Advertising in games will only ever be contextual because advertisers don't want to suffer a negative backlash from gamers, one of the chief architects of the growing business has said.
Its creator eliminated components that were not essential to speed up its development, such as the Bluetooth of the controls.
LLC: "With an art style that could have been straight from the worlds of Mike Mignola, The Séance of Blake Manor is a game that I fell hook, line and sinker for."
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.
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.
I personally do not have a problem with in game ad-verts as long as they are in the proper context.
In games like GTA or Fallout 3, I have no problem with a character passing a McDonald's or seeing a McDonald's bill board or something like that.
I do not want to hear a character say "man I sure am Hungry, I could go for a McDonald's hamburger right about now" or I don't want the character passing 30 McDonald's in a 2 block radius either.
The problem is once these idiots get started with it (like everything) they tend to go to far because their level of greed increases.
We as gamers won't see a decrease in the price of games but they as developers will see an increase in profits.
Case in point was the Obama ad.
There should be no "intentional" political or religious messages in games.
There should also be no "Echo friendly" type messages either.
Not that I'm against saving the whales or recycling plastic bottles or "going green" (anything like that) I just don't want it pushed in my face.
Everyone has their own personal opinion on that stuff and it has no place in gaming.
Bottom line, I play video game to escape from reality for a while, I don't need nor want it shoved in my face while doing so.
A message to the devs and advertisers.
I can tell you this, if something is shoved in my face too much I will react in such a way that I will NEVER EVER buy your product.
I'm guessing I'm not the only one either so that is something you may want to think about before getting too stupid with it. ;)
I also don't ANY type of advertising on my game disk.
I will be pi$$ed if I have to watch a commercial before I can load my game.
It's bad enough that I pay more that $10.00 to see a movie and have to sit through car or soda commercials before it starts.
Sorry for the long rant.