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@GamingFan4Lyf It’s like Sony closing Naughty Dog and firing all the staff if a game doesn’t hit….. it’s obvious the head board are leading the shots, but it does seem that the Xbox team lacked serious planning too? I mean they don’t know what to do with COD! Seriously? Not a good look and not professional business conduct.

@EvilSilentFrame If you ask to spend 70 billion dollars of the companies money, inviting extreme in depth scrutiny governments around the globe with main stream media reports globally with the purchase made with that money, it tends to attract the attention of the entire main leading board of the company… and if they don’t like something, like bottom line reducing, they will demand changes.

What is obvious is Phil and his team and MS heavily lied through their big asses during the acquisition investigations. And to us gamers.

@Kooky_Geezer So do I! I mean with the news suggesting they don’t have a concise plan of what to do with COD, put it in Game Pass, don’t put it in there, raise Game Pass sub prices for COD… it clearly indicates Microsoft did NOT have a plan set and agreed on before they bought ActiBliz, they should NEVER have been allowed to buy it based on that alone, the biggest game in the world and they had no plans set about what to do with it? I said in another thread if they put it on Game Pass and increase its sub price, if that results in sub numbers plummet and COD sales dropping are they going to cancel COD and fire the Activision staff?

lol.. I get the feeling here that Microsoft has bitten off more then it can chew.. they should have had a plan for ALL this agreed signed off and set in stone BEFORE they decided to buy it! At this point I’m annoyed MS was allowed to by Activision cause they don’t seem to have a concise plan about what to do with COD. Ridiculous. What they gonna do if they bump up Game Pass and sub numbers plummet and COD sales drop? Dump COD and sack all the Activision staff…….. so kill COD due to their utter incompetence? Pathetic.

Not surprising. This is hie giant American corporations work, and Microsoft does have a reputation for dropping anything the instant it loses money. Plus they have a habit of mass hiring them mass firing a few months later due to having 'too many staff', read they hire younger people pay them less and fire the older more expensive staff.

So I expect more ruthless closures and firings. And some great games will be buried under Microsoft's vision of 'gaming'.

At this point I won't be shocked if they ditched COD and fired all the COD staff if it's sales started underperforming from its targets.

Is he celebrating the 47% drop in console sales in Europe and that developers are rumoured to be considering dropping support for the Xbox console platform? Hardly a shining achievement.

I think he’s living in lala land believing Steam or Sony will launch their game stores on a platform with huge falling sales, in Europe at least.

I thought it quite obvious, reading between the lines Xbox just isn't making enough money, if you listen very carefully to what they said they eluded to that. Everything they do is about long term Xbox growth, it's a tough time etc. they have had tens of billions spent on them and console sales have stagnated and Game Pass subs too. The board and share holders want a return on that investment, it is Spencer's plan which is probably why he looked a bit nervous in the video.
Xbox needs to stay around for the competition in the market, I think not only will they bring more games to PS and Nintendo specifically its next console, wonder how may sales it will take from Xbox once COD is on it?, but they will introduce new Game Pass tiers and pricing and access levels, and maybe ads too. They aren't going anywhere yet, but I also think it's wishful thinking that PS or Ninty will release their first parties on Xbox. They just need to get that cash coming in. And get their frigging games out!!!

The most important things they said have been ignored as fluff and stuff no one cares about. Meh when they dump the mandatory ads on the dashboard then I’ll come back. But I think they will actually get worst in that department, and change Game Pass subscription levels.

@themightyant Smenrbinkntheyneillmtotslly rebrand to Xbox Everywhere. I still think a lot of games will be coming to PS and Switch.

@XboxistheBestBox How am I attaching the brand. Also I never said I don't play Xbox games. In fact I stated the opposite. Do you just see any criticism as trolling? I assume going by your username you do?

@abe_hikura because it has to be a bit more official as they will also be presenting it to investors. Expect a lot of corporate talk.

@XboxistheBestBox The issue I have is one if them is said to be Starfield, and the problem with that is the endless tweets and times Xbox and Spencer stated time and again it WOULD be an XBOX ONLY exclusive. So if Starfield does indeed end up being a game coming to PS5, what does that say about the trust you can have in the Xbox brand?

@GeminiReign No thanks, I had one and got rid of it as I could not stand the endless rows of forced ads in my face on the dashboard. On a premium paid for device with premiums for subscription, I won't be surprised if they introduce more ads on their platform.

And FYI I DID ditch my digital library at the same time. But as it's all playable on PC if I get one then that is a solution. Oh and I stream my Game Pass games too as you can do that.

@Shushibda Release Gears and State Of Decay on PS5 and I'm golden.

@Kaloudz Tom and a plethora of VERY reliable sources have painted quite the picture and it indicates nothing has been blown out of proportion indeed it’s what most expected I think.

