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[Topher]

Happy Friday. People have asked me what I think about the Xbox strategy and all this press. Publications have asked me questions about Xbox.

I 100% love Xbox and think Xbox can find a path to great success for their teams and players around the world. 100%. 110%!

To answer some questions:

Xbox has always been accountable for its business. Even when it was small, or in the red, pressure exists and always will. I see some articles today with anonymous ex-Xbox'ers talking about the Board....I don't see this as "the Board" doing something different. It's not the function of a Board to be operators that dictate to business units and teams what to do day to day. Sure, pressure and stakes are always high and only get higher as you grow. I've never seen Satya dictate something top down - he questions and pushes but empowers his teams. He is a fantastic leader.

The idea of 'the market isn't growing' is a PR excuse. As a team, it's your job to drive your own growth even if the overall market isn't growing at the anticipated rate. I think it's more 'the strategy isn't working as expected'. Which is OK - strategies have to continually shift in a market that moves as fast as gaming does.

I'll say again, this all comes down to making great games. If you make great games, consumer demand will follow and your business can do well even in low market growth years. A great game is a $500M-1B+ profit generator for the business (across platforms). Given the size of Studios, you need to get to a world where a few of the teams are delivering against this at the right cadence (you don't need all your Studios doing big, huge games... and shouldn't as the risk profile is too large). After all, your install base is big right now given where we are in this console generation (and of course big on PC as well) so the opportunity exists for success.

If you aren't making great games then your hardware isn't selling, and your subscription is flatlining .... the clarity of strategy or execution is broken somewhere and needs to be fixed inclusive of ensuring leadership and team capability to drive great game development and growth. They 100% have teams who can make great games. It just isn't consistently happening.

I see two paths here: If your North Star is the Game Pass subscription, you have to take that exclusive to your services and HW and be all in across games, HW, and services in an exclusive 'go big' plan. Pumping regular 90+ rated games into this will drive consumer affinity and satisfaction. That said, it is high risk/high reward and takes a strong desire to win. If you're not willing to do that, then you're on another path: you're a Publisher across all devices and you need to embrace that 100% and be clear (likely means out of HW, I fundamentally believe if you don't have great exclusive content your HW is doomed as people won't understand 'why' they need it.). Being the world's largest publisher of games is a great spot to be in - as long as you can make great games. If you can't, you'll be right back where you started. You have the pick your lane and go hard at it for success, with clear communication to your players. If you play in the middle of these two paths, IMHO you'll hurt your teams and you'll have constant churn and chaos.

It starts and ends with a strong desire to win and making great games that exceed player expectations. That is what is fragile now and needs to be addressed as soon as possible.

These are all hard decisions, it's certainly no easy task given where things stand today, and both paths have dramatic implications. But I fundamentally believe in Xbox, its fans, and the opportunity ahead for great HW, services, and games OR as a publisher of games and services across any screen. I'm cheering for Xbox and it pains me to see all the negative swirl. So for those asking, keep the faith in Xbox but ask for clarity on what the path forward is for the brand and product. Then make your own decision on what is best for you and your valuable time and money.

For those who think I'm one of the people talking to publications anonymously about Xbox, I am not. I was not a founding member of Xbox and I think by now you all know I won't be 'anonymous' if I have something to say .

These are just my opinions. This is the last I will talk about this here on X. It's easy to say what you think when you're not in the trenches living the reality of the challenges. I wish great success for Xbox now and into the future - it's good for gaming overall and I care deeply for Blizzard who is now part of the Xbox team.

 

[Spukc]

Who.gif

 

[EMR]

 

[Topher]

Who.gif

Former President of Blizzard. Worked for Microsoft and Xbox for 19 years prior to that. Friend of HeisenbergFX4

 

[Clintizzle]

Sounds like he is telling Satay Nutella he might be better for xbox than Phil Spencer.

 

[Oppoi]

I think Mike Ybarra is 100% full of shit. 110%!

 

[Mr Moose]

So it's all Phils fault, got it.

 

[Topher]

Sounds like he is telling Satay Nutella he might be better for xbox than Phil Spencer.

Exactly what I was thinking. Sounds like he is prepping for a job interview.

 

[Badlucktroll]

 

[FIREKNIGHT2029]

Reads like he's applying for Phil's job lol.

 

[violence]

Wall of text = They didn't make enough money.

 

[Dacvak]

I mean, he would probably be better for Xbox than Phil… not by much, but still better.

