Johnny Awesome
Veteran
Too many axes to grind in here. Very sad.
Xbox Business Update Podcast | Xbox Everywhere Direction Discussion
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arandomguy
Regular
That was one part of it, however there were lots of article and pushes on forums about it spying on you
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Could the NSA use Microsoft's Xbox One to spy on you?
Skype swore wiretaps weren't possible before recent reports. Is Kinect next?www.theverge.com
here is an article from that time
Just to clarify I don't mean there was no sentiments regarding that but I'm referring to how it might have affected Xbox One adoption and just from parties (primarily unaffected) looking to gripe.
Yes I'm sure like always people might just look for confirmation bias but the real problem ultimately was the XB1 was more expensive while not just offering nothing to the core audience but less then the alternative. At the same time I suspect the high price itself (unlike the Wii) also made it not attractive to the new audiences that they were looking for either.
I don’t understand how executives can be this tone deaf. There’s no way the employees see this as leadership. Morale has to be off the charts low.
Its quite surprising he said this just after shutting down a studio that delivered a well made AA studio. Super tone deaf bordering humiliation. Him and Phil did all this tbh.
It's easier to imagine convenient scenarios when reality strikes hard.
All signs show the elimination and streamlining of costs, regardless of output or how well studios do by themselves, as the strategy seems to view now MS's game production as a singular entity that focuses only on specific franchises and types of games. Pretty much like a fast food industry of gaming.
Lots of ongoing conversation on this...
www.eurogamer.net
www.eurogamer.net
Hi-Fi Rush 2, potential new Dishonored game were reportedly being pitched by now-closed Xbox studios
Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks were reportedly in the process of pitching sequels to two much-loved titles - namely …
www.eurogamer.net
Newscast: Is the closure of Hi-Fi Rush and Redfall's studios a sign the Xbox Game Pass publishing model is failing?
This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss the future of Xbox after the announcement Microsoft is shutting a swath…
www.eurogamer.net
This one is actually a strong consideration. GP is about a big library to attract lots of gamers. MS's large number of studios is all about filling it with content. Yet these closures are anathema to that; MS seems to be reigning in their broad, diverse output for GP to focus on bigger franchises that'll sell cross plat. Or they feel GP doesn't benefit from a broad, diverse library and just needs blockbusters, but the economics of blockbusters on GP is more questionable.
Putting a bigger emphasis on fewer, larger blockbusters is riskier than anything, though. Any failure there will be even more damaging. It's literally what every major publisher should be trying to get away from, especially ones like Microsoft who dont know how to spend money efficiently. It's not sustainable, because games will inevitably fail on occasion, and yet the publishers cannot afford for them to do so(or at least cannot justify it to shareholders...).Lots of ongoing conversation on this...
Hi-Fi Rush 2, potential new Dishonored game were reportedly being pitched by now-closed Xbox studios
Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks were reportedly in the process of pitching sequels to two much-loved titles - namely …
Newscast: Is the closure of Hi-Fi Rush and Redfall's studios a sign the Xbox Game Pass publishing model is failing?
This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss the future of Xbox after the announcement Microsoft is shutting a swath…
This one is actually a strong consideration. GP is about a big library to attract lots of gamers. MS's large number of studios is all about filling it with content. Yet these closures are anathema to that; MS seems to be reigning in their broad, diverse output for GP to focus on bigger franchises that'll sell cross plat. Or they feel GP doesn't benefit from a broad, diverse library and just needs blockbusters, but the economics of blockbusters on GP is more questionable.
Not to mention that just throwing ever more money and people at these bigger games isn't really gonna increase chances of success. Large AAA games that 'miss' nowadays generally aren't doing so because they didn't have enough people or money. Management and vision is key. Which makes it hard to feel confident in such a strategy given Xbox's lacking in these departments.
I dont see anybody here trying to grind any axe. I see a bunch of people deeply frustrated with Xbox's actions and very worried for where things might be headed. Even if you're not a big Xbox fan, being one of the big platform owners in the business, and having bought up large portions of the gaming industry, they are quite important to the health of the industry as a whole, so it's all very relevant to gamers in general.
It's genuinely hard to find any kind of reasonable optimism at the moment.
Article in Eurogamer: What is the point of Xbox?
I wonder what formula they are following, what the data actually suggests? How robust is the 'mathematical model' they are using to determine the best way to invest on game development?
Not just MS's actions but publishers in general. Small, capable studios are being terminated left, right and centre.
true, the model is failing, I commented on a thread started by @Johnny Awesome
For instance, the PS5 is selling very well, the problem of Sony isn't sales but a model that, due to costs, no longer works and is exploding in their faces and on top of that the general public doesn't seem to miss it either.
