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[pasterpl]

"We have no plans to release Starfield on any other plaforms"

How hard is that?

Now we had so many rumours about their games, hardware, gamepass etc. That 1 tweet would not be enough. Is 7 days too much to ask for a company to prepare a proper response. Especially as we know they are in the middle of reorganisation after ABK acquisition.

btw. No one wonders about number and type of these rumours shortly after latest quarterly results where Nadela said it was one of the best in terms of gaming revenue (heavily impacted by ABK) but still? Their acquisition in cloud or investments in AI impact their revenues in other areas as well. Wouldn’t thing like exiting hardware market be something discussed during shareholders quarterly conference?

Spoiler

Speaking of devices, all eyes are on the Microsoft Gaming division for the company’s latest earnings. Microsoft is now reporting Activision Blizzard revenue as part of its gaming unit, bolstering overall revenues in Xbox content.
Xbox content and services revenue, which includes Xbox Game Pass, is up by a massive 61 percent. That’s largely because of the Activision Blizzard revenues, so it’s difficult to understand immediately how Xbox did without this giant addition.
Microsoft says the net impact from the Activision Blizzard acquisition is just over $2 billion in revenue, but the cost of integration, transaction costs, and other costs of revenue all total $930 million. With other operating expenses ($1.59 billion) it works out to an operating loss of $440 million.
While the Activision Blizzard acquisition is complete, Microsoft laid off 1,900 workers in its gaming division earlier this month — primarily affecting Activision Blizzard employees. Microsoft has also been overhauling its Xbox management in recent months and even named a new Blizzard president earlier this week.
Xbox hardware is also up by 3 percent, after the all-important holiday quarter. Microsoft ran a number of Xbox Series X promotions during the holidays in the US, but that doesn’t appear to have resulted in a big boost in sales and revenue. Hood blamed a “weaker than expected console market. Overall Microsoft’s gaming revenue is up 49 percent, mainly boosted by better than expected Activision Blizzard revenues.
It’s an important quarter for gaming at Microsoft as it’s now the company’s third largest business. Gaming contributed $7.11 billion in revenue for the quarter, more than the $5.26 billion from Windows, but behind the $13.47 billion from Office and cloud services and the giant $23.95 billion from server products and cloud services.
Once again, there are no fresh Xbox Game Pass subscriber numbers. Microsoft said Xbox Game Pass had grown to 25 million subscribers in January 2022, but we haven’t had an update for two years now. Nadella did reveal in last quarter’s earnings call that Starfield had contributed to Xbox Game Pass growth. “On launch, we set a record for the most Game Pass subscriptions added on a single day ever,” he said.
Microsoft CFO Amy Hood expects overall gaming revenue to grow in the low 40 percent region, with 45 points due to Activision Blizzard. That means the rest of Microsoft’s gaming efforts revenue could be down next quarter. Xbox content and services in Q3 is expected to be “low to mid 50” percent, driven by around 50 points of net impact from the Activision Blizzard acquisition. “[Xbox] hardware revenue will decline year-over-year,” for Q3, says Hood.

Microsoft’s gaming revenues overtake Windows thanks to Activision Blizzard

Microsoft’s devices revenue is down once again.

www.theverge.com

 

[reinking]

I know what you meant but the wording is a bit off lol

Apparently, I really need this. I am coming up on the quiz. I hope I do better with that.

 

[adamsapple]

Sorry Adam, but your just saying that as its the most palletable outcome.

And it was jezza.

Gears of War reportedly also being considered for PlayStation release

Amid a fresh swirl of reports suggesting Microsoft is at least mulling a dramatic shift in strategy for its first-party…

www.eurogamer.net

Literally everything could be true, or none of it could be. But in this specific case, at least 2 insiders are now saying that the Starfield thing is not true. Some of the other bigger names might also be pivoted similarly in the coming days.

Even Grubb is calling it 'under consideration', not something that he can safely say will happen, like how he was adamant about the Kojima Overdose thing almost a full year before it was official.

