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[Eddie-Griffin]

https://variety.com/vip/how-layoffs-expose-xboxs-flawed-first-party-strategy-1235505192/

But next to Mojang and its command of “Minecraft,” 343 and Bethesda represent some of the most important strategic first-party development at the console brand. 343 is the studio that has overseen Xbox’s landmark “Halo” franchise since Bungie parted ways with Microsoft in 2007, while Bethesda Game Studios is the premier team under publisher Bethesda Softworks spearheading the highly anticipated open-world space game “Starfield,” which will be a console exclusive for Xbox.

While the acquisition of Bethesda parent ZeniMax was finalized in 2021, the publisher went nearly two years without releasing any games on Xbox first, a streak recently broken by January’s rhythm-action game “Hi-Fi Rush” from internal developer Tango Gameworks. Tango’s last game, “Ghostwire: Tokyo,” as well as Arkane Studios’ “Deathloop” were released first on PlayStation 5 per deals made with Bethesda prior to the acquisition. “Ghostwire” still hasn’t come to Xbox.

Much is riding on “Starfield” to deliver for Xbox owners, but numerous delays have only highlighted the slowness of new exclusives from Xbox Game Studios, a fact that Microsoft gaming CEO Phil Spencer acknowledged during Xbox’s recent Developer Direct presentation of the many new games it has on the horizon.

As Spencer put it, Xbox was “too light on games” in 2022.

Gaming revenue saw a $684 million year-over-year decrease in the last quarter, which is typically the most lucrative sales period for gaming companies due to the holidays.

While the end of 2021 saw 343’s “Halo Infinite” release to strong sales, the 13% revenue decline a year later was “driven by declines in first-party content and a lower rate of monetization in third-party content,” per Microsoft’s filings. This shows how crucial exclusives can be in countering periods of overall sales decline throughout the industry.

If this were the Xbox Games Studios of old, the lack of exclusives would make sense. Of the 14 studios directly under Xbox, nine were acquired or founded internally in 2018 and 2019 to better match the number of teams at PlayStation. As of the ZeniMax deal’s close, Xbox and PlayStation have the same amount of studios.

So why isn’t Xbox keeping with PlayStation on the first-party front? The issue likely isn’t a matter of size as much as it is corporate management of teams that are new to working directly under Xbox.

Throughout the timeline of PlayStation Studios under Sony Interactive Entertainment, the norm has been to acquire first-party developers after successful launches for exclusives developed in a second-party capacity.

This has been the case with PlayStation’s most lauded studios, as well as its newer acquisitions. “The Last of Us” developer Naughty Dog was acquired by SIE in 2001 following its work on the “Crash Bandicoot” series, while “Ghost of Tsushima” developer Sucker Punch joined the fold in 2011 after having worked on “Sly Cooper” and “Infamous.”

Then in 2019, SIE’s longtime partner on “Ratchet & Clank” and the “Resistance” trilogy, Insomniac Games, was acquired following the massive success of “Marvel’s Spider-Man" in 2018. Similarly, 2021 additions Bluepoint, Firesprite and Housemarque all worked with SIE in a second-party capacity beforehand.

While Xbox had a preexisting second-party relationship with 2018 buys Playground Games (“Forza”) and Undead Labs “State of Decay,” much of its studio additions were only third-party partners previously and struck as a hasty attempt to replicate the scale of PlayStation’s first-party pipeline that has since been overshadowed by the much larger acquisitions of ZeniMax ($7.5 billion) and the pending deal to acquire “Call of Duty” steward Activision Blizzard for a mammoth $69 billion.

Should it go through, the Activision deal can provide a solid bedrock of in-game spending and additional sales revenue through “Call of Duty” and the King mobile unit, meaning more internal financial support for first-party development that can help make Microsoft’s gaming operations more self-reliant.

Until then, the cuts at 343 and Bethesda show that even a company as big as Microsoft can’t easily brute-force its way into granting Xbox the same status that PlayStation has when the latter has put far more time into cultivating close relationships with developers before bringing them fully into the fold.

