Is Microsoft TRYING to Ruin Xbox?

So Microsoft (or Xbox) decided to shut down four Bethesda studios. People are not happy.
Studios that made games like Hi Fi rush are now dust in the wind and I want answers.
But I won’t get them.
So I’ll just guess.
I want to talk about the state of Xbox, what it might mean for the future, and where I think this is all heading.
Honestly, probably to the PlayStation.

[@sator_project]

Xbox used to get by as a rounding error on the balance sheet. But after spending 70 billion, they now have Microsoft's attention.

[@DLxxx]

Precisely. The BIG suits are stepping in, and they want that 70 billion dollar filled as soon as possible. To them, sacrifice game studios is a small price to pay, even if it's a PR nightmare and dooms consumers trust in Xbox.

[@steverl22]

And there it is 👏👏👏 the games department should have asked for $5 billion to boost their current studios and never spent that $70,000,000,000 👀👀

[@nygeriunprence]

They should’ve stopped at Bethesda but they got greedy.

[@nomercyinc6783]

microsoft IS xbox. xbox doesnt operate itself. the heads of xbox are microsoft. xbox didnt spend 70 billion. microsoft did

[@BungieStudios]

They are money sinks. I would close them, too.

[@Del_S]

>Nerf your console by having a downgraded version on day one meaning developers will inevitably drop support for it in 4-5 years >Release mediocre entries to your big brands >Buy two big third party groups at significant cost and legal scrutiny >Put some games on gamepass day one rather than letting them actually sell copies >Still somehow be making profits >Close teams that barely had a chance to do anything, had their hands tied by your demands, or gave you a hit game, because ???? stage of plan has been reached having collected underpants Bravo, Phil, you're the best CEO Sony and Nintendo could hope for!

[@Jupa]

The amount of legal mischief Xbox went through for those acquisitions… I really thought they had a long term plan. It looks so awkward now.

[@Oldass_Deadass_dumbass_channel]

I mean, PlayStation did the first thing as well, and weaker editions of consoles aren't exactly a new thing, so idk if that is gonna be as big of a deal with devs as you say. Rest is completely true

[@Blue-fg8vt]

​@@Jupaxbox at some point had to prove it wasn't becoming a monopoly right? This makes it look like Xbox just did the tactic of buying out your competition and shutting it down later on since you don't really need it, you just wanted it out of the way

[@Jupa]

@@Blue-fg8vt The American way! Rockefeller would be proud, Roosevelt would go apeshit.

[@pygmalioninvenus6057]

This is a really stupid take. The teams they fleeced underperformed, stop topping them off.

[@Zeboki]

The saddest part is that it just affirms that Playstation's only competition is Nintendo & they don't even care. No competition screws over customers.

[@pr0ntab]

I think everyone assumed (correctly) that Microsoft propping up both a major platform for gaming and a consumer oriented home entertainment business was never a viable long term strategy. Sony uses it to sell more TVs. Nintendo is a toy company. Microsoft has divisions that compete with each other in the same markets...

[@anaguma90]

Xbox have been so pathetic since 2013 that they've barely been competition for Sony anyway, they are nonexistent in Japan and Europe. Not much changing here.

[@technobladeleakedclips1827]

Shitendo is the worst gaming company

[@chelsicalhoun6266]

Honestly the shipping leak documents strongly suggest the next switch is going to be actually pretty strong handheld like ps4 pro level. But they are in their own space. Honestly hoping Sony also kicks up more support for indie devs and their devs, but they’re no stranger to shutting down studios either

[@jish55]

meh, I'd agree if Sony and Nintendo haven't each done their own thing and released consistent bangers. In reality, Xbox hasn't been an actual competitor of Sony since 2013, yet Sony still pumps out top tier content while Microsoft falls by the waistside. Only reason people believe Xbox was a competitor is because the Xbox cult refused to acknowledge how bad Xbox games have become, where the reality is that in the last 11 years, there may have been 2-3 games people acknowledged as good from Xbox, but otherwise, it's hard to justify that when in comparison, Sony released at least 20 top tier games within that same amount of time. I'm not gonna focus on Nintendo cause they don't really care what the other companies are doing and release a good 20-30 amazing games a year.

[@Rezgate]

Maybe their awful GamePass business plan doesn’t make them any money…

[@FTChomp9980]

Gamepass is anti consumer and dystopian it should be abolished it kills games to.

[@GGPlex_]

But it certainly saves me money

[@shawklan27]

I quit that service because I'll rather own my games than borrow them

[@mateusvin]

​@@shawklan27Just get a PC and pirate them.

[@FTChomp9980]

Gamepass is anti consumer and dystopian.

[@misterzygarde6431]

Microsoft could’ve had the decency to sell off Tango Gameworks or let them become independent and let them take Hi-Fi Rush with them but no, it’s their IP to now sit on. Like they could’ve at least had Tango bring the game to Switch to see if they were worth keeping.

[@johnnygyro2295]

Why do companies just sit on IPs?

[@connormclernon26]

@@johnnygyro2295because it means they deny it to everyone else and they might do something with it later.

[@DetectiveLance]

​@@connormclernon26Might: hold hostage

[@Appletank8]

@@johnnygyro2295 The possibility of cashing in on a hot IP ??? years in the future instead of letting someone else make money off of it.

[@addchannelname2052]

It's my IP to sit and do nothing with!

[@realJeffDunham]

You could ask the same question about Windows. So many anti-consumer decisions since Windows 8.

[@axmajpayne]

Ya, I currently have a machine running Windows 10, but it will be my last Windows PC. I'm just going to Linux from now on for any new PCs.

[@luizeduardogomesribeiropen324]

Are they desperate?

