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[squallbr]

"Excluding Activision Blizzard King, over the past five years, we have spent over $20 billion on ongoing investments in our content, platform and hardware subsidy, but our annual revenue has declined nearly half a billion during that time," she wrote. "Going forward, this cannot continue."

MS has a hack for infinte money

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Touche, I don't pay much attention to MS games other than their triniry since this whole gen has been a disaster so i'm out of the loop, just happy I can play Halo, Gears and FH on PS, so they're cool in my book

Oh boy

 

[LordOcidax]

Nothing of what you said changes the fact that the Xbox division isn't in a financially good state.

Agree, but that's the same as the son of a billionaire having financial issues at the end.

 

[nial]

You're right, FAILGAMES and HORIZON LANDWHALE ADVENTURES didn't come out yet...

You think that's going to be a hit to their business?

 

[Mr Moose]

Microsoft is backing Xbox, they are not losing money they are just making less money… Don't worry about Microsoft financial issues, they are more than ok. We have to worry about the quality of the games that they are making, and by looking their latest "E3" showcase, i am satisfied.

our annual revenue has declined nearly half a billion during that time. Going forward, this cannot continue.

Xbox' financial issues.

 

[II_JumPeR_I]

Xbox is going to collapse this year if that Indian child doesnt stop the retarded decisions

 

[Guardian Monkey]

3% accountability margin is 3% growth over YOY goal, Phil's was 30% before leaving. This explains why she has a longer leash and can make some moves. That's not a bad thing for Xbox, it buys them some time to get the business back in a positive direction.

 

[H-I-M]

3% of profits ?!

Are you fu**ing kidding me ?!

I'm actually surprised that they're even making any profit. Probably from all the layoffs they've been doing every quarter.

 

[RickMasters]

My money would be on Double Fine. And I'm not happy about that. They're weird, but I dig their brand of weird even if I don't like everything they put out.

Honestly hope not. I agree. Xbox needs their quirky studio even if their games on not big AAA games. They serve a place in the bigger picture of Xbox studios I feel , along with rare as the quirky studios that can make family friendly, casual games that still have a little something to them for core gamers in the way of depth of gameplay.

I'd hate to see them shut down. I'm still pissed they closed down tango and that studio that made prey. Could only imagine what type of games they would be making when left to do what they do and releases as exclusives.


Satya must be a terrible poker player.

 

[nial]

Agree, but that's the same as the son of a billionaire having financial issues at the end.

I think people need to stop saying stuff like this. Remember all the bragging over the war chest before Microsoft clearly started to pull some of the funding for the division? Remember when they even considered closing all of it over a decade ago?

 

[xrnzaaas]

Studios like Rare on borrowed time

Double Fired

 

[SneakersSO]

You heard anything on this S SneakersSO ?

This is The Big One. Was going to happen earlier in the year, got pushed due to leadership shakeups that played out.

 

[squallbr]

We need to reassess the balance between these and our investment priorities for the next 5 years.

but our annual revenue has declined nearly half a billion during that time," she wrote. "Going forward, this cannot continue."

"Let's reset for a stronger XBOX and build the #1 gaming and entertainment company.

Asha and Matt"


If this is their ambition, they will fail catastrophically.

The solution : Lets cut the chance the game Sell more ( on PS5)

 

[Mr Moose]

Honestly hope not. I agree. Xbox needs their quirky studio even if their games on not big AAA games. They serve a place in the bigger picture of Xbox studios I feel , along with rare as the quirky studios that can make family friendly, casual games that still have a little something to them for core gamers in the way of depth of gameplay.

I'd hate to see them shut down. I'm still pissed they closed down tango and that studio that made prey. Could only imagine what type of games they would be making when left to do what they do and releases as exclusives.


Satya must be a terrible poker player.

Where are they located and how big is their studio?

Located in San Francisco's South of Market district

Yeah they are probably fucked.

 

[LordOcidax]

I think people need to stop saying stuff like this. Remember all the bragging over the war chest before Microsoft clearly started to pull some of the funding for the division? Remember when they even considered closing all of it over a decade ago?

Not happened at that time and is not going to happen anytime soon…

 

[Guntherlibby]

The meme needed an update

 

[Tobimacoss]

And fuck us over like the Series S is doing. That's why so many games skip Xbox, because the Series S is making it difficult to actually make games now or they have to gimp and cut a lot of stuff on all versions, to get it running on the more shit versions of a console. Now we'll have 2 SKUs holding developers back.

See, this time it would be very different with the universal Xbox PC/Helix SKU that would scale hardware just like any PC game.

Magnus AT2 = Helix Flagship with 68 CUs

Magnus AT3 - for laptops and possible midrange console with 48 CUs

Magnus AT4 - for Handhelds and possible entry level console with 24 CUs

Even that entry level AT4 console would be comparable to PS5 in power.

