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Microsoft has reportedly eased the pressure on its Xbox gaming division

IbizaPocholo

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
news.instant-gaming.com

Microsoft has reportedly eased the pressure on its gaming division - IG News

Since acquiring Activision Blizzard, Microsoft has been putting quite the pressure on its gaming division to offer results. This policy was a key factor…
news.instant-gaming.com news.instant-gaming.com

In a post on X, journalist Jez Corden claims that executives at the American company have recently eased the pressure on the gaming division's margins following a decision "from the top down."

This could give Xbox greater leeway to develop features and innovations that aren't all directly driven by profitability.
Click to expand...
 
This is good news for MS and gaming as a whole. The source is a Jez tweet though, so how true is this? Jez's handlers at MS feed him a lot of stuff, not all of which is true.
 
This could give Xbox greater leeway to develop features and innovations that aren't all directly driven by profitability.
Click to expand...

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Nothing they can do about it.

They won't magically get 30% margins.

Best case scenario for gamers would be they hold onto studios as long as possible.
 
Sure :)

1. Spent billions on buying studios,
2. Releasing the most expensive new consoles ever,
3. Sales for Xbox HW at lowest point ever,
4. No exclusive games.

And now they are fine with lower margins........Yeah that is the formule for success.
 
So far Asha is following the Spencer plan. It is way too late for her to do anything drastically different when it comes to hardware. Maybe they are buying her some time to see what she comes up with once she is on her own. I say give her four to five years to see where she takes it. That gives her time to get past the launch of Helix and to start implementing some of her own plans. Is she the last hope for Xbox?
 
ShaiKhulud1989 said:
So, when's the bad news?
Click to expand...
Good News = cheaper Gamepass tier at $20 or $25.

Bad News = PC tier going away.

Good News = Free ad supported tier for xCloud

Bad News = Essential and Premium tiers getting ads too.

Good News = Online Multiplayer paywall going away

Bad News = PS+ Price hikes incoming
 
Asha does not even understand gaming and was just installed as a replacement to do what Satya wants her to do (whom also does not get gaming).
 
If true, then Amy Hood and Nadella were obviously putting the thumbscrews to Phil Spencer to force him out. They knew damn well he wouldn't be able to hit the targets.
 
So they spend 73 billion on the biggest entertainment adquisition in history
Because price tag high, put tons of pressure into current executives
Start firing people and cancelling games because price tag high
Because firing people and cancelling games the people loses trust, exclusives become fully multiplatform titles to expand reach
Results of are not good enough because price tag high
Fire executives
Get new executives
"less pressure on you now"
Price tag still high
Trust still lost
 
You put in measures tha are hard to meet so you can change leadership. You change the leadership and then give them some space to breath.
 
ElFenomeno said:
The obligatory


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Came in here to post this. Excellent work.

1) How would Jez Corden know that Microsoft has "eased" the pressure for their gaming division?

2) What does "easing" the pressure actually mean and when does it start?

3) What was the previous profitability "pressure" that Microsoft put on Xbox; the vague 30% Amy Hood-mandated target that is still, to this day, yet to be proven to be true?

4) Why should anyone believe Microsoft would take it easy on Xbox when they literally just "retired" the CEO of Xbox and his partner in crime less than two months ago?

5) In what universe would Microsoft -- a multi-trillion dollar company that is spending zillions in AI and is expensively R&D'ing the next Xbox -- just let Xbox continue to fail financially?
 
Of all bullshit things one can say about MS, "This could give Xbox greater leeway to develop features and innovations that aren't all directly driven by profitability." is the biggest of them all, it is unbeliveable how these idiotic zealots lie so blatantly to try to be on the good side of Asha (and let's remember, the first and second thing she did was LIE).
 
That's because MS took one look at Double Fines new game Kiln and was just "how the fuck are we even gonna sell and profit off of this game".
 
Topher said:
If true, then Amy Hood and Nadella were obviously putting the thumbscrews to Phil Spencer to force him out. They knew damn well he wouldn't be able to hit the targets.
Click to expand...
I guess they figured he'd had long enough to formulate his strategy and they expected results. It's not like he hadn't had over a decade to make it work. They let him spend the GDP of a small country and they wanted return on the investment.

I'm guessing they appointed Asha because they see her as a customer acquisition specialist so they're going to give her some leeway to set her plan in motion. If her plan doesn't involve booting Booty and Greenberg and bringing in some successful folks who know video games to help her then she's not going to make it, either.
 
This could give Xbox greater leeway to develop features and innovations that aren't all directly driven by profitability.
Click to expand...

Lol, no.

It just means that execs recognize that ballooning hardware component costs (RAM and NAND) are swallowing console hardware margins and the absurd console pricing is stymying hardware sales with consumers, so pressuring the business to magically generate wide margins is a fool's errand. They can't squeeze water from a stone.

Thinking this is a license for Xbox to shit even more money down the crapper is utterly delusional.
 
Classic business here.

I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't expect him to walk. This screams of a business trying to do right after losing a significant employee.
 
Last edited:
Cyborg said:
Sure :)

1. Spent billions on buying studios,
2. Releasing the most expensive new consoles ever,
3. Sales for Xbox HW at lowest point ever,
4. No exclusive games.

And now they are fine with lower margins........Yeah that is the formule for success.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I swear what Jez is claiming makes no sense. And you listed out perfectly. If it is true, what is the 5 year plan for MS for Xbox going forward?
 
They eased my interest about 18 months ago. They just can't deliver the quality and number of games I enjoyed in the 360 era. The one thing they should have tied down by now.
 
Tobimacoss said:
Good News = cheaper Gamepass tier at $20 or $25.

Bad News = PC tier going away.

Good News = Free ad supported tier for xCloud

Bad News = Essential and Premium tiers getting ads too.

Good News = Online Multiplayer paywall going away

Bad News = PS+ Price hikes incoming
Click to expand...

This list would be WILD! But everyone of these things I can see happening over the next 2-3 months.
 
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