Microsoft & Xbox respond to Hi-Fi Rush dev shutdown, and it's unbelievably bad...

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SOURCES
1: • Microsoft & Xbox baffl...
2: • Microsoft & Xbox repor...
3: / 1787837929332601189
4: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tango_G...
5: store.steampowered.com/app/18...
6: / 1788832037144584519
7: / 1788610596713406853
8: / 1787837804287860886
9: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkane_...
10: www.videogameschronicle.com/n...
11: www.gamesindustry.biz/pete-hi...
12: / 1649431572137779203
13: / 1787923966616813619
14: / 1787847302649917634
15: www.ign.com/articles/microsof...
16: www.theverge.com/2024/5/8/241...
17: www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...
18: www.theverge.com/2024/5/8/241...
19: www.videogameschronicle.com/f...
20: / 1788508504308810010
21: / 1787871172765299151
22: / 1788616416456818821
23: • Xbox President Bond on...
24: • Power On: The Story of...
25: / 1788728698184540355
26: / quotes
27: / 1787894632577114298
28: / 1788702715322761360
29: www.ign.com/articles/phil-spe...
30: www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-game-...
31: / 1788285447699046602
32: / 1787855320204837116
33: / 1787880006083019217
TOP PATRONS
[BIG BOSS]
- Devon B
[BOSS]
- Charlie Galvin
- Gerardo Andrade
- Michael Redmond
[LEGENDARY]
- azalea

[@YongYea]

Many words were spoken yet not a single thing was said. PATREON: www.patreon.com/yongyea TWITTER: twitter.com/yongyea INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/yong_yea TIKTOK: www.tiktok.com/@yongyea TOP PATRONS [BIG BOSS] - Devon B [BOSS] - Charlie Galvin - Gerardo Andrade - Michael Redmond [LEGENDARY] - azalea

[@arklaw8306]

..

[@DannyTan6675]

Honestly. I wonder if Microsoft can be legally held liable for making promises that Arkane Austin wouldn't be shut down after its performance with Redfall. As an investor, I would be running, not walking, away from Xbox after the stupidity of shutting down Tango Gameworks, when it's clear after the success of Arrowhead's "Helldivers" and the direction the industry is headed in, (BY THEIR OWN WORD TOO!!!).

[@dragonhero259]

it's so unfortunate that tango was shut down, they were so unique compared to some of the other triple A studios. I truly hope for the best of the team that worked on those awesome games.

[@tomatomaki]

Thank you Chong Yue for the awesome news.

[@The_Highlander001]

​@DannyTan6675 No, they can not be held legally responsible for shutting down an underperformed division. I am an investor and we are not running away from Microsoft as they make us money. Ypureally have no idea what you're talking about.

[@KudoYoung]

Suits: Make the game with this trendy monetization gimmik. Game Dev: They'll hate that. Suits: Make it anyway. Game Dev: They hate it. Suits: You're fired.

[@stevenjohannesson316]

Spot on assessment!

[@gravekeepersven82]

Accurate

[@ltyarv8071]

Yep, theyre so stupid

[@aaronogden9900]

With Hi Fi Rush it’s even worse corporate bullsh*t than that. Hi Fi Rush gave them everything they apparently wanted but they shut it anyway. I’m sure we’ll get some shoddy unfinished live service games to replace quality AA and Indie titles. That’ll get people buying consoles😆

[@facelessenigma_213]

@KudoYoung unfortunately most suits don't know dick about video games. They're just corporate stooges that look at games like fortnite and tell their devs "hey, that's making money, just do that." I still remember hearing a story from a gane Dev at at my old college talk about some suit in a panel of suits overseeing a game he was making demanded that there be a volcano/lava stage. He had to explain to the guy that it didn't make sense to put in his game. The other suits told him to knock it off and forget the lava stage. Apparently the guy was like the son of some huge investor so he basically used his dad as a threat if they didn't do his stupid lava stage. So the dev did it, they showed them the game and suits, except for lava guy, said it sucked and why the hell was it in the game? They cut it and it was the thing that caused the game to take like 2-3 months longer to make and like a couple hundred thousand dollars more to make. Suits don't know what the fuck they're doing.

[@Toastybees]

Shutting down Tango even after they fulfilled every single metric Microsoft claims it was looking for is a great way to make all your developers lose confidence in the company.

[@applehazeva2739]

Felt very Scapebound if you ask me

[@pftburchell5197]

And Microsoft doesn’t care.

[@sophieedel6324]

Fulfilled every metric? In April 2023, Xbox was already unhappy with low Hi-Fi rush sales. "Xbox reportedly isn't very happy with Hi-Fi Rush's sales numbers, with one insider claiming that it "didn't make the money that it needed to make".

[@DrLoaky]

Sorry but have you actually seen those metrics? All I see is that almost nobody played hifi rush on steam.

[@sophieedel6324]

@@DrLoaky Yup. Hi-Fi Rush had 6,132 players at its peak according to SteamDB, which is awful.

[@Phirestar]

The fact Yong has had the same shirt in all three videos makes me imagine he’s just been sitting at his PC fuming this entire time, waiting for the latest info.

[@dthomas4566]

Maybe he's paying homage to Charlie 😂😂

[@rainforcer1]

Or his own a few of the same shirt. 😮

[@ristopaasivirta9770]

Would be funny to think that he keeps ranting like this non-stop, but only records portions of it :D

[@sylviasmith168]

Lmao 😂

[@hayabusa09]

"We want to congratulate our partners at Ninja Theory for the successful launch of their critically acclaimed, award winning video game. We also want to announce we are now closing Ninja Theory. At the moment we are looking for any seasoned veteran development teams that have adept knowledge of 3rd person, single player action adventure combat games." -MS

[@Vicieron]

I laugh. I cry..

[@GeometricPidgeon]

This is too real it hurts.

[@TheGreySage0]

Yes,it makes them money but they have to invest time and money to maintain profitability more than smaller studios so it is easier to shut down most successful studio 🙃

[@aaronpride9581]

What a wonderful corporate non answer.

[@sophieedel6324]

Learn to read between the lines, Tango Gameworks did not perform. A lot of people praise "Hi-Fi Rush", very few actually bought it. What's worse, if you look at achievements, the large majority of those who did buy it, never even finished the game. Retention rate for a service like Game Pass is very important, Hi-Fi rush failed to keep players engaged.

[@dakotawhitehouse9391]

@@sophieedel6324 Typical corporate glazing answer.

[@Toastybees]

@@sophieedel6324 Most people who buy a game do not finish it. This has always been the case so it's not an argument. You can look at the stats of literally any game and this will be true. For a title that had zero marketing it did very, very well in sales. It's also ridiculous to bring up sales numbers when it's on Game Pass and saw great engagement there.

[@ronaldcharan2705]

​@@sophieedel6324how's that Tango's problem? They gave the xbox one of the highest rated games in years. Microsoft's marketing has always been trash anyway.

[@waynemorgan6153]

The answer is obvious, They didn't make the revenue they wanted. That's what was meant by "different metrics". The corpo speak is PC talk to navigate the sensitives of gamers who think that because a title has some level of praise from critics the team behind it is then entitled to an employment tenure regardless of its actual financial performance.

[@alpine1417900]

All i heard from her mouth was "The Shareholders are not pleased. fuck everyone else."

[@DrippleDragon]

That’s honestly what it’s about, the investors aren’t getting back enough money because games are becoming to expensive to make

[@stephenmisener1659]

Thats how capitalism in this country works. Genuinely shocked people still cant comprehend that.

[@yeastori]

MS shareholders have always been greedy old fucks, they made money off MS in the billions and they just don't want to stop. Its insane how greedy they are from a company that makes trillions

[@GokayCEKLI]

They made profits more than what they expected this year how come shareholders are not pleased?

