It's part of a larger article delving into Sarah Bond's role, career and both present and upcoming challenges as Xbox' president
Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/feat...ft-s-next-game-console?srnd=homepage-americas
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Bloomberg: Xbox is operating under a "challenging set of revenue and profit goals", following Activision acquisition
- Thread starter Knight
- Start date
It's part of a larger article delving into Sarah Bond's role, career and both present and upcoming challenges as Xbox' president
Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/feat...ft-s-next-game-console?srnd=homepage-americas
Still will always be kind of odd to me that regulators couldn't see that trying to make CoD exclusive doesn't make sense, especially given how Minecraft has operated the past 10 years.
The whole CMA/DoJ/FTC perspective just seemed like it was based on wrong information or on some sort of supposition that Xbox had anything approaching equal standing with Sony in console markets.
Xbox going 3rd party has always been the most optimal solution if they can still figure out some solution to selling consoles that offer an affordable way to use GamePass.
I still think an Xbox that's a Windows machine or reference device for one is where they'll end up someday.
The whole CMA/DoJ/FTC perspective just seemed like it was based on wrong information or on some sort of supposition that Xbox had anything approaching equal standing with Sony in console markets.
Xbox going 3rd party has always been the most optimal solution if they can still figure out some solution to selling consoles that offer an affordable way to use GamePass.
I still think an Xbox that's a Windows machine or reference device for one is where they'll end up someday.
Yeah no shit. Their install base is going to shrink even further this gen compared to previous gen. It makes sense to see what they are doing. I think with the multiplat approach and the big IP they have they will be fine
They were operating under the assumption that it would be made exclusive similar to what was done with Bethesda. It wasn't unreasonable to expect that.
They were operating under the assumption that it would be made exclusive similar to what was done with Bethesda. It wasn't unreasonable to expect that.
I mean they're a business so of course they need to make money after spending so much.
Phil had a decade to put Xbox in a position to make money. At some point you have to stop relying on other divisions.
Also framing of this thread is kinda ridiculous.
Phil had a decade to put Xbox in a position to make money. At some point you have to stop relying on other divisions.
Also framing of this thread is kinda ridiculous.
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If the situation is such dire, maybe they shouldn't approve 60B$ buyback and 10% increase dividend 4 days ago.
Microsoft staffers crying about a reasonable and potentially expected regulatory decision is deeply unserious lol. laughable people
I get that part of it, but Bethesda's IPs are so much smaller; the entirety of Zenimax is probably worth 50% of just CoD.
I think the plan was always going to end up being Xbox going 3rd party; there wasn't really any eventuality in my mind where somehow Xbox gets 50% of high end consoles (however you define that) given Sony's SP games are so dominant.
They broke down in tears because of the billable hours they knew they'd have to pay their lawyers for the regulation battle lmao
It's interesting that, without Activision, they might have had an interesting portfolio of exclusives in a time where Sony is struggling a bit on the first party side. Instead they have to make everything multi platform just to survive. It will probably be more profitable long term but it's interesting
No point to posting this if you understand that Xbox is around 3% of Microsoft.
The other 97% of Microsoft has literally nothing to do with Xbox's struggles.
i know the crying bit is just meant to make these corporate gargoyles appear 45% human but i'm just imagining an aaron sorkin like emotional breakdown with music swelling
They just fired people on the WoW team like two weeks ago
Quite the thread editorialization from a good profile piece on Sarah Bond lol. Even bolding the part about staffers crying due to the CMA decision unrelated to the thread title and without commentary. C'mon.
Dina Bass wrote a good article with a lot of interesting information across Bond herself, racism and sexism she has faced vs an exec like Phil Spencer, Spencer himself, Microsoft's board, the ABK deal, talks about the mobile store stuff, a handheld Xbox, etc.
On topic: yeah it's been known they have challenging financial targets to hit. We have seen their revenues drop sans ABK. Microsoft typically targets like 20%+ in profit margins and surely Xbox has not been hitting that for a long time as we see from the pivot to multiplatform releases.
Dina Bass wrote a good article with a lot of interesting information across Bond herself, racism and sexism she has faced vs an exec like Phil Spencer, Spencer himself, Microsoft's board, the ABK deal, talks about the mobile store stuff, a handheld Xbox, etc.
On topic: yeah it's been known they have challenging financial targets to hit. We have seen their revenues drop sans ABK. Microsoft typically targets like 20%+ in profit margins and surely Xbox has not been hitting that for a long time as we see from the pivot to multiplatform releases.
