10 years from now, some game company is going to release a cool physical edition complete with a game manual and cool artwork just like the old days and there will be articles about how "physical media is making a comback!?"
Well, it will take more time... I mean vinyl records are gaining more popularity now days too but they are not actively made neither CDs or DVDs. Most people would not even buy them anymore even if they would make come back. Remember music and movies went for digital first. So, this is nothing new. We all knew that sooner or later games will go, if not full then mostly to digital form too.
I remember when they were trying to sell the idea of digital games they were like it makes it cheaper for us so we can pass off the savings! Yet somehow games are increasing in price, physical copies are being phased out, they are selling collectors editions of games that dont even include the game. Its honestly disgusting how the landscape has turned. It all feels so soulless
If a company can cut costs to save money, it’s so they can increase their profits (for the vast majority). By keeping their profits up, it reduces the need to increase the retail price in order to maintain their ideal profit margin. But as inflation continues to increase, minimum wages continues to increase, the costs to make games continue to increase (due to bigger teams, longer development times, newer tech like engines, etc). I don’t find it surprising that games are going to go up in price. The issue we should be asking is how much is reasonable. I think $70 is a good price point for a “industry standard”. But I also think games should be finished and not broken at launch if they want to get charge for the industry standard. Games like grand theft auto, Baldurs gate 3, essentially games that are expected to surpass the industry standard, I think can get away with charging more than an industry standard. Maybe $80. Anything more than is just greed. Especially when you factor in that GTA6 will probably come with an online version and the amount of money they will make with microtransactions alone would probably cover the cost of development.
The worst part is the "influencers" that simped for these corporations. Same ones that simped for DLC, "how else are the devs supposed to make money" remember that?
This all stems from our evil corrupt government. Mostly the democrats. Their blatant misuse and abuse of money, messing with minimum wage etc etc has messed up the economy and it forces businesses to do dumb crap like this
MS: with ABK layoffs: Here is the door, you get health care for a year, 6 months to a year salary and help finding another job. Sony with Bungie layoffs: Here is the door right before Christmas. You get nothing except for this lump of coal. Definitely none of that billion we say were going to use to retain you all for sticking around after the merger, nada. You are on your own suckers. Wait that looks bad. OK here is 3 months' pay (because CA requires that as bare min), but we still taking back that retention money and still fuck you and your healthcare needs.
@@KingJRZJwhen did you get the impression the middle class has done well lately 🤣 this economy has been getting worse for years now… ever since 2020 everything has gotten much harder. 70k pre 2020 was the average middle class family cost of living nationwide, now it’s 120k. That’s a ton of growth in just a few years, considering wages have barely increased for 99% of people
Despite all these moves Microsoft is making when was the last time they had a win? I don't think Starfield had the reception they wanted. Redfall was a hot mess. Neither Forza or HiFi Rush were selling new subs to gamepass or Xbox consoles. So when was the last time they had a big in house win?
Yaaa alot of people were straight chugging that Kool aid weren't they? Microsoft is going to save Activision! Save cod! Hahaha C'mon people. They need to make 70 billion dollars back, and quick
@@Trensharowhen you have to do the work of 3 people and work 12 hour days because 20% of your company was laid off, it doesn’t mean that the people let go were redundant.
@@iSkateNate apparently from what I've seen people post on TwitX, the jobs that were let go were sort of haphazard with no real attention seeming to be paid across teams or anything. Good people from Overwatch, etc. Long-time employees who had nothing to do with the problematic culture of the old Blizzard, etc. Just, gone.
The fact the entire physical division seems to be getting shut down is what made me the most deflated. That doesn't mean it couldn't be outsourced in future but we all saw the leaked Series X revision, we know where this is going.
@ZimmermanTeleman Stop being a Digital Slave the Corporations want to own the game completely where they have power not u this is why Physical is and will continue to rule.
I hate to be doom and gloom but man… after these layoffs, Xbox not hitting their quarterly 1st party releases, not supporting physical, and that Xbox is taking their games elsewhere I am actually finally questioning after a decade on Xbox that maybe that’s not the best place to game… sucks to say and this all sucks to see
@@cgr5935 for me personally the games they had, backwards compatibility, and game pass yea it was the best place to game I still think it is I was just discouraged by some of the negative news
They don't have to sell people on it. It's happening regardless. Digital game sales already make up 80+% of game sales. With Walmart and the like stopping the sale of physical media, others will follow suit and more game devs will opt to avoid manufacturing fees.
The communication side of things, I am not entirely sure on since as far as I am aware the Memos from Phil and Matt Booty were leaked and meant to be interneal only, which is what led to the mass social media panic. The internet is annoying that way in that those affected don't find out properly through the appropriate channels. That was my take there Also, just because your market value/cap is $3 Trillion it does not mean the company actually physically has $3 Trillion in cash to spend. That's just what the market values the company to be at in relation to the number of total shares available. What matters is the Revenue/cash flow and that the net floats are positive.
Exactly, and just because the company as a whole equals 3 trillion, it does not mean that every department and division in the company is profitable or best optimized. No company is going to just sit around and allow different departments to just not work well or not be meeting expectations and internal goals only because other parts of business are. MS is a "for profit" company. They are not a non-profit. This all is still terrible.
@@Luhiner I never said we should provide them with sympathy. People use the $3 Trillion dollar thing as an argument that the company can afford everything. That's not how the system works. Not only that but the gaming division is a sub-section of MSFT which has its own budget it has to adhere to. Additionally, redundancies were going to happen anyway due to overlapping of existng roles. Also, this would have happened under Bobby Kotick as well, perhaps even worse since the non-mobile side was struggling. Who knows, it's all hypothetical/what if. There is also a lot of internal politics typically involved in these decisions as well as financial drivers. Would not surprise me if some of these lay-offs include Kotick's "friends".
Whenever a large. Company buys a smaller company, you have to purge the redundantly filled jobs. Many companies have similar structure and that creates, after merger, redundant positions.
I have never bought a digital game and never will. If I can't have it physically I will pick up another hobby. I don't care how much money they claim they will save or ill pay less I will only buy games physically.
Time to move on from Xbox. If they want to cut consumer choice, let them feel it by not giving them any penny anymore. Playstation and Nintendo are looking very attractive at the moment.
@@Tacitus_kilgore_1903if you are interested, I suggest hopping in when War Within the new expansion drops this year. A lot of quality of life updates as well as a better new player integration into the story. You might be a bit lost but the expansion it will start you off in (Dragonflight) when War Within starts is a soft reboot of the story so you should be able to understand a fair amount. If you are ever confused you can ask other players to explain things in the newcomer chat including lore questions
@@Tacitus_kilgore_1903 Each new expansion is almost like a fresh start. Start playing now, get your character to the max level and have tons of fun doing it, then when the next xpac drops sometime this year, you will be caught up with everyone else. Play it, it's worth it.
@@HTHAMMACK1 you don’t believe some people like to own physical media? It’s a principles thing. On PC it’s different because we aren’t locked into a single ecosystem. On console I want a physical copy so they can’t yank my purchases whenever they feel like. If the industry goes digital only this’ll probably be the last generation that I’ll purchase a console.
@@WholeHolyHolenobody said anything about owning anything. You're jumping to a lot of conclusions. The only thing the person said was if you were really interested in the game you would play it regardless. That's all they said everything you added is just things your adding.
I would not and would not buy it even digitally. Good that it comes to Game Pass. First game was so slow based and boring that I strugled to play through it even if it was not very long game. Why they even make sequal to the game which does not really need one... the story was already told, which was not even very good in my opinnion.
" 'Odyssey’ was cancelled because of ‘development hell’ focused on the game’s engine - Synapse. This internally built engine at Blizzard was originally designed to be used for mobile game development, and while developers intended to use Unreal Engine to build Odyssey, senior stakeholders instructed them to pivot to Synapse to support their desires. It has been reported that this led to the ultimate cancellation of Odyssey, following ongoing struggles and a final decision that Synapse simply ‘was not ready for production’ ".
I'm 30 years old, lifelong gamer. If EVER there comes a day when I cannot purchase a physical copy for a single-player story game that is not online, I will quit buying new games forever. Full stop. Games that are multiplayer only, where you have to be always online, I don't really care. But I've been an Microsoft customer since the original xbox, and they are in danger of losing my money forever, so I hope it's worth it for them.
Guess what? PS is going that way too. It might take them a bit longer, but it will happen without a doubt. Obviously people are different, but as a gamer for over 30 years this doesn't affect me at all. I am already essentially all digital and have been for at least 5 years. My gaming experience is EXACTLY the same. Maybe it is just me but I thought most discs just trigger a download anyways? I know AC Valhalla and Cyberpunk do.
If Americans worship PlayStation aka Japanese console, it would cause a lot of gaming layoffs in America/the West. Support local products, support local economy. Most Japanese gamers doesn't care about Xbox/western games. Maybe American gamers should not care about PlayStation either.
As a big physical game collector it sucks to hear this but I kind of saw it coming seeing how ghostwire and hi fi never got a physical and with the recent announcement of hellblade 2. Honestly was surprised when deathloop got one. But who knows....some games could always get a physical much later like psychonauts 2 did.
@@Tacitus_kilgore_1903it's actually insane how these companies justify paying a CEO 200 million but don't bat an eye to fire 8% of their workforce. It's ridiculous to believe they needed to fire those employees because they were deemed "not needed' but still justify a CEO who does absolutely nothing but try to relate to gamers in the most cringe ways possible. This is the world that we live in and for sure am not going to support this bullshit narrative from Xbox. They did this to appease investors and everyone is on the chopping block except the CEO's and even if they are fired, they leave with an overcompensating sweet bonus. Ridiculous times we live in
@@Tacitus_kilgore_1903 devs/artists/etc in random positions who had been there for 10 years and more got canned across multiple games for seemingly no reason, not for high pay, longevity, or any identifiable problems with behavior etc.