[@Marlinkz_]

@@GokayCEKLIprobably want way more

[@theforgottenplayer9215]

Reporter: What about the consumers? Do you even care about the.. Sara Bond: MONEY

[@WoollyMittens]

Imagine buying a whole new expensive suit, throwing it straight into the trash and then complaining that it doesn't get you that big raise you were hoping for.

[@DrRhomboid_Goatcabin]

Look how uncomfortable she is, no idea what to say or how to answer. The interviewer could have pushed her more and said “that’s not an answer to the question I asked”

[@pian-0g445]

I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a case of the interviewer knowing the audience is smart enough to know it’s a whole loud of nothing. And so decided there was no point in pushing.

[@Tantrimancer]

Honestly, I want to see more pushback on the non-answer answer in ALL of media, not just gaming

[@EJ_Red]

@@Tantrimancer It would be interesting to see how Hollywood and other mainstream studios would be in interviews like this

[@linkking46]

Yeah But it's Bloomberg, so that will never happen

[@EJ_Red]

So aftter watching the whole video I didn't expect her to be THAT uncomfortable during the interview, like a shy student having to give a presentation in front of class

[@Raziel312]

The myth of infinite growth claims yet more victims.

[@sargerules20]

Yaaaaay late stage capitalism

[@ic3t3ap3ach]

infinite gwoth is a myth xbox believes in 😂 but western companies are just greedy goblins with no soul

[@thisisfyne]

I'm a senior artist at a very successful studio that one of these greedy megacorporations own. They wanted 25% more profits from us for 2024 than we got in 2023, regardless of the fact that each year we overperform compared to targeted goals and the rest of the market. 25 fucking percents MORE. I'm chronically exhausted and the team is already stretched to its absolute maximum. But they don't care. People are nothing to them. All that matters is the potential of exponentially greasing the shareholders some more. Despite being extremely passionate about what I do, I soft quit when I heard that. My health has already suffered too much to meet constant unreasonable expectations. No more.

[@TheSoapThatCan]

I dream for the day when companies do not adhere to the myth of exponential growth. But that's what it all is, a dream. I feel for you. I cannot imagine the toll it takes on working for such bloodsucking, life killing monsters. I sakute you for your soft quitting, hope things work out for you.

[@s3m4jno5w4d]

​@@thisisfyneget out man. You're nothing to them other than a cog, don't sacrifice your health to them. You can always get another job but your health, you can't fuck about with that

[@williambilliam5001]

I never thought that I would see a POSITIVE review bomb. If only it were under better circumstances.

[@JonoSSD]

"Gamepass isn't growing" It's almost like companies everywhere maximizing execs' salaries and focusing on infinite growth while leaving actual workers out to dry, raising costs in housing, education, etc above wages due to the same greed leaves the population with less expendable income to buy stuff for fun. For capitalism to function, money needs to flow. It needs to change hands, people need to be able to spend. Billionaires hoarding money actually hurts the economy because if that money was in the hands of thousands of people who actually work for a living they would be spending on cars, houses, videogames, subscriptions, etc. Corpos are actually creating the problem they say they """try""" to solve with these layoffs, shitty wages, gigs and diminishing worker's rights. All because of infinite greed that will eventually be their downfall as well. I just wish they didn't have to take us all with them.

[@SkyFly19853]

Exactly...

[@Erilis000]

The idiots

[@alphaascii]

It's simpler than that,. The profits need to grow for the shares to be worth more, if it stops, there is a problem so the crew got to get layofs to make up for it.

[@EpicCureMD]

The Baulder's Gate crew basically warned against this just a few months ago.....and yet......here we are.

[@sadmarinersfan8935]

I’m glad Swen and his wife have no desire to sell to Microsoft or anyone

[@applejuicejunkie316]

Blame it on the shareholders who want to forever increase revenue and beg for perpetual growth. Every studio is trying to rope you into a subscription service of some kind, Gamepass, Office 365, Planet Fitness, PS+, P Hub, and more. Everyone wants infinite customers, everyone paying, and everyone on the planet giving them money. It's what unbridled captialism has come to. I guarantee if the Baulder's Gate 3 developer was offered a bag of money like Activision, they'd sell.

[@chaosdirge4906]

I said this before remember toys for bob going indie? I wonder how people feel about that now. Spyro games and crash bandicoot are looking less likely again.

[@puzzlechick163]

@@applejuicejunkie316 idk. If Swen was a hands-off CEO who just owned the company because he likes money and dabbling in video games, for sure, it would be an easy yes to sell. But he owns Larian because he wants to make games he wants to play. He's been in the industry a long time, he knows if he sold Larian, he'd lose creative control, and the only reason to even HAVE the company is have that creative control. He's also getting older, why would he sell off a profitable company that's running smoothly at this age to start all over? It would be like owning a really super cool car that you fixed up from scratch even when everything under the hood wasn't great. Now that you put all the work into fixing it up and making it awesome, you can enjoy taking it out. If someone offers a shitload of money for it, it might seem like an easy yes to an observer. But then you don't get to play with it anymore. You could buy a new one with the money, but you'd have to start all over and do all this work again. It would be stupid to sell, when the whole POINT of all the work you put in is that you want to play with and customize THAT car, not get a new one. Swen and his wife own the company, they cannot be compelled to sell by anyone else. Until he retires/dies, he's the one that would make that call, and if he hasn't shown any interest in doing so for the last almost 20 years, I see no reason to think he'd start now.

[@bibby659]

​@@sadmarinersfan8935 And now they have a reason to never do it ever in the future.

[@Takato2527]

it's no longer "tech layoffs" It's now "which corpo can make the stupidest decision in 2024?"

[@kevingame3198]

No, it’s not Corporal. It’s the government related. It’s inflation related thanks to President Biden.

[@dakotawhitehouse9391]

@@kevingame3198 How... how in the ever loving hell is this related to President Biden?

[@HarbingerYT]

​@@kevingame3198 Bro doesn't know that inflation exists around the world, and not just the US.

[@sozaj]

​@@dakotawhitehouse9391 with a weird comment such as the one he just said I imagine the South Park version of Peter Griffin chiming in with "and if you think that's bad, what about that time I ran a lemonade stand with the Prophet Muhammed?" or something equally ridiculous.

[@Lu-Die-MilchQ]

@@kevingame3198 Ah Mericans... never understand that this inflation is globally and not caused by one person...well it is caused by one: Putin and his stupid war

[@andy764]

This is a wake up call for talented studios: don't sell yourself to Xbox

[@stevenesbitt3528]

Nice in theory, realistically when you run a studio and someone says ‘do you want tens of millions of dollars?’ It takes a lot to say no

[@mauauauauaua14]

fuck that, that's dumb . i'll sell it and put the money on investment funds and retire early, just make game for myself for fun not having to give a shit about what customers want.

[@Cangaca777]

Stay INDIE!

[@freighttrain7143]

*This is a wake up call for talented studios: don't sell yourself to ANYONE *_Fixed that for you_*

[@w12266]

Yeah. Come to Sony. We rule the whole industry.

[@Arwing1979]

I remember when a game went platinum, it meant it sold 1 million. That was once the pinicle. Now several million isn't good enough. This is what happens when things go corporate. You give 100%. They want 110%. You strive for 110%. They move the bar to 120%. And so it goes on.

[@newkickztv]

MS/Xbox could have literally sold off Tango Gameworks for the symbolic amount of ''ONE F%CK!NG'' dollar to another publisher, perhaps a Japanese one, to provide their staff a new home. However, MS essentially told all of their staff to go F themselves. The fact that they weren’t willing to find them a new home speaks volumes about how the suits view their employees, and it's gross!

[@italianspiderman5012]

Or, let them free, sell the studio to the studio’s founders, maybe make a deal that their fist game will be partially funded by Microsoft for percentage of profits, something like that, but no, shut it down bois, because if we can’t have it you won’t have it either.

[@Spartan-sz7km]

Replaceable. Expendable. Just look at their flagship pile of disappointments that is halo

[@pauldon9234]

Could Sony snap up Tango Gameworks employees and form another studio?