[@coffee115]

It's capitalism y'all.

[@smasher248]

yet that is what you still use... me too

[@burnttoast26]

Windows 7 was peak, it's been downhill ever since

[@jesusojeda7850]

To be honest, a lot of the people in charge of big companies are just friends or family of the right people or studied at the right school (expensive school, so they were rather rich to begin with). So I don't think it wouldn't be a stretch to say that you- youtubeman, could be smarter than them. Heck, a good number of the average joes here probably are.

[@Labyrinth6000]

Nepotism, as per usual. 🙄

[@angel_of_rust]

ran by a bunch of hasans smh

[@daRealB-Rex]

Phil Spencer has a communications degree, which is like the easiest degree to get

[@DreamFearless]

you underestimate the enemy

[@planescaped]

The person who founded the company and did the original work, they're the genius usually. The third generation CEO who took over from the previous lich who left on the golden parachute, they got the job by kissing the right asses and being more of a cutthroat sociopath than the next guy. Intelligence isn't much of a factor.

[@songohan3321]

The PR Fallout from all of this is next level.

[@KGBSpyGeorgeCostanza]

Agreed, but we will see more effect?,

[@connormclernon26]

Crawl out through the Fallout

[@Dasaltwarrior]

​@KGBSpyGeorgeCostanza Yes, because its not just audience reactions, but dev reactions too. There's no guarantee you'll keep your job, even if you "exceed all expectations" like Hi-Fi Rush reportedly did, so staff morale is gonna plummet. Hell, word on the street is that Bethesda staff are shitting themselves over this Flatout, I don't see Xbox coming back from this

[@cows543]

Yo!! I love that game series!

[@CameronBoyes]

Almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter

[@floatingkites2420]

Buying Activision was a really bad decision because now Microsoft doesn't just consider Xbox to be a fun little side project anymore. Its now something that needs to have a return on investment. So now Microsoft will be more hands on and we will be suffering as a result.

[@Natibe_]

Buying Activision was a bad decision because now Microsoft is full of Activision employees, the Mcdonnell Douglas of game studios.

[@kahlbutomacfarland]

There is no reason to believe anyone high up in a company is smarter than anyone. Literally not one logical reason.

[@rontaylor6136]

Sure Microsoft has a limitation on education

[@beezusHrist]

Good, the masses are now starting to understand that we DO NOT live in a meritocratic society

[@technobladeleakedclips1827]

Money? Success? You are just jealous and ir shows

[@beezusHrist]

@@technobladeleakedclips1827 LOL you're showing how LOW INTELLIGENCE you are, buddy

[@technobladeleakedclips1827]

@@beezusHrist I'm actually a Chad. You are nothing. The fact that your mad about other people having things proves u have not accomplished anything in your whole pathetic life. Dont you have a socialist Twitter rant to go on?

[@nicolasjamo]

My guess is that to "keep up" with the increasing cost of making bigger games, Microsoft is pulling resources from smaller devs and throwing them at big AAA releases.

[@Godzilla00X]

Maybe they'll finally give us a aaa that actually works on release

[@NeutralGuyDoubleZero]

The money's going nowhere. The executives only care about cost cutting for immediate quarters and short term gains. They see their ips as resources to be hoarded until they can be sold, any investing into talent or developers is seen as wasted capital to them.

[@benverboonen1108]

But they haven't even released any AAA games lol

[@jaspervanheycop9722]

That is a terrible business strategy, every entertainment company that's tried it has swiftly gone bankrupt. There has been wave after wave of movie studios tying all their hopes to one big blockbuster/franchise and sinking when it fails because audiences (ever fickle) stop wanting the current blockbuster trend (i.e. Westerns, historical epics, soon superhero stuff). The thing about entertainment is that you need to have little sideprojects so eventually they can reveal whatever the next big thing is and become it. In gaming that happened to a T with Mass Effect, it wasn't an indy title but it certainly wasn't EA's focus at the time, then it grew into the next big thing.

[@matheussanthiago9685]

​@@Godzilla00X [narrator] They did not

[@sergioccs74]

This smells like somebody high up in Microsoft saw the hype from the fallout tv show, asked why the fuck the next game is coming out in 12 years and procceded to close any studio that was not making something with money

[@lcoyle1998]

I feel sorry for the Bethesda studios. Arkane Austin made to work on Redfall (failure, and shut), Bethesda made to work on Fallout 76 (failed but good enough IP to keep going), Machine Games made to work on Wolfenstein Young Blood (disaster), Id made to put online into Doom (failed)... But Tango was the real tragedy, evil within 2 was a mixed bag, just like Ghostwire Tokyo, but Hi-Fi Rush was great. Such a shame...

[@namehere7294]

Hi-fi rush was overrated and the numbers showed, it didn't really sell even with all hype and awards.

[@TegridyGenetics]

Nah I'm glad they dumped them. Maybe microsoft will fail so the Ips can get back into other people's hands

[@fireassassin1688]

Evil within 2 was good

[@NeutralGuyDoubleZero]

​​@namehere7294 Considerinf the fact it was shadow dropped to die, it sold great. Just because you're not a fan of it doesn't mean it wasn't successful. Try to keep the subjective and objective separate in your mind moving forward.

[@NeutralGuyDoubleZero]

​​@@TegridyGeneticsTango/other studios didn't dump them. Microsoft dissolved them for no justified reason.

[@pickledgarf]

I like how Whimsu is just on main channel now lol

[@fc-js3qj]

lmaoooo bro doesnt give a f anymore

[@Redarmy1917]

I didn't even realize this wasn't a Whimsu video until I saw this post.

[@sporeranier]

I think this was supposed to be a whimsu video.

