Friends and the industry in general seem to be talking alot about RPG’s lately. All sparked by the much anticipated Japanese developed Ni No Kuni. So I got to thinking, with this generation of consoles coming to an end, which Eastern RPG’s have stood out as testament to these ageing machines?
The previously rumored mass layoffs at Xbox are expected to happen on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, according to a new rumor.
They will have fired close to 20,000 people all up after this round of lay-offs coming, since the ABK deal announcement in January 2022. Shocking really
January 2023:
Microsoft laid off 10,000 employees, which was a significant workforce reduction.
January 2024:
Approximately 1,900 gaming employees were laid off following the Activision Blizzard acquisition.
May 2025:
Microsoft announced a further 6,000 layoffs as part of an organizational shift.
June 2025:
Additional layoffs, including 650 in the gaming business, focused on corporate and support functions
Let's hope its not as bad as socials are making it, good luck to those that unfortunately lose their jobs.
Could be not as bad could be horrible. But it's Ms so I'm expecting the absolute worst.
Sometimes I feel like they brought in Sarah to take the heat away from Phil.
Phil has always stuck his nose into everything Xbox related when it's something positive or at least neutral but as soon as they went the multiplatform root he's stood back and let Sarah do most of the talking in terms of PR. Now they are doing the same with layoffs.
The person who should be let go is Phil himself.
One of the founding members of the Xbox team has questioned Microsoft’s multiplatform gaming strategy, and said they believe the Xbox hardware business is effectively “dead"
Think that rumor that they'll still make a new console but at a profit at $1000 will be true though. The series consoles will remain their cheap alternative throughout next gen I would say. Keep in mind that game pass and pretty much going 3rd party is their main focus. They want to bring xbox everywhere.
TNS: Based on its most recent ESG data, Nintendo boasts a remarkably low staff turnover rate of just 1.9%, with virtually no reported layoffs.
Well it doesn’t surprise me. As much money as they make and how they value their employees. It’s a great company in that regard.
Well, when your games remain full price many years after release.
And you make profit off of outdated hardware.
I would be shocked if they couldn't afford to retain their staff.
Ni No Kuni for sure
Tales, demon/dark souls, ni no kuni for me.. Most of the others were mehhh
Anything which wasn't Final Fantasy, sad to say.
Unless you're talking the anti-thesis for why a JRPG stood out.
Demons Souls, Ni no Kuni and Valkyria Chronicles. I'd throw in Disgaea 4 simply because I love that series so much and the HD sprites make it look so good.
I guess you can count FF13 too. It stood out in a sense that it wasn't like every other FF game before it.
Definitely Ni No Kuni. Just beat it yesterday. Truly a masterpiece.
I think Lost Odyssey was also notable, although I found much of the story to be too reliant on walls of text.
I also enjoyed Blue Dragon. Ni No Kuni took a lot of cues from that game so I feel it deserves a mention if Ni No Kuni does.
Unfortunately I found Last Story to be very much overrated and have found it very difficult to stay engaged in Xenoblade, though I can see the potential, it desperately needs an option to make everyone shut the hell up during battle.
I quite enjoyed the White Knight Chronicles games but they suffered for being split up into two products that were obviously a single production.
Without a doubt, Ni No Kuni will go down as my favorite JRPG of this generation.