 

[Aguero9320]

When did they say that? I know they've said growth stagnated on console, but that doesn't necessarily mean the same thing.

They’ve been talking about bringing Game Pass and their games to every screen for a long time now. They have ‘Play Anywhere’ as a slogan. Phil Spencer’s much maligned ‘we all win’ comment. Satya yearning for a world without exclusives…

And this quote, most on the nose of all: “It's a bit of a change of strategy. Not announcing anything broadly here, but our mission is to bring our first-party experiences [and] our subscription services to every screen that can play games," Stuart said. "That means smart TVs, that means mobile devices, that means what we would have thought of as competitors in the past like PlayStation and Nintendo."

 

[Bernardougf]

Really sick of this bullshit lazy sentiment now.

This isn’t good for competition, so it isn’t good for everyone.

I’d be saying the same if Sony or (god forbid) Nintendo were in this position. I’ve always wanted three strong competitors creating this lively dynamic in the market.

This is not good! Stop trying to pretend it’s good because of this bullshit “plastic boxes” nonsense.

After Sega exited the market it was great that Microsoft entered it. We lost something with Sega but gained something with MS.

And it lead to great things. If we lose Xbox we lose something, however much temporary enjoyment some people get out of it.

 

[balls of snow]

Reading this thread from where I left off.

 

[analog_future]

Regardless of what comes out next week, the Phil Spencer-led Xbox just can't keep themselves out of negative headlines. Constantly. Time and time again. For years now.


The Xbox brand was already arguably irrevocably tainted prior to all of this shit. It really doesn't matter what is said next week at this point, as the Xbox brand is just in an awful, awful state regardless, with no signs of turning things around.


And this is coming from someone who generally likes Xbox and would like to see them turn it around.

 

[Shin-Ra]

What are we calling this event?

Phil spencers pre sacking party?

Philsalbumparty​

The event opens with a game-rendered* photo album (Grabbed by the Ghoulies style) showcasing all of Phil’s finest PR moments, and T-shirts, from “four-nintenty-nine (sic)” “Kinect 2 will be much more successful now we’ve unpaired it from the Xbox One console” (and pulled all software support) all the way to “when everyone plays, we all win.” or whatever the latest faux pas was.

*Phil really liked what PlayStation did that one E3 where their sales slides were presented in LittleBigPlanet.

 

[balls of snow]

Jeff G few months ago (and touched on it recently on the latest podcast) talked about when the press got invited to ms hq for the preview event of xbone a couple days before the official unveiling. He said that every journalist on the bus after the preview event had a different answer about what xbone was depending on which exec they talked too. All that shit about always online, was kinect in or not, drm, all of it was conflicting. He said it was as if ms itself didnt know what they were putting out.

chaos is a motherfucking ladder.

 

[xHunter]

So no date has been anounced, pretty much confirming to be not on monday then?
Another week on this crazy ride.

 

[adamsapple]

Jeff G few months ago (and touched on it recently on the latest podcast) talked about when the press got invited to ms hq for the preview event of xbone a couple days before the official unveiling. He said that every journalist on the bus after the preview event had a different answer about what xbone was depending on which exec they talked too. All that shit about always online, was kinect in or not, drm, all of it was conflicting. He said it was as if ms itself didnt know what they were putting out.

chaos is a motherfucking ladder

Phil Spencer is Tyrion Lannister.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

It feels like a big moment and MS really needs to stick the landing here

They won't. No way to thread this needle. There will be some pricks.

 

[aliadiere25]

If Starfield sells well on PlayStation compared to PlayStation games - ie not a Mass Effect situation - without being a significantly better offering than what is on Xbox/PC, then Microsoft might have some justification to stagger incoming games like Indiana Jones and keep day 1 gamepass. if it goes the other way and they are relatively managing the same(double sales) or less sales on PlayStation than Xbox, then for unified marketing expense and avoiding risk of damaging day one sales, I would expect all future releases to be day and date on PlayStation, and day 1 on gamepass to be gone.

