Xbox Punishes Studios for Simply Following Orders - Bloomberg
Problems in the gaming division have been brewing for a long time.
Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier analyzed Xbox's problems in recent years and noted that the roots of the current situation go back to the launch of the Xbox One console. Its unsuccessful presentation, in his opinion, allowed Sony to significantly strengthen the position of its PlayStation 4, and then Microsoft began to make expensive bets on business development, including the acquisition of Activision Blizzard during the booming growth of the gaming industry during the pandemic.
According to the journalist, it was after this that the situation began to rapidly deteriorate. Over the past two years, Xbox has experienced four waves of mass layoffs, closed several internal studios, including Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks, and canceled a number of major projects, including Everwild, Perfect Dark, and Project Blackbird.
Schreier also touched upon the topic of the Xbox Game Pass subscription service. According to him, there is an increasing opinion within the industry that the service may negatively affect the sales of individual games. Decisions that are beneficial for Game Pass growth do not always turn out to be useful for studios and their financial performance.
The journalist paid special attention to the situation of teams such as Double Fine Productions and Compulsion Games. Despite the fact that their projects did not become major commercial hits, the studios followed Xbox's strategy, focused on creating unusual and diverse games to replenish the Game Pass library.
According to Schreier, many teams are now essentially paying the price for following management's instructions several years ago.
In many cases today, they are being punished for following orders and for doing exactly what was asked of them.
He also noted that constant uncertainty, fear of layoffs, project cancellations, and studio closures seriously hinder developers from creating quality games.
According to available information, Microsoft may wait until the end of the fiscal year on June 30, after which it will begin a large-scale restructuring of Xbox. Recent rumors indicate that the cuts may even affect Bethesda Softworks divisions. It is reported that only employees working on The Elder Scrolls and Fallout series are relatively safe.
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