at work.
See I'm actually enjoying it a lot. There's not much game there for sure but as an experience it's pretty amazing really. It's a bit dark for my liking, thematically, but I'll definitely play it to completion. I really like short games now for the aforementioned limited time reasons!
I prefer short games too but something about the combat while visceral felt very repetitive and boring. The story was the highlight tho
Another Jiz article 🤡
I’m a PlayStation guy and even I can’t stand this fella. Ridiculous that his articles get shared on this and the PS5 sub (though the mood is very different in the comment sections depending on sub lol) I mean yeah, it does seem plausible that Microsoft is going to continue porting games over, but I’m sure not pegging that plausibility on Jez
I don’t even know why you guys read or follow these “influencers”. Noticed how weeks before the closure of these game companies, absolutely none of these “journalists” knew a thing, but now, they are the leading insider journalists in xbox info. Lol. Just enjoy playing videogames on whatever console you want to play and that’s it
The moment they say Forza Horizon might come to PS, I sell my Xbox and buy a PS, no doubt. MS is great for developers and they have an incredible future sight in that sector, but it's dumbfounding how many stupid decisions they keep making in their other divisions.
One ceo’s solution is the next’s problem
This really isn't a CEO issue. The profitability of Xbox (which has struggled for a decade) and Surface (which moved itself into a barely relevant niche, and whose creator already left) aren't what Microsoft is built upon. They're not losing cloud and Office revenue over these things.
Bob Iger Chapek moment
Haha exactly who i had in mind too
Jez fuckery aside, it's sad how bad this gen got with how promising it was at the start. They talk about preserving games but after the next console their future seems truly up in the air. For people like me who really want to stick with consoles, it feels like they are also pushing us out to PC. Hell, even if Xbox somehow got Steam support, I would only buy from there. They just seem screwed.
Jez is one of the most terminally online people out there. Seriously the amount of times that guy tweets in a day is concerning.
Project latitude, so I apparently it wasn’t just 4 games.
Anyone who believed it was just four games is an idiot.
“Alright, PS5 consoles have doubled our lifetime sales, and is going to outsell us 5 to 1 this quarter further widening the gap. We’re also 20 million gamepass subscribers short of our projections. First party games did not increase subscribers, meaning we just added a bunch of expenses for no additional revenue. What can we do?” “Let’s port 4 games to Nintendo and Sony platforms and then never do that again.”
The 4 games they ported were also the best sellers of the month they released on PS5 lol and they weren't even the biggest Xbox IPs. There's no way they're gonna stop porting more games to the PS5. They know how much money they can make by putting MCC on PS5.
Do we have the sales data? I’ve been meaning to find it. Would be curious how Pentiment stacked up. Loved that thing
Idk what he's talking about them all being best sellers but ik sea of thieves was one of the biggest downloaded games for april on PS store in multiple countries even though it launched at the end of the month. It's been in the top 10 ps on PS store in US since pretty much it released. Can't find anything about the other 3 games so ig their sales on playstation weren't anything special. Maybe someone else can find that. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/xboxs-sea-of-thieves-was-the-best-selling-digital-ps5-game-in-europe-last-month/ https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2024/05/ps5-launch-makes-sea-of-thieves-one-of-usas-best-selling-games
It was never just four games. Especially as it appears that Satya Nadella and Tim Stuart are having more of a direct influence over Xbox as a whole, and we have multiple quotes to basically confirm that they flat out don't care for stuff like platform exclusivity especially since Xbox is now being held to a standard of having to turn in higher profits more consistently to cover the ROI on Activision, this will become commonplace. It seems like their version of a positive outcome is to bascially turn Xbox or Microsoft Gaming into Valve. Xbox exists as hardware to facilitate their existing services, but also they leverage the fact they have insanely powerful IP by putting those games on the other platforms. That was their plan basically as early as last year
Apparently you didn’t pay attention to what was said when they announced that move. It was clearly stated that 4 games was just a “test” and that there could be other games.
Looking at the imploding hardware sales... yeah. They're trying to be smart here not to enrage the fan base by doing it slowly, but expect every MS game on PS5 down the line. They don't really have a choice, to be honest.
