Support NeoGAF

[Topher]

Gain nothing from that.

Neither do i

 

[Panajev2001a]

This good of news eh ?

 

[Topher]

Doubt these will be the last adjustments they make to the leadership team at corporate and at their studios.

If the absolutely giant AI abyss gushing money doesn't dry up soon and MAKE money MS will be brutal in their actions to "right the ship".

That's what I was thinking as well, epecially if the rumblings of Call of Duty not making its usual truckload of cash with Amy Hood looming over with her high profit margin demands. This might be the first in a number of changes in Xbox leadership.

 

[onQ123]

im wondering whether they will still continue with the "xbox everywhere" project.

Yes , why wouldn't they?

Money is In the software & service if they can convince the masses to use Xbox service over others they will have a gold mine.

Biggest problem is they're trying to force it earlier than what would naturally happen.

Read the market wrong

 

[OverHeat]

Phil must suck well to have keep is job for so long.

 

[adamsapple]

Gain nothing from that.

Neither do i

Two trolls walk into a bar ...

 

[damidu]

All of this crap is Phil's fault.

For decades MSFT basically ignored Xbox as nothing more than a balance sheet footnote.

Top level probably didn't even "see it" since the whole division would have been rolled into a "consumer and electronics" subdivision etc, or some such.

Then Phil decided he wanted to be billy big bollocks, and initiate a gigantic fucking acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Now you have the entire Group management team engaged, batting anti trust regulatory concerns to get the deal over the line and a ton more scrutiny on a business they find interesting but generally don't understand (but think they do; textbook management Dunning Kruger).

Now the Group is setting division level goals because reporting visibility is now completely crystal, as it needs to align to M&A portfolio visibility as the Group CFO seeks to make a long term return on the investment, turn the balance sheet asset value upwards and thus make themselves look good to public investors on their earnings calls.

Hence the "Xbox! You lot better get in line with all this AI bullshit! We think your business is too expensive and McKinsey have told us how much we can save from shoehorning AI all over your operations, from that $42.4 report we paid for, that may or may not have been generated on their side by ChatGPT, I'm not sure…"

Hence the "we're not seeing enough commercial focus in driving wider operating margins across these businesses. I don't understand why you can't just fucking slash your cost base by 30% to solve that, and… what? … wait what do you mean that next years sales forecasts are being halved because you now forecast a ~60-70% Metacritic as you no longer have the dev talent and capacity to ship at quality to guarantee a strong product and long tail..? What's a Metacritic? You're using silly words I don't understand, nor care about.. I have no time for managers that just make excuses. I'm just going to bring in a new studio manager and CEO for you from MSFT. Where's that CFO who killed three divisional business lines across MSFT over the last few years and continues to fail upwards? Oh and Doug's intern? They'll do…"

i have no idea how he still has a job honestly, must have some epstein level dirt on nutella or something.

phil is your standard gaming forum console warrior, that got lucky in life.
there were reports not long ago that he is terminally online lurking on resetera and such for ideas.
so his bright idea was of course, "daa warchest" buy everything, force multiplatform publishers to be exclusive, spend sony out of business yada yada,
basically your avg green rat's decades old wet dreams. thats why he has a creepy "cult of personality" status among that group.
of course none of these morons (including phil), had any idea what opening warchest would lead to.

 

[PlayStaytion]

A nothing burger that smells like a burger is tastier, believe me.

 

[PlayStaytion]

"Tighten budgets, etc."

The shitshow will never end until Xbox literally disappears.

Xbox needs to be unionized.

 

[Trogdor1123]

At this point, you still have favorite franchises in there that aren't in a rough spot, yet? How??

Well I don't know, some are still doing good. Fallout is in a great spot and so is elder scrolls. It's different than before with out a doubt but still good.

The rest though, you have a good point.

 

[jasondefaoite]

All of this crap is Phil's fault.

For decades MSFT basically ignored Xbox as nothing more than a balance sheet footnote.

Top level probably didn't even "see it" since the whole division would have been rolled into a "consumer and electronics" subdivision etc, or some such.

Then Phil decided he wanted to be billy big bollocks, and initiate a gigantic fucking acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

<snip>

Nah. Don Mattrick did irreparable harm to the brand with the Xbox One and TV TV TV. His decisions were the reason I switched from a 360 to a PS4. The rot started from there. It's not all Phil's fault. But a large part is. He's had the time to turn things around. He didn't. And continued in the roll.