The sweeping layoffs equate to 2.1% of Microsoft's workforce, with 1,600 immediate job losses at Xbox.
  • scops@reddthat.comEnglish
    82·
    7 hours ago

    I feel bad for the studios that are facing uncertainty in this situation, but I’m selfishly relieved. This is the only way I’m going to get to play State of Decay 3 and the new Senua game, if they can secure a publisher and complete development. There is zero chance I will buy another Xbox unless there’s a colossal restructure of the market in the next generation, and there’s no way I’m going back to Windows.

  • reluctant_squidd@lemmy.caEnglish
    16·
    10 hours ago

    They really don’t gaf about PR anymore apparently.

    So is this because they think AI is going to replace them all? Or maybe to try and recoup some of the millions poured into AI that they can’t seem to make profitable?

    Both?

    • ArgentRaven@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      7 hours ago

      I think they realize that it’s not profitable to sell Xbox systems, given the current memory crisis. And that it won’t resolve itself at least in the next 5 years.

      I bet they’ll push cloud services for their next games platform, if they find there’s still a market. They won’t kill the Xbox because they don’t want to shut the door on it, but they’ll let it wither until they find a way to make money with it again. Cause right now their cloud services and licensing have for to be their main revenue stream.

  • k0e3@lemmy.caEnglish
    4·
    8 hours ago

    They already wanted Copilot to play the games for you, they may as well make the games too.

  • SirEDCaLot@lemmy.todayEnglish
    87·
    8 hours ago

    Focusing on the Xbox side- the sensationalist headline masks the real story.

    Most of these job losses aren’t layoffs, they are studios being sold or spun off and many/most of those people will keep their jobs.

    And on the Xbox side at least, this is a VERY good thing.

    Hard truth #1: Xbox is losing money, and MS will not keep subsidizing a money-losing division forever. Xbox needs to be profitable if it is to continue.

    The Phil Spencer / GamePass strategy was to adopt the Netflix business model- buy a ton of indie studios, crank out tons of games to fill up GamePass, everybody subscribes. Put simply, this plan failed. A couple AAA games and three pages of games you’ve never heard of from publishers you’ve never heard of is not a compelling value proposition to a gamer who has finite gaming time. Especially when you’re already planning to play other AAA games being released.

    The other problem was a stupid organizational structure. Apparently some parts of XBOX had 14 (!) levels of management. Asha wants to cut that to 3-5 levels (which IMHO is the right call). That means a lot of project managers and department heads and the like who don’t really add much overall value but cost a lot and make changes take exponentially longer.

    Combine this and you have a large, top-heavy organization that’s producing games that aren’t selling consoles and aren’t selling GamePass subscriptions. Something had to change, and this is it.

    Personally I think XBOX is in a better place today than yesterday. The resulting company won’t be trying to develop every game, they will be focusing on bringing in exclusives and hopefully focused on good first party games like Halo. And with much lower costs, hopefully they will be much more profitable to the point that XBOX has a profitable future.