Microsoft has announced job cuts at Xbox Division

LordCBH said:
Has today's culling finally ended?
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Things/rumors I learned from Colt Eastwood's stream, I stopped watching eventually because it got repetitive:
  1. MachineGames was working on a Disney game that was axed
  2. The new TES game is affected by this action
  3. Phil Spencer is, again, playing Indiana Jones while the world burns around him.
  4. Ninja Theory has cost MS $300 million so far.
  5. Blade might be in trouble
If true, you can pencil MachineGames in for closure as soon as the Indy DLC launches since they don't have anything to work on.
 
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Moridianae said:
Sorry, what does that mean as far as "enough is enough"? Studios breaking off or consumers not purchasing their stuff at all anymore? Been a long day here at work.
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"Enough is enough"? I'm not sure which context you want this applied towards.

There are a variety of market factors affecting the Western Games Industry right now, driven significantly by MS but also just how capital markets and the games industry have intersected for decades at this point finally reaching a boiling point.

For Western game devs, short term, this is going to be abysmal, but this is gonna be look backed on as the period preceding a radical revolution for the Western Games Industry. If you're interested in getting into game development and don't mind putting in the time to work on prototypes and develop your technical skills working on an engine, as long as the USA's socioeconomic situation doesn't deteriorate into some really awful places (this has a much higher chance of happening than i'm comfortable with...), then i'd say that opportunity cost is going to pay out big time.

Sure, it means a lot of titles that we as a fanbase have emotionally invested in for decades are likely going to be lost in the IP/license hordes of these mega-corps, but there is gonna be a lot of new, amazing things coming out of this budding western game dev scene. Consumer purchasing will change, as it always does. Thats just a constant to business. Consumers still will flock to quality, now more than ever, even as the amount of money they have to spend on entertainment continues to decrease (and sharply).

That said - the way we make games is largely going to change, and there are some very hopeful signs of development structures that I am very excited about. I look at what Kepler and Sandfall pulled off with Expedition 33 as the blueprint for the Western Games Industry going forward, to be honest.
 
HeisenbergFX4 said:
Sorry if this was posted 14 times already in here just can't keep up

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When it begins to come out just how fucking incredible the title he was working on was that got axed today.

That game had some of the best reactions from folks who played it as playtest for an MP-focused title that i'd heard from in years. It takes an absolute truck load to have folks heap praise on an MP playtest in modern times. This game would've been spectacular.

Edit:

Typically, in situations where publicly-known games get cancelled, theres this sense in the fanbase of 'the thing we didn't get might've been so incredible', and finger-pointing amongst execs who just didn't get it. FOMO and all that. Well, this is one of the cancelled games that, by literally every account, sounded like it would've been a slam dunk in literally every sense. Felt like I should make an edit to clarify a little further.
 
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The breadth of the layoffs is surprising, for sure but I don't understand how people can possibly be surprised that this is how Xbox decides to operate their business.

It's MICROSOFT. They've been like this since what, the mid 1980s? All they ever do is use their monopoly of the desktop PC / office software to come into the markets, fuck them up, and then leave. They never succeed in a market when they don't have a de-facto monopoly due to the nature of Windows and desktop environments.

On principle, I have never owned an Xbox or a Windows computer. I just don't deal with these guys.
 
SneakersSO said:
I have been told in clear terms that, outside of a few quarters in the 2nd half of the 360's lifecycle, the only time Xbox has operated at something resembling profitability was after ABK's earnings were integrated into their reporting.

It is not hyperbole to suggest that Xbox as a division likely would've become simply 'Microsoft Gaming' as a brand and had all of their HW positions folded over, with a handful of software studios (think Mojang tier) remaining on the studio front, had the ABK merger not gone through.

Based on the convos i've had, I think the future of Xbox overall is likely a combination of a handful of teams at the tier of Blizzard, CoD, and Minecraft, with a slow-bleed of every other team and studio slowly dying off as layoffs and budget cuts reduce everything as time marches forward.
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So basically they bought Activision Blizzard to become a worse version of them?

So much for those who hoped this would lead to the revival of dormant IP and that gamepass would mean Xbox would focus in on smaller/experimental games.

All those acquisitions only to result in this, may as well have left things as they were.
 
PurePlatinum said:
The breadth of the layoffs is surprising, for sure but I don't understand how people can possibly be surprised that this is how Xbox decides to operate their business.

It's MICROSOFT. They've been like this since what, the mid 1980s? All they ever do is use their monopoly of the desktop PC / office software to come into the markets, fuck them up, and then leave. They never succeed in a market when they don't have a de-facto monopoly due to the nature of Windows and desktop environments.

On principle, I have never owned an Xbox or a Windows computer. I just don't deal with these guys.
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My experiences owning 2 red ringed 360s, a Zune and a Windows phone have brought me to the same conclusion.
 