What happened today will happen again. Expect more layoffs, key personnel departures, cancellations, and even studio closures at Xbox in the years to come.
What a vague ass statement lol. Talking like you're an insider. Yeah it's always going to happen, turnover is what keeps companies profitable a lot of the time. Shit happens. I feel for the people impacted but it's all part of "working for the man". We have no power
@@tede1838 "streamlining a business" is a pretty disgusting euphemism for firing people from the jobs that they need to provide food, healthcare and housing for themselves and their families, especially while their businesses remain wildly profitable and executives make dozens to hundreds of times the median salary of an employee that actually does the work to make their product function. Yes. It is bad management. Executives should be the first on the chopping block. Their choices caused this.
Now we are witnessing the consequences of Activision Blizzard's stupidity in selling itself to Microsoft as the new owners are not only laying off their employees, but also the former company CEOs. Microsoft even has a nerve to punish hard work as Activision Blizzard spent millions of dollars and devoted six years to developing a game, and then has a nerve to cancel it. Lessons learn, don't sell yourself to Microsoft.
Calm down pony 😂😂😂..u think activision with all the sex scandals and diablo and cod being shit is good???..they were working hard molesting people instead of making games..they all need to be canned
This was inevitable acti/bliz had 18.000 staff they are bloated as hell and you have to include cross over roles as well that probably made a large portion of the lay offs.The odyssey game being cancelled was no surprise devs have spoke to reporters already saying they are surprised it hadn't be cancelled and was in dev hell for years.
God knows I don’t want another survivor game, but always sucks to hear the game devs sad about their hard work being cancelled /: could’ve been revolutionary for all we know
Exactly. Good for everyone that their hell ended. Now they can find better projects. Its not difficult to find a new job for game developers or IT workers. At least if they dont suck.
@@rpgadventurer32This is just cleaning up redundancy. That is why most of the layoffs were in non creative areas of the companies, Areas like HR, PR, and legal. MS all thos in droves that can support ABK. The major layoffs in gaming area were for a team with game in production 6+ years and no end in sight. 100% guarantee that if that game was coming out within the next year not several years away MS would have stayed the course and let them finish it. But it wasn't. no one has even said there is truly full working game yet.
Microsoft and Bill Gate's obsession on AI technology has led up to this layoffs. Soon the games industry will be run with 90% AI generated crap. You can thank the AI tech-bros for that.
In every industry my brother. I just went through an almost 2 year long labor dispute over the cutting of jobs and replacement of workers with AI machines, just a year after our employers made record hundreds of billions of dollars over Covid
This is part of the problem if you’re going fully game pass. You can’t have massive teams working on all similar competing ips. You either have to get selective with which games go to game pass and which are 3rd party. Because they can’t afford to raise the cost of gamepass more
Its not a surprise Everytime a buyout merger happens layoff happens . Im sure they have reasons . Sometimes its necessary to clean house make changes and rehire again. Nothing new . It is what it is.. good or bad. Hopefully room for growth
I think you're right about the executives. A lot of the complaints from ABK staff were about executives forcing changes on them. Ybarra was named a few times for being out of touch with the devs. So I think you're right about Xbox wanting their guys leading ABK.
That's exactly what I was saying. Have people not been saying for years that they were way to inflated with the number of staff compared to what they put out. It's ridiculous
This changes nothing, people act like games industry exists in some mythical bubble. The whole world is struggling with financial issues. EVERONE is having to make tough choices, be it corporations or people in general
So the other option I'd they "maintain" that 8% staff and continue to have terrible work conditions and to contiue all their staff and studios to make the same exact games forever. Honestly it's disgusting how many people are saying these things. I am in no way happy to see these layoffs, but don't try to pretend that things were going to be all sunshines if MS hadn't bought ABK.
Microsoft allready saved COD, all game servers including older COD games became active again after Microsoft took the lead . And Odyssey was cancelled because of ‘development hell’ focused on the game’s engine - Synapse. This internally built engine at Blizzard was originally designed to be used for mobile game development It has been reported that this led to the ultimate cancellation of Odyssey, following ongoing struggles and a final decision that Synapse simply ‘was not ready for production’. 6 years on making and nothing to show too many workers wasting time and money . Makes sense to cancel it and indeed focus on projects which will bear some fruit.
I love how Xbox gets us all excited with the Developers Direct then right after just total devastation. I've sorta gotten use to this cadence, it's really hard staying excited as an Xbox fan, whenever there is light I'm alway get tense knowing that the darkness is looming in the near, ha,ha,ha
That's not entirely true into these types of videos that do that because in reality this happens all the time to most big companies. People just make a big deal about it when it happens to Xbox because Xbox doesn't have a good track record in the past so everything they do is under a microscope. Even when they do things at every other company does. Sony or Nintendo coughs people ignore it. Microsoft coughs it must be the next wave of COVID.
I guess it was inevitable. Tue timing of the Direct is interesting though. If the layoffs came first people wouldn't have reacted so positively about the Direct as they did I think
Its only devasteting to those who were kicked out but I have heard that game developers also change work places quite frequently so Im sure if they are actually talented (not everyone is) they will be hired elsewhere anytime soon.
Ok soo xbox going all digital soo what happens with their xbox player who bought games physical and with there next console being all digital now puts us at a disadvantage to play those games that are physical disc unless its on seris x or xbox one x
Microsoft acquired massive publisher and redundant positions are made apparent. Xbox cancels game from previous publisher for better or for worse. Sucks that layoffs in the game’s industry are a regular occurrence.
Ya, I was thinking about switching platforms but I will most definitely will soon. I love physical and i like games. I been on Xbox since the 2010's with the 360, and it has been my main platform. But since Xbox wants to go all digital and turn the console into glorified (steam box), Ill just move to pc for their games. Ill buy everything else on ps5, for the time being. If Xbox wants to sacrifice physical games as an opinion, then ill just stop buying 3rd party games for it, cancel my subscription, and just pay $15 for the month when there's a game i wanna play a couple times a year. I already have way too many games as it is. lol
@@MajerHawkSadly we can safely assume that sony might want to go all digital as well. But depending on the CEO they get, things could change. But also Xbox doesn't realize that having a physical presence is what makes casual buy their products. Without casuals the console and games will underperform, Xbox is relying too much on gamepass, and it will make their hardcore fans leave the platform for a better alternative (PC). So they are willing to lose their 3rd party cut, and Gold subscription,for the sake of going digital. I dont need gamepass or gold, to play my single players RPG's. Quite a sad turn of events for physical collectors.
I hate to say I told you so, but this is what follows major mergers. I hope everyone considers that the next time the monopoly swallows something else up. There was way too much cheerleading for this deal and now the rich get richer and the poor get pink slips. For what? Are we really getting much better games out of this? Just sickening.
Are you just completely unaware or how many employees Activision/blizzard had? They legit needed to have layoffs. Its insane how many employees they had
a melting pot of technical issues, engine-based struggles, stakeholder unease, and a release window that was being pushed ever further back brought about the end of Odyssey before it could be officially revealed. 6 years making... Nothing to showcase. I understand Microsoft. They need to expect more from their studios and indeed focus on projects that will bear some fruits.
From what i've heard, Blizzard was working on the survival game for 6 years now and had fuck all to show for it. If it's true, i am really not surprised that game and team got canned. If it's not, then we can look at how far in development they got. I expect J.S. to make a big piece of it in a month
Exactly. Im sure Xbox dont want another Redfall type of dissapointment to their platform = pay years for the project and salaries for the developers and then when it finally comes out its unfinished, worst than many small budged Indie games which were made in 2 years by 10 people.
@@sparhawk1228 and Halo was good on launch. It failed being a live service game, like Naughty Dog found making a GaaS title is hard and needs massive changes to support it. Starfield its just a good game, not amazing just good. If you complained Redfall should've been cancelled, then you should be cheering that Xbox is actually doing what they should do
Shameful. You'd think having so much money to spend will make you different from other companies and not have to ruin people's lives just so you can make even MORE money. Greedy and scummy.
I'm honestly a little disappointed. When I originally heard of Microsoft buying all these studios, I remember thinking that maybe there's real potential for Microsoft to do something interesting and meaningful in the gaming industry. Man, this is quite the reality check.
According to Jez Corden at Windows Central it isn't as bad as it seems. In his article he is reporting that the layoffs are mostly to do with physical media teams and ABK customer support staff. He isn't assuming that they are totally done with physical media either. According to him they may just source it out externally for a while, but the move to digital is inevitable. So it seems bad on the surface, but it actually makes a lot of sense. So it isn't a big deal in the sense that this isn't going to affect games in development. So I am not sure what everyone is crying about. Yes, it sucks when people lose jobs, but this really isn't going to have an affect on the gamers.
@@EmperorDxD it's not just the layoffs that are disappointing to see, but also the direction they're taking with their focus on digital and cloud gaming, their intention to phase out physical games, as well their first party support still being quite mediocre.
I'm fucking worried man. My team green is actually looking pretty mean and I don't really care for it. Especially for pulling for them so hard as the underdogs, this doesn't feel like the best way to win over hearts. It's breaking them 💔
Team mean is the best Xbox. I hate it when they go soft, careless & let development studios rot whilst producing garbage (hello Redfall). Everyone kept on saying MS needed to be far more proactive & involved with its production pipeline & game management. Well, here we are. Growing pains etc. are normal. Let's see what they achieve.