 

[Ben87fr]

Shut the fuck up Mike

 

[Kssio_Aug]

Phil is a great man! I really like him! And that's why I wanna his job!

 

[GHG]

Sounds like he is telling Satay Nutella he might be better for xbox than Phil Spencer.

If he's true to what he says I wouldn't even disagree.

 

[Traxtech]

Phils dick--> this guys mouth.

Get the fuck outta here with your wall of text.

 

[Hudo]

Ybarra is a fuckhat as well. WarCraft 3 Reforged did not receive anything of note during his short reign; in fact he let that travesty of a project simply die with a wimper. One of the most important games in Blizzard history and one of the best RTS games ever made. Got fucked by complete inability and unwillingness to make something good for once. The least he could've done was to apologize and reinstate WarCraft 3 Classic as the standard way to play WarCraft 3. But no. The mismanagement of Overwatch with Overwatch 2 also happened on his watch.

This guy is just as bad as phil.

 

[Hugare]

The "110%" was enough

Ybarra has been talking about his Xbox "ideas" for a while. Probably wanting Phil's position after he gets fired eventually. Note how he mentions that its not "The Board's" fault, or Satya's

MS loves a dumbass executive, so he may end up being successful

 

[Barakov]

 

[SportsFan581]

Everything he said seems rational/reasonable to me. We don't really know exactly what the vision is for MS gaming at the moment, they either haven't bothered to try and tell us yet or they did such a poor job at that we haven't noticed.

 

[King Dazzar]

Wasn't he just telling us all how much Phil is hurting the same as everyone else over the studio closures - except he's not as he's still got his job! Yeah not my kind of guy YaBraBra - guy comes across as an out of touch tit

 

[clarky]

Blah blah blah "A great game is a $500M-1B+ profit generator for the business (across platforms)" blah blah blah

But with gamepass around though what games do they have coming up that will manage that?

No mate a great game is a great game. See HIFI Rush you plonker.

This dude need to get MS's cock out of his mouth and shut the fuck up.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Wasn't he just telling us all how much Phil is hurting the same as everyone else over the studio closures - except he's not as he's still got his job! Yeah not my kind of guy YaBraBra - guy comes across as an out of touch tit

He is out of touch on many things and that recent text in particular was quite bad

That said I think he would have been much better for Xbox than the current regime

 

[BennyBlanco]

sounds like he’s applying for a job. you don’t actually want it bro.

 

[SJRB]

Legit reads like a parody account.

 

[Oppoi]

He is out of touch on many things and that recent text in particular was quite bad

That said I think he would have been much better for Xbox than the current regime

Better, maybe. But what would actually be good for Xbox?

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Better, maybe. But what would actually be good for Xbox?

I think Xbox is in a world of trouble no matter who is in charge at this point and it goes beyond just the games.

 

[Little Chicken]

Mike did great things at Blizzard.


lol

 

[bender]

Friend of HeisenbergFX4

 

[LostDonkey]

Can't wait for Kendrick to respond to this one!

 

[ssringo]

"A great game is a $500M-1B+ profit generator for the business (across platforms)."

Seems to be a core issue with these big companies. Not interested in great games that pull in a "mere" 100 million or *shock and horror* even less! Make us a billion dollars or fuck off.

Edit: And that's PROFIT! he's talking about.

 

[feynoob]

Xbox worst mistake is being under MS umbrella. They could have really competed with PS if MS didn't own them.

 

[Oppoi]

I think Xbox is in a world trouble no matter who is in charge at this point and it goes beyond just the games.

They still have Windows. That's quite the install base and they have the IPs. If they're stupid enough to piggy back on Apple and try to wage another platform war on mobile, another platform where they're sure to lose then they're free to go right ahead.

 

[GHG]

Xbox worst mistake is being under MS umbrella. They could have really competed with PS if MS didn't own them.

You're joking right?

 

[Kssio_Aug]

"A great game is a $500M-1B+ profit generator for the business (across platforms)."

Seems to be a core issue with these big companies. Not interested in great games that pull in a "mere" 100 million or *shock and horror* even less! Make us a billion dollars or fuck off.

Yup. That's one of the issues from the market today. For these huge companies, making a few millions is not worth the hassle.

I thank God we still have indie developers, making actually great games, innovative or simply fun to play, without tons of fillers to inflate playing hours, or microtransactions, or without resorting to "game as a service", to actually provide some real gaming experience.

