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Can't wait to see Xbox fanboys decide to now like what they call walking simulators, when hellblade mental health simulator comes out.

All of this crying everybody is doing. Honestly i with king on these topics. MICROSOFT needs to stop talking to its consumer like playstion and Nintendo.

Call of Duty day and date via Xbox Game Pass just makes business sense, because it will lower the entry barrier and makes the microtransaction much more accessible. 🎮

Magnificently Ultimate

I'm a little confused about the Lion Austun thing with Dishonored.. didn't Lion make Dishonored?? Them shutting down Austin really make Dishonored not a possible thing??

I don’t normally comment on the opinions expressed on the podcast, but a few comments by both Rand and Jez were of-based, imho. To begin with, and the low hanging fruit comments from Matt saying…we are shifting resources. DUH?!?! They are shifting money, tasking and yes…the capabilities of ppl…i.e. resources. As a professional Project Manager, this terminology is VERY standard, and somehow when it comes to ppl getting fired or reassigned…there is sensitivity. What if it was bonuses being issued…I’m sure there would be NO problem with the terminology. Ok, wrt to shifting of resources…YES, I’m sure the directive from the Executive Leadership is Microgaming had been provided with largesse, so they need to start showing significant growth, and they SHOULD be doing so. Hardware and Platform performance is lagging in growth as is Software development and returns. Sarah need to drive efficiencies in the hardware and platform software side significantly over the next 3-4 years. AS for Matt, he’s been head of Xbox Game Studios, so these upcoming games had better deliver critically, since that will be the way to increase the value proposition of the platform, i.e. GamePass…or he should be axed, imho. So, Senua and Avowed specifically had better be highly rated titles. As for Bethesda, the hands-off approach failed horribly, and we know that Microsoft gaming leadership wasn’t provided a clear picture wrt to RedFall. Phil took the heat and bullet for the failure, but the consequences were that they lost autonomy with Matt providing oversight. This belief that “We all knew Fallout would be a smash hit” is absolutely horseshit! Amazon, who produced the freaking show didn’t know this, which is why they didn’t already have season 2 greenlit, before results came in. Even if the show was a success, NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE could have predicted the level of engagement the games would receive. The two previous successful live shows, Halo (yes it was a viewership success) and Last of Us saw some level of success in gaming, but nothing to warrant a new game…if so…why haven’t we seen anything of Last of Us 3? Oh, as for CyberPPunk…they launched a successful DLC, but the game underwent a massive overhaul as well. So yes, I’m sure at the Satya and Amy level, they saw the success of he show, and said how do you plan on capitalizing on this, without coming for a huge check? Phil went to Matt and Mat went to Jill. She came back and said I need to shift resources, if I can’t expect a massive infusion to go do something completely new. She put together the pitch and said I need the resources from Tango and Arkane, along with Alpha Dog. Roundhouse rolling into Zenimax Online is a key indicator of how they are shifting that studio to support that game, to allow the development of whatever that new MMO is. So, do I like seeing these studios get shutdown, absolutely not, but this is a business, not a charity. You have to deliver success titles. I know Tango seemed like the odd man out here, but we don’t know the full and complete story as to what happened, and I’ll not speculate. Remember when Microsoft took the shot to the face on ScaleBound being shutdown, and years later the truth came out, is all I’ll say.

I had no idea bing still existed

Buying Activision was the ultimate monkeys paw moment for Xbox fans and it may end up being the worse thing Xbox ever did because it’s attracted the eye of Sauron. Xbox is going to have to start making serious money or risk being sold off or closed.

I think they can just put cod on gamepass cause pc people are going to buy it on steam or battle net, the minority will use game pass. And playstation users will still buy. Xbox always has the lowest sales so the sales for xbox wouldnt matter that much in the end cause they will be making hand over fist of the other platform users...and jez is right about the micros, xbox will make the loss of their own cod sales on their system with all the micros they sell on cod

I was a Die Hard. I still miss Halo. He didn't finish the sentance in reality. "I can go play the 360.... and the Playstation 4" and thats what I did. AND! The Kinect was spying the whole time.

Game Pass 🔥

as an xbox fan, jez how can you think microsoft should buy valve? xbox cant handle 343 which isnt good for halo, tango arcane austin...the issue is xbox leadership

a slump.....compared to ridiculous highs of pandemic time. not able to not be greedy and be happy with pre pandemic levels? microtransaction blizzard.....what they ben living on for years it feels like. look at warcraft 3. does having bethedsa and activision make microsoft 'the best'. both companies were not doing super amazing reputationally anyway.

I don't know how stupid you think Microsoft M and A are that they would not have budgeted for scenarios like pandemic ending and interest rates increases. Universally Companies are still making record profits while shafting the workers for the shareholders. There may even be clauses in the contracts to do with certain targets. Also Microsoft are publicly traded their account are available if you want to find them easily

Jez, for the record - referring to employees as 'resources' is very very normal in large corporations - this term is used in the workplace very frequently especially in managerial / executive positions and doesn't tend to have a negative connotation

It'd be funny if Xbox announced some super studio they've just formed based in Japan at the June showcase

Rand get Gaz on next week for some humor which will be needed.