GHG said:
So basically they bought Activision Blizzard to become a worse version of them?

So much for those who hoped this would lead to the revival of dormant IP and that gamepass would mean Xbox would focus in on smaller/experimental games.

All those acquisitions only to result in this, may as well have left things as they were.
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And here I was only (half) joking when I posted up that "I am Xbox now" ABK meme the other day.

Turns out it was probably entirely accurate.

At the rate they're going, all Microsoft Gaming will be is ABK properties, Forza, Gears, Halo, and a couple Bethesda properties. Microsoft acquired ABK, but it was ABK that acquired MS Game Studios and Zenimax.
 
I've heard from sources that the Xbox user research team has been hit hard, with nearly half the team affected. It's a key team that focuses on ensuring quality across Xbox games, the platform, and developer tools. Even the head of Xbox family and child safety has also been laid off.

The Verge ^
 
Nydius said:
Microsoft acquired ABK, but it was ABK that acquired MS Game Studios and Zenimax.
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If you look at it purely from a numbers perspective, that's pretty much what's happened.

Absent of the money Activision bring in, Xbox would have been long dead by now. Activision along with going 3rd party was their lifeline, but I'm not sure how much runway they have left in their current capacity.
 
GHG said:
So basically they bought Activision Blizzard to become a worse version of them?

So much for those who hoped this would lead to the revival of dormant IP and that gamepass would mean Xbox would focus in on smaller/experimental games.

All those acquisitions only to result in this, may as well have left things as they were.
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Theres a lot that can and should be said about what went down with Xbox after ABK was allowed to go through. Many were too focused on Kotick and the board wanting to sell and how profitable it all was, and not what ABK themselves felt about where the direction had led them. Many folks conflated the sale going through due to the civil & potential criminal cases, and while it was a contributing factor, the larger issue was that ABK as a publisher, was on the other side of their crested wave and the board knew it.

It wasn't just that Blizzard was facing some major headwinds or that CoD's revenue stream, while profitable, had reached an unsustainable level of overhead and tech debt that eventually would need to be addressed. The real issue was that ABK as a publisher had long-since moved past the point of even bothering to diversify their portfolio, instead focusing on an ever-increasing small number of projects/IP that were having solid returns. With the ABK deal going through, many leaders in ABK found very welcome homes at MS, especially since their leadership was viewed as being so much more successful than MS'. So it absolutely doesn't surprise me that all we've gotten since the deal closed was a MS who is increasingly treating their portfolio like ABK treated theirs.
 
SneakersSO said:
Theres more to come regarding that particular sentiment. To note though: this is the kind of group you would gut if you basically don't give a shit about your platform being adopted going forward.
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Makes sense. I long suspected these new devices would just be to get as many of the hardcore fan base a place to go and stay signed up for GP but with no real interest in actually trying to grow the hardware base.
 
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SneakersSO said:
Theres more to come regarding that particular sentiment. To note though: this is the kind of group you would gut if you basically don't give a shit about your platform being adopted going forward.
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Longtime listener, first time caller. How does Halo Studios fit into what's happened today? I assume their next project (rumored H1 remake?) is do or die for them at this point after the long list of failure? I'll hang up and listen.
 
Topher said:
If this is the same group that gave Redfall a thumbs up then I'd say Xbox finally has some good news
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They probably also gave a thumbs up to flops like Indy, Doom, Avowed and South of Midnight.

And now they see 50% layoffs. Quality of Xbox output is probably going to take a nosedive going forward. GamePass filler galore.
 
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Tajaz2426 said:
The awesome, Einstein IQ gamers who have bought micro transactions , thank you for helping the industry crash. You probably ruined your hobby, but out of the ashes just may be something greater. You just kept buying and buying to the point they put Ninja Turtles in games to buy the skins for probably some outrageous amount.
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Mtx led to release of WuWa, ZZZ, Nikki, GFL2, GBF Relink, Wukong, Stellar Blade, Split fiction and many other arguably good games.
It has nothing to do with industry crush on your side. Blame it on your side of gaming, others doing just fine.
 
Topher said:
If this is the same group that gave Redfall a thumbs up then I'd say Xbox finally has some good news
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They did their job bad. Now they will not to a job at all.
There is a lot of room to fall further, by Steam "average game in store" standards Redfall is fantastic game.
 
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The hits keep coming I suppose
www.theverge.com

Microsoft’s Xbox cuts have hit key areas.

News of Microsoft’s major layoffs today keep rolling in, as the company informs around 9,000 employees of the cuts. I’ve heard from sources that the Xbox user research team has been hit hard, with nearly half the team affected. It’s a key team that focuses on ensuring quality across Xbox games...
www.theverge.com www.theverge.com
 
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