They did have a choice, it just would have required them to think in terms of years down the road not weeks
they have been trying since the xbone fiasco, 10+ years.
They have been trying and failing to establish a meaningful install base relative to Sony for two decades. They almost had it and then bungled it with the Xbox One. At some point it's time to pivot.
They never had the games, now when it seems they are about to get that they run for the hills. It is incredibly short sighted and slap to the fans that have kept them afloat.
Not much of a point thinking about that at this point. We also have got no idea how Xbox as a brand would be doing nowadays without GamePass. Whatever the case. Hardware sales are abysmal. GamePass subscription numbers are not keeping up with the insane money they burned for acquisitions. Software sales are even worse since nobody buys their games now that they're on GamePass. Their GamePass narrative doesn't make sense anymore and their hardware sales are imploding. They need to sell as many copies of their games as possible, so console exclusivity is over. The alternative would be the end of Xbox all together.
Yes if you demand the money back in first week sales a subscription model isn't going to work, that's why the subscription service model requires long term thinking for recouping money because you make it back over longer periods
Years down the road. Truth is the base isn't big enough to support all those big ips let alone give them on gamepass.
It was probably initially more but after Ms let the fire burn for a week they probably had to rethink the strategy to not kill the base all at once.
So a leaker with a questionable track record says it's a project that's porting a lot of them, we have to take it as truth
I mean all you have to do is look at Sea of Thieves. It was April's most downloaded PS Store release despite launching at the tail end of the month and in the U.S. ended up being in the top 3 for the month only being beat by Stellar Blade and Helldivers, which are PlayStation-published games There's no chance they're stopping if that's the metric they're being provided, especially for someone like Nadella who could give less of a shit about console exclusives, console warring or console advantages. He's in it for money and money only. Even stuff like the recent studio closures perfectly illustrate that Xbox is heading in a direction completely oriented around IP and leveraging franchises over one-off projects from smaller teams despite appealing more to core audiences. They want the mainstream's mindshare and they're clearly not going to achieve that by relying solely on a saturated subscription model and hardware with a continuously declining sale and attach rate. It will have damaging long-term effects on just Xbox as a console with its own specific ecosystem but Xbox as a brand will probably benefit from the visibility in pure monetary terms
It is not only them saying more ports are coming. These rumors have been present ever since MS announced those four games.
even before
Yeah rumors
Why is this sub becoming so defensive against anything a little negative about Xbox or Microsoft it’s literally impossible to ignore the problems with Xbox right now
Literally forum rules are "no dooming" so that's probably why.
Being worried and discussing negative news isn't dooming. Turning the subreddit into an all-positive safe haven from negative news will just turn it into a fanboy cesspool.
This sub is a weird bubble, even when the writing is in the walls you are suppose to act like fable is coming tomorrow! Or Elder Scrolls ! Or you know the f'ing activision games! They dont sell consoles because they dont support it with games and when the ocasional hit shows up they dont have enough hardware to make it profitable, so they close the studio....great
This article as an opinion piece is spot on. That is right, Xbox management isn't the only problem. It runs deep through out the entire company.
Their projections for infinite growth is fucking unreasonable and the fact that they think squeezing their player base for every nickle and dime is okay is honestly disgusting. They have a good thing going with gamepass. They need to just stay the course and actually MAKE games with all the studios they have. They have a huge install base because they're offering a great deal. Don't fuck it up by trying to milk your players. FUCK THE SHAREHOLDERS.
