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00:00:01
It's Time To Break Up With Xbox...
25 Plays6 months ago
Thanks for watching the Log On Games Podcast! We are here to talk Video Games and sometimes food. Shoot us a comment and be a part of the show live or if you are seeing this later we would love a like or subscribe! Follow us everywhere here: https://linktr.ee/logongames
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Transcript
Introduction and Humor
00:00:01
Speaker
What's up, everybody? Welcome to the Log on Games Podcast. Today, we're gonna be talking about Xbox being just absolutely on fire and dying yet again. But first, we gotta roll that clip, baby!
00:00:34
Speaker
Carlos made it just in time. I wish people could see our little square this while the while the video and songs going on because we were going at. So what's funny is I don't see it, but you can see what I'm doing during that segment. I see on my screen, I have all three of you down here at the like the bottom left. OK, as well as like in the main screen. So yeah, I saw I saw the moves.
Meet Andrew and Transition to Topics
00:01:01
Speaker
Oh, with me on this podcast today. You can find him ready to worship in NYC. We got at Brown Berserker. We have Andrew with us on the podcast today.
00:01:19
Speaker
I'll be worshiping. What's up? When's the show? Twice. He'll be there Sunday, too. I'm seeing them Sunday in Colorado. And then the following week, it's a Tuesday or Wednesday in New York. Wednesday in New York. Oh, God. Hold on. Double worship. I lost audio. No, I'm back.
00:01:42
Speaker
I have my headphones connected to both the computer and my phone. Oh, yep. All I did was turn my phone on. My phone's like, all right, this is where you are now. I want the audio. Give me the audio. You only drink the water when it's holy, bro. Also with us today, you can find him right above me, you know, right somewhere.
00:02:08
Speaker
Hey there neighbor. Oh, I get what you're saying. I thought you're talking about the layout geographical layout I Am sweaty I still have my work badge on actually I literally ran through the door and threw my stuff down He went from adulting to
00:02:37
Speaker
talking about nerdy stuff. I'm, I'm still transitioning into that mode right now. But, uh, dude, tell, tell, tell us man, like, how would you rate that show?
Concert Experiences and Challenges
00:02:50
Speaker
You were, you were there
00:02:53
Speaker
Can you think this guy is going to give you anything under a 10? Seriously? So for those of you who don't know, all three of us are sleep token fans. If you've never heard of them, you will. I almost took my shirt off because I've got the tattoo. He's got a tattoo. Yeah, this guy has a tattoo that's a nervous chest.
00:03:13
Speaker
me and my way saw them on Tuesday night at the Roxy here in Atlanta, Georgia. I told Andrew a little bit about it.
00:03:28
Speaker
There was a Braves game going on at the same time and the venue for those of you that don't know is literally like right beside the stadium. And so parking took quite a bit of time. So we basically missed the whole first bangs. We were just trying to find parking. The lots were full and then when they weren't full, they'd like take the sign down, but then like three seconds later they put the sign back up.
00:03:47
Speaker
So we finally got a lot and just drove around for 30 minutes until somebody left and took their spot. And the AC was out in the Roxy and it was hot as balls. Capital B A L W S. Great energy drink, by the way. It is. I really like it. So there was an opening band. Empire State. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
00:04:14
Speaker
I have a lot of people don't like them from what I've heard but like I kind of dig it because it's like a little bit like Dillinger escape plan as chaos so I mean I don't want to get too music businessy on here but I told Emily I was like part of the reason that
00:04:28
Speaker
I think they're probably just friends with that band. She's like a small band or whatever, because they're going to they they're going to be able to say that they sold out their entire tour in like three seconds and it's just them. You know, like they're also going to bring me on the show or a freakin bad omen's on the show or anything like that. Just sleep token.
00:04:48
Speaker
So pretty much they're gonna have those stats for whoever they want to tour with in the future. They can be like, we sold out in half a second everywhere and it was basically just us on the dock. Basically, yeah. Yeah, it was so hot, dude. I told Andrew before we started, I sat down in our seat and I just sweat for two hours. I sat down the whole show because I didn't want to be in the people's way behind me. And I just sat down just sweating. Just for two hours just sweating.
00:05:16
Speaker
And I was saying to him, like you think in the seats, right? Like there's free flowing air. If you're on the floor, you're just like packed in with people. So I mean, yeah, he was saying you see. Yeah, he was saying people are just passing out. Literally. Yeah. Yeah. Dude, because Sunday I was at Alf Wolf Amir and I was in the pits for that. And like after Amir, I was like, I got to go chill because I was
00:05:41
Speaker
really hot. I was sweating. I was like getting nauseous. I'm like, okay, I'm overheating right now. There was four or five people that passed out on the floor in between the first band and Sleep Token. I was like, man, they almost made it.