[@chrisgurney2467]

IP Stripping and downsizing devs/artists/creative support seems to be the Media Company Way lately, WB-Discovery, Disney, and now MS

[@MustraOrdo]

And it doesn't stop here. Prepare whenever possible to de-consume as things are about to get more spicy.

[@ShadowWolfRising]

It's particularly interesting in WB's case because a Senator is paying attention to them because they wrote off too many things.

[@AnimatedTerror]

@@ShadowWolfRisingheard about that. Hope it actually goes somewhere and that maybe some of that stuff gets released. I’d love to see that James Gunn roadrunner movie. Heck batgirl with Brendan Fraser doesn’t sound too bad.

[@hosvet_animation]

It's the bust after the covid boom in people staying home and playing and watching stuff.

[@NarbsTheGreat]

Hi Fi Rush was really something special for me and got me out of a bad place last year, so seeing them go really hurts

[@applehazeva2739]

Literally played it day one on Game Pass, bought it for Steam Deck later on and played it like 2 times each on both Consoles. Wth.

[@kalimnet5736]

Shouldn't let the corporate side of the industry affect how much you enjoy games!

[@NeoExperiences]

But they literally affect how they are created, what they include in them and how they are released. Microtransactions weren't implemented in every single aspect of modern gaming in a vacuum.

[@thesequeltoobama7030]

@@kalimnet5736it’s impossible to these days. Take tekken 8 - they released one of the tightest, feature rich fighting games of all time and, now all the reviews are done, they just dropped a load of paid mtx and a battle pass. (You can’t train against dlc characters without dropping the fiver to own them) I immediately traded in my copy as I’d rather lose money on that than even entertain the idea of ever buying into such overtly predatory practices. The corporate side of gaming is truly murdering it.

[@L3X1N]

@@kalimnet5736 While this is true, the corporate side should *not* be looking the way it does right now, either. The moment the guys with business degrees touch an art form, they ruin it.

[@NeutralGuyDoubleZero]

They're the new embracer group. Buy up competition/IPs, don't invest, solely focus on cutting bottom line to make quarterly costs as low as possible, vault said properties and then wait to sell. Xbox/Microsoft isn't about games. They're a shareholder company that only prioritizes assets and cost cutting. Players and Developers are just an annoyance getting in the way of making money to them.

[@todesziege]

They have been doing this since long before the Xbox was a thing.

[@N.G.H.]

Someone once cheered on the Microsoft acquisitions and hailed them as heroes. Well the hero laid off workers in mass and shut down a bunch of amazing studios. Sounds like a villain to me.

[@uberbyte7467]

Those poeple that cheer on corporate aquisition are the definition of corporate concubines

[@brianmckee2267]

En masse

[@johnclark926]

The only acquisition I was fine with was Activision Blizzard because they were already going down the shitter independently, and if they got worse under Xbox you wouldn’t tell the difference. I remember quite a few people speaking out against the Act Blizz buy out, but honestly I feel the Rare, Mojang, and Zenimax’s acquisitions were worse and have had a much more negative impact.

[@matheussanthiago9685]

People cheering big capitalist corporations is literally voting for the leopards eating people's faces party

[@elhazthorn918]

​@@johnclark926 Play it down as much as you want. A deluded person is never bothered they're called deluded.

[@MrShivshank]

has any business ever been improved by being publicly traded? its like once they are public there business is quarterly profits and not what ever their business actually was.

[@Buugipopuu]

For most big publicly traded companies, being only concerned with quarterly profits would be an improvement. Now they're mostly concerned with creating the illusion of a functional company for long enough to flip the shares for more than they paid for them.

[@doomnipple9846]

Going public provides access to nearly unlimited funds. Most companies can't scale sufficiently without going public. For example SpaceX is the highest valued private company at ~150B. Almost all of the current largest companies grew from well below that to 1T+. When SpaceX goes public it will likely grow much faster than I can now. So it all depends on your definition of "improve". It is true public companies are often short sighted and focuses on near term profits at the expense of long term growth. That's arguably what we're seeing now from most mega cap companies. But there are exceptions Apple before Steve Jobs died Google in the 2010s Amazon pre 2018 Microsoft pre 2000 Facebook pre 2020 Tesla currently Nvidia currently (though I except that to change ASAP) The change happens when companies grow to the point where majority of investors are hedge funds or when their founder/CEO dies, retires, is fired. You can find great public companies but most of them are quite small and unheard of outside of investor circles. Just my take

[@noahbossier1131]

⁠@@Buugipopuuyeah it’s because it’s a tech bro scam

[@snowball7720]

let me answer this, YES

[@edjohnson8017]

My ex girlfriend used to call me Bill gates to her friends, I thought it was because I was smart and rich… turns out it was just because I had a “micro soft” 😢

[@Dylan-hy2zj]

Hang in there, king 👑

[@benmcreynolds8581]

Or it could have been because you were able to jump over the back of a chair???

[@abaque24]

Reminds me of that bit from analekindwar that was like ‘Ubisoft, while I be hard’ xD

[@kobold7466]

are you sure its not because of how much farmland you own? or how your considered a war criminal in india? or how you talk about there needs to be an effort to depopulate the world?

[@FelipeJaquez]

My condolences for your deficiencies. 🙏 Hope you heal up soon 🙏

[@mrdeatheli]

A Whimsu video on Knowledgehusk? What's next, a knowledgehusk video on Whimsu?

[@fakename2956]

I didn’t even notice 😅

[@him_That_is_me]

Imagine if they had just kept the business model of making fun games, selling those games, and making a profit on selling those games.

[@TihetrisWeathersby]

Corporate profits come first

[@Vascularityisgood70]

Corporations wants to world to burn for money.

