Microsoft is planning major Xbox lay offs next week and also ceasing some Xbox operations in some European regions due to restructuring

[Instant Classic]

If they found it too expensive to keep Tango open, (which is based in Japan and prob a bit cheaper than Canada) then idk what hope compulsion really has. its not like the next one will be a big hit

but that kind of goes for all their games, avowed, Hellblade 2, Indiana jones, flight sim, forza, etc. all these games just get dropped into the service with no marketing no fanfare, no real word of mouth or anything and everyone just moves on. people talk more about “game pass crushing it” more than they talk about any individual game on the service.

i doubt any of these games are making any real money, even with playstation ports.

Honestly Avowed did decent imo. It had limited marketing and reached 19k steam ccu. I think it had more players than Indiana Jones. I do find it weird they don't market their games and rely on word of mouth but they go about that in the wrong way which is why there's not much fanfare with their games imo.

I've felt this same way they’re doing a disservice to their smaller titles from the OG Xbox studios because they heavily promote Activision/Bethesda games and make them multiplat (Doom, Oblivion, and THPS 3+4 for example are getting ads blasted on both Xbox and PS storefronts) while the smaller studios and New IPs just get the Gamepass treatment on the console they continue to devalue themselves.

If they're gonna go multiplat with all the big games they might as well let the smaller ones cook on other systems as well from the jump to give those IPs a real chance. They're basically relegating those games to "little brother" status because even if a new IP is a hit, it's hardly gonna get the same looks or promotion as their mutliplat games. Plus we all know that if an Xbox game does become some breakout hit, the PS/Switch2 ports are more or less inevitable down the line anyway. Might as well cash in on the game while initial hype is still there and all audiences can engage with it at once


The craziest thing is that had Microsoft actually made their games exclusive, the market would be MUCH more competitive right now and you could very well make the argument that Microsoft's software output has been better than both Nintendo/Sony within the past year or so. But they are 100% Activision+Bethesda Sponsored by Microsoft at this point and the Xbox brand as we've known it is dying a slow, quiet death.

Gamers will hate to hear this but most people don't want to play AA games. Sure, you get games like Ex33, but for every Ex33 you have hundreds of AA games that people pass on. It's why Microsoft going AA route with their games didn't catch much fanfare. The only way that did massive was Sea of Thieves, but all of the others didn't really capture many gamers. State of Decay performed pretty well for what it was but other than that most people didn't really touch their AA games. The internet always preaches about smaller games and AA, but most people gravitate towards grand AAA games because they feel it's it's more valuable. It's why you look at any sales chart it mainly consists of AAA games if you look at top 25 sales of the year.

Theoretically, focusing on shorter dev time and smaller titles would've made sense for gamepass approach. However, Microsoft is bad at marketing their games and don't know how to produce quality quickly. If they were able to go at the pace of Sega, then they would be in a much different situation .Sega has the formula in how game pass should work. Them being able to produce Yakuza/Like a Dragon game, Atlus RPG, and other games every 2 years is what Microsoft should've been working towards when they pivoted towards game pass. Of course you can still have your AAA games, but it should've mainly consisted of AA games and other games that are quick to make. Taking 5+ years to make Hellblade 2 is malpratice for how bad it flopped.

Microsoft thing is interesting if they were to go exclusvie. I don't think these games are enough to make playstation gamers move or undecided gamers to move to xbox. If you're an undecided gamer would you choose Indiana Jones, Hellbalde 2, South of Midnight, Avowed, The Outer World 2,Oblviion Remastered, Doom, etc. or would you choose Spider man 2, Ghost of Yotei, Astro Bot, Helldivers 2, Stellar Blade, Rise of Ronin, Silent Hill 2, Death Stranding 2, etc. I think even Sony at their weakest will still make people gravitate towards to Sony becasue their friends are most likely there and their name is worht more. They would of course get more hardware sales, but it still won't be enough because people outside of North America and UK don't f with Microsoft consoles.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

nikkas tryping up dissertations based off cac tweets of events that ain’t even happen.

But when other studios going through real layoffs and closures it’s crickets.

Sony stans

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

Gamers will hate to hear this but most people don't want to play AA games

I’ve been saying this for years. ”core“ gamers want AAA and casuals want fortnite, 2k, COD and the like

Expedition 33 did well because it looks like a AAA game in presentation. The motion capture is actually really good, they got big voice actors, and the rest is saved by art direction. The whole appeal of it is “we finally get a ‘big budget’ western turn based game that FF should have been doing.”

The reason microsoft won’t go exclusive is because they already trained their audience not to buy games and they don’t have a large enough install base to take advantage of the money they spent anyway.

i’ve always said that if they didn’t buy activision and kept xbox game studios and zenimax titles (along with big 2nd party deals) exclusive, sony probably would have been in trouble. But they got greedy and phil spencer and Matt Booty don’t know how to run a games company. I bet all these companies (embracer, microsoft, sony, etc) are all looking back on that pandemic spending spree with their heads in their hands

 

[ALonelyDad]

Microsoft CEOs make too much money to be firing every day workers, shame on any corp that does this.

 

[AStrangeName]

Don’t do that to Sega, Xbox doesn’t have enough content for a Xbox Ages 1.

And Sega kept putting effort to the very end and was willing to go bankrupt to turn the Dreamcast around. Once Microsoft got ABK, they pretty much threw in the towel and Game Pass spread up Xbox's demise.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

And Sega kept putting effort to the very end and was willing to go bankrupt to turn the Dreamcast around. Once Microsoft got ABK, they pretty much threw in the towel and Game Pass spread up Xbox's demise.

Yeah, let’s not forget sega literally created over two dozen franchises on their own.

 

[AStrangeName]

Yeah, let’s not forget sega literally created over two dozen franchises on their own.

Sega is in the same position as Nintendo where they created a whole lot of franchises that they can simply coast off of them, but they still go out of their way to make new franchises.

 

[O³ (O cubed)]

nikkas tryping up dissertations based off cac tweets of events that ain’t even happen.

But when other studios going through real layoffs and closures it’s crickets.

Sony stans

When it happens again at Sony, I'll be in the thread lamenting.

 

[Diunx]

Nice the trillion dollar company is gonna save a couple of millions that I'm sure will be well spent on bonuses and AI slop.

 

[levitate]

Meanwhile raising the price of Microsoft 365.

 

[PS5 Pro]

I’ve been saying this for years. ”core“ gamers want AAA and casuals want fortnite, 2k, COD and the like

Expedition 33 did well because it looks like a AAA game in presentation. The motion capture is actually really good, they got big voice actors, and the rest is saved by art direction. The whole appeal of it is “we finally get a ‘big budget’ western turn based game that FF should have been doing.”

The reason microsoft won’t go exclusive is because they already trained their audience not to buy games and they don’t have a large enough install base to take advantage of the money they spent anyway.

i’ve always said that if they didn’t buy activision and kept xbox game studios and zenimax titles (along with big 2nd party deals) exclusive, sony probably would have been in trouble. But they got greedy and phil spencer and Matt Booty don’t know how to run a games company. I bet all these companies (embracer, microsoft, sony, etc) are all looking back on that pandemic spending spree with their heads in their hands

It gets really old watching Sony Stans make up lies (MANDATORY!!!) this narrative that nobody wants AA games or that only core gamers want AAA.

A gamer plays what they like, not what is reviewed well. AA games tend to be better than AAA games because innovation is being stifled. The cost of AAA games can close a studio if it fails so developers are taking less chances. Well documented yet you still subscribe TO THE EXACT SAME MODEL

Xbox gamers historically buy more games than Sony gamers. Now he have Gamepass and to cope you say we don't buy games. Because of Gamepass I buy more games than I ever thought of buying. Stats backup what I just said across the board on Xbox buuuuuuut that didn't fit your narratives. And the fact Sony is focusing on that as well means you're literally lying to yourselves

I'll put the truth right here like I been doing all week
Sony is prioritizing monthly active users over direct sales now, but the company's live-service games aren't doing too hot

After Sony tells you this, you go "Let's keep measuring reality using the old methods"
That would be like judging a musicians success without including digital streams and downloads

That's what all Sony Stan's do, they enter the conversation being disingenuous and willfully ignorant

 

[Rice N Beans]

I dislike how Turn 10 is probably gonna get cut on account of poor performance. Somehow Microsoft thinks their adoption of thrifty development crutching on IP names is infallible.

Then again, Chris Esaki sold unachievable footage for Forza Motorsport.

MS culture, everyone.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

I dislike how Turn 10 is probably gonna get cut on account of poor performance. Somehow Microsoft thinks their adoption of thrifty development crutching on IP names is infallible.

Then again, Chris Esaki sold unachievable footage for Forza Motorsport.

MS culture, everyone.

Its probably because of all their contracted labor and now they are replacing that labor with AI, or at least moving in that direction.

 

[The Mad Titan]

Sony ready with the dissertations and theories since it's MS/Xbox

 

[rdj]

Cac tweet