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

[Gizmo_Duck]

Not even the biggest xbox shills can agree on whether its microsoft or Xbox’s fault lol

scrambling to blame everyone but xbox leadership

 

[MeachTheMonster]

Sony stan’s continue to get their perspective from cac tweets, then don’t understand why they are always wrong with regard to the business side of the industry

 

[Deezay]

Genuine question,

Do you HONESTLY believe that the Xbox brand is bigger than ever and is not failing whatsover? You truly believe that everything going on(layoffs, game cancellations/studio closures, major first party titles being put on Playstation etc.) is just bullshyt narratives from Sony stans and that the XBOX brand(XBOX, not MICROSOFT as a whole), is thriving and is even better positioned for the future?

Please answer this, again without resorting to whataboutism or mentioning Sony/Nintendo. Just from a gun to head point of view, is the XBOX brand going strong? Again, NO WHATABOUTISM.

I know I'm going to be called a "Stan" for this, but as a gamer and a man that has multiple kin that work for MS directly, it’s not good.

Gun to head, straight answer....
No, the Xbox brand-specifically Xbox as a gaming platform and identity—is not going strong right now. It's weakened, uncertain, and facing a serious identity crisis.

Let me explain the Harsh Realities Facing Xbox Today...

1. Massive Layoffs & Studio Closures

Closing studios like Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks (despite Hi-Fi Rush being critically loved) sends a chilling message: not even successful, creative teams are safe.
Layoffs at ZeniMax, 343, The Coalition, etc., show instability even after massive acquisitions.

2. Game Cancellations

Internal projects being canned post-acquisition means investments aren’t translating into long-term vision or output. That's not brand confidence—it’s damage control.

3. First-Party Games Going Multiplatform

Games like Sea of Thieves, Hi-Fi Rush, and others hitting PlayStation means Xbox is no longer focusing on platform strength—it’s pivoting to services (like GamePass) and monetization elsewhere.
If first-party exclusivity weakens, what’s the point of buying into the Xbox ecosystem for some fans?

4. Hardware Identity Is Blurry

No clear strategy: Series X/S have a weak generational identity compared to Xbox 360 or even Xbox One at their peaks.
Even with solid hardware, there’s no must-have exclusive defining the system.

5. Brand Loyalty is Fading

Longtime Xbox fans are publicly questioning the brand more than ever.
Many feel abandoned after investing in the ecosystem, only to see Xbox shift toward a publisher-first model over a platform-first one.

Okay...I'm done.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

ChatGPT tweets

 

[Deezay]

Logic is ignored, while ignorance thrives.

-AI

The Truth is in The Matrix.

 

[The Mad Titan]

Is there another company that spent 80+ billion dollars buying publishers i don’t know about?

What does this have to do with anything, you can't be like "they buying up the block" because they bought some of the biggest homes on the block, especially not when there are tons of other publishers doing their thing.

You can’t say microsoft is doing this because of AI and also that those publishers and studios would have had layoffs anyway lol

Yes I can and it's makes logical sense that MS would axe things that cost X amount don't have a end date, and expected to cost X amount more. IDK exactly what you think would have happened years ago with Zenimax or ABK.

9 times out of 10 they wouldn't have bounced back, especially with no games being dropped or expected to drop anytime soon.

the reason for the 9000 employee layoff, in your quote before is because of Microsoft pushing AI. Which now affects the studios at Activision/Blizzard/King, Zenimax, etc.

Correct, which sucks. But y'all been in here giving reasons why Xbox is failing, then got the truth that actually Xbox is fine, then y'all was like gamepass is unsustainable and doesn't make money. That got shut down, and now you on consolidation is bad even though the reason for the layoff in the gaming area has nothing to do with consolidating

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

What does this have to do with anything, you can't be like "they buying up the block" because they bought some of the biggest homes on the block, especially not when there are tons of other publishers doing their thing.


Yes I can and it's makes logical sense that MS would axe things that cost X amount don't have a end date, and expected to cost X amount more. IDK exactly what you think would have happened years ago with Zenimax or ABK.

9 times out of 10 they wouldn't have bounced back, especially with no games being dropped or expected to drop anytime soon.



Correct, which sucks. But y'all been in here giving reasons why Xbox is failing, then got the truth that actually Xbox is fine, then y'all was like gamepass is unsustainable and doesn't make money. That got shut down, and now you on consolidation is bad even though the reason for the layoff in the gaming area has nothing to do with consolidating

Again, it can be both.

you think they cancelled perfect dark because it was shaping up to be a 10/10 game releasing next year? You think they closed the initiative because everything they had planned for that studio came to fruition?

you think turn 10 got reduced by 50% because Forza Motorsport was a huge hit?

the more big M push their AI initiative (which they absolutely are) the more xbox studios, especially the ones not pulling their weight will continue getting hit. I’ve said before that it was looking shaky for perfect dark and you sat here and argued with me that it was perfectly normal.

yall are just incapable of criticizing microsoft on any scale

 

[The Mad Titan]

Not even the biggest xbox shills can agree on whether its microsoft or Xbox’s fault lol

scrambling to blame everyone but xbox leadership

It's the industries fault. IDK why that's so hard for you Stans to accept, it almost mirrors the ".com" boom perfectly.