Tom Warren trying to damage control and remove himself form any litigation from Microsoft. The fact Xbox hasn't denied any of the rumours, and has instead announced a 'business update' next week more then confirms this is happening.

I also saw rumours claiming COD won't be coming to Game Pass this year either. If true that's another year missed so again it'll massively impact Game Pass numbers.

@XboxistheBestBox When the markets open and I bet their stocks rise after too.

Either way I'll literally be f****** stoked if Gears comes to PS5 or fingers crossed Nintendos next platform??

I would also say State Of Decay 3 too but that game seems to be dead in the water at the moment.

@SpacemanJupiter Plot Twist! It was all a ruse to try and undermine the Switch 2 announcement...

Some of you are in deniability, writings been on the wall for a while. Xbox isn't 'dead' it's just changing its business model. It'll be a third party publisher and cloud streaming service. Because thats cheaper value wise and will generate more profit they believe. I wouldn't expect to see many if any more consoles from them. Maybe streaming boxes.

What did people expect? They spent 70 BILLION Dollars on ONE buyout, not even including the others. Their console sales have slumped and their Game Pass subscriber growth is slowing. If they don't make a BIG profit on their investments then Microsofts investors will LITERALLY have their nuts in a vice!! Hence why Satia is in charge and is pushing for this.

It's a large business, this is how they work, they make large investments and if they don't make a profit as their investors want then they have to scrap the project and move on. Phil's Game Pass idea is brilliant, but, as proven ultimately unsustainable.

If you make a massive investment and see low returns, you run the risk of going out of business, and that includes giants, see Nintendo and even Xbox themselves last gen...

@Widey85 I think it's because they hedged their bets on Game Pass and exclusives like Starfield. And those just haven't been as successful as they hoped, growth has stagnated, hence the endless ads on the Xbox home screen now. So they got to look for new ways to turn a profit, they need to make up for the massive investment they've made into the department and start showing strong returns, if not the share holders and their share price will drop, and be open to legal battles with share holders.

I think if they make another console that isn't a streaming only device it'll be a surprise.

I cannot wait to be able to play Gears Of War and State Of Decay on the next Nintendo platform, or my PS5 or both even! And no Microsoft device in sight.

This is basically confirmed practically, a lot of very reliable sources have confirmed it. And it was obvious anyway, MS wants money, it's a business, it isn't getting enough from current owners so like Sony will expand and offer games on other platforms. IMO I won't be shocked if MS turns into a third party and streaming service.

I won't be surprised to see these games on Nintendos new console either to be honest. If you read between the lines of what Phil said, bar his statement of Starfield never coming to other platforms, he said brining games to the Switch, not game.

@Utena-mobile The Palmworld bit is coming, I believe Nintendo has started making its moves in that one.

Just read about Starfield coming to PS5, if true it makes Phil Spencer and Xbox one of the biggest lying hypocrites ever. Considering just how many times he and Xbox claimed it was NOT coming to other platforms.

Not surprising, this is what big business does when they purchase either big business, fire a selection of the workforce, lay off high ranking members (they retire with huge pay outs when really they are fired), and change their focus and pathway to one they want them on as the parent company.

Made the painful decision lol.. more likely planned by their internal efficiency team 3 years ago or so when they looked at the viability of buying ActiBliz. No sudden decisions here guaranteed.

Looks a bit generic to me? But it is Indie so a bit of a must play.

@OldGamer999 Microsoft has made many mistakes all through this gen. Redfall and Halo multiplayer, forced endless ads on the dashboard to name a few. How long till they make Xbox exclusive games exclusive to Game Pass to boost sales? They've also had a lot of delays, some outside their control though.
Game Pass could be an on going success but they can't force ads on everyone and raise prices for it expecting subs to stay. But this seems to be what they are doing, which I guess they'll have to do if they are paying around 200 million per big AAA title on it. Game Pass is taking away from Xbox consoles though, as it's on PC and cloud. So naturally less people will buy an Xbox.
However they hide their GP sub numbers now outside court room evidence. So it's difficult to judge how they are performing.

One thing though is it's proven people in Europe will continue to play COD on PlayStation, for now. So they aren't as phased by MS buying it. MS now have a plethora of huge studios and games, if they fail it is entirely on them, and would pride money doesn't buy success. But let's see how they go eh.

@cragis0001 An open world RPG eh? Sounds like a service game to me.

@Nancyboy Microsoft has a set limit of employees it will have, and I guarantee this purchase pushes them over that limit, you'll see staff be fired from the studios for sure. But MS keeps boring and then firing in the tens of thousands.