MS is better positioned to do this due to Xbox PC/Helix SKU of games created by the unified GDK.

 

[f~N_CH_1:3:3:3_SushiBoat]

Hope they will remove all those color hair people

Layoffs suck, but can absolutely be a net positive depending on what gets cut.

Cut the bullshit, get lean, get focused. Whether it happens or not......

 

[Skifi28]

I think they feel like the only chance the brand has at survival is exclusive content going forward. Clearly evreything else they did was wrong. Notice they even mentioned 3rd party exclusives….weird to mention if you only have two exclusives in the pipeline.

Forgetting how they've already tried it and it didn't work which is why they went multiplat in the first place, that would still be a very long term goal and if they're starting the layoffs now there will only be Greenberg and Booty left employeed by the time the new plan bears any fruit. I just don't know what they're thinking, or if they're thinking. I just hope they don't start closing studios.

 

[PauloRoberto]

I'm actually surprised that they're even making any profit. Probably from all the layoffs they've been doing every quarter.

remember, it's 3% of profit AFTER buying Acti AND Bethesda! That means that, using a crude excel formula, they are, by definition minus US$ 80 bi... how many years are necessary to MS adimit that they will NEVER see all this money back? I mean, at least Sony is sincere about Bungie (and it should, it's a fu**ing financial statement, after all).

 

[FF:Enhanced_Reality]

The CMA and FCA said that if the Activision merger goes through, there is going to be so many lay offs and they were absolutely right. Honestly, I wish Microsoft had never bought them. Not for Call of Duty, but Crash Bandicoot and Spyro are two of my beloved titles from my childhood and I just can't imagine a world where they aren't on PlayStation. Without PlayStation, those games likely wouldn't have been the huge successes that they are.

But it feels too late to go back to our own exclusives and studios. The time for that was when they acquired Ninja Theory and the other studios, before going on to acquire Bethesda and ABK. It's not at the point of too big to fail but as someone rightly said the other day, Gears of War E-Day, exclusive on consoles to about 30 million potential customers. Even if 10% of the install base play it and it's likely they'll do so via GamePass, wheres the long term gain? Even if folk subscribe to GamePass to play it, they'll cancel when they finish if they aren't using the service.

And yet, titles sell on Nintendo and PlayStation. You can't write it can you?

 

[reinking]

Microsoft is broke? Damnit

Ye' old warchest huh?

In an email to employees on Wednesday seen by Bloomberg, Sharma wrote that the business had plummeted to a 3% "accountability margin," the metric Microsoft uses to reflect profit margin.

"Excluding Activision Blizzard King, over the past five years, we have spent over $20 billion on ongoing investments in our content, platform and hardware subsidy, but our annual revenue has declined nearly half a billion during that time," she wrote. "Going forward, this cannot continue."

It looks like the message has been sent and received loud and clear.


I do wish those impacted the best. No time is a good time to lose a job but right now seems brutal.

 

[nial]

Not happened at that time and is not going to happen anytime soon…

You can never be so sure. Either way, I wasn't even the one that stated that they were broke, but rather, that Sony (SIE) is not.

 

[Pokedot]

First on the chopping block should be Double Fine. They make games that are super niche that barely sell. They're based in San Francisco which has one of the highest game dev salaries.

 

[LordOcidax]

Layoffs suck, but can absolutely be a net positive depending on what gets cut.

Cut the bullshit, get lean, get focused. Whether it happens or not......

This. 100%

 

[Tobimacoss]

That ain't gonna work either, you can't release 3 skus and see how 1 or 2 just bomb while the last one is the real seller, manufacturing, shipping, product placement and advertisement for the damned things are also added to the equation

That's where the OEMs come in, why the PC stores would be allowed, it would simply be just the Console form factor of all of Windows PC gaming which has hardware at all levels.

 

[Human 2.0]

They need to cancel day one gamepass.

 

[LordOcidax]

You can never be so sure. Either way, I wasn't even the one that stated that they were broke, but rather, that Sony (SIE) is not.

Sony or Nintendo have way more chances of going bankrupt than Xbox, especially Nintendo… By far.

 

[kruis]

"Excluding Activision Blizzard King, over the past five years, we have spent over $20 billion on ongoing investments in our content, platform and hardware subsidy, but our annual revenue has declined nearly half a billion during that time," she wrote. "Going forward, this cannot continue."

MS has a hack for infinte money

This is the worst financial magic trick every. Of course ABK should be included in that total. They've invested 100 billion dollars on and yet annual revenues declined.

 

[nial]

Sony or Nintendo have way more chances than going bankrupt than Xbox, especially Nintendo… By far.

But they currently are not.