I've seen this come up before that one of the reasons for mismanagement of acquisitions, and a low rate of games being ready, is because Microsoft was kind of grabbing these companies mid-development and MS didn't have familiarity with how these companies were run before putting them under the Xbox umbrella, which itself was having some internal conflicts. So there was some adaptation pains which were also therefor Sony's acquisition,s but nowhere near as bad, and Sony already knew of the games in development as they brought the studios which is why there hasn't been as many delays..

It is arguable that some of Microsofts acquisitions may have actually helped aid in the delay of some games due to changes made to put them under the Xbox umbrella. Some of it though was intentional like with the State of Decay devs where MS has other studios working with them to put out an AAA experience, instead of the first two games more Indie-like production.

Of course, you would believe this wouldn't be as much of a problem 5 years later for some of these acquired studios but there does seem to have been some mismanagement, even with some internal studios that already existed such as 343 and The Coalition.

Here's hoping though that 2023 will be the first sign that Microsoft has gotten these new studios and their old ones under control, balanced, and ready to finally bring us the content.

 

[Abriael_GN]

Just more evidence that mainstream sites should stay away from covering video games. Go back to covering TLOU's TV show variety, that's as far as you can go.

Microsoft's layoffs were across the whole company. They have nothing to do with "strategy" besides the strategy to save money.

The decline in revenue was simply in comparison to an extremely strong year boosted by the pandemic. The whole gaming industry will see big drops this quarter. It's hilarious to see ignorant people and "journalists" interpret revenue down year-on-year pretty much like companies were actually losing money instead of just simply making a bit less.

This "article" is just word soup from someone who has zero ideas of what they're talking about. It'll be funny to see how they'll interpret it when Sony announced revenue decline later this week and Nintendo next week. Not that I actually expect this writer to know what that means.

 

[Ezekiel_]

.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

It was a difficult time for all of us during their launch periods. However these systems and their software are planned years in advance or you would think so.

Xbox’s marketing at the time had a strong focus on the power of Series X and backwards compatibility. I don’t think I had seen a console launch with that sort of marketing strategy. It said everything to me.

I was disappointed because they clearly heavily relied on Halo for launch but little else in terms of the big releases and considering how Xbox One turned out I was hoping they would come out with more of a strong start to make the point of this is not Xbox One, we are ready. With Halo being delayed the focus was on backwards compatibility, Gears 5 DLC and games like The Falconeer.

I really want to enjoy my Xbox but I’m not, a lot the stuff isn’t doing it for me like Bethesdas games or more Forza and the console experience itself with the UI etc just feels like a extension of Xbox One.

Hi-Fi Rush is a pleasant surprise, cool game and the one true excitement I have we haven’t seen or heard of in quite a while Hellblade 2.

It’s my fault in a way, I miss the 360 days too much.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

Just more evidence that mainstream sites should stay away from covering video games. Go back to covering TLOU's TV show variety, that's as far as you can go.

yes cause MS has always been so good with their first party output and studios that no one outside of this industry should report on that, lmao.

 

[owandeseis]

I'll wait for Vogue's article about this, but thanks

 

[Abriael_GN]

yes cause MS has always been so good with their first party output and studios that no one outside of this industry should report on that, lmao.

yes cause explaining something with something that's completely unrelated is a good thing right? Great analysis from the TV show website

 

[Clear]

Hi Fi Rush apparently started development in 2017. Years before the acquisition, and most likely as a full multi-platform release.

The way I see it, the Xbox brass' only contribution to this has been to trim off the Playstation SKU's and basically drop it cold as an added-value gimmick to prop up Gamepass. That's not credit-worthy in my opinion.

That the game's apparently a winner is entirely incidental. They could scarcely have done less to ensure its success.

 

[Roxkis_ii]

It’s my fault in a way, I miss the 360 days too much.

Damn bro, that really hit home for me. I used to be head over heals for Xbox in the 360 days. But it was the end of that gen that started having look me else where. I remember games started drying up towards the end of the 360 Era, but PS was still releasing games.

I got a ps3 for the cheap and it just opened my eyes to the games I was missing.

I know konnect got big towards the end of the 360 Era, but the Xbox one had games that first year at least. I wonder what happened.