Sony is not dumb. They're going to put in stipulations where Microsoft can't suddenly just go back to 3rd party as soon as they've made their money. They'll make sure Microsoft keeps them on there for a very long time.

 

[xHunter]

Still hope for Halo on PS5

 

[JohnnyFootball]

So no date has been anounced, pretty much confirming to be not on monday then?
Another week on this crazy ride.

Dump the info on friday evening. Thats when you dump bad news.

 

[tmlDan]

Still hope for Halo on PS5

so we're not getting the one we didn't want anyways? score!

 

[balls of snow]

Phil Spencer is Tyrion Lannister.

Phil is beholden to the whims of his boss.
Phil is Ronan the Accuser, Satya is

 

[Deleted member 848825]

Phil Spencer is Tyrion Lannister.

But Tyrion was always portrayed as competent in terms of management...

 

[digoutyoursoul]

Still hope for Halo on PS5

Voodoo Vince Remastered and Crackdown 3 and that’s it. You got it??

 

[xHunter]

Voodoo Vince Remastered and Crackdown 3 and that’s it. You got it??

Starfield would be an awesome 6-8 hours, but i'll be online for 100 hours blowing down buildings with friends on Crackdown 3

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Now we had so many rumours about their games, hardware, gamepass etc. That 1 tweet would not be enough. Is 7 days too much to ask for a company to prepare a proper response. Especially as we know they are in the middle of reorganisation after ABK acquisition.

btw. No one wonders about number and type of these rumours shortly after latest quarterly results where Nadela said it was one of the best in terms of gaming revenue (heavily impacted by ABK) but still? Their acquisition in cloud or investments in AI impact their revenues in other areas as well. Wouldn’t thing like exiting hardware market be something discussed during shareholders quarterly conference?

Spoiler

Microsoft’s gaming revenues overtake Windows thanks to Activision Blizzard

Microsoft’s devices revenue is down once again.

www.theverge.com

Well, about hardware...I mean like their recent fiscals showed, gaming was propped up by ABK revenue where without it, growth would've been within a margin of error at best, or flat/declining in other areas. Hardware barely went up, it was within a margin of error.

They didn't need to specify any future plans with consoles at the time of the investors call, but what was mentioned console-wise was a hint that things wouldn't be rosy going forward. If there are any big ramifications on the hardware front, here's what I'm personally expecting:

>Ramping down and eventual discontinuation of Xbox Series console manufacturing (but still supporting all current systems with content into foreseeable future)​

>Mention/reference to future Microsoft gaming hardware; note not mention of "Xbox" but "Microsoft", and not "console" but "hardware" (non-peripherals). Which probably ties in to the OEM part of the rumor​

>I do think future Microsoft/Xbox gaming hardware is happening, but as gaming-centric PC NUC/laptop/tablet etc. devices based around a standardized spec (semi-custom APU/motherboard with standard bus connectivity (USB/m.2/DRAM slots for certain devices etc.) licensable out to 3P OEM manufacturers alongside full Windows and some Xbox-style gaming GUI frontend) priced more for the various growing niche PC gaming & productivity devices market segments.​

>First of the new Microsoft/Xbox gaming devices will probably start rolling out in 2026.​

...also I just ate the best homemade ramen noodles I've ever had in my LIFE! Never eating noodles raw again unless it's a struggle meal.

Voodoo Vince Remastered and Crackdown 3 and that’s it. You got it??

Okay so he's only walking things back on Starfield? Hmm...

I could see MS leaning into this strategy with legacy titles to start with, or at least center their messaging on legacy titles (although that doesn't explain HiFi Rush). Then gradually rope in more recent releases until they're essentially Day 1 across all consoles and PC (and maybe mobile).

Maybe they start with messaging as "legacy and non-premium releases", that way both Sea of Thieves and HiFi Rush can be included in the mentions.

 

[TheBomb]

I’ll be honest. The moment the news dropped. I was ready for a trip to GameStop, but I paused. I was like you know this is the Internet. I didn’t go after all.

