Microsoft expected to announce job cuts this week. Some will affect Xbox marketing.

[Rangers]

Damn, Nadalla dont play...

The TV studio seemed like a good move, not sure it was a good strategic move imo to shut that down. Imagine some popular TV series that can be found "only on Xbox" just like there are now popular series that Netflix runs. Seems like it could help Xbox sales. Just beyond that, it was a very innovative thing. Whereas I think the whole HDMI in/Cable TV idea was looking to the past, creating original programming is the type of thing that's looking to the future imo.

Now it seems like it may have been poorly managed, but that's different from it being a bad idea.

18k jobs is almost...USA economy effecting. Although I imagine most of them are with Nokia in Europe.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

Among other things, the consumers told Microsoft that they don't want their console to watch TV.
Therefore, Microsoft decided to close their TV production studios.

Even though it sucks to know that some people will lose their jobs, closing these studios is the only competent decision to make.
Though we're talking about dismissing some tens of people. This is practically nothing as it probably won't affect the US' supply and demand for TV production staff.

A whole other issue is how Finland will do with 10 000 veteran engineers/technicians suddenly without a job.

 

[3dilettante]

The TV studio seemed like a good move, not sure it was a good strategic move imo to shut that down. Imagine some popular TV series that can be found "only on Xbox" just like there are now popular series that Netflix runs. Seems like it could help Xbox sales.

There are far fewer consoles than TVs, and shows already face significant monetization challenges, even when they don't fail (and they do, a lot).
So in TV terms, how does a console-bound show get to be considered popular?

If a show is popular with console owners--aren't they already console owners?
Let's say a person who doesn't own a console wants to try out a show--but they need a console.

Monetization through advertising would have a more targeted audience, but also one that is unavoidably smaller. Yet, if content is targeted at console owners, how does it entice those outside of that set?

 

[DuckThor Evil]

A whole other issue is how Finland will do with 10 000 veteran engineers/technicians suddenly without a job.

The amount of people losing their job in Finland from those 12500 ex-Nokia people that was announced today is "only" 1100. It's still a big deal for us and of course big deal for many other places as well.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

The TV studio seemed like a good move, not sure it was a good strategic move imo to shut that down. Imagine some popular TV series that can be found "only on Xbox" just like there are now popular series that Netflix runs.

Mostly it'd just piss people off, and/or they'll wait for the wider distribution. No-one's going to buy an Xbox (or other not particularly wanted console) for a handful of TV programmes. Not unless they were the world's greatest entertainment of all time.

Put it this way - how much would you pay for a DVD player or set-top box to access a particular studio's films? One for 20th Century, one for Sony, one for WB, one for Lionsgate... ridiculous. Same with consoles; imagine one box for EA, on for Ubisoft, one for Acti. It's a strategy that's fraught with issues, and why so few try it, and why no-one's succeeded. Even Sony haven't really leveraged their content studios to shift hardware.

Content and playback devices generally need to be decoupled. Creating a TV studio to produce programmes for a limited box makes little sense, unless you are absolutely huge in the content department like Sky where the volume of content justifies the outlay on a specialist box (and even they are giving up on proprietary boxes and letting anyone access their content!).

 

[Commenter]

There goes my notion of ms buying crytek then. Microsoft are obviously downsizing at the moment.

 

[Scott_Arm]

There goes my notion of ms buying crytek then. Microsoft are obviously downsizing at the moment.

They're downsizing where they need to downsize. It doesn't necessarily mean they will stop growing avenues that are, or could be, successful.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

There goes my notion of ms buying crytek then. Microsoft are obviously downsizing at the moment.

They aren't downsizing so much as removing either redundant staff (this is the largest portion of the layoffs due to the Nokia handset aquisition) or divisions that cannot be monetized (the XES division producing original video content for Xbox) as well as trimming some other fat.

Out of the 18,000 layoffs. 12,500 are from the Nokia aquisition. Out of those most will come from Beijing and San Diego apparently.

That leaves only 5,500 from Microsoft's pre-aquisition employee pool. Much of that appears to be either from XES or middle management. I expect some are also coming from the divisions that handled Surface tablet development as there is redundancy there with the people that came over in the Nokia handset acquisition (which includes their tablet business).

None of the layoffs appear to be from any of their core businesses, other than in reducing middle management.

I'd be worried if there were signs that significant layoffs were coming from their core businesses. But this is just something many people were expecting. I'm just surprised it took them this long to start laying off some of the people that came over from Nokia. I suppose that time was used to determine which of the 25000 people were worth keeping.

Regards,
SB

 

[Shifty Geezer]

In the other thread, it turned out that 150.000 Xbox Ones were sold during june,

197k vs. PS4's 269k.

Actually, forget that. I'm not going to allow business sprawl to invade every thread. This thread is about job cuts. Are there any confirmed for XBox divison? If not, it can end here as there's no console impact to be discussed.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

Who's employed in San Diego? What teams?

I thought the most obvious choices for layoffs would be the teams that are making Kinect-only titles, but the wikipedia page about Microsoft's 1st parties doesn't say where the teams are located.

 

[AzBat]

197k vs. PS4's 269k.

Actually, forget that. I'm not going to allow business sprawl to invade every thread. This thread is about job cuts. Are there any confirmed for XBox divison? If not, it can end here as there's no console impact to be discussed.