I knew xbox would leave the physical games eventually. Here in Australia, the local game shops like eb games , jb hi fi, and even big w the xbox game section is so small compared to playstation and Nintendo. Since Xbox is most likely leaving the physical games, I can't imagine any retailer having an xbox section anymore. Plus, it wouldn't surprise me if some 3rd party publishers skipped xbox due to digital only. My opinion is that having exclusively games on gamepass Day 1 was definitely a bad move it's good for those who want to save money, but for physical sales and retailers, it isn't good. I know PlayStation won't go digital anytime soon because their physical exclusives are still very high, especially with Spiderman 2. Unfortunately, Xbox won't last long in the console department. If they're going full digital, people will skip xbox and go to PlayStation. If PlayStation keeps physical games, I can see their platform growing, and the console will sell more, and the physical games will sell and grow. Xbox will keep saying oh the ps5 is outselling us, or we can't compete when this is the reason. It's gonna be weird walking into an Eb Games only to see PlayStation and Nintendo sections and no Xbox. I really hope PlayStation or Nintendo don't follow because those platforms can bring in more people with keeping physical releases. I thought Xbox would clean up their act and start fresh, but I was wrong, and I'm more mad at the physical releases vanishing.
I guess we will have to wait and see when the show off the next console. But I’m the same way. I love collecting physical games and will just end up buying a PlayStation if Xbox ends up all digital.
I couldn't disagree more and I have been gaming for over 30 years. Xbox is getting a ton of revenue through game pass. Physical sales and console sales don't mean as much to them anymore, nor do they paint the entire picture of competition. Gamers who are so hell bent on physical media seem to live in a bubble, not realizing that the majority of gamers these days do purchase digital or do both. I have been basically all digital for about 5 years now and it hasn't changed my experience at all. I have been purchasing digital games since Xbox Live Arcade and like 99% of the games can still be redownloaded even if they aren't on the store. Game pass has already affected console business and they are okay with that because the number of people still playing in their ecosystem is strong. And I would bet my life that no developer or publisher is going to skip out on revenue from Microsoft over a plastic disc. It literally makes less work for them too so that doesn't make sense at all. Let's not forget how this also helps out our environment in the long run. Less plastic trash kicking around and less paper being printed. PlayStation will do the same thing one day. It is just going to take them longer. They are already trying to emulate Game Pass and Xcloud. Respected analyst Michael Pachter believes that Game Pass and Xbox is the future. If Sony wasn't concerned and/or Microsoft wasn't seeing any success they wouldn't be bothering to do what Microsoft is. This all very consumer friendly really. A person just needs 10-20 dollars a month to play Xbox, therefore allowing more people to also own a Switch, or PlayStation. Unfortunately for people like you this where the entire world of media is heading, not just gaming. Xbox deserves praise for being forward thinking and taking notes from things like Spotify and Netflix. There is that gamer bubble again. If other media is doing it so successfully, why not video games? But alas, to each their own I guess.
I mean, it is pretty normal when a company gets merged to go through some sort of restructuring, really not sure why there are a thousand UA-cam videos on normal business dealings.
On physical media, I've been a digital PC gamer since selling my consoles and games in 2009 and had not looked back. I recently picked up a PS3 because I was thinking about some of the old games I loved on the system. I've been having a blast reacquiring my old physical PS3 library, trawling eBay and hunting down exclusives. I'd forgotten the joy of holding physical games, enjoying their box/manual art and seeing them on the shelf.
This was obvious and yet you were always cheerleading for consolidation and Bobby Kotick's golden parachute. Now you act sympathetic and pretend like no one saw this coming.
It seems the "make it lame and put a lesbian in it" policy on game design is having consequences already. Let the closures and cancellations begin. Remember that Bidenomics is good for the economy after all. Right? 🤡🧂🍿🤣
That’s what happens….And these dummies running around with their big conspiracy type guesses on this or that happening😂Microsoft has and still is sitting at the bottom,And maybe it’s time for them to claw their way to the top. I don’t want a company that’s comfortable sitting at the bottom.
@@1977NOBODY tell that to the specialized devs who lost their jobs at games that still exist at the company, for no apparent reason. There were a lot of random layoffs as well.
@@bruhtholemew does it though? Media storage (and yes, the single player games should absolutely be downloadable and able to run with no internet wherever I take my laptop) is getting insanely cheap. It looks expensive because companies selling cloud storage are turning an insane profit. I grant that the live service multiplayer games have more extensive needs, and that's why subscriptions and gotcha boxes are so popular with those titles.
@@StarfieldWX-tb42 I'm just saying what they'll say next. They'll find some way to justify a price increase before they lower prices because of cheaper distribution.
Sounds like a great idea. Until, you begin to realize your Union leaders are every bit as corruptible as anybody else. And willing to make deals with the company despite Union members dissent
I've been telling my friends that for soooo long. Devs needa do a strike. Gamers are gonna be pissed cuz gamers being gamers not having their games released for a long while. Or when they do start getting pumped out its not going to be as up to par because of production still being made by whoever was willing to work during a said strike rather than the usual people. Look at the writers strike as a very much recent example. Lastly im not surprised on xbox doing this. I saw their downhill with gampass constantly being their focus. The whole as a service system and arguement of well u can pay $15 try it, don't like it come back later when it's been expanded upon has made me see they aren't taking their games serious like the flagship products they should be treated as anymore. Feels like theu are just focus on just get a catalog by gaining companies, or promote the next mp sandbox exclusive with a games preview tag. Ofc you have the dime a dozen games here and there but for the last years it's been feeling like this.
@@e.l.i8993won’t do much since this is more of an American thing. When the writers strike happened people just watched foreign shows or movies. In other words it will be the same with games since people just want to play games
@@zwillscoopchannel9689 at least American developers would have some kind of protection and then if someone wants to spend their money on some Chinese AI created jank, they still could
Sad to see and hear about this but also not too surprising either we kind of saw this kind of thing with acquisitions/mergers with game/music/movie companies before. If you look with what happened in the 80's and 90's this is again no surprise but it's also sad to see how the era of digital is being pushed into gaming consumer faces rather then a choice to do so. I know this current gen of gamers are used to this but for us gamers who grew up during the early gaming years it's a slap to the face. Also once again the legal issue of digital ownership is sure to be a big sticking point once that's all gamers can actually have. Sadly for myself this looks like the last gen game consoles I'll be owning because I sure as heck am not going to get a console that's digital games only.
This is exactly what happens when a acquisition happens. Simple business economics. They got health care & $ for several months ahead until a new job they were kept on over Christmas. Which is a hell of a lot more than with Embracer Riot Bungie etc. And now the Devs can concentrate of new games like StarCraft, Xbox clearly didn't want Odyssey over this. Is it great news no but is expected and not out of the blue shock and laid off not fired which is 100 x better.
It's still f*cked up regardless. Just saying it's business dismisses the human element. People's lives are dependent on employment then you have peoole who bought homes in certain locations or have newborns. Yea it's business, but it's more than that.
And obviously they saw that they havent made enough progress in 6 years doing Odyssey and didnt want to fund another 6 years for project which shows no signs of ever getting ready.
I don’t advocate for this. I do hope people can be reorganized in the business but I doubt it. Xbox winning this huge deal really wasn’t the W people pretend it is.
@@tede1838actually it is a win. If the same amount of work can be done with less people then that's a win for everyone except the people that got fired.
"Odyssey was cancelled because of ‘development hell’ focused on the game’s engine - Synapse. This internally built engine at Blizzard was originally designed to be used for mobile game development, and while developers intended to use Unreal Engine to build Odyssey, senior stakeholders instructed them to pivot to Synapse to support their desires. It has been reported that this led to the ultimate cancellation of Odyssey, following ongoing struggles and a final decision that Synapse simply ‘was not ready for production’ ". What Microsoft should have done? fund the game making another 6 years and when it would have been finally released it would have been allready out dated and unhyped...?
The streaming wars will most likely hit the gaming industry if digital only is the future by the end of the decade. Yeah exclusives will be a thing but most devs or studios will have some kind of subscription survice you'll probably have to pay for just like with streaming services. Once those digital only consoles come out I think I'm done with hobby as a whole.
Just get a PlayStation 2, modern gaming might be dead but we have the benefit of living in a time where 40 years of gaming has already come out. The ps2 has such a great library it’s hard to get bored with it. So many other consoles have existed with deep libraries of their own
@@NicEeEe843In a post-digital only world, expect the PS2 market to dry up and become overpriced. You're better off learning about emulation and custom/modded consoles. That or just turn to PC, which comes with the above. Services like Steam and GoG aren't going to abandon their current model. Games will still release normally unless Microsoft starts paying out massive cash incentives to indie devs, who will probably be getting more attention than whatever streamed AAA slop is available.
Maybe odyssey wasn’t that bad but Microsoft viewed the whole game as redundant. They have Minecraft, can do small projects like like grounded and pay for stuff like palworld. An 8 year development of a survival game seems redundant to me
After a massive accusation like ABK I expected this, still depressing seeing so many lose their jobs just so execs get to have private jets and sports cars
@@ArielCleirigh They cancelled the project Odyssey because it had been 6 years making and the team had lots of internal and engine struggles and the game was still nowhere near ready for the production. Xbox dont need another Redfall. Neither indefinite uncertain projects and workers hanging around sucking up finances but producing nothing on time... and even after all the time and money wasted their products are unpolished. So same energy, good that Microsoft demands more from their game developers now and let those go which dont bear fruits.
A lot of people don’t understand business. Especially with M&A. You also have to think about over hiring from covid, reevaluating projects, and some of it of course is just greed. But this will continue hope the people can find new jobs or even get rehired. I do think they should have notified everyone first but that’s so many people so they probably wanted to get in front of it.
I think more people understand their practices than you think, we just don’t try to justify them unlike you. Just because a move makes financial sense doesn’t mean it’s the right one to pursue, especially when you know you’ll have to resort to massive layoffs in the near future as a result of it, it was very predictable that this would happen after the pandemic and companies that only cared about short term profit over their employees should at the very least suffer in the court of public opinion because of it.