[@jishan6992]

We should go on a xbox hate campaign so they sell the studio

[@kayink558]

@@pauldon9234 To do the same thing ? Sony is no better than Microsoft.

[@shadushio9682]

A scary thing is the amount of talent that the gaming industry is not just loosing, but is going to miss out on as people looking to get into the industry see the instability of it all and go "Nah man, I'll do something else."

[@zzygyy]

It's a crowded market along with corporate bean counters driving industry into the ground.

[@KAIDAX]

I am studying games design at university and looking at the state of the industry males me not want to work in it.

[@Lagger01]

​@@KAIDAX after the 1000s of layoffs year after year once the pandemic ended. Yeah ur kinda boned unless you go indie and make it big. Or enjoy being crunched and replaced once your contract at xbox studios is over

[@jesse76th96]

Mobile game companies killed gaming

[@HickoryDickory86]

The industry isn't losing that talent; it's actively giving it the boot, which just boggles the mind.

[@zukrath1247]

For once I wanna hear the person doing the interview say "you're dancing around the question, can you give me a legit answer?" when they get a dipshit answer like that

[@Draconic.]

"One of the things I love about the game industry is that it's a creative art form." Says the exec after killing creativity.

[@teddybearclarence]

lol like I said, they didn't acquire these studios to make great games, they just don't want their competitors to acquire them... now that they spent so much to do so, they have no idea what to do to recoup...

[@What.99]

Yeah, it definitely seems like that was the entire reason. If they’re so focused on getting profits back up, wouldn’t the logical step be to sell those studios? By closing them down, they make absolutely no money back from it. I’m sure people will say I’m wrong and that keeping the studios under Xbox will would just cost more money and drive them further into the red, and that’s true to an extent, but the thing is, the people at the top knew they’d be shuttering those studios for weeks to months before it was announced. Instead of Phil Spencer lying through his teeth every month saying that Xbox was going to support those studios and let them grow by making the games they wanted to make, he should have been announcing they were selling off the studios and looking for buyers. Would have saved some of Spencer’s/Xbox’s image, and allowed them to recoup some money. Although, I do admit the amount of money they would make off of the sales would likely just be a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of money they want. But every bit helps, and a little bit of cash is better than no cash.

[@borginburkes1819]

@@What.99one legit strategy in capitalism is to buy out your competitors and then shut them down. Profits don’t really matter if you’re the only company in the market.

[@Particle_Ghost]

It doesn't have anything to do with that, big monopolies only care about massive profits. The studios that have been shut down are an umbrella under Bethesda. Even though those Studios made good games, by the time you add up development costs, they don't particularly generate any income, a few million copies sold only breakeven. All the great reviews in the world doesn't mean it was a massive money maker. What it really boils down to is they won't hesitate to shut anything down that doesn't create an IP that pushes around 20 million copies or more, Sony is going the same direction, they only want the big blockbuster IPs. This is why Nintendo will be the last survivor, they are modest with their budgets while still maintaining a high level of creativity. Sony and Microsoft are pretty much finished. While Sony is selling more consoles than Microsoft, it's only a fraction of what they once sold, while the cost of developing AAA games have skyrocketed. They even went on record stating Spider-Man 2 was extremely problematic, with a development cost of 300 million, the game didn't even break even with 10 million copies sold.

[@TommyDeonauthsArchives]

I'm just imagining the fresh hell of Sony Computer entertainment owing Bethesda...

[@Particle_Ghost]

@@TommyDeonauthsArchives Bethesda messed up a long time ago, if I was in charge things would've been done much differently. Bethesda should have acquired Obsidian about a decade ago. Bethesda should focus only on the Elder Scrolls, while Obsidian would be in charge of the Fallout Division. Smaller studios under the umbrella such as Tango, ID and Arkane, can be left to experiment with good quality smaller scale games.

[@KinomotoAkito]

things that might get your studio shutdown: 1. making a bad game 2. underselling 3. not monetizing (enough) 4. releasing on only one platform 5. finishing over budget 6. the CEO needs a new yacht 7. making a good game 8. overselling 9. monetizing (a lot) 10. releasing on multiple platforms 11. finishing under budget 12. the CEO doesn't need a new yacht am I missing anything

[@hasantz]

God this is so true This makes me think are there really any good aaa companies out there or we just have to rely on small studios/companies?

[@marcosdheleno]

you forgot one of the most important ones, because a random butterfly flapped its wings on the other side of the world.

[@Mitrashi]

13. Their kids want a new yacht

[@Funglutton]

And the ways to avoid your studio getting shit down: - CEO spills coffee on his keyboard. Did I miss anything?

[@jessehouse5466]

​@@hasantzfromsoft?!?

[@mariosutairu]

«Dont you guys have phones?» -Wyatt Cheng (Blizzard) «It’s … not loot boxes, it’s what we call erh… suprise mechanics» - Kerry Hopkins (EA) «First off , i wanted to say , We’re sorry […]» J. Allen Brack (Blizzard) The list goes on but how many times we’re going listen to corporate bullshit before people waking up?

[@supportwaifu]

It's been about 2 decades of it, unfortunately people still throw money at these companies fully knowing the outcome beforehand. Consumerism at it's finest.

[@bookfish]

It's never going to stop, because 80% of the gamers just don't care. Maybe they get upset for like 2 months, but once they get their new shining game, all those morals go to the bin. Same happened when that whole ass Blizzard controvery went down. My workmates who play WoW were very upset, sayin that they suspended their WoW sub... Till the new expansion hit the shelves, then all of them was like "I just want to support the devs, who are not assholes."

[@Erilis000]

I mean the thing is people are going to buy good games and not buy shit games. There will always be whales playing mtx games and there will always be greedy corporate interests. The way we change this is to vote for pro-consumer, pro-regulatory candidates in local and general elections.

[@PW-zs2yx]

It always fills me with confidence when somebody's eyelids flutter like that and they can't keep eye contact.

[@vladtheinhaler9744]

Thats what Brand Loyalty gets you. So much people still defend these multimillion corporations as if they're a family member and continue to throw money at them. We truly do live in the Cyberpunk timeline.

[@mustafamahmoud_]

$3 trillion corporation

[@Gauweezy]

It's the worst version of cyberpunk though. Huge conglomerates and wars but no cool chromeware for us peons. Where's my new knees choomba!?!

[@sabersz]

After moving from Xbox to PC I had a complete epiphany moment. Cannot stand to defend MSFT anymore

[@rantafor4377]

It's why I have been moving to Linux in recent years, sure they don't have the games that Windows have but Valve has been making major inroads with getting as many games Linux compatible as possible (granted, that could be because there was a leak a while ago that showed that Microsoft had tentative plans of "accidentally" updating Windows to make Steam incompatible but that's neither here nor there).

[@_Cetarial]

@@GauweezyThere is no ’good’ version of a cyberpunk future.

[@hacksawDDS]

The fact that 343i and The Coalition still exist after this is such a massive slap in the face to the actual talented devs at the shuttered studios

[@ZimmermanTelegram]

The coalition is not talented?

[@_lalapop]

100%. they keep their slop producing studios and shut off the only good one

[@MrShagification]

Obviously. Those are MS first party developers. The studios that got nuked are ones they got through acquisition. That's the goal of acquisition. You buy up competitor businesses then you shut them down, so you move closer to the sole producer. They probably bought them and figured if they made insane money, they'd keep them, and if not, shut them down.

[@papayer]

@@MrShagification Exactly. they're garbage, but they're the child prodigies and under MS' wing so of course they're in the clear. Imagine what ID would do if they got ahold of Halo. Man, it sucks.

[@zacharynyberg7007]

Ya I’m pretty shocked by 343i is still around…. You think they would just fucking shit em down and find a new halo partner

[@imperatorvult]

i personally think that the reason Microsoft shut down Tango Games was because they resented the fact that Hi-Fi Rush was a successful game that was not a live service.

