190°

Where Will Microsofts Xbox Axe Fall Next

Xbox head Phil Spencer has now told the employees of Microsoft’s Entertainment Division that by the end of 2014, they will unfortunately be out of work.

The XES Team headed up by Nancy Tellem were told this by Phil Spencer the Head of Xbox and obviously the head of Microsoft Satya Nadella, has seen enough to make some major restructuring decisions.

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xboxplayers.com
Garethvk4266d ago

Done. In description you may want to say Xbox One to quiet the critic who reported you.

XiSasukeUchiha4266d ago (Edited 4266d ago )

I dunno man, but hopefully MS becomes PC company that I remembered :)

MightyNoX4265d ago

I see what you did there. :P

mrpsychoticstalker4266d ago ShowReplies(1)
lifeisgamesok4266d ago

Games, games, games that's all that matters

user74029314266d ago

exactly! why even bother upgrading from ps2? those dumb people wanting 1080p...smh

Godmars2904266d ago

No. A balance of games and media support, because "games" are solely not what consoles are about anymore. Literally any modern system you would care to mention servers an auxiliary function.

The PS2 dominated its era because it possessed a balance between being a media system and a game console. Whereas the XB1's message was "TV, TV, TV," then "Games, games, games."

Mega244265d ago (Edited 4265d ago )

I disagree, most people and casual audience already own a piece of hardware that does a better job then the Xbox One because it was designed for that purpose. This days the average casual consumer has a dvr, smart tv and music system in they're living room. So most will go for the console that was advertised for games, instead of the one that was advertise for all in one, because why would you get a piece of hardware when you already owned three thing that do the same and do a better job at it? Most of them will buy one anyway because some of the average consumers are attracted by some games that it may offer, and have money to waste.

IMO its all bs, (but this is just me) because I don't use Netflix, its a horrible service with outdated movies and series my dvr records for me. Movie rentals in both PSN and XBL are super expensive, I can get Bluray movies for $2 rent at the corner Video store, and watch them at an even better quality. As for music, both services again fall short of Spotify and Pandora, and even some cable providers offer a better selection of music channels.

My conclusion on this matter is people who own DVR's, Smart TV's and Home Theaters shouldn't get this consoles if they are not going to game on them.

Death4265d ago

Both consoles are being marketed as media machine capable. Sony has a much more vested interest in media content since they own record labels along with movie studios. The deal they made at the end of last gen with Viacom proves this along with VitaTV which acts as a Roku player. The only one not pushing media content is Nintendo.

Godmars2904265d ago (Edited 4265d ago )

@Mega24:
Your mistakes are applying your own view and needs to the general market, then again only regarding the "majority". Just like MS in trying to apply "choices" and "options" as PR terms while shoving DRM and XBL Gold down people's throats. Absently excluding a minority of the market w/o internet, regardless that they had bought a 360 before.

That "most" people own other devices that do things modern consoles can, doesn't mean that "all" people do. That just like "some" are just getting into media systems "some" already involved with them may decide to choose to use a media enabled console exclusively, either keeping whatever else they might have as a backup, sell it off or give it away.

MS's mistake was going for the all-in-one "option" and not really making things optional. Either you bought the XB1, put it online, paid for XBL in order to access basic functions, bought and sold games under specific terms, *and* had Kinect plugged in and watching you, or you stayed with the 360. Because that was really the only "choices" the market had in their world view when they have first planned things out.

That planning hurt them a great deal, may even cause the division to be sold or shut down if it can't recover from only regarding a majority rather than the whole market, so as a result they've made themselves look more accessible. offered actual choices while shutting down a good chunk of a just forming media arm.

Sony meanwhile has just been chugging along, hit a minor bump by making PS+ mandatory *if* your thing is online multiplayer and the further addendum of not having to bother with it all if your thing is MMOs - and not "free" games - while pushing along their media projects. Which will also be on TVs and tablets.

Some people are going to want what Sony is offering through the PS3/PS4/PSV/PS-TV/Sony brand TVs/iOS devices, but they don't have bother with them if they don't want to. The same still can't really be said of the XB1 and whatever platform MS is scrambling to attach the Xbox brand to. Something they tried to do to PC via GFWL, which at first came with a subscription fee.

(damn rambling...)

Starbucks_Fan4266d ago

Lol so many negative articles lately

Hanuman4266d ago

What's even funnier is that in the first five comments of these articles, you come across the same 1 bubble trolls. Luckily N4G has an Ignore option!

Moncole4265d ago

They must have really bad games because if they had good games than they would be busy playing them and not trolling.

Gamer7774265d ago (Edited 4265d ago )

The people writing these articles don't understand that MS is cutting jobs due to having too many employees after they purchased Nokia. The entertainment division was cut cause it was impractical.

lelo4265d ago (Edited 4265d ago )

Don't bother explaining. Fanboys are morons.