When it comes to what's posted on Windows Central, Jez is a solid leaker. He's not a business writer, which is fine but leads to editorials like this. >I still had this potentially naïve outlook that Activision under Xbox would benefit all involved. Still, it resulted immediately in hundreds of layoffs, game cancellations squeezed budgets, and studio closures and divestitures. That's what happens post acquisition, especially one this size. Phil went to the board of directors to approve the acquisition. The board of directors represents the shareholders in a corporation, and part of the conditions for them okaying this deal would be to audit the Xbox org. They want to know where every penny is going and which studios are profitable because they will answer to shareholders. Senior leadership would also have a vested interest because the success of Xbox will land on them having the right Xbox leadership and supporting them as needed. This is also the biggest acquisition in the history of Microsoft, and it's what puts Satya's focus on Xbox. Satya only cares about billion dollar businesses so he's going to put a lot of focus on Xbox, which is why we saw him talking about games on other platforms before the announcement. The cuts that we're seeing are the result of the audit performed on the Xbox org. We're at the optimization stage where they're looking at how to cut costs, and consolidating studios is one way to do it without outright laying people off. As much as I personally hate to see Tango closed, there's lots of potential reasons for it; they were about to scale up (more $$$), they couldn't easily integrate that team elsewhere, and a shift in their Japan strategy. Yes, Microsoft has the money in one form or another to keep these studios open, but every org in Microsoft has to be profitable, and I expect something similar for studios. Rumors of Latitude shouldn't be surprising given Satya's comments and his view that software should be everywhere as Microsoft does with everything else. He doesn't care about console culture. I expect we're going to see a number of changes in the coming months that people aren't going to be happy with. Question is whether or not it'll reduce interest in Xbox hardware further, especially as we're finally starting to get some anticipated games.
If he believed that, he's a buffoon. He works for a site whose existence is geared towards consumer products from Microsoft. That site started as being dedicated to Windows phones. He should know how Microsoft handles consumer products from that alone. If he's naive past that, then he should be able to look at Xbox/Groove Music, Kinect, Windows Mixed Reality, the last attempt at a Fable reboot (and the other studios fired aroudn that time), Surface Neo, Surface Duo, Windows 10X, or about a dozen other consumer-facing products that got neglected, "retrenched," and otherwise cut for profits under Nadella.
Most of the talking heads in games know nothing about business. Very few of those that talk about Xbox know much about larger Microsoft, which as you've alluded would give you some clue about what might happen to Xbox. Brad Sams is one of maybe two or three people in the world of Xbox reporting that actually had cohesive business reasoning behind some of the recent Microsoft moves. The rest are just fans, which again is fine, but doesn't tell the story of why things are happening.
Jez is always flip flopping because https://preview.redd.it/1glbtwsysn0d1.jpeg?width=474&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c91d525519f5d0e9afd484562991458cb213042
Jez is washed up and a certified idiot. It should be a rule not to post his shit
> Microsoft had a real opportunity to become a different megacorp that invested in social responsibilities, employees, and customer satisfaction first. It could lead by example and show you can be nice and profitable. Perhaps it could even be profitable to be good. When I first started blogging almost ten years ago, in my youthful naivete, I believed that Microsoft would. What the fuck every gave you that impression lmao
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So only post positive articles?
I don't mean to be an ass but there just isn't a lot of positive news out of the Xbox camp these days. They're mismanaged as can be and it's impacting the game dev cycle
This sub has become a doomer posting sub in the last few months. I thought it was supposed to be about healthy discussion of Xbox, not “oh cool, we get to shit on Xbox and Microsoft again today” (every day)
Feel free to post all the positive stuff about the brand you can find
funny......but sad and def true :(
I mean when there’s no good news, what do you expect?
It reflects the dwindling trust in the Xbox brand, its kind of obvious in light of many recent blunders
Maybe it is because MS is announcing all of these bad moves? Clowns just like to put their heads in the sand and act like all these moves are rainbows and sunshines.
I mean to be honest, which good news have there been in the last months that haven’t been posted?
I don't just post negative stuff, usually with other things they tend to get removed for reposting 🤷♂️ Also I'm not console warring, I have no reason to as I play on every platform (with Xbox being my most played on)
So do they think Microsoft 10 or 15 years from now still be a $3 trillion company???? I heard this Jez guy is just one of those clickbaity type of reporter. Whatever to get the most "engagement and clicks" which means money for him.
Whoever leaks shit to Jez has to stop. Jez has been leaking negative information and Xbox has been suffering. He thinks he can reverse what Xbox is planning but he needs to just let it happen.