[@nman551]

They probably also didn’t like how Tango was criticizing how corporate greed corrupts even the best of people. The game predicted the studios’ fate but unfortunately The band will not get back together at least not right now.

[@gammaphonic]

Shareholder driven companies are all about growth. Massive growth. That’s it. If it doesn’t contribute to massive growth, it’s got to go. All the PR is just that, it’s PR and it means nothing. All they want is massive growth.

[@user-pn4py6vr4n]

Shareholder greed is the cause of all the problems in the gaming industry right now. Shareholders want endless infinite growth, but do not understand that such a thing is impossible. No one in any position of power in the world seems to understand this simple fact. The economic growth of many nations is dependent on population growth, which is well documented to slow right down as nations become more industrialised and advanced. Politicians are freaking out about population growth slowing, or even declining, not wanting to admit that it is natural and expected. You can't have an endless boom. Every phenomenon in nature that follows an exponential growth curve will either reach a sustainable plateau, or crash. Those are our options.

[@BrunodeSouzaLino]

I think Thomas Mahler (Moon Studios' CEO) has summarized this whole situation very well. In his words, the increase of users and playtime during the pandemic made AAA studios fool themselves into thinking this was the new status quo instead of some "unwarranted success" which would be temporary. That caused them to invest large sums of money in attempt to sustain that and the large layoffs and similar situations now are the result of that not paying the expected dividends. They added more fuel to a fire they created themselves and now they complain it's burning.

[@elymnir4683]

This is exactly what heppened, and not just in the video game industry. I work in the manga industry and the exact same thing happened. One big corp in particular saw a hike in online subscriptions for manga and manhwa, so they decided to acquire a LOT of IPs. Except sales went down after the pandemic and they were too understaffed to manage everything. Now, they're slashing IPs left and right, leaving thousands of workers (freelancers, contracted following this huge hike) with nothing to work on anymore. The suits only see short term benefits without thinking of the consequences, not even for themselves. But when it's time to take responsibility, it's people doing the actual work who pay the price.

[@MTG69]

XBox didn't start the fire, It was always burning, Since the world's been turning, We didn't start the fire, No, we didn't light it, But we tried to fight it.

[@linusgustafsson2629]

I'd say it is just dilution with time. I mean if there is only 1 MMO, everyone plays it. If there is 1000 MMOs, then people spread out on the 1000 MMOs. Same with gacha games. It is expensive enough to play one, few can afford more than 3 or 5. If you make 10 new gacha games, you'll get some who move and some who don't and each game will have fewer players total. If they honestly wanted more people who play for example WoW, they'd have to shut down all other MMO they have and hope people move. Which is also naive since which MMO player who had their game unjustly shut-down by a company, will move over to another of their MMOs? They'll hate them and go to the competition. And even when they get there so they have shut down all MMOs and are the only MMO in the world... you can't grow from there, and the investors will leave you. So despite being the sole survivor, you are doomed in the current stock market. What these companies literally need to do, is mass advocate for building families and having 5+ children each. That is the only way to grow in a few years time. Which means you have to be anti-LGBTQ and pro-straight people. Constantly push for how amazing sex is, and how amazing children are. The joy of parenthood etc. Else the entire stock market will implode and everyone except those who pulled out early, will lose.

[@KaiserAfini]

They believed the myth of perpetual growth, rather than focus on consolidating sustainable growth through the pursuit of excellence. With this trend, they will probably shut down Obsidian next.

[@sadmarinersfan8935]

Something they don’t understand is yes gaming is the most popular media in a majority of the world, but that doesn’t mean every single soul plays video games they don’t

[@FlickTheBrick]

Support smaller independent developers. The current AAA industry is unsustainable from both ends.

[@bimotavdue4129]

Small/independent is the way 👍🕹️

[@samf.s.7731]

I just loathe it that now the ideal is to make a 300 hour long game that people can just play and forget that every other game exists. Why does everyone want that? Very few studios can actually make that. And if they're not someone's cup of tea, I guess this person will have nothing new or interesting to play? Why do these people not know how to counter program?

[@bimotavdue4129]

@@samf.s.7731 That's a good point. While I love rpgs and some longer form games, I think for this moment in time, arcade style games are the right call. Pick up and play, not a huge investment or commitment but all about having fun. In the context of concerns about people spending too much time on devices, our relationship with technology etc, arcade style could even be deemed as slightly healthier to a degree (Though that may not sound like good business sense). Arcade style can be just as or more social, as casual or as serious as you like but most of all "FUN!".

[@rodrigocampos1302]

Yeah, indies are the only future of the industry

[@SuperEarther]

well said, when you introduce steak holders quality goes out the door and all you will ever get it inferior quality products that are broken on launch

[@yukiokami8380]

Her response is purely "go watch fallout to take your mind of our garbage decision ."

[@SladeGamingGenie]

The loss of Tango gameworks has me genuinely heated. These companies have learned nothing from Larian.

[@tubguinace]

You know when we say "indie game" we don't mean Indiana Jones Sara...

[@Skateandcreate9]

Lmao right!?

[@krisztiannemeth6875]

That statement alone could make me cry

[@Dan22134saab]

Bruh 😂😂

[@bswigins1024]

“I saw corps ... transform Night City into a machine fueled by people's crushed spirits, broken dreams and emptied pockets. Corps've long controlled our lives, taken lots... and now they're after our souls! ... I've declared war not 'cause capitalism's a thorn in my side or outta nostalgia for an America gone by. This war's a people's war against a system that's spiralled outta our control.” ― Johnny Silverhand

[@lif6737]

Johnny did nothing wrong

[@emilioa.bayardoarceo758]

When things going like this, we'll be into night city in the bad way.

[@michaeltheundeadmariachi4494]

At this point, we all need to release our inner Johnny Silverhand against these corpo shits

[@Buttz2Buttz]

@@emilioa.bayardoarceo758 All the down sides, none of the cool cyber implants

[@logandevore6790]

I was already thinking about canceling my gamepass subscription, this has made the decision very easy.

[@blaze0750]

They did not even give him a chance to change his shirt before making it worse

[@markyturner]

This really was a damning interview. If anyone had any doubt that Xbox management is floundering, that has now been completely removed. They appear to have no idea what they are doing, and their customers feel like they’ve been sold a load of drivel. I’m not sure how they come back from this.

[@NeverB_Gameover]

Bill Gates needs to come in and clean house.

[@bladelazoe]

Worst part is the loss of faith in the brand. That's very hard to come back from.

[@jimecherry]

@@NeverB_Gameover are you insane ms is making money hand over fist its the xbox division that needs help and bill gates never had anything to do with them.

[@TheMa5cmpb]

I know right, but a lot of their fans are saying “ just wait for the June showcase” it’s the new wait for E3

[@HaviccB]

How they come back from this? Easy. Gamers are sheep and will still preorder and hope after every game only to be disappointed but it never affects their bottom line so they will never care.

[@ninja1man4u]

This whole conference is the epitome is the meme "how to say you don't know what you're doing without saying you don't know what you're doing"

[@DarkDyllon]

I smell an DEI hire honestly, she has 0 idea what she's talking about and sounds super unqualified.

[@FentySeroquel]

@@DarkDyllon Being ill-equipped to perform a job isn't a unique racial identifier.

[@krisztiannemeth6875]

​@@DarkDylloni dont know how you guys get that idea. Im also a fan of Indiana Jones, as the reporter. The fate of Indiana Jones games and Indiana jones game developers concern me greatly just like them.

[@OmyDolphin]

She is not there to answer questions, explain or to apologies. She is there to advertise.

[@GrayveRoseMusic]

Tango also made The Evil Within games, so guess a 3rd one is totally out of the question now

[@andrewmccune2895]

Microsoft like that 15 year old who signs up for a credit card & doesnt realize you have to pay it back. WAIT THESE ACQUISITIONS GONNA COST MONEY?