As for the people laid off, best of luck.

medman4265d ago (Edited 4265d ago )

@gamer777
That doesn't explain the decision to axe Xbox entertainment, nor would it engender faith in remaining employees wondering just how much the "new" Microsoft will be changing in the coming years and what that means for their employment with the company.

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70°

Two more senior Xbox leaders exit Microsoft

Microsoft has lost another two long-serving members of its senior team: corporate VP of partnerships, business development, and marketing, Lori Wright, and general manager of gaming AI at Xbox, Haiyan Zhang. Both announced their departures on LinkedIn.

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eurogamer.net
Paik3d ago

Who?

Also an AI person leaving is a good thing

SimulationDaily2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

People in this industry move around. People's reaction to this kind of (usually irrelevant) article is always hilarious.

Of course, it's a weekend, so you can't expect the "contributors" at Eurogamer to contribute anything relevant. Finding real gaming news is hard for some 😂

VenomUK2d ago

Xbox influencer Colt Eastwood made a complete fool of himself, again. He posted his assumption that Asha Sharma fired the staff, but when Haitian Zhang politely refuted his claim he deleted his tweet!

https://x.com/jamiesact/sta...

peppeaccardo2d ago

Abandon ship ... Abandon ship ....

darthv722d ago

Its the ones who were part of the team that decided on taking XB games 3rd party.... no real loss.

fr0sty2d ago

Microsoft's shareholders and CEO made that call, not Xbox.

gold_drake2d ago

they've definitely worked there for too long. their responses are "me me me me" shit.

no sane person talks like that.

1Victor2d ago

You know what the sailors say about sinking ships

2d ago Replies(6)
1Victor1d 23h ago (Edited 1d 23h ago )

@Maximus:” @elda - why bother replying to that delusional clown?”
.
The worse part is the wasted time replying and then getting erased when his account get banned

2d ago
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40°

Indie studio Speculative Agency returns Microsoft Xbox funding and urges others to boycott

Indie studio Speculative Agency - which is currently making "a narrative courtroom deck-builder about ordinary people who make the powerful pay for destroying our future", called All Will Rise (quote from Kickstarter) - has made the brave decision to return funding given by Xbox and Microsoft to join the No Games For Genocide boycott.

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eurogamer.net
StarcrossedBits11d ago

Oh good lord. Could Eurogamer wear their politics more overtly on their sleeve? While I disagree with Speculative Agency's decision the article by Eurogamer is painful. It's not a news article, its a propaganda opinion piece. Consider the language used:
*"Brave decision to return funding" -- A proper article would have said 'made the decision' or 'made the difficult decision'. Saying 'brave' editorializes in a way that isn't appropriate for news article.
*"All Will Rise narrative director Meghna Jayanth - renowned for her work on Inkle's 80 Days and, more recently, the genre-mash-up skateboarding dating game Thirsty Suitors" -- The writer is significantly exaggerating the relevance of this person. They are not renowned. I'm a former game journalist who is obsessed with game development and indie games and I vaguely remember those games as minor blips and nothing of real note. The narrative director is definitely not a well known name (something required to be 'renowned').
*The article provides no critical thought or counterpoint, nothing to to push back the idea that Microsoft is contributing to genocide. In fact the opposite, it accepts the statement as truth and then links to a video to educate their uninformed viewers about the evil of Microsoft. (Of course, Eurogamer has accepted significant funds from Microsoft)

TheGamersDojo11d ago

Yep, I stopped reading relatively quickly when I learned what it was about. They, like many other sites, have gone from one of the greats to unfortunate political propaganda site in recent years.

1nsomniac11d ago

… so no one cares about your opinion either. You’re a no one. What does it matter.

Huey_My_D_Long11d ago

Over 35 States enact laws on restricting BDS to protect Israel, but yeah this one piece is propaganda and needs to do both sides? Because it needs to offer counter points that MS is not contributing to a Genocide? Despite the business dealings they have with Israel like "Microsoft's cloud computing and AI services have been used by the Israeli military to facilitate its operations in Gaza and for mass surveillance of Palestinians"
.
I mean if you dont think there is a Genocide...how about you just say so? Or that MS services are not helping Israel in their efforts. Seems like propaganda already got to you
I see why you are a former journalist

Christopher11d ago

I mean, everything Microsoft (and Sony and Nintendo and Valve) puts out is also propaganda for their company. Are we criticizing every bit of propaganda or just Eurogamer?

I get your point, but it seems to be from an echo room and not as the industry as a whole.

Personally, I'm fine with people having their own opinions. Doesn't change mine.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 11d ago
80°

Microsoft quietly retires 'This is an Xbox' marketing campaign

What is an Xbox now?

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gamedeveloper.com
Lightning7712d ago

Had a strong feeling they'd do this. Ok that's one step inthe right direction. Baby steps because the moment they do anything drastic they step on rakes.

