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Machiavellian on 10 May 2024
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EpicRandy said:
Machiavellian said:

I totally disagree.  All of this and I mean all of it is Phil decision.  Do not mistake Phil outward appearance from his corporate side.  Phil did not get into the position he is in now not being able to make these decisions on his own even if it was a decision he did not like.  That is not how you obtain CEO level positions shying away from hard decisions or even unpopular decisions.  I am going to say this again, Phil is in complete control and these decisions were made 100% by him and his team.  MS gaming is 3rd largest unit in MS right now, it really does not matter if you like the decisions or not but that shit in dynamics means there is a whole new strategy on its way and Phil is the one driving it. 

Phil is not in control over MS decision to cut funds for Xbox and force them into contraction. Once MS issues such a mandate, Phil and his team must follow and there is no way around it.

They are certainly imputable for choosing Bethesda to take the blow this time but what form it takes inside Bethesda must fall under Zenimax leadership or else there wouldn't be any reasons to keep them around.

But all in all, I think once MS decided Xbox must do contraction after already doing so twice, there was simply no way to make decisions without ending up closing team.

Furthermore, the only way for Xbox to make MS stop forcing contraction onto them is to increase output and revenue. And even if I do not agree with the decision taken, at least I can see how they've been made to protect short/mid-term output. 

Hopefully, the backlash will give Xbox breathing room from MS for some time.

What mandate have any of you heard from anyone that these decisions were made from above Phil position.  The only person above Phil at this point in time is Satya.  Phil does not report to anyone, but Satya and you have not heard, seen or witness anything from Satya on any decisions on MS gaming.  This is why I am pretty much certain everything and I mean everything is from Phil.

I am never under the illusion the public appearance of a CEO level person is the same appearance they are internally when doing their job.  While people want to believe that Phil would not make these decisions without some external force making him do so, there isn't any. People want to blame Satya but even during all the emails and correspondence during the ABK acquisition, you never heard a peep from him.  All emails and decisions were made by Phil.  

Bethesda is just second to get the treatment but let's not forget that ABK was first. What pretty much make me believe everything is from Phil is because of all the emails during the ABK acquisition.  None of them showed that any decision made were lorded down from anyone else but him.  If anything from the moment he got into his position, he has maneuvered MS to exactly where they are today and that include from the purchase of BGS, ABK and him being promoted to head of MS gaming, to MS gaming now being one of the bigger players in MS revenue stream.

There is this belief that Phil is a nice guy but I have worked with many nice guys who lead departments and divisions to CEO of a company and none of them were shy about making decisions that were unpopular just because it's going to piss some people off.  Until I see otherwise, there is nothing so far I see that is not totally coming from Phil with no external pressure than him moving towards his own strategy of what he feels MS gaming is going to be for the future of the company.