@@juancarlosalonso5664what do you mean right there no right or wrong you the company dony owe you anything they are not your friend you work there it transaction if they find it no more used then they let you go
MS/ Sony going to buy everything and destroy it. Small studios will grow from the remnants of those ashes and hopefully form new successful studios and the process will repeat itself. Long live gaming.
The problem with Xbox is it’s always “We’ve got this coming, we’ve got that coming.” As yet, nothing groundbreaking or particularly great has emerged. It’s always the future, never now. There is only so long people will stay with them. Peoples faith is rapidly disappearing, made worse by these sackings.
MS is enemy #1 for digital media agendas. "You will own nothing and be happy." Has never been so true as it is now. Service based gaming is where i quit modern gaming altogether. Ill stick to classic games on older consoles that i can OWN. Been building up my physical collection for BOTH movies and games. If they cant GUARANTEE digital true ownership to their consumers, then i will NEVER GIVE them a single cent! MS and any other corporation pushing digital (aka glorified rental services) can get f*cking bent!!
These companies are bloated anyway, spend billions to make garbage copy pasted games, now they can make garbage copy pasted games without spending billions
With industry consolidation, digital only, subscription services, the attempt to become a super publisher to sell software everywhere, we are seeing Microsoft finish off the gaming industry as we have known it forever. It is over. This is the ultimate shift towards gaming becoming just another type of "app" distributed by 1 or 2 companies that make the big cut. When we think about it, this was inevitable since Microsoft decided to lead this industry. Personally, I think it is quite sad, but it is what it is.
Y'know. A few decades ago shedding 1/10 of your workforce set off alarm bells. It meant shit was seriously broken. It was the kind of thing that only happened as a last resort to save all the other jobs. Now it's just greed. "Cost cutting". I bet the fuckin CEO bonuses won't get cut by 10%
It's kind of normal for companies to lay off employees at the start of the year especially after a merger happens so I don't think this is really that big of an issue as it sounds.
Digital only is yet another way we're being herded into owning nothing while being convinced to be happy about it. Digital games cost the same as physical,even though there aren't any physical packaging and distribution costs. You cat play them without an internet connection, so if for whatever reason your ISP is down,sorry can't play. You can't trade it it,you can't loan it out,you can't sell it. You may even lose the rights to even play it for whatever reason at some point. I'm cool with offering both. More and more people are ok with digital only and that's great, but as the only option, it's not an option imo. I expect to own what I pay for,if it's something I pay for to own.
Exactly these companies need to let us as the consumers decide what we want. Give us options of both physical and digital devices and we the consumers will decide what to buy!
I don't see any of this as "evil" or "mean" from XBox - its just business doing business things. One thing to remember is that they aren't a charity: it doesn't matter how much money they make each year and that they could afford to keep these people around - it would be like if I looked at your tax statement and annual income and then said you don't need this vacation you are planning for the summer and you could donate more money to charity. But the most important thing is called "fiduciary responsibility" - keeping a bunch of excess dead weight in the company would be a violation of their fiduciary duty to the owners (shareholders) of the company. One, two, a dozen... that doesn't matter, but keeping thousands of employees on the payroll when they are clearly not needed could result in a lawsuit against the company and its board of directors for not keeping the interests (money) of the shareholders at the forefront.
Yeah pointing to how much Microsoft as a whole makes is kind of beside the point. It’s not the job of Azure to pay for xbox to have two accounting departments.
Yes, layoffs suck. Wish them all the best. But also, we new this was coming, like it always does after big mergers. So could we finally stop the "Xbox dead" doom and gloom again? Or treating rumors like confirmed announcements? Or at least pick a side between "they're all kumbayah, their games are being ported everywhere" and "here comes evil villain Xbox, stomping out the competition and crawling their way to the top"? Or, at the bare minimum, don't alternate between the two within a single video? Smh...
10 years from now, some game company is going to release a cool physical edition complete with a game manual and cool artwork just like the old days and there will be articles about how "physical media is making a comback!?"
Can’t release a physical edition when there’s no disk drives lol
@@jarde1989 Yeah, I was surprised that the new PC I bought late last year didn't have one. Physical is pretty much all but dead on the PC.
Please stop your making me sad about this! I don't want to see that at all people should have options if Companies don't people will pirate.
Well, it will take more time... I mean vinyl records are gaining more popularity now days too but they are not actively made neither CDs or DVDs. Most people would not even buy them anymore even if they would make come back. Remember music and movies went for digital first. So, this is nothing new. We all knew that sooner or later games will go, if not full then mostly to digital form too.
That'll be tough to pull off when they quit making consoles that even accept physical media.
I remember when they were trying to sell the idea of digital games they were like it makes it cheaper for us so we can pass off the savings! Yet somehow games are increasing in price, physical copies are being phased out, they are selling collectors editions of games that dont even include the game. Its honestly disgusting how the landscape has turned. It all feels so soulless
If a company can cut costs to save money, it’s so they can increase their profits (for the vast majority). By keeping their profits up, it reduces the need to increase the retail price in order to maintain their ideal profit margin. But as inflation continues to increase, minimum wages continues to increase, the costs to make games continue to increase (due to bigger teams, longer development times, newer tech like engines, etc). I don’t find it surprising that games are going to go up in price. The issue we should be asking is how much is reasonable. I think $70 is a good price point for a “industry standard”. But I also think games should be finished and not broken at launch if they want to get charge for the industry standard.
Games like grand theft auto, Baldurs gate 3, essentially games that are expected to surpass the industry standard, I think can get away with charging more than an industry standard. Maybe $80. Anything more than is just greed. Especially when you factor in that GTA6 will probably come with an online version and the amount of money they will make with microtransactions alone would probably cover the cost of development.
The worst part is the "influencers" that simped for these corporations. Same ones that simped for DLC, "how else are the devs supposed to make money" remember that?
This all stems from our evil corrupt government. Mostly the democrats. Their blatant misuse and abuse of money, messing with minimum wage etc etc has messed up the economy and it forces businesses to do dumb crap like this
Jez Corden said MS closing deparments of physical copies so xbox guys only will get digital by 2027.
@@ArielCleirighI haven't bought physical since like 2012
"Welcome to the Xbox family, there's the door", Phil Spencer
MS: with ABK layoffs: Here is the door, you get health care for a year, 6 months to a year salary and help finding another job.
Sony with Bungie layoffs: Here is the door right before Christmas. You get nothing except for this lump of coal. Definitely none of that billion we say were going to use to retain you all for sticking around after the merger, nada. You are on your own suckers. Wait that looks bad. OK here is 3 months' pay (because CA requires that as bare min), but we still taking back that retention money and still fuck you and your healthcare needs.
I just got a PlayStation ad on here. I think the universe is talking.
$150m to Kotick is just disgusting and sums up everything wrong with so many industries.
I believe Kotick got more than that also how much money got Lulu cheng? she left MS way faster than Jim Ryan leaving PS.
I mean he created Activision what you expect the boss and the man that made Activision the profit it had wouldn't
Jim Ryan worked for PlayStation since PlayStation one you clown @@ArielCleirigh
kotick should be in prison for LIFE
Shows what scum Xbox are.
This isn't just a game industry problem. We are headed for a huge recession. Every industry is about to feel this heat.
Happens every election year
@@deadcaptainjames6045 For the past 20 years it's happened anytime the middle class starts to do well
@@KingJRZJwhen did you get the impression the middle class has done well lately 🤣 this economy has been getting worse for years now… ever since 2020 everything has gotten much harder. 70k pre 2020 was the average middle class family cost of living nationwide, now it’s 120k. That’s a ton of growth in just a few years, considering wages have barely increased for 99% of people
@@mikeharding9396American middle class hasn’t been in a healthy place since the 1980s
@@KingJRZJAmerican middle class hasn't been strong since Ragen destroyed everything with lobbying money
Despite all these moves Microsoft is making when was the last time they had a win? I don't think Starfield had the reception they wanted. Redfall was a hot mess. Neither Forza or HiFi Rush were selling new subs to gamepass or Xbox consoles. So when was the last time they had a big in house win?
The 360 days
I guess these 1,900+ people weren’t included in the “everyone” Microsoft touted would be benefiting from the ABK acquisition 🤔
They're probably getting fired because they forgot to wear their rainbow shirts.
Yaaa alot of people were straight chugging that Kool aid weren't they?
Microsoft is going to save Activision! Save cod! Hahaha C'mon people. They need to make 70 billion dollars back, and quick
So glad Microsoft was allowed to merge/acquire all of these other video game companies and then lay a ton of them off despite making record profits.
@@Trensharowhen you have to do the work of 3 people and work 12 hour days because 20% of your company was laid off, it doesn’t mean that the people let go were redundant.
@@iSkateNate apparently from what I've seen people post on TwitX, the jobs that were let go were sort of haphazard with no real attention seeming to be paid across teams or anything. Good people from Overwatch, etc. Long-time employees who had nothing to do with the problematic culture of the old Blizzard, etc. Just, gone.
The fact the entire physical division seems to be getting shut down is what made me the most deflated.
That doesn't mean it couldn't be outsourced in future but we all saw the leaked Series X revision, we know where this is going.
Hopefully the community stays strong and if these digital only consoles don't sell well then maybe they'll reconsider
I'm certainly not buying another Xbox without a disc drive. I've been an xbox fan since 2001 and I don't like digital only.
@@bobjoe5937stop living in the past
@ZimmermanTeleman
Stop being a Digital Slave the Corporations want to own the game completely where they have power not u this is why Physical is and will continue to rule.
