In a lively interview with the Wall Street Journal, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer compliments Bill Gates' salesmanship and unintentionally reveals his preoccupation with the Xbox 360.
The WSJ conducted the interview in front of an audience at the publication's D: All Things Digital conference last week, where the Sony boss inadvertently revealed his own fixation with the videogames market.
When talking up the box office sales of Sony's Da Vinci Code movie, Stringer said, "It also beat Xbox 3 in Europe in its second weekend," at which point WSJ tech columnist Walt Mossberg corrected, "You mean X-Men 3." Laughing, Stringer retorted, "There's an obsession!"
When the interview's topic switched to videogames and Xbox, Stringer said, "God I walked into that, didn't I ... Look, the skill of Bill Gates is he's so brilliant at his detail that when he slips in the salesmanship, most of us think: oh my God, he must be right. ... He talked on the one hand, and I loved it, he talked about [Windows] Vista [being] delayed as if the delay was normal, and then he started mocking me for delaying PS3 [PlayStation 3]."
Do not miss the Final Fantasy IX Music Special Live Stream on July 7th! Celebrate FFIX's 25th anniversary with unforgettable music.
Its creator eliminated components that were not essential to speed up its development, such as the Bluetooth of the controls.
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
Replies(2)
"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"
It's not that shocking considering these numbers aren't just Xbox numbers as you're deliberately trying to make it seem for some reason.
Interestingly, another no shocking fact is that whenever Microsoft releases its quarterly earnings reports, you're quick to point out that those numbers aren't exclusive to Xbox. Yeah... go figure.
They also fired around 2500 people across Microsoft's gaming divisions and Zenimax shortly after buying it, and before they closed down 4 studios including Arkane and Tango.
I remember Satya boasting about how compassionate he was for splitting the list 50/50 across the two companies.
"They also fired around 2500 people across Microsoft's gaming divisions and Zenimax shortly after buying it"
Bring your sources. I´ll wait.
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.
"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."
You have no idea what you´re talking about.
*IF* Microsoft decides to address the upcoming layoffs, Matt Booty will be the one in the spotlight since he is the president of XGS.
Phil will probably be on some bs drama later doing interviews telling people how "devastated" and "sorry" he is for those affected while wiping away his tears with money.
Sarah is the President of Xbox (hardware) so she will be better off taking care of hers business and let both Matt and Phil face the backlash.
HAHA that was funny. :)
What, I knew it Sony employees all own a xbox 360
At least he's cordial.
The problem I have is that the strengths of the PS3 he's referring to are what I feel are it's weaknesses. Saying it will be the center of my living room entertainment center, it has more features than a 747...I want a gaming system.
Gates loved that the ps3 was delayed for two reasons...it gave the 360 no competition for another 8 months, and there was no reason for it other than the blu-ray drive.
As for the Vista delay...does anyone actually care about Vista anyway? It comes out when it comes out.
Correction!! we have the ps2 ,which still rocks despite it`s age