Where you been Shifty? Xbox Entertainment Studios is getting axed. That definitely effects the console. It's not getting all the original programming it was intended to get. Luckily Halo is unaffected. Anyway, really sad for me since I like Shannon Loftis & she's the General Manager. Looks like she either leaves the company or gets folded back into one of Microsoft games studios. Will be interesting to see where she ends up. Hopefully she's still developing games.

Tommy McClain

 

[AzBat]

Xbox cuts in Europe & UK...

A source told MCV last night that as many as 75 per cent of full time Xbox EMEA roles in Reading were being cut – with staff having to reapply for the remaining 25 per cent of roles. The UK Xbox team has also been reduced slightly by 10 per cent and all contractor roles have also been cut. However, Xbox did not confirm or deny these numbers when contacted by MCV.

Microsoft says the reductions will not impact the launch of Xbox One in 13 European Countries this September.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/deep-cuts-at-xbox-europe-as-nadella-swings-axe/0135568

Tommy McClain

 

[AzBat]

I hate to see people lose their jobs, but that's part of business.

Also don't see why this would affect Quantum Break. Remedy is making the game, and the "tv episodes" are a part of the game.

Looks like it's not effecting Quantum Break after all...

Quantum Break "will be released next year and the game and show both remain on track," a Microsoft spokesperson said.

"The news of Xbox Entertainment Studios has not impacted our progress and we're excited to share more details of Quantum Break at Gamescom in August," the statement reads.

http://www.polygon.com/2014/7/17/5914141/quantum-break-xbox-entertainment-studios-closure-xbox-one

Tommy McClain

 

[ERP]

If they are laying off 5500 people in the pre-nokia acquisition MS, that's roughly the same size as the last layoffs which were not pretty, it was very random and pretty much no group went untouched.
If it's like last time the bulk of those will come from Redmond and that's about 5% of the workforce there.
I was at MS last time lay off's happened and the lay off terms were very good, about the best thing that could happen to you was being laid off and hired back to a different group a month later.
The thing that was messed up last time was the seeming indiscriminate randomness of it all, entire groups were cut including some very high level contributors, but when your laying that many people off I'm not sure how else you deal with that.

 

[joker454]

From what I recall of the last large layoff, part of the reason for it's seemingly random nature was the broken ranking system that MS had at the time (and maybe still have). My wife was working there back then and there were people that knew how to play the game and kissed the correct ass so that they would have a higher rank than others who were clearly better employees. As such sometimes smart people got the axe while "company men" type people remained, which made the layoffs seem very random. If MS still has that employee ranking system in place then maybe the same thing will happen this time.

 

[Ike Turner]

From what I recall of the last large layoff, part of the reason for it's seemingly random nature was the broken ranking system that MS had at the time (and maybe still have). My wife was working there back then and there were people that knew how to play the game and kissed the correct ass so that they would have a higher rank than others who were clearly better employees. As such sometimes smart people got the axe while "company men" type people remained, which made the layoffs seem very random. If MS still has that employee ranking system in place then maybe the same thing will happen this time.

IIRC the ranking system is now gone.

 

[dobwal]

From what I recall of the last large layoff, part of the reason for it's seemingly random nature was the broken ranking system that MS had at the time (and maybe still have). My wife was working there back then and there were people that knew how to play the game and kissed the correct ass so that they would have a higher rank than others who were clearly better employees. As such sometimes smart people got the axe while "company men" type people remained, which made the layoffs seem very random. If MS still has that employee ranking system in place then maybe the same thing will happen this time.

MS dropped the ranking system in Nov.

 

[ERP]

From what I recall of the last large layoff, part of the reason for it's seemingly random nature was the broken ranking system that MS had at the time (and maybe still have). My wife was working there back then and there were people that knew how to play the game and kissed the correct ass so that they would have a higher rank than others who were clearly better employees. As such sometimes smart people got the axe while "company men" type people remained, which made the layoffs seem very random. If MS still has that employee ranking system in place then maybe the same thing will happen this time.

I'm not sure that was true, I was in the office of the CTO at the time so it's possible my experience was atypical, but the big issue was the numbers were so large that when it got handed down the chain, the only practical way to deal with it was to just indiscriminately axe teams regardless of individuals performance in them.
My team ended up getting transferred between divisions, and we didn't lose anyone, but others in areas pressured for head count were just wound up.

 

[Cyan]

I'm not sure that was true, I was in the office of the CTO at the time so it's possible my experience was atypical, but the big issue was the numbers were so large that when it got handed down the chain, the only practical way to deal with it was to just indiscriminately axe teams regardless of individuals performance in them.
My team ended up getting transferred between divisions, and we didn't lose anyone, but others in areas pressured for head count were just wound up.

From what I recall of the last large layoff, part of the reason for it's seemingly random nature was the broken ranking system that MS had at the time (and maybe still have). My wife was working there back then and there were people that knew how to play the game and kissed the correct ass so that they would have a higher rank than others who were clearly better employees. As such sometimes smart people got the axe while "company men" type people remained, which made the layoffs seem very random. If MS still has that employee ranking system in place then maybe the same thing will happen this time.

What a small world! So you or your partner worked for Microsoft at least once in your life.... I think you won't have trouble finding any job then, as they told me that anyone who leaves Microsoft finds a job immediately.

 

[Dave Baumann]

Seems that XES many not be dead, dead as of yet. MS are in discussions to sell the studio:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/xbox-shops-entertainment-studio-warner-725562