[@bluedistortions]

Microsoft has never been about producing a quality product. They have always been about sabotaging competitors. From the very beginning with MS-Dos, to windows, and they learned from EA the most legal way to sabotage competitors and not get sued is to simply buy your competitors , mismanage them, and disband them.

[@colostomybaguette6122]

look at how many times her eyes blink, she was struggling to offer ANY response. She's just a corporate politician

[@flvakang8547]

Puppet? I agree😂

[@MGrey-qb5xz]

She also looks like a diversity hire

[@Pashchanov]

Well, thanks to the quotas used in the hiring process. I guess she hit all the right check boxes during her appointment for this position.

[@aimeeinkling]

@@Pashchanov Don't be racist. She's incompetent. That has nothing to do with her skin, and plenty of white guys at XBox/Microsoft (who don't "check those boxes") are guilty of the same failures as her.

[@pacmonster066]

Because there wasn't a response she could give. The truth is Microsoft mandated budget cuts. So Xbox execs had to throw the darts at a dartboard of their assets to decide what needed to go. But she can't say that because it sounds awful, so she goes with the vague nothingness.

[@dennis_duran]

You can tell Sarah Bond has never legitimately played a video game in her life. These suits don’t even frame of reference for the art form their selling, all they know is how to follow the smell of money.

[@MetalGamer666]

Publishers: The product you made failed to meet our expectations in terms of monetary gains. Devs: Maybe that's because you forced us to make a game we didn't want to make, that was very different from what we are experienced in making, that was made to follow all the latest trends and intrusive monetization mechanics, and that was a game none of our fans wanted? Publisher: We have to focus on our long term growth, so we are shutting down your studio. Devs: ...

[@bluedistortions]

It's the EA playbook. Remember when they bought Westwood studios, told them they can't make PC RTS games anymore? The one thing they were very, very good at?

[@MetalGamer666]

@@bluedistortions I remember it all. My favourite developer used to be Bioware. After it was bought up by EA, Bioware started to suck.

[@happy-0atmeal]

I'm a 30+ gamer and I just wanna say we really had it good in the 2000s. I remember when PlayStation magazine would come with a demo disk every month and you got to try a bunch of games. We didn't care if a game had potential for endless sequels to enrich the corpos for years to come, we just saw good games and had fun with them. And man what great variety we used to have.

[@undertakernumberone1]

the good old PS2 era... I miss it so much... And just the feeling of getting a new game, getting into the car with your parents and hastily unwrapping it and starting to indulge in the manual to get warmed up!

[@EJ_Red]

Ah, the PS2 days. I am so upset I never gave Rule of Rose a chance because it has such a beautiful soundtrack.

[@MrKardovalk]

Yeah good days

[@bigfoxki]

Remember when Sony HQ was still in Japan and things were better?

[@garjian0]

I look at my many Gamecube and 360 boxes, and I look at how few PS4 boxes I have in comparison, and now, just a few Switch games. It's all franchises and sequels now, the only innovation coming from things like Vampire Survivors and Balatro at the £10 and below price range. It's really sad that we don't get any new huge, inspiring settings any more. It's either small scope, or you've basically played it before.

[@MrSupersonic2012]

HiFi Rush did way better than I would have expected. A new IP from a team that doesn't usually make games like this, it wasn't even announced, they just shadow dropped it with zero fanfare and it was a smashing success that got fairly popular through word of mouth. How much better could they have expected this game to do?! If anything, the way they released this game was set up for failure, yet it still became a hit, even in a year for gaming where it seemed like every month some big new amazing game was dropping, Baldur's Gate, Tears of the Kingdom, Jedi Survivor just to name a few. Yet it still got a handful of awards and could have even been a game of the year contender if last year hadn't been so stacked.

[@Quintessence4444]

To be fair Todd Howard needed that Hi-Fi Rush advertising money.

[@samf.s.7731]

The thing that should have let the mid-small budget movie style games survive, that being game pass, is now literally what killed them because these genius executives think that a streaming service works by putting ultra high budget games on there should be the priority instead of Indies and smaller studio products... They could have given both Nintendo who seems to do well in this regard by having the switch be indie friendly, and Sony who has exclusives but doesn't have a game pass like service an actual run for their money. Like, they gotta have a strategy that works for where they are and stick to it.

[@UltimateInkling]

⁠@@samf.s.7731sony was right about having their own game pass like service was unsustainable.

[@user-kz4ir5ux9f]

This is wild. It’s so ridiculously ironic that the studio that made the game wasn’t good enough to survive even after all the good press and rewards, but Xbox will continue to earn everything and anything that HFR will bring. I was so considering getting it on ps5 but now… it won’t even reward or help the dev team.

[@marcosdheleno]

in all honesty, i think if it succeeded because it was shadow dropped. it had that "hidden gem" alure, that drew lots of people in, and that gave them lots of word of mouth. if it was advertised, i dont think it would've gone as big as it did. because it LOOKS kinda generic without playing it.

[@redkingrauri3769]

"We bought a studio and shut it down a couple years later. We reflected on that and we learned." -What did you learn? "...oh."

[@plumaDshinigami]

Microshaft without the filter: We investigated ourselves and found nothing wrong. Pay more, peasants.

[@Kuroyuuchi]

it never stops being sad to see people who don't give a damn about games in a position of power over them

[@odindarkll3706]

Yeah. From blatant diversity hires to shareholders scaring the daylights out of corporates.

[@bluedistortions]

What are you talking about? 50% of game protags are black females these days, so obviously that means Mrs. Bond is going to be huge into video games now. We were told that's how representation works!

[@SKizzleAXE]

Matt Booty: We need more games like Hi-Fi Rush Xbox: "keep your booty out of this, we don't need it" 😂😂

[@mikeondamic2019]

That's good lol 😂

[@S4msungHD666]

Tango can make an own independent studio and make however many games they want without any corporate bullshit? no? or could it be that these developers are great due to them being able to suck of Microsofts endless oh so juicy nipples

[@samf.s.7731]

In my head, I can literally hear the Beavis and Butthead laughs at the last name "Booty". The gaming community effect on a grown woman 😐

[@samf.s.7731]

​@@QuantumChristthat's literally the game that should have gone to game pass, they should have put counter strike on there too.

[@L0rd0fTh3N3rdz]

Never heard of this game till people started crying about microsoft

[@djsercy5879]

I love how you can see the gears turning in her head as she tries to figure out how to say something that fits the standard-issue corpo response

[@budemawa411]

"Haha we did a really bad thing that put tons of talented artists out of work and refuse to be transparent about it, have you heard of the Fallout show? :D" Corpos gonna corpo

[@Rybear1977]

Imagine spending years of your life making a game, bug fixes, ideas, animation, sound design, every inch of the game, whether by yourself or with a team, you finish it, release it, and then over night you see that THOUSANDS of people bought it, love it, and play it a bunch... and then the big boss just decides to cut you off, for no reason it seems, then you hear someone ask them a question to why your studio was axed, and the answer you get is no answer in the form of a vague, multiparagraph "explaination."

[@oujisama05]

I honestly wish the person doing the interview doubled down, but this was probably a curated list of questions, which is all the more baffling how terrible the prepared answers were.

[@thisisfyne]

Microsoft, Embracer, Keywords, and all the others... if they spend like maniacs, they'll cut like maniacs. It's as simple as that.

[@canehdianbacon2177]

Thanks for the continued coverage sir!

[@Culebrunch]

"Success for each game and studio is also really unique, like there's no one-size fits all to it for us" ...Sarah, are you insinuating that Hi-Fi Rush was NOT in fact a success? What then, exactly, would you call a game from a small studio that not only made millions, but is also critically acclaimed and won many rewards and garnered so much love and support and excitement from all its fans if not a success?