00:05:57
Speaker
Oh my gosh. Imagine like, that's what like I was asking him as I wonder if they gave refunds out for any of this because like they didn't like send out emails being like, Hey, are you AC broken or it's not going to be on or whatever. So like these people that spend all this money and was on Ticketmaster multiple days refreshing trying to buy tickets like we all were. It finally got there just to like pass out because there's no AC. Yeah. Right before it took in like.
00:06:25
Speaker
It's brutal. It's brutal. I told him when we got in there, it's like, I'm not like we ate before. It's like, I'm not planning on buying any food or anything when we get in there. And immediately I was like, we need to get water. We need to get some water stat.
00:06:40
Speaker
Uh, but we had good seats. It was one of the, uh, you just like scan the QR code and order something and they bring it to you seats. Oh, nice. I mean, were you guys were to like, that was surprisingly close. I was expecting it'd be higher up and like they were smaller. They were like same. Yeah. Based on like the, on the, on the website where you can go and like virtually look at your seats.
00:07:05
Speaker
It seemed further back. Plus I'd been there before to see like under us and stuff but we sat in the back section so it was further back anyway like the front back.
00:07:15
Speaker
But yeah, we had perfect seats. Like if I could sit there for every show ever, I would. And I was like the perfect spot because Emily's short. I don't know if you guys know this. She's like two and a half feet tall. She can fit in a jinko pocket. Exactly. So like it was required that we have those seats for her to have a good time. So that's good.
00:07:38
Speaker
Well, we want to welcome everybody to the Log On Games Podcast where we talk about games, sometimes talk about music, sometimes talk about food. Mm-hmm. Talk about it all.
Gaming News and Streaming
00:07:48
Speaker
It's a weekly show in which our hosts discuss the variety of gaming news topics from new games, big announcements, events, and more. New episodes are right here.
00:07:57
Speaker
streaming either on YouTube or Twitch, live, around 5.30 usually on Thursdays. And then if you are listening to us or want to listen to us on streaming platforms, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, wherever it is you listen to your podcast at, it'll be usually an hour or two after the stream. So if you want to be the first, definitely go follow us on YouTube or on Twitch to be ready when we go live. And you can follow us at Logon Games everywhere else.
00:08:26
Speaker
I'll post a Instagram story before we go live. Usually I just did that today. Um, so if you want to be on top of things, you can do that. If you're watching live or you're watching later over on YouTube, just give us a like. It's not that hard to do. You know, even if you don't like us, just pretend that it's a, it's a thumbs down. I don't know what else to tell you.
00:08:53
Speaker
Do a handstand and hit the thumbs down. Yep. Which will be a thumbs up. Tell them. Tell them. OK, guys, so some things have happened this week and. I've been hearing. It's been it's been a time.
00:09:12
Speaker
So I have a lot of links in our bio, a lot of articles with a lot of words. So I'm not gonna read everything. A lot of reading. I'm not a very good reader. I don't wanna read, but I'm just gonna try and find the bullet points. So surface level, Xbox shut down some studios again. But I think it kind of goes,
00:09:39
Speaker
beyond that, but I'll read a little bit and then we'll discuss and then I'll read a little bit more and we'll keep going. This comes from theverge.com.
Microsoft's Gaming Strategy Challenges
00:09:49
Speaker
Just hours after learning that Microsoft was shutting down a number of game studios this week, Dinga Bakaba, head of Microsoft, owned Arkane Leon decided to let the company know how he felt on the decision.
00:10:00
Speaker
don't throw us into gold fever gambits don't use us as straw men from for miscalculations blind spots he wrote on X I'm gonna make sure I have the right order of things here see there's a lot of there's a lot of
00:10:22
Speaker
the developers and active developers. This is tweets for days, tweets for days. But three Bethesda studios, Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and Alpha Dog Games are being shuttered, and the team at Roundhouse Studios is moving into Cinemax Online Studios. The studio closure comes less than six months after Microsoft laid off 1900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees. And just months after Sony closed some of its own game studios, laid off around 900 employees.
00:10:51
Speaker
The list of layoffs at game studios continues to grow on a weekly basis with GTA 6 and Bioshock publishers take two laying off hundreds of employees last month. We don't typically react or talk about layoffs on this show because it's a weekly show and if we did that we'd literally be like hey guess what 20,000 studios closed this week and then that would be every single week. Yeah. That's pretty much what it's been like for like the last six to eight months it's just been like
00:11:21
Speaker
multiple studios closing every week. Inside Xbox, now there's uncertainty about what the future holds and the questions over Microsoft's gaming strategy. While Microsoft is looking towards a more PC-like future for its Xbox console, the company continues to battle slowdown and game pass subscribers, lackluster console sales, and game launch delays.
