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Xbox CEO Asha Sharma — "This team has brought it back before, and I'm here to help us do it again."

Windows Central: "We caught up with incoming CEO Asha Sharma and newly promoted CCO Matt Booty to learn about what the future holds for Microsoft's gaming operation."

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windowscentral.com
95d ago
Christopher95d ago

Technically, they've never brought it back. It's been downhill since Xbox One, which was its zenith. It hasn't 'gone back' since nor did it decline in such a fashion before.. We're dealing with a single peak company here, not multiple.

95d ago Replies(3)
darthv7295d ago

What about after they dropped the kinect and added in BC, and then later the One X? That was definitely better than when it launched. That gen had many peaks and valleys for XB. This gen... not so much.

Christopher95d ago (Edited 95d ago )

Those all happened at the same time. Kinect and BC was all at the introduction of Xbox One. They were still working upward from there, just not competing as well as they liked with PS4. But removing Kinect continued upward gain after that. It was truly the end of Xbox One and this generation where they've seen decline. It's been a very crash and burn situation.

Both Sony and Microsoft are just ruining their rep this generation. Microsoft with subscriptions over hardware, Sony with the focus on Live Service over what made them great.

S2Killinit94d ago

They dropped kinect then dropped xbox one

fr0sty95d ago

Technically, they've lost every generation they've participated in. Only the Xbox 360 brought them close, but they still ended up in last place behind PS3 and Wii by the time it was all said and done.

Reaper22_95d ago

If youre talking selling scnsoles, selling the most doesnt mean you win a generation.Thats just means you sold more consoles. Microsoft sold more xbox 360s than they did the original xbox. Sony sold less ps3s than they did ps2s and they sold them at a loss for almost the entire generation. They narrowly outsold the 360.Microsoft regressed with the xbox one and did even worse with the series x. But all that doesnt mean as much anymore because you dont need eother one to play the games. It a different industry now and its not so much about the hardware anymore.

thorstein94d ago

That's what I was thinking. Even with the red ring of death, the Xbox 360 was relatively their top console.

Wii was a behemoth and PS3 flew off the shelves. 3rd sucks if it's a bad console generation, but that generation was pretty solid. I loved my phat PS3.

From 3rd place, it certainly looked like they were still headed in the right direction.

Then they fumbled.

Lightning7794d ago (Edited 94d ago )

The decline was simply not promising the AAA games. Not buying studios to deliver great games. The kinect, tv, price stuff could and was all walked back but it was the lack of games. No games exclusive mascot and identity first party games means no reason to buy said console.

Halo and Gears were reaching the later year's and getting stale. They needed new AAA something that they'd failed to do. Sure you can say they have games now. Right, that's like saying someone Went to war finally coming back after years of promises that you'll return only to finally return with a missing, hand, leg different person. Same with Xbox, MS forced them to go multiplat, not the same brand anymore cool you have games but at what cost?

IMO I dont think Asha and Matt are planning for this gen. No point what's done is done this gen but are planning for the next console, whatever that looks like. (again assuming she and Matt have actual say)

S2Killinit94d ago

They always start each gen by showing the pearly gates to heaven.

Profchaos94d ago

The 360 came back from the rrod but that's honestly about it

darthv7294d ago

Chris, MS introduced BC for XBO in 2015, two years after it launched. There was a positive uptick for it. And while they reversed course on requiring kinect at launch, they fully removed it in 2017 which was the same year they introduced the One X. I remember that year saw an uptick as well.

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-Foxtrot95d ago

When? Xbox to Xbox 360?

They’ve been pretty much on a windy slope since the Xbox One reveal but even then s*** started to hit the fan with TV, Sports and Kinect at the end of the 360 days.

Yi-Long95d ago (Edited 95d ago )

I’d argue Xbox completely lost their major advantages over the competition halfway through the 360 era. They came out of the gates, swinging and winning, with 360 being a HUGE success, especially in the West. Then, Nintendo had a hit with Wii & motion-controls, and Microsoft looked at that and said; “Hey, we’d like a piece of that pie as well!”. That’s when they changed course and started shifting towards Kinect. Which obviously was a huge flop.

That decision/change in direction pretty much was the exact same moment when Sony course-corrected their many errors with the PS3, so suddenly Sony made a bunch of good decisions to take advantage of Xbox dropping the ball. Lower console-price, free online MP, and PS+ which was offering 6 (or more) ‘free games’ each month.

By the time that generation ended, PS3 had won back a huge amount of gamers, plus they had the momentum.

Then, obviously, XBO was announced, and I think we all know how that went. They never recovered, and they keep making just absolutely terrible decisions.

Stopac95d ago

I agree, the 360 was only ahead during the first half of that generation. The PS3 had a rough start especially with their console price and various models. But halfway through with price reductions and games like infamous and the last of us they were pulling ahead.

Xbox during the 360 and beyond have been nothing but a plague on console gaming with the practice of buying their way into multiplatform and exclusives which made Sony eventually do the same thing. Now they're both just buying studios and then shutting them down. And I say this as a SEGA fanboy who went through sega bowing out of the console market due to Sony's success.

95d ago Replies(2)
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60°

Take-Two CEO Once Again Side Steps Grand Theft Auto 6 Price Point

Strauss Zelnick says price of GTA 6 is being carefully considered and that Rockstar is focused on "making the most spectacular piece of entertainment on Earth."

Kuma33d ago

If GTA 6 abandