9 ms·

Has Xbox Considered Laying One Person Off Instead of Thousands?

27 points by dotmanish 1y ago

not_your_vase 1y ago
Well, yeah, kinda-sorta. Sure, the buck stops at the top. On the other hand why can people start picketing over real or perceived social justice issues at the workplace, but can't speak up if they see that the company/brand/project is going downhill? Or did they not see? Then they share the responsibility. They were hired to make value, not to destroy. Or is it only a team when it comes to success, when it's about failure, it's just pointing finger at one specific person?
- desert_rue 1y ago
  Often leadership doesn’t speak to the lowly plebs, or if they do, they don’t see the problem the same way. I’ve worked at a company where customer service costs were higher than the contribution margin. The solution from leadership was to turn off the phones. If they can’t call in, then no one needs to be paid to answer calls. I asked the VP how customers who need help now (appointments were involved) could get help? Well they could email in and wait for a response. Shockingly, customer lifetime value dropped like a rock. So their solution was to lock every new customer into a hidden subscription plan that had a cancellation fee of 2-4x of one appointment. Then they had to walk that back when they had too many chargebacks. The company was later bought out. Only people in the earliest of rounds made money from their equity. The CEO went on to be the CEO of the acquiring company. The people deciding on the decision were will insulated from dealing with the consequences of that decision.
  - not_your_vase 1y ago
    Sample results from "microsoft employees protest" search query from DDG, by year: 2018: https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/microsoft-employees-protest-companys-work-with-ice/ https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/microsoft-employees-... 2019: https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-employees-protest-treatment-women-ceo-nadella/ https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-employees-protest-trea... 2020: https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-employees-messages-protests-nadella-2020-6?op=1 https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-employees-messages... 2021: https://gameworldobserver.com/2021/04/06/microsoft-employees-protest-latest-22-billion-military-contract https://gameworldobserver.com/2021/04/06/microsoft-employees... 2022: (Well, I couldn't find anything here on the first 2-3 pages, Blizzard acquisition hides everything else) 2023: https://www.techradar.com/pro/microsoft-workers-protest-landmark-year-ceo-memo-following-pay-freeze https://www.techradar.com/pro/microsoft-workers-protest-land... 2024: https://www.moneycontrol.com/technology/microsoft-fires-employees-for-organising-pro-palestine-protests-all-the-details-article-12851598.html https://www.moneycontrol.com/technology/microsoft-fires-empl... 2025: https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-ai-protest-israel-gaza-50th-anniversary-fadcb37bcce7e067f896ec5502d187b6 https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-ai-protest-israel-gaza-... etc. One thing that's missing: a single whisper about "hey guys, maybe trashing the xbox/windows/clippy business is not a wise thing to do, it's not too late to change course tho". There are companies where employees have no effective voice. Maybe Microsoft is such a company, I don't know, I've never worked there. But their employees do make their voice heard by others, if no one else - just not on every topic that matters. And that's my point.
- dontlaugh 1y ago
  Why should workers take the severe risks that come with industrial action in order to change the direction of a company that they don’t own and may make them redundant the next day? On the other hand, it makes perfect sense to strike over pay/conditions or in solidarity with workers elsewhere.
throwaway638637 1y ago
I never really understood how gamepass made any monetary sense.
- sieabahlpark 1y ago
  [dead]
- 84ydk 1y ago
  I think it could make sense if you remove the first day releases.. And i say this as a game pass subscriber.. There is already a delay between console and pc releases.. add a second delay after pc release to include in game pass.. People that really want to play the game will buy it either on console or on pc to play it early.. People that would not buy it could pay for game pass to get it later...
rekabis 1y ago
I’m not even a gamer and I’m applauding this article. The compensation that any member of the Parasite Class gets for “failing upward” is absolutely mind-blowing. Just for one in my career I would like to be rewarded for gross incompetence.

27 points by dotmanish 1y ago

Well, yeah, kinda-sorta. Sure, the buck stops at the top. On the other hand why can people start picketing over real or perceived social justice issues at the workplace, but can't speak up if they see that the company/brand/project is going downhill? Or did they not see? Then they share the responsibility. They were hired to make value, not to destroy. Or is it only a team when it comes to success, when it's about failure, it's just pointing finger at one specific person?

desert_rue 1y ago
Often leadership doesn’t speak to the lowly plebs, or if they do, they don’t see the problem the same way. I’ve worked at a company where customer service costs were higher than the contribution margin. The solution from leadership was to turn off the phones. If they can’t call in, then no one needs to be paid to answer calls. I asked the VP how customers who need help now (appointments were involved) could get help? Well they could email in and wait for a response. Shockingly, customer lifetime value dropped like a rock. So their solution was to lock every new customer into a hidden subscription plan that had a cancellation fee of 2-4x of one appointment. Then they had to walk that back when they had too many chargebacks. The company was later bought out. Only people in the earliest of rounds made money from their equity. The CEO went on to be the CEO of the acquiring company. The people deciding on the decision were will insulated from dealing with the consequences of that decision.
- not_your_vase 1y ago
  Sample results from "microsoft employees protest" search query from DDG, by year: 2018: https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/microsoft-employees-protest-companys-work-with-ice/ https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/microsoft-employees-... 2019: https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-employees-protest-treatment-women-ceo-nadella/ https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-employees-protest-trea... 2020: https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-employees-messages-protests-nadella-2020-6?op=1 https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-employees-messages... 2021: https://gameworldobserver.com/2021/04/06/microsoft-employees-protest-latest-22-billion-military-contract https://gameworldobserver.com/2021/04/06/microsoft-employees... 2022: (Well, I couldn't find anything here on the first 2-3 pages, Blizzard acquisition hides everything else) 2023: https://www.techradar.com/pro/microsoft-workers-protest-landmark-year-ceo-memo-following-pay-freeze https://www.techradar.com/pro/microsoft-workers-protest-land... 2024: https://www.moneycontrol.com/technology/microsoft-fires-employees-for-organising-pro-palestine-protests-all-the-details-article-12851598.html https://www.moneycontrol.com/technology/microsoft-fires-empl... 2025: https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-ai-protest-israel-gaza-50th-anniversary-fadcb37bcce7e067f896ec5502d187b6 https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-ai-protest-israel-gaza-... etc. One thing that's missing: a single whisper about "hey guys, maybe trashing the xbox/windows/clippy business is not a wise thing to do, it's not too late to change course tho". There are companies where employees have no effective voice. Maybe Microsoft is such a company, I don't know, I've never worked there. But their employees do make their voice heard by others, if no one else - just not on every topic that matters. And that's my point.
dontlaugh 1y ago
Why should workers take the severe risks that come with industrial action in order to change the direction of a company that they don’t own and may make them redundant the next day? On the other hand, it makes perfect sense to strike over pay/conditions or in solidarity with workers elsewhere.

throwaway638637 1y ago

I never really understood how gamepass made any monetary sense.

sieabahlpark 1y ago
[dead]
84ydk 1y ago
I think it could make sense if you remove the first day releases.. And i say this as a game pass subscriber.. There is already a delay between console and pc releases.. add a second delay after pc release to include in game pass.. People that really want to play the game will buy it either on console or on pc to play it early.. People that would not buy it could pay for game pass to get it later...

rekabis 1y ago

I’m not even a gamer and I’m applauding this article. The compensation that any member of the Parasite Class gets for “failing upward” is absolutely mind-blowing. Just for one in my career I would like to be rewarded for gross incompetence.