Xbox is too American, blocky, exclusive, and boring.

Best episode, this could be the new format for the future.

bro for like the 5th day in a row I fall asleep to stimpee or anarchy and wake up to these guys and I dont ever watch or listen to them xD

Matt Booty needs to go ASAP

Porting some xbox games what don't have contracts to playstation is baddest thing what xbox has done. I can understand some only multiplayer games but i don't understand nothing else. I can only understand ports if playstation gives games back to xbox. Game = game trade

Sucks that were back to square root again like a wrench in a bucket.

I also completed Redfall. I didn’t hate it but it should have been 60 frames

Big respect having this podcast takes a lot of courage. Also very good takes even though your favorite brand going through tough times, and emotions are high. Also congratulations on the advertising deal.

Xbox content creators have huge blame too they been over 10 years supporting Phil Spencer horrendous leadership and now Xbox it's almost dead and they were accomplices.

Its a shame as I really enjoyed Prey and Ghostwire and also enjoyed Redfall on launch. But I can understand why they closed them business wise. Prey was a great game but not profitable and Redfall was a flop that did a lot of damage despite Xbox giving them more time and even a year later no dlc. Hi-fi and Ghostwire weren’t financially successful and Tango boss and his top staff all left the business. Overall I think the timing was a bad idea by Xbox just before the showcase and a shame they couldn’t give Arkane/Tango a last chance to redeem themselves.

Every company has been doing lay offs unfortunately.

Rand speaking like a real armchair exec. I would much rather the leadership cut the fat and bring things down where it's manageable than the overextend themselves and end up screwing the whole thing up in the process. Making things manageable. THAT is doing their jobs. It's as I've been telling everyone. This is logistics, not financial. It makes some sense from that perspective even if it hurts a bit.

YOOO!!!🤣

I'm really interested in the additional reporting that comes out for the tango closure. Completely understand the accolades it received and it's uniqueness being a sticking point for the most die hard fans, but from a company structure and support perspective it seems to make the least to me. If zenimax/Bethesda was told cuts were needed, tango their one Japanese studio is in the worst position when it comes to company alignment and support it seems + with their top two ? I think leaving, it seems to mark sense to me from a zenimax/Bethesda structure perspective if that's how it's setup. I don't know if that's for sure, but based on how they've talked about their individual segments sitting under the umbrella, that's my guess.

Jez, I like Bing! It's the only search engine I us3.

You make Redfall you deserve to be shut down end of story

Arkane Austin could have made an immersive Sim streamlined Fallout spin off. Tango could have made Fallout Japan

I roll my eyes every time Jez brings up capitalism. I wont deny capitalism has its shortcomings, but Xbox has clearly been poorly managed. And in a capitalistic system, being poorly managed is one of the most dangerous situations a company can be in. I blame primarily Xbox management, not capitalism, for the closure of Tango games.

So if Xbox are refocussing from gamepass but they're going to increase the price and potentially withhold titles from day one release, why on earth would I stay subscribed and without gamepass why would I not just buy Xbox titles on PS5?

Mmmm……🤔…..Who to replace Phil ?…….BRING IN BOBBYYYYYY !!!! ☠️😏☠️

Jez I appreciate your work. But please try to educate yourself more on economy. I don't try to be arrogant. I honestly mean that. When you constantly speak about "the pain of capitalism" etc it actually worries me what kind of picture of economy you have in your heard and I worry that deep down you hope for actual socialism. It sounds like a socialist dog whistle to me, even if it's not intended by you. You know that even with all its downsides, people being free to buy the products they want and have contracts with who they want is the basis for the economic success of our society. It's a complicated discussion but a lot of issues we have no aren't because of capitalism but actually because of our money system, centralized money that can be endlessly printed and governments that shut down economies and give away money, increasing inflation etc. Please don't fall in the trap that socialism is a solution when it will only lead to poverty, suffering, deaths, hunger, less products and don't even think about games. Capitalism is the only reason we have these highly expensive but highly immersive games like Cyberpunk.

That would be cool if still Spencer was the CEO of Xbox.But that's not going to happen

Rand you need to go work at Xbox bro

lol that was the first thing I thought, this is all Jez' fault.

I actively lose IQ points when I hear people cry about capitalism on a gaming podcast

Thank God, my priorities in life shifted some time ago and I am no longer as invested in gaming and Xbox as I used to. Otherwise this would be a super tough year for me

xbox mindshare is done, sad to be honest.

I believe Microsoft is secretly trading small studios to nintendo and ps, but at the end microsoft will have all the big games like cod, minecraft, roblox etc...

This is one of the worst xbox podcast besides Riskit 4 the biscuit podcast , jez is the worst man, xbox fans should not support these dudes

I'm starting to think that Hi-Fi Rush was way more expensive to make than we could imagine.

DEI hire Sarah Bond

Another awesome show and love the level headedness of delayed, well thought through discourse. Please don't too much chase the trend of daily and "emergency" shows. This four plus hour weekly discourse is heads and shoulders above the rest. Keep up the great work.

Subscribing to gamepass just for cod would not be worth it. You'll save more money just buying the game then to pay a monthly subscription.