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[Desprado123]

I think rather than buy the gaming studios MS should now focus on Management change of Xbox from top to bottom.

It is now the perfect time to to reboot the management from top to bottom like MCU did in 2007, and now WB did with DCU.

IMO this is the lowest point of Xbox era that even exclusives are getting worst rating and the management does not get it what really gamers want.


In short, Money cannot buy the passion and dedication.

 

[Pelao]

At this point, I dread it when Microsoft buys a studio I like because they've done nothing but make their output worse. And I have all three major consoles, so I don't care about the exclusivity issue.

 

[Gaiff]

Starting with Matt Booty. This dude needs to go. He's been awful as the manager of Xbox Games Studios. I could have run Xbox to the ground and would have asked for less than half his salary.

 

[KungFucius]

The devs they bought were just fully integrated in the last year or 2. So not long enough to see even 1/2 of a full dev cycle. There is not enough data to say they have done good or bad at this point. Reorgs really don't do much besides mint new VPs who are fucking clueless about the details.

 

[Chukhopops]

I suppose this couldn’t go in the other doom and gloom thread?

 

[Dick Jones]

I've said it for years. The wait for next year has been going for a decade. I can't see one person in Xbox management who deserves not to be sacked. I thought Bond at one stage but it's more of the same.

 

[Tg89]

At this point, I dread it when Microsoft buys a studio I like because they've done nothing but make their output worse. And I have all three major consoles, so I don't care about the exclusivity issue.

Yep. Cancer on the industry at this point. Can't ever remember a game studio having this many resources and managing to suck so thoroughly.

But hey at least you can play all these shitty games on gamepass.

 

[envyzeal]

 

[XXL]

The entire management structure needs to go. They have no idea what the fuck they are doing and the excuses by their fanboys are getting lamer by the minute. They tend to blame everyone except themselves for the current situation of Xbox.

 

[Esca]

They definitely have some people that need to be replaced

 

[SEGA_2012]

I have been defending Phill for years, but if we reach the end of 2024 and XB is still in the same situation, then it is time for him to go.

 

[Wildebeest]

If management doesn't know what gamers want, then what is the point of sending Microsoft managers in to shake these diverse studios up like bulls in the china shop?

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

I believe Xbox is just too hands off. It gives money to their studios and they just do whatever.

 

[feynoob]

We are going to have these topics for too long.

Though I agree with management change

 

[Gaiff]

The devs they bought were just fully integrated in the last year or 2. So not long enough to see even 1/2 of a full dev cycle. There is not enough data to say they have done good or bad at this point. Reorgs really don't do much besides mint new VPs who are fucking clueless about the details.

This hardly matters. Don Mattrick was ousted 10 years ago. Phil has had an entire generation and then some to right the ship and as of 2023, we're still not close to being there. None of the big games they have announced almost 3 years ago are anywhere near in sight. No Fable, Perfect Dark, Everwild, or even Hellblade. The management has been abysmal.

I'm not one to console war and I've been incredibly patient with Xbox but 2024 is their absolute final chance. We know what we're getting in 2023 so no point in getting up in arms about that but if by 2024, we still see no clear release dates for their big games, it's time to just fire everyone.

It will have been over 10 years since Mattrick's firing. A competent leader would have righted the ship by then. Instead, they're getting outsold 3:1 by Playstation when they had a golden opportunity to close the gap with the pandemic and chip shortage. Sony was releasing games at a much slower rate than usual and Xbox should have been ready to start the gen with a bang. What did we get? An unfinished Halo Infinite that's dead now.

This thread will probably get closed so meh but man Xbox is in a sorry state.

 

[TrueLegend]

Console war baiting: the thread. MS have a lot of game in pipeline.

 

[rhodesianshepard]

Microsoft doesn't have the support structure for all of their new studios. For Sony's big titles they have multiple studios assisting them. The Last of US 2 had 14 different studios assist Naughty Dog throughout its development cycle. GOW Ragnorak had 8. Microsoft hands off approach isn't going to work. They need a network to support their biggest titles

 

[Tg89]

Console war baiting: the thread. MS have a lot of game in pipeline.

Any good ones?

 

[mejin]

No changes. Everything is fine.

 

[Desprado123]

Microsoft doesn't have the support structure for all of their new studios. For Sony's big titles they have multiple studios assisting them. The Last of US 2 had 14 different studios assist Naughty Dog throughout its development cycle. GOW Ragnorak had 8. Microsoft hands off approach isn't going to work. They need a network to support their biggest titles

That requires Management skill and communication, which this Xbox Leadership does not have. If it had than it would not have been in this sorry position.

 

[MarkMe2525]

Any good ones?

Let's look into the crystal ball, shall we?

 

[DeepEnigma]

Console war baiting: the thread. MS have a lot of game in pipeline.