00:11:42
Speaker
All right, so first things first, if you guys aren't aware, Tango Game Works, they just did Hi-Fi Rush that was get a bunch of awards and did really well. Highly praised. They also did The Evil Within 1 and 2, which I personally loved. I love both of those games. Also that was shut down was Arkane Austin, who did the Dishonored games. They did Prey. They also did Redfall, which is obviously garbage, but that's the only garbage game they've ever made, essentially.
00:12:12
Speaker
Um, and then alpha dog games, which I, oh, perfect timing, dude. Alpha dog. Um, I think they're there. They do mobile games. I don't know. I'll look them up. Um, but let's go to Andrew first. Just give me your, your overall thoughts on
00:12:35
Speaker
So I've been, you know, I've been listening to other gaming podcasts, shame, shame on me. And yeah, the subject is being talked about like crazy. I think the sad part is when you know, the acquisition with Microsoft gaining all these companies, I feel like these companies just like
00:12:53
Speaker
they were like, oh my God, we're in this safety net that is Microsoft, there's hope, we have funding, this is great, our future is bright, this is awesome. And then for this to happen is just so like, I don't know, it almost feels like Microsoft,
00:13:11
Speaker
is almost prioritizing what, where their money makers are. And, and so say even high-fi rush, you know, it was like a commercial success or whatever. I don't know how it was financially, but like, we've been, this is going to be part of the conversation this whole podcast, but we were told that it was financially successful. Okay. Whether or not that was a lie is up in the air, but, uh,
00:13:35
Speaker
Aaron Greenberg, and this is from another article. He tweeted out, Hi-Fi Rush was a breakout hit for us and our players in all key measures and expectations. Now you would assume that means financial. We couldn't be happier with what the team at Tango GameWorks delivered with the surprise release. That was April 21st of last year. He said that, but continue. Yeah. So like, I feel like any studios underneath Microsoft at this point, I feel has the right to be scared.
00:14:04
Speaker
that if anything that they put out does not succeed, they'll be like go as well. I've heard talks about like how Sea of Thieves is the reason, at this point maybe Rare is still there to be honest. If they- I was about to say. Yeah. What is their money maker right now? Is it Sea of Thieves? Because like they really, Microsoft doesn't have much. Oh, it's Halo Infinite.
00:14:31
Speaker
That's a low bar. I was going to save this for the end, but since you brought it up now, I think all this could have been better if they were just shut down 343 instead because they've rumored Halo long enough.
00:14:44
Speaker
And that way, all these other games that have success, all these other companies, we could have a Hi-Fi Rush 2 on the way, or a new Dishonored game on the way that people would know is going to be good, but no, instead of 343 still working on some bullcrap Halo game that's going to suck too. What kills me is it's not like they're hurting for money. And all these awesome, even quirky games like Hi-Fi Rush, there are reasons for people to go to Game Pass. So keep pumping little or big titles into Game Pass, and it's going to pull more people in.
00:15:14
Speaker
but like i just i don't know i just don't understand what their priority is i i don't know what any of these companies like even sony some of the decisions that we're hearing in the last couple years i don't know what's going on higher ups or you know i i just don't know i just don't know uh carlos what is your take big dog
00:15:36
Speaker
I mean, it's like Andrew is saying, it's like you're watching this like sinking ship that they then set on fire, like as it's sinking and plant explosives. It's just like they're doing everything they can to blow the ship up before it even sinks all the way. And it's such a head scratcher. You know, I don't know.
00:16:05
Speaker
They've been in a lot of trouble for a while because they seem to have lost your footing in the gaming industry. And it's like, well, what are you like? Do you make consoles? You know, do you make first party games? Now you've made all these purchases. OK, now are you a third party game developer? And, you know, like make up your mind. And it's it's that thing where we've talked about in the past, they throw stuff on the wall to see what sticks. But the walls is coated with oil and everything's just sliding down because
00:16:35
Speaker
They said, oh, you know, oil will help for whatever. I don't know why they thought to put oil on the wall. And they just threw stuff at it. And yeah, I don't know. At this point, it's just like.
00:16:53
Speaker
they're digging their own grave at this point. I feel very bad for all of these development companies that got bought out, because like you're saying, this is like, oh, it's a big deal, like Microsoft, they're acquiring all these game studios, big or small, like, okay, well then now we've got financial backing, like we can make really good games.
00:17:18
Speaker
and Microsoft has been sitting on this stuff. I think this also attaches to the conversations we've had before with like first party potentially coming to Sony. Like what type of state is Microsoft in right now to where we're making all these crazy decisions?
