Who is the brown-haired white guy who stars in virtually every AAA action game? And how can we get rid of him?
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.
Even as the company sets out to overhaul the very definition of Xbox, cuts at its studios risk creating a negative image reminiscent of EA's worst era
I appreciate the article but this guy must be living in a delayed universe, The reputation was ruined 10+ years ago and hasn't recovered since. As such people have voted with their wallets and stopped buying Xbox products in large amounts.
Rumors of Turn 10 being either shut down or hit with massive lay offs is on the horizon.
The issue is MS will do something right only to do something very, very wrong. And they do this what seems calculative at this point. Doesn't matter what they do the Investors and leadership want more and more money an endless bottomless pit of purr insatiable greed. A company that acts like it's broke or hurting is what really, really infuriates me. They've surpassed apple again well over 3 trillion who acts like they're a million dollar company is fk stupid. Pivots and changes for no reason and can't do things for more than a year with out a pivot or changing their metrics.
Ross Scott—also known as Accursed Farms on YouTube—has been fighting tooth and nail for almost a full year to help spearhead game preservation. Starting after it was announced that Ubisoft's The Crew would be shutting down, permanently ending support for the game, Scott launched the "Stop Killing Games" initiative.
That makes a twofold deadline for the Stop Killing Games initiative. Or, at least, one headed up by Scott: The UK petition, which ends July 14, and the EU Citizens' Initiative, which ends July 3.
If you live in the EU then Please sign this or our game ownership rights and game preservation is
at stake. I know there isnt much time left but please consider signing the petition
People whine and in the end don't do a thing. Then whine more when they get screwed some more smh. If this makes it then it'll be monumental for consumers. That Pirate software guy was no help either smh.
Mass appeal. It helps the largest portion of your audience relate to the character. It sucks, but catering to your audience is a smart business move.
Most of them are doing it because that's what come to their mind when they picture their hero. A lot of studios spend days trying to decide the perfect look for their character and it just so happens that they look like something you would call "average"
That's why some of my favorite games are the ones which let you create your own character to play as.
Your hero could be a red-haired female or even a guy with weird techno-colour hair and weird eyes, and it'd be unique to you as the player.
Valid point.
Answer: Empathy.
That was my main thought when I recently considered purchasing Murdered: Soul suspect. A lot of things about the game seemed interesting but I just can't take any more of playing as 'that guy' right now. That handsome guy in his mid-thirties with the gravelly voice and the five o'clock shadow.
Still, I really don't think the answer is deciding to arbitrarily make him a woman or a black guy or anything else. With most games that have a protagonist of another race or gender, let's face it, it's still 'that guy' just beneath the surface.
The skin tone, gender and hair colour are physical symptoms of the greater problem, which is that our protagonist is always the same 'cool' swaggering douche who just happens to be the best at everything, always happens to be totally impressing everyone in the room and never has a thought that isn't about completing the brave quest they have undertaken. Who also seems to be a great melodramatic poet too, stopping every now and then to deliver super-serious super melodramatic commentary on just how sad it is that bad things are happening and how good things should be happening instead.
By all means make the character another gender or race now and then but please don't just send that character out there to seek revenge or save the innocents and deliver gravelly poetic monologues to themselves while being an instant expert at everything they try. Make them terrible with guns, make them unable to aim because of nervous shaking hands, make them tell bad jokes that none of the other characters get. Make them get in over their head and be completely afraid. Give them completely uncool views on gender or race.
Just give us something to grab hold of as a character. I cannot take swaggering around any more game worlds as the statistically perfect man as chosen by the readers of Woman's weekly magazine.