 

[Riky]

Console war baiting: the thread. MS have a lot of game in pipeline.

Hi Fi Rush is probably the best and most technically sound release of the year, so that bodes well.

 

[Bonfires Down]

Why? Gaming revenue has been steadily increasing.

 

[Skifi28]

If you count success in awards won, I'd say Phil can't be fired. Ever.

 

[Captain Toad]

Microsoft has been on a buying spree, but mostly for IPs. Sony has been buying for development talent, not big IPs.

The exception is Bungie, but with that Sony added a ton of bonuses to keep that staff on after the acquisition. It's clear they didn't want Destiny as much as they want the people who made Destiny.

It's two different philosophies. Time will tell which is the smarter route, but so far, it sure seems like Sony has the right idea.

 

[Desprado123]

Can i ask who the Xbox head in 360 era?

 

[Kvally]

 

[Topher]

Can i ask who the Xbox head in 360 era?

Peter Moore and then Don Mattrick

 

[.Pennywise]

Maybe they need to be a company again rather than a Friends Club.

And maybe they even need to go back at being tougher like in the old days, buying exclusivities left and right, not sharing games with their competence and asking some efficiency in their studios, you don't put out games in a good and timely manner you GTFO and get your studio shut down.

 

[Topher]

I agree with the OP. They have the studios. They need to focus on improving their output and quality consistency.

 

[SlimySnake]

I dont know how Phil can cancel a game like Scalebound that looked fantastic but wont cancel stuff like Bleeding Edge and Redfall. Everyone here took one look at both games and knew they were going to suck and we dont get paid millions. I get that these games were in development prior to their acquisitions but first party games need to be of higher quality than this.

 

[Calverz]

Phil Spencer and Matt Booty need to go. Bring in fresh blood.

 

[Tg89]

I dont know how Phil can cancel a game like Scalebound that looked fantastic but wont cancel stuff like Bleeding Edge and Redfall. Everyone here took one look at both games and knew they were going to suck and we dont get paid millions. I get that these games were in development prior to their acquisitions but first party games need to be of higher quality than this.

Because now they have Gamepass and quality matters less than just throwing shit up there for a constant stream of new content.

 

[Gaiff]

I dont know how Phil can cancel a game like Scalebound that looked fantastic but wont cancel stuff like Bleeding Edge and Redfall. Everyone here took one look at both games and knew they were going to suck and we dont get paid millions. I get that these games were in development prior to their acquisitions but first party games need to be of higher quality than this.

I think they were both in development before the acquisition so there was no sense in canceling them. Whatever Arkane does next will be their first game fully under the Xbox umbrella. Same for Hellblade 2 and Ninja Theory.

 

[Desprado123]

I dont know how Phil can cancel a game like Scalebound that looked fantastic but wont cancel stuff like Bleeding Edge and Redfall. Everyone here took one look at both games and knew they were going to suck and we dont get paid millions. I get that these games were in development prior to their acquisitions but first party games need to be of higher quality than this.

and pricing this game at $70 is a scam worthy even more than Star Wars Jedi Survivor on PC at this point.

 

[FunkMiller]

It's become painfully obvious over the last ten years that the current management of XBox aren't really cut out for the task of restoring a higher percentage of the market share in the console space. For some reason they've never been able to understand the fundamental thing that Sony and Nintendo do:

Offer high quality games that can't be played anywhere else.

It speaks to a lack of creative talent that they have been so behind on delivering this simple requirement to sell consoles.

 

[onQ123]

That would only make things worse the people at Xbox now actually do care about gaming things are just not working out. The brand just loss it's niche which was the Dudebros

Hot Take Call Of Duty is what took Xbox down because it took out Halo & Gears Of War .

PlayStation no longer needed a "Halo Killer" because Call Of Duty did it & you could play COD on PlayStation.

 

[TrueLegend]

Any good ones?

It depends on what you are into. I grow up with playstation games even though I had Xbox so uncharted means more to me than Halo but Halo 123 we're bigger phenomenon than uncharted. Starfield will have bigger legs and greater legacy than any upcoming PlayStation game and then some. Then there are many other heavy titles incoming that have run into issues of external nature like Stalkar 2. I am more exited to play FF16, The Wolverine and Metal Gear Solid Remake(I have fingers crossed) that doesn't mean xbox is doing shit. Ori and the will of the Wisps, Psychonauts 2, Forza Horizon 5, Scorn and Hi Fi Rush are great games and are more fresh and innovative than playstation ones, there is a new Forza Motosport coming soon too so just because they don't excite you doesn't mean xbox is in rough shape.

