260°

Game Pass seems to have missed its sales target for the third year running

Xbox growth continues to disappoint, and interfere with its exec's pay bonuses, as Microsoft's CEO stops counting Game Pass entirely.

-Foxtrot611d ago

Puts things into perspective when Spiderman 2 managed to sell 2.5 million copies in 24 hours only on the PS5, a single platform.

Gamingsince1981610d ago

Gamepass will never hit the growth they want, its just not a thing the majority of gamers have interest in, it goes to show a console with good games will sell well, that's all you need.

Christopher610d ago

I would honestly be careful saying 'never' when Microsoft just spent $80b more on top of their billions from before to make this happen. They'll spend over $100b more if they can control the gaming market and turn it to all digital and relying on their hardware for others to even compete.

bobtheimpaler610d ago

@Christopher they can't just burn money. Investors have been wanting them to ditch their Xbox division for years for poor performance.

It's the division destroying destroying shareholder value.

neutralgamer1992610d ago

Chris

MS have Better odds of winning the powerball than go buy another big publisher. This boat has sailed and they will buy smaller independent studios but that’s it for them publishers wise

They will literally do the complete opposite of what they were telling the regulators before the acquisition

On topic:

Gamepass isn’t sustainable no matter what the cult of Xbox fanboys will say. It will never reach 100 million and by 2030 MS will be a 3rd party publisher in gaming. They have put their eggs in the wrong basket just like when they backed HD DVD

Ms investors have been wanting them to sell Xbox brand for a while and if spending almost 100 billion won’t resolve anything than this is IT for Xbox. It is kind of funny and sad that the so called savior of Xbox Phil himself would have saved the Xbox brand (according to Xbox fans) and killed it after spending 100 billion

blitz0623610d ago

It sounds like MS set unrealistic expectations which lines up with how out of touch they are with gaming. I wonder what their targets will now be after the Activision acquisition

Godmars290610d ago (Edited 610d ago )

@neutralgamer1992:
"This boat has sailed and they will buy smaller independent studios but that’s it for them publishers wise"

MS doesn't do that. They tend to buy troubled studios with well known IPs, which should be the biggest red flag that their approach is all wrong.

For instance, their involvement with HD-DVD was more about preventing BR from continuing the dominance of physical media, to allow streaming to take over, and yet for such destructive and disruptive effort, they gained little to nothing of direct value or investment.

Well, aside from licensing fees from menu formats for BR. But again that's nothing "direct".

@blitz0623:
"It sounds like MS set unrealistic expectations which lines up with how out of touch they are with gaming."

They seem to be out of touch with reality in general.

MrBaskerville610d ago

I do think there's interest. But 100 million subscribers is a very optimistic target.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 610d ago
Ninver610d ago

Without review manipulation tactics either.

The3faces610d ago

That 2.5 million copies includes early pre orders and console bundles. Out of 45 million PS5 users 2.5 really isn't impressive. As you said just putting things in perspective.

mkis007610d ago (Edited 610d ago )

While games dont sell their whole load on day 1. It would be remarkable for any game to get a 50% or more attach rate. Heck a 30 percent attach rate is crazy. Its potential is high regardless, the spiderman series on playstation alone sold 33 million before the windows release.

Chevalier609d ago (Edited 609d ago )

Which Xbox 1st party in the last 15 years has matched Playstations records sales?! Oh right NONE. if it's so easy than how come Xbox can't even pull it off in the last 15 years or so?

Plus the first game started slower and has sold over 30 million copies. Again NO Xbox game has even come close to those numbers

MrDead611d ago

...so does this mean MS will punish gamers even more now by taking away even more multiplatform publishers to try and make this turd a viable service model? They have proven over the last two and a half generations to be totally creatively bankrupt to bring anything new to gaming and all they do now is take.