 

[Ghost of Caelid]

343 is basically the only studio of theirs that is a mess...it's the holder of their mascot IP so it's failures hold more weight, but people overemphasize MS studio situation. they have 23 studios up from like 5 in 2018...they mention naughty dog which was acquired in 2001 and infamous in 2011...the time frame for these are so different it's impossible to compare the situations. Studios like Turn 10 and long time collaborators like playground as well as the coalition never have issues. Bethesda studios just dropped HI-FI and last year we had Horizon and Psychonauts 2...Obsidian is basically a well oiled machine at the rate they work, inexile never has any issues and I can go down a list. Basically the only two studios with major issues is 343 and The Initiative which is skipping a ton of steps to go right into AAA development which most studios don't do. Sony studios release games at a superb rate but their studios have a connecting identity for the most part.


But Fk MS for laying people off and then hiring Sting to make your rich executives feel better about themselves. Two things can be true...overstated studio situation. Still an exploitative company where the money rises to the top sadly.

 

[Kenshin775]

Author is reading way too much into the situation and trying to find a correlation for why Xbox has had a game drought. No company has a perfectly balanced release schedule. making games is hard and games get delayed. I admit I did complain in the thread about Redfall and Starfield getting delayed but MS first party has been on point the last 4 months. Give credit where credit is due

MS first party studios have released some quality games lately. These are the Metacritic scores
Grounded- 83
Pentiment- 86
Hi Fi Rush- 88
AoE 2: Definitive Edition- 87

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

What about those massive layoffs at Capital One and Yankee Candles, are their first party strategies to blame?

 

[Heisenberg007]

It's a well-written article highlighting the importance of organic growth vs. throwing money at a problem.

 

[feynoob]

We are going to be civil right?

 

[vj27]

Author is reading way too much into the situation and trying to find a correlation for why Xbox has had a game drought. No company has a perfectly balanced release schedule. making games is hard and games get delayed. I admit I did complain in the thread about Redfall and Starfield getting delayed but MS first party has been on point the last 4 months. Give credit where credit is due

MS first party studios have released some quality games lately. These are the Metacritic scores
Grounded- 83
Pentiment- 86
Hi Fi Rush- 88
AoE 2: Definitive Edition- 87

Seriously I still don’t know why they don’t count these. Plus, the lay offs were company wide majority of it wasn’t even in the gaming sector it was like holo lens and other stuff that got cut.

This the definition of reading into it TO much. Not gonna sit here and excuse there 2022 but that direct was a good thing, great games coming hella soon. But to write off everything they’ve done in 21 and what their aiming to do in 23 because of company (/industry) wide lay offs is dumb asf.

 

[quest]

Lmao this loses any credibility right here. Crying about no zenimax games or no ghost wire tokyo but try and sweep the timed exclusive contracts under the table. Its the typical "bad" news article we are seeing since the developer direct and hifi rush release. Its basically the summer before launch again roast Microsoft on cross generation games for months but when Sony secret cross generation games are found out its there is nothing to see here.



While the acquisition of Bethesda parent ZeniMax was finalized in 2021, the publisher went nearly two years without releasing any games on Xbox first, a streak recently broken by January’s rhythm-action game “Hi-Fi Rush” from internal developer Tango Gameworks. Tango’s last game, “Ghostwire: Tokyo,” as well as Arkane Studios’ “Deathloop” were released first on PlayStation 5 per deals made with Bethesda prior to the acquisition. “Ghostwire” still hasn’t come to Xbox.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Just more evidence that mainstream sites should stay away from covering video games. Go back to covering TLOU's TV show variety, that's as far as you can go.

Microsoft's layoffs were across the whole company. They have nothing to do with "strategy" besides the strategy to save money.

The decline in revenue was simply in comparison to an extremely strong year boosted by the pandemic. The whole gaming industry will see big drops this quarter. It's hilarious to see ignorant people and "journalists" interpret revenue down year-on-year pretty much like companies were actually losing money instead of just simply making a bit less.