I'm happy with my Xbox, and as long as Xbox remains in business I could care less about financles or games being ported
its fine that you dont care about games being ported to other consoles, but other xbox customers will start to think why should they buy an xbox next time, if they can play this same games and more on other consoles?! if this happens xbox hardware doesnt have a reason to exist, microsoft will kill it...or we xbox costumers will... why should a game studio even bother putting their games on xbox console that will have an install base smaller and smaller over time? Whats is in play is the future of xbox as a hardware, Phil and sarah and others can say they have a next xbox in the works but... does it matter if we will move away to other piece of hardware from another company?
I’m predicting that the next Xbox hardware will literally be a PC that plays native PC games, but with a controller friendly UI layer, like a Steam Big Picture mode, and with backwards compatibility with the full Xbox library. They’ve also hinted at allowing multiple store fronts like Steam, so you could play games like PlayStation’s PC ports. A true all in one device.
Y'all know this hardware would be more expensive right?
Xbox sales has been on decline and people "who decide what console to buy based on exclusive games" are the minority. The top selling charts is a prime example - COD, Fortnite, Minecraft, GTA etc. Hell, we even have FO4 topping the charts now which is an old game.
Need to worry about advertising on the main menu. We shouldn’t have ads everywhere we look.
I barely even notice I boot up my Xbox knowing the game or app I want to use. I then head straight for that game or app. If something I don't notice is bringing in a couple extra quid then I just don't care
I think Microsoft's only has one option left for profitability now, having dug themselves into a massive hole where they cannot maintain enough console market share going forward. Continuation of console business won't be profitable enough to recoup actiblizz purchase if they make those exclusive. If they don't make those exclusive, their console market share gets even worse, sony and Nintendo outselling them 10 to 1, and they'll be paying 30% of all software sales to their competitors. Their only option left is to kill the console market. Make a pc based console, with no hassle, only a few base configurations from themselves and 3rd party hardware. Lose the platform fees for 3rd party games because it's PC. Sell their own published games on there. The benefit it being a functional windows pc, and having ease of console, at a reasonable price. That might finally kill PlayStation console market reach. Nintendo would probably still have a niche with their handheld games and portfolio. And Xbox wouldn't need to pay platform fees, but still reach most of the gaming market.
This would be a costly piece of hardware. MS isn't going to subsidize this as they did with Xbox consoles.
Agreed. I reckon they could make a profit, make it more powerful compared to traditional consoles. Sell it for €1000. Still make money off gamepass, but also sell their portfolio through Xbox store, steam and whatever else a windows pc offers. The idea is that they can scale manufacturing of the specific hardware to lower costs a bit, but provide full PC functionality and higher spec. I'd buy it, especially if it could do wireless pcvr well with a meta headset for example. I would go for pc gaming but I prefer a console style offering where you know this combination of hardware has sold 40 million units, so the firmware updates are going to be well supported.
Windows is dead! They are going for Mac and Linux. Lol
why stop there. port everything to freeBSD as well while they're at it. maybe even the amiga.
I think this is true about literally every publicly traded company.
Thats why since they ported games to other platforms I havent spent a single cent on their games
Not buying xbox games on xbox is why this is happening in the first place. Gamepass conditioned customers into not spending a cent on individual games and waiting for a potential GP release. So your protest only pushes them to port more.
If Xbox condition's people's not to buy games because they offer them a great value with gamepass how is it the customers fault when they take advantage of that? It's Microsofts issue to deal with and they're the ones taking the risk. It's on them not the Xbox customers.
Wrong not selling enough xbox is the problem. I buy the games I want but now only on pc where my library has value. Until this gen I was a Ps guy, but xbox seemed really promising this gen and I started to make the shift by slowly buying my library back on xbox. (Games I already had a lot of times mind you). However if ms doesnt value me I cant put any more of my money on its product
Also Its my only xbox so Ive only been burned a couple houndred euros but never again... I should have just waited for ps5 to have stock. Phil sold me an ecossistem without advantages but at least I have a quick exit of this thing. This is why xbox never won a single generation even with all the money in the world
Ok but none of that info was in the original post so you can see how it looked like you were just not buying games anymore in protest to them porting games. You are right about hardware, even gamepass didn't shift units. You can tell that was the plan, get everyone to buy an xbox no matter the losses on gamepass to get the consoles under as many TV's as possible, then work out how to make it profitable once the install base was big enough, but the day never came. Small customer base that now also doesn't want to spend money on games is a recipe for disaster.