[@burnttoast26]

Not even, it's short term profits to make investors happy. This is really bad for long-term profits

[@fledthehunter5293]

@@burnttoast26 Yeah, its like you choosing a 100 dollars now or wait a year and get 10000.

[@baronvonjo1929]

I have random interests in various industries that partake all over the globe. I just like watching random KZbin videos on them. Im beginning to notice literally every industry under the sun is stagnating and getting worse for consumers and the companies are either struggling to generate profit ot they exploiting consumers. But the way companies operated for decades is starting to come to a end. If feels like the environment has just changed to much. Cars, film, streaming, retail, services, food, applainces etc. They are all just stagnating. Also quality is going in the gutter. I feel like one reason is growth is pretty much capped globally. There arent any substantial new markets like China to invest in. Most markets have matured and in facts some are facing shrinkage in the coming years and decades. Companies cant show growth to please investors and must add extra costs or raise prices to show extra profits. Also many like video games have just dumb methods and rewards poor CEOs and want short term profit. Just feels like the system be breaking or something. It had a good run I suppose.

[@TKAandMore]

Late stage capitalism in a nutshell. Modern corporations expect infinite growth, but resources and markets are finite. The end result is that corporations are pushing increasingly useless, broken, or poorly-concieved products to consumers, just in the hope that they can create a bubble and make fast gains before it pops.

[@NihongoWakannai]

Yeah, companies who know their limits and work within reasonable limitations are doing fine. It's the ones that expect infinite growth that are cannibalizing themselves.

[@ConnerMacKenzie]

I think it's always been broken tbh we're just more privy to it with the internet

[@grimkahn3775]

Fr

[@baronvonjo1929]

@TKAandMore Yup. Capitalism was mostly great for a while. Every system has people who gain more or less. Capitalism was different as it helped improved more people's lives and brought more innovation than any other system. But it's obviously flawed. Every system works differently for different cultures, countries, and such. But one day, capitalism, like all systems before it will fail and be replaced by something that will also fail one day.

[@benmcreynolds8581]

How can they charge 70 billion dollars? And how could they AGREE to pay that nonsensical amount? Just watched a video that Finland bought like a 1/3rd of Uruguay's land and developed a forestry, pulp manufacturing system and it only cost them a total of 3 billion dollars!!?? How did they pay 70 BILLION DOLLARS for a game studio!?

[@mrfreddorenton]

Because video games as a whole are currently making more money than Hollywood. 70 Billion dollars for Warner Bros or Sony Pictures wouldn't raise an eyebrow

[@appleseed8282]

Ples understand: BOBBY NEE BIG MONEY NOW!

[@kameronjones7139]

Video game make more money than that land

[@clan741]

Because Activision Blizzard is extremely large, people forget but Activision itself scarfed up ungodly amounts of intellectual properties so Microsoft didn’t just buy call of duty but dozens of other IP’s…for which it is unlikely to do anything with.

[@serioserkanalname499]

Candy crush makes a lot more money than... uruguay. Atleast relative to the effort of extracting that money.

[@commanderkei9537]

The same issue we see in politics is the same issue we see in these companies. Those who make the decisions will never then make the decision to hold themselves accountable. The people who are least qualified to be in charge stay in charge, and those that are actually competent are shifted off before they can ever climb the ladder

[@Thenomad1227]

Yes…maybe…. let’s ask Todd Howard.

[@missheard101]

If it "just works"?

[@planescaped]

Shutting down Tango Gameworks is an EA level travesty. And Xbox just pivoting to selling gaming PC"s ala Alienware seems inevitable that point.

[@Dexter037S4]

It'll be closer to the Steam Deck but on Windows instead of Linux

[@MrOfflineAlways]

Xbox is Sega in the early 2000s at this point. Yeah, they will make a Windows Handheld like similar to what the Steam Deck is doing. But, they are willing to go third party.

[@todesziege]

There's no comparison. Microsoft doesn't even make games. What would they even take third party? They own a bunch of IP, but they can't make anything out of it. They can't even get a decent Halo made.

[@Lando-kx6so]

More like Atari in the mid 90s

[@nsgames24]

I don't see a reason why they shouldn't go third-party. Seriously, when was the last time you seen or heard anything that made getting an Xbox over anything else actually valid? I'm not talking about "fanboyism" or BS like that, I'm talking just in general.

[@fledthehunter5293]

@@todesziege They can't make a decent halo game because 343 is comparable to a bunch of toddlers with pcs. It would've been so easy to just make a survival horror game where you play as a marine or an odst, but I guess you gotta make a disappointment instead.

[@todesziege]

@@fledthehunter5293 I don't disagree, but that was kind of my point. 343 is one of the very few studios Microsoft has attempted to _build_ themselves. ("The Initiative" is an even worse trainwreck.) Modern Halo kind of appears to is the best they can do when they don't just sweep in and buy something other people have already created.

[@atlas5653]

Do not let Microsoft tech support redeem executive positions.

[@BungieStudios]

There is no such thing as Microsoft Tech Support. Also, in IT, you reach those positions through job hopping. Not by working your way up. That is rare or a result of high turnover.

[@atlas5653]

@@BungieStudios Ok Sir

[@genericytprofile852]

Honestly, the worst thing you could do is think that these corpos _are_ actually smarter than you. Just take a look at elon, a person who has a bad habit of ignoring his PR team and managers, and see what happens when he gets his way. When you're rich you don't have to be very smart, you pay people to be smart for you. My best guess is that the shareholders and upper management is just trying to scalp the company for what its worth and run away when it all falls apart. Look to the US rail industry for a PRIME example of that very process.