 

[FoxMcChief]

 

[mayham2199]

Personally, I think that is just bullshit. That whole only some games are coming is simply because saying everything is on PlayStation just sounds bad. The mere fact that they are even in a position where they need to put some stuff on PlayStation means that everything can/will come over eventually.

The only positive spin I see is that gamepass day 1 still remains a thing. But they won't say that may even get axed at some point either. At this point, their own platform clearly cant give them the kinda returns they want, I believe any game they feel can do well on other platforms will go to other platforms. But for now, they just announce like two or three games coming to other platforms and say everything else going forward will keep being exclusive and handled on a case-by-case basis.

Basically, our games are exclusive to Xbox until they arent.

I really want them to be clear about exclusivity next week but yea I agree I think it's still going to be some vague statement to try and keep people calm. I wish I was wrong but they've just handled communication so poorly I can't bet on them turning it around at this point. I don't understand how they can't see it's just hurting the brand at this point. Not only that it will turn every game reveal into "Is this coming to playstation?".

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

How can you be best friends with PlayStation and have me on ignore

 

[FoxMcChief]

How can you be best friends with PlayStation and have me on ignore

Do I? Then how did I see your post?

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Do I? Then how did I see your post?

Bet you saw me get quoted and realised you made a huge mistake

 

[FoxMcChief]

Bet you saw me get quoted and realised you made a huge mistake

I saw the light. And it was blue.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Phil: Stay tuned for a business event next week

On Monday, Phil: Business event scheduled for Friday. See you there!

 

[Dr. Samuel Hayden]

If this ends up being BS or highly exaggerated then these journos need to be excoriated. Ridiculous that they could whip shit up like this and then walk away scot free.

MS also needs to get heat for letting it fester for a week+.

 

[Three]

So Bethesda and ABK games are not "high profile games?"

And Sea of Theives isn't XGS apparently.

 

[Humdinger]

Well, there are only two reasons MS would let this continue or play out like it has:

1. The rumors are not just true, but not even as bad as it all really is. And they would kinda just let the thing self-destruct and become as chaotic as possible so when they come and talk, anything positive they say would have more significance because everything is shit already. Or...
   
   
2. Everything, and I mean everything that has been rumored is false. And its the exact opposite that is about to happen. And they announce that they are even buying new publishers and more exclusives, GTA6 timed exclusive to Xbox, price dropping XSX to $199, basically, Xbox Heaven is opening up next week.

Only two outcomes I can imagine to explain why MS has decided to allow the rumors to feed into themselves. When all this could have been dispelled with a simple post in under 120 words. This is the literal embodiment of the saying "silence is loud".

I can see a third: They are still figuring out what the plans are and how to communicate them, and they don't want to get the cart before the horse. As someone said, these megacorps (especially ones with the internal division going on here) move at a slow pace. They know it's important to get clarity on the plans, an agreement from all the main stakeholders about the plan, and then carefully craft the messaging so as to keep their current customers happy (or at least as unhappy as possible). That takes time. They had originally planned the announcement for "Spring," then "February," and then the rumors hit and caught them with their pants down. So they're taking time to get their ducks in a row. They would rather deal with some internet meltdowns than announce something prematurely.

As for the two options you mentioned,

1. I don't think they are that smart. Their track record suggests being slow and reactive, rather than playing 5-D chess.

2. The first part isn't plausible. I do believe they will announce some good news for Xbox fans (e.g., maybe ABK stuff coming to Game Pass), but no way there is zero substance to the rumors.

 

[DenchDeckard]

I can see a third: They are still figuring out what the plans are and how to communicate them, and they don't want to get the cart before the horse. As someone said, these megacorps (especially ones with the internal division going on here) move at a slow pace. They know it's important to get clarity on the plans, an agreement from all the main stakeholders about the plan, and then carefully craft the messaging so as to keep their current customers happy (or at least as unhappy as possible). That takes time. They had originally planned the announcement for "Spring," then "February," and then the rumors hit and caught them with their pants down. So they're taking time to get their ducks in a row. They would rather deal with some internet meltdowns.