This "article" is just word soup from someone who has zero ideas of what they're talking about. It'll be funny to see how they'll interpret it when Sony announced revenue decline later this week and Nintendo next week. Not that I actually expect this writer to know what that means.

Yup.

My company still hasnt reached 2020's record sales we achieved during covid hoarding. 2021 and 2022 didnt come close. And we even had some price increases last few years to prop things up, but 2020 was still the highest we ever had.

And even more insane about 2020 is that the giant orders only started coming at the end of February. So really our record 2020 year was based on 10 months of people buying shit like crazy as if the world is coming to and end. We couldnt keep up with orders. It was so bad across the industry, retailers even waived short ship fees because their demand was so high, they didnt want to risk us cutting them off and shipping to other stores. So they basically just said to us, "well waive all fees and just send whatever you can".

It was insane in 2020. Big bonus too. . The bonus was so high, our company gave a bonus on top of a bonus. Ya, we got a supplementary bonus at the same time. lol

 

[j.k.2021]

Overblown issue.Most of the layoffs from Bethesda were pr and social media related.Even now, ZeniMax has 200+ positions open.The only one who has suffered during these layoffs is 343 which seems intentional.

 

[j.k.2021]

Just more evidence that mainstream sites should stay away from covering video games. Go back to covering TLOU's TV show variety, that's as far as you can go.

Microsoft's layoffs were across the whole company. They have nothing to do with "strategy" besides the strategy to save money.

The decline in revenue was simply in comparison to an extremely strong year boosted by the pandemic. The whole gaming industry will see big drops this quarter. It's hilarious to see ignorant people and "journalists" interpret revenue down year-on-year pretty much like companies were actually losing money instead of just simply making a bit less.

This "article" is just word soup from someone who has zero ideas of what they're talking about. It'll be funny to see how they'll interpret it when Sony announced revenue decline later this week and Nintendo next week. Not that I actually expect this writer to know what that means.

What they won't tell is that Microsoft hired thousands of people during covid.Now, The high growth during covid is over and things are returning to normal so they are trying to return to normal too.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Professional "concern trolls" am I right boooyzzzz?

 

[Xenon]

What about those massive layoffs at Capital One and Yankee Candles, are their first party strategies to blame?

Do you deny the Bath and Body Works have better exclusives?

 

[rhodesianshepard]

Meh, I do think there is something about Microsoft buying up 3rd party studios when they have no history with. Sony is such a well oiled machine, not just with their individual studios, but an entire network of support studios making sure goals/deadlines get hit. Microsoft has done nothing to reaffirm that they can competently manage their 1st party studios

 

[Punished Miku]

My face is tired. Is this just a baseless opinion piece? I can't read it since its behind a paywall.

"So why isn’t Xbox keeping with PlayStation on the first-party front? The issue likely isn’t a matter of size as much as it is corporate management of teams that are new to working directly under Xbox."

Likely? Doesn't even really make sense. The biggest issues were from 343, which is the organic growth model. Bethesda studios, Double Fine, they're doing well. If MS has had any influence on them at all, it is providing extra funding, and more time. From all accounts, they aren't micromanaging them on that level. They're letting them make what they want and not forcing it out the door prematurely. This just sounds like something made up. Do they even have anonymous sources?

 

[Punished Miku]

It's a well-written article highlighting the importance of organic growth vs. throwing money at a problem.

You're subscribed to variety? I can't see the article.

 

[Ozriel]

Of course, you would believe this wouldn't be as much of a problem 5 years later for some of these acquired studios but there does seem to have been some mismanagement, even with some internal studios that already existed such as 343 and The Coalition.

And now Eddie's invented 'mismanagement' at The Coalition

Knew this place was far gone when someone claimed Turn 10 was being mismanaged too.

 

[ReBurn]

Until then, the cuts at 343 and Bethesda show that even a company as big as Microsoft can’t easily brute-force its way into granting Xbox the same status that PlayStation has when the latter has put far more time into cultivating close relationships with developers before bringing them fully into the fold.

