Xbox is Corpo Greed From Now On - Inside Games

[@alexanderhs1617]

If I were a studio looking for a publisher, I’d only consider ones which aren’t publicly traded. Once a business is listed on the stock exchange, it changes the goalposts to infinite growth rather than simply profitability

[@smalltime0]

Line has to go up.

[@JollyGiant19]

@@smalltime0MBAs were a mistake

[@sadmanh0]

tough to say when you don't have millions of $ on a table in front of you.

[@smalltime0]

@@sadmanh0 Also these aren't independent studios. They were already purchased by a publisher. M$ bought the publisher

[@gman7497]

As tough as it is to say, true.. we all act uber-principled until millions of $ are waved in our face.

[@CUSTODYIN]

If Ads are going to be in AAA games, if almost all of the AAA games are turning live service, if every AAA game now needs to make billions while being unfinished, then my expectations have become just as insurmountable as infinite growth corporations.

[@TheLittleNoobThatCould]

There is a nearly limitless number of decent to fantastic indie games on the market. All of the most fun and emotional experiences I've had in years have been from games not enough people know about. I became disillusioned from the AAA space a long time ago and I've never been more impressed with the creativity at play when you don't have shareholders to please.

[@arenomusic]

What do we actually get in return for these invasive changes? A consistent $60 price tag? I've just started immediately buying any indie game that looks somewhat interesting instead of getting the same major title again and again. Fuck the AAA model.

[@amuria55]

That 70 Billion deal was way off, complete insanity.

[@DroosterH]

Apart from King, every single IP that came with the deal is at the end of their lifespan. And, on top of that, they cut off access from a third of the remaining playerbase. I genuinely don't know how they thought $70bn was an investment. It's Musk levels of stupidity.

[@elvinfunk69]

@@DroosterH They over paid, what a fuck up.

[@CaptnNuco]

Agreed, Fox Studios went for less and it was over valued

[@naterod]

Before that 70bn, Xbox was just fine. The higher ups just saw it as a quaint earmark in some stock portfolio. Now it’s a glaring red exclamation point. Now those with the real money are taking over. I absolutely believe the soft coup theory. Satya came to collect.

[@JimmyNuisance]

@@DroosterH It fricken is Musk level. I was just stunned by the amount of money microsoft could spend and DID spend. Exactly same with Twitter. That's seventy-thousand-millions.... Insanity. They could make 70 thousand of their own workers millionaires.. . . ... .. . .. .. .. .. Numbers.. Insanity.

[@stevestuff9607]

You guys should do s short AA game roundup each month or so, showcasing new releases from talented studios. That would be great!

[@insidegames]

We mention a lot of these games in our Inside Games Roundup every week. There's a section dedicated to next week's releases near the end, check it out!

[@Dylan-xg8lz]

@@insidegames yea I really enjoy seeing the smaller game in the roundup!

[@Top_Weeb]

It's almost as if corporate consolidation is bad actually.

[@bugzbunny109]

Yea but buying out the competition is competition

[@arn_ice]

nonono, Microsoft / Xbox owning everything is actually good for you, don't you see? /s

[@Tanlantas]

If you are saying that larger companies buy smaller companies for the soul reason of eliminating potential future competition.. Then yes, I totally agree with that. I have also worked for small companies that were bought out by larger ones. They took the products they liked, rebranded them, then got rid of the rest of us as by that time, their inhouse staff had been trained on what our jobs were. WE became the overhead. Maybe its not so bad if you are in a large city with other options available to you, but in smaller ones, its devastating. Not that it matters to larger corporations.

[@ninochaosdrache3189]

Well, the solution then is to say No to the buying offer. Nobody forces you to sell out.

[@JonahAGoldstein]

I always love when Lawrence does a deep dive into a topic. Video game reviews, different industries, capitalism, even the matrix franchise. I can hear this man speak forever. Please make more of these types of videos!!

[@RedVsBlueUser]

RIP Tango Gameworks A dev team full of soul, caught in the sights of soulless corpos.

[@zachdk]

Oh Hey speaking of Xbox, Hellblade 2 comes out a week from today. I wonder how the devs at the studio are feeling right now.....

[@John_Aiginitis]

Rip ninja theory... 😢

[@spacechannelfiver]

Tameem already bailed

[@naterod]

Imagine how every single dev under the umbrella feels now. Nobody is safe. It’s maddening thinking of all those IPs we grew up with that may never ever see the light of day again. Fuck Microsoft

[@MoonDoggie82]

I haven't seen a single ad or content creator talking about Hellblade 2. The game is going to flounder.