00:17:36
Speaker
They have some guy, they have, they have a handful of people that are just like literally insane. Like they, no joke. And they are, they are literally insane and they are so desperate. Like me, if you look at just like the timeline, I think we should kind of like start putting together like a,
00:17:57
Speaker
visual timeline of some sort to just watch the downfall. And it's just it's everything is desperation at this point, when you have to open up your game studios, your first party studios to other consoles, and then you're shutting everything down at your bot. It's like,
00:18:17
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I don't know. It's I'm curious to see how all of this finally ends because Microsoft is just pushing themselves out of the gaming industry. Shout out to Michael Vickers, who got the first comment. So my boy, my boy. Here's a guitar from the first band I was ever in. The goat, the goat. Oh, OK. Yeah, you're correct. And I don't want to toot my horn here.
00:18:47
Speaker
But my theory, I think, is this is part of my whole Microsoft 3 that I've had on this podcast, which is Xbox was very tiny. Even after they bought Bethesda, they were still tiny in Microsoft. And it was just like, all right, you want some pennies to go buy a company? Okay, here you go, whatever. Now they bought Activision Blizzard for $70 billion and all of a sudden they moved up to Microsoft charts. Now they have big boy Microsoft people coming in and being like,
00:19:17
Speaker
Alright, we need to make this money back because this was actually not pennies. This is actually a lot of money. And they I don't know if they just did a deep dive into Xbox and tried to catch up on everything they've been doing and stuff like that. And now it's just like, all right, well, you know, everybody has
00:19:34
Speaker
less money now. And that includes big companies. And so they're like, all right, we need to keep up with our I think they were up like 17, basically 17 to 20%. They were up year over year. So it's not like they've been losing money, but they want to keep that going. So they're just like, all right, we're going to start making sure that we can hit these numbers. And that's going to start with shutting down these studios and stuff like that. So my theory of Microsoft is now involved. And that's partly why this is happening.
00:20:04
Speaker
But it's also just like Carlos said, like there's so much dysfunction. And I think this is crazy to say it. The problem was they shouldn't have bought Activision Blizzard. I think if they didn't buy Activision Blizzard, Xbox would still be status quo. All these, all these developers would probably be working on a game right now. They bought Activision Blizzard, they got Call of Duty and all this stuff.
00:20:30
Speaker
Or they should have only bought Activision Blizzard and not everything else they've been spending their money on and then just put that focus. They said, Hey, we have Diablo, we have World of Warcraft and we have Call of Duty. Like, you know, World of Warcraft is like,
00:20:48
Speaker
at this point, probably the longest running MMO. I don't know if that or RuneScape has been around for a long time too, but it's been there for a long time. It's got its fan base. It's got its subscription model that's still working. It's still generating money. They're still putting out content. So you have these really
00:21:06
Speaker
top tier, like strong games that have withstood the test of time, like put your focus into that then. I mean, they shouldn't have, you know, there's a lot of irresponsibility. I don't know. This was a quote from Phil Spencer when he was on a kind of funny podcast last year when Redfall was, you know,
00:21:30
Speaker
The previews came out and it was garbage. He said, quote, one thing I want, I won't do is push against creative aspirations of our teams. When a team like Rare wants to do Sea of Thieves, when a team like Obsidian wants to do Grounded, when Tango wants to do Hi-Fi Rush, when everyone thought they were probably doing the Evil Within 3, I want to give the teams creative platform to go and push their ability to push their aspirations. There he is.
00:21:57
Speaker
But it's, it's Phil and Sarah Bond and Matt Booty, which are like kind of the three faces of Xbox. I mean, I looked it up today, Phil Spencer took over Xbox in 2014. So it's been literally 10 years, a decade. And are they in a better place now than they were 10 years ago? Maybe.
00:22:26
Speaker
10 years ago, master chief collection launched and it was an abysmal failure. So the question is, do we believe that Phil was a part of the decisions made or was it like financial backing and more higher up? That was like that. We need to pull the plug on these studios. That's part of the problem and the confusion is say that
Phil Spencer's Leadership Questions
00:22:55
Speaker
My theory is true that Microsoft really only got the higher ups and Microsoft really only got involved since this Activision Blizzard stuff came about. And they were like, All right, let's take a bigger jump with Xbox or whatever. That still means that for nine or eight and a half nine years, Phil Spencer and whoever the head of, you know, the Xbox teams are pretty much got to do whatever they want. And they
00:23:23
Speaker
I mean, they had some successes, but they had also a lot of failures, and they still didn't make any really good games. It was still the Game Awards every year, and there's no Xbox games in the Game of the Year nominations. That happened forever. And so let's say now,
00:23:42
Speaker
Microsoft's in charge and Phil Spencer's like we got this plan that we want to do and Microsoft's like well too bad because we need to make money now. And so now Microsoft's making the decisions and Phil Spencer's there trying to make it manageable and maybe even make it maybe it's not as bad as it could have been because Phil Spencer's there or not. But either way it's like
00:24:06
Speaker
The Xbox team didn't deliver for up until now. And now that Microsoft is very heavily involved. This is just what is going to happen now. We're just going to tell you what, though, like if they if they show up on any like studios like door, just like that's what you know, that studio is going to look in between the blinds and be like.