[@arcc4]

Critical acclaim and awards are meaningless. And the studio spent many millions making the game so just generating revenue in the millions is also irrelevant without context to the actual profit and ROI the game had. So yeah, the game is not in fact a success without someone showing the actual numbers. What is probably happening is that because the industry is in decline the publishers are no longer willing to gamble for pennies on the dollar. Risking $25 million to make a projected $15 million profit is a bad investment right now. Now, to be fair Microsoft has a lot of blame here regardless because game pass cannibalizes retail sales and a lot of games are having their financial success sacrificed to support that platform and model. Similarly the industry as a whole chasing after that live service golden goose has caused more bombed games and wasted investment than the games/studios they are divesting from. These AAA publishers are themselves becoming the obsolete model.

[@RebeldSky]

@@arcc4 first off, I don't know exactly where you get that Hi-Fi Rush costed millions to make, I don't consider any of Tango Gameworks huge projects, Hi-Fi Rush was their smallest game. It was made by a small team. Second, ¿How are you suppose to have any ROI with a game that your executives (Matt Booty, Sarah Bond) decide to put on game pass day one? That doesn't make any sense. It's have been said before: you are damaging the sales if the product is on game pass day one. On the other hand, if these people were smart, they obviously would not close a talented studio like Tango Gameworks. Instead, they would capitalize on the success of Hi-Fi Rush to continue grow that community and then support the studio to make a sequel, and that Hi-Fi Rush 2 you DON'T put it on gamepass day one, just eventually after at least a year the game has launched. That is how you nurture studios, that is how you grow as a brand. This lady Sarah and those guys Matt and Phil, are a disaster. It doesn't matter any way you look at it, they are doing a terrible job.

[@marcosdheleno]

@@arcc4 let me tell ya about the concept of fanbase. you make something, people like it, it may not sell godly amounts, but sell well enough and garner good word of mouth. so, the next time they make and sell something, more people will go to them, to buy their newer stuff. that's how game devs grow. make something, sell, make something else, sell more, and keep doing it. this is how square got to the size it is today, or rare, or naughty dogs, or blizzard. they all started small, and grew by making more stuff and earning more accolade. to me, this feels more like a decision because they werent able to deliver a solid multiplayer live service game. which is hands down, the only reason rare didnt get scythed years ago.

[@jonathansalazar4630]

Here's the sad truth is that even if Hi Fi was loved and won awards it doesn't mean anything to the corporate suits, since the huge purchases of Bethesda and Activision it inflated sales expectations and to make up for those large buys a game now for them has to sell COD and Elder Scrolls amount of buys, even though Hi Fi got over 3 million players to them it is considered a failure, not helped that a big chance many of those players used game pass that unfortunately took a bite out of sales. Even though Greenberg had said to the public that Hi Fi was a success, their actions speak a different story.

[@MLennholm]

@@arcc4 If review scores and awards are so meaningless, why are they often used as metrics to decide if the developers get a bonus payout?

[@etma1047]

Anyone else notice how much and how fast she was blinking her eyes as she gave her “answers”?

[@mattmanley7118]

That’s a panic response.

[@HP-ws2vx]

She shook her head near the end of her response after the question, like she was cringing at herself hahahahahahaa

[@NorthStarBlue1]

If you translate it into Morse code, it spells out "Microsoft shareholders have taken my family hostage, please send help"

[@EJ_Red]

How fast she was blinking? I was noticing how she was swaying her head, using filler words, and just pausing while giving her answer

[@markvanwalsem3201]

@@NorthStarBlue1 😂😂😂

[@louisdellalucca8969]

Was she blinking “Help Me!” In Morse code at the beginning?

[@SivalinPuthery]

The Big N drinking beer in a corner and watching an Indie world direct while laughing loudly at its detractors self imploding

[@What.99]

I’m really proud of Dina. I doubt she was intentionally trying to make Sarah look like an idiot, but she did make her look like an idiot regardless. Dina asked some really good questions, and she deserves a lot of praise for that imo.

[@CeHee123]

When has a a corperate response ever been a good one? They're practically machines theyre so far removed from understanding us.

[@renzo_kookin4208]

Reptiles lmao straight up lizard people with cybernetic attachments

[@ROGU3G0DD3SS]

Corpos are bad

[@Kaiser499TV]

Ninja Theory is next on the chopping block, get ready for it.

[@w12266]

This ages well. Hellblade 2 was roasted for its length

[@Ryuu717]

Hi-Fi Rush Devs didn't deserve this and Xbox didn't deserve Hi-Fi Rush

[@nman551]

Absolutely

[@cedricbaccay633]

They really learned from the lionhead studios situation. Now, they can close down more than one studio with ease!

[@HickoryDickory86]

Lionhead failed because Microsoft refused to leave them alone and let them be Lionhead. Instead, they used them as a guinea pig studio to push all their proprietary trash like Kinect that nobody wanted; it ended up where _all_ their games were being designed around whatever garbage feature they were wanting to force onto the market but that no one wanted. Thus, no one bought the games. But then, instead of blaming themselves and taking a step back, Microsoft blamed Lionhead and shut them down. I'm so f**king sick and tired of all the major corporations constantly and consistently making all the wrong choices.

[@flamingrubys11]

@@HickoryDickory86 god it hurts and the fact microsoft gets to sIT ON THE FABLE IP ANGERS ME

[@tarille1043]

RIP Lionhead. I still hope for Black & White 3...

[@sadmarinersfan8935]

@@HickoryDickory86it’s really odd how they were too hands on their but too hands off with others like arkane Austin when they should have overruled bgs and had them cancel it

[@ninavale.]

These huge companies want the impossible. They want infinite growth, with people passionatly working for low wages(or preferably for passion alone with no salary) overtime at that. and still keep full energy and produce high quality, award winning stuff that would at the same time sell billions of copies. They want to hike up prices and at the same time have everyone subsribing and be comfortable with microtransactions in full-priced games. They just want the growth with no expesnes spend by them.

[@jesseteixeira6284]

There's another form of life on this planet that operates in this fashion: Cancer cells.

[@28Decimo]

This is probably less about infinite growth and looking more at the end of the console industry. It’s getting eclipsed by PC and xbox is definitely starting to prep for it. The first indicator was when they pushed more on PC gamepass than xbox gamepass

[@codename1176]

Literally an impossibility. The economy is showing warning sign gas within the next 5 years a big market “reset” is coming where the idiots that cannot adapt will go bankrupt. We are already seeing it with all these layoffs. Despite companies claiming they are making record money.

[@TheSGBrown]

@@28Decimo Yet, when M$ dumps XBOX, they'll leave $$$$$ on the table for STEAM & Playstation, Nintendo. . . .

[@Zer0Tr1gger]

The capitalist wet dream, basically.

[@oggrym2304]

That lady being interviewed is literally Dick Harper when they put him on air to answer questions live.

[@BTRshow]

Hope somy picks up a few teams that were dropped, it would be a steal

[@w12266]

YEAH BABY. Come to us. Let Ps rule the industry. We are the ultimate winners. Sony rules.

[@Thordrel]

Microsoft has learnt from Todd Howard how to tell sweet little lies.

[@fernandosepulveda7297]

God Howard

[@elhazthorn918]

And Todd Howard from Peter Molyneux?

[@cornflakeshumunculus8373]

tell me lies tell me sweet little lies

[@crayoneater6034]

It just works

[@w12266]

SIXTEEN TIMES THE DETAIL!!!!!

[@ssj4922]

They only thing this press conference proved without a doubt is that corporations, and the suits in charge of them have never and will continue to not give a single flying fuck about their consumer base and fans who have supported them for years. Doesn't matter if its Phill Spencer, Jim Ryan or whichever multimillionaire top position employee/investor is in charge, cuz they're all the same. Their customers, partners, KZbinrs who make content based on their ips and as we can clearly see now, even the employees in their own studio, are just a mere number to them. A shame that Tango GameWorks got laid off for what is essentially a tax write off for the already filthy rich who's only concern right now is shoving as much Call of Duty has possible down everyone's faces.