We hit a point were a bunch of companies and random people jumped in because of COVID. The problem is COVID was the "top" so now you have a bunch of people with projects that they depending on hitting or the studio or dev being closed down or layoffs. The bubble has burst, and there is going to be more fallout and cancelled games for the next couple years.

Also people have gotten way more critical of games you could release a generic Triple A game all the way up to like 2016 and not only make money but start a brand. Now you can release a AAA game and if you asked 20 random gamers about about it is be shocked if more than 4 have heard of it.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

Was explained in detail here.

https://www.thecoli.com/threads/the-state-of-video-games-2025.1066199/

But stan’s have to ignore reality in order to promote their stan narratives.

Nobody is surprised or confused about any of these moves, but stan’s who purposely don’t live within reality

 

[The Mad Titan]

Again, it can be both.

you think they cancelled perfect dark because it was shaping up to be a 10/10 game releasing next year? You think they closed the initiative because everything they had planned for that studio came to fruition?

you think turn 10 got reduced by 50% because Forza Motorsport was a huge hit?

the more big M push their AI initiative (which they absolutely are) the more xbox studios, especially the ones not pulling their weight will continue getting hit. I’ve said before that it was looking shaky for perfect dark and you sat here and argued with me that it was perfectly normal.

yall are just incapable of criticizing microsoft on any scale

To be able to say it looks shakey with perfect dark but have full confidence in wolverine is ironic.

Again y'all are so all over the place which are narratives that I really never know what we're discussing. What do y'all want for Microsoft and Xbox because it's clearly not games otherwise you would champion game pass.

Instead you pretend like game pass harmed the industry and Xbox, while xbox sat in third place. Game pass does not have enough pull to sway the markets buying habits as it stands now, and if you feel it does you probably should also feel that the sells that can come from Xbox are significant... So publishers should always be releasing their games there.

At one point it was MS doesn't care about the Xbox, all they do is lose money for them. Now Xbox is top 3 profit generators and it's MS is brutal

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

be able to say it looks shakey with perfect dark but have full confidence in wolverine is ironic.

No it isnt, a studio that has put out 4 games this generation, high quality games, that got hacked last year isn’t bigger concern than an unproven studio. No matter how much you try and concern troll Insomniac.

They aren’t even two years out from their last major release.

It’d be like trying to concern obsidian if OW2 got delayed.

It's the industries fault. IDK why that's so hard for you Stans to accept, it almost mirrors the ".com" boom perfectly.

We hit a point were a bunch of companies and random people jumped in because of COVID. The problem is COVID was the "top" so now you have a bunch of people with projects that they depending on hitting or the studio or dev being closed down or layoffs. The bubble has burst, and there is going to be more fallout and cancelled games for the next couple years.

Its not the industries fault microsoft bought 2 publishers and have laid off over 20k people since last year

phil spencer who has been tanking the xbox division for the past decade is literally sitting right there

 

[The Mad Titan]

No it isnt, a studio that has put out 4 games this generation, high quality games, that got hacked last year isn’t bigger concern than an unproven studio. No matter how much you try and concern troll Insomniac.

They aren’t even two years out from their last major release.

It’d be like trying to concern obsidian if OW2 got delayed.



Its not the industries fault microsoft bought 2 publishers and have laid off over 20k people since last year

I'm not concerned for insomniac at all. They'll get the time they need and at worse the games will get released multiplatform going forward


It's just ironic that you know of a problem for a fact with insomniac which worse case scenario is they had to start from again, but since they have released good games in the past you think they have a money tree glitch I can assure you that's not the case, especially with that marvel license

 

[The Mad Titan]

No it isnt, a studio that has put out 4 games this generation, high quality games, that got hacked last year isn’t bigger concern than an unproven studio. No matter how much you try and concern troll Insomniac.

They aren’t even two years out from their last major release.

It’d be like trying to concern obsidian if OW2 got delayed.



Its not the industries fault microsoft bought 2 publishers and have laid off over 20k people since last year

phil spencer who has been tanking the xbox division for the past decade is literally sitting right there

Since you not trying to hear it from me or @MeachTheMonster or anyone else here telling y'all what the deal is

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

Since you not trying to hear it from me or @MeachTheMonster or anyone else here telling y'all what the deal is

Cac tweets

 

[MeachTheMonster]

No it isnt, a studio that has put out 4 games this generation, high quality games, that got hacked last year isn’t bigger concern than an unproven studio.

An Upset Insomniac Says PlayStation Layoffs Are ‘Unprecedented’

Insomniac Games has issued a public statement about the layoffs on their main Twitter account, something other big developers affected like Naughty Dog have not done.

www.forbes.com

PlayStation layoffs confirmed to have impacted Insomniac Games, the studio behind Marvel's Spider-Man

Great responsibility

www.techradar.com

Layoffs and cancelations.

Make it make sense