Xbox Has No Idea What They're Doing, and I'm Not Sure They Ever Did

Nirav from GL writes: "If the makers of a GOTY competitor that outdid sales and Game Pass expectations and owned by the richest company in the world cannot stay open - what hope is there for everyone else?"

[Christopher]

***If the makers of a GOTY competitor that outdid sales and Game Pass expectations and owned by the richest company in the world cannot stay open - what hope is there for everyone else?***

None if you stay in an arena of corporate driven metrics. And this is what happens when you allow publishers to buy up massive amounts of studios and IPs. There's only so much internal competition and the focus in the end will remain on those who look best on a spreadsheet.

Players can be so driven by what is best for them and only see what is put right in front of them. But that's not what is best for them. They are being lied to constantly, as seen by Microsoft's ridiculous praise for Hi-Fi Rush and Phil's lies about Redfall prior to release and how big of a supporter of both studios he has been. But, instead of thinking "wait, this corporation wants me to think this way, should I be listening to them and believing them?" players eat it up and go "OMG, did you hear what they said! They're just like us and they know what's best for the industry."

And because of this single-mindedness of the majority of gamers, we are where we are now. Massive layoffs. Massive studio closures. Games that we were told were representative of the core values of said corporations shelved and studios behind them shuttered. The truth is coming to bear because the truth all along was only what the numbers in an excel spreadsheet told the corporate suits.

If you truly want what is best for the industry, what is best for developers, then you need to support Indie games, support developers that maintain control over their IPs and direction, support boutique publishers who only exist to help Indies make it out the door and don't own the IP. Stop supporting major corporations with your money or you devotion. Stop playing their games, and I don't mean video games, but their marketing, their double speak, their guy without a tie who says things you want to hear PR, their future of video gaming concepts as if we were hurting for new ways to play games other than installing/downloading and playing them, and especially any slogan from them that gives the impression that they are for you, the consumer. They are not. You're merely a value on a spreadsheet.

[Neonridr]

don't drink the koolaid kids.

[Christopher]

Sure, I'm the one drinking the koolaid. Keep believing in the corporations. They definitely have your best interests in mind. All hail the Big Green, For You Blue, and Nostalgia Red! All praise big corporations buying up other publishers. All praise the inevitable spreadsheet adjustments. For greed, not the players.

[-Foxtrot]

Why? He's not wrong

[Crows90]

I'd like to but I think you drank it all...

[notachance]

so they don’t become like you right?

[Neonridr]

@Christopher - look, I didn't mean to sound rude with my comment there, you do make some good points. However, it doesn't have to be all doom and gloom. If this is honestly how you feel, then you don't have to game anymore, you can go find another hobby and put your time and effort into that.

Do I wish that these gaming companies were always a customer first driven business? Sure, that would be great and dandy, but that's not real life, nor it is realistic to expect that fully.

Saying to stop supporting these corporations, or my guess is specifically only Microsoft considering this is the mantra at N4G, isn't the answer. Indie games are great and I have adored plenty of them, but imagine a world with no Halo's, Zelda's or Last of Us titles. No thanks.

[Christopher]

***However, it doesn't have to be all doom and gloom. If this is honestly how you feel, then you don't have to game anymore, you can go find another hobby and put your time and effort into that. ***

Do you know how many great a indie games there are out there? Why would I need to stop gaming at all? There are even AAA quality indie studios who develop and publish their own games still. Why would I need to leave gaming when I can instead support the good elements of the industry?

***Saying to stop supporting these corporations, or my guess is specifically only Microsoft considering this is the mantra at N4G, isn't the answer. Indie games are great and I have adored plenty of them, but imagine a world with no Halo's, Zelda's or Last of Us titles. No thanks. ***

First, pretty sure my reply to you makes this about all of them, not just Sony.

Second, I can easily imagine not playing those games considering the mass majority of us spend over 99% of our time playing other games from third party studios as it is.

Third, the answer is indeed to speak with your wallet. As long as you keep supporting these companies with your wallet, they will continue to treat studios the same. It's obvious that MAU don't matter, as seen by the closure of Tango Gameworks, the canning of promised updates to Halo Infinite, and the canning of TLoU MP.

Fourth, speaking with your wallet can also mean just waiting for deep sales and never buying MTX. This is how I support Ubisoft. I pay practically nothing for their games that I'm not even a blip on their radar. Even if it's a great game, I wait for a deep deep sale because I want them to get as little as possible from me until I feel they've changed their ways.