[@sophieedel6324]

The "consumer base" never bought games like Hi-Fi rush. For all the hype and praise you guys are throwing at the game, it never sold. Not only that, achievement rates show that only a small percentage of those that did buy it, actually finished it, and retention rate is very important for Game Pass. Tango Gameworks made a game that didn't sell, despite of all the "awards" it got, the average gamer doesn't care about stupid award shows.

[@waynemorgan6153]

"not give a single flying fuck about their consumer base" I don't think a vocal minority that cry about the increasing prevalence of mobile gaming and dying out of physical media are the be and end all of the consumer base. They're more like fossils trying to hold on while the rest of the industry and the other consumers in line with it are ready to move on.

[@Quintessence4444]

Nor their developers.

[@B_Ahmed1234]

Yeah, they only care about what effects their stock price

[@kamurotetsu4860]

@@sophieedel6324 It was put on Game Pass. It was never even given a chance to sell. The Evil Within sold back in the day, it even got a sequel. Stop blaming developers for just making games, start blaming corpos.

[@punk105]

She's good at not answering questions and deflecting. I see why she's the president now

[@cloudnine5651]

honestly a lot of this falls on the interviewers. if they actually pushed back on these BS answers instead of just letting them spout their BS things would be a lot better

[@gabemaurer4969]

This whole situation is incredibly frustrating.

[@pftburchell5197]

But expected

[@Asriel_Cypher]

But not surprising...

[@Ccubed92]

You should put more energy in your personal life

[@gabemaurer4969]

@@Ccubed92 who said anything about putting energy into it? Just said it is a frustrating situation. The same can be said about you. Put more energy into your personal life than make worthless comments like the one you just did. Pce hope you have a great day.

[@pftburchell5197]

@@Ccubed92 I think taking a break from reality & playing video games to unwind and have fun, is taking care of your personal life/health.

[@jamesmansfield67]

They’re banking so hard on the big hitters but damn….what happens when the big hitters flop?!?! They’re not going to have any smaller studios filling in the gaps when that happens. Am I insane? I know I’m not in the business but I feel this is just common sense!

[@seanpoulton2446]

It’s called short sighted profits.

[@SkyFly19853]

Since these people on the top of food chain live in a different dimension, NOT reality....

[@technicallyartistic]

I realized today that they likely cut the studios that don't currently have a new project greenlit.

[@micksilva6028]

This Sarah Bond interview reminded me of that disastrous Sarah Palin interview from a few years back.

[@blankityblankblank2321]

The accountants and CEO were idiots with a reckless corporate plan. They bought up a ton of studios to crank out a hit every month for gamepass only to be shocked that people would straight up just buy gamepass for a just month when a game strikes their fancy. Everything has been driven to live service for the sake of gamepass. I understand the logic of tying live service games to a universal subscription like gamepass, but tying single player games that take less than a week to beat to it was shear corporate idiocy. Once again we see an industry suffer because the actions of a CEO stupid decisions and the cold hand of accountants who shut down companies just to make their quarterly profit margins look better.

[@MrShagification]

Nah, it's probably just as they planned. Buy up potential competition with the intention to close them down and make it appear as though you messed up and need to close the companies down for whatever reason to avoid monopoly and antitrust lawsuits.

[@Ccubed92]

They are definitely not idiots if they are making money and have degrees while the people crying are struggling with a basic job

[@billoute10]

the way corporate talking has took over all the gaming industry is making me sick, lies, lies and more lies...the bigger they are, the bigger the lies. Hope Larian will stay the same.

[@anthonyindiana563]

It's mainly Microsoft..spending billions to buy studios just to close them is weird af

[@GADG3Tx87]

​@@anthonyindiana563 That's literally their strategy in every part of their business since it all began. Divide and conquer. They're a scummy company and I don't understand why people defend them. If we can't beat it, own it. If we can't own it, destroy it. -Microsoft.

[@user-oo2gy5cf3g]

Sven and his wife own larian. They will never sell beacuse sven wants to make games he likes and has creative control

[@jaredcody6869]

There is going to be so much of this interview that's going to be referenced for years to come.

[@NautoAis]

With Tango Workshop closing, Microsoft Studios just shot themselves on the foot for Japanese support. Atlus on the long rung probably won't be working with them for marketing, plus most Japanese companies will not be interested to port their games in the future. Phil Spencer trying so hard to have Japanese games on XBox, but after this, "that's all folks". Also I wouldn't be surprise either if push comes to shove, they're going to stop game pass.

[@user-oo2gy5cf3g]

And I'm loving this 😂 they just keep losing and losing

[@sonicsega6]

I guess 2024 is the year of game companies making the most stupid decisions possible

[@pftburchell5197]

Not for their shareholders & that’s all they care about.

[@randalthor6872]

DEI and ESG has ruined Xbox lmao

[@gabrielnieto7465]

Fr

[@thewerdna]

​​@randalthor6872 No, DEI isn't a real problem. You have been tricked to blame the scapegoat boogieman instead of the actual enemy here. The real enemy is and always has been corporate shareholders, who are the only people all these publishers care about pleasing.

[@cybersoldierforever]

@@randalthor6872 ESG ruined Xbox, but DEI? Well, I guess the Boogieman is in the room for you. Good luck getting it out. 🥂

[@MikeGlaxo]

Easy Game Pass fix: make games available 45 days after release. Like video streaming services do with theater releases.

[@robertomiku9756]

Xbox players forgot how It worked years ago.. you want a videogame? You gotta pay for It. But since gamepass appeared they dont wanna spend a cent on buying games , they just spend a way cheaper amount of Money on gamepass and wait for a game to release(day One or not) on It as "free". Personal opinion, gamepass was seen by many(me itself)as the cancer of videogames indusrty, was at the same time a good thing for others. Its not sustainable like that, many knew, many no(or maybe those were acting intentionally blind).

[@MrRaccoon879]

Phil's fanbase have been conditioned into not spending money though. They will just wait out the 45 days. I played aliens fireteam with a guy on Xbox once and he had over 200 hours in it. He wanted help on the higher difficulties, but when I offered to assist one day he said: I'm not playing it anymore as it isn't on game pass. So people will put 200 hours into a game but not spend £25 to play it with their friends. Game pass has created a bunch of entitled man children.

[@CoolManCoolMan123]

​@@MrRaccoon879the gamepass has had opposite to what they probably thought. They probably wanted to enter the large market of developing countries like India and South East Asia as the average game price is just too much to pay for here( in my country, $80 dollars would free you decently for more than a week, and where people earn $300 a month). The problem is that instead of attracting the audience here which has always been dominated by PS and PC(for few otherwise it's obviously mobile) to find a foot for Xbox, they just made their profits lower in the west.

[@Zero_Steel]

45 days, a month, a year. they aint paying for day one games, they'd rather wait for it to drop cuz they are so used to it

[@THUGPUTIN]

The problem is xbox itself.. Steamdeck can run everything on gamepass library and I fully believe if xbox make portable console like steamdeck at similar price that would hugely increase gamepass... Gamepass biggest problem is it's only available in 2 platform.. Pc and Xbox.. Netflix, and Amazon, Disney are successful because they are available in portable smartphone... Imagine if they only came on smart TV... I know one is online streaming and other needs hardware(xcloud exists but still long way to go).. But the model for gamepass is same as Netflix and Amazon... For those who doesn't understand, consoles are dying.. It's not just xbox, even PS is dying and Nintendo just proved portable market is the future... Nintendo doesn't need to sell console at loss, development cost of Nintendo games are 40~50% less than Xbox, ps games but they sell at same $60...it basically means they are profitable in everything they sell compared to PS and Xbox who only make profit in software money and now they need pc sales to make profit... 😂

[@Milocinia]

DEI hire only spouting slogans rather than actually answering questions. Par for the course at this point.

[@MajorLinkGaming]

The face transition at the start of the video is hilarious.

[@099Mustang]

Everyone should cancel their Game pass subscription. support independent studios instead.