[@FlamespeedyAMV]

Yeah I don't blame them, Microsoft is a scummy company anyway

[@faceheadman]

Look up MS old "extend, extinguish" policy and everything starts to make sense

[@todesziege]

Microsoft is a locust swarm.

[@cemarz]

Yup. Sony is kind of biting. Luckily Nintendo isn't biting at all.

[@Rovr0]

Right out of Billy G’s playbook.

[@SpottedHares]

We need a list of all the IP that Microsoft now own and how many games were made before their stewardship and when the last game was compared to their stewardship. I’m gonna guess and say most of those IP have been doing nothing but collecting dust.

[@todesziege]

You'd be right.

[@crimsonlanceman7882]

welcome to late stage capitalism

[@m3nmin]

why is this on kh and not whimsu?

[@RedmarKerkhof]

I'm honestly still not quite sure what the difference between the two channels is.

[@AltraHapi]

​@@RedmarKerkhofWhimsu is gaming knowledgehusk is everything else

[@MarkMann1]

Probably because knowledge hub is bigger

[@BungieStudios]

Why is a Whimsu video with the Whimsu character here on KnowledgeHusk anyways?

[@SuperSmashDolls]

Xbox is showing severe Dreamcast energy right now.

[@TihetrisWeathersby]

The Entire situation is so so incredibly sad, It's Over

[@applehazeva2739]

I really thought Microsoft had their Insomniac with Tango on hands. Like Hi-Fi Rush is the perfect Sunset Overdrive or Ratchet and Clank Competition. Its sad

[@DracoMagnius]

"I like to believe these executives are smarter than me. " Me: "I don't believe that for a second. Executives are idiots and they keep showing us that."

[@theodorehodbor5080]

Part of the issue with thinking about the logic of these decisions is that the people making them ultimately operate on a different and honestly alien mindset to devs and consumers. To executives long-term planning might as well not exist, if something like a dev studio doesn't bring in immediate and noticeable results it will be restructured until it does, even if that means subsuming it into another successful studio to boost it or liquidating it entirely to spread its assets somewhere else. Then throw in the fact any remotely negative news can trigger investor panics and suddenly you have execs only ever singing these studios' right up until they're restructured. They might seem stupid to us but that's only because they're playing by an entirely different rulebook.

[@mikemcmullen5006]

Senua 2 is about to release and i have sene absolutely no marketing at all for it. Im worried ninja theory is going to be next

[@applehazeva2739]

If its optimized for Steam I will maybe buy it before it gets delisted

[@gdot1803]

If Microsoft makes a Windows handheld or console, we will only use it for Steam, only buy our games via Steam, and run Steam Big Picture on it. No one uses the Windows store for games.

[@AtomicComms]

I'd like to know why companies by studios and then proceed to close them and/or fire people that worked there. So infuriating

[@NeutralGuyDoubleZero]

Because the executives at these companies are obssessed with short term gains and cost cutting. The money spent on developers and projects is seen as merely wasted capital to them. Why invest in properties when you can fire everyone and ensure your corporate line goes up for the next couple of weeks? And yes this is incredibly short sighted and ignorant as a business strategy overall. Unfortunately a lot of thse decisions makers are either out of touch greedy shiesters, or clueless nepo babies who got the position because of a connection they had. Or some combination.

[@mrfreddorenton]

You can also leverage your other-accrued debt onto them and short the company, leaving a net gain

[@rotaryperfection]

One of these days if you ever open your own business and HIRE employess, you'll learn that performance is how you keep a job. Not participation.

[@lutherheggs451]

Because its how REALITY works. Your employer is not obligated to keep you working until the day you die, they are not your friend. You perform a service and they reward you with a paycheck. Xbots don't buy games, they play everything on WelfarePass. They didn't buy Zenimax and Activision for their studios or their employees. They bought Zenimax and Activision for their IPs so they they could publish all their major IPs under Microsoft Games Studios. It doesn't matter if Microsoft has 3 trillion or 35 trabillionity, its not all actual money, its not all for their poorest performing division and after just burning 80 billion on Zenimax and Activision they want some sort of ROI

[@beezusHrist]

​@@lutherheggs451shut the hell up.

[@10cody7]

live service and AAA is killing gaming....along with the people making it profitable to do so

[@shadowninja1275]

I literally uninstalled Halo Infinite today, I just couldn't take it anymore.😒👎🗑️ I'm going back to Halo 5.

[@fledthehunter5293]

@@shadowninja1275 You should've left infinite a long time ago. Its weird to say this, but Halo 5 is a masterpiece compared to infinite.

[@Sondi]

Bro uploaded to the wrong channel but it's still relevant lol

[@maymayman0]

I think they mightve closed Tango because it was formed by Shinji Mekami, and he left Tango earlier this year. So they had a studio whose basically entire value was being lead by Shinji Mekami.... with no more Shinji Mekami

[@uberbyte7467]

he didn't write hi-fi rush, he oversaw and trained all those employees, and did so as a fellow dev, he let them make anything they wanted after evil within 2, and both ghost wire and hi-fi were passion projects, infact he left to form his own studio near where tango was, hopefully they all move to work with him business as usual.

[@ianmason96]

Vlad Vexler used the concept of irrational motives versus irrational actions to describe why Vladdy Pootin decided to start the world’s worst WWII reenactment- irrational motives are based in false ideologies or false information, and irrational actions are actions taken that would not contribute to that ideology. In that vein, the execs have the *irrational motive* that GamePass is the key to their future success and that the developers working under them are not skilled or frugal enough to fulfill that vision- and in that vein they are taking the *rational action* of prioritizing GamePass and punishing the studios under them for their lack of efficiency. If they had a *rational motive* they’d be immediately sacking the entire middle management of Zenimax, because Zenimax allowed this, and leaving the studios untouched because *the employees of the studio are in and of themselves assets.*

[@iampain5737]

A gaming Union needs to be created. Gamers and developers need to come together to fight back against this rampant greed and corruption. Together we can make change guys, let's work together ✊️!!

