Xbox |OT|

[Machiavellian]

Hiku said:

Machiavellian said:

Yes, PR statements are supposed to shine a light on everything and its one of the reasons why most companies keep their mouth shut when it comes to the direction of the company because they never know when it will come back to bite them.  Phil is like Peter M in this respect.  He likes to talk and he loves to make these nice glossy feel-good statements and now they are coming back to haunt him.  You do not see statements from any of MS competitors because they are not foolish enough to put stuff out there that could end up coming back and bite them in the butt when they need to make unpopular decisions.

At this time, I really do not see a 180 with MS direction or even Phil statement.  I see a consolidation and a push to get Bethesda to move quickly in getting their best IP to market but it's not MS has canceled any projects that we know of at the moment.  Things still need to shake out so we will see what happens going forward but at the end of the day, what MS need and what they have always needed are consistent hits from their studios.  Nothing else really matters in the gaming entertainment industry because you are always measured on the game that drive customers to your platform and business.  I bet you one thing.  No one will care if the next couple years MS continue to drop nothing but hits because that is the measure for any of these companies.

I imagine you at least see the 180 from the quote about nurturing the devs that want to be more creative instead of pushing out the expected established franchises? Because now they're closing studios to focus more on the opposite.

Part of the plan with Gamepass was, according to them, to diversify it with smaller titles. Because they're cheaper to make, and can be added much more frequently to the service than AAA titles with 7 year dev cycles.

To be truthful, I always thought that Phil talked to much. Its really not common for a C level exec in his position to make so many interviews.  I think of other execs doing the same Musk and how that goes.  As a CEO, you never can put anything in stone unless you back yourself into a corner and then have to make a bunch of excuses.  This is where we are today.  At no time do I ever believe any person on Phil level is a nice guy or someone who isn't going to make the hard choices or even the unpopular ones.

As to your question on if Phil quote is a 180, probably so but then again it doesn't mean he hasn't tried to go that route but it's evident its not working.  Are games like Grounded, Hi Fi Rush, Pentiment, Redfall hell even starfield growing GP or gaining any traction to making GP the service of choice.  None of those games are driving sells to MS hardware or GP and while Phil may wish to be more like his PR statements in the end he definitely has to be realistic in the state of Xbox and its position in the industry.  What is going to drive GP, Xbox to those lofty 100 million subs.  It ain't Hi Fi Rush that is for sure or Hi Fi Rush 2.

The way I see it  MS need hits like Spiderman, GOD of War, Final Fantasy.  Games like this or on this level to drive GP and hardware sells for Xbox.  MS continue to miss out on such big hits and it shows in the number those smaller games are just not doing it and at MS current state, something needs to change now, not later.

Last edited by Machiavellian - on 10 May 2024