30% is a crazy aggressive profit margin target for such a competitive space. It's a pretty aggressive profit margin for just about anything. Feels like those studios are being set up to fail.
30% is a crazy aggressive profit margin target for such a competitive space. It's a pretty aggressive profit margin for just about anything. Feels like those studios are being set up to fail.
This is such a shitshow. Basically telling the world "We set unrealistic targets, so you all need to match our unrealistic expectations or get shut down" Now they are adrift with no focus, no...
This is such a shitshow. Basically telling the world "We set unrealistic targets, so you all need to match our unrealistic expectations or get shut down"
Now they are adrift with no focus, no identity and no future. There is no way at this point that Xbox can recover. The identity, brand, and mission are beyond saving. This is the end of an era. Xbox will be missed.
It seems that that's kind of par for the course in the industry when it comes to acquired studios. They'll let them make a game or two, then decide that it doesn't meet their ultimately arbitrary...
It seems that that's kind of par for the course in the industry when it comes to acquired studios. They'll let them make a game or two, then decide that it doesn't meet their ultimately arbitrary desired ROI and then use it as an excuse to stop paying people. That way they have full control over the IP and there isn't a studio left over with the expertise to make similar games.
That's a bit unfair, admittedly, because this kind of thing doesn't always happen. But I've seen so many publisher-owned studios that I've loved get shut down because of one low-performing game. Right now the example I'm thinking about is Volition, who got tossed all around the corporate chart when Embracer bought them, got the chance to make a single game which was profitable and they still got shuttered because they didn't make enough money to make the C suite people happy.
Technically they are making more money than ever sadly... Hopefully that changes in the next few months. As a long time gamer I'm not interested in their new direction, as cloud gaming simply...
Technically they are making more money than ever sadly... Hopefully that changes in the next few months.
As a long time gamer I'm not interested in their new direction, as cloud gaming simply isn't good enough where I live (even on fast internet). I also have no interest in being tied to more subscriptions. And who has the money for a $1000 windows console right now?
I originally saw this post by Danny O'Dwyer from noclip over on Bluesky. Made for an interesting read and seemingly goes some way to explain recent MS behaviour when it comes to Xbox. Used the...
I originally saw this post by Danny O'Dwyer from noclip over on Bluesky.
Made for an interesting read and seemingly goes some way to explain recent MS behaviour when it comes to Xbox.
Used the clean version of the article link for the post.
Here's the version Danny provided on bluesky article link
If there's a silver lining in the massive corporate consolidations that resulted from the Bethesda and ABK purchases is that Microsoft probably regrets them. Not much of a consolation.
If there's a silver lining in the massive corporate consolidations that resulted from the Bethesda and ABK purchases is that Microsoft probably regrets them. Not much of a consolation.
Can't divorce the mixed bag cold from its awful patents. There were some shining moments for XBox, but frankly, I never felt like they were doing anything but playing it safe and when that failed,...
Can't divorce the mixed bag cold from its awful patents. There were some shining moments for XBox, but frankly, I never felt like they were doing anything but playing it safe and when that failed, they played dirty. Good riddance.
30% is a crazy aggressive profit margin target for such a competitive space. It's a pretty aggressive profit margin for just about anything. Feels like those studios are being set up to fail.
This is such a shitshow. Basically telling the world "We set unrealistic targets, so you all need to match our unrealistic expectations or get shut down"
Now they are adrift with no focus, no identity and no future. There is no way at this point that Xbox can recover. The identity, brand, and mission are beyond saving. This is the end of an era. Xbox will be missed.
It seems that that's kind of par for the course in the industry when it comes to acquired studios. They'll let them make a game or two, then decide that it doesn't meet their ultimately arbitrary desired ROI and then use it as an excuse to stop paying people. That way they have full control over the IP and there isn't a studio left over with the expertise to make similar games.
That's a bit unfair, admittedly, because this kind of thing doesn't always happen. But I've seen so many publisher-owned studios that I've loved get shut down because of one low-performing game. Right now the example I'm thinking about is Volition, who got tossed all around the corporate chart when Embracer bought them, got the chance to make a single game which was profitable and they still got shuttered because they didn't make enough money to make the C suite people happy.
Technically they are making more money than ever sadly... Hopefully that changes in the next few months.
As a long time gamer I'm not interested in their new direction, as cloud gaming simply isn't good enough where I live (even on fast internet). I also have no interest in being tied to more subscriptions. And who has the money for a $1000 windows console right now?
I originally saw this post by Danny O'Dwyer from noclip over on Bluesky.
Made for an interesting read and seemingly goes some way to explain recent MS behaviour when it comes to Xbox.
Used the clean version of the article link for the post.
Here's the version Danny provided on bluesky
article link
For anyone else wondering what makes this link different than the topic link: it has an access token for bypassing the paywall.
Mirror: https://archive.is/KJoeE
If there's a silver lining in the massive corporate consolidations that resulted from the Bethesda and ABK purchases is that Microsoft probably regrets them. Not much of a consolation.
Can't divorce the mixed bag cold from its awful patents. There were some shining moments for XBox, but frankly, I never felt like they were doing anything but playing it safe and when that failed, they played dirty. Good riddance.