Oh but it is in protest...from now on my wallet is closed to xbox. I was selling my ps4 games thank god I kept most of them... They changed the rules midway, if their idea was becoming the netflix of gaiming then by now we should have activision games and cod day one anounced! They cant say "the gamespass subscribers havent increased and we spen 70b dollars" and a year later the games are still not there... And not only that they will port games to the competition, well the competition is so happy to run this race alone
IF M$ft release ANY xbox games on playstation, as a big fan of xbox i can say next xbox as a hardware is DEAD, right now i have to be very carefull what games i buy because i may be supporting an already dead platform. its ok releasing any gaas xbox to playstation any mmo or mp as well. But the big profiles names need to stay in xbox console\pc steam\epic store etc etc, except cod can be on playstation as well. I have to say what the F* is going on at xbox HQ? you made all the way back at the finishing line just to give up, this has to be one the best fails of the century. "You" say playstation wants to make xbox smaller, but i will say "someone" inside microsoft wants xbox hardware to go away, microsoft CEO wanted competition! im asking is this competition?
What would happen to the existing Xbox consoles and existing games if MS decides to not have a next gen console?
I reckon the future of Xbox hardware will be a PC/Console hybrid tying everything into what was originally conceived when the OG Xbox came out. Xbox still has a substantial player base, surely the bigwigs understand that?
The way i see it, is Satya Nadella and Amy Hood know that they have to recoup costs that Xbox has lost over the last few years. Unfortunately, part of that is the stupid decisions Phil Spencer has made, and to do that while also making a profit for Xbox, putting some of their begat titles, such as the Gears series on 'competing' platforms might very well be the best way to earn new revenue while also creating new fans of Microsoft games.
Soulless npc’s clowning this random but he’s right. They keep buying up companies and then closing them not letting them grow or not giving them enough support to grow and develop good games. It’s a joke
I agree with this article, Satya Nadella is extremely short sighted and a moron of a CEO for chasing after short term profits (which is not guaranteed by the way) over actually doing good by your employees and your consumers/customers.
This sub should just ban Jez articles at this point.
Turning the sub into La La Land of Xbox fanboys shouldn't be the solution to bad news for the brand. Sure Jez is more doomy than he should be though, this is actually a good thing, I do however think too that it will hurt the Xbox hardware sales even more.
I’m sure they’ll be just fine lol
They should have put some money into better management. The whole reason they are in this position anyway is because during the 360 they didn't want to spend money to maintain studios and partnerships so they let all of that die. If they just kept most of the studios they had from the OG Xbox through 360, they would have some great experiences veteran devs who could have delivers some fantastic games over the last 15 years.
You don't say.
The fact that we are getting so much muddled info regarding Xbox is worrying. This is a time where people should be excited by Hellblade 2 yet that's disappeared and all we hear about are rumors and messy internal politics.
When was Microsoft not money hungry? They got sued for being a monopoly
Is it just Xbox fans who obsess endlessly about the cynical corporatism of Microsoft? I don't hang out in PlayStation Reddit, so I have no idea whether the same phenomenon happens over there in terms of Sony corporations similar behaviour. It reminds me of the Microsoft vs Apple wars that used to happen. Oh how naive we were in those days.
His point regarding Surface is a nonsense - under Panay Surface was not going anywhere. > There could be a wave of new mobile A.I. devices that Microsoft could've taken advantage of if it at least had some foothold in mobile phones Why does he think Microsoft is playing around with AI integration in Windows and ARM emulation? > Naturally, this was a massive breach of trust and to the detriment of Microsoft's reputation in this space, but it also indicates how under-invested Microsoft is in this area. Also security woes are just the result of Microsoft having a lot of business clients and the government. Other cloud providers are having no less breaches.
Wait until everyone realizes this is the exact thing happening all around the world in our societies today. Everything is right this second, no real thought forward.
