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.

Same, I dont sub to Game pass but buy digital versions of the games.

That brings me to an honest question: what should you now do as an individual consumer who has invested in the XBOX ecosystem but 100% disapproves what just has happened and the direction that takes XBOX in?

Capture Phil Spencer, place him in a Hunger Games-themed arena, and pit him against the angriest Xbox fanatics for 24 hours.  He'll get an equipment advantage and a head start, but the rest is on him to survive the gauntlet.  

O.k., let me rephrase: what should you now do as an individual consumer who has invested in the XBOX ecosystem but 100% disapproves what just has happened and the direction that takes XBOX in and is not interested in breaking the law?

Do whatever you want, there's still many awesome developers under Xbox and a lot of awesome looking upcoming games so I will focus on supporting those guys, as a consumer, it's difficult to hurt Xbox without hurting them. I've made my disappointment with Microsoft/Xbox executive leadership loud and clear but I'm not sure what to do beyond that, I've had a ton of fun with Series X and will have further fun with it, I'm still excited by many games they have upcoming but perhaps in the future I'll be looking into moving over to Steam more.

If the rumoured Xbox handheld is a dual OS with Xbox/Windows and I can access Steam with it then I'm going to get that but start building my Steam library, as long as Game Pass exists I'll likely continue using that but non-Game Pass things I may start migrating over to Steam. If the rumoured Xbox handheld is not dual OS then I'll likely get a SteamDeck. Debating on the console hardware itself, may upgrade my PC.

I mean if you now sell your xbox and cancel your gamepass subscription, and let's say enough people do that so it's measurable, would that really change something? Less revenue for XBOX/ Microsoft, surely then they'll spend it on the small, niche, creative stuidios, right? No, they would just go even more in the "focus on what's bringing in the big bucks" route.

Exactly!