[@ninochaosdrache3189]

Obsidian most likely doesn't feel any better either

[@preypatel6545]

Phil Spencer fucked up buying Bethesda and Activision, and we're playing the price with studio closures (Vicarious Visions, Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks) which will probably lead to worse games.

[@FMBriggs]

@@HS_Rick Everyone rises to their level of incompetence - aka the peter principle. Phil Spencer is that dude living on the couch who smokes all the pot and eats all the food, but somehow doesn't get kicked out of the house because he's fun at parties.

[@haydencantthink]

Likely not so much Bethesda but yeah definitely Activision

[@MeowieGamer]

VICARIOUS VISIONS CLOSED?!

[@T0asty-]

@@MeowieGamer they were turned into "Blizzard Albany" apparently

[@gherreraj]

Lmao. You are idiots. You think Phil made the decision. Lmao. You all need to get a life. Microsoft is about making money. They will do what they want to make as much money as possible. Phil has no say.

[@Arven8]

Two corrections to what was said in the video. 1) PS+ comprises 12% of Playstation's overall revenue, not "most" of their revenue as was said in the vid, and 2) GP growth is actually flat and not growing at all. We have data from the FTC leak that GP subs were at 34 million two years ago. Tom Warren recently reported that current 2024 GP total is 34 million - i.e., no growth at all over the past two years. Flat line. p.s. I should clarify, the 34 million in 2022 was total subs, GP + Live Gold combined. What MS then did was restructure the service tiers and labels, folding 11.7 million Live Gold subs into GP, now counting them as GP. They shifted numbers from one column to the next, although the actual numbers of total subs did not grow. 34 million in 2022, 34 million in 2024. MS shuffled the categories to make it look as if GP grew by 11 million from 2022 to 2024, but this was a mirage, a misdirection. They had merely folded 11 million Live Gold subs into the GP category.

[@WinderTP]

I was just thinking that MS must understand that since GamePass already provides such an insane value proposition, everyone who are incentivised to sub would've subbed already. When the overwhelming majority of your core target customers are already paying you, surely there won't be much room for growth, period. If they keep closing studios and throwing that value proposition down the drain instead of thinking up new ways of monetising the existing customer base, they may have issues on retaining their existing subscribers rather than growth.

[@vilumino7397]

I heard someone say "Xbox is no longer Xbox. It is Microsoft Gaming " 😅

[@ImBatman-dk8eh]

i cannot believe they'd just throw away legacy branding like that. it's twitter all over again

[@betag24cn]

it was always that, people imagined it was a separated company, they were confused

[@nielsmichiels1939]

It's ALLWAYS been Microsoft gaming. Look really hard in their past, how they conducteur themselves in the industry and how they handled compition.

[@t-rexreximus359]

Xbox are really shooting themselves in the foot. Imagine how boring & generic the next generation of Xbox games will be - because the devs will all be terrified of taking creative risks. The irony is that Redfall failed because Bethesda wanted Arkane to chase commercial online service trend rather than using their creative strengths (single player immersive sim)

[@JABelms]

Redfall failed because Arkane and Microsoft forced this game through COVID era without a coherent plan. Has nothing to do with live service, Unreal Engine was a large contributor

[@ninochaosdrache3189]

Can't be worse than the this and the XBOX One gen.

[@Chooch1080]

Its funny how similar the Gaming Industry mirrored Hollywood. Today all the best work doesnt come from "major" studios. It comes from places like Blumhluse and A24. It seems likely the gaming industry is going that way too.

[@Juju-cm7ge]

Not quite, that’s how it’s going for Xbox😂

[@naterod]

In a way it’s happening to Sony too not so much to Nintendo. That being said, there’s some bad fucking ass indies coming to PSN within 2024/25. I dunno about Xbox game store. For a lot of these indie studios, putting something on gamepass means actually less money than they could make if they just outright sold it. Xbox console sales are so low, so therefore it also means even bothering to put the title on Xbox store at all is too much risk and not worth the investment. With the switch 2 coming soon, plus the rise of PC handhelds I honestly don’t see a place for an Xbox at all. I still see a place for Sony, Nintendo and definitely PC.

[@hatchetman3662]

I swear if Microsoft kills id Software, I'll never spend another dollar on an Xbox game or console. id is my favorite studio owned by Microsoft, these days. The idea of id getting the axe is unforgivable.

