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Forums - Microsoft - Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond Retiring. AI Leadership Replacing Him.

trunkswd 4 hours ago

Not all Microsoft acquisitions have been a disaster. They were down to like 5 studios at one point - 343 (Halo), Coalition (Gears of War), Turn 10 (Forza Motorsport), World's Edge (Age of Empires), and Rare (Mainly Sea of Thieves now). Xbox then acquired Mojang in 2014, which has been their biggest success with Minecraft still being one of the most played games and bringing in tons of money with its marketplace.

Xbox then acquired a bunch of smaller to medium studios in 2018 and 2019 - Playground Games, Obsidian, Compulsion, inXile, Ninja Theory, Undead Labs and Double Fine. Playground Games has been their second biggest success after Mojang with Forza Horizon and now the Fable reboot. Also most of these studios have been mainly untouched from these recent layoffs.

Things changed in 2020 when they acquired ZeniMax/Bethesda. Tango, Alpha Dog Studios, Arkane Austin, and Roundhouse Studios would eventually shut down from that acquisition. Though, Tango would be later saved and sold off. 

Once the Activision Blizzard deal closed Xbox laid off 1,900 employees in 2024 (mainly at ABK) then several hundred more in 2025.

Xbox was likely betting on the Xbox Series X|S having sold far better (think Xbox 360 numbers or better), Xbox Game Pass would grow to 100M+ subscribers, and the growth during COVID would continue. With the Xbox Series X|S falling off they were pretty much forced to release as much as possible on PlayStation and Nintendo to improve revenue.



VGChartz Sales Analyst and Writer - William D'Angelo - I stream on Twitch and have my own YouTube channel discussing gaming sales and news, as well as posting random gaming content. Follow me on Bluesky.

I post and adjust the VGChartz hardware estimates, with help from Machina.

Writer of the Sales Comparison | Monthly Hardware Breakdown | Monthly Sales Analysis | Marketshare Features, as well as daily news on the Video Game Industry.

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BraLoD 3 hours ago
curl-6 said:
BraLoD said:

As you are pointing yourself, aside from Bungie they are not even remotedly comparable. All of them but Bungie were already long time partners known to working with Sony or smaller/new studios Sony was funding their IP.

Activision Blizzard and Bethesda were massive companies that have always had developed insanely famous multiplatform games. It doesn't grant any kind of comparision to be honest.

Bungie was a big multiplatform dev worth billions. Not as big as Activision, but to categorise Sony's purchases as small time or harmless is inaccurate.

I literally wrote except Bungie two times in the first lines.

But even Bungie was not comparable in any level to either Bethesda or Activion Blizzard, even as yes, it was the same kind predatory purchase.



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curl-6 3 hours ago
BraLoD said:
curl-6 said:

Bungie was a big multiplatform dev worth billions. Not as big as Activision, but to categorise Sony's purchases as small time or harmless is inaccurate.

I literally wrote except Bungie two times in the first lines.

But even Bungie was not comparable in any level to either Bethesda or Activion Blizzard, even as yes, it was the same kind predatory purchase.

Activision was a much bigger purchase, and bad for the industry, my only point was that people weren't wrong back then to point out that consolidation under others like Sony or Embracer was also problematic.

Last edited by curl-6 - 3 hours ago

LudicrousSpeed 3 hours ago

End of an era. GamePass is the only thing that has kept me from going PC only as my Switch 2 and PS5 Pro collect dust.

Will never forget decapitating Papa Phil in Chivalry a few times when it hit GamePass.



CaptainExplosion 2 hours ago

Dear Microsoft:



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Leynos 2 hours ago
OlfinBedwere said:
Leynos said:

Can't be saved anymore.  No use removing one tumor when the entire body is riddled with terminal cancer. Too little too late. Should have been removed in 2013. New boss says some PR shit but we know they will do the opposite. 

Did you mean he should have been removed in 2023? Don Mattrick was still in charge of the Xbox division in 2013; Spencer didn't take over until the following year.

No, 2013. Matrick left partway in 2013 and Phil took over. 



Bite my shiny metal cockpit!

Wman1996 2 hours ago

I can't see anything good out of this.



Lifetime Sales Predictions 

Switch: 161 million (was 73 million, then 96 million, then 113 million, then 125 million, then 144 million, then 151 million, then 156 million)

PS5: 122 million (was 105 million, then 115 million) Xbox Series X/S: 38 million (was 60 million, then 67 million, then 57 million. then 48 million. then 40 million)

Switch 2: 120 million (was 116 million)

PS4: 120 mil (was 100 then 130 million, then 122 million) Xbox One: 51 mil (was 50 then 55 mil)

3DS: 75.5 mil (was 73, then 77 million)

"Let go your earthly tether, enter the void, empty and become wind." - Guru Laghima

CaptainExplosion 2 hours ago

Microshaft is pushing us further towards Skynet, but that's to be expected from a corporation co-founded by a pedophile. Lie all you want, Bill Gates, you're in the files for a reason.



Cerebralbore101 14 minutes ago
BraLoD said:
curl-6 said:

Bungie was a big multiplatform dev worth billions. Not as big as Activision, but to categorise Sony's purchases as small time or harmless is inaccurate.

I literally wrote except Bungie two times in the first lines.

But even Bungie was not comparable in any level to either Bethesda or Activion Blizzard, even as yes, it was the same kind predatory purchase.

curl-6 said:
BraLoD said:

As you are pointing yourself, aside from Bungie they are not even remotedly comparable. All of them but Bungie were already long time partners known to working with Sony or smaller/new studios Sony was funding their IP.

Activision Blizzard and Bethesda were massive companies that have always had developed insanely famous multiplatform games. It doesn't grant any kind of comparision to be honest.

Bungie was a big multiplatform dev worth billions. Not as big as Activision, but to categorise Sony's purchases as small time or harmless is inaccurate.

@curl-6 @BraLoD Destiny and Marathon weren't made into console exclusives like Starfield and others in the MS stable. @curl-6 What was so harmful about Sony purchasing Bungie other than the waste of money it turned out to be? How did it actually harm gamers? 



curl-6 7 minutes ago
Cerebralbore101 said:
BraLoD said:

I literally wrote except Bungie two times in the first lines.

But even Bungie was not comparable in any level to either Bethesda or Activion Blizzard, even as yes, it was the same kind predatory purchase.

curl-6 said:

Bungie was a big multiplatform dev worth billions. Not as big as Activision, but to categorise Sony's purchases as small time or harmless is inaccurate.

@curl-6 @BraLoD Destiny and Marathon weren't made into console exclusives like Starfield and others in the MS stable. @curl-6 What was so harmful about Sony purchasing Bungie other than the waste of money it turned out to be? How did it actually harm gamers? 

Starfield and the rest aren't going to stay exclusive, and they may have been timed exclusives anyway without the acquisition.

In the case of both Sony and MS's consolidation, the main harm is that both have shuttered multiple studios and laid off a lot of devs post-acquisition.