Hiroki Totoki is taking over today as interim chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment, filling the role of former head Jim Ryan.
Jerret West is leaving Xbox at the end of the month.
Unfortunately, Xbox has not done great with marketing this generation. One thing I found odd is that he is leaving Xbox for Roblox. I'm not sure how big Roblox is in comparison to Xbox but I can't imagine him getting better compensation from there. Perhaps he was forced out?
@fr0sty Would you leave your place of employment to work somewhere else for less pay just because that business is profitable?
You would have to be a special person to be ok with that.
DivineHand125,
Not really. I don't know how much experience you have with working or how far along into your career you are, but profitability does offer an indication of how sustainable your job is. The company that is not profitable (or less profitable) is probably exploring options to cut costs, including axing jobs (we see Microsoft closing studios and really downsizing physical media operations. Valid concern in my opinion).
I doubt that's the only factor at play here and it could be any myriad of reasons why he's out: cut in compensation, not liking the direction of the company, toxic work culture, etc.
Either way, I can see a case for people leaving a job that pays better with less profitability. If you're in the marketing department and your brand isn't doing that great despite your best efforts, you probably want to coast for a while at a more profitable company.
Not saying that's reality, but I can totally see a case for that.
Marketing is not the issue at XBOX. Production and its leadership have screwed up royally. XBOX studios, wth are you doing managing these developers?!
It is both and all... the best console with the most expensive invest in marketing and the "best" developers and the best online service with the best servers... but... well... also, the worst console with a bad invest in marketing and competition using Microsoft servers for their online services and... What is Xbox now, a console, a service, a platform, a brand, a dead project? This is a marketing problem, maybe.
The problem is not the marketing, but how you invest the money in marketing. If you invest far more than the competition and receive less... the problem is the one in charge, isn't it? Well... Phil Spencer was a marketing guy, will he be the next? Unity are hiring... :)
How do you know how much each company invest in marketing and what evidence do you have to indicate Sony spends less than Xbox?
Companies in the stock exchange have to publish their data. Make some research, it is for free.
According to Housemarque, Returnal marks the beginning of a "new future" at the studio, and is the game that them to join Sony.
Returnal was fantastic, and I'm looking forward to seeing what these folks create with Sony in the future.
They make some fun arcade styles games. Returnal is one of the best games so far this generation. I wonder what is next
returnal is easily one of the most underrated games this gen. a lot of people with ps5s dont know it exists.
For free? 12 months of PS Plus Extra costs 130 € and Premium is 160 €.
Where I live you can buy Returnal for as little as 15 € if you buy it used. Even at full price it is nowhere near the cost of PS Plus Extra or Premium.
So how on earth can you se that it exists for free if you subscribe to those paid subscription services?
The Verge writes: "Larry Hryb, aka “Major Nelson,” has his next job. Following his departure from Microsoft last year, where he was a public face for the Xbox brand, Hryb will be joining Unity’s Community team, he announced on Monday."
They put in one idiot that almost ruined them and now they add another idiot. Unity looking to eradicate themselves out of the industry.
Yep its messed up as unity was a decent engine for indies but they just hate there userbase it seems and really hate money over there.
Larry is a gaming guy, XBOX, Unity makes a causal game engine...what does he promote?
Hopefully lesser focus on live service games
A bit worried.
As long as it's truly short term... Maybe it's fine...? But a CFO taking the reins is likely how creative passion goes to die.
He needs to bring back Japan Studios and re-hire all that incredible talent that they lost. PlayStation needs to focus more on what made them incredible from PS1 to PS3 eras.
Okie dokie Hiroki Totoki. Get someone in there that loves the brand and listens to gamers. I kind of miss that reaction in the past.
Don't fuck it up