Imran Khan (Game Informer) said something along the lines that Phil effectively can't get fired as well, because if he does then Xbox goes with him, Nadella took a chance on Phil but won't take a chance on anyone else at this stage, he believes if Phil goes then Microsoft will just kill anything that isn't CoD, Minecraft, Candy Crush level.

Sega is back on their shit again.

Probably this or kill a western studio.

Sales of video game consoles continue to struggle in the UK, with hardware sales down 39% over April to 71,000 units sold (GfK panel data).

All three major platforms continue to post declines, with overall console sales down nearly 30% year-to-date. So far this year, Xbox Series console sales are down just under 25%, PS5 sales are down just over 25%, and Switch sales are down 38%. It's a situation that's likely to continue until we have sight of new hardware or major game releases to help boost sales.

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Fuck me these console numbers are awful for everyone (Switch is understandable). This is (one) reason why I'm okay with Microsoft going fully multiplatform with everything. Fuck them for everything else though.

UK GSD April 2024 Top 10 (Digital and Physical)

1) Fallout 4 (Bethesda)
2) EA Sports FC 24 (EA)
3) Helldivers 2 (Sony)
4) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision)
5) Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar)
6) Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros)
7) Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar)
8) Fallout: New Vegas (Bethesda)
9) Fallout 76 (Bethesda)
10) WWE 2K24 (2K Games)
11) Fallout 3 (Bethesda)
12) Stellar Blade (Sony)

There were no new games in the Top Ten for April.

Who's buying GTA V at this point, I mean come on.

I think Phil has been silent because he is raging mad and disagrees with these decisions, but can't do anything about it.

Other than quitting in protest (which doesn't accomplish anything) what can he do if MS board/CEO wants to slash budgets?

As well they should because nothing they are going to say will make anyone happy so why waste the effort.  If tough decisions have to be made for whatever the reason, its a waste of time trying to explain something where you cannot give a full honest answer.  Even if you could give the full honest answer, it probably isn't going to make any difference.  If Phil is smart, he will be like every other C level exec and stay out of the limelight, keep his mouth shut and just do his job.

Naw its pretty much par for he course for corp heads when they need to make decisions that isn't popular and they cannot go into details on the full story.  Do not mistake Sarah as any different than Phil.  If you believe these decisions just happen without all C level heads giving their input and green light you would be kidding yourselves. Sarah is always the person used in these cases because she just comes off better than Booty and Phil.  Phil will take the smoke, Sarah will put some water on the fire and Booty will just keep quite since he really do not communicate that much.  Its par for the course.