[@Bundle85]

It's likely shoring up losses from fighting the FTC. these jobs got cut to keep the stock from sinking, in my opinion

[@paperskinnedart5727]

Part of their problem is shared with the current gen of PlayStation in that, the current gen consoles were announced, pretty much became vaporware for most of the first couple years and now they're already trying to replace it. From the hardware perspective, they're killing their own customer base since they've basically written off this gen without any really good releases to encourage people to get a one x. With that problem, it means they have a smaller base who will be upgrading to the Xbox duo and will have to try and get new customers in, and that's hard when it'll probably cost about as much as a mid tier PC or the PlayStation.

[@chapterblaq]

*I* just *bought* Hi-Fi Rush when it dropped on ps5 and it's a vibe. Not getting a sequel hurts 😭

[@KingOfMadCows]

I am worried about their other studios. Ninja Theory is taking a long time to develop Senua 2, if it's not successful, they might be closed. Obsidian only released two smaller games under Microsoft, if Avowed and Outer Worlds 2 don't do well, they'll be in danger. If Avowed doesn't do well, Outer Worlds 2 might not even make it. Double Fine and InXile are probably in a risky position too.

[@holben27]

The only studio I care about out of those is inxile, but they're definitely the most at risk.

[@mikemcmullen5006]

I haven't seen any marketing for senua 2, ninja theory is at risk of being next...

[@SpottedHares]

I believe it was Wo Long that gave us our first hit on how gamepass could be a problem. Their sent out some message about 3 million players along with a different report at a different time of only 1 million sales. Yes a third party game but around 2/3 played though game-pass. If the same thing happens then Hi-Fi maybe made 60 million is sales or a bit more. Since Sony will take a cut for the ones sold on PS5, it not hard to image that Rush didn’t even reach its budget in terms of just sales. Now it might still have greatly underperformed if game-pass wasn’t a thing, but game pass most certainly hurst smaller first party games.

[@Slender_Man_186]

Well then it’s a good thing that Wo Long sucked, who tf decided to map the parry and dodge to the same button?

[@bibitateodor6563]

Let me hard disagree you on the numbers of Hi-Fi Rush. On steam alone the game has 22.000 reviews. Yes, i know, steam reviews are a very imprecise measurement of sales, but even if we assume 5% of the people who bought the game leave a review (a pretty large percentage, but let's be conservative), then that gives us nearly half a million. Now, considering that the ps5 has sold over 52.000.000 million, and that another half a million would be less than 1% of the console's player base, and the many xbox players probably also bought the game just to own it outside of game pass, i truly think it had managed to score around a million copies by itself, if not very close to that number. And by God, if a neat 10 hour adventure game with a fun gimmick needs to sell significantly more than a million copies to be seen as successful, be this the fault of Tango somehow, SOMEHOW, managing to overshoot their budget that much, or if XBOX just had one of those big corporation "we are only making some money, not ALL of the money", then this industry truly deserves to rot in hell until we can get our heads out of our asses.

[@Breadts1cks]

As I enter my late 20s and have more responsibilities and thus less time for recreation, my time playing video games is falling off. It appears that my interest is falling at the perfect time. Glad I got to enjoy the last few decades of games because it looks like that will remain the golden age and it's all down hill from here.

[@EmyN]

Really? Maybe the AAA games have been disappointing, but the rest is fine

[@mikemcmullen5006]

The Indy scene is exploding lately, and some AAA studios like CDPR and Fromsoft are just getting better. It's not all bad news.

[@josetomascamposrobledano4618]

Depends? Are you a Cod/whatever multiplayer game is popular player? Cause the industry is massive today. Nobody will be able to play a reasonable % of the total of games. Indie games are carrying creativity in the industry… yet the playtime of gamers is spend on the games I mentioned in the beginning, multiplayer popular games. The journey into gaming is personal at the end of the day. I played RE4 as a kid when it came out, and I know I will also play it when I become a grandpa.

[@beezusHrist]

Stop being dramatic and stop buying American made games. That's the solution to your problem. It's The United States companies ruining the industry.

[@tpbforlife3323]

Me too haha 😂 last game I truly played was far cry 5 now got work and kids and spend my free time hunting a fishing, much more calm doing that and feeds my family. Video games are for people way to much free time

[@EquateX]

Knowledge hub and alt history hub both dropping on the same day WOOOO

[@MrQuest321]

I like your choice in smooth jazz selection.

[@shawklan27]

Glad I sold my Series X months ago since it was essentially a glorified 360 emulator for me lol. The lack of games and over reliance on game pass ruins it for me

[@thecashrabbit8919]

Lack of games? Tf are you talking about?

[@shawklan27]

@thecashrabbit8919 yeah has in games that interest me, it's not rocket science

[@fledthehunter5293]

@@thecashrabbit8919 Yeah lack of interesting games, or at least games that would attract attention.

[@fledthehunter5293]

I agree with this. Xbox really doesn't have any good new games anymore. I'm tired of being disappointed by game companies telling they will go to xbox and then just not going there instead saying "it will be available on a later date."

[@moosevelt9148]

1:50 Arkane Lion???? lol ;)

[@redfishtex738]

Buy and destroy plan sounds great.

[@gloomyvale3671]

One thing most people miss when things like this happen is shareholders, they are toxic to developing studios and indie games, they want results yesterday.

