Skewed and Reviewed has posted an opinion piece that suggests that Microsoft should be given kudos for the way they have handled the Xbox One after their early stumbles with the system.
The article praises their willingness to listen to consumers an change several features of the system pre-launch such as the DRM and Kinect requirement.
Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.
Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.
Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.
"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."
That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.
As part of its plans to cut 1,900 jobs, Microsoft has reportedly shut down operations at Bethesda France, letting go roughly 15 people
Bethesda France was made up of roughly 15 people... they couldn't of being doing much
Bethesda France mainly did publishing and marketing within the region
Bethesda France focused on publishing and marketing in the region. And 15 people lost their jobs as part of the closure.
I wonder if this is part of Microsoft's strategy to abandoned physical media or possibly gamepass advertising makes their roles redundant you don't need to market a game as hard when the majority of players get the game as part of a sub which already promoted upcoming games
Tbh Microsoft I think Bethesda being 3rd party same with Activision would probably more competitive than thus scenario imo
The recently purchased Activision French offices might take over all the licensing and marketing for Microsoft in France from now on.
Hanzla from eXputer inquires: "If Xbox can care about preserving its games and legacy, what exactly is wrong with Nintendo, trying to kill game preservation single-handedly?"
Ahh yes the good old game preservation of saving all your games to a removable hhd on the Xbox 360, taking it round your mates house, setting up multiple tvs to
Be met with “save data corrupted, please re download”
Or how about removing 360 games
From the store
, download them now or else, and, better hope to god that save data doesn’t corrupt, or it’s lost for ever
Nice one ☝️
This is just a scammy PR move to distract from the fact they are going digital only and trying to push streaming and subscriptions only.
No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft.
Without discs there is no preservation, preservation can't be done by the rights holders it can only be done by the consumers, anything else is a lie.
Nobody wants this. Sales or the lack of it in the case of XBOX is very telling. I wonder how the adorably all digital series X will fare. Adorably dismal perhaps?
Only time will tell, but for from someone like me suspecting that Xbox is trying to gracefully exit the console market, that "forward compatibility" team is trying to get Xbox games playing on Windows PCs. I mean, it's nice that they're not planning on exiting with a "enjoy your games while the hardware still works" message, so that's nice. They still have a brand to protect via Microsoft so probably feel obligated to have a better exit strategy.
No they don't deserve kudos. They owe the gamers a reasonable consumer friendly system without speed bumps as such as they have had. The consumers is what makes sure that Microsoft has a market for consoles and they should be treated in such a way to continue having a successful console market.
If anything they owe consumers an apology for the way they presented the Xbox to consumers basically tell then they were SOL if they didnt agree with the policies.
I find it kind of mind-bending that a group of people can so easily forgive a company that has been planning and implementing (at the core of their console) for many, many years all these anti-consumer measures that would have impacted your rights and the way they treat you, not for one generation, but forever.
I could understand if there was just one of these anti-consumer issues, but sadly there were multiple ones and still are some that they're clinging on to and hoping people don't want to question. So how can people trust them after the decisions that they made that they knew how it would impact the industry and consumer rights?
And Gareth, you really think it was Microsoft "listening to the consumers"? If that was the case they would have responded to the overwhelming negative chatter from rumours months and months before they decided to power on with their reveal. A reveal that in fact turned out to not only confirm said rumours, but to be more non-gaming based than about games. No, it was a desperate response to what is fiscal responsibility, not a "change of heart" and the way in which they treat their consumers.
Microsoft reversed policies to try and get back on track, but they're still the same Microsoft. They deserve kudos for any innovation that benefits a gaming console, a deep focus on gaming and things that consumers will benefit from, DEFINITELY not anti-consumer intentions and practices.
I don't think they deserve "kudos" for addressing the elements that many complained about. That said, I don't think people who complained about the original policies should be complaining about MS doing a 180 and fixing those very isssues they were just weeks ago bitching about.
No, they just did what they had to do to prevent the product from completely bombing.
I don't care, I was getting the Xbox no matter what, Xbox live makes it worth it for me.