[@jervey123]

if they do that, i'd cancel game pass in a heartbeat... it may not be the same legendary team that broke gaming history anymore, but you can't mess with the hardest of the hardest of goats and get away scot free

[@RobertCoxEsq]

LDog dropping an insightful take. This is part of why i'm here

[@epicninjaz117]

Some would say he's the Gandhi of gaming

[@mypal1990]

For those who are affected by those studio closures, my heart aches for them. Hopefully they can get back on their feet.

[@ksks6802]

If your heart really aches for people being laid off...then cash out and quit your 401k and refrain from reinvestment. Your 401k is the main beneficiary of corporate layoffs.

[@MicaiahBaron]

​@@ksks6802There's always that guy in the comments. "You should fix problems that are caused by and should be fixed by holding shitty executives possible". Don't punish customers, punish executives and don't let up.

[@ksks6802]

@@MicaiahBaron please tell me you know that CEOs do what dictates the stock market? I'm assuming your of a younger generation. Stop kicking the can down the road for other generations to fix. Screwing with the corps money is the only thing that they understand. Do better with your thought process in the future.

[@Tetragrammaton22]

@@ksks6802 You are delusional if you think regular working class people who have a few thousand in some investments are going to have any influence on the decision making of CEOs in massive multinational corporations.

[@ksks6802]

@@Tetragrammaton22 I like how you instantly used some of the biggest corporations in the world to compare to consumer investment, kinda eroded my trust in your logic but let's roll with it. Older folks in their 40s let's say are usually invested in those more stable established corporations. Because they yield less risk for people who aren't gonna work much longer. At least I'm providing a solution and the rest of you are shouting angrily into the void of the internet....the generation of "all bark and no bite". Lol. And I thought my generation sucked.

[@thegreatcow]

Well said sir. You break this whole situation down well enough as depressing as it is. It definitely paints a picture of a really rocky future for smaller AA studios like you and Bruce alluded to in your previous video.

[@CJGriesmeyer]

Lawrence, this was such outstanding reporting. An extremely fair, measured, and largely unemotional approach that really captures I think one of the deeper understandings of the industry. It has been so cool to watch you grow as one of my early favs on Funhaus into what you and Bruce are doing now, and am excited to see what you create with the new hires you mentioned. Keep killing it dude, and if they blow Doom 3 I'm sure a AA will make a cooler one.

[@jonathanw7317]

Double Fine better watch out. Time to turn Costume Quest into a live service game? Broken Age with micro transaction hint systems? Psychonauts endless runner for mobile?

[@KantFromEC]

Gaming needs a consumer movement not unlike the recent ‘digitine’ movement taking over social media regarding celebrities. We need to promote not purchasing AAA titles until we see a dramatic shift in priorities and oversight in how these games are made. This is absolutely unsustainable and we’re headed for another collapse. Budgets are out of control, successful studios are being shuttered for not be Uber-successful and games are increasing getting worse with support and quality control, a new live service every single day comes out that doesn’t get supported because of critical misunderstanding of the market. People need to unilaterally stop purchasing AAA titles and play small private studio games.

[@kitestar]

That buyout was the worst possible thing to ever happen, and there were people who pushed for it…well, they were wrong

[@vonnblagaming984]

Games held on hostage, Devs has nothing to do but bend over. Industry will be monopolize. It was never a good idea to begin with. Xbox fans are just too damn desperate

[@kitestar]

@@vonnblagaming984 indeed…

[@jasperhorne]

​@@vonnblagaming984 why is it xbox fans fault?

[@vonnblagaming984]

@@jasperhorne cuz they justify the move as good for the industry. Where as they think it just benefits the Xbox platform

[@betag24cn]

i hope they are happy now, they claimed that it was sony fanboys and just people full of envy, i really hope they are happy

[@Viperspider1]

100% Lawrence, AA gaming is where it's at. Higher quality games by smaller teams for

[@t-rexreximus359]

I think not making Hi-Fi Rush 2 (but this time with actual marketing! ) was a huge missed opportunity for Xbox. If they had got an animated Netflix Hi-Fi Rush show lined up in tandem with the game sequel - I think it would have sold really well! Animated shows like Arcane & Castlevania are really popular right now & the Cyberpunk show boosted sales for CDPR. Fallout show is now really boosting that IP too. It doesn’t alway work (Halo), but I think Hi-Fi Rush would have worked really well for a quirky animated show

[@Son1cJ3t]

They still own the IP, they just canned the game studio. Which is emblematic of a bigger problem with copyright laws and also how corporations like Microsoft demand growth & consolidation to expand their overall market share.