[@benmcreynolds8581]

It shouldn't be "A Thing" where anyone can just NOT make a game & it grants them power so NO ONE ELSE can ever make other versions of that IP.. It's so messed up if you really think about it. They can buy it up, not ever intend to make more versions of the game AND no one else will ever be able to make their own versions of it EVER in our lifetime timeline anyways. Seriously I hate this more than almost anything else in this world.. Why is our timeline like THIS? I got to experience the golden era of gaming through out the 90's-00's era and now we are experiencing the WORST moment in gaming probably since the gaming crash way back.. But nothing is crashing. It's all due to extensive greed due to massive profits and zero care about VIDEO GAMES 👍🏻 Yay.. That should totally be allowed to happen... Right? No.. Okay let's change it!

[@1845net]

The problem is so much money is generated through whales that get hooked on a game and spend hundreds or even thousands on a game, as well as children who have their parents' credit card liked to their account and just buy whatever they want. There are not enough sensible people who demand quality and have impulse control to offset the morons.

[@leadingauctions8440]

I have been looking forward to this guy's commentary on the issue.

[@Will-hz8yj]

It’s about using arcane magic (downsizing yet gobbling everything up yet wanting super hits) to increase shareholder profits

[@goldiv]

Well at least we know the Sega Closure internal emails are canon.

[@buttertool6211]

It's almost like the Game Pass was thought about in an afternoon over coffee and not considered a legitimate business opportunity in a serious executive reunion... funny how that works

[@anaguma90]

My biggest takeaway from all this fiasco is that very few americans know how to pronounce Lyon

[@mauiwaui4974]

My biggest takeaway is that people are dumb as rocks praying for downfall on things they know nothing about.

[@gelgamath_9903]

Step 1: Buy compony with credit Step 2: Transfer then debt to the compony you just bought Step 3: Force the compony you just bought to prioritize sort termer gains over long term sustainability Step 4: When said company fails have it go into bankruptcy whipping out the debt and allowing to tack any tec and IP that that company owns

[@Bundle85]

I guarantee you the only thing sparing Obsidian Entertainment is the cynical thought of having them make Fallout: New Vegas 2. Once that game gets released, expect them to be shuttered within a year, assuming no live service component

[@Labyrinth6000]

Game pass should have NEVER been a thing!

[@wolfder6661]

But it let's me afford games

[@hulkhogan12345]

​@@wolfder6661if you can't afford to game.. you shouldn't be gaming.

[@elhazthorn918]

​@@wolfder6661 Subscription models suck, unfortunately. It preys on people's need for instant gratification. "$15 for unlimited games? Wow!" But it's not that simple. $15 per month, when you're having less and less time to play games, and having to work more and more to make ends meet. How many games are you finishing in a month? How many times are you switching games? If you take your time to enjoy a game, suddenly that becomes less 'cost-effective.' Now you have to rush through games to get your money's worth. And once you cancel your subscription, what do you own at the end of the day? Nothing.

[@Labyrinth6000]

@@wolfder6661 It literally sets the quality of standards to nothing.

[@projp9057]

Dam

[@Koppu1doragon]

I've been pointing out the thing with Hi Fi Rush all over the place, my favorite was the guy complaining that the studio was closed down while in the same breath explaining he didn't play or even buy Hi Fi Rush

[@hosvet_animation]

Is the fucking Steam Deck going to become the third console at this point?

[@darken2417]

I almost want Bethesda game studios shut down for how bad Starfield was. Almost, but I want to wait at least until we see if they fail with Elder Scrolls too.

[@Walter_Stroud]

You sound like a spoiled incel

[@LordBeef]

Really? That’s what you want?

[@niksutliff]

I don't see how there's any way tes VI will be good

[@darken2417]

@@niksutliff Hopefully The Wayward Realms will be good. Its being made by the original old Elder Scrolls devs.

[@flamsey]

No offense but you also predicted that Nintendo would leave the gaming industry four years ago so...

[@technobladeleakedclips1827]

He's still right just a little off thr timeline mark. Next nintendo console is going yo fail spectacularly and it will be the end of nintendo as a gaming company

[@chelsicalhoun6266]

@@technobladeleakedclips1827 is your only purpose on KZbin is to act like Nintendo killed your family

[@technobladeleakedclips1827]

@@chelsicalhoun6266 shitendo is the worst company ever created, the truth needs to get out there

[@chelsicalhoun6266]

@@technobladeleakedclips1827 Nintendo is worse than companies that actively poison the world with oil and those destroying the Amazon? Yeah right. And you’re a new channel so I’m guessing you’re just a console war troll. Have a good life mate.

[@hulkhogan12345]

​@@chelsicalhoun6266I mean he's not wrong.

[@tekyuinajarful]

Faking growth for shareholders is always more important than making sensible decisions.

[@patricka9749]

The fallout synergy was the next gen update of fallout 4 but I get your point.

[@TheFenecFox]

Makes me frustrated because I have game ideas and taking C++ classes to see all these talented people lose their jobs and I don't have the money to hire them as a team!

[@kirishima638]

C++ has not commonly been used for game development for at least 15 years. You’re wasting your time. Most games are developed using engines like Unreal with pre-made components and scripting. C# is popular for making games in these engines.

[@beezusHrist]

Stop learning C++ bro. The United States government is only going to be developing software in C# and industry is soon to follow. C++ has too many security vulnerabilities, so stop wasting your time with C++ and you need to tell your professor they need to be training you to match the newer industry standards, not continuing teaching stuff that isn't even used anymore

[@kirishima638]

@@beezusHrist C++ is most definitely still used and in demand. Just not for games.