00:24:30
Speaker
We're not home. They bought Activision Blizzard and like immediately laid off and a bunch of people
00:24:37
Speaker
They bought Bethesda what two years ago and now they've shut down essentially half of the studios because they shut down studios before just today or this has happened. You know like if you let me try and find the graphic when the last time we were praising Microsoft. Well, here's the thing because like let's let's let's zoom out a little bit at the lens of just Microsoft overall.
Microsoft's Broader Issues
00:25:00
Speaker
All right. Windows 11 has been the one of the most, if not the least received operating systems that they've ever put out. They're constantly pushing into making
00:25:18
Speaker
operating systems give you an advertisement to push AI into operating systems and to harvest your data. Not only that, but when Windows 11 launched, there was also a lot of compatibility issues or issues upgrading because it was like your hardware is not going to work well. There might be issues with the hardware.
00:25:41
Speaker
And people are still having issues with Windows 11 today. Some people don't, but it's still regarded as a not very widely loved operating system. So there's that aspect. There is the money that they've been dumping into AI and then everything that's going wrong with the gaming industry. So when you look at all the decisions they've been making as a company, it makes even less sense. It's like, well, what are you? Like, what is even Microsoft anymore?
00:26:10
Speaker
Yeah and it's like I'm just gonna read this because there's more. This is still from The Verge. Microsoft has also had internal debates about whether to put new releases of Call of Duty into Game Pass. I understand this is a debate that has been ongoing internally for quite some time with concerns
00:26:32
Speaker
from some that the revenue that Call of Duty typically generates for Activision Blizzard will be undermined by Game Pass. I'm told that Microsoft has also considered increasing the price of Game Pass Ultimate again. These are only considerations, so final decisions would mean we still see the future of Call of Duty releases appear in most versions.
00:26:51
Speaker
of Game Pass. The debate internally reflects the fact that Microsoft's Xbox strategy has shifted from just delivering its games exclusively to Game Pass to considering bringing more Xbox games to multiple platforms. This also comes from this week, the rumor that essentially that Hellblade 2 is going to be other places, which would mean PlayStation. PC, please. And PC, probably.
00:27:20
Speaker
So now it's just like, OK, well, if we take what the thing that they did right, Alpha Dog. Microsoft's got the dogs just going crazy. They've got the dogs, man. The things that they have done right, which would be Game Pass and. Now you're going to buy all these teams and like, like that was kind of the point of Game Pass was to be like,
00:27:46
Speaker
We're going to have a video. I think forget what the what their Microsoft guy said that he won like 100 million game pass subscribers by 2030 or whatever. And they're at like, I don't know, last time they came out with numbers. I think they're at like 36 million or something like that, which would mean the next six years somehow you have to get 70 million, which are all this bull crap. I don't see that happening. But if you're not going to put
00:28:13
Speaker
your call, if you're not going to put Call of Duty and you're going to stop putting these like high, these games that are going to make a lot of money on Game Pass or you are going to put them on Game Pass, but then Game Pass is now like $25, $30 a month, then. Something's got to give somewhere. And I mean, I have Xbox right here. You guys want me to smash it live on? Dude, let's go.
00:28:46
Speaker
I'm just hoping they go under and Sega comes back. Dreamcast 2, baby. Let's go. I forgot I had one of my lights plugged into it. I hear this, guys. Breaking news. I think I'm going to be posting this on Facebook Marketplace. I can ship it. It's a good paperweight. I mean, it's hefty. It's a nice looking black box. Feed it to your dogs. Eat this now.
00:29:15
Speaker
It's kind of monolith looking. I'll make a giant terrarium and put it in there and make it look cool. Yeah, it's just. It's just it's wild. It's wild and not. We've talked about we've had similar conversations on this podcast of this right here for the last six months, but see if thieves came out on PlayStation and PlayStation blog came out today and see if these was the third highest selling game on the PlayStation Store digitally.
