VRFocus - Ever since Microsoft revealed its HoloLens augmented reality (AR) head-mounted display (HMD) earlier in 2015, many have assumed that this was the company's answer to virtual reality (VR) HMDs such as the Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus. In fact, the company even went as far as to invite Oculus VR to work with it on HoloLens at its announcement. However, Microsoft's work with HoloLens doesn't necessarily mean that it won't be working on Xbox VR, perhaps for its Xbox One console.
Phil Spencer has sent a letter out to employees informing them that 650 jobs would be cut from Microsoft's gaming division.
‘Good guy Phil’?
The truth likely is that the decision was not his to make and is possibly a direct consequence of cutting costs following the ABK deal.
"Good guy Phil" is comical. You have to bleed green to see that. I'm only a matter of time until MS, that's right MS even in ages themselves from the industry.
Sad, people and even sadder and pathetic company.
If they keep this up, they won't even be able to go third party anymore after they stop making Xbox hardware.
game devs aren't being let go.
“As part of aligning our post-acquisition team structure and managing our business, we have made the decision to eliminate approximately 650 roles across Microsoft Gaming—mostly corporate and supporting functions—to organize our business for long term success.”
getting rid of some suits... now this news isnt so bad. Too many suits makes all the wrong decisions, esp the top dogs.
@darth they arent suits, they are people that work in administration, customer support and that kinda stuff
The original story is from IGN as they are the ones who got the memo.
https://www.ign.com/article...
Still sucks!
Replies(2)
"The day we hear that Xbox is no more is vastly approaching."
Not sure Sony is doing any better with all that money lost on GaaS and all that worldwide backlash regarding the Pro.
@obscured: “ Not sure Sony is doing any better with all that money lost on GaaS and all that worldwide backlash regarding the Pro.”
.
Welcome back we missed you said no one 🤣
.
I don’t remember Sony cutting over 1900 employees then Less than 7 months later get a leak for another 600 to be on the chopping board but hey let’s equate that to a few people not been happy about a mid gen system refresh price 🤦🏿.
@obscured: “
They also casually forget that Sony have been laying off thousands of people too”
Yeeesh I got a better help discount code for you
Uh, thr Pro "backlash" is hardly something that's going to tank their business. Unless you've been living under a rock, there's no question that Xbox is in the gutter.
Quit pivoting to Sony because you don't like the subject matter. Their game division isn't in the toilet.
Well Sony isn't selling more copies of their games on a rival system yet so they must be doing alright.
Vastly approaching is a weird phrase… vastly is typically used to convey the degree of some size or length or time.
Vastly approaching makes no sense.
You mean rapidly approaching.
A combined $80 billion spent on consolidating a massive part of the industry, thousands fired all to line the pockets of the already wealthy and turn the gaming industry into a rental service.
FU MS.
MS is a publicly traded company. If you have a 401K you yourself might own MS stocks.
I'm definitely not a MS fan, but CEOs need to keep returns high to keep their jobs if nothing else. They don't get to transfer the salaries to their accounts.
I blame MS for failed strategies, poor execution, lack of vision, etc.
These layoffs are just the result of those things.
That's the weakest excuse for a giant monopoly I've ever seen... also companies like MS are more likely to damage people's 401k through monopolistic practices.
"FU MS."
I love how you act all enraged and bully when it´s MS firing people.
"It´s all about the workers" at least they´re Sony´s employees, right? If they´re Sony they can go f* themselves right? It´s all justified and the blame lies elsewhere on some widespread industry problem, right? Right?
We been seeing some of Sony recent bs moves and you know what´s coming, right?
I´m expecting you to disappear the same way you do every time Sony layoff hundreds of people or get a whole studio shut down.
You´ll do anything to avoid and hold them accountable. But that's OK. You´are not biased, right?
@obscured: “ "It´s all about the workers" at least they´re Sony´s employees, right? If they´re Sony they can go f* themselves right? It´s all justified and the blame lies elsewhere on some widespread industry problem, right? Right?”