[@beezusHrist]

@@kirishima638 it won't be in the future. The United States is switching to C# for security reasons, VERY SOON. Everyone else will follow "White House urges developers to avoid C and C++, use 'memory-safe' programming languages"

[@beezusHrist]

@@kirishima638 www.cisa.gov/news-events/news/urgent-need-memory-safety-software-products

[@Buckleupbucko]

Is mayonnaise an instrument?

[@fledthehunter5293]

"No Patrick"

[@user-pq9ol3mn1j]

Hifi looks a lot like jet set radio.

[@erickmarquez506]

Back then, during the Xbox One launch, Microsoft positioned it as more than just a gaming console. With its cable box features, their initial bet was to make it a replacement for traditional cable boxes, similar to how the PlayStation 2 was marketed as an affordable DVD player. Consequently, their E3 presentations heavily emphasized TV capabilities. However, the landscape shifted dramatically when streaming services like Netflix gained prominence, leading to the decline of cable TV. Microsoft then pivoted, hoping that their services would be the next big thing. Unfortunately, they underestimated the financial drain associated with these services. The challenge lies in Microsoft’s tendency to follow trends rather than creating groundbreaking innovations.

[@grafpanzer1277]

It Phil Spencer fault, I'd expect Microsoft after 10 years of blanket check to do something, now honestly they should've put more thoughts into this before closing down studios because now they all look bad(especially Phil)

[@lillones]

the reason they are letting go of employees? too much bloat. when most of the studio needs to go, its easier to shut down a studio and rebuild a new one than it is to fire just the under performers. they can even consolidate the actual talent from several studios and create better projects faster for less money. this isnt really rocket science

[@MIKE_THE_BRUMMIE]

They needed to trim the woke fat too

[@technobladeleakedclips1827]

Not like any of those employees deserved there jobs anyways. Just DEI

[@mikhaelgribkov4117]

They will not do it and just sit on IP to hold hostage while running studios to the ground the same way.

[@RayGainbows]

I just realized how few good games are on Xbox. I signed in so that my mom can learn how to use current day controllers. And as i just scrolled through the store, i was so disappointed 😅 These all feel like indie games by people who make apps. There's a few good games sure, but holy crap it feels empty. I should just get her a computer we can connect the controller to.

[@saintbrush4398]

It's not your fellow game developers running the show, its businessmen and stockholders that run your triple A gaming corporations.

[@Immudzen]

Making Redfall was a mistake for that studio. They should have made another game along the lines of prey. Immersive sim world type of game.

[@nightshriek420]

Arkane Austin didn't want to make RedFall. It was forced unto them by Bethesda/Zenimax when they were looking for a buyer. Arkane Austin wanted to make another imsim (and were in the process of fleshing out concepts for one) when they were closed

[@Immudzen]

@@nightshriek420 Yeah I know. It was a major screwup by Bethesda.

[@derwin5924]

You mean closing studios like Sony closed Japan Studio, PixelOpus, London Studio? Cancelling games like Factions 2, Twisted Metal, Days Gone 2? Not having big 1st party exclusives in 2024? Yet you never ask "what's the point of Playstation?" HYPOCRITES

[@pr0ntab]

No one cares about Sony first party titles.

[@rotaryperfection]

Psst,psst It's not popular to hate on Sony. Didn't you get the memo?

[@Jupa]

I mean if some person cuts their fingers off instead a whole arm. It’s still bad but that doesn’t make the limp removal any better 😂

[@SpottedHares]

Probably because only one of those London was closed this year and it was wrapped up in the industry wide cost cutting bs. The other two were cut way before and we’re not like Microsoft cutting in one hard go like this instance. Same as the game you mentioned, these were spread apart across. You may also notice that the mobile developer is the one getting the least attention, this story is more about the studios in specific and how much Microsoft has struggled with a Xbox brand for over a decade. Just a few basic things.

[@majamystic256]

I miss PS1-PS2 era Sony

[@shaicat]

This is a prime example of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing, but both hands are still slapping you.

[@launchpending]

Thanks again for the gaming information mr pool cat

[@gemstone7818]

i was really wanting to hear this news coming from you since you seem quite knowledgeable on the console market

[@jaepayne5844]

This is what large companies do: buy the competition, then shut them down if they dont immediately make you lots of money.

[@gregorymirabella1423]

Considering this is the company behind Games For Windows Live as well as the Xbox One launch... yeah, yeah I think they're just stupid.

[@TripNBallsGaming]

I never expected Microsoft to go the Sega route.

[@WildDancer101]

Heavy: How could this happen?

[@epicgamescene9273]

They burned a huge amount of money without proper detailed planning and research on what their market want

[@OmegaRejectz]

Shinji Mikami left when Hi-Fi Rush had released, not just recently.

[@Total_DuDe]

Let's close down a bunch of studios that make the product we are trying to sell, and any time we attempt to; over hype, over sell, under deliver and somehow be surprised that people don't like our games and that we won't be making money soon. I'm sorry, did the people running the company come from Bizzaro world?

[@michaelsriqui7898]

This is probably the best explanation that I have heard about his.

[@lucasfragoso7634]

Heres the thing. Sure, these business school graduates can be smarter than us.... but in their particular field. For example, if you put a business graduate in charge of, say, a maintenance department, they won't understand why so much money is needed. Because they have never worked ON THE FLOOR. When you work on the floor, you understand why things cost as much as they do or what works best. So they may be really smart at business stuff but dont understand a bloody thing about game development or how to make profitable games.

[@happymartin6778]

None of this would be an issue if AAA devs just dropped the corporate memo and just said "Yeah it's fucked".

[@4thgates34]

Layed off Bethesda employees? There's good to be some bad fallout from this.