[VariantAEC]

@-Foxtrot
Christopher is wrong. Indies only have control of their IP if they can keep on making money. That's why they make cheap small most of the time really bad games. You may buy them and have a good time but in the end you realize you have to justify the money you spent playing many of them while the developers if they're any good lament never working on anything bigger. It's not easy to make games and there are hundreds of indies making their first games only to disappear before a sequel can even be announced. Indies need big budgets too if they want to make something even close to Stellar Blade and stay afloat. It's why you rarely see such games on phones or even PC without a major lable like EA or Ubisoft being flashed on the screen first. It is what it is.

[anast]

"then you need to support Indie games"

Get punk rock with it.

[rlow1]

I don’t always agree with you. But you are correct and well said. It amazes me on what used to be a pretty straightforward industry has turned into such a greedy mess. Layoffs galore across the industry and corporates pushing/firing whatever is going to move the bean counters. With no regard for the people making the games. I’m tired of hearing these rich companies saying it’s just business, or an adjustment needed to be made, but it’s not personal. Then on top of it they have to inject corporate inclusivity into every game. On top of releasing broken games and expect people to pay top dollar.

But again well said and we as the consumer need to not only speak up but vote with our wallets.

[Aussiesummer]

Anything that makes millions is going to become a miasma of greed and corruption.

[Huey_My_D_Long]

Honestly feel like Christopher's comment is on point.

Probably one of the truest statements I've seen on this site rdegarding the gaming industry change.
We have got to support smaller titles and fight against the homogenization thats been happening. Admittedly even from Sony even more so from Ubisoft.

There should be steam group or a site dedicated to listing devs on a scale with how much they control of their IP and if not, I might look into it myself.
I'm liking your agenda man.

[VariantAEC]

That won't save the industry. Sorry to tell you but the reason there are so few indie devs making console games today is because live service has the best chance of success. The bigger games need these massive publishers. You can keep on playing the little games devs make while dreaming of making something bigger and what happens in the end is both parties lose. We see that more and more. Why is that? Because economic mandates. Higher minimum wages, unionization, and ever growing legal complexities launching games to the widest possible market... the whole world.

The same way you will disagree with me now is the same way people disagreed with me about Xbox's true intentions in the industry. You will wake up someday. Hopefully before your hobby is long dead.

[Christopher]

***Sorry to tell you but the reason there are so few indie devs making console games today is because live service has the best chance of success. ***

This is billionaire thinking. We can only pay attention to the biggest dollar makers. Even though there is an extremely thriving industry of non-live service games. They also win the most awards, sell the most copies, and innovate the most.

***The bigger games need these massive publishers.***

Larian, CDPR, Hello Games, Supergiant, Firefly. Need is too hard of a word to use and these companies show huge support from the community for their games. We just need to promote this more.

***You can keep on playing the little games devs make while dreaming of making something bigger and what happens in the end is both parties lose.***

You can keep being a part of the problem rather than promoting bigger and better from Indies by not supporting the games that don't deserve our support. Go you!

[VariantAEC]

@Christopher
"This is billionaire thinking. We can only pay attention to the biggest dollar makers. Even though there is an extremely thriving industry of non-live service games."
That is not what I said. Firstly, smaller game devs are not thriving. Most make a couple games before losing their studio and with no money they can keep their IP, but make nothing with it. Is that really great for anyone? If these low buget games made the most money... indies wouldn't go under. You can't logic.

CDPR owns GoG, they're a publisher, they're the big guy. You think Larian is a little guy? Hello Games is and their game came out of the gate stumbling and bumbling but with PS' money they were able to get their very first game out. SuperGiant got support from their game from where? Amir Rao declined to provide details about who funded their game and how much money it made but said the game sold enough to support the devs for several years. I didn't play Hades but I do remember the hype around it started well before the game released and before most people played it. I don't know if the hype was warranted or not. I like more action style games which Hades is not. Unfortunately, the games I gravitate to are bigger budget with voice acting great music and interactive set-pieces. I play arcade style games like Ace Combat and Armored Core as well as sims like Gran Turismo and flight simulators (on PC). Most of the games I like are huge and they cost a lot to make and make less than the games you like to play. People like me suffer because of these massive economic shifts made to placate those general workers at McDonald's with little talent or no talent. As their MW increases so to do the expected MW values of legal workers advertisers artists VO actors software designers and everyone else involved in game design. This is why making games is so top-heavy now. You need to start thinking about how you vote or one day your favorite games will need PS and Nintendo's help just to get made.

