So you’re saying he was radicalized just last year?
Radicalized?
Seeing MS go after a giant publisher in ABK after just getting Zenimax, then seeing that acquisition wasn't even really about Xbox specifically. Seeing their partnership with Sega for Azure and thinking it was going to mean some exclusive Sega games like back in the OG Xbox days, but was really just so they could have a big Japanese 3P gaming client for cloud. Seeing Series X continuously lose in performance metrics against the "weaker" PS5, time and again. Seeing Series S languish in demand and start getting pricing promotions in the middle of summer of all times, which was very unusual for something supposedly in demand. Realizing Xbox's only actual console exclusives were trash games like Crossfire X and Space Jam. Seeing Microsoft completely give up getting big 3P releases for Game Pass in 2022 to make up for their anemic release schedule. Seeing them delay RedFall and Starfield, then demoing Starfield to muted applause with bad gameplay footage and "hyping" it up with bloat like 1K planets.
Seeing MS's increasingly extremist, politicized rhetoric around getting the ABK deal approved, insulting regulators, pushing FUD against Sony and their flock of shills in the media shout loudly with even more FUD and vitriol against PlayStation for no good reason. Seeing Microsoft spam Game Pass for Samsung TV ads at The Game Awards instead of actual games, while having virtually no games in the running for any awards...again. And more recently, seeing RedFall almost drop dead out of the gate with mediocre gameplay, and MS not caring about their own Xbox fanbase to ensure they get ports of games like Ghostwire with at least technical parity to the PS5 version on Series X.
Anyone watching what Microsoft's been doing over the past year or so with close focus could see this developing and, if they really otherwise respect Xbox as a brand (historically) and know what its potential could be in the right hands, would have gone from optimism to pessimism for the brand by now. You call that "radicalization", sure. I call it seeing reality for what it is and voicing some
real criticism for a brand that by all accounts
should be doing a lot better.
But go on, keep pretending everything is "just fine" for Xbox while the mansion burns to the ground in slow-motion. Whenever you want to actually acknowledge the fire so that maybe we can put it out with some fire extinguishers, I'm ready