microsoft ‘lost their way’ years ago in their relentless pursuit of profit.
Unrelated to the content, but:
And it is safe to say he not exactly sound convinced that Microsoft’s gaming leadership known what it is doing.
That’s 2 or 3 errors in the second sentence of the article posted a day ago. They have editors, right!?
I’d say it very much related content to!
The editor:
Naa, it’s chatbots all the way down.
Why coherent sentences adequate with the grammer used in text when you can just slapped words together to made points?
This silly line has probably done more damage to how people treat English than anyone realizes.
Says the guys who have lost over a half billion dollars chasing Fortnite money with nothing to show for it
Meanwhile, Fortnite money havers chasing Steam money with nothing to show for it. 😂
GabeN:
Does nothing (gets kids hooked on gambling mechanics)
Wins (sued in almost every market with fair regulation)
It’s all just one big dog chasing its tail
Says the guy who won’t release PS games on PC, the most common gaming platform?
At least one thing Xbox is getting right is its “Play Anywhere” licensing. I bought FH6 and I love the fact that I can play it on my Xbox in the living room, or on my PC in the office and functionally there’s no difference (except online being free with PC, but that’s another story). They learned that it’s not about the platform, but the games.
At least domestically in Japan, PC gaming is still a very niche and expensive hobby. It’s cheaper than a decade ago when I got here, but computer literacy isn’t great. I hate that decision, but it makes sense for their domestic market
“Former” I doubt he has much of a say in the matter.
The whole “this is an Xbox” stuff just shows how lost they are…
That and buying Activision Blizzard for 70 billion :/
They’ve already stopped that and fired the CEO whose idea that was.
Uh, no. They fully acquired Activision for $75.4 billion in 2023.
I was referring to the part about the “this is and XBOX” ad campaign, which was dropped almost as soon as Phil Spencer was forced into retirement
Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden has shared his thoughts on Xbox’s latest round of struggles and identity crises. And it is safe to say he not exactly sound convinced that Microsoft’s gaming leadership known what it is doing.
Layden recently responded to a post on LinkedIn from game designer and consultant Tadhg Kelly, who shared multiple decisions from the company that showed how it is stuck in an identity crises made worse by contradictory messaging, executive changes, financial pressure, studio closures, and repeated promises of a reset that might not work the way they hope it would.
At the risk of sounding like a ‘hater’ (which, I’m really not), the moves evince a basic misunderstanding of how the interactive entertainment world moves, Layden wrote. IYKYK, which also means if you don’t you don’t.
Fairly brutal assessment I would say.
And coming from someone who once ran PlayStation and gave the company some of the most successful years. Layden is not just questioning one bad decision from Microsoft but whether the people running Xbox actually understand how the gaming business works. Harsh thing to say but at point it is a fair question to ask; do they even know what they are doing? Plethora of people are about to lose their jobs because of the decisions made by Xbox leadership.
The comment arrives at an especially awkward moment for Microsoft’s gaming business. Asha Sharma took over as CEO of Microsoft Gaming in February following Phil Spencer’s retirement, promising urgency, clarity, and a return to the “renegade spirit” that originally built Xbox. Since then, the company has been talking openly about resetting a business that Sharma reportedly described as being “not in a healthy spot.”
Xbox has warned its employees that its current financial direction cannot continue. Microsoft CEO recently state that they need to make Xbox a sustainable business, and in an internal memo Asha Sharma revealed that her division has fallen to a measly 3% accountability margin.
Now, reports claim a major layoff wave is about to his Xbox studios once Microsoft’s fiscal year ends on June 30th. Internal discussions around turning Xbox into a wholly owned subsidiary or spinning off the business are reported in the media as well.
None of that means Sharma caused Xbox’s problems. She inherited a division shaped by years of acquisitions, shifting platform strategies, declining console sales, canceled projects, and damaged morale. It appears as if she was given the keys to a fallen kingdom and asked to rebuild it with little to no resources but all the blame if things fall apart completely.
Sharma is now responsible for convincing employees and players that this “reset” is not just a corporate rebrand followed by a round of job cuts. That is where Layden’s comment hits hardest. Xbox keeps saying it understands the problem. A former PlayStation boss is suggesting the decisions themselves prove otherwise.
And it is safe to say he not exactly sound convinced that Microsoft’s gaming leadership known what it is doing.
Get an editor to proof-read your articles, bro!
Just make console. And then sell games for that console.
How hard can that be?
They should have just built a gaming platform on Windows, the platform they owned. The one everyone was playing games on already.
‘Investors disliked that’
Better idea: Buy tens of major companies, run them to the ground, then shut them down even if they’re doing well.
Trust me bro, a few more years of this strategy and Xbox will surely be on top!
Embrace, extend, extinguish.
Someone should maybe tell them that they shouldn’t do that to themselves.
Buuuut how do we squeeze all the engagement out of the consumer? And keep them on reoccurring billing around the engagement? And cram in adds and last make a passable game that it all stems from. But we’re not going to try too hard on that last one.