As for the two options you mentioned,

1. I don't think they are this smart. Their track record suggests being slow and reactive, rather than playing 5-D chess.

2. The first part isn't plausible. I do believe they will announce some good news for Xbox fans (e.g., maybe ABK stuff coming to Game Pass). But I can't believe that there is zero substance to any of the rumors.

Maybe, it was simply that they decided to put hi fi rush on all platforms to gauge how it does...sea of thieves is their most succesful gaas title in years and probably could do with a surge of new players.

So, they planned to port those two games, and nothing else for now. The internet hears the murmurs as they are getting ready for the event and runs with it.

Microsoft have spent millions porting these games and planned to do a nice unveiling and marketing push to highlight the releases, probably months of work.

Someone leaks the news and suddenly everyone is after blood, blaming MS, demanding they talk about it straight away. Microsoft have probably decided, nah, we don't change course for these select minority influences and leakers, plus crazed fans or none fans and stick to our original plan.

Simple as that I bet.

 

[Humdinger]

Maybe, it was simply that they decided to put hi fi rush on all platforms to gauge how it does...sea of thieves is their most succesful gaas title in years and probably could do with a surge of new players.

So, they planned to port those two games, and nothing else for now. The internet hears the murmurs as they are getting ready for the event and runs with it.

Microsoft have spent millions porting these games and planned to do a nice unveiling and marketing push to highlight the releases, probably months of work.

Someone leaks the news and suddenly everyone is after blood, blaming MS, demanding they talk about it straight away. Microsoft have probably decided, nah, we don't change course for these select minority influences and leakers, plus crazed fans or none fans and stick to our original plan.

Simple as that I bet.

But people would not have had a problem with just SoT and Hi Fi Rush coming to PS. That's an indie game and a 6-year old live service game. Granted, people would have wondered about "foot in the door." But by itself, that is not a big deal. Iirc, when the rumors of that hit, I don't remember people getting into a lather about it.

It was when the rumors about big, recent, and even future exclusives hit -- Starfield, Indiana Jones, etc. -- that is when people started to go nuts. That wasn't just "the internet" running away with the SoT and Hi Fi Rush news. Those were separate rumors, arising within the Xbox community itself, communicated by main Xbox "influencers," coming from multiple directions.

So, I really doubt this is all confined to SoT and Hi Fi Rush.

 

[DenchDeckard]

But people would not have had a problem with just SoT and Hi Fi Rush coming to PS. That's an indie game and a 6-year old live service game. Granted, people would have wondered about "foot in the door." But by itself, that is not a big deal. Iirc, when the rumors of that hit, I don't remember people getting into a lather about it.

It was when the rumors about big, recent, and even future exclusives hit -- Starfield, Indiana Jones, etc. -- that is when people started to go nuts. That wasn't just "the internet" running away with the SoT and Hi Fi Rush news. Those were separate rumors, arising within the Xbox community itself, communicated by main Xbox "influencers," coming from multiple directions.

So, I really doubt this is all confined to SoT and Hi Fi Rush.

And those rumours started like two days ago......

 

[Humdinger]

And those rumours started like two days ago......

Seems longer, lol.

 

[PaintTinJr]

Sony is not dumb. They're going to put in stipulations where Microsoft can't suddenly just go back to 3rd party as soon as they've made their money. They'll make sure Microsoft keeps them on there for a very long time.

They certainly won't. That would not help them at all with their relationship with other on looking publishers and could potentially get them in hot water with the FTC and CMA for anti-competitive practices.

PlayStation will give them a standard boiler plate deal to ensure all their stakeholders are happy, but will possible put some clauses around console launch hardware in regards of Microsoft should they return to hardware, or withhold devkits if Xbox is still in the hardware business, as was the issue they raised with US courts about post ATVI acquisition getting ATVI software (COD) at console launch by providing devkits for an unreleased console to a direct competitor, leaving them with a choice of having ATVI software get ported post-console launch when it was safe to supply devki cost them with the COD sales/hypet, or risk Microsoft using the confidential specs of the PlayStation devkit to alter their product to trump the PlayStation pre-launch.