[@jtexcahua]

Awesome insight. Corpo mindset doesnt end with "did I make money" it goes farther to ask "could I have made more money" and thats exactly where we get these wild brutal cuts regardless of good sales numbers or following

[@titntin5178]

Thank you for this piece - it's one of the most grounded and logical takes on the situation I've seen. As a former Bullfrog employee who has experienced being taken over (by EA) and then ground to the dust like so many other creative studios before and after, it was clear to me where the ABK acquisition was leading. All those cheerleading the take over were blinded to the fact that this kind of spend brought xbox right into the clutches of the main corporation and will result in the death of many other smaller creative studios. This is just the start.

[@InlandQuarter]

Something to consider… single digit profit margins when pegged against double digit inflation for resources always looks like a loss to corpos. “Greed” is kind of the lazy answer and ignores the macro that leads to “passing costs to customers”

[@lycanwarrior2137]

Not to mention that single-digit profit margin looks bad to an investor when compared to just stuffing your money into "risk-free" CD or Treasury Bill paying 5% interest.

[@robertobrien1069]

I mean to argue the capitalist point of it, sort of, but also not really. You stand to make money in capitalism from putting your capital at risk. That’s exactly what happened here. Xbox leveraged a shit ton of Microsoft’s capital to buy new studios, fund massive AAA games, and sell consoles at a loss. They were able to spend the capital on the promise of x revenue compared to y cost of the acquisitions. They didn’t, and this was likely the last straw. All things considered, I’m surprised Phil Spencer still has a job. I think he has done a great job at repairing the Xbox brand, but he has consistently underperformed compared to Sony, and thus Microsoft’s expectations. Microsoft allowed Phil Spencer to buy public opinion in the wake of the mishandling of the 8th generation of consoles. There would be no golden days of Game Pass or Xbox Series S without the stupid Kinect and $500 launch price. Xbox One was a disaster compared to Xbox 360, they had to do everything they can to win back some marketshare. But the fact of the matter is, Lawrence is absolutely correct, the future of gaming is on PC and Mobile. Hobbyist gamers will switch to PC and casual gamers who bought an Xbox to play Madden or FIFA will be able to do that through streaming. Microsoft basically already owns the PC, that’s why they’re able to make a 35% profit margin, they have a monopoly on the personal computer operating system, so they can charge whatever they want. Why would they continue to operate in a sector where they can only make a single digit profit? That’s why it’s not really capitalistic because what Microsoft would really like is to stop competing with Playstation. They don’t care. They’re happy to give up and let Sony win the console war because Xbox is a hobby to Microsoft compared to their practice of printing money from Windows and Office licenses. They’re much happier to sell you a license for an OS that costs them pennies on the dollar to develop, for you to use on hardware that they don’t have to subsidize. To then let you rent games from them on a network that you don’t own. That’s what it boils down to, they’re coming for the untapped PC market. All those gamers who aren’t paying for a third-party network to host their games, that’s free money right there, and they’ll get to control your operating system so that you have to pay for it. Welcome to the future, it sucks.

[@puregarbage2329]

Common Lawrence W

[@efrainjrivera]

I've been a video game business enthusiast for a bit. Glad to see Lawrence is too. It's always fun trying to understand why decisions are made. The big corp vs the little guy tends to be a boring oversimplification of what is another face of human activity.

[@timgoewey9192]

I love to see these more thought piece type videos along with the normal news stuff. Thanks Inside Games!

[@tubularmonkeymaniac]

How have I never heard of this channel. This was so we’ll write. Full of unique insight. Thanks!

[@DV-ou1yu]

Well written* lol

[@Ciaranion]

Great video would love more of these single topic kind of videos. I'm not really in the gaming world anymore but just enjoyable to here smart discussion.

[@Superbattheman1]

The core of it that bothers me is that this all started as a result of Xbox spending 70 billion to buy a activision/blizzard rather than spending a fraction of that bolstering the studios they already had

[@BetweenTheLyons]

The fact that Microsoft values Call of Duty and Warcraft at 66 billion more dollars than Disney paid for Star Wars *WHEN IT WAS STILL POPULAR* says a lot about their future prospects. They think they're going to make that money back fairly quickly. Don't forget Microsoft already has to pay Sony a fee every time they make a console because Sony owns Blu-ray technology. They are bleeding money left and right and attempting to move everything to a live service format, while losing out on the funds people would normally spend on Xbox exclusives because they're on Game Pass Day 1 for a fraction of the cost. They haven't known what they should be doing since Xbox One.

