A reader is angry with the recent layoffs and changes at Xbox and accuses Microsoft execs of betraying both their fans and their employees.
I don’t know where to start with this week’s Xbox news, but I can tell you this, if Phil Spencer or any of the other execs dare to appear in another showcase or livestream, I don’t think I’ll be able to hold in my anger. Then again, I’m not sure I’d watch anyway. I’m done with Xbox now and while I’m too deep in the ‘ecosystem’ to get out quickly, I’m going to try and make sure I give them as little of my money as possible.
I remember, back in the day, that I had vague dreams of being a game developer but the way things are now I don’t know if there’s a less stable or less respected job in the world. Although developers are made to feel like pampered kings at other companies, compared to how Microsoft treats them, where they’re literal human sacrifices to make their financials look better for investors. Even though Microsoft is the richest company in the world!
Even if your empathy levels aren’t where they should be, it’s a terrible thing because now they have less people to make their games, while they try and use AI to plug the gaps. Studios have been shut down, games have been cancelled, and you know that’s only the start of it. We’re going to see Microsoft making less and less games until all that’s left is Call Of Duty.
All of this is on top of the blatant lies told to us about Microsoft’s multiformat plans. They’ll say that their plans changed but they knew, when they said it was only four games, and that some games were never going multiformat. Gears Of War is already announced, Halo is inevitable, and they only haven’t done Starfield yet because they’ve realised no one will care.
I’m not upset about this because of console wars jealousy but because I realise, as many fans do, that without exclusives you cannot have a console. Microsoft tried to convince itself that wasn’t true, and that Game Pass alone could be their exclusive, but now they won’t admit to themselves that it hasn’t worked and that by making everything multiformat they’ve lost everything that makes them special.
Sure, they might be the biggest publisher in the West, because they own Call Of Duty, but who ever cared or had any loyalty to Activision? Which is who they’ve taken the place of. But Xbox isn’t just a third party publisher now, they’re a company that used to be much more than that and nobody’s going to forget what they should’ve been or how far they’ve fallen.
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The worst thing is I can only see things getting wore from here. Especially with Spencer staying in charge. Xbox is only going to get more bitter and petty over time, trying to undermine Sony and Nintendo, especially when it comes to AI and streaming – technologies which Microsoft has full control of.
You can laugh if you want, but I feel betrayed. I imagine their developers definitely do. Xbox don’t care about its customers. It doesn’t even care about gaming. It just cares about the bottom line. I no longer see Xbox as the upstart company, doing the things Sony wouldn’t or couldn’t. I see them as the giant bully, trying to muscle out other firms that have done so much for gaming, but which Xbox couldn’t beat even with all the money in the world.
Particularly in the Xbox 360 era, I was an unashamed Xbot fan and felt like Microsoft were pushing the envelope in the face of the stuffy, old-fashioned PlayStation. Now though I see that it was nothing but a mask, that they have now ripped off entirely.
Nobody important at Xbox cares about games or their fans, only money. And now I think they are going to have considerably less of both.
By reader Gambit
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