I rather live in the past instead of dealing with bullshit we deal with today@@ZimmermanTelegram
I hate to be doom and gloom but man… after these layoffs, Xbox not hitting their quarterly 1st party releases, not supporting physical, and that Xbox is taking their games elsewhere
I am actually finally questioning after a decade on Xbox that maybe that’s not the best place to game… sucks to say and this all sucks to see
You figured that out now
@@cgr5935 for me personally the games they had, backwards compatibility, and game pass yea it was the best place to game
I still think it is I was just discouraged by some of the negative news
@@cgr5935dude must have been sleeping for the past 10 years lmao
Digital only WILL NOT WORK unless game prices are adjusted accordingly
They don't have to sell people on it. It's happening regardless. Digital game sales already make up 80+% of game sales. With Walmart and the like stopping the sale of physical media, others will follow suit and more game devs will opt to avoid manufacturing fees.
The communication side of things, I am not entirely sure on since as far as I am aware the Memos from Phil and Matt Booty were leaked and meant to be interneal only, which is what led to the mass social media panic. The internet is annoying that way in that those affected don't find out properly through the appropriate channels. That was my take there
Also, just because your market value/cap is $3 Trillion it does not mean the company actually physically has $3 Trillion in cash to spend. That's just what the market values the company to be at in relation to the number of total shares available. What matters is the Revenue/cash flow and that the net floats are positive.
Exactly, and just because the company as a whole equals 3 trillion, it does not mean that every department and division in the company is profitable or best optimized. No company is going to just sit around and allow different departments to just not work well or not be meeting expectations and internal goals only because other parts of business are.
MS is a "for profit" company. They are not a non-profit. This all is still terrible.
No one want to hear the truth
Social media rewards grandstanding
buying a 70 billions dollar publisher reflects the lack of cash flow, poor microsoft people are hard on them
@@Luhiner I never said we should provide them with sympathy. People use the $3 Trillion dollar thing as an argument that the company can afford everything. That's not how the system works. Not only that but the gaming division is a sub-section of MSFT which has its own budget it has to adhere to. Additionally, redundancies were going to happen anyway due to overlapping of existng roles. Also, this would have happened under Bobby Kotick as well, perhaps even worse since the non-mobile side was struggling. Who knows, it's all hypothetical/what if.
There is also a lot of internal politics typically involved in these decisions as well as financial drivers. Would not surprise me if some of these lay-offs include Kotick's "friends".
Ok thanks for coming in and defending your favourite company. Good for you 🤦🤦🤦🤦
Xbox need to be honest with their third party plans, it's putting doubt in me needing the next gen xbox.
You won't need it.
@@barcster2003Xbox isn't going third party lol. The games are a case by case basis tbh.
Whenever a large. Company buys a smaller company, you have to purge the redundantly filled jobs. Many companies have similar structure and that creates, after merger, redundant positions.
While that is true for some positions, it's not true for all the positions.
I have never bought a digital game and never will. If I can't have it physically I will pick up another hobby. I don't care how much money they claim they will save or ill pay less I will only buy games physically.
100% agree with you!!
LOL ok start finding another hobby then boomer.
Time to move on from Xbox. If they want to cut consumer choice, let them feel it by not giving them any penny anymore. Playstation and Nintendo are looking very attractive at the moment.
Longtime WoW player, Mike Ybbara being gone couldn't have come soon enough
Why? What do you feel was Mike Ybarra’s issue?
@@Tacitus_kilgore_1903if you are interested, I suggest hopping in when War Within the new expansion drops this year. A lot of quality of life updates as well as a better new player integration into the story. You might be a bit lost but the expansion it will start you off in (Dragonflight) when War Within starts is a soft reboot of the story so you should be able to understand a fair amount. If you are ever confused you can ask other players to explain things in the newcomer chat including lore questions
@@Tacitus_kilgore_1903Asmongold is the last person to get info about WoW from.
@@Tacitus_kilgore_1903do it! You won’t regret it. I started about 8 years into its life cycle and played for years, still miss it but no pc now adays
@@Tacitus_kilgore_1903 Each new expansion is almost like a fresh start. Start playing now, get your character to the max level and have tons of fun doing it, then when the next xpac drops sometime this year, you will be caught up with everyone else. Play it, it's worth it.
I would've bought a Hellblade 2 physical copy day 1😔
I don't believe you, because if you were interested in that game, you would play it regardless.
@@HTHAMMACK1 you don’t believe some people like to own physical media? It’s a principles thing. On PC it’s different because we aren’t locked into a single ecosystem. On console I want a physical copy so they can’t yank my purchases whenever they feel like.
If the industry goes digital only this’ll probably be the last generation that I’ll purchase a console.
We need more Physical Advocates.
@@WholeHolyHolenobody said anything about owning anything. You're jumping to a lot of conclusions. The only thing the person said was if you were really interested in the game you would play it regardless. That's all they said everything you added is just things your adding.
I would not and would not buy it even digitally. Good that it comes to Game Pass.
First game was so slow based and boring that I strugled to play through it even if it was not very long game. Why they even make sequal to the game which does not really need one... the story was already told, which was not even very good in my opinnion.
" 'Odyssey’ was cancelled because of ‘development hell’ focused on the game’s engine - Synapse.
This internally built engine at Blizzard was originally designed to be used for mobile game development, and while developers intended to use Unreal Engine to build Odyssey, senior stakeholders instructed them to pivot to Synapse to support their desires.
It has been reported that this led to the ultimate cancellation of Odyssey, following ongoing struggles and a final decision that Synapse simply ‘was not ready for production’ ".
I'm 30 years old, lifelong gamer. If EVER there comes a day when I cannot purchase a physical copy for a single-player story game that is not online, I will quit buying new games forever. Full stop. Games that are multiplayer only, where you have to be always online, I don't really care. But I've been an Microsoft customer since the original xbox, and they are in danger of losing my money forever, so I hope it's worth it for them.
I ❤️ physical copies. Now that Microsoft going digital my gaming purchases has decreased a lot 😭😭
I’ll be supporting PS5 more for my physical buying 😊
All digital future for xbox guys is almost a reality.
Guess what? PS is going that way too. It might take them a bit longer, but it will happen without a doubt. Obviously people are different, but as a gamer for over 30 years this doesn't affect me at all. I am already essentially all digital and have been for at least 5 years. My gaming experience is EXACTLY the same. Maybe it is just me but I thought most discs just trigger a download anyways? I know AC Valhalla and Cyberpunk do.
If Americans worship PlayStation aka Japanese console, it would cause a lot of gaming layoffs in America/the West. Support local products, support local economy. Most Japanese gamers doesn't care about Xbox/western games. Maybe American gamers should not care about PlayStation either.
I only buy physical. Will never own an console where digital rentals are the only option.
@@eternal_napalm6442
Amen
As a big physical game collector it sucks to hear this but I kind of saw it coming seeing how ghostwire and hi fi never got a physical and with the recent announcement of hellblade 2. Honestly was surprised when deathloop got one. But who knows....some games could always get a physical much later like psychonauts 2 did.
Ghostwire Tokyo has a physical release
Xbox can't do physical because then they lose control of the content there goal is charge you for gamepass and never own it
Deathloop came out on PS5 before the aquisition. I suspect that is the only reason why.
Yes, it's awful. But it happens all the time after a merger. Happened to me twice.
A TRILLION dollar company......But do the execs and leadership ever get a pay cut? Nooooo, never. Unless you were Satoru Iwata-san at Nintendo. Shame.
@@Tacitus_kilgore_1903It's never that simple
@@Tacitus_kilgore_1903it's actually insane how these companies justify paying a CEO 200 million but don't bat an eye to fire 8% of their workforce. It's ridiculous to believe they needed to fire those employees because they were deemed "not needed' but still justify a CEO who does absolutely nothing but try to relate to gamers in the most cringe ways possible. This is the world that we live in and for sure am not going to support this bullshit narrative from Xbox. They did this to appease investors and everyone is on the chopping block except the CEO's and even if they are fired, they leave with an overcompensating sweet bonus. Ridiculous times we live in
@@Tacitus_kilgore_1903 devs/artists/etc in random positions who had been there for 10 years and more got canned across multiple games for seemingly no reason, not for high pay, longevity, or any identifiable problems with behavior etc.
What happened today will happen again. Expect more layoffs, key personnel departures, cancellations, and even studio closures at Xbox in the years to come.
Yeah, it happened at PlayStation first so it’s understandable.
Yep it's going to be embracer 2.0 this year
What a vague ass statement lol. Talking like you're an insider. Yeah it's always going to happen, turnover is what keeps companies profitable a lot of the time. Shit happens. I feel for the people impacted but it's all part of "working for the man". We have no power
So like any other business…….
Ybarra left Xbox after the scandal at Mixer when racist management was allowed to flourish under Ibarra.
Yet the games industry continues to make massive and increasing products. The "covid bubble" is an excuse for bad management.
It's the whole tech industry
streamlining a business is bad management?
@@tede1838 "streamlining a business" is a pretty disgusting euphemism for firing people from the jobs that they need to provide food, healthcare and housing for themselves and their families, especially while their businesses remain wildly profitable and executives make dozens to hundreds of times the median salary of an employee that actually does the work to make their product function. Yes. It is bad management. Executives should be the first on the chopping block. Their choices caused this.
@@johnwrath3612that really not the company problem
@@johnwrath3612no employee is first how can an exact befirst he doesn't have a redundant job employees have
really sucks for all those laid off. good vibes to them and hope they find work elsewhere promptly.
This happens all the time when a company is bought out.
True it happen to naughty dog in 2023
@@josermaiz Huh? Um, Naughty Dog was acquired by Sony in 2001.
@@DanteMasaruhe just a fanboy trying to throw acid lol
@@DanteMasaru he must be talking about the canceled ND project
@@josermaizdude you pulled that out of your ass
Now we are witnessing the consequences of Activision Blizzard's stupidity in selling itself to Microsoft as the new owners are not only laying off their employees, but also the former company CEOs.
Microsoft even has a nerve to punish hard work as Activision Blizzard spent millions of dollars and devoted six years to developing a game, and then has a nerve to cancel it.
