390°

Former Blizzard President Says Closures Hurt Phil Spencer 'as Much as Anyone Else'

The former president of Blizzard Mike Ybarra in a statement on Twitter says Microsoft Gaming CEO is hurting just as much as anyone else following the closure of three studios under Bethesda - Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and Alpha Dog Studios. Roundhouse Games is also joining ZeniMax Online Studios.

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vgchartz.com
jambola17d ago

Yeahhh I doubt it's hurting a millionaire as much as it's hurting fans and people who lost their jobs

VenomUK16d ago

Mike Ybarra‘s defence of Phil Spencer is the dictionary definition of tone deaf. Even Alanah Pearce, who’s close to Aaron Greenberg and Phil called him out on it.

“Mike, I have a lot of fondness for Phil and don’t doubt he’s incredibly bummed about this, but CEOs can handle some “shots” amidst people having their lives destroyed. Your sympathetic posts should solely be directed at those who’ve lost their jobs.”

https://x.com/charalanahzar...

GamerRN16d ago

What makes you think these are Phil's decisions? This is likely coming from Microsoft, and not the Xbox division.

Name Last Name17d ago

Phil is the only guy in the industry that has plot armor.

RNTody17d ago

Hahahahahahaha! xD Legendary comment.

lelo2play17d ago (Edited 17d ago )

At this moment, even Xbox fanboys are starting to hate Microsoft. It's fu**up, after fu**up, after fu**up... that's the state of Microsoft gaming.
Purchasing developers left and right, then killing them off...

Phil was the worst thing that happend to Xbox. Might as well just shut down their gaming division and fu** off

Jingsing17d ago

I can already hear Jim Ross.. He has a family damnit!

Barlos17d ago

Poor Phil. He must be crying into his bonus cheques. Makes your heart bleed doesn't it?

MrDead17d ago (Edited 17d ago )

I'm sure he'll be upset that those cheques contain a small percentage of money MS is still making from the closed studios games too. Next time someone purchases High-fi Rush or Evil within all that money is now just Microsofts, just think the former devs at Tango who made Hi-fi Rush MS's most highly acclaimed game in years will get nothing more.

MS are buying these publishers for the big IP's like Elder Scrolls and Call of Duty they have little interest in the ones that don't make huge profits... and firing thousands and closing studios looks good on the next quarterly shareholder report. Gotta protect the share price.

Eonjay17d ago (Edited 17d ago )

This is all coming from the executive who thinks we should have the option to tip devs... apparently so publishers can pay devs minimum wage. Will someone think of the C-suite executives!!!

dumahim17d ago (Edited 17d ago )

That was from a former Blizzard exec. Did Phil make a comment on that also?

edit: Oh, it wasn't Phil who said this himself.

HyperMoused16d ago

Gott alove the tought process on that...gentlemen we need think of more ways to get money out of these..gamers...wait..what if they just gave us their money..like for free.

LucasRuinedChildhood17d ago (Edited 17d ago )

Yeah, the guy making $10m a year is hurting as much as those who have lost their jobs and are worrying about their future and supporting their family. /s

It takes a real lack of shame to even try put the Good Guy Phil™ spin on this. It's not going to work this time.

Profchaos17d ago

He's sitting around feeling sorry when he should of been doing everything in his power to get people jobs in other studios you're telling me after toys for Bob split from Activision there wasn't a opening in the call of duty mines for arkane it's just woah is me.

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40°

Neil Druckmann clarifies true intent of new Naughty Dog game comments

Following a recent interview with Sony, Naughty Dog head Neil Druckmann claims the original intent was “unfortunately lost” in the process.

170°

Naughty Dog Boss Neil Druckmann Says AI Will 'Revolutionize' Development

Druckmann claims the tech could 'push the boundaries of storytelling in games.'

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gamedeveloper.com
Jin_Sakai1d 14h ago

I’m more interested in what else he said.

“Neil Druckmann says new Naughty Dog title could ‘redefine mainstream perceptions of gaming’

1d 12h ago Replies(6)
H91d 9h ago

It will be something like "we erased gameplay all together it's just a movie now"

purple1011d 9h ago

every time naughty dog make a game, you play it and get the feeling "this is not possible'

from the boulder running towards you in crash, on ps1,
to the massive open world of jak and daxter, on ps2,
to the QuickTime events sequences of uncharted on ps3/4

and now we will see what they do with ps5,

H91d 7h ago

Press X for doubt at "PS5"

-Foxtrot1d 5h ago (Edited 1d 5h ago )

Arrogant asshole who sniffs his own farts bigs up next game…sounds like typical PR to me

You know what I find interesting? Almost every site reporting this as the main title where the REAL interesting bit of the interview is Neil praising AI and saying it will be used to help push story, characters, dialogue and more.

It’s super shitty to big up AI especially when it comes to story telling and other creative elements.

senorfartcushion1d 5h ago

Just because someone says this type of stuff, it doesn't mean that it's guaranteed to be good news.

You can say this about microtransactions. MXTs revolutionised the gaming industry.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 1d 3h ago
Levii_921d 5h ago

Geez how full of themselves are these guys.

Einhander19721d 5h ago

He also said it has "ethical issues we need to address" but of course that doesn't get the clicks.

CrimsonWing691d 5h ago

I’m all for it. Cuts the time to make a game. Look, Hellblade 2 took 5 years to make, if AI can do that in half the time, as a consumer, I support it.

Chard18h ago

Things will get far sloppier brother

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70°

The Witcher 3 REDkit Q&A - CDPR & Yigsoft Confirm Steam Workshop Support; Further Changes Planned

CD Projekt RED and Yigsoft have launched The Witcher 3 REDkit on PC. We interviewed both studios to discuss the release of these mod tools.

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wccftech.com