Next give ppl reason to sub for 30$ a month to for GP. Second is the lower the price. They want to return to Xbox they need to be attractive again. Lower price won't sell them out as it's too late this gen but it's something.

1Victor12d ago (Edited 12d ago )

@lighting: “Baby steps because the moment they do anything drastic they step on rakes.”
.
The first thing that came to mind while reading that was Tom setting the last mouse traps in a corner with the whole room full of them 🤣
.

@Christopher: “because without them it would just be two very different console markets doing whatever they want without someone to remind them to do their best constantly.”
.
I partly agree with you where I disagree is that there will never be only 2 consoles there will always be a company/corporation willing to jump in and fill the 3rd spot, Microsoft is shaking for the next gen and Valve is already getting gritty to take that 3rd spot from them.

TriniOutsider12d ago

This is wishful thinking, how can they drop the price of game pass? When just few months they raised the price of subscription service?

PRIMORDUS12d ago (Edited 12d ago )

I wish it would it have read Microsoft quietly retires Xbox, and just develop/publish games. The Xbox name doesn't mean anything anymore, the 360 era was the best they ever had.

Christopher12d ago

Look, I'm no fan of where they've taken the brand, but it's still one of the strongest brands out there regardless of where it is currently. We're in a small market and none of the big 3 are hurting to a point where they need to close shop or anything. And we need Xbox out there, because without them it would just be two very different console markets doing whatever they want without someone to remind them to do their best constantly.

peppeaccardo11d ago

SONY has done its best since PS1 with no need of MS reminder, funny enough MS has done its worse even though there are two other consoles reminding otherwise .... u see the light ?

isarai_lee12d ago

And only the first half of that, god that was such a great time to be an xbox gamer.

Rockstar12d ago

I had a blast with the OG Xbox. Many LAN parties in a friend's basement. Not to sound old but those were the days!

Lightning7711d ago

Yeah no...

Unless you're a fanboy but nobody cares what fanboys want or think.

Zerobalance12d ago (Edited 12d ago )

The PS fan media are always having a pop at MS but as a gamer I've had no issues playing my Xbox games, my PC games and cloud games. I've benefited from playing my games everywhere. For over three decades I've enjoyed many games. The media's failure, especially this site to have balanced view on anything Xbox is childish. The Xbox move to PC is an excellent idea. An open platform, endless possibilities and no fake paywalls. Don't forget that in the UK Sony has a class action against it for anti competitive practices. No one is reporting this. All those gamers ripped off and over charged. And don't forget Valve too. They are too powerful as well. Change is good.

isarai_lee12d ago

You do realize the intent is to go after every major digital market place, PlayStation just happened to be first but the class action lawsuit statement names xbox marketplace, apple store, Nintendo online store etc. they're all guilty, so holding it as something ms has over ps is dumb

ocelot0712d ago (Edited 12d ago )

Valve the peoples store choice on PC also has the same class action against them here in the UK.

It's not valve fault competing store front are rubbish. Barely any pc gamers want to buy from the MS/Xbox app or epic games or Uplay as they are garbage compared to steam.

As for Sony they have no competition unless you consider Nintendo there competition. Both lawsuits are going to go no where. Sony ain't forcing anyone to buy a playstation or to even buy digital for that matter. People can go and buy a switch to or for some reason a Xbox series or a pc.

Same goes for valve. People are free to go and use other store fronts if they wish valve ain't keeping them hostage.

They will probably try it with Nintendo next.

Z50112d ago

"especially this site"

Isn't this site an aggregate?

The_Blue12d ago

This site uses being discontent with Xbox as a cultural requirement.

Rockstar12d ago

This site uses being discontent with Xbox as a cultural requirement...now.

I fixed it for you.

Were you here during the PS3/Xbox 360 console wars? It was a hard time to be a Sony fan...

Christopher12d ago

Lot of victim complex up in here. You can like whatever you like here. Ain't no one giving others crap unless they go full console war. There's a difference between liking a platform and joining the war.

SimpleDad12d ago

Campaign was confusing af for the average consumer.

Next campaign: Everything is a console.

Yi-Long12d ago

Always hated this campaign. It goes against everything I want from a gaming-console.

An Xbox should be an Xbox. A dedicated home-console, focused on a pure console-gaming experience. Which, for me, means ease of use, physical ownership, no online demands, etc.

I wish we would just go back to the basics in this industry.

ocelot0712d ago

I agree but they started to ditch that right after the successful 360 era

Ninver11d ago

Greed was their downfall

Yi-Long11d ago

Halfway during the 360 era, I'd argue, when they had a massive success with 360 console gaming, then saw what Nintendo was doing with Wii, and went after that audience with Kinect. That's when it all went very downhill, very fast.

Their XBO announcements killed them.

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