[@igoriksanov9539]

As sad as it is to see these studios go, I understand their decision as a short term business decision. These studios are pretty niche and don't generate substantial subscription growth. What I'm wondering is if these decisions were worth the massive hit on their public image and the confidence of their developers.

[@wallengene]

Absolutely love the content. It's always nice and nostalgic to see you and Bruce together still. Also adding Kasem to the gameplays is always fun. Keep it up guys, yall rock

[@johnconstantine7442]

Thanks!

[@Joesmags]

It’s a shame AAA gaming is turning into the fast food industry in nearly every way

[@sterntoaction1]

Thanks for having a realistic and sound take on this. I got tired of the mass amount of youtube complain about business decisions and morals. I agree with how you stated at that time it was truth but when situations changes so does the facts. IT'S ALL ABOUT MONEY Great Job

[@mister-monkeyman]

The Gamepass golden goose would've been Helldivers 2. Perfect use of a Live Service

[@numatruehome100]

Oh god you are describing this industry turning into verbatim the anime industry, a hell on earth for creatives

[@JollyGiant19]

The sad part is they do it to themselves too. So many people just sign up for the abuse to do what they love or to get recognition when they’d be better off doing it as a side thing.

[@chaosXP3RT]

Its unfortunate, but it in some entertainment industries, corporations are anathema to success. I don't think what Xbox, Sony and Warner Bros. have done recently are coincidences. All of the smaller companies they bought out are failing because the corporate model simply does not work. Not everything can be easily maximized for quarterly profit all the time. Video games are an art form that inherently require risk by developers. Same for some episodic animations/shows.

[@JonahAGoldstein]

A lot of your final conclusion is similar to my take on the film industry. Right now, the art is being held by independent cinema that isn’t creating the massive revenue the larger studios are seeking. Though that resulted in companies like A24 needing to license massive brands like Friday the 13th to bring in more money, and can result in less of the vibrant films we’ve seen over the last 10 years. We need more people willing to put aside the professionalism you “need” to see onscreen, and open ourselves to the artists who are proud to work with what they have and are earnest in their art. KZbin is a solid distribution platform, but I wish there were platforms such as Tubi aren’t owned by larger studios and are instead independently owned. That’s a major reason why I am a huge supporter of Troma and their streaming service/film.

[@miningapple1058]

What’s even scarier to me is if any of these smaller titles make the sales goal what does that mean for the next one in the series.

[@newajseyes]

I LOVE these videos when Lawrence just talks to camera. His insight is eye opening

[@ClicheSk8r]

I would argue "id" also has Quake to play with, which hey, that has a history of multiplayer delight! I wouldn't be surprised to see them be pushed to make a live-service Quake game tbh

[@sethlesliereeves]

it is genuinely remarkable to watch a gaming news video on youtube that feels less reactionary than the multibillion dollar corporation it’s about. informative, analytical + enjoyable. this rules lawrence

[@perassma]

Smashing it mate, nice work

[@retrohillzone1267]

"Invest in a PC" I'm literally starting a PC build, my first PC! I feel like PS and Xbox have been dropping the ball lately, and there's so much more out there that aren't on consoles

[@mygetawayart]

might be an obvious thing to say, but i think we'll be seeing the rift between indie gaming and high-budget gaming widen to the point where they become two completely distinct and independent realities from one another, that don't ever mix because it's beneficial to neither to do so. I mean, it's already like this, but with more and more indie games coming out and more and more A or AA studios being shut down with their talent scattered to the wind, we'll see basically two distinct yet equally beloved classes of gaming in the market. More creative/innovative studios will not even want to gamble on the AAA market as it becomes a lot more hostile to them.

[@gman7497]

I 1000% agree with this, there will be 'games' for enthusiasts and then 'interactive entertainment products' for everyone else. There may be a bit of overlap but as you said, the gap will widen over time.

[@alm1ghtymatt]

Is it corporate greed? Or simply capitalism working as intended? (Or not working depending on the the context)

[@zuni4ful]

Not working in the long run

[@mightguy911]

Well capitalism is so far been the best form of government humans have done so far and is responsible for the greatest prosperity in human history as of now.