@Sol4ris Nope doesn’t matter to me. I can still give my opinion though. And I appreciate cloud services are different, however Xbox still uses the Azure infrastructure, they just have Xbox servers in different locals, as I said I’ll be playing games on the cloud service as I still have access to it.

@Pimpernel They cannot do that for the next 10 years at least, it is in the contracts they have agreed to with everyone, if they do that then the regulators and Sony, Nintendo, Nvidia etc etc can sue them I imagine.

The CMA was right too on the cloud, OFCOM has requested Amazon and Microsoft cloud services to be investigated for monopolistic practices as they own about 80% of the UK market between them.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/oct/05/amazon-and-microsofts-uk-cloud-computing-dominance-faces-investigation

And before anyone brushes it off claiming it’s a small market who cares, it’s worth 7.5 Billion sterling annually.

@Sakai That maybe, but still don’t know if it will be day and date, I mean no one has seen the in depth details of the 10 year agreement Microsoft has drawn up with the other parties, and it doesn’t address the awful un-removable ads on the Xbox Desktop! Anyway I’ve sold mine now so it doesn’t matter to me. I dislike the direction Xbox are going, it will be a digital only ‘service’ funded by endless ads and subscriptions, I wonder if they will even let you buy any games next gen.
I also don’t like the idea of buying a console next gen that relies on the internet and cloud for games to work at their maximum performance. Because the internet does go down.

I can still play the games I want by streaming anyway as my GPU is valid for 3 years.

@EvenStephen7 Yeap mine too. I’ve actually sold my Series X now as I cannot stand the new dash with endless ads, and once I knew COD wouldn’t be on GP that was the final straw for me, going to the enemy come Christmas.

Forza is alright, but for me I think the best was Need For Speed, I had great fun with Need For Speed 2 Underground on PC back in the day. Also Gran Turismo and Ridge Racer on PS1. Drive club was also good.

I played through one of the Forza Motorspot games on Xbox 360 and that was good, think may have been the third one?

@BeerIsAwesome AND oversaw an incredibly successful launch of a new system during a global pandemic and a closed down world! He lives in Europe so I'm guessing England and is basically too old to keep travelling back and forth to America. I don't blame him for that one bit. I don't like him but his reasons for retiring are sound and timing is perfect, PS6 plans will be ramping up now and he won't want to be the boss during that time and then leave.

@carlos82 I doubt that, you can get a cheaper PS5, the all digital model yet the disk version outsells it massively. Despite Sony claiming 60 to 70% of game sales are digital.

@OldGamer999 Sadly, yes, don’t think we have a choice, but at least by offering the disk drive you have a choice. Next gen will be very interesting. At least leaks and rumours indicate Nintendos next console will still use cartridges, and you could argue a portable platform is the perfect device for digital only sales. However even Sony state digital sales are pretty high on its platform, if the people keep buying them then that’s the route they’ll take sadly.

@OldGamer999 Well it’s in black and white in official Microsoft documents submitted to the FTC in relation to an official investigation into to its merger proposal with ActiBliz. Both the cloud based hybrid console idea and the new all digital Series X and the text stating the current Series X will be phased out.

If you think about it all they are planning is exactly what they wanted when they launched the Xbox One, a mandatory online system where you are prevented from reselling games if loaning them to friends to play, thus forcing you to pay the prices they want to set for games. So it’s not surprising at all to read all this in the documents.

Buying ActiBliz is a way to make this idea more attractive to the consumers, more so with Bethesda games seemingly being made Xbox / PC exclusive.

@OldGamer999 Yeap plus it is relying on you paying for fast broadband for it to work, I bet it’ll need fibre speeds to work properly. But a console game performance should never ever rely a third party service. However I believe this idea will be the one they go with and will be used as a test bed for the generation after next, where Xbox moves entirely to a cloud based system and won’t sell client hardware apart from a small streaming device like a Firestick.

@Swirly Sadly yes, the prescience has been set. I mean EA seems to want to sell so who will buy them? I can’t see Sony beating able to afford them but Microsoft can.

@Swirly And the total distraction of the games market and the CMA proven 100% right on its concerns of Microsoft’s monopolistic ambitions, then.

@OldGamer999 No COD games, apparently they have deals in place that prevent COD coming to Game Pass. So for its worthless as that was the only game I cared about.

@Kaloudz It is in black and white, ARM processor, and it’s a fact that ARM has not been easy at all to make backwards compatible, and it states the cloud will be used to increase performance beyond the client hardware, black and white stating they will be using the cloud to boost games performance, that’s what it means. I’ve said that about three times now. So don’t be surprised if you lose your internet you can still play games but the performance will drop.

Also if they are ditching the disk drive next year across the board, you can be certain generation 10 consoles will ditch it from the start, so you won’t be able to play your disk based collection anymore.