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Phil Spencer is Retiring and Sara Bond is Out bot there's something really worst than that

Unfortunatecookie said:
Yep. I think you're on the money, and while they can't admit it yet, all signs point to Microsoft wanting an out from the Xbox hardware business.
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The signs were when they were exiting retail box stores as a presence (brands pay for that space), cut production of their XS consoles and then slapped a logo on an overpriced repackaged Asus device and let them handle all the hardware risk.
 
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Sarah Bond, just as I predicted in some other thread months ago, takes the fall for the immense fuckup around her. I'm not here to talk about racism because I'm very far from the right person to do so, but I just want to take the moment to say that I hope black men and women learn to say no in the future when it comes to the corpo world.
 
Esquie said:
I'm sorry but I looked through some posts and the guy just comes off like a console warrior, with an axe to grind. Look at this one:
https://www.neogaf.com/threads/micr...ssics-and-more.1688694/page-30#post-270868153

The stuff that he's "gotten right" is super vague. From what I read, the big one was how they were going full third party. At the time they were already releasing games on PS. He extrapolated that and said all of their games would be going to PS eventually which was a pretty common sentiment at the time on Twitter and Reddit, a la "oh yeah I'm sure it's only those 4 games, the floodgates will open eventually"… like that was a very common sentiment, to lay doubt that it was only going to be those few games.

If that's the gist of it, I just don't believe the guy has any inside info on MS based on what I've read. And we're talking about high level exec stuff here that he's claiming.

If there's more meat on the bone than that third party thing, I'd love some links or whatever you have. Happy to be proven wrong.
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I doubt I'm going to be able to convince you otherwise if that's the conclusion you came to.
 
Not really surprising. The Xbox brand has been throughly ran into the dirt. Whatever the Xbox could have been died several years ago so this isn't really a bad to worse situation as there's no reason to buy into that ecosystem anymore anyway.
 
MisterXDTV said:
Don't worry

Magnus is coming.....
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For some reason, this is how i imagine those 68CUs now:

SU0rjco4b98bn6K0.gif


I need a day off.
 
Wass0o7 said:
Got the "retiring" boot just like Jim Ryan
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yep. this is way worse tho.

ChorizoPicozo said:
I'm just wondering where the exposés are? There have been some "leaks" here and there about the morale at Xbox , but the timing feels right for one of those, from Jason or someone similar.
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☝️

We need this shit, seriously. We need to know how fucking dysfunctional, toxic, and defeated things at Xbox have really been from top to bottom, especially in the last 12 months.
 
Odinnii said:
I don't get all the negativity, Phil has been a total disaster.
Any change at this point should be taken as a positive sign.
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It's the fact that Bond resigned, who many thought would be Spencer's replacement, Matt Booty was promoted out of the division into another lead role when he should have been fired, and someone with no industry experience at all was shifted to lead it.

Change alone isn't good enough. That change has to reflect good judgement and for a lot of people this isn't it. Change came when Mattrick was replaced with Spencer. That was ultimately a disaster. Could this end up being good down the line? Maybe. But that vibe certainly isn't present now and for good reason.
 
SNG32 said:
Not happening Satya doesnt give a fuck about Xbox and Phil was really the saving grace of it believe it or not. Microsoft seems more
focused on A.I and Cloud. I think eventually they will get rid of or sell the division off. This chick is just a place holder for the inevitable.
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You almost have to wonder if executives weren't like "Yeah let's replace everyone and everything with AI" and he and Bond didnt like the idea. So they just fire them and move an AI executive in their place to do it.

Theres zero chance high ups in Microsoft are actually wanting to spend any money whatsoever into Xbox. There might be an argument into how to best make use of what they already have but any expenditure is probably a necessary evil.
 
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I wonder if Phil is simply walking away because he knows gaming as we love it today is officially dead.

I do believe he loves games and it's gotta be rough trying to keep a passion alive while your hands are effectively tied by management above you that is only interested in making monetization profit and cramming soulless AI into every one of their products.
 
I just got home from a tough day at work, completely disconnected, and when I sat down I saw the news... My first thought was: "Sony knew about Phim Spencer's departure and rushed to announce the closure of Bluepoint Studios 😂😂"

So, I haven't seen any comments yet, although I can already imagine them...😂

Personally, and let's break it down:

1- P. Spencer's departure had a date. It was a "when." The question was who his replacement would be and what their profile would be.

2- The profile of a young woman who doesn't seem to have a distinguished track record in the video game industry... It's not sexism or prejudice, it simply doesn't inspire confidence.

3- Matt Booty is being promoted, and that's what's inexplicable... What on earth do they see in him when there's nothing noteworthy about his management of the studios?

4- Sarah is leaving... She probably thought the Xbox CEO position was meant for her and was disappointed.

It's simple: we'll have to see what happens in the coming years and evaluate the change.

Judging by the published statements, at least some things sound like good intentions??. But as I said, they're just words.

- Recapturing the rebellious and "Renegade" spirit of Xbox by giving central importance to the core Xbox console player.
Can we say that the announcement of the new hardware is imminent and they want this with a new CEO in charge?

- Rejecting the use of AI in game creation when your company is practically an AI factory... That's certainly curious.

- I suppose (although with Microsoft and Nadella, you never know) that there will be a grace period regarding layoffs and studio closures? It would be a monstrously bad start to a CEO position by announcing layoffs and studio closures.

Anyway. I imagine there will be interviews and reports about it starting tomorrow. Let's see what they ask him.
 
Lionel Richie said:
Sarah Bond, just as I predicted in some other thread months ago, takes the fall for the immense fuckup around her.
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I mentioned this when she was promoted as well and got tarred and feathered. And again when she became the face of all the dumb decisions they started making, hiding Matt Booty when he's the one who was responsible for delivering games that never came. Now he's got a nice cushy promotion.
 
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wolffy66 said:
Sara Bond is out at Microsoft? Or just xbox?
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PSFore said:
Bond sounded too corporate, so they replaced her with another robot.
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If I'm not mistaken it seems Bond has an iron in the fire in different corporations. She may have resigned because she could not make any headway at Xbox. If that's her fault or her hands were just tied, I can't say of course.

I predicted a while ago Phil knew Xbox was a lost cause and was just waiting to rip open his Golden Parachute. He probably waited the term for full benefit of his retirement and walked.

Phil has been rather absent in much Xbox promotion it seems, going on in the last two years.
 
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splattered said:
I wonder if Phil is simply walking away because he knows gaming as we love it today is officially dead.
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He didn't just walk away. He was preparing his exit with his biggest move yet; he was planning to go out as the gaming CEO who broke barriers and made games accessible to everyone, a visionary. The fact that Microsoft didn't even give him the anniversary, tells you how terminal the sickness things are at Xbox
 
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