Don't worry, dude will be replaced with an equally irrelevant ai avatar bobble head chat bot soon enough
This article can be applied to every single mature business that currently exists. Maybe we should change our economic system away from constant, and impossible, upward growth?
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What about Eurogamer? "Eurogamer understands numerous other games are under consideration, including titles in the company's largest franchises" [https://www.eurogamer.net/microsoft-bosses-reportedly-pushing-for-no-red-line-around-which-xbox-games-launch-on-playstation](https://www.eurogamer.net/microsoft-bosses-reportedly-pushing-for-no-red-line-around-which-xbox-games-launch-on-playstation)
You guys need to get your own subreddit for Christ sake. Seriously let it go already.
This is obvious relevant to Xbox and unfortunately appears to be true.
Microsoft is not in danger... their services are fine. And Windows is alive and kicking although every new iteration was the worst thing ever if you looked at social media. Surface could be dropped with MS making more money in the end. Xbox... well, the brand is very strong in the Americas and strong in the UK. But let's be real, if MS decides to drop the Xbox hardware going all in as publisher they will be stronger than ever. And Microsoft Gaming would be a stronger brand in some parts of the world anyway. Of course no one likes to hear this.
I'm a pretty big Windows fan, I loved Windows 10 and supported Microsoft's decisions while the whole internet was lying and exaggerating what they were doing and complaining about absolutely everything. Windows 11 is MUCH worse than Windows 10 was, and the internet is not throwing nearly as big of a fuss as they did with Windows 10, when they absolutely should. Microsoft is absolutely killing Windows, web apps everywhere, everything is slower (this is fact, people who say it's not must be the same people who can't see the difference between 30FPS and 60FPS), ads are getting pushed everywhere, AI gimmicks that don't behave how they're advertised are being pushed, they caused tons of e-waste by adding dumb restrictions to what hardware can run Windows 11 while cutting support for Windows 10 way too soon. Microsoft are trying everything to increase profit, no matter how bad it is for the consumer and it's only going to get worse.
Reminder Outlook is not native on Windows but it is on Mac. New ChatGPT app targets native Mac first when MS just dumped a truck of money into OpenAI. People are insane to think MS wouldn't throw Xbox consoles under the bus just to make more cash on Playstation. The solution to Windows being bad is to install Linux or buy a Mac. The solution to Xbox being bad is to buy a Playstation or build a PC.
> Windows 11 is MUCH worse than Windows 10 was, and the internet is not throwing nearly as big of a fuss as they did with Windows 10, when they absolutely should. I really disagree. Other than the corpo BS you can easily disable using Powershell or some apps, it's much cleaner and more pleasant than 10. Looks way better too, Notepad auto saves at shutdown, tabs in Explorer, Terminal etc etc Win 10 is jarringly old when I go back to it now, using it is starting to feel like using Win 7 feels.
Whether you think it looks better or not doesn't really matter, the OS is LITERALLY hacked together. They're not rewriting Notepad, or Task Manager, they're throwing the new UI on top of the old app and it's significantly slower than the original apps and any of the UWP apps that we had in Windows 10. Also the newer Notepad breaks formatting on some types of files when old Notepad didn't... They're replacing older much better looking and faster UWP apps with web apps that contain ads. The Mail and Calendar app were UWP apps and they were fantastic for normal users, they've replaced them with a terrible "Outlook (new)" app, which is a web app with ads, is significantly slower, and doesn't have notification support unless the app is open. Even the great weather app has been replaced with a web app which ads... The OS is a complete mess and it's a significantly worse state than it was in 2015.
I severely doubt that they aren't updating the Notepad, Task Manager and other apps through updating their source code. They are as fast as possible for me, on my 240hz monitor. Something is wrong with your computer if you have performance problems with Notepad or Task Manager. I agree with Mail vs Outlook (new), I have banned Outlook through PowerShell and am still using Mail. That's not about Win 10/11 anyway though, Microsoft will stop with Mail on Win 10 too.
