5 ms·

Good riddance. Unfortunately with the length of dev cycles his successor is inheriting such a mess that he’ll have target on his back from day one.

by galkk 8mo ago

fakedang 8mo ago
Seems like his successor does not have much of a plan either. > In another internal email addressing staff, the new Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma gave some hints as to how the future of Xbox will look. She outlined three commitments: "First, great games." "Second, the return of Xbox." and "Third, future of play." She went on to say that the company will continue to invest in its franchises and studios, keep Xbox spreading across platforms to reduce barriers, while also inventing "business models and new ways to play."
- candiddevmike 8mo ago
  Sounds like a concept of a plan. I was always an Xbox person instead of PlayStation, I was part of the Xbox Live beta and had so many great memories from that era. After the lack of exclusives on the Xbox Series X, their game pass shenanigans, and the horrible UX decisions over the years, the Xbox brand is trash to me. Same with Halo, what a freaking waste of an IP.
  - danudey 8mo ago
    > Sounds like a concept of a plan. It's safe to assume that her first e-mail to staff is not going to include a comprehensive breakdown of every action she plans to take. Not saying she does or doesn't know what she's doing, but it would be weird if she went into much more detail at this point before she's even ramped up.
    - fakedang 8mo ago
      Would be good to provide clarity to the trenches though.
      - throwaway85825 8mo ago
        Clarity would be "you're all fired" but they cant write that, can they.
- bombcar 8mo ago
  > keep Xbox spreading across platforms to reduce barriers Read: we're not going to do console exclusives and instead we may not even make an Xbox anymore, and instead put the Xbox brand on PCs.
  - chocochunks 8mo ago
    That's what Xbox has already been doing. New "Xbox" games run best on PS5 Pro (for consoles at least). I don't think there's a single Xbox Series exclusive, everything is on PC or some other console now.
    - danudey 8mo ago
      > New "Xbox" games run best on PS5 Pro (for consoles at least). I dunno, the way Windows 11 is going these days that caveat is getting a lot of scrutiny. I would say that, in many cases, they run best on PS5 Pro full stop - at least until the GabeCube releases, for those who can afford it.
    - MegaDeKay 8mo ago
      Yep. There are no exclusives anymore, not even timed ones. Those releases that aren't Day 1 on Playstation now is only because they were too far along in development to make that happen. This is part of their "Everything is an XBox" mantra, giving people pretty much zero incentive to buy XBox hardware right now.
    - bathtub365 8mo ago
      The “everything is an Xbox” line they’ve been repeating is embarrassing. Did SEGA drag it out this long when they threw in the towel?
- mamma_mia 8mo ago
  Reads like the standard Nadella special, they probably share the same copilot template it's clear they are going to continue gutting the place and spin it off
  - danudey 8mo ago
    Except that Satya whined about people using the term "AI slop" and Sharma specifically uses that term in her e-mail. An interesting contradiction.
    - yndoendo 8mo ago
      To be fair, that is a great social engineering technique to trying an win back the market. I'll take it as a social engineering technique because that is the sector she came from and still being pushed by the CEO.
    - etempleton 8mo ago
      Her press release and tweets sound like someone asked AI what to say to make Xbox fans like you. I tested what it would tell me to say if I was CEO and it gave me very similar talking points.
- throwaway85825 8mo ago
  AI slop. They're winding down the business.
twilo 8mo ago
His successor seems to have zero experience in the industry
- galkk 8mo ago
  It feels that they’ve finally got understanding that Xbox is total mess and try? To reboot completely. Because “Xbox president” seemingly is booted too > Alongside him, Xbox President Sarah Bond is also exiting the company, who many suspected would be Spencer's successor in leading Xbox.
  - etempleton 8mo ago
    Phil Spencer entered with Xbox in a total mess and he was never really able to get them out of the mess. I like Phil as CEO of Microsoft. I think Microsoft's corporate strategy never really made sense for Microsoft and I think Microsoft has a massive and worsening culture problem. It seems like leadership fail upwards, which tells me that at the executive and junior executive level the job is internal politics.
MetaverseClub 8mo ago
His successor looks like a mess to the gaming section.
musicale 8mo ago
At least Phil Spencer knew something about games.
etempleton 8mo ago
They promoted the person who was in charge of overseeing studios, so ostensibly not much will change on that front.

