This is how Microsoft reacted to PS5's price hike ,Spencer on forced Horizon PS5 bundle and Sales momentum

Bernoulli

M2 slut
In internal emails, Microsoft was also quick to react to Sony's PS5 price increase last year — despite not hiking Xbox prices immediately. Xbox CFO Tim Stuart emailed Xbox chief Spencer and Microsoft CFO Amy Hood early in the morning of Sony's announcement in 2022, noting that the Xbox team had "anticipated this and are moving quickly toward a plan now that we've seen confirmation."

There's a discussion in the email chain, which is heavily redacted, but it appears that Spencer wants the company to remain gamer-focused with any price increases. Ami Silverman, who at the time was head of Microsoft's consumer sales and marketing, responds with "all good points, let's be gamer obsessed here as we have not gotten out of the woods... we know this could be our time to win fans vs lose being a follower."

Silverman is clearly referring to Xbox sales being behind PlayStation ones and not wanting to lose any momentum by immediately following Sony's price hike with Microsoft's own increase in Xbox prices. Microsoft repeatedly mentioned losing the console wars and being in a distant third place during the FTC v. Microsoft hearing.

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Spencer then explains he purchased a PS5 in August 2022. "Sony has been force bundling HZD for $50 [additional] for awhile now," said Spencer. "I bought my PS5 2 weeks ago and only option was HZD bundle at $549." HZD incorrectly refers to Horizon Zero Dawn here, as it was Horizon Forbidden West that Sony bundled with the PS5.



The back and forth might explain why Microsoft held off on an Xbox Series X price increase for nearly a year. Microsoft increased its Xbox Series X prices in most countries in August, apart from the US, Japan, Chile, Brazil, and Colombia. The updated Xbox Series X console pricing largely matches the price hike Sony announced for the PS5 in 2022


 
let's be gamer obsessed here as we have not gotten out of the woods... we know this could be our time to win fans vs lose being a follower."

Not gotten out of the woods = we have to still pretend we're the good guys
 
Forced Bundurus™

Now we know why it was "important to maintain the current price going into the Holidays."
"I do think at some point we'll have to raise the prices on certain things, but going into this holiday we thought it was important to maintain the prices," Spencer told the audience, as relayed by Tom Warren of The Verge.
 
Are pronouns in emails (see the CC) common in the US?
Good question. Maybe some people put it as a option like a signature? There is not pronouns in Phil name, and not in any of the "main" people that he sent the message for. More importantly, we should welcome Phil Spencer in the PS5 community!
Joining Welcome Home GIF
 
let's be gamer obsessed here as we have not gotten out of the woods... we know this could be our time to win fans vs lose being a follower."

Not gotten out of the woods = we have to still pretend we're the good guys
Lol, missed that part. It's pretty hard not to read it as
mr burns GIF


It's kinda wierd reading these emails (and the previous ones, especially from Booty) because I really don't think their intent is explicitly evil corp™ but it's just funny how they formulate their sentences as if they really are at times.
 
let's be gamer obsessed here as we have not gotten out of the woods... we know this could be our time to win fans vs lose being a follower."

Not gotten out of the woods = we have to still pretend we're the good guys

If you pretend to be gamer focused and do gamer focused things are you pretending to be gamer focused or are you just gamer focused?

thinking-cat-douglas-sacha.jpg
 
Phil: We will say that we do not plan to raise prices and that we are very pro gamers to look good and next year we will raise everything at once, games, GP and console, seamless plan.
 
Are pronouns in emails (see the CC) common in the US?
A lot of companies have a DE&I department and of course all of them have their pronouns in their emails.
Pretty much no one else bothers at these companies it seems, and it hasn't been forced yet.

I'm more bothered by even Phil mixing up HFW with HZD. But I'm used to his lies by now. heh
 
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Are pronouns in emails (see the CC) common in the US?
Seems to be a standard feature in Microsoft 365 accounts - hover over your own name in Outlook and there's a button for +Pronouns. Luckily my organisation leaves it up to the individual to decide whether he/she/it wants to use that feature, but sadly most do. I would probably quit if that became mandatory.
 
Can't speak for all companies, but at mine we're required to put pronouns in our email signature.
But what if you don't identify with the mental illness pronouns psyop? What if you have none? They force you to give yourself pronouns?

The Chief Diversity Officer at my company mandated it for all employees. Failure to do so = immediate termination.
It started out as optional for us as well, but once the DEI department gained enough power, they started mandating the rest of the company to follow suit. Now even our CEO doesn't mess with them.
Sounds historically familiar.
 
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A lot of companies have a DE&I department and of course all of them have their pronouns in their emails.
Pretty much no one else bothers at these companies it seems, and it hasn't been forced yet.

The Chief Diversity Officer at my company mandated it for all employees. Failure to do so = immediate termination.
 
Sucks. So far at the place I'm at, it's just that department doing it, and everyone else just rolls their eyes.

It started out as optional for us as well, but once the DEI department gained enough power, they started mandating the rest of the company to follow suit. Now even our CEO doesn't mess with them.
 
Lol, missed that part. It's pretty hard not to read it as
mr burns GIF


It's kinda wierd reading these emails (and the previous ones, especially from Booty) because I really don't think their intent is explicitly evil corp™ but it's just funny how they formulate their sentences as if they really are at times.
Come on now, there's a reason people formulate their messages the way they do.

It's staring you right in the face.
 
Phil: We will say that we do not plan to raise prices and that we are very pro gamers to look good and next year we will raise everything at once, games, GP and console, seamless plan.


Wait, are we going to pretend it wasn't Sony who triggered this whole thing? that this wasn't a "reaction"?
 
Do you reckon these guys get tons of spam or hatemail from playstation fanboys now that their email addresses are public?
 
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