 

[XXL]

And those rumours started like two days ago......

Seems longer, lol.

The rumors started 5 days ago and Spencer tweeted 4 days ago to schedule the "business update event".

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Maybe, it was simply that they decided to put hi fi rush on all platforms to gauge how it does...sea of thieves is their most succesful gaas title in years and probably could do with a surge of new players.

So, they planned to port those two games, and nothing else for now. The internet hears the murmurs as they are getting ready for the event and runs with it.

Microsoft have spent millions porting these games and planned to do a nice unveiling and marketing push to highlight the releases, probably months of work.

Someone leaks the news and suddenly everyone is after blood, blaming MS, demanding they talk about it straight away. Microsoft have probably decided, nah, we don't change course for these select minority influences and leakers, plus crazed fans or none fans and stick to our original plan.

Simple as that I bet.

If it were that simple why not just clarify it in a tweet or put out a blog post the same day Phil made his statement announcing ports of those two games, debunk the rest of the rumors in a tweet (Phil loves doing this) and call it a day?

They know the rumors are for more games than just HiFi and Sea of Thieves, yet they let the rumors build substance and cause panic with the lemmings among their most diehard of the fanbase? No I think the particulars of the rumors (specifically the one that's the Discord leak) were more or less decided upon. It's some of the timing and messaging around them that are still being considered and hashed out BTS.

Again, I personally think everything with that Discord leak is 100% going to happen. But is all going to flip into existence one day next week? I doubt it. They'll frame some messaging/optics around HiFi and Sea of Thieves getting ported to other consoles, announce changes to Game Pass ( Humdinger saying they'll announce ABK games coming to Game Pass might be part of it to counterbalance "negative" changes like no more Day 1 for most or all the tiers, or only doing Day 1 for smaller releases (i.e Grounded/Pentiment-tier games, so also smaller live-service games) on most of the tiers.

They won't talk about next-gen plans or confirm they're scaling back/discontinuing Series hardware production but will reaffirm they're committed to bring games to the platform. If there's a new hardware refresh they'll probably mention it or hint at it with a reveal at a later date. They'll talk about emphasizing digital ecosystems more prominently (lend credence to the scaling down on physical games presence), etc.

Keep in mind, this is a best-case (in some weird wanting to placate to the most diehard, toxic in lots of cases fanatics in the fanbase) scenario; given they're calling it a "business update", I think we should prepare for MS to rip the band-aid straight off and just be blunt about things going forward, particularly since I suspect the shareholders would be in favor of these monumental changes for the division (particularly if they're now expecting more detailed revenue & profit reporting since over $80 billion's been spent on M&As in large part due to the gaming division).

They certainly won't. That would not help them at all with their relationship with other on looking publishers and could potentially get them in hot water with the FTC and CMA for anti-competitive practices.

PlayStation will give them a standard boiler plate deal to ensure all their stakeholders are happy, but will possible put some clauses around console launch hardware in regards of Microsoft should they return to hardware, or withhold devkits if Xbox is still in the hardware business, as was the issue they raised with US courts about post ATVI acquisition getting ATVI software (COD) at console launch by providing devkits for an unreleased console to a direct competitor, leaving them with a choice of having ATVI software get ported post-console launch when it was safe to supply devki cost them with the COD sales/hypet, or risk Microsoft using the confidential specs of the PlayStation devkit to alter their product to trump the PlayStation pre-launch.

Is it possible Sony could sue Microsoft for a form of corporate espionage if they were to be playing a bluff in going 3P just to gather tech secrets on Sony hardware or confidential business plans, then pull a "psyche!" and return to being a direct competitor platform holder?

I mean that has shades of Mike Ybarra and Elop all over it, arguably even worst than either of those IMO.

 

[Astray]

Seems like they held a townhall on Tuesday and Spencer assured employees that Microsoft will continue making Xboxes.

