I feel nothing. That’s my cue to get off the internet for the day. I’ll evaluate how I feel about Xbox later.
2 Likes
Seeing that the layoff thread for the day one article is locked? I’m assuming this one will get merged into that one later one? Or like there’s gonna be a different new thread? Idk. I’m really assuming that when I get back online I’ll see 100s of new replies in some thread.
Man creativity doesn’t work with capitalism. That’s probably what pisses me off the most about the memo & blog post. This promise of creativity and beauty of gaming while still gutting all this talent, laying off all these creatives, and actively telling us that resources will be funneled into less new IP & more familiar franchises. That’s not creativity it’s just capitalism. This isn’t the arts & humanities it’s penny pushing. I mean heck, just say that creativity doesn’t sell. Xbox’s most successful game is now COD, we know that. Just stop pretending that Microsoft & Xbox stand for something that they clearly don’t. I’ve always known Xbox is a for profit that exists to make money for Microsoft. Just stop trying to spin this like this was all some necessary reset and on the other side is sunshine and rainbows. You can’t simultaneously say, “This is all about money.” and “Boy do we love creativity & the spirit of gaming.”
2 Likes
I’m not opposed to Microsoft focusing on AAA franchises and getting the big games out faster. I wish that meant hiring more developers instead of laying them off. Sad to see Double Fine and Ninja Theory go in particular. Double Fine is a special dev and I have some good memories of their XBLA games. Ninja Theory feels like a missed opportunity to grow Senua into the kind of big action adventure IP that Xbox says it wants but I guess it wasn’t to be.
Sad day for Xbox and I have very mixed feelings about where the platform goes from here.
1 Like
Since the other threads are locked is this where we can talk about this?
For one let me start by saying condolences go out to the 1600 laid off today and the further 1600 being laid off this year, hope they land on their feet and find success.
Now gotta just say WTF was the game media doing the last couple of weeks throwing every damn MS studio in the mix to get shutdown?
Seriously WTF, every rumor and snide remark was turned into a breaking news article in multiple places proclaiming the death of Xbox as they lopped off every studio they owned according to them, and as it turns out NO studios are being closed at all.
Damn click bait happy media loves to fucking spiral out negative Xbox news for weeks at a time and when the actual things hits it’s nothing like they portrayed it in the news.
Next time WAIT for the fucking announcements instead of click bait crap.
Yea this is a shift and a change in the org but holy crap the way the media has been going the last few weeks you’d think MS pulled a Sega or something.
Tired of people making money off of negative Xbox news click bait and ignoring other shit going down that is much worse for the industry.
4 Likes
Things are bad but seemingly not as bad as the rumors had people believing. Not sure if that counts as a silver lining or just an indication of how desperate people are to see Xbox fail and always believe the worst about them.
I saw some posts on another board saying that gamers should send Xbox a message by making these studios’ next games big successes. You mean the same studios that you were actively crusading against before today?
3 Likes
1 Like
Genuine question but what alternatives are they to funding games outside a large corp or investors seeking a return?
The lack of awareness and constant hypocrisy is maddening, because there’s kind of a collective punishment for studios if you are under Microsoft you are responsible for joining the evil company but if they shut you down or sell you suddenly I care about you.
It’s a bad day, but I can’t help but feel it was needed, XBOX simply got too big, too fast & never looked to spare a thought for cashflow & paying for all the new employees & their pensions never mind trying to coordinate all those studios & games .
The buyout really should have stopped with Bethesda, but were are where we are.
If these cuts means XBOX studios are more nimble & have games with a shorter development time, I’m for it.
AI was going to mean we saw massive cuts IMO anyway. I’m so glad I don’t work in the IT sector, but in GE Aerospace. The next few years will be brutal for those in the tech sector IMO
The media (Tom, Schreier specifically) were right on everything they reported except the number of people affected.
They named all 5 studios and the fact they were negociating, they said there would layoffs at ID and looks like that’s happening. With Zos being a new report a long with ID.
I understand being angry that they’re doing their jobs and reporting on tje info they have. But that is their job, Hoogle turned news into an attention economy, if they don’t report they don’t make any money.
I hope that’s true. And yes it sucks that Xbox bought all these small studios, told them to make small artsy games for Game Pass and are now getting rug pulled because actually, we only want Gears and Fallout. That’s a management failure and it’s on Xbox leadership.
You’re right that Jason, Tom Warren, and even Jez at the big sites were pretty much bang on. I think the complaint is more about smaller “insiders” who were talking about studios like Obsidian and Id being in danger.
It might be that, or it might be pre-pandemic and pre-AI math went completely against any of their forecasting and cost structures for what has been happening. If there was no pandemic, no AI race, who’s to way there simply wasn’t gonna be this much carnage? Now it doesn’t excuse it, because even after they can still sustain all that and more, but it’s simply the reality that the math changed unexpectedly for us to say that the initial fast growth is the problem that led to this specifically
1 Like
They’r part of the media and the people that generally break these stories.
As for Obsidian, Jeff Grubb confirmed there were discussions on closing them. But they didn’t last for more than a day.
1 Like
I know it sucks, but no matter how people say they want new unique games & how they’re bored with AAA gaming. They still rush out to buy the new COD, Gears or Resident Evil games & overlook the likes of Keeper, even XBOX fans
I love Double Fine but they’re too far out there, even Grim Fandango was too wacky for the masses & Compulsion Games never made any sense to me, but that’s my view
1 Like
Too true.
1 Like
It was COVID
But even people who wanted lockdowns to last forever, started to get bored & wanted to go back out in the outside world. So you were never going to maintain COVID levels of spending & hours played on consoles, a few year’s down the line
Also for me even if XBOX was doing as well as the 360 era in terms of sales, we would still see massive layoff’s becasue of AI.
AI is going to do for tech world, what China did for heavy industry jobs in the west . It going to be brutal with massive job losses & communities ruined
“Microsoft is still planning to release the Project Helix console, still planning to operate Game Pass—a nearly $5 billion a year recurring revenue business, for which it’ll still sign new deals, the source privy to Microsoft’s plans told Game File.”
3 Likes
For the record and honestly goes without saying, but this would have been the best time to say either “we’re third party now” or “we are sold to someone else.” Just saying.