[RNTody]

This should not be surprising to any of you. We have been saying for MONTHS that Game Pass is not sustainable and that these acquisitions will come at a massive cost to the industry. People refused to grasp the difference between buying and investing in a developer like Insomniac or Housemarque, and buying the entire publisher. People refused to accept that spending billions to acquire the biggest publishers in gaming means you have to RECOUP those costs, and you aren't going to do it without consolidation, focusing on core IP that sells, creating revenue streams via ownership and releasing on other platforms, and closing down studios that are superfluous to the budget requirements. You will not recoup those costs by investing in risky new IP or creative new games and studios.

No, people cheered Microsoft on like they were delivering GOTY titles to their door and pouring money into the industry to grow Indies and triple A projects.

You are getting what you deserve. You take the consequences of the practices you supported.

Layoffs happen. Some games don't succeed. Everyone has seen it happen. Happens even to the winners.

This, however, is goddamn shambolic and if you can't see it now then there's no helping you and you should keep enjoying the "value" of Game Pass while contributing nothing to this industry.

I've never seen the developer of one of the best games of the year get axed before.

Ninja Theory is next after Hellblade 2, I can see them going independent again. There's more to come from MS.

[TiredGamer]

This is exactly it. There is more of this coming. MS runs from one bad idea to the next, and GamePass is an unsustainable train wreck that we get to watch in real time.

GamePass is stalled for subscriber growth, and all that they can hope for is to either A) Reduce the quantity of games (i.e. shutter game studios), B) Reduce the quality of games (to make more mediocre but lower budget offerings), or C) Raise prices on existing customers. Or some combination of those.

MS does not have a passion for the industry. The XBox project, from the beginning, was sparked from the fear that someone else would eat their PC market lunch by making a games machine that replaced the PC. THAT was the entire motivation for getting into the games industry.

[anast]

spot on

[Profchaos]

I saw it from the outset of day 1 on Xbox it's unsustainable no one was buying their games and a noticeable decline in quality and a push to live service elements to keep subscriptions active was obvious.

I saw it every time I'd go to a physical game shop for a Multi plat pre order no one was there for the Xbox version.

I'd go to CeX or other used game stores and be able to pick up the full range of Xbox studios first party games for 20 bucks and change while on the PlayStation side 20 bucks might get me two PS4 launch games and wouldn't even get me a single Nintendo first party game.

[-Foxtrot]

"Ninja Theory is next after Hellblade 2"

Anyone think it's weird it comes out in 2 weeks and there's hardly anything on it

[RNTody]

Actually Foxtrot, I don't find it weird. When last has Microsoft thrown advertising weight behind one of their releases? Long gone are the days where their games had the sheer presence of Halo 3 or Gears of War 2. It's all been replaced with "play it day one on Games Pass."

Why spend millions on marketing a product when you aren't SELLING it? The Xbox faithful aren't going to buy it, they're just going to see it on the splash page of Game Pass.

[SeTTriP]

I've noticed.

[SeTTriP]

Months? You mean years.

[MrBeatdown]

But hey, at least we get Call of Duty free on game pass*

*eventually?

[anast]

They know what they are doing. If 'you' treat them like "good 'ol simple minded folk", then 'you' are relieving them from blame via ignorance. They knew that they were going all live service, streaming and mobile a long time ago, The Oracle tends to see the obvious. While companies patronize gamers like they are children, which most of them are, may be confused for stupidity, they are also not so stupid they don't understand the decisions that they are making toward the overall direction of their company.

*None of their games were even close to competing for GOTY. They paid for names to be mentioned.

[Profchaos]

Xbox survived it's first gen by pure luck halo became a hit and it was huge followed up by halo 2 which had one of the biggest marketing campaigns I can remember seeing in the early 00s we had guys in master chief outfits on the sidelines of state of origin as a promo it blew my mind.

Then the 360 fell under the excellent leadership of Peter Moore and outpaced the PS3 for the first three quarters of that generation the only time anyone has ever done that.