00:29:44
Speaker
Which is great and I bought it as well as well as everybody that I played see if these was on Xbox because
00:29:52
Speaker
Almost every time I turn on my Xbox of the last year, it's been to play Sea of Thieves. And so now that's over there. I was just like two of the guys that we play with have series S's. So they're not getting like full 4K beauty and see if it's a pretty game. It's a beautiful game. So they got it on PlayStation. Oh, yeah. This is incredible. And it runs really well. And we got trophies and we got all sorts of stuff happening. And so now it's literally like I'm excited for Hellblade 2.
00:30:22
Speaker
And I, but I mean, at this point, help a two can come out and be good or bad. I don't think it matters because help Ninja theory is that kind of high five rushy Tango team that like six months from now they can be like, well, Microsoft came in and they're like, well, it didn't sell 30 million copies. So we're going to shut them down. And it's like, all right, well,
00:30:46
Speaker
There you go. Or they're going to put it on PlayStation. I assume that's that was part of the strategy, like, hey, let's put Hi-Fi Rush out first on PlayStation and switch and see how much money we can make. Oh, not enough. Shut them down. It should have came to switch. I think it did, didn't it? No. That's bull crap. That's where they messed up. That's where they messed up. One of the million ways they've messed up.
00:31:16
Speaker
It's I mean, it's wild. It's an ever growing list. And I just don't know what it's going to take for them to get a good name again. It kind of feels like all this news that came up in the last week really feels like that, like crazy, just like some crazy scene in Game of Thrones that nobody saw coming. This is like a red wedding type thing because they really are just chopping everything. And yeah, people are just like bad. What the heck?
00:31:46
Speaker
Sorry, I'm trying to plug my light back in, and I can't do it. Yeah, no, it's sad. I mean, I originally was an Xbox guy first and foremost. Like, when Xbox came out, and even when PlayStation came out, I was just always Xbox, always Xbox. I had all the consoles, but I was always Xbox. And at some point, I think it was around the PS4 era, I kind of just shifted. And since that point, I haven't, I don't know.
00:32:16
Speaker
I mean, since they came out with their Xbox One E3 stream and was just like, you always have to be online and you can't share games. And if you can't afford it, then get a second job. And everybody's like, all right, we're not dealing with that. The Kinect is required. Exactly. And they still haven't recovered from that. And Game Pass helped, but not having good games also.
00:32:40
Speaker
I think that's all I got, man. Well, the problem is now, in my opinion, is you now have Phil Spencer in the Xbox team still trying to do something. Obviously, what they've done is still not worked even without Microsoft being involved.
00:32:59
Speaker
But now it seems like they're still trying to do the Xbox thing like they've done it for the last 10 years. But Microsoft is now coming in being like money. We've spent almost $100 billion buying up all these people.
00:33:17
Speaker
money now. And if not, we're going to start shutting things down and we're going to not put Call of Duty on Game Pass and we're going to start putting all of our games on other platforms so we can make this money back. So at this point, it's like you have, in my opinion, you have internally on the Xbox team, they're just trying to still do some of the right things or what they think is the right things. But now you have Microsoft in here.
00:33:46
Speaker
just wanting money so it's like at some point something's got to give and the problem now is they have a Xbox showcase in a month and I saw a tweet that was that made me laugh because it was like
00:34:02
Speaker
Predicting it had a picture like Phil Spencer and just like literally this predicting what he's gonna say since you go on stage Which was just like, you know, it's been a rough couple months here at the Xbox team but we're still Committed to delivering great games and great products and all this kind of stuff. I was just like that's exactly what we're gonna hear but it doesn't matter cuz like
00:34:22
Speaker
High Five Rush was successful, they shut the team down.
Profit Targets and Studio Impacts
00:34:25
Speaker
So like now it's, I mean, Arcane is successful. They had one bad game, but Dishonored, all the Dishonored games were successful. Prey was successful. And so it's just like, they got shut down. And it's just like- What's sad is Phil's energy during the announcement of the acquisition of all these studios.
00:34:44
Speaker
Like the excitement, the hope, like this is going to take Microsoft to the next level. And it's just like to hear all that and to see what happens is just so depressing. I think the problem is.
00:34:57
Speaker
is they are successful and are generating money, but like every big company in the last five years have just been doing nothing but cutting everything they can and chasing as much profit as they can, trim as much fat off. You know, when you're cutting fat from like some meat or something, sometimes a little bit of meat gets stuck in there. It's like, yeah, it's a little bit of meat. Those are the people that are getting affected by all this stuff. And it's just like,
00:35:27
Speaker
They're generating revenue, but they're setting their profit goals with these ridiculous expectations because they're wanting to grab as much as they can. It's no longer about putting out good stuff and getting a percent or two here or there. It's like, no, we need big moves. We need
00:35:48
Speaker
you know, quick, short, you know, we're looking at every quarter now. Now we're trying to pull as much in as we can every quarter. That's all that matters, chasing short term. And this is like, you purchase all of these studios, and there's your investment right there. Investment takes time to grow, you know, and you got it, you got to take care of it like a plant or something. You got just a little bit of TLC, and it'll blossom into something beautiful. But no, they're like, we need it now. We need it now. Investors are money hungry for what, you know?
