IGN: "Ten years ago on March 31, 2014, then-Xbox Game Studios boss Phil Spencer was named Head of Xbox. And he inherited quite a mess. You all know the story; there’s no need to beat the horse corpse for the ten-thousandth time. The brand was in disarray after what can, without hyperbole, be called a pretty disastrous launch of the Xbox One. So how far has Xbox come under Spencer’s tenure? And where’s it going from here? Let’s look back and then look forward."
Wccftech interviewed Nathan Yu from Inworld AI to discuss the dynamic NPC tech's applications to games as well as potential issues like costs.
Saad from eXputer: "After Arkane Austin & Tango were shutdown, Xbox President Sarah Bond spoke with Bloomberg in what I believe to be utter corporate fakery."
im not really surprised by that, shes always been more a "let me talk about something else than what u want to know" kinda gal
"Shareholders" I call them cancer, they are already rich to begin with but need more and more. It's like a disease, with no cure.
I own shares in game companies. I'm not anything near a major share holder. I just want them to make good games and be successful because of that. I think it's the senior management that's the problem. They are the ones that should be making it clear to the shareholders what creates growth and ensures a future of their business. Not this weasle words garbage that she did on the interview. It was horrific. I don't know a shareholder that would be happy with any of them for this.
Yea, it was and it’s insulting that they think we’re dumb enough to fall for this. Look, the truth was you took a gamble on these studios and while they released some games to critical praise and great reception they just aren’t bringing in a ROI. Be transparent, you’re not a politician.
Just tell everyone you spend money on projects big and small and when money isn’t being made you go over the potential of revenue a studio can bring in vs those that can’t and make the hard decision to chop them.
She says this whole thing about “success” doesn’t fit one meaning for each studio. Well yea, a small budget production isn’t going to expect to sell the same as a large budget production.
One thing I wish they did though was let Tango be an independent studio.
disheartening to see no regard for the human cost of business anymore
the bad decisions and judgements of these CEOs severely impact the frontliners
these fake responses are just salt on wounds
imagine havin the audacity to say "we need more games like hifi rush" right after closing the studio that made it lol
followin up with this show of "deflecting every question" was in poor taste
Firaxis veteran Jake Solomon hasn't seen mass layoffs like this in his whole 25-year career.
Alot’s changed in 25 years. We have games with $300 mill budgets, people not interested in games other than Fortnite and Minecraft, the older generation of gamers giving up the hobby or dying off, a period of super bad inflation where the industry decided to hike up prices on games, Gamepass harming game sales, GaaS games being pushed left and right with obnoxious monetization and worse looking/playing (Suicide Squad vs Arkham Knight).
The industry is just shite right now. Games ain’t selling, games cost massive amounts, businesses can’t bleed money and this is what happens. Part of it is on them and part of it is on consumers not buying.
This is a Fluff piece hidden behind more obvious criticisms from the past. No mention of the flatlining console sales. Sales that are worse than the Xbox One generation that Phil has admitted was a complete failure. The stagnation of GP subscribers, a lot of which have been forced to sub to the basic if they want to play online. The firing of nearly 2000 employees. The desperate need to sell beloved exclusive titles to competitors to try and raise profits and there'll be many more to come as he tries to soften the blow to the faithful, bit by bit as he does his many PR tours throughout the years to come. I know they mentioned the righting of the ship after Mattrick, but I really feel like this was a Fluff piece.
Must be difficult being so full of shit for 10 years straight
I salute you sir
*** Insomniac’s critically acclaimed and commercially successful Spider-Man series wouldn’t have happened without it.***
Shut up. Just shut up.
This article is hard to read without feeling nauseous on the author's attempt to bend over backwards to make statements like this to praise Microsoft or things having absolutely nothing to do with Phil at all. Somehow, Phil is amazing because Insomniac made their own game and that own game of theirs is the only reason they could make a good Spider-Man game. The only reason. Insomniac couldn't have done it otherwise. That's because they can only make games they're familiar with and are incompetent but also brilliant.
***The Xbox Series X is a great machine that has plenty of horsepower, looks awesome, and works as whisper-quietly as it does reliably. Meanwhile, Spencer’s strategy of lowering the price of entry for the new console by offering a non-4K version of the Series X in the form of the Series S also seems to have paid off, with Xbox doing better than it ever has.***
What nonsense is this?
The Xbox 360 launched in 2005. It was a great machine with great games. I never owned one since I could only afford one console and I went with PS.
Microsoft ended prodcution in 2016. This guy took over in 2014, after Xbox One launched.
What has happened since? Recently, a merger with layoffs. A new console that isn't competing globally. A dynamic shift from what made Xbox a staple of console gaming.
You can be an Xbox fan, but this guy is what went wrong.
By undoing the bad decisions that were placed on X1? Wow, such an achievement....
When he was head of Xbox in 2014 MS cut allot of the budget for Xbox. Means no buy for new studios the first 4 years. Like idiots MS are they shot themselves in the foot. You would think a tech company like them they would think ahead and have games ready later X1 early and beyond this generation.
Now we're seeing games released later in the gen but it's too late I'm afraid. They over paid for ABK over compensated because they can't get games out and see higher revenue streams.
All this could of been avoid if they bought studios in 2014 and they wouldn't be in less of a mess.