I don't think this is quite accurate. 343 wasn't an attempt to brute force their way into anything. It was a CYA when the Bungie team decided to go their own way. The problem with 343 is foundational in that they are a Microsoft company that makes video games, rooted in "the Microsoft way" corporate culture. Their studios need to be video game companies with their own culture first. It needs leadership hired from outside because promotion from within 343 to lead it will invariably lead to a similar outcome.Layoffs there are probably required because it is hard to unlearn the Microsoft way and some people won't be able to do it.

While the Zenima/Bethesda buy is brute forcing, the layoffs there appear to be opportunistic. When big companies do mass layoffs they also use them as an opportunity to replace low performers or high cost employees with different folks. If you're already getting bad PR for layoffs you might as well hide some restructuring in there to avoid a separate PR hit later. Zenimax has lot of Bethesda job openings so it's definitely not a "poor management led to this" situation like 343. This is a "let's shop for upgrades" situation.

Microsoft needs to keep their stiff corporate culture out of creative entertainment. Microsoft Game Studios should operate as a video game company first and as a Microsoft company second. It probably needs someone running it who is not a Microsoft lifer.

 

[Ash Sparrow]

Variety, erm yeah sure I been getting my Xbox information from them for years. :lol:

Next Aldi or Sams Club will be putting out Xbox articles.

 

[Ozriel]

It's a well-written article highlighting the importance of organic growth vs. throwing money at a problem.

Is that what you think is happening? It's not exactly as simplistic as you put it.

Everybody's throwing money at problems. For example, Sony's already invested billions of dollars to solve their live service/GaaS problems with the purchase of Bungie, Jade Raymond's Haven and exclusivity deals with Deviation games...all to bolster live service efforts on PlayStation.


Either way, I guess the onus is on MS to start delivering so these articles peter out.

 

[j.k.2021]

I don't think this is quite accurate. 343 wasn't an attempt to brute force their way into anything. It was a CYA when the Bungie team decided to go their own way. The problem with 343 is foundational in that they are a Microsoft company that makes video games, rooted in "the Microsoft way" corporate culture. Their studios need to be video game companies with their own culture first. It needs leadership hired from outside because promotion from within 343 to lead it will invariably lead to a similar outcome.Layoffs there are probably required because it is hard to unlearn the Microsoft way and some people won't be able to do it.

While the Zenima/Bethesda buy is brute forcing, the layoffs there appear to be opportunistic. When big companies do mass layoffs they also use them as an opportunity to replace low performers or high cost employees with different folks. If you're already getting bad PR for layoffs you might as well hide some restructuring in there to avoid a separate PR hit later. Zenimax has lot of Bethesda job openings so it's definitely not a "poor management led to this" situation like 343. This is a "let's shop for upgrades" situation.

Microsoft needs to keep their stiff corporate culture out of creative entertainment. Microsoft Game Studios should operate as a video game company first and as a Microsoft company second. It probably needs someone running it who is not a Microsoft lifer.

Lmao, i was planning to say the same thing.343 is setup to fail.First problem of 343 is that it's heavily integrated in Microsoft corporate culture.How can creativity rise in such a corporate culture?.....Second thing is the hired contractors problem.343 uses a custom engine.New people come in, They get expert in engine and then they leave after 18 months which is pretty much behind all of Halo Infinite technical problems.If they really want to improve 343 then make it it's own thing first.

 

[SaucyJack]

It's a well-written article highlighting the importance of organic growth vs. throwing money at a problem.

I think the article takes a bunch of things that are true and conflates them into a cause and effect narrative which is not.

Microsoft's management of its first party output has been a problem for a VERY long time and is their Achilles Heel. First party productivity has been an issue for circa 15 years. Since Mid-360 generation I've been wanting Microsoft to beef up the size of the first party studio system, and that has definitely happened now. But the productivity remains a problem. This is definitely worthy of discussion.

The layoffs recently announced are not material in the overall scheme of things, just really look like a bit of trimming the fat across the company post-Covid. I don't see these being connected.

 

[DeepEnigma]

We are going to be civil right?

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Without knowing how MS and their gaming studios work, I think it's likely a case of MS bigwigs trying to get involved too much spoiling the broth.