[@samf.s.7731]

Game pass is where those games were supposed to find success. It was supposed to help with the survival of the mid-low budget games and indie gems. Not be some "AAA game play for free on day 1 of release". That's how streaming did it for movies. It's not hard to follow that blueprint. Instead, they bought Activision Blizzard to put Starfield on there....

[@CrustedPork]

Yeah that's not happening. Most people don't even know this is happening. Your average consumer/gamer doesn't watch videos or care about what is happening in the gaming landscape unless it's an advertisement for the next new big game or just any cinematic trailer for a game. Most of my friends legitimately have no idea any of this is going on and they all game.

[@dandan3045]

Xbots are too thick in the head to do that.

[@Zbgaming23]

Um we can’t because that’s the only way to play GAMES ONLINE

[@shadowsnake3867]

​@@samf.s.7731not really. Game pass is like the movie pass back then. The difference with streaming movies and tv series is that they entertaining and marketed well. Xbox doesn't even market well their indie or double aa games. Besides, Xbox has killed their own well known IP so they just buy studios instead of creating a new game or managing well the studios they have.

[@Hylirica]

I have a really gross feeling that some Microsoft exec saw the buzz around the Fallout show and started asking "why aren't we working on another one of those games?" and now we end up with this "reorganization of resources." Plus someone's bonus might've been less than $1 billion, so I'm sure that felt important too.

[@RiotforPeacePlz]

The last two games sucked the show sucks so either way that series is dead.

[@user-yw4kv5fg5k]

@@RiotforPeacePlzthe last 2 games were meh but good enough for most people especially now that people are coming back to it because of the show

[@user-yw4kv5fg5k]

@@RiotforPeacePlzthe shows not that bad, it’s received a lot of positive attention. I hate Xbox but the series def isn’t gonna be over, they gotta cash in on it rn

[@dragonslayermasterornstein83]

​@@RiotforPeacePlz I tell that your a fallout new vegas/2 fan by looking at this comment

[@zoeyvfx2381]

omg 2 seconds in and lmao the pure exasperation on his face. He looks like my dad whenever I try to get his approval

[@Zorgdub]

That's not a non-answer. It seems pretty clear to me. "How about your commitment to developing innovative exclusive games?" "We're proud of the Fallout tv shows." So they have no commitment to developing games, let alone innovative exclusive ones.

[@georgem2768]

Microsoft is starting to become the next EA: buying up studios, shutting them down for no reason and coming out with answers that dodge the questions about this.

[@fantasytky28]

Might as well let Sony bought them. Sony have done many stupid moves but in terms of supporting game studios efforts, it's literally day and night difference when compared to Microsoft

[@briansmith2739]

They have been doing that for a long time. Look what Microsoft did to the Halo and Perfect Dark franchise. They didn't want the developers to make another spin-off and a proper sequel.

[@voxsq]

@@fantasytky28 HD2.

[@TecraX2]

I think things would have been very different if Microsoft had bought Activision before or around the time they introduced Game Pass, since this would have meant that they wouldn't have had the same desperate need for a stream of future potentially successful games... Under those circumstances, Microsoft probably wouldn't even have bothered with acquiring Bethesda, since the annual release cycle of Call of Duty, especially combined with its Live-Service nature, would have provided a much greater incentive for people to subscribe and STAY subscribed to Game Pass than the occasional Starfield/Fallout release ever will!

[@_Cetarial]

@@fantasytky28Sony recently shut down several studios, lmao.

[@echotheotter9541]

The skit where Abraham Lincoln constantly yelling "NOW YOU FUCKED UP!" seems relevant here DX

[@kleberson777]

She answer this question like a true politician

[@drownoble]

The Bloomberg interviewer really should of pushed her on the questions.

[@Theresa-wp6kv]

We all knew these acquisitions would be a bad idea

[@Syldarin]

That “We” doesnt count Xbox players who were celebrating like crazy, beacuse they never needed to pay for CoD and Diablo again. Like something like that comes without a heavy Price for…

[@brandonwirtz2308]

Not necessarily. Remember, at the time the ABK acquisition was announced, ABK was going through some massively horrible stuff involving SA allegations, corruption allegations and that whole thing. At the time it was announced, it looked a whole lot like Microsoft coming in to rid ABK of Bobby Kotick.

[@SpinningSideKick9000]

@@brandonwirtz2308 And I was there the whole time saying “Microsoft will not save you” If Activision was bad, why the hell would Microsoft be better? People were just so tired of Blizzard that they wanted to believe anything

[@LunarWingCloud]

​@@SpinningSideKick9000 because an entire large corporation that condones SA should not have autonomy. We aren't out here saying Microsoft acquiring ABK was outright desirable, it was just better than allowing ABK to exist as it was and allowing all the terrible shit that was going on there to continue. Let's not fight amongst each other here, large corporations are always a problem, but we don't need to be acting like 1-upping someone else on the internet in a debate is going to make anyone feel any better at the end of the day for just believing one less shitty situation would have been better than a shittier one

[@SpinningSideKick9000]

@@LunarWingCloud No, corporations are public enemy #1. If you feel attacked by what I said, I don’t know what to tell you

[@maxderrat]

Thanks for keeping us up-to-date with all the latest news regarding this and for being so thorough. This is a very important issue and a possible indicator of where the industry is headed.

[@JonySmith-bb4gx]

Japanese studios under an American company What could go wrong Let's not forget that Microsoft wanted to acquire Nintendo. This is why Sony is better .

[@JonySmith-bb4gx]

Heyyy max . Your mgs 2 video is still relevant

[@omgbaxtergames]

It's amazing to see how bad of a state the industry is in. Always appreciate your videos. Would love to see you cover gaming in 2024 and how corporations are literally ruining everything. I'll stick to my PS1/GBA/SNES classics.

[@odindarkll3706]

​@@JonySmith-bb4gx console wars are over. MS and Sony lost while Nintendo is still around. Meanwhile, indie studios and owning a PC seems more and more of a net positive...

[@Dantprime]

Fancy seeing you here Max

[@heretics_archive]

I’m surprised no one in Xbox or Microsoft thought through the buying of activison it’s pretty common knowledge that if you buy something that sells billions of dollars worth of stuff your new gold Standard is billions of dollars and nothing Xbox owns would come close to making those new benchmarks not to mention they spent 70 billion dollars on the company with apparently no game plan for how to pay it back

[@kyosokutai]

Used to think Microsoft was actually approaching competency. - This just illustrates they have the same brainrot as the rest of corporate america. Quarterly profits for infinite growth and profits. - Long term sustainability can fuck itself.

[@MrRaccoon879]

I dont want to own nothing and be happy

[@chadgunner4403]

It's MY IP to sit on and do NOTHING with!

[@khebre6032]

But they will force us to...

[@Sulamanjansulttaani]

Come now son. Eat your bugs.

[@EJ_Red]

People are already more than willing to be paying for streaming sites to watch their movies and TV shows instead of buying physical products like discs and box sets, and the same applies to music with services like Pandora and Spotify while stores no longer sell CDs. We're already more than halfway there unfortunately.

[@pffboahkeineahnung]

@@khebre6032 no force for you needed, you keep voting the same since decades....and you keep buying their bs

[@Thefess]

The interviewer needed to push harder asking questions like "with the recent studio shutdowns, do you have anything to say to the other studios that feel worried and scared that the future for them is uncertain and at any point they could be shutdown regardless if their games are successful and garnered a massive folllwing" and if they give a corporate answer, call that shit out and say we dont want bullshit corporate answers.

[@XxSZxX777]

Honestly I have an idea. For the next Call of Duty entry no one purchase it, I'll tell you why, if the sells for Call of Duty numbers hit an all time low with copies they'll have a set a new bar for what is accepted for these smaller studios. Plus worse case scenario is that either nothing happens and you saved yourself some money from not buying a COD game or these CEOs, investors and Chairmen start jumping off cliffs, seeing their investments bomb hard, and Xbox shuts down. As a Xbot person I would just yell out long live PS and Nintendo and PC.