Rude-ro610d ago

Microsoft will flood gamepass with the ips from their acquisitions to see if there is growth due to their investment first.
They will also want to see how foolish said players will be with seasons and micro transactions in games inside said subscription service.
This will take a solid year to incorporate and digest the info.

darthv72610d ago

Missed the goal but still showed growth.
Dom: It dont matter if you grow by a point or a percent... growing is growing.

Jin_Sakai610d ago

Except revenue was down from last year.

gold_drake610d ago (Edited 610d ago )

so by your analogy, less loss, is a plus lol

Hofstaderman610d ago

Imagine theres still miniscule growth after call of duty is on gamepass? That would be hilarious.

610d ago Replies(3)
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50°

2025 Cloud Gaming Trends: Growth, Challenges, and the Push Toward B2B

2025 cloud gaming trends are looking good, but it’s not all smooth yet. We break down what’s working, what’s not, and what comes next.

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clouddosage.com
darthv7229m ago

As someone who has been gaming nearly as long as gaming has been around (since the early 70's), you'd think I'd be against this. Having grown up with all the major platforms and the whole notion of physical ownership... but I'm not. i embrace this as it is a revolutionary convenience. And one i know for a fact many (especially here) have not even given the fair chance to use. I get it... i was there too. But now i have a new outlook on it. It really is a hell of an option if you just want to play with no commitments. By no means am i saying this should replace traditional gaming, its an option. And one that people should look at optimistically as a way to compliment traditional gaming. There is room for both to thrive.

40°

Blacknut Announces a New Partnership With Kalypso Media

Blacknut has announced a brand new partnership with Kalypso Media. This will see Kalypso's gaming portfolio arrive on Blacknut.

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660°

Microsoft planning “major” Xbox layoffs next week

The cuts are expected to be announced next week.

Microsoft is also planning thousands of job cuts that will impact other parts of it businesses

Read Full Story >>
theverge.com
2d ago Replies(1)
2d ago Replies(1)
Obscure_Observer2d ago

MFs has been beating their chests over great quarterly results and big profits to shareholders while firing people by the thousands just like Sony.

I wonder if at the top of those rumored layoffs they´ll also cancel upcoming or unannounced games while shutting down more studios as well.

2d ago
pwnmaster30002d ago

Always got to throw shade at Sony smh.
Yes we get it,
MS good Sony bad
MS bad Sony is also bad lmao

2d ago
Obscure_Observer2d ago

F* them both!

Just for the record, I don´t care about your victim complex crap either. Find someone else who cares.

blacktiger2d ago

He was talking about both. Why you getting offended when he's using both names

pwnmaster30002d ago (Edited 2d ago )

@Blacktiger

Im not offended , that’s just his formula lol
He can’t help help himself, he needs to bring Sony down when the topic involves MS.
Whether is good news for MS or bad, it some how leads to Sony doing bad lmao.
It’s actually hilarious.

InUrFoxHole1d 22h ago

He's not wrong but im tracking what youre saying. In this case is should just be MS bad. Thats a lot of people fired

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 1d 22h ago
Tacoboto2d ago

"just like Sony"

Gosh you're insufferable, not everything needs to be both-sides'd. Sony's had layoffs, but nothing like what Microsoft has been doing and is continuing to do.

CrimsonWing692d ago (Edited 2d ago )

I mean, no offense, but this is why you’re not some corporate business person running a major corporation. Big profits don’t mean jobs are safe. Do you understand why things like this happen:

Cutting jobs to maintain or increase profitability, especially in underperforming divisions like parts of Xbox like other gaming divisions.

Corporate restructuring and relocating resources for strategic stability in ever changing markets and consumer behaviors.

Investor expectations and optimizing operations to maintain investor confidence. Whatever boosts stock prices and improves future margins.

And there’s many other factors at play. It’s never as simple as business doing well, everyone’s safe. That’s just you not understanding at all how corporations work and have been working since the beginning. This isn’t something that’s specific to Xbox, you can bet your ass Sony and Nintendo do this and if it’s not clear by now, game development is not a stable job nor has it ever been for many. A lot of developers are contractors and guess what happens when a project is done?