There's probably some kind of "The Microsoft Way" of doing things and that doesn't jive with bought out studios.

Even at my company when we buy small companies, we dont just absorb them in and take over. There's some companies which are technically owned y us, but they run completely different with their own people and leaders. I do finance and aside from knowing the products and people at a high level, I've never even seen their numbers. The finance people at that brand still handles it. It's so different from each other, our side does everything in CDN $ and the people handling the brand on our side still does everything in US $ using theor own ERP system.

 

[knocksky]

It's a well-written article highlighting the importance of organic growth vs. throwing money at a problem.

Organic growth? People make it seem like devs are grown in a lab. There isn't a limitless pool of talent just sitting around waiting for Jobs.

To create a studio from nothing, you need to raid a load of others. I know I know that Jim talked about organic growth so some people need to repeat it like it means something. When in fact it is just bullshit pr like Phil spews.

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

And now Eddie's invented 'mismanagement' at The Coalition

Knew this place was far gone when someone claimed Turn 10 was being mismanaged too.

Huh, taken from project, moved to help undead labs with State of Decay 3 for the last some years, but that's not mismanagement.

Ok.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Organic growth? People make it seem like devs are grown in a lab. There isn't a limitless pool of talent just sitting around waiting for Jobs.

To create a studio from nothing, you need to raid a load of others. I know I know that Jim talked about organic growth so some people need to repeat it like it means something. When in fact it is just bullshit pr like Phil spews.

Organic growth isn't just about establishing new studios.

It's also about (1) growing your existing studios by increasing team size, (2) expanding your studios by adding new teams, (3) partnering with other studios, and (4) buying established partners that have been working with you and are familiar with your processes for years.

The last part is what the article focused on and shared multiple examples of.

 

[knocksky]

Huh, taken from project, moved to help undead labs with State of Decay 3 for the last some years, but that's not mismanagement.

Ok.

Huh? How is shifting manpower to give support considered "mismanagement"? Like wtf am I reading here?

 

[thismeinteil]

Xbox has a management problem. That was clear BEFORE the pandemic. Their output was pretty anemic and a lot of the games they released were mediocre. Instead of dealing with the problem, MS threw money at it. Last gen this took the form of subsidizing frequent price cuts and buying a really expensive timed exclusive that didn't help them or SE. Going into this gen, it took the form of taking on more employees with the acquisition of 3rd party studios.

But, the problem with management has not been fixed. It's why Halo launched a year late, but still in a bad state. A drought for the first two years of this gen. Why we are hearing that Starfield and Redfall are coming in hot, even though they've been in development for years. Why Rare doesn't even know what Everwild will be.

Simply throwing money at a situation, without addressing the underlying problems, never works.

 

[Heisenberg007]

You're subscribed to variety? I can't see the article.

I'm not. It wasn't pay-walled for me.

 

[SmokedMeat]

While the acquisition of Bethesda parent ZeniMax was finalized in 2021, the publisher went nearly two years without releasing any games on Xbox first, a streak recently broken by January’s rhythm-action game “Hi-Fi Rush” from internal developer Tango Gameworks.

This is because of timed exclusivity deals, Sony paid for.

 

[knocksky]

Organic growth isn't just about establishing new studios.

It's also about (1) growing your existing studios by increasing team size, (2) expanding your studios by adding new teams, (3) partnering with other studios, and (4) buying established partners that have been working with you and are familiar with your processes for years.

The last part is what the article focused on and shared multiple examples of.

Points 3 and 4 are nothing of the sort. Point 4 especially. Again pr.

Points 1 and 2 are just expansion. Nothing more. Organic growth is just nice sounding pr phrase. Which everyone forgot when Sony snapped up studios last year.

I have nothing against expansion, just against people throwing it around in console wars like it means something.

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

Huh? How is shifting manpower to give support considered "mismanagement"? Like wtf am I reading here?

So less AAA games, which now will take longer to make, because one of their studios wasn't ready to move on higher than where they were.

It's not much different then what happened with MCC, but with less studios involved. There was also another game in development that needed Microsoft to have another studio assist, forgot it off the top of my head.