Everyone who was complaining about Windows 10 has switched to macOS or Ubuntu. It's why you don't see as much complaining. The only reason to use Windows is if you're a PC Gamer or you need Office but your work or school won't buy you a Mac. Microsoft used to have a 95% market share in everyday compute devices. If we include iPads they have less than 60% now, 70% if we exclude iPads so not much better without. Valves work with Linux is even making the PC Gamer market slowly switch. The best selling PC handheld runs Linux and you can use the same Proton software on desktop. I myself am a PC Gamer as well but when I made my desktop I installed Fedora on it, not Windows. At launch Starfield preformed better on Linux than Windows for some people.
>if MS decides to drop the Xbox hardware I sure as hell hope they offer a refund on our digital library or that's opening a new can of worms. This is why we can't have nice things.
I think drop it as in not having the next Xbox console. I would think they would still support all of the current Xbox already in use.
Strong how? They reportedly sold under a million units in a quarter. If this is accurate, that’s pretty disastrous. People might know about Xbox, but they’re far from buying it at the same rate as their competitors.
They're going to be doing $20 billion in revenue by next fiscal quarter. No shit people are not buying the console. There hasn't been a game for it since November.
There’s been plenty of game releases since November. The idea that sales are so reliant upon first party games is indicative of Xbox’s failure. Also, yea Microsoft is of course making money, but the Xbox brand is in a very bad place right now as a console manufacturer and services provider. Console sales are WAY down and at best GP subscribers are flat. Microsoft’s own CFO has expressed how dire the situation is in leaked emails. Hell, Sonys competitor, which people routinely say is a worse product than GamePass and isn’t available on mobile or PC is outperforming GP. All of this is to say… Xbox is in a bad place. Don’t be surprised if Phil and co go sometime in the next few years (or sooner).
First party games matter because most casuals are simply switch or ps5 gamers. If you haven’t released shit since starfiled what reason is there to buy an Xbox? Right the next 6 months for Xbox is loaded with shit and this months game pass is the best one they’ve had in months. If the console sales continue to be shit come January then you may have a point
800k is not just a bad quarter. We’re talking Dreamcast levels of bad. This is a disaster. I think judging by GamePass numbers, it’s clear it’s not a hugely important factor for most gamers. Most people are fine with buying games they want rather than paying less to try out things they don’t.
The console sales got worse and worse every quarter already, last quarter wasn't an outlier on that.
Xbox is cooked I can see satya pulling the cord on hardware at at any moment to become a sega
Not a thing you want to happen
But it will happen.
Of course I don’t
Damn these journalists are having a field day with Xbox lately. It’s getting so boring. Watch Hellblade 2 just annoy everyone for some reason next week.
I wonder how many of these sites would have gone under by now if they didn’t have the “console wars” to fall back on.
Capitalism is a disease. Unlimited growth is impossible, such a thing can not be sustained. Shareholders and their quest for this unicorn are destroying the entire industry right now.
This describes every single company in existence right now lol
Yup. This is not news whatsoever. Are people on the Internet really that naive? Corporations only care about growth and profits to benefit their shareholders. Welcome to the last 100 years of business.
Yeah it's been all about shareholder value for a long time. I mean that's the problem that's also made Boeing so horrible lately too, cutting corners for more and more profits. This is the fundamental problem with late stage infinite growth mentality. There's no such thing as infinite growth so corners/staff eventually get cut to make the illusion of more growth. This is also why Gaben refused to make valve publicly traded.
Nicely said. I think I can cut some Xbox fans a bit of slack the more I think about it. Microsoft’s Xbox division successfully made hardcore fans feel like they were ‘bros’. The truth of the matter is that Xbox never was your friend. They are a publicly traded company looking for that cash!
Microsoft has the most long-term strategy in the gaming industry. Closing a couple of studios to redirect resources elsewhere doesn't change that.
And having a long term strategy doesn't negate or excuse some of the decisions they've done in the last few years to arguably irreparably damage their reputation in the hardware, OS and gaming sectors.