[@N0Name0K]

@@mightguy911lol you’re funny

[@LS1056]

​@@mightguy911not form of government. Form of economy. You can't say it's the best as it does lead to corporatism, like now

[@nateli6892]

@@mightguy911 Capitalism worked to an extent and helped pushed technology and society forward, but it’s not the perfect answer to everything. We’re reaching the tipping point and the foundation is cracking. Without some correction or support, corporate greed is going continually make things worse for society.

[@johnkummer7578]

Another option for them is to trim all outflows of cash and clean up all around the balance sheet to make them totally saleable but I don't know other companies that would want to buy them so got to show a profit for their stockholders. Even Bathesda in their connection to the tv show fallout put in the deal of fiduciary responsibility to their stockholders to make money! That leaves anyone other than owners will not make money or even be able to get service when the service part of it is sold off. lol Catch 22

[@JWUniverse]

Even though it had Comedy music, this was about as personal as it could get. And I appreciate that about you! Keep up the great work, and I agree it may get worse from here on out. I hope no one else buys another company because I don’t want this happening to anyone else or there families!

[@MrEandn]

You guys are the best!

[@BlackOni]

I was literally just about to go to twitter to talk about the dark and light side of where we're at right now. The AA space has been incredibly interesting these past few years, it's really putting the "AAAA" space on notice. Great video as always

[@jjw6961]

Microsoft's CEO was compensated ~$49.5M between base salary, bonus, and other comp in 2023.

[@sncrdcr]

There’s no way it was that low

[@MaterialBlade]

Hello Lawrence my old friend. I'm hear to watch your show again.

[@j-squeezy]

Lawrence the 🐐 I appreciate the talk of the financials of xbox

[@Bluemaverick11]

These acquisitions are killing the gaming industry.

[@Timjohnrob]

Bruce is my dad. he got sold off to increase profits for Inside Games.

[@NovusDundus]

I suspect MS will strip down and put any existing subscription models from bought studios into GP That makes some sense and would be a decent incentive if say, Live Service things in CoD and others were discounted or even included in GP Ultimate

[@t-rexreximus359]

Great analysis! 👍

[@paynexkiller]

Only one thing can save Xbox. Splosion Man 3.

[@Andrew-bj5kx]

Yep - Extend, embrace, extinguish. That's been Microsoft's MO for forever. This is pretty standard practice for them. They're not about product, they're about market control. Not just in games, but everywhere. But Phil Spencer knew that and that was a huge reason in buying those studios. And I guarantee once they finish this round of closures with Bethesda and in Activision, the dust settles, Microsoft may start growing a little and Xbox fans have forgotten and/or forgiven them for this, and they're going to be on the hunt for more studios. I'd be surprised if they didn't have their eyes on EA or even 2K, just waiting for them to make a misstep and swoop in to purchase them (or maybe even Take Two before GTA comes out, but that's a stretch). They've explicitly said their goal is to buy out the competition and starve the rest - right in line with Microsoft. If they're left unchecked, this honestly could be the start of a very slow and serious decline to the gaming industry as a whole, leaving only one or two publishers with maybe two consoles (Nintendo's and one other) on the market. PC will be the only way to go, buying indie games, but even still I don't see a lot of that, just considering the money it would take. And if they get too big risk being bought by one of the two big ones and extinguished like the rest. Hooray for unregulated late stage capitalism woooo

[@shawngaines1117]

yeah I don't think they'll be allowed to do any of that they barely got Activision damn acquiring any more AAA Studios is going to be an issue like genuinely it's not going to be as easy as people think it Will be

[@Andrew-bj5kx]

@@shawngaines1117 I honestly hope you're right. I really do. Just given how these things are treated in American courts, especially even more so over the last 5-10 years, they always tend to side with corporations. And especially now that there's a precedent set with Microsoft buying Activision, any party trying to stop another large acquisition like that is going to have even harder of a time. And given that the FCC and others failed with the first, short of a straight literal monopoly, I don't see it getting any easier for them to shut down another one. Also looking at the mergers happening in the media industry, telecommunications industry, and others, bigger, more eyebrow-raising mergers have gone through unscathed. I don't see Microsoft having too many legal issues. Maybe I'm just a nihilist. But I've had a pretty good personal track-record with predicting these things, which kinda bums me out. Again though, I really really hope you're right.

[@brytonrobinson]

Your closing on this video was perfect. As bleak as the future is, the middle layer that you mentioned is vibrant. Thank you for making this!

