They forget that Sarah Bond’s role is more Xbox hardware etc now - Matt Booty oversees Zenimax.
Things like this are often kept very need-to-know, often with NDAs put in place specifically for the process if not already in someone’s contract (has to be done around market-sensitive information), and it usually only starts to expand as you near go day.
So it’s very possible Phil and Matt had made the decision months ago, but Sarah didn’t know about it when she tweeted that - but was brought into the loop as it became “real”.
Her tweet does not mean a rushed judgment, we can’t know any of it for certain
“I think today’s news has further proven you can’t trust anyone,” one source states. “Any publicly traded corporation is, by definition, only concerned about profits, growth, and appeasing shareholders. Embracer is the worst of them since they’re run by a bunch of f***-ups but even the richest company in the world, Microsoft, is not your friend, and will ruin lives to optimize the books. It doesn’t matter how many podcasts Phil Spencer goes on to talk about the happy family of Xbox studios, it’s only until its no longer convenient for them.”
One source – when asked if they’d want to be acquired by Microsoft or Sony right now, even with the huge influx of cash that would bring - painted a clear picture.
“F**********ck no. Its just too clear that being acquired is a stepping stone on the path to having your studio shut down for no good reason other than to meet a giant corporation’s fiscal quarter goals,” the source, who wishes to remain anonymous, told VG247. “I guess if my only other option was to shut down anyway, we might as well get acquired to delay that a bit and line my pockets. But that’s not the case right now.”
I worked at THQ on a property for Sony. I found out 5 years later the decision was made within a week. It was also the day after we had pulled an all nighter ‘they were pumped to see’
Yep that’s the other side, when a prick of a higher-up knows what they want to do, is often led by their prejudices or dislikes and makes a decision instantly.
I’m trying to give Xbox more the benefit of the doubt, that given their sheer size, the number of people Phil might need to sound out and the amount of data he might want to review that maybe the decision is a long time coming but was need-to-know at the time of Sarah Bond’s tweet (which she would’ve worded differently had she known)
I don’t know what this guy is going on about. Whether it’s two days, two months or two years, the end result is the same. I’m sure they had meetings about it and decided to go this route. I’m not sure what adding more time to the decision would have accomplished.
Outrage merchants are having a field day with assumptions in social media. It’s so boring.
No new information has come out. It’s just the same dumb assumptions over and over again passed on as the truth because they know the company will never actually explain what happened.
People are mad and so they’ll just keep passing off that rage as fact and it’s so boring and people fall for it every time.
It’s exhausting. I also find the deifying of game developers to be a bit weird. It sucks that they lost their jobs, but these people are not saints or noble beings, they are professionals putting their profession to use in an endeavor to make a product to sell to consumers.
I work in a similar creative field and I was laid off recently, and just like all of these people, I will find work elsewhere and move on with my life. Unlike all of these people though, I won’t have people making youtube videos pretending to care about my well being. Maybe if some of these youtube warriors would actually do something to try to help those who lost their jobs, I would be less dismissive of them, but actually helping others isn’t the point for them.
People can say what they want about Phil though, the guy’s a real gamer. I don’t know if he’s paying someone to play on his account or not, but I honestly do not understand how he runs Xbox and spends more time on games than I do. Yet I somewhat really appreciate that aspect of him as he feels less of a suit than the other ones because at least I know he actually enjoys gaming and he is not just pretending to enjoy it to look good in front of the fanbase.
It’s understandable. The thing people were afraid of happening with all these acquisitions has happened twice now, with thousands of devs losing their jobs, and there are signals Xbox is not done cutting into or closing studios.
Closing Tango was stepping on a huge ass rake. Get lean where needed to keep creative talent working towards their next project, but how did they think closing down an award winning studio with a reason of their next game was too far away, or they’re feeling overextended (boo-fucking-hoo) is in any way a positive for their external or internal image, much less something that should be said out loud?
On top of that people are confused as hell over what the brand is even about at this point due to all shifts in message and tactics.
The Xbox leadership team deserves all the flak for the missteps and mixed messages. And nobody should let them off the hook so easily. They owe it to their employees and consumers to have a clear message about the brand and what it means, with the capabilities to steer the ship they built. That is what they’re paid absurd amounts of money to do.
And the thing that is frustrating for me is that Satya makes it so simple. Last summer during the FTC trial he said that he wants to compete as a publisher. That he wants to do with Xbox what he did with Office, put it everywhere. That is so easy to understand. It’s a soundbyte any jounalist, analyst, or YouTuber could carry without even thinking too hard about it. Especially against rising dev costs and the news of so many game devs going through layoffs and closures. Do that. Own it. Repeat it without muddling it. Just rip the band aid off and get to a place of clarity as fast as goddamn possible.
Hifi rush went from a forgotten game played by few to a beacon of human expression and one of the most important works of human history overnight. MS can’t be blamed for not expecting that.
I read somewhere he really believes work life balance so when your day is done you go home plus he plays a lot of stuff on mobile on planes and travel or whatnot. Also im assumign if he plays as much as it seems he probably doesnt watch much tv. same with me