Since losing Peter Moore it's been a rapid decline and buying up the industry stank of a desperate move along with the idea of gamepass itself stank of desperation to me no one was buying the X1 they needed something to get people interested and here we are.

I would happily lose gamepass if Xbox could go back to the 360 era style of focused heavy hitters and solid games.

The championing of consolidation they did was disgusting and what's happened as a result is proof they never had gamers or the industry at heart they need their ROI and that's all they cared about big daddy ms has signed a number of blank checks getting them here and it's coming to collect on their debts

[zaanan]

Well, MS bought Bungie to get Halo (and shut down the Mac version), which is a big reason they were as successful as they were. And the PS3 actually outpaced the 360, which is why it eventually outsold it despite releasing more than a year later. So really, not much has changed if you think about it.

[Father__Merrin]

We all told them many years ago they didn't listen

[Abnor_Mal]

They’re all going to laugh at you, they’re all going to laugh at you.

[Elda]

Legendary line from 1976 Carrie.

[Chocoburger]

This is how I felt back when the Xbox One was revealed. It was an absolute embarrassment.

They had no idea what they were doing, and clearly still don't. I miss the Xbox era from 2001 - 2010, good times back then. Alas, they're long gone now.

[jznrpg]

They never seriously tried to be a game making company.

They paid for exclusives most of their existence.

They didn’t grow their internal studios over the years and to grow their culture for creativity.

They only mass bought all these studios in the last couple years and had trouble dealing with the small amount of studios they have before those acquisitions.

Then they chose a stupid business model,
Netflix of gaming.
Even if they made some really good games they went with Gamepass that kills their potential for making money. Something had to give and it is obvious the studios are going to pay for their poor business model.

[IAMRealHooman]

They wanted to be the Netflix of gaming.
What they actually are is the blockbuster.

Their is no community investment in a Xbox title, as opposed to a Nintendo or Sony titles.
Pokémon sells like hot cakes, Spiderman sells well, Players buy it cause they want it, and since we spent money on those titles we are far more invested in them. If a game is great we tell our friends its worth it. we watch streams we chat, we engage, we anticipate what's next, hope for fixes etc..

Looking at the " free" xbox GP titles there is no player investment or retention, It's wait and see if it goes on gamepass, it's download and forget, it's maybe play the tutorial. It's the excuse its good enough since it's "free"

[isarai]

Welcome to where everyone else had been for like 6yrs. Anyone not huffing Phil's farts has been saying this since shortly after gamepass and the first round of acquisitions. These were two big moves that were supposed to move things forwards yet we consistently only seen steps backwards. The amount of people who saw ALL of this coming, makes these recent "realizations" hilarious honestly

[Charlieboy333]

I've always said, although MS and Sony are both corporations, Sony to a much greater extent sees games as an entertainment medium ( similar to movies and music ) and understands the value of creativity and production values associated with such.

For Microsoft, games are simply a 'product' ( like Windows and Office )......a means to an end to generate money which is why their games are all 'serviceable' but lack anything special.

The passion and effort put into Sony games is clear to anyone that's played a Sony first party game ( and most of the games that Sony selects to be third party exclusive as well ).

Microsoft ( Xbox ) has been unable to identify what makes a great game for over 15 years now. They have been unable to create them and unable to identify quality for their third party deals to the same level as Sony. Plus now they are closing the studio that made their most original and acclaimed title so far this gen in Hi Fi Rush.

Why? Because the 'product' did not perform to their liking. They cannot see potential. They cannot identify quality. They do not care about providing games that are awesome and fun to play. They do not care about enriching the gaming industry. All MS wants is to get the most profit with the least effort......that is their dream.

[TwoPicklesGood]

Gotta love random keyboard warriors thinking they know better than the head of a company. Were you crying this much when they shut down our Sony Japan Studio or laid off thousands of others? Nah lol, its MS and Xbox. Do you see the mess Sony has been doing? Do you mention the barren wasteland of guest party games or hell even a roadmap for releases?

Yall create these articles to get attention and clicks to your site. I don’t even own an xbox but I think they are doing pretty damn good for themselves. Business is business. Studios close. People are laid off. It sucks but that’s life and it’s done for a reason. Businesses need to make money and investors need to be happy. Ugh this community is sickening.

[SeTTriP]

I'm trying to figure out, at what point did this wall of stupidity make sense to you?...

I'm genuinely curious, call it scientific research.