Lessons learn, don't sell yourself to Microsoft.
Calm down pony 😂😂😂..u think activision with all the sex scandals and diablo and cod being shit is good???..they were working hard molesting people instead of making games..they all need to be canned
This was inevitable acti/bliz had 18.000 staff they are bloated as hell and you have to include cross over roles as well that probably made a large portion of the lay offs.The odyssey game being cancelled was no surprise devs have spoke to reporters already saying they are surprised it hadn't be cancelled and was in dev hell for years.
Wow, acti/blizz had 18k employees? I just heard total was 21k so Xbox went from 3k to 21k with the acquisition. That's crazy
God knows I don’t want another survivor game, but always sucks to hear the game devs sad about their hard work being cancelled /: could’ve been revolutionary for all we know
@@sparhawk1228wrong it had 13 k
Exactly. Good for everyone that their hell ended. Now they can find better projects. Its not difficult to find a new job for game developers or IT workers. At least if they dont suck.
Yeah but they let people go all across Blizzard, with no sense to be seen a lot of the time. Very sloppily.
I mean I'd be sympathetic but all these game companies make subpar products that are more designed to bleed wallets than be fun
"All" huh? Interesting lie
@@SethTraplifeGLO999It's a hyperbolic generalization. Stop taking everything literally.
@@GuiItyUniverse it's a dumb false narrative that alot of people do take literally
@SethTraplifeGLO999 Yeah, apparently you're taking it literally. 🤡
@@GuiItyUniverse you really got quite the ego
The writing was on the wall with Xbox going all digital. The leaked Series X with no disc drive pretty much confirmed it.
PC has been digital for forever😮
But Series X already has disc version but no digital version.
Series S is not digital version of series X, its different console.
MS tried it with the Xbox One and they will try it again.
It's not just that. There's a financial crisis that is effecting the entire industry and the DEI money is finally running out dry.
@@rpgadventurer32This is just cleaning up redundancy. That is why most of the layoffs were in non creative areas of the companies, Areas like HR, PR, and legal. MS all thos in droves that can support ABK. The major layoffs in gaming area were for a team with game in production 6+ years and no end in sight. 100% guarantee that if that game was coming out within the next year not several years away MS would have stayed the course and let them finish it. But it wasn't. no one has even said there is truly full working game yet.
Microsoft and Bill Gate's obsession on AI technology has led up to this layoffs. Soon the games industry will be run with 90% AI generated crap. You can thank the AI tech-bros for that.
In every industry my brother. I just went through an almost 2 year long labor dispute over the cutting of jobs and replacement of workers with AI machines, just a year after our employers made record hundreds of billions of dollars over Covid
This is part of the problem if you’re going fully game pass. You can’t have massive teams working on all similar competing ips. You either have to get selective with which games go to game pass and which are 3rd party. Because they can’t afford to raise the cost of gamepass more
Its not a surprise Everytime a buyout merger happens layoff happens . Im sure they have reasons . Sometimes its necessary to clean house make changes and rehire again. Nothing new . It is what it is.. good or bad. Hopefully room for growth
You're bound to have a lot of overlap in departments and positions after acquiring such a big company
@@alexk9295 exactly 💯 its called downsizing," "rightsizing," or "smart sizing."
I think you're right about the executives. A lot of the complaints from ABK staff were about executives forcing changes on them. Ybarra was named a few times for being out of touch with the devs. So I think you're right about Xbox wanting their guys leading ABK.
They put an Activision person in charge. The former head of CoD.
@@eboethrasher yeah I saw that too. Very concerning.
I mean, Activision has WAY too many employees considering how pathetic the company’s output is.
That's exactly what I was saying. Have people not been saying for years that they were way to inflated with the number of staff compared to what they put out. It's ridiculous
I'm done with new games. I won't be herded into online only, pay to play or microtransactions. I'll stay with my old favourites on disc.
This changes nothing, people act like games industry exists in some mythical bubble. The whole world is struggling with financial issues.
EVERONE is having to make tough choices, be it corporations or people in general
Also no merger EVER keeps everyone. You don't need 2 of everything. Man you people are overly dramatic
Content
Oh yes that 3 trillion dollar corporation, they've got it SO HARD.
People really thought Microsoft was gonna save Activision/COD
So the other option I'd they "maintain" that 8% staff and continue to have terrible work conditions and to contiue all their staff and studios to make the same exact games forever. Honestly it's disgusting how many people are saying these things. I am in no way happy to see these layoffs, but don't try to pretend that things were going to be all sunshines if MS hadn't bought ABK.
Microsoft allready saved COD, all game servers including older COD games became active again after Microsoft took the lead .
And Odyssey was cancelled because of ‘development hell’ focused on the game’s engine - Synapse.
This internally built engine at Blizzard was originally designed to be used for mobile game development
It has been reported that this led to the ultimate cancellation of Odyssey, following ongoing struggles and a final decision that Synapse simply ‘was not ready for production’.
6 years on making and nothing to show too many workers wasting time and money .
Makes sense to cancel it and indeed focus on projects which will bear some fruit.
LMAO! I guess sony "saved" bungie and insomniac with their layoffs in december of last year right?.......right?
Matt Booty should have been the first person fired at before these 1900.
Lulu cheng with a check in her pocket from some Hawái island, I fool all of you especially ABK employees.
They fired the people that are ideological activists instead of game enthusiasts.
I love how Xbox gets us all excited with the Developers Direct then right after just total devastation. I've sorta gotten use to this cadence, it's really hard staying excited as an Xbox fan, whenever there is light I'm alway get tense knowing that the darkness is looming in the near, ha,ha,ha
That's not entirely true into these types of videos that do that because in reality this happens all the time to most big companies. People just make a big deal about it when it happens to Xbox because Xbox doesn't have a good track record in the past so everything they do is under a microscope. Even when they do things at every other company does.
Sony or Nintendo coughs people ignore it. Microsoft coughs it must be the next wave of COVID.
I guess it was inevitable. Tue timing of the Direct is interesting though. If the layoffs came first people wouldn't have reacted so positively about the Direct as they did I think
This information isn't for the regular gamer. Nothing has changed. Xbox has just regulated their staff to adjust for the current circumstances.
Its only devasteting to those who were kicked out but I have heard that game developers also change work places quite frequently so Im sure if they are actually talented (not everyone is) they will be hired elsewhere anytime soon.
@@susanna8612 the talented ones probably weren't the ones that got fired ;)
Corpo speak is worth less than hot air because they type it. It's worth the pixels on the screen and even that is debatable.
I think Phil has lost control due to his failure to meet internal targets
Were the memos for the public to know or was it for internal employees? Cuz thats a big difference when it comes to communication.
You shitted on Sony and bungie situation even tho bungie was falling apart way before Sony bought them. Last year 10,000 lay offs lot another 1900
Ok soo xbox going all digital soo what happens with their xbox player who bought games physical and with there next console being all digital now puts us at a disadvantage to play those games that are physical disc unless its on seris x or xbox one x
Microsoft acquired massive publisher and redundant positions are made apparent. Xbox cancels game from previous publisher for better or for worse. Sucks that layoffs in the game’s industry are a regular occurrence.
It's not redundant when games are being cancelled and devs are laid off
@@mauditebalvenie You're not very smart
@@blackhatfreak They cancelled a AAA game so yeah not redundant.
ill stop playing games if i cant physically own my games
Ya, I was thinking about switching platforms but I will most definitely will soon. I love physical and i like games. I been on Xbox since the 2010's with the 360, and it has been my main platform. But since Xbox wants to go all digital and turn the console into glorified (steam box), Ill just move to pc for their games. Ill buy everything else on ps5, for the time being. If Xbox wants to sacrifice physical games as an opinion, then ill just stop buying 3rd party games for it, cancel my subscription, and just pay $15 for the month when there's a game i wanna play a couple times a year. I already have way too many games as it is. lol
@@MajerHawkSadly we can safely assume that sony might want to go all digital as well. But depending on the CEO they get, things could change. But also Xbox doesn't realize that having a physical presence is what makes casual buy their products. Without casuals the console and games will underperform, Xbox is relying too much on gamepass, and it will make their hardcore fans leave the platform for a better alternative (PC). So they are willing to lose their 3rd party cut, and Gold subscription,for the sake of going digital. I dont need gamepass or gold, to play my single players RPG's. Quite a sad turn of events for physical collectors.
I hate to say I told you so, but this is what follows major mergers. I hope everyone considers that the next time the monopoly swallows something else up. There was way too much cheerleading for this deal and now the rich get richer and the poor get pink slips. For what? Are we really getting much better games out of this? Just sickening.
Are you just completely unaware or how many employees Activision/blizzard had? They legit needed to have layoffs. Its insane how many employees they had
a melting pot of technical issues, engine-based struggles, stakeholder unease, and a release window that was being pushed ever further back brought about the end of Odyssey before it could be officially revealed.
6 years making... Nothing to showcase. I understand Microsoft.
They need to expect more from their studios and indeed focus on projects that will bear some fruits.
From what i've heard, Blizzard was working on the survival game for 6 years now and had fuck all to show for it. If it's true, i am really not surprised that game and team got canned. If it's not, then we can look at how far in development they got. I expect J.S. to make a big piece of it in a month
Exactly. Im sure Xbox dont want another Redfall type of dissapointment to their platform = pay years for the project and salaries for the developers and then when it finally comes out its unfinished, worst than many small budged Indie games which were made in 2 years by 10 people.
@@sparhawk1228 and Halo was good on launch. It failed being a live service game, like Naughty Dog found making a GaaS title is hard and needs massive changes to support it.
Starfield its just a good game, not amazing just good.
If you complained Redfall should've been cancelled, then you should be cheering that Xbox is actually doing what they should do
Shameful. You'd think having so much money to spend will make you different from other companies and not have to ruin people's lives just so you can make even MORE money.