Companies will always find a way to fuck up a good thing.
Being told no by regulators is probably an unfamiliar experience to some of these corporate people.
I've wondered for a while now like, what is the "point" of Xbox as a concept?
It sure seems like MS could make the same kinds of deals and acquisitions and be a giant publisher with literally a ridiculous number of developers and IPs under their umbrella without being chained to needing to maintain this line of physical consoles tied to an increasingly irrelevant legacy.
And as a third-party publisher, their games would readily continue to sell on say, Playstation, whatever the Switch 2 looks like, and their own cloud, mobile, etc., things.
"Its gaming unit is operating under a challenging set of revenue and profit goals, according to people familiar with Xbox's business, who declined to be named while discussing private financial matters."
Yeah, its obvious to anyone paying attention.
Just margins on consoles alone it must be ....rough.....
Yeah, whatever they do decide for a next gen Xbox is gonna be extremely interesting.
Yeah, its obvious to anyone paying attention.
Just margins on consoles alone it must be ....rough.....
Yeah, whatever they do decide for a next gen Xbox is gonna be extremely interesting.
I might be wrong, but reading it seems like preparing the ground for Bond to take over
Maybe I'm reading it wrong
Maybe I'm reading it wrong
they'd make much more money if they played the long game and invested in their platform instead of going third party.
No shit. 70 bil ain't cheap and they're gonna want an ROI sooner than later
I mean, isn't that what they did with the Series consoles at the beginning of the generation? It didn't work out.
I mean, isn't that what they did with the Series consoles at the beginning of the generation? It didn't work out.
Can we get another "update for fans" blaming the market for the way they do business? Or perhaps double down on the contractor workforce. They've got this.
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I thought the Series consoles were an amazing offering, and they still lost significant ground. I cannot see them wanting to really invest in another hardware generation. Hope I am wrong
Well...Bethesda games were the first to go from exclusive to multi platform so....
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Damn...I forgot about Sea of Thieves.... I wont edit my post, lol.
This would be quite the twist.
And I'm here for it.
I lost count the times during the acquisition battle that people said Xbox now have unlimited access to the "war chest." As if Microsoft corporate would allow unlimited spending by Xbox, a division showing stalled, if not negative, growth for years.
"a challenging set of revenue and profit goals" sounds like that period when you've run out of money but your salary isnt due anytime soon.
Staffers probably worked long hours for months pulling together everything they thought they needed to make the deal go through, and then were told that all they had worked on was killed. It wasn't just "we have concerns, we would like to know more." It was "no, this deal isn't happening." Disappointment + exhaustion = emotional response.
Except they forgot the most important part, games. The fact that the series consoles didn't launch with anything to show off the console was mind boggling. First time I ever seen it for a console launch. Then multiple droughts throughout the 4 yrs…
If anything it makes them feel less relatable. Unless you're an owner, what kind of nutcase is that invested in a business merger going through?
The 70 billion dollars spent to buy Activision isn't something Microsoft expects to "earn back". That's not how investments work.
A better way to put it is, the MS games division as a whole was what got the 70 billion dollar investment, because they've been declining for a long while. The games division needs to prove that they were good to invest in, because MS could have invested all that into myriad other things that might have brought better returns, like AI or whatever.
The games division got a huge supplement to their revenue by joining with Activision, but if after that they keep going down year over year, they're going to be in trouble. The big thing Activision buys them is more income the division can use to dig themselves out of their hole, and be on the path to growth again.
A better way to put it is, the MS games division as a whole was what got the 70 billion dollar investment, because they've been declining for a long while. The games division needs to prove that they were good to invest in, because MS could have invested all that into myriad other things that might have brought better returns, like AI or whatever.
The games division got a huge supplement to their revenue by joining with Activision, but if after that they keep going down year over year, they're going to be in trouble. The big thing Activision buys them is more income the division can use to dig themselves out of their hole, and be on the path to growth again.
Not really. There's no world where Call of Duty is going to be profitable if you cut off half of its existing audience, and then put the series on a service that's going to mean a lot of the remaining people won't have to buy it.
Basically, no more big checks from papa Microsoft for the Xbox division until they start pulling their own weight financially.
View: https://x.com/ethangach/status/1837160607142777306?t=EU-dvlVgObsfVIJKg4uvJQ
Good thing Bond was there to make those concessions and get the deal because Phil was in his pajamas. Running Xbox must've aged bro by 30 years.
Seems to confirm that the studio closures came from the very top of MS and not the game division itself