It's far better than xbox one era and if coalition can share their unreal optimizations it can end up having better endgame than Playstation, in fact Most game perform better on Xbox now if you go revisit than on Playstation like Control. Playstation is only winning especially at launch because every platform including playstation is loosing, basically developers are using PS fanboys as shield for lazy optimization. Playstation doesn't need to win 2-5 fps battle with Xbox and same goes for xbox. They need to take gaming into different spaces, fresh spaces. How I wish just like Armored Core VI Naughty Dogs revisited Jak and Daxter series or again made something new and different.

 

[Desprado123]

It's become painfully obvious over the last ten years that the current management of XBox aren't really cut out for the task of restoring a higher percentage of the market share in the console space. For some reason they've never been able to understand the fundamental thing that Sony and Nintendo do:

Offer high quality games that can't be played anywhere else.

It speaks to a lack of creative talent that they have been so behind on delivering this simple requirement to sell consoles.

Even AMD changed it's management with Lisa su and look at where AMD is now.

from $1.4 market share to now around $90 with beating Intel hands down and competing with Nvidia with real alternative.

Management can bring the company to rock bottom or can take to sky high.

 

[solidus12]

Here’s an idea:

Fire Phil Spencer, Matt Booty, Sarah Bond, and Aaron Greenberg.

Then bring a competent team with an actual vision that does not throw money at every problem to acquire a solution.

 

[systemr123]

Here’s an idea:

Fire Phil Spencer, Matt Booty, Sarah Bond, and Aaron Greenberg.

Then bring a competent team with an actual vision that does not throw money at every problem to acquire a solution.

I want to keep Aaron because his misinformed tweets are legendary.

 

[Kvally]

a game like Scalebound that looked fantastic

 

[Banjo64]

Console war baiting: the thread. MS have a lot of game in pipeline.

If they’re all like Redfall then God help us.

 

[Desprado123]

It depends on what you are into. I grow up with playstation games even though I had Xbox so uncharted means more to me than Halo but Halo 123 we're bigger phenomenon than uncharted. Starfield will have bigger legs and greater legacy than any upcoming PlayStation game and then some. Then there are many other heavy titles incoming that have run into issues of external nature like Stalkar 2. I am more exited to play FF16, The Wolverine and Metal Gear Solid Remake(I have fingers crossed) that doesn't mean xbox is doing shit. Ori and the will of the Wisps, Psychonauts 2, Forza Horizon 5, Scorn and Hi Fi Rush are great games and are more fresh and innovative than playstation ones, there is a new Forza Motosport coming soon too so just because they don't excite you doesn't mean xbox is in rough shape.

It's far better than xbox one era and if coalition can share their unreal optimizations it can end up having better endgame than Playstation, in fact Most game perform better on Xbox now if you go revisit than on Playstation like Control. Playstation is only winning especially at launch because every platform including playstation is loosing, basically developers are using PS fanboys as shield for lazy optimization. Playstation doesn't need to win 2-5 fps battle with Xbox and same goes for xbox. They need to take gaming into different spaces, fresh spaces. How I wish just like Armored Core VI Naughty Dogs revisited Jak and Daxter series or again made something new and different.

Do you know that every exclusive of PS5 launched on PC is simply a benchmark for PC graphics. From Horizon Dawn to The last of Part us 1 i can tell you that they are best game launched on PC apart from port, which has issues and Sony is trying to sort it out. But to be fair Sony port on PC are best, which utlizies every part of PC hardware, which tell how dedicated they are towards their development.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Hi Fi Rush is probably the best and most technically sound release of the year, so that bodes well.

The game they had zero confidence in, shadow dropped, zero marketing and just threw it out to die.

Vs.

All the marketing Redfall is getting for such buggy, unfinished, horrible AI jank for $70 dollhairs.

Yep, definitely a management issue.

 

[ADiTAR]

Probably.

I dunno who they can bring to do a refresh. I would honestly think of Shinji Mikami if he actually wants it, someone that produced, directed, developed. He has the know how and also a creative vision. Someone like that, a foreigner with gaming experience.

 

[solidus12]

I want to keep Aaron because his misinformed tweets are legendary.

Fair enough

 

[NickFire]

They need management to focus on making the best games that the average console player actually wants to play. Ever since they found success with 360 it appears all they care about is growth, primarily via Trojan Horses. First it was TV, TV, TV. Then / now it became subscription. Just try cultivating the actual audience for just a few years. It might lead to that growth they have been desperate for.

 

[AJUMP23]

I don't know that they need a top down restructure, but there are certainly issues with 343 and their ability to deliver a major property. I think the Forza team is good. The Bethesda delays are not really MS leadership fault. They delivered HI-Fi Rush and it was a blast. I don't want ot be a MS apologist but I think overall Phil does well. The people under him I don't know. Their first party studios seem mixed in some cases, but some of that is being willing to let the teams work how they need to.