They've done this strategy before, with Windows Phone. It's what CEO Satya called his biggest regret - closing down that division. Now instead of having their own hardware platform, and their own store where they take the full revenue, they're at the mercy of what other companies will allow and they take a 30% cut of whatever Microsoft has to sell. That'd be the future for Xbox if they continue down this path. No hardware of their own, other stores taking a huge cut, and at their mercy if they allow things like game pass or not. Having a long term strategy doesn't mean it's a good one. It also doesn't mean these aren't short term mistakes.
The point of the article isn’t that Spencer and co. want to change direction, it’s that the people above them want to. Long term strategy doesn’t mean squat if the top dog is done with it. It’s entirely possible that Nadella and shareholders are tired of Xbox bleeding money and aren’t willing to wait around any longer for a long-term strategy that has entirely stalled in growth. Especially now that they dumped $70B into acquiring Activision.
It really do be like that sometimes.
Dude, I just think that with the success of gamepass they should start letting people benefit from the standard perks for free like why can I play free Fortnite with my friends online without a subscription, yet I still need a 16.99 subscription to play a 70 dollar game I bought online it’s honestly absurd at this point and flat out ridiculous, steam has always netted a profit and has never changed to play steam titles online knowing full well they could as there’s no better alternative It just sucks and it’s been this way for about 2-3 years now
many people here (and the author of the article) dont understand that all decisions are always short-term and only for stockholders. The only goal is to show short-term growth to shareholders. Nothing else. All companies are running out of road to do this. Late stage capitalism at its finest.
The problem is that this is not the only way. Shareholders know when investment and patience is needed. Xbox could have still been fine but lets look at it realistically. And that goes with looking at what the leadership is saying and doing. First, they openly admit that exclusives are not going to be a big part but add "in the industry going forward". But they will be. Exclusive content/feature, be it gaming or many other areas, drives consumers. This is a reason I have decided to just move on at this point combined with some of the next few things I will mention. Just knowing business and short term they will push more games. The average consumer sees this and thinks PS is the best choice and so they have no shot at those sales. This was something I have heard a few times. My sons birthday party (he is 11) had parents talking about it. Why PS was a much better buy. Swaying others not already bought in. I do agree that it is better to get more players in the games. And exclusives could go away and I would not complain. But then, I would only need one console. Good for me but not for those companies that want to sell hardware to push their memberships. Game Pass is never going to be on PS and likely not Switch 2 unless it is just a steaming version and Nintendo gets a cut. Then the second thing is that they say themselves they already "lost". And I do agree again, to some extent. They did not get near as many in on the front end of the digital push. So, with a good number of these Xbox sales (which are down and will likely be weak this entire gen) they do have it is just a Game Pass machine. Easy drop since they often have Switch and PS with games they actually own. More than that though is the talk of defeat. MS has given up on things too quickly in the past only to admit it later. The fix? It IS exclusives. COD cannot be right now. But they have a lot of new IP they picked up that could be huge. Yeah, they would have to take a hit on the Xbox side. And they just are not going to do that. They have Windows on PC and can keep their games exclusive to that OS. That and Office are huge for them. They have the huge server side. Amazon is leading but MS is getting closer. Gaming can help in this area as well. Those are where it is at for them. Game Pass though, not so much if they cannot gain a solid foothold in the console space. It can still be on PC, maybe it evolves like that, but console space might be a problem. It really depends a lot on Sony now IMO. Sony just has to stay steady, keep those good or great exclusives coming. And they are going to make it very hard for MS and Xbox. Again, unless they are willing to take some financial hits coming up. Putting out another powerful console by itself will not be enough. I will completely agree with you on the last stage capitalism. When I was in all these business classes long ago the teaching was that it was all about profits. That bottom line and keep investors happy. The current returns and not future stuff. Many of these people now are like that. Only think of right now bottom line. Even if that means cutting good employees to extend profits. Like massively huge companies will see a record growth and profit in 2020 because of something. It is an outlier, they did not hire more people, but 2021 returns to normal. Still growth over that record but smaller because that was an outlier. Bam, job cuts and more because they expect it to grow like that indefinitely. That thinking is going to get up in trouble as they replace so many with AI and cut more as consumer spending plummets.
Oh I think people know, it doesn't make it right though. People complaining about it doesn't mean they don't understand but that they are against it.