.
Well Sony didn’t overreached and spend over 80 BILLION$ to acquire mayor 3rd party game developers and one MAYOR publisher the owner of the BIGGEST FPS just hoping to keeping it exclusive to their system and now having to fire thousands of employees to valance their books one more quarter.
Now Microsoft is beginning and going to kiss Sony dark ring and publish their “first party games “ on PlayStation. Regardless of who it is it’s wrong to do an acquisition and then fire people.
I applaud Microsoft for at least giving them a severance package and assistance getting a new job 👍👍.
Chill out kid... also why bring up Sony, have they just spent 80 billion to consolidate a massive part of the industry to the detriment of thousands of workers?
MS lines their pockets whilst firing thousands, such a shame you support this.
Gee someone here said Xbox would NEVER release 1st party games on Playstation or competing platforms again?! Never tired to see you eat crow again.
But but Sony bad...thats the normal damagecontroll from O_O. Dude its time to sing another song, this one is sounding like a broken record......
Not sure about the rest of the world, but here in Brazil we have a say that goes like this:
'May the last one to leave please turn off the lights'
What the heck is MS even doing right now?
Shaz from GL: “Amidst recent concerns surrounding Xbox, Phil and Co. need a win. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will be it.”
When it comes to video game previews I’m of the opinion that journalists should maintain a position of CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM. Yes, note and share concerns about the game with readers but maintain a restrained optimistic stance until actually having reviewed it so that any negativity is based on the game’s quality and not the author’s prejudices.
Here the author writes “ I’m going to continue to keep my cynicisms intact, less so because of my trust in MachineGames and more so due to the dumpster fire that continues to be modern-day Xbox.” This example illustrates the need to follow this guidance.
Not worried about facial animations , but I do hope the gameplay is fun . Most definitely I will purchase this on PS5, if the gameplay is fun .
nice hit piece. I notice the writer didn't mention any of the journalists / creators who had good things to say. From what i hear, it has riddick: escape from butcher bay in its DNA. To me that sounds like something to be Optimistic about rather than pessimistic.
It’s odd to have a first person perspective for an adventure game with stealth and brawling. But’s not without precedent. Wolfenstein: New Order and Wolfenstein: New Colossus had a lot of adventure game elements. They were in the league of the greatest games ever, but they were both fun games. Indy looks fun too.
Yes, Indy looks like Todd Howard. Something feels way too off.
Microsoft apologizes to Jyamma Games for communication issues causing an Xbox delay of Enotria: The Last Song.
Yadda, yadda, yadda they always apologize and never learn their lesson. Expect more stories of MS miscommunication.
Same song different dance it's always the same with this company.
Waiting for “ we don’t comment on competitors not allowing us to respond to developers.”
The developers of Enotria should beg forgiveness from Microsoft instead. On their knees.
Why it's not like any bots will buy the game when it finally does release on xbox. Not even sure why they would still even bother to release it on xbox.
Only because it was in the news what about all the other Devs they ignore daily words are cheaper I guess
I’ve never even heard of this game before this debacle. Not that I side with Microsoft’s horrendous handling of every situation, but the drama sort of gave this game publicity.
Firing internal support and delegating to external agencies and personnel takes time... well... takes time or ruins the company. What will happen here?
I hope they don't make their own. I would rather they partner with Oculus for VR and do their own thing with Hololens.
I think they should focus on HoloLens instead of scattering their focus on AR.
Don't waste your time, Microsoft, VR is going to flop.
HARD.
They should keep there focus on hololens and not worry about vr it is going to be niche just like 3d tvs and go away for gaming atleast, there is will be small indie titles that are like a hour long but you wont see call of duty and AAA games, vr will better suit other applications besides gaming and the entry fee will be outrageous..
Go ahead MS and copy Sony, it's ok.