 

[Topher]

Microsoft is backing Xbox, they are not losing money they are just making less money… Don't worry about Microsoft financial issues, they are more than ok. We have to worry about the quality of the games that they are making, and by looking their latest "E3" showcase, i am satisfied.

Tell the people being laid off how much Microsoft is "backing" them my man. Really silly to be flexing Microsoft's financials here

 

[LordOcidax]

Tell the people being laid off how much Microsoft is "backing" them my man. Really silly to be flexing Microsoft's financials here

Layoffs suck, but can absolutely be a net positive depending on what gets cut.

Cut the bullshit, get lean, get focused. Whether it happens or not......

 

[Pokedot]

The CMA and FCA said that if the Activision merger goes through, there is going to be so many lay offs and they were absolutely right. Honestly, I wish Microsoft had never bought them. Not for Call of Duty, but Crash Bandicoot and Spyro are two of my beloved titles from my childhood and I just can't imagine a world where they aren't on PlayStation. Without PlayStation, those games likely wouldn't have been the huge successes that they are.

Activision-Blizzard were looking to sell b/c of the scandals and their tanking stock. Going to MS was the best thing for them instead of some Saudi investment fund.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

No surprise really given how poorly they have performed, the media never held them to account either, chose to suck up to them instead. When Phil left you would think he had a legacy like Miyamoto the way some spoke of him.

Ashas own words "we won't succeed hiding hard truths ". If only that was the mentality years ago. Probably the most honest thing a Xbox executive has said in years.

 

[KanKamAndNob]

Jez Corden is being let go?

Yep.

He's going to get his last shipment of canned beans personally signed by Asha herself as his golden parachute.

 

[Guardian Monkey]

remember, it's 3% of profit AFTER buying Acti AND Bethesda! That means that, using a crude excel formula, they are, by definition minus US$ 80 bi... how many years are necessary to MS adimit that they will NEVER see all this money back? I mean, at least Sony is sincere about Bungie (and it should, it's a fu**ing financial statement, after all).

3% of profits ?!

Are you fu**ing kidding me ?!

What are you talking about? Its measured growth year over year.

I'll make it simple example.

Last year let's say they made $1 Billion this years goal would be $1.03 Billion. It's 3% growth from prior year, not purchased companies or whatever you are comparing to.

 

[kpopSuperstar]

This was the first agenda she was tasked with when she got the position.

She already said she isen't sure that the $70 billion purchase was a good one, and now, it's likely that a lot of these studios will get re-organized, shut down, or made into support studios.

 

[semiconscious]

Let's reset for a stronger XBOX and build the #1 gaming and entertainment company...

'let's'? continue to enjoy the show, folks...

 

[Topher]

 

[Viruz]

We must increase the value we ship to players while decreasing the time it takes to do so.

Looks like more AI is on the menu, just as planned by bringing her.

 

[midnightAI]

 

[SeanyQuest]

I just don't see any hope for Arkane, Machine, Id …(basically anybody from Bethesda side that isn't on Elder Scrolls or Fallout) to survive. Throw compulsion in that list too

 

[TheLikou]

Double Fine is cooked, unless they have an game that is releasing next year.

 

[RickMasters]

Where are they located and how big is their studio?

Yeah they are probably fucked.

But ain't double fine a pretty small studio with low dev costs ( relatively)? I would hope that counts for something but who knows. Let's not put any bad juju on it until we hear something. They might actually be ok.

Could even be a studio u der the ABK umbrella. We just have to wait and see. But maybe it's just a ruin our and all the studio are safe. I guess we find out soon enough.

 

[EN250]

Xbox just isnt fixable anymore. Go full publisher and stop that clown Show.

Isn't the problem and always has been, that you have people with big ass libraries and to this day paying for Gold/Gamepass whatever annual revenue stream that completely vanishes the moment they're out of the HW race?

Like, what are you going to do with those users and how are you going to miss the money you comfortably get per month/year for each and everyone of them if there is not sub anchored to an Xbox system?

 

[Orbital2060]

Shit sucks big time

 

[M1987]

This after all the Asha glazing in the last few weeks.People was acting like she saved Xbox,when she's no different to Phil

 

[RickMasters]

Double Fine is cooked, unless they have an game that is releasing next year.

To be fair they get their games up and running pretty quickly. Too early to to say which studio is at risk. Might not even be double fine. People here are suggesting it might be. So that in itself is not much to go off.

 

[Varteras]

Agree, but that's the same as the son of a billionaire having financial issues at the end.

Except usually in those situations there's no possibility of the father publicly mutilating, dismembering, or even murdering his own son.

 

[Kilau]

Sony or Nintendo have way more chances than going bankrupt than Xbox, especially Nintendo… By far.

Xbox is a division of Microsoft and has been functionally bankrupt for years.