If you sell bad like the Xbox, closing studios might be inevitable. If you don't make profits and, conversely, you end up closing studios even though you are selling well, you are doing something wrong. (this doesn´t happen with Nintendo)
Xbox focus on AAA gaming to survive or have a chance isn't working, nor is the Xbox as a brand.
The AAA model is kinda broken. Thanks god we have the indie games and smaller but super brilliant games to save our lives.
Tbh, I barely completed AAA games as of late. Last one I played is RE4 Remake but I loved RE2 Remake much more, 'cos it's a fun game with the correct duration and can be completed in less than a hour and a half if you know how to play -one of my latest great achievements-.
Indie games, Steam gems here and there, shmups, local co-op games with fun mechanics to play with the family (oddly enough pc gamepass have quite a few of them), visual novels, etc, is what I play nowadays. Steam is your friend.
Making good, profitable games 'will no longer keep you safe': industry expresses fury and heartbreak over closure of Hi-Fi Rush and Prey studios
Gamers and game developers are reeling from yet another wave of layoffs and studio closures.
This quote sums it up...
Also, in support of my early response on this closure of profitable studios just not being good enough more insane growth ambitions:
Also i feel a lot of the complaints and anecdotes are mirroring modern-day Sony - they too are heading the same way.
Edit: It's an article full of contrary quotes from MS execs. What they say and what they do have little correlation.
Just buying studios and getting larger doesn't actually work?
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And this is very true, but are they being forced into that lane by MS and the sheer volume of pressure they are exerting on the market with GP and multi-billion dollar deals? Sony are a much smaller, financialy, company that can really only react to MS's actions. They see the threat from MS and can only combat this if they can generate the revenue they need to survive. MS is, in a way, screwing it up for Sony as well as themselves.
Sony should just do their own thing like they used to. Whatever moves MS is making, they aren't succeeding. Buying huge publishers and then axing studios and collecting big IPs isn't going to rob Sony of market- or mind-share. Sony should go back to PS's roots of a diverse library of games from middling to stellar and appeal to everyone.
Another story, Tango Gameworks saying they were fortunate to have the opportunity to experiment with safety so they didn't feel pressured to chase a conventional profit model.
He just wanted to be a going concern, a studio that could sustain itself on creativity with the safety net that when a title or two fail, they keep going. Think of Insomniac with Fuse, or even Sunset Overdrive. Had they been owned by one of these megapublishers, they'd probably have been axed by now.
translation:
Someone threw a nuclear bomb at Phil Spencer's camp in Fallout 76.
Fallout 76 is one of the video games that Phil plays the most. I don't know what to make of this.
Someone threw a nuclear bomb at Phil Spencer's camp in Fallout 76.
Fallout 76 is one of the video games that Phil plays the most. I don't know what to make of this.
Such contradictions arent anything new. Remember during merge PR campain, they even tried to paint their big IP acquisitions as some sort of content preservation, even as far as; shielding console industry from amazon google tencent alikes had been implyed. Per leaked emails, in the same timeframe , Booty proposed to "outspend Sony out of business".
DavidGraham
Veteran
It's suddenly becoming quite clear to me why Microsoft is doing this, in ~2020 they thought gaming is going be the next big thing, so they invested big in it, but now gaming is longer that. AI is. And Microsoft is investing so big in AI that it dwarfs everything else in their portfolio, with literally hundreds of billions being thrown in, and they are seeing palabale results in AI, they are also the leader there.
As a result? Gaming gets the short end of the stick, as Microsoft will scale back their investment there as necessary.
As a result? Gaming gets the short end of the stick, as Microsoft will scale back their investment there as necessary.
Back then I didn't pre order the X1 before MS dropped the "mandatory Kinect" condition and Kinect is still laying in some cupboard *never* used for that specific reason. They pissed off a *lot* of people in that May 2013 release completely unnecessary. Price or the performance difference to PS4 was even secondary at that moment.
Are AAA blockbusters really not viable with GP?
34M people generates a lot of revenue. Marketing costs for these games are also less of an issue.
There is a lot of crap on GP which I would never touch. Nobody needs that. But then there are games like Flightsimulator which might never sell the volume to finance themselves.
IMHO 66% for own AAA games(maybe with a 3month release delay+no season pass content), 30% for aged AAA 3rd party games(games which were great or need new users to sell seasons passes+candy like Division2) and the rest for *really* top quality indie games would be something which would make sense to me.