[@Dylan-xg8lz]

great video! My friends say there are no good games any more. That may be true for AAA games, but AA and indie games are releasing great games more and more.

[@Slagomancer]

Love you Law Dog, thanks for doing these deep dives and for Inside Games in general :)

[@J3strX]

Ive been playing Hi-Fi rush on ps5 a bit. Seeing all the evil within easter eggs makes me sad that we (probably) wont get a 3rd and final installment

[@lambdachi107-gamingandmusi2]

I cannot agree more with Lawrence at the end of the video. I encourage every gamer out there to invest in a PC; it has the biggest catalogue of games oftentimes at great deals. Also, with Xbox putting all their games on Steam and Sony gearing towards much of the same, I would advise skipping the next console generation because I guarantee you there would be little to no advantage compared to what a PC has to offer.

[@Ravenna_Black]

I feel like this is going to really push me fully into indie and retro gaming. Though Ive been on that track for a long time. I enjoy finding those charming inventive ideas coming out of that scene. And the pure genius and tenacity of the retro scene to revive and port those older experiences to new hardware. It does hurt that Ill probably never see that pure Quake III Arena style game if they kill id but that genre really does along time ago so I might as well be holding my breath for a Starcraft Ghost revival.

[@TheTyper]

Hey Lawrence, can you explain things a little further on 10:45? Examples in games would help I think. Like, are you referring to indie games Sony paid for like that creator game or smaller team games like Helldivers 2 while not OWNING those studios? Whereas iD, Machineganes, Obsidion are studios Microsoft owns and keeps their lights and payroll running? Just trying to understand the distinction. Nice vid!

[@J.a.v.i]

Yeah, Phil Spencer screwed up by convincing Microsoft to spend $100 Billion Dollars to acquire game studios. The more money spent the higher the expectations. This is why Phil Spencer is no longer at the wheel, it's Microsoft's higherups driving the Xbox ship now. Phil Spencer would have been better off outbidding Sony on 3rd party exclusives... would had been much cheaper as well.

[@matthewpletsch7523]

What I'm scared of, is now that a lot of companies know they could be on the chopping block, do we see people leave the jobs early?

[@TheNotSure]

And corporate taxes used to be at 35%. Corporations had to pay taxes. Now, not so much. 🤦‍♂️ There goes what could cover universal healthcare btw.

[@crushingit5128]

Not really. Turns out universal healthcare would save the US government money. The subsidies the government pays (not including what we pay as customers on top) cost more than if the government was to just pay for every single medical expense directly. So it costs more money for the government to fund a private company that already over charges customers.

[@victorecheverria8213]

I love listening to Lawrence talk, it leaves me informed and positive - which seem to be mutually exclusive in recent years.

[@styloyt]

This entire situation is so depressing, to be honest. Thanks for explaining it in more detail, Laurence.

[@icantthinkofagoodusername4464]

I think one of the largest reasons for why Microsoft closed the studios they did was that these studios had little in active development. If they need to cut down on their studios, it makes sense to target an area they don't have the time or allocated resources to manage effectively so studios under Bethesda make sense to target, but from reporting on the closures we learned that both Arkane and Tango were only in the process of pitching their next projects which means not much money would've been invested in ongoing development on them. If they were in the middle of even pre-production that'd be a significant amount of money wasted on those projects if they got shut down alongside the studios but since neither studios were at that stage of development there's nowhere near as much lost investment.

[@devjoenet]

This is probably the the most realistic level headed take on this situation. Very well put together man!

[@katdonvee]

I really wish corporations in general would see their workers and consumers as investments rather than trying to bleed them dry. I've become so disenchanted with how these businesses run.

[@kappy2207]

I love it when Lawerence speaks what's on his mind. Through, emotional, academic, purposeful, and passionate. hopefully, we will see more of Lawrence letting it out

[@mouldypretzel]

Everything is corpo greed now. Doesn't only apply to gaming. It's every industry. The corporate world is in the middle of the biggest cash grab that I have seen in my 40 years of life

[@SuperRaiz0]

Great video, Lawrence. Very insightful. I dig the natural style of your delivery, and the editor did great too. Keep em coming!

[@rizaldard3835]

it might be the backlash from gamer and Xbox fans that disappointed because newly acquired ip from Activision and Bethesda planned to release multi-platform...

[@jollyruthless8219]

this is smart, I wish everyone made video's with thinking and not just rage. Great analysis!

[@Gigawood]

The part I find so infuriating about closing the likes of Tango etc is: Where do they expect the *next* AAA blockbuster to come from? Most of the blockbuster franchises are over two *decades* old!