00:36:16
Speaker
The green is insane, bro. It's insane, dude. And it's not just Microsoft. It's a lot of big studios where all these companies in general, where the layoffs have happened. Yeah, I guess like it's not. Well, I watch some of these gaming podcasts and they're like, you know, we've seen layoffs from across the entertainment industry and like entertainment industry is like the whole freaking is every industry has got some last year. So it's like.
00:36:40
Speaker
Everybody is, you know, we're all like victims to these giant corporate people. I was just like, Oh, for example, it's like, Oh, I want to play Hellblade two really bad. And I want, I really liked Hellblade one, but, and, and usually how it's supposed to go is like, you like what a team does or you like a game. Like you go buy that game or you buy merge or whatever you support them.
00:37:06
Speaker
But Xbox has now told us with like shutting down these students, these specific studios are like, it doesn't matter if you do that, because even if they're successful, we might still shut them down. So I'm going to go on CD keys and get a month of Game Pass for two dollars and 50 cents and play Hellblade 2 and then some Xbox. Like, that's my plan. Imagine little as possible. Imagine in retaliation to this, if a third of the Game Pass users were like, no, we're out.
00:37:35
Speaker
what that would do to Microsoft. Yeah, I mean, they would. Here's the thing. Microsoft to me right now or Xbox to me right now is like you've gone you've gone to the Brazilian wax place and they got they got it right on your chest or wherever it is you have the most hair and they're just as slowly as possible ripping it off. You know what I mean? That's that's what's happening because it's like what pick make up your mind.
00:38:02
Speaker
If it's Microsoft up people that are in charge, if it's Phil Spencer or whoever that's in charge, someone needs to figure it out. Either you're going to be Xbox, like Xbox has been, and try to make up some ground and try and make some good games and put them all out and have them on Game Pass and hopefully, eventually, which we've been saying this for a decade, eventually you have enough games coming out.
00:38:27
Speaker
big and small to feed game pass consistently where people keep the subscription and more people join the subscription everyone wins or you have the Microsoft side that's like let's just go third party let's put all of our games everywhere and make as much money as possible right now they're trying to do both and it's not working and as well this bullcrap is happening so just like
00:38:51
Speaker
either just rip it off. Just rip it off. Let's go third party. Hellblade two is going to be a PlayStation at the end of this year. Halo and Gears are coming probably this year too, because now we know they need to make some money. Yeah, I feel like I do it. I feel like we have already laid out a successful business plan just us on the podcast. Like that's what's so sad is like, you know, this this is all you got to do to get it to work.
00:39:21
Speaker
I mean so Phil's communication since he's you know joined Xbox or whatever has always been He's been very open and the communications been very good to the users and gamers across the world Do you do you think we hear anything from him regarding?
00:39:38
Speaker
what we just got this week. Well, he at least in a month, he's going to be on IGN's live show with Ryan McCaffrey or Phil Spencer is going to step down as CEO and just be like, I'm done.
00:39:55
Speaker
He probably I mean, I mean I that's that's part of like if you're gonna go third party in Microsoft's like we just want as much money as possible but Phil Spencer and his team are still trying to do the Xbox game like they both can't work so like Get I would understand if he stepped down. I would understand if they if we wake up tomorrow and they're like We fired the whole Xbox team. We have new people coming in and that would mean otherwise It's just gonna be this slow
00:40:26
Speaker
That's what it sounds like. That's accurate. I don't know. I've never had a Brazilian wax, Andrew. It's wet and squishy when they pull it back. I just don't know what they could. We can do a whole podcast on things that Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond and Matt Booty have said.
00:40:48
Speaker
better, just straight lies now or were true six months ago and now are just completely not true. So it's like it really doesn't matter what he says. He could do a podcast today and say three hours worth of stuff. It doesn't matter. A game could come out and be successful, successful and it doesn't matter. So it's like at this point, I'm just like, well, in my I'm assuming that their showcase could be great and show off a bunch of great games. I really only care about Fable at this point.
00:41:18
Speaker
but I have no faith that that game's gonna come anywhere soon and I have no faith that it's gonna be an Xbox exclusive. So I have- What even are exclusives anymore for them?