Greedy and scummy.
Thanks for another great video in 2024 Matty! Keep em coming 🙌🏼🙏🏼
Thank you for making us Trillions. You are all now fired.
I'm honestly a little disappointed. When I originally heard of Microsoft buying all these studios, I remember thinking that maybe there's real potential for Microsoft to do something interesting and meaningful in the gaming industry. Man, this is quite the reality check.
Well now you know never to trust big companies no matter how friendly their spokesperson may seem.
What were you hoping for Microsoft to keep people that shit and redundant
According to Jez Corden at Windows Central it isn't as bad as it seems. In his article he is reporting that the layoffs are mostly to do with physical media teams and ABK customer support staff. He isn't assuming that they are totally done with physical media either. According to him they may just source it out externally for a while, but the move to digital is inevitable. So it seems bad on the surface, but it actually makes a lot of sense. So it isn't a big deal in the sense that this isn't going to affect games in development. So I am not sure what everyone is crying about. Yes, it sucks when people lose jobs, but this really isn't going to have an affect on the gamers.
@@EmperorDxD it's not just the layoffs that are disappointing to see, but also the direction they're taking with their focus on digital and cloud gaming, their intention to phase out physical games, as well their first party support still being quite mediocre.
@@omelfilip my guy you clearly don't live in reality evething you just said is clearly the future
I'm fucking worried man. My team green is actually looking pretty mean and I don't really care for it. Especially for pulling for them so hard as the underdogs, this doesn't feel like the best way to win over hearts.
It's breaking them 💔
Team mean is the best Xbox. I hate it when they go soft, careless & let development studios rot whilst producing garbage (hello Redfall). Everyone kept on saying MS needed to be far more proactive & involved with its production pipeline & game management.
Well, here we are. Growing pains etc. are normal. Let's see what they achieve.
I knew xbox would leave the physical games eventually. Here in Australia, the local game shops like eb games , jb hi fi, and even big w the xbox game section is so small compared to playstation and Nintendo. Since Xbox is most likely leaving the physical games, I can't imagine any retailer having an xbox section anymore.
Plus, it wouldn't surprise me if some 3rd party publishers skipped xbox due to digital only. My opinion is that having exclusively games on gamepass Day 1 was definitely a bad move it's good for those who want to save money, but for physical sales and retailers, it isn't good. I know PlayStation won't go digital anytime soon because their physical exclusives are still very high, especially with Spiderman 2.
Unfortunately, Xbox won't last long in the console department. If they're going full digital, people will skip xbox and go to PlayStation. If PlayStation keeps physical games, I can see their platform growing, and the console will sell more, and the physical games will sell and grow.
Xbox will keep saying oh the ps5 is outselling us, or we can't compete when this is the reason. It's gonna be weird walking into an Eb Games only to see PlayStation and Nintendo sections and no Xbox. I really hope PlayStation or Nintendo don't follow because those platforms can bring in more people with keeping physical releases. I thought Xbox would clean up their act and start fresh, but I was wrong, and I'm more mad at the physical releases vanishing.
I guess we will have to wait and see when the show off the next console. But I’m the same way. I love collecting physical games and will just end up buying a PlayStation if Xbox ends up all digital.
I couldn't disagree more and I have been gaming for over 30 years. Xbox is getting a ton of revenue through game pass. Physical sales and console sales don't mean as much to them anymore, nor do they paint the entire picture of competition. Gamers who are so hell bent on physical media seem to live in a bubble, not realizing that the majority of gamers these days do purchase digital or do both. I have been basically all digital for about 5 years now and it hasn't changed my experience at all. I have been purchasing digital games since Xbox Live Arcade and like 99% of the games can still be redownloaded even if they aren't on the store.
Game pass has already affected console business and they are okay with that because the number of people still playing in their ecosystem is strong. And I would bet my life that no developer or publisher is going to skip out on revenue from Microsoft over a plastic disc. It literally makes less work for them too so that doesn't make sense at all. Let's not forget how this also helps out our environment in the long run. Less plastic trash kicking around and less paper being printed.
PlayStation will do the same thing one day. It is just going to take them longer. They are already trying to emulate Game Pass and Xcloud. Respected analyst Michael Pachter believes that Game Pass and Xbox is the future. If Sony wasn't concerned and/or Microsoft wasn't seeing any success they wouldn't be bothering to do what Microsoft is. This all very consumer friendly really. A person just needs 10-20 dollars a month to play Xbox, therefore allowing more people to also own a Switch, or PlayStation. Unfortunately for people like you this where the entire world of media is heading, not just gaming. Xbox deserves praise for being forward thinking and taking notes from things like Spotify and Netflix. There is that gamer bubble again. If other media is doing it so successfully, why not video games? But alas, to each their own I guess.
I mean, it is pretty normal when a company gets merged to go through some sort of restructuring, really not sure why there are a thousand UA-cam videos on normal business dealings.
You know that there's mayhem when people feel the need to contact Jason Schreier to see if he has their own personal layoff scoop.
Hey everyone Microsoft is worth 3 trillion dollars, oh and your all fired
On physical media, I've been a digital PC gamer since selling my consoles and games in 2009 and had not looked back. I recently picked up a PS3 because I was thinking about some of the old games I loved on the system. I've been having a blast reacquiring my old physical PS3 library, trawling eBay and hunting down exclusives. I'd forgotten the joy of holding physical games, enjoying their box/manual art and seeing them on the shelf.
Welcome back dude! It's something magical I would not have it any other way!
Here in Brazil Microsoft doesn't sell physical games anymore, only digital. People were furious.
Microsoft is setting itself up for digital only
This was obvious and yet you were always cheerleading for consolidation and Bobby Kotick's golden parachute. Now you act sympathetic and pretend like no one saw this coming.
It seems the "make it lame and put a lesbian in it" policy on game design is having consequences already. Let the closures and cancellations begin. Remember that Bidenomics is good for the economy after all. Right? 🤡🧂🍿🤣
This happens with every merger with any company. Dont need 5 HR departments
That’s what happens….And these dummies running around with their big conspiracy type guesses on this or that happening😂Microsoft has and still is sitting at the bottom,And maybe it’s time for them to claw their way to the top. I don’t want a company that’s comfortable sitting at the bottom.
@@1977NOBODY tell that to the specialized devs who lost their jobs at games that still exist at the company, for no apparent reason. There were a lot of random layoffs as well.
If they get rid of physical media, games will be cheaper, right?
Right?
"It takes a lot to make and ship disks"
Becomes
"It takes even more to run servers"
@@bruhtholemew does it though? Media storage (and yes, the single player games should absolutely be downloadable and able to run with no internet wherever I take my laptop) is getting insanely cheap. It looks expensive because companies selling cloud storage are turning an insane profit. I grant that the live service multiplayer games have more extensive needs, and that's why subscriptions and gotcha boxes are so popular with those titles.
@@StarfieldWX-tb42 I'm just saying what they'll say next.
They'll find some way to justify a price increase before they lower prices because of cheaper distribution.
@@bruhtholemew Oh for sure, but they're usually lying through their teeth. The average consumer either doesn't know or doesn't care.
No, they make more profit, of course.......
Anyone suggesting we should go digital for cost reduction doesn't understand its not going to be worth it.
It’s time for the developers to unionize, it’s the only logical step when you have billion dollar corporations running the show.
Sounds like a great idea. Until, you begin to realize your Union leaders are every bit as corruptible as anybody else. And willing to make deals with the company despite Union members dissent
I've been telling my friends that for soooo long. Devs needa do a strike. Gamers are gonna be pissed cuz gamers being gamers not having their games released for a long while. Or when they do start getting pumped out its not going to be as up to par because of production still being made by whoever was willing to work during a said strike rather than the usual people. Look at the writers strike as a very much recent example.
Lastly im not surprised on xbox doing this. I saw their downhill with gampass constantly being their focus. The whole as a service system and arguement of well u can pay $15 try it, don't like it come back later when it's been expanded upon has made me see they aren't taking their games serious like the flagship products they should be treated as anymore. Feels like theu are just focus on just get a catalog by gaining companies, or promote the next mp sandbox exclusive with a games preview tag. Ofc you have the dime a dozen games here and there but for the last years it's been feeling like this.
Unions destroyed the American car industry.
@@e.l.i8993won’t do much since this is more of an American thing. When the writers strike happened people just watched foreign shows or movies. In other words it will be the same with games since people just want to play games
@@zwillscoopchannel9689 at least American developers would have some kind of protection and then if someone wants to spend their money on some Chinese AI created jank, they still could
Sad to see and hear about this but also not too surprising either we kind of saw this kind of thing with acquisitions/mergers with game/music/movie companies before. If you look with what happened in the 80's and 90's this is again no surprise but it's also sad to see how the era of digital is being pushed into gaming consumer faces rather then a choice to do so.
I know this current gen of gamers are used to this but for us gamers who grew up during the early gaming years it's a slap to the face. Also once again the legal issue of digital ownership is sure to be a big sticking point once that's all gamers can actually have.
Sadly for myself this looks like the last gen game consoles I'll be owning because I sure as heck am not going to get a console that's digital games only.
This isn’t just the gaming industry. For anyone that has ever worked a day in their lives, this is how corporate America works. It’s business 101
Yup. This is how M&A works
Keeping up game pass is so expensive that they had to layoff near 2k employee lol
Game pass has nothing to do with it , it costs the same as something like Amazon video or Netflix and that stuff all costs the same money to make .
This is exactly what happens when a acquisition happens. Simple business economics. They got health care & $ for several months ahead until a new job they were kept on over Christmas. Which is a hell of a lot more than with Embracer Riot Bungie etc. And now the Devs can concentrate of new games like StarCraft, Xbox clearly didn't want Odyssey over this. Is it great news no but is expected and not out of the blue shock and laid off not fired which is 100 x better.
