Like all publishers, 2K Games releases some great games, and some that aren't as successful, like the recent Battleborn and Evolve. During the MKM Partners Entertainment, Leisure and Internet Conference, Take-Two Interactive Software Chief Executive Officer Strauss Zelnick explained how they aren't representative of the overall quality of the label.
Nathan Brown: "Phil Spencer spoke to the press at GDC last week, offering some context/spin on Microsoft’s recent manoeuvres, while dropping a few now-customary hints about the Xbox division’s future plans. I take one issue with this: I am no longer sure Xbox has much of a future to speak of. Moreover: I think Phil Spencer, for so long cast as Xbox’s saviour, may ultimately be remembered as the man who killed it."
his decisions over the years were definitely questionable at best.
but MS let him be the head of xbox for this long, so they either dont have anyone else for the job or .. we'll i dont rly know any other reason haha.
Less than a day after the news that Take-Two Interactive would acquire Borderlands developer Gearbox Entertainment from the embattled Embracer Group, layoffs have already begun. In the hours since former Gearbox employees were made redundant, they've taken to Twitter, and while the total number of staff impacted remains hard to determine, it sounds significant.
I am glad to see Gearbox under Take Two. But lay offs I am not surprised they aren't the only company cutting staff and they won't be the last. And I have a feeling the Borderlands movie honestly will tank when it comes out. The cast is just wow a complete mess Lilith is too old Roland is to small and scrawny. They are missing Brick and Mordecai and I don't think Tiny Tina will be as bat shit nuts as she is in the games.
Pfft, literally said yesterday how it must be nerve wracking for the devs and then this shite. People aren't looking to get fired, and these companies don't care in the slightest.
Inflation post 1/20/2020 is really causing pain to everyone. The cherry on top was companies waiting post 11/8/2022 to start doing layoffs. Hmm, I wonder why they waited past that date... Staring with Google in January 2023 and everyone following suit there after.
Companies that over-hire should be fined heavily and the CEO loses his/her bonus during layoffs, and that money can go to the workers that they laid off.
I hope Pitchford got let go for the sake of employee safty. The man is a walking grease fire waiting to happen.
IGN: "Ten years ago on March 31, 2014, then-Xbox Game Studios boss Phil Spencer was named Head of Xbox. And he inherited quite a mess. You all know the story; there’s no need to beat the horse corpse for the ten-thousandth time. The brand was in disarray after what can, without hyperbole, be called a pretty disastrous launch of the Xbox One. So how far has Xbox come under Spencer’s tenure? And where’s it going from here? Let’s look back and then look forward."
This is a Fluff piece hidden behind more obvious criticisms from the past. No mention of the flatlining console sales. Sales that are worse than the Xbox One generation that Phil has admitted was a complete failure. The stagnation of GP subscribers, a lot of which have been forced to sub to the basic if they want to play online. The firing of nearly 2000 employees. The desperate need to sell beloved exclusive titles to competitors to try and raise profits and there'll be many more to come as he tries to soften the blow to the faithful, bit by bit as he does his many PR tours throughout the years to come. I know they mentioned the righting of the ship after Mattrick, but I really feel like this was a Fluff piece.
*** Insomniac’s critically acclaimed and commercially successful Spider-Man series wouldn’t have happened without it.***
Shut up. Just shut up.
This article is hard to read without feeling nauseous on the author's attempt to bend over backwards to make statements like this to praise Microsoft or things having absolutely nothing to do with Phil at all. Somehow, Phil is amazing because Insomniac made their own game and that own game of theirs is the only reason they could make a good Spider-Man game. The only reason. Insomniac couldn't have done it otherwise. That's because they can only make games they're familiar with and are incompetent but also brilliant.
***The Xbox Series X is a great machine that has plenty of horsepower, looks awesome, and works as whisper-quietly as it does reliably. Meanwhile, Spencer’s strategy of lowering the price of entry for the new console by offering a non-4K version of the Series X in the form of the Series S also seems to have paid off, with Xbox doing better than it ever has.***
What nonsense is this?
The Xbox 360 launched in 2005. It was a great machine with great games. I never owned one since I could only afford one console and I went with PS.
Microsoft ended prodcution in 2016. This guy took over in 2014, after Xbox One launched.
What has happened since? Recently, a merger with layoffs. A new console that isn't competing globally. A dynamic shift from what made Xbox a staple of console gaming.
You can be an Xbox fan, but this guy is what went wrong.
By undoing the bad decisions that were placed on X1? Wow, such an achievement....
When he was head of Xbox in 2014 MS cut allot of the budget for Xbox. Means no buy for new studios the first 4 years. Like idiots MS are they shot themselves in the foot. You would think a tech company like them they would think ahead and have games ready later X1 early and beyond this generation.
Now we're seeing games released later in the gen but it's too late I'm afraid. They over paid for ABK over compensated because they can't get games out and see higher revenue streams.
All this could of been avoid if they bought studios in 2014 and they wouldn't be in less of a mess.
Battleborn may have done quite bad sales wise, but game is rather fun. Not fair to the devs behind it to dismiss it like this
I am more worry of mafia 3 than these 2 games
So in other words Take Two is saying that Randy Pitchford really sucks which i agree. (And seriously how has borderlands 3 not been made yet) WTF!!!!!
then its time for you to start making borderlands 3.
Battleborn is a great game that came out on the wrong time. They should have given it more time and release it early next year, when all the overwatch hype died down a little and not many new games are coming out.