 

[semiconscious]

I see two paths here: If your North Star is the Game Pass subscription, you have to take that exclusive to your services and HW and be all in across games, HW, and services in an exclusive 'go big' plan. Pumping regular 90+ rated games into this will drive consumer affinity and satisfaction. That said, it is high risk/high reward and takes a strong desire to win. If you're not willing to do that, then you're on another path: you're a Publisher across all devices and you need to embrace that 100% and be clear (likely means out of HW, I fundamentally believe if you don't have great exclusive content your HW is doomed as people won't understand 'why' they need it.). Being the world's largest publisher of games is a great spot to be in - as long as you can make great games. If you can't, you'll be right back where you started. You have the pick your lane and go hard at it for success, with clear communication to your players. If you play in the middle of these two paths, IMHO you'll hurt your teams and you'll have constant churn and chaos...

so, either publisher across all devices, or pumping game pass full of 90+ rated games? now, i'm no mike ybarra, but i see only one 'viable' path. & it's not that second one...

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

None of this explains the logic of why they would shut down the relatively small studio that made their best rated game of last year.

 

[Ashamam]

Leaving aside all the hate, if you didn't know who he was and just read the content isn't it fairly reasonable? He lays out two options.

1. Go hard on GP
2. Go hard as a publlisher.

Then points out they are incompatible, ie you can't do both.

Couple of other points he makes.

3. Its all about the games.
4. Stop with the excuses, the team is responsible for making it work.

Frankly I can get behind all of that, it basically summarises my thoughts. GP only works at scale, so if you can't get to scale pivot, otherwise go all out to get to scale. But they don't have the titles so they cant.

 

[Kurotri]

Mike Ybarra should weigh in on deez nuts.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Mike's tenure at Blizzard was fucking horrendous. At best you have a polished turd if you replaced Phil for him

 

[Kssio_Aug]

Leaving aside all the hate, if you didn't know who he was and just read the content isn't it fairly reasonable? He lays out two options.

1. Go hard on GP
2. Go hard as a publlisher.

Then points out they are incompatible, ie you can't do both.

Couple of other points he makes.

3. Its all about the games.
4. Stop with the excuses, the team is responsible for making it work.

Frankly I can get behind all of that, it basically summarises my thoughts. GP only works at scale, so if you can't get to scale pivot, otherwise go all out to get to scale. But they don't have the titles so they cant.

But it's easier said than done. Expecting 90+ games habitually, is not feasible. And actually it's not reasonable either (I don't really believe that Metacritic score mean anything at this point about a game quality or success). "Go hard", "make great games", "have a strong desire to win"... these are not actually good advices.

 

[The Inventor]

Sounds like he is telling Satay Nutella he might be better for xbox than Phil Spencer.

This.
His words sound logic to me and it's good advice for anyone at Xbox that cares to listen.

 

[Camreezie]

This bootlicker needs to rest his dicklicker

 

[Ashamam]

But it's easier said than done. Expecting 90+ games habitually, is not feasible.

More excuses. Its entirely reasonable to expect a publisher of this size to regularly put out decent games with a sprinkling of great games. They are not doing that. (yet)

Remains to be seen if they can, but in the meantime years go by.

 

[March Climber]

Can someone tell me why every time I see the name 'Mike Ybarra' my brain instantly pictures 'Mike Shinoda'?

 

[Pedro Motta]

What a fucking twat. "Xbox need a constant stream of great games". No shit sherlock, the problem is HOW DO YOU MAKE THAT HAPPEN?

 

[bitbydeath]

I think Xbox is in a world trouble no matter who is in charge at this point and it goes beyond just the games.

Have you heard something?
I get the impression their was a shift.

 

[Punished Miku]

Sounds like he is telling Satay Nutella he might be better for xbox than Phil Spencer.

I think he wants Sarah's job

 

[Kssio_Aug]

More excuses. Its entirely reasonable to expect a publisher of this size to regularly put out decent games with a sprinkling of great games. They are not doing that. (yet)

Remains to be seen if they can, but in the meantime years go by.

Great games have nothing to do with being 90+ on Metacritic.

Clearly, I'm not suggesting that it's acceptable to release games that critics consistently dislike. However, it's unrealistic to expect to have control over the review scores. While it's reasonable to hope that their games generally receive favorable reviews, expecting consistently high scores of 90 or above is likely to lead to extreme frustration (and consequently, leading to unfair punishing of great devs).

 

[Warnen]