Excellent point. Companies layoff all the time, it’s the only way for them to survive is to adapt. I don’t like it, but it happens.
It's still f*cked up regardless. Just saying it's business dismisses the human element. People's lives are dependent on employment then you have peoole who bought homes in certain locations or have newborns. Yea it's business, but it's more than that.
The amount of boot licker in this comment section is disgusting
And obviously they saw that they havent made enough progress in 6 years doing Odyssey and didnt want to fund another 6 years for project which shows no signs of ever getting ready.
I don’t advocate for this. I do hope people can be reorganized in the business but I doubt it.
Xbox winning this huge deal really wasn’t the W people pretend it is.
no merger ever is. everytime one happens anywhere people lose jobs. that's the capitalism that people keep rooting for.
The only ppl who win in these deals are greedy bureaucrats and them only, never the people.
@@tede1838actually it is a win. If the same amount of work can be done with less people then that's a win for everyone except the people that got fired.
"Odyssey was cancelled because of ‘development hell’ focused on the game’s engine - Synapse.
This internally built engine at Blizzard was originally designed to be used for mobile game development, and while developers intended to use Unreal Engine to build Odyssey, senior stakeholders instructed them to pivot to Synapse to support their desires.
It has been reported that this led to the ultimate cancellation of Odyssey, following ongoing struggles and a final decision that Synapse simply ‘was not ready for production’ ".
What Microsoft should have done? fund the game making another 6 years and when it would have been finally released it would have been allready out dated and unhyped...?
The streaming wars will most likely hit the gaming industry if digital only is the future by the end of the decade.
Yeah exclusives will be a thing but most devs or studios will have some kind of subscription survice you'll probably have to pay for just like with streaming services.
Once those digital only consoles come out I think I'm done with hobby as a whole.
U mean gaming?
Just get a PlayStation 2, modern gaming might be dead but we have the benefit of living in a time where 40 years of gaming has already come out. The ps2 has such a great library it’s hard to get bored with it. So many other consoles have existed with deep libraries of their own
@@NicEeEe843In a post-digital only world, expect the PS2 market to dry up and become overpriced.
You're better off learning about emulation and custom/modded consoles.
That or just turn to PC, which comes with the above. Services like Steam and GoG aren't going to abandon their current model. Games will still release normally unless Microsoft starts paying out massive cash incentives to indie devs, who will probably be getting more attention than whatever streamed AAA slop is available.
@@bruhtholemew GoG guarantees you permanent access to your games because you get to download the installers, there is no DRM.
Maybe odyssey wasn’t that bad but Microsoft viewed the whole game as redundant. They have Minecraft, can do small projects like like grounded and pay for stuff like palworld. An 8 year development of a survival game seems redundant to me
I'm so so so disappointed with the vision that Xbox currently has for the platform.
After a massive accusation like ABK I expected this, still depressing seeing so many lose their jobs just so execs get to have private jets and sports cars
I have heard that in gaming industries game developers change work places quite frequently, so Im sure they will find another project and work place
Dedicated to all those people who embrace ABK deal and saying devs will be better with MS as new leader. Keep the same energy right?
@@ArielCleirigh
They cancelled the project Odyssey because it had been 6 years making and the team had lots of internal and engine struggles and the game was still nowhere near ready for the production.
Xbox dont need another Redfall.
Neither indefinite uncertain projects and workers hanging around sucking up finances but producing nothing on time... and even after all the time and money wasted their products are unpolished.
So same energy, good that Microsoft demands more from their game developers now and let those go which dont bear fruits.
A lot of people don’t understand business. Especially with M&A. You also have to think about over hiring from covid, reevaluating projects, and some of it of course is just greed. But this will continue hope the people can find new jobs or even get rehired. I do think they should have notified everyone first but that’s so many people so they probably wanted to get in front of it.
I think more people understand their practices than you think, we just don’t try to justify them unlike you. Just because a move makes financial sense doesn’t mean it’s the right one to pursue, especially when you know you’ll have to resort to massive layoffs in the near future as a result of it, it was very predictable that this would happen after the pandemic and companies that only cared about short term profit over their employees should at the very least suffer in the court of public opinion because of it.
@@juancarlosalonso5664
It's a cold world homey best get used to it
@@juancarlosalonso5664what do you mean right there no right or wrong you the company dony owe you anything they are not your friend you work there it transaction if they find it no more used then they let you go
@@juancarlosalonso5664 so you be kept around even if you have no use for the job
MS/ Sony going to buy everything and destroy it. Small studios will grow from the remnants of those ashes and hopefully form new successful studios and the process will repeat itself. Long live gaming.
The problem with Xbox is it’s always “We’ve got this coming, we’ve got that coming.” As yet, nothing groundbreaking or particularly great has emerged. It’s always the future, never now. There is only so long people will stay with them. Peoples faith is rapidly disappearing, made worse by these sackings.
Title reads like “Xbox cancels New Game +” I’m like “Dang, Xbox games ain’t goin have NG+ no mo?!” 😂
MS is enemy #1 for digital media agendas. "You will own nothing and be happy." Has never been so true as it is now. Service based gaming is where i quit modern gaming altogether. Ill stick to classic games on older consoles that i can OWN. Been building up my physical collection for BOTH movies and games. If they cant GUARANTEE digital true ownership to their consumers, then i will NEVER GIVE them a single cent! MS and any other corporation pushing digital (aka glorified rental services) can get f*cking bent!!
Same will resort to my collection on previous gen consoles.
The only ting I disagree with Matty with on his takes is his opening statement. "We got a lot of bad news today." This is a great thing.
I bet we’ll see a lot more indie games, which isn’t a bad thing, but I hate to see these companies laying off folks.
Indie games suck
These companies are bloated anyway, spend billions to make garbage copy pasted games, now they can make garbage copy pasted games without spending billions
@@nm841not always
@@nm841 I liked valheim, no man’s sky, terraria, stardew valley: all independent games.
Most thrip A games today are hype, and then let downs.
Not all indie games are bad but the majority of them are shovelware. A handful of standouts does not vindicate the entire landscape of indie games
With industry consolidation, digital only, subscription services, the attempt to become a super publisher to sell software everywhere, we are seeing Microsoft finish off the gaming industry as we have known it forever. It is over. This is the ultimate shift towards gaming becoming just another type of "app" distributed by 1 or 2 companies that make the big cut. When we think about it, this was inevitable since Microsoft decided to lead this industry. Personally, I think it is quite sad, but it is what it is.
Praying for everyone who got affected by the layoffs. ❤🙏
Y'know. A few decades ago shedding 1/10 of your workforce set off alarm bells. It meant shit was seriously broken. It was the kind of thing that only happened as a last resort to save all the other jobs.
Now it's just greed. "Cost cutting".
I bet the fuckin CEO bonuses won't get cut by 10%
It's kind of normal for companies to lay off employees at the start of the year especially after a merger happens so I don't think this is really that big of an issue as it sounds.
I Think for the 1900 people who lost their jobs, its a Big fuckin issue, You insensitive a**
As a Xbox fan since 2010 I’m actually scared for their future…
Looks like giving them a monopoly was a terrible idea
lol 😂 except they’re nowhere near a monopoly when you look at facts. But keep staying ignorant
Digital only is yet another way we're being herded into owning nothing while being convinced to be happy about it.
Digital games cost the same as physical,even though there aren't any physical packaging and distribution costs. You cat play them without an internet connection, so if for whatever reason your ISP is down,sorry can't play. You can't trade it it,you can't loan it out,you can't sell it. You may even lose the rights to even play it for whatever reason at some point.
I'm cool with offering both. More and more people are ok with digital only and that's great, but as the only option, it's not an option imo. I expect to own what I pay for,if it's something I pay for to own.
Exactly these companies need to let us as the consumers decide what we want. Give us options of both physical and digital devices and we the consumers will decide what to buy!
lol, of course they were going to clean house.
This is how the free market works. Supply and demand.
I don't see any of this as "evil" or "mean" from XBox - its just business doing business things.
One thing to remember is that they aren't a charity: it doesn't matter how much money they make each year and that they could afford to keep these people around - it would be like if I looked at your tax statement and annual income and then said you don't need this vacation you are planning for the summer and you could donate more money to charity.
But the most important thing is called "fiduciary responsibility" - keeping a bunch of excess dead weight in the company would be a violation of their fiduciary duty to the owners (shareholders) of the company. One, two, a dozen... that doesn't matter, but keeping thousands of employees on the payroll when they are clearly not needed could result in a lawsuit against the company and its board of directors for not keeping the interests (money) of the shareholders at the forefront.
Yeah pointing to how much Microsoft as a whole makes is kind of beside the point. It’s not the job of Azure to pay for xbox to have two accounting departments.
I don't plan on buying an all-digital Xbox. If that becomes the next generation, my chips go all in on pc as they'll be the exact same.
All I wanna do is play fun games for a decent price
Try Lost in Random it's amazing!
But just last week Xbox fan boys were telling me how PlayStation is dead because they're getting an Indiana Jones game? what a strange turn of events.
Yes, layoffs suck. Wish them all the best. But also, we new this was coming, like it always does after big mergers. So could we finally stop the "Xbox dead" doom and gloom again? Or treating rumors like confirmed announcements? Or at least pick a side between "they're all kumbayah, their games are being ported everywhere" and "here comes evil villain Xbox, stomping out the competition and crawling their way to the top"? Or, at the bare minimum, don't alternate between the two within a single video? Smh...
In the end buying ABK was not good for employees after all only for MS xbox.
How long can Xbox fans let them kick them in the balls. Same shit they tried to pull with the Xbox one and almost knocked them out of gaming.
I mean, this is a kick to staff, not the fans