Good riddance. Unfortunately with the length of dev cycles his successor is inheriting such a mess that he’ll have target on his back from day one.

by galkk 8mo ago

Good riddance. Unfortunately with the length of dev cycles his successor is inheriting such a mess that he’ll have target on his back from day one.

fakedang 8mo ago

Seems like his successor does not have much of a plan either. > In another internal email addressing staff, the new Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma gave some hints as to how the future of Xbox will look. She outlined three commitments: "First, great games." "Second, the return of Xbox." and "Third, future of play." She went on to say that the company will continue to invest in its franchises and studios, keep Xbox spreading across platforms to reduce barriers, while also inventing "business models and new ways to play."

candiddevmike 8mo ago
Sounds like a concept of a plan. I was always an Xbox person instead of PlayStation, I was part of the Xbox Live beta and had so many great memories from that era. After the lack of exclusives on the Xbox Series X, their game pass shenanigans, and the horrible UX decisions over the years, the Xbox brand is trash to me. Same with Halo, what a freaking waste of an IP.
- danudey 8mo ago
  > Sounds like a concept of a plan. It's safe to assume that her first e-mail to staff is not going to include a comprehensive breakdown of every action she plans to take. Not saying she does or doesn't know what she's doing, but it would be weird if she went into much more detail at this point before she's even ramped up.
  - fakedang 8mo ago
    Would be good to provide clarity to the trenches though.
    - throwaway85825 8mo ago
      Clarity would be "you're all fired" but they cant write that, can they.
bombcar 8mo ago
> keep Xbox spreading across platforms to reduce barriers Read: we're not going to do console exclusives and instead we may not even make an Xbox anymore, and instead put the Xbox brand on PCs.
- chocochunks 8mo ago
  That's what Xbox has already been doing. New "Xbox" games run best on PS5 Pro (for consoles at least). I don't think there's a single Xbox Series exclusive, everything is on PC or some other console now.
  - danudey 8mo ago
    > New "Xbox" games run best on PS5 Pro (for consoles at least). I dunno, the way Windows 11 is going these days that caveat is getting a lot of scrutiny. I would say that, in many cases, they run best on PS5 Pro full stop - at least until the GabeCube releases, for those who can afford it.
  - MegaDeKay 8mo ago
    Yep. There are no exclusives anymore, not even timed ones. Those releases that aren't Day 1 on Playstation now is only because they were too far along in development to make that happen. This is part of their "Everything is an XBox" mantra, giving people pretty much zero incentive to buy XBox hardware right now.
  - bathtub365 8mo ago
    The “everything is an Xbox” line they’ve been repeating is embarrassing. Did SEGA drag it out this long when they threw in the towel?
mamma_mia 8mo ago
Reads like the standard Nadella special, they probably share the same copilot template it's clear they are going to continue gutting the place and spin it off
- danudey 8mo ago
  Except that Satya whined about people using the term "AI slop" and Sharma specifically uses that term in her e-mail. An interesting contradiction.
  - yndoendo 8mo ago
    To be fair, that is a great social engineering technique to trying an win back the market. I'll take it as a social engineering technique because that is the sector she came from and still being pushed by the CEO.
  - etempleton 8mo ago
    Her press release and tweets sound like someone asked AI what to say to make Xbox fans like you. I tested what it would tell me to say if I was CEO and it gave me very similar talking points.
throwaway85825 8mo ago
AI slop. They're winding down the business.

twilo 8mo ago

His successor seems to have zero experience in the industry

galkk 8mo ago
It feels that they’ve finally got understanding that Xbox is total mess and try? To reboot completely. Because “Xbox president” seemingly is booted too > Alongside him, Xbox President Sarah Bond is also exiting the company, who many suspected would be Spencer's successor in leading Xbox.
- etempleton 8mo ago
  Phil Spencer entered with Xbox in a total mess and he was never really able to get them out of the mess. I like Phil as CEO of Microsoft. I think Microsoft's corporate strategy never really made sense for Microsoft and I think Microsoft has a massive and worsening culture problem. It seems like leadership fail upwards, which tells me that at the executive and junior executive level the job is internal politics.

MetaverseClub 8mo ago

His successor looks like a mess to the gaming section.

musicale 8mo ago

At least Phil Spencer knew something about games.

etempleton 8mo ago

They promoted the person who was in charge of overseeing studios, so ostensibly not much will change on that front.