[Chocoburger]

No amount of science can explain this person's stupidity.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Are you okay or serious man? We don't say Sony is perfect no one does and they got there fair shares of L and got called for it. Xbox man doesn't show much passion unlike Sony and Nintendo which not perfect but they understand the value of games. So congrats take your L today

[notachance]

“The woe of day-1 subscription service, for every studio they own they have to either get a proportional number of new subscribers, increase the subscription fee, or just outright cutting jobs to offset additional hiring costs. At least with delayed library like PS Plus you can get release window profit from early buyers.”

Just had to post my own comment from last year, with obvious disagree from obscure 🤣

[Abear21]

Halo, Redfall, Starfield—they take EVERY game out of the oven too early.

They need to hire someone to oversee quality and let games get polished instead of releasing in Beta on Gamepass. They haven’t learned bc they now want to fast track games.

Pretty clear to see no actual work was getting done at these studios while the sales were being finalized. I think the public is starting to see all the M$ acquisitions aren’t going to pay off until next generation of consoles.

The sooner they start to be honest with their fans the better off they’ll be. There is obviously a disconnect with their actual release calendar and what fans are expecting. Too bad you won’t get honesty or transparency with this company.

[Knightofelemia]

Lack of first party titles to entice the customer and locking certain studios to only work on certain franchises is another issue. Purchasing studios to alleviate and fill that void is not helping either. I highly doubt Microsoft will make a return on the money they used to purchase both Zenimax and Activision. I do agree with Phil putting other titles on other platforms. But do I think Xbox or Microsoft know what they are doing no.

[RhinoGamer88]

Phil is happy because it all does not matter. He is protected...and rich.

[mastershredder]

This is the era of short term flex investment. You gotta understand that the gaming industry was wrecked by it, and it will never be the same, meanwhile fanboys/gurls had been blindly cheering it on like it was some kind of genius move or level to achieve, and now stand awestruck at the steaming wreak and nonsensical reorg it has left the industry in. Nice. MS has willingly "look what I can do!" gone mach 5 straight into an anvil (and it is so awesome).

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Microsoft for a long time were and are clueless ngl

[VariantAEC]

Just finding this out... now?
23 years...
Halo: acquired
Gears: acquired
Fable: acquired
Forza: Xbox did make that themselves but it took the world (and by world I do mean games journalists) 16 years to discover the franchise was just not really all that good.
I could run down the list but really the only Xbox IP I know they created was Forza off the top of my head (not counting Kinect games which they might have created too)... Xbox has been at this for 23 years and made one IP since Xbox (2001) to Xbox Series now in 2024? Sure at this point PS basically also just has GT that stood the test of time but at least GoW, Ratchet and Clank have remained relevant or found new relevance since PS2 and most of the development studios are still around. PS has loads of IP and even if we exclude Ratchet which wasn't made by PS but Insomniac which was 3rd party back in the PS2 era. Since PS1 we still have (including some but not all dormant IP and excluding EyeToy, PS Move and PSVR/2 exclusive games or IP): GT (last seen: PS5, Twisted Metal (ls: PS2), SOCOM (ls: PS3), MLB The Show (ls: PS5), Syphon Filter (ls: PSP/PS2), Parrapa The Rapper (ls: PS1), Ape Escape (ls: PS2), WipEout (ls: PS4), G-Police (PS1/PC yes, back in the 90s also Overboard loved that as a kid), Uncharted (ls: PS4), Driveclub (ls: PS4), Tokyo Jungle (ls: PS3), Gravity Rush (ls: PS4), Freedom Wars (ls: PSV), Infamous (ls: PS4), Horizon (ls: PS5), Killzone (ls: PS4, and several more I can't even remember the names of some of which went dormant on PS4. Microsoft has Forza... and they acquired everything else while closing more studios than PS over the last 20 years than PS has closed over its entire existence. Unfortunately, many of Japan Studios IP are in the above list too as well as Studio Liverpool (formerly Psygnosis), and Evolution Studios - I totally forgot MotorStorm 🫨... well here it is! PS is not lacking in games or IP and has demonstrated solid output only perceptively lacking this gen primary because most of their latest games are cross-gen on PS4 and PS5 with many critical PS4 hits and with what few PS5 exclusives seem to exist also launching recently on PC too even if years later in most cases.

MS has never been good at making or selling software not just in the gaming space.