[@stevesilvasi5843]

Ben trying to save for a PC for several years now. Talk about a goal post moving. 8 years now.

[@bartman64]

I would love to break into the PC sphere, but I've been hesitant because I don't know where to start. Maybe you could make a guide video?

[@LaigledeMeaux]

Great video Lawrence. It sucks out there right now. I wish "profit over all" wasn't such an ingrained thing in these big corporations. If you have a shit ton of employees, a shit ton of properties, tons of costs, and are STILL making profit (even in the single digits) then I feel like that should be good enough? Your end of video speech about mid range games is interesting. I agree that is where the good future of videogames is going to be. It's kind of funny though because I feel like the past 10 years or so we kind of stopped seeing any significant amount of AA games. It was either AAA or indie. Very few in between. I am starting to see a bit more pop up, and with all the closures I can definitely see those developers joining smaller outfits and producing lighter scope games.

[@MyName-gl1bs]

@Lawrence @Bruce if you guys need a physicist with imaging and AIML experience please let me know!

[@OMGWTFBBQ232]

Really enjoyed this video, hope you make more of these

[@johnmetzakis2910]

its something i have started to espouse more having picked up game creation first a a hobby but starting to lean more into the indisphere, is that gamers need to become more aware and support the indi side of gaming. where passion over profit is the focus, and should an indi become a hit have the balls to turn down corporate interests. thus eventually starve them out of the gaming space as investment loses interest, or forces corporation owned studios to change tact. its a big ask but, there is enough talent and tool accessibility at a low enough cost that indi titles can be on par or better than mainstream AAA in terms of quality, the only deciding factor is time. gamers would also need to be patient

[@cbardis]

Give the average person Microsoft money and 10 studios, they would accidentally produce far more games than Xbox has over the past 15 years.

[@seedofpower]

Thanks for building your case Lawrence. I have also been thinking about this, as xbox has some of my favorite smaller ips (AoE, psychonauts, state of decay), and I couldn't understand why. It makes more sense now under this context. It also feels like xbox is now just catching up to the industry as a whole unfortunately. Big publishers only focusing on big live service games. If they start to shutter studios in the 40-50 tier, I'm gonna take a sick day off work.

[@Haysey_Draws]

I started feeling late last year that AAA games started feeling a bit like junk food. You enjoy them, but i kinda turn my brain off when playing them. So i started making the move to indies and AA games and i've been WAY more fed this year, so much so i'm getting a Steamdeck to enjoy more of them. It's good in that we have so many great ideas happening in that space, but man does it suck for ANYONE trapped under a big corpo like MS or Embracer (or whatever it's calling itself now)

[@misdemeanor61]

Honestly I have let my Gamepass lapse because the value for me isn't there, for the last few years I have only played maybe 4 games that I would have been better off buying outright. If it hadn't been for the ability to convert gold to Gamepass ultimate at a 1 to 1 ratio for only a dollar I would have canceled it long ago, plus I have always paid for Gold in yearly increments and I was fine doing that with Gamepass if it was avaliable for $120-$150 a year but at 200 a year and no yearly option I'm out. They tried to make Gamepass a good by acquiring all these studios but by doing that they have to price it so high that the value isn't there unless your playing 6+ hours a day.

[@musguera]

Nice message in the end. Pay attention to AA and indie games on PC, best games today are there, and the best ones are ported to consoles. We may look forward for a few AAA games or especific devs like FromSoftware and Larian, but innovation rarely will come from there.

[@thanu56]

So you mean to say that they’re gonna announce ES6 in the upcoming showcase and rush its development???

[@smalltime0]

Erm, if they didn't rush it to market with day 1 game breaking bugs, it wouldn't be an Elder Scrolls game.

[@thanu56]

@@smalltime0 yeah.... But unlike Starfield, I would prefer game breaking bugs over incomplete or shallow content. Just give us the console and a means to "fix" the game when we encounter the bugs!

[@Miner_Bob]

Great video Lawrence! I wouldn’t mind having a video every now and then where Lawrence just talks about a story he’s passionate about like this

[@liltaxer]

Where's Bruce, i wanna hear his opinion on marvel rivals.

[@b4lderm]

Thanks for the insight, unfortunately this is the current landscape: companies buying studios just to prevent them from releasing hits on competing platforms then closing them down to cut costs. Hope all the people that have been removed will get back together into an independent studio again.