Don't know where the link to the newsletter itself tho.

HeisenbergFX4

 

[TheBomb]

Seems like they held a townhall on Tuesday and Spencer assured employees that Microsoft will continue making Xboxes.

Don't know where the link to the newsletter itself tho.

HeisenbergFX4

I guess that means they are going to branch out to other devices.

 

[ByWatterson]

Seems like they held a townhall on Tuesday and Spencer assured employees that Microsoft will continue making Xboxes.

Don't know where the link to the newsletter itself tho.

HeisenbergFX4

Multi-device means.....platform agnostic, no?

 

[Astray]

I guess that means they are going to branch out to other devices.

Your guess is as good as mine tbh. I've kind of given up on trying to understand what they are doing with the brand.

I think the really big issue is something that Cog said on that Defining Duke podcast (paraphrasing): Is they're planning about greed (they make good money but they want more), or is this about survival (Gaming division would go kaput otherwise)?

I think the fact that we don't know says a lot about how absent the financial context of Xbox and Microsoft gaming is. Microsoft has stopped giving out Profit/Loss statements in their quarterly results, and as a result of that, we have been reduced to finding traces of LinkedIn profiles and obscure references on the web to try and read the tea leaves and figure out if this business is doing good or bad.

Basically every topic that is brought up about Xbox this gen (acquisition drama, is gamepass good for the company?, layoffs..etc) is marred by our lack of knowledge about the topic that matters most, because it's ultimately what guides the company's decision-making and makes it predictable and comprehensible to us.

Multi-device means.....platform agnostic, no?

Don't know exactly but I think it could also mean multiple gaming devices coming out of them (handheld and ultra powerful).

 

[Darkkahn]

Phil will appear in front of the camera in his house with blood shot eyes. He utters one sentence: "It's all true". Then picks up the gun and walks out of his room.

 

[TheBomb]

Your guess is as good as mine tbh. I've kind of given up on trying to understand what they are doing with the brand.

I think the really big issue is something that Cog said on that Defining Duke podcast (paraphrasing): Is they're planning about greed (they make good money but they want more), or is this about survival (Gaming division would go kaput otherwise)?

I think the fact that we don't know says a lot about how absent the financial context of Xbox and Microsoft gaming is. Microsoft has stopped giving out Profit/Loss statements in their quarterly results, and as a result of that, we have been reduced to finding traces of LinkedIn profiles and obscure references on the web to try and read the tea leaves and figure out if this business is doing good or bad.

Basically every topic that is brought up about Xbox this gen (acquisition drama, is gamepass good for the company?, layoffs..etc) is marred by our lack of knowledge about the topic that matters most, because it's ultimately what guides the company's decision-making and makes it predictable and comprehensible to us.


Don't know exactly but I think it could also mean multiple gaming devices coming out of them (handheld and ultra powerful).

I guess will find out soon.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Seems like they held a townhall on Tuesday and Spencer assured employees that Microsoft will continue making Xboxes.

Don't know where the link to the newsletter itself tho.

HeisenbergFX4

Still a lot of ways to interpret this. What do they mean by "Xboxes", for example? Do they mean consoles (the way we typically define them, and know how the business model works with them)? Or do they mean gaming hardware devices that can otherwise be considered variant PC models, and with a business model fitting that type of market instead?

Personally I still think they're 100% leaning in that direction; even before these rumors, was feeling it'd be the best call with hardware going forward for the division, and would open them up to still do the multiplatform strategy more boldly with the corporate politics of pushing Xbox as a "console business".

Well next week's only a few days away.

 

[Astray]

..

 

[FoxMcChief]

..

That reminds me of the slide presentation Brian made.

 

[FoxMcChief]

 

[FunkMiller]

At no point in any of this has anyone seriously suggested that they will stop making consoles... not any time soon, anyway. This is classic deflection strategy, but it's poorly done.

'Don't worry, this thing you've been worried about isn't happening!'

'That's not the thing we're worried about. What about that?'

'Wait until next week!'

Yeesh.