Ganif2d ago

Nintendo said they have no plans for layoffs, and you can't seriously claim that the scale of Sony's layoffs most of which involved Bungie which is self managed as even close to the same scale as what Microsoft has done since they purchased Zenimax. And that significantly less layoffs would have happened if those publishers had stayed independent. Keep in mind that much of these layoffs have been due to redundancies specifically related to these buyouts.

CrimsonWing692d ago (Edited 2d ago )

@Ganif

Nintendo:

https://gamerant.com/ninten...

Sony:

https://gamerant.com/playst...

https://techxplore.com/news...

I don’t think it’s realistic to treat Sony’s layoffs as somehow outside the norm for the industry right now. Even if Bungie is self-managed, Sony’s cuts went far beyond that like Naughty Dog, Insomniac, London Studio being shut down completely, and multiple teams across the globe took hits. These weren’t just minor adjustments.

Nintendo, I had to look up and you’re right. They seem to be an outlier, but rest assured at some point it happens. And even then there’s been layoffs, albeit a smaller amount and contractors.

Would fewer layoffs have happened if studios from acquisitions stayed independent? Maybe. But even independents have been hit hard and look at what’s happened with Embracer’s fallout, or smaller devs like Digic, Roll7, or Volition. This isn’t just a “Microsoft problem” or strictly tied to acquisitions; it’s a broader correction happening across the whole industry, and unfortunately, layoffs are a big part of that process right now.

Ganif2d ago

From your article:

"According to reports, Nintendo of America restructured its testing operations, leading to layoffs of about 120 contractors, part of a strategy for global integration.

Nintendo of America, publisher of iconic franchises like Mario and Zelda, is shifting some contractors to full-time roles for better development integration."

Contractors are not employees, and even if you want to count them as that, it's 120 people vs around 7500 since Microsoft purchased Zenimax.

In an era of game industry layoffs, Nintendo is hiring more people
https://automaton-media.com...

Nintendo Announces 10 Percent Pay Raise For Devs Despite Lower Profits
https://kotaku.com/nintendo...

Nintendo CEO’s refusal to layoff staff goes viral following industry-wide cuts
"Satoru Iwata took pay cuts to ensure staff didn’t have to be let go"
https://www.nme.com/news/ga...

And as for Sony you're comparing less than 1000 total jobs to an estimated7500

Has the industry faced layoffs, yes, but that still doesn't account for the mass layoffs due to redundancies that was easily predictable, or that fact that at least 1/3 of Microsoft's layoffs and studio closures happened before the industry downturn.

thorstein2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

Take the L, Crimson.

People hate Nintendo, but Ganif proved why they deserve support.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 2d ago
-Foxtrot2d ago

It's like banging your head off a wall, he just can't help himself.

Microsoft can do no wrong, Sony sucks at everything and Nintendo is bigged up because it's less hassle than trying to defend Microsoft all the time

What's going to happen when Microsoft finally turn completely third party, then what?

anast2d ago

I enjoy Obscure. Obscure does good work.

crazyCoconuts2d ago

Did you know that the first n4g was designed to be a perfect human world? Where none suffered, where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program.

Tacoboto2d ago

I wouldn't be surprised at this point if anast and osbcure were both alts for the Admin.

We know how Obscure especially drums up additional comments and clicks with his spam-worthy remarks that somehow never get moderated

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 2d ago
Profchaos2d ago

Thats business present a strong front to your shareholders while your company burns around you.

Keep shareholders happy at all costs andnif not happy keep them numb to the reality of you organisation

Angyobangyo1d 15h ago

" Just for the record, I don´t care about your victim complex crap either. Find someone else who cares. "

Just for the record, you clearly you do if you have to vent this hard.

TheExecutioner1d 12h ago

Basically you think like kids when it come to choose between candy or chocolate.

Sonic18811d 11h ago (Edited 1d 11h ago )

Are you and Anast the same person?

+ Show (7) more repliesLast reply 1d 11h ago
2d ago
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