00:41:30
Speaker
So I'm saying like I have no exclusive that I did play. It's now on PlayStation. The system sellers. We have to go to freaking France for a wedding in September. And I'm going to be on a tour for the next two months. So extra three or four hundred dollars would do me quite well right now. And there's nothing I'm going to play or miss. So it's like, and if there is. I can just get it on my phone. I could also see Fable being in development and then getting canceled.
00:42:00
Speaker
Exactly. Jeez, man. And now it makes more sense what we talked about last week that the Xbox Showcase is just the Xbox Showcase now and not the Xbox Plus Bethesda Showcase because Bethesda only has like three studios now. So it's like, well, we're going to shut down some like half the studio. So let's just not call it that anymore. Yeah.
00:42:23
Speaker
What a time. There's really only one other thing. There's a Bloomberg post from Jason Schreier, which I have to pay to read, which I'm not going to do. He kind of he kind of gave the bullet points on his Twitter, a tweet or whatever. Yeah, I heard. I heard about these two. And their Xbox is their Xbox still isn't done. Cutting cost sent voluntary buyout offers to some Zenimax staff. Why were Arkane Austin and Tango gamers closed?
00:42:51
Speaker
Activation purchase has ramped up scrutiny on Xbox and much more So I said I haven't read the article but I assume that means what we said like Microsoft is very much involved in Xbox now And Xbox isn't done closing studios essentially, so I Can't imagine that close more studios before the showcase like
Future Speculation for Xbox
00:43:19
Speaker
We are less than a month away now from the Xbox showcase. So I would assume they would wait, but who knows? If the main three don't have any say in what's going on, I truly feel sorry for the positions they're in right now. I really do. Well, I agree. But the main three have also been in charge for a very long time without myself caring that much.
00:43:46
Speaker
They still haven't done anything really. It was a bunch of Forza games. That was nice. If you're a Forza fan. If you really like cars. Oh, I meant the faces, Phil and Booty and... Yeah, I know. They're saying their plans just haven't come to fruition.
00:44:06
Speaker
I mean, they they've been on podcasts with Redfall and how terrible that was. And then Halo got delayed and it was on the back of the Xbox box. And then when it came out, there wasn't. Content to play. And we have to delay the campaign, but you can play multiplayer now and all this other bullcrap. It's just like an Elder Scrolls 6. What even is that game? I don't know. I feel like they they had their chances and now Microsoft is coming in and like,
00:44:36
Speaker
Yeah, either game passes price is going to be hiked up, or we're just not going to see the quality that game pass has been in the past. But either way, I just I've given the benefit of the doubt that Phil Spencer and Xbox for a long time now, personally, and now I'm just like, why do I have an Xbox? I've talked about was in PlayStation parties with people while we were playing see if the it sounds like after I want to play Hellblade and we're so close now, so I might as well wait. But like,
00:45:05
Speaker
there's no reason cuz like if they actually have a big big game that everybody's gonna want to play it's gonna be on PlayStation 2 and possibly PC and possibly switch it's so weird because it's like
00:45:19
Speaker
Microsoft Xbox division has had incompetency going on for a long time. Then Microsoft steps in and the incompetent people from Microsoft who can't run Microsoft already because of all the other issues are like, yeah, we don't like any of this. And then they just like, you know, it's, I don't know. It's just, I don't know who's actually running Microsoft anymore.
00:45:42
Speaker
It's like the, uh, like if you saw the thumbnail, this is what I was thinking last night when I was making the thumbnail for the stream, which is when do you break up? If you're in a talk, if you're in a toxic relationship, when do you get out of it? You know? And that's exactly what Xbox is. When you're not happy every day. When you're with somebody and they keep making the same mistakes over and over and over again, even though they say they're not going to do it at some point, you just got to be like, all right, I'm just letting you go.
00:46:08
Speaker
Yeah, you don't even enjoy my life anymore. You don't even enjoy being around them anymore. Can you imagine playing an Xbox and just not even being happy that you're playing an Xbox? It's like that's when you know it's got to go. Yeah, it's just like, all right, there's no I have no I can't just deal with you anymore. But any final thoughts for me in this thing out?
00:46:31
Speaker
Nope, I will be sitting with my popcorn and see what happens. We'll be doing live reactions hopefully if I'm still home for the Xbox and Summer Game Fest and all that stuff. But we're going to thank everybody for listening. Again, you can watch us right here every Thursday around 5 30 Eastern time. If you're watching us late.
00:46:53
Speaker
Thank you very much. You can you can find us at log on games everywhere. Log on games podcast and all streaming platforms or on YouTube and Twitch. So thank you all. We will be with you again next Thursday. Bye. See you. Got to play the blade. Oh, but no gaming is really about Brian.