 

[knocksky]

So less AAA games, which now will take longer to make, because one of their studios wasn't ready to move on higher than where they were.

It's not much different then what happened with MCC, but with less studios involved. There was also another game in development that needed Microsoft to have another studio assist, forgot it off the top of my head.

Sigh, mismanagement would be leaving your teams in the quagmire when you have manpower that can help.

I think that you need to use a different word here

 

[TheRedRiders]

They had a first party strategy?

 

[Punished Miku]

So less AAA games, which now will take longer to make, because one of their studios wasn't ready to move on higher than where they were.

It's not much different then what happened with MCC, but with less studios involved. There was also another game in development that needed Microsoft to have another studio assist, forgot it off the top of my head.

Studios cooperating and sharing tech is one of the better things Sony, Nintendo and MS do. No clue what you're on about here. Guess Monolith Soft helping on Zelda is mismanagement.

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

Sigh, mismanagement would be leaving your teams in the quagmire when you have manpower that can help.

I think that you need to use a different word here

Literally them grabbing teams and pushing them for things they aren't ready for, causing them to remove resources from elsewhere to make up the debt is literally the definition of mismanagement.

Especially since this isn't the first time, and MS has been making similar types of mistakes/blunders for some time now.

Studios cooperating and sharing tech is one of the better things Sony, Nintendo and MS do. No clue what you're on about here. Guess Monolith Soft helping on Zelda is mismanagement.

There's a difference between teams working together, and being forced to move resources to address a fault because of bad decision making.

 

[Ozriel]

Huh, taken from project, moved to help undead labs with State of Decay 3 for the last some years, but that's not mismanagement.

Ok.

How does this make any sense to you?
The Coalition have their own games they’re working on. At the same time, as the most skilled UE game devs in Microsoft Games, they’re also providing support to the likes of Undead Labs. Same way iD software helped with fine tuning the shooting in Redfall.

That’s actually proper studio management. Share techniques and knowledge across.

Not the first time you’ve come up with a poor take.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Points 3 and 4 are nothing of the sort. Point 4 especially. Again pr.

Points 1 and 2 are just expansion. Nothing more. Organic growth is just nice sounding pr phrase. Which everyone forgot when Sony snapped up studios last year.

I have nothing against expansion, just against people throwing it around in console wars like it means something.

It may mean nothing to you, but it does matter a lot in reality. We've also seen proof of its importance. Xbox bought many studios that they weren't familiar with and vice versa. This led to multiple delays, reboots, and just overall problems, e.g., Avowed, Hellblade, Compulsion Games next game.

On the other hand, Sony bought studios that were intimately involved with PlayStation processes. Consequently, they continued releasing high-quality games at a rapid pace, e.g., Insomniac, Firesprite, Bluepoint, etc.

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

How does this make any sense to you?

Read the post above you.

Xbox bought many studios that they weren't familiar with and vice versa. This led to multiple delays, reboots, and just overall problems, e.g., Avowed, Hellblade, Compulsion Games next game.

On the other hand, Sony bought studios that were intimately involved with PlayStation processes. Consequently, they continued releasing high-quality games at a rapid pace, e.g., Insomniac, Firesprite, Bluepoint, etc.

This is the issue, hopefully the years of being under Xbox has given the company time to get these studios well assimilated into the box development ecosystem so we see less of these problems.

So far so good for early 2023.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Read the post above you.



This is the issue, hopefully the years of being under Xbox has given the company time to get these studios well assimilated into the box development ecosystem so we see less of these problems.

So far so good for early 2023.

Eventually, this problem will go away as both Xbox and the studios become familiar with each other, workflows, and internal shared tools.

However, Xbox will have to improve its production pipeline for devs and ensure talent retention for that to happen.

 

[A.Romero]

The kind of shift Xbox is pursuing it's not something that happens in 3 or 4 years. This is the reason Spencer still has a job.

It's a shame their output is suffering but it's understandable. Microsoft never had the capabilities Sony developed through the decades. Now they will.

Maybe their strategy won't work but at least for now I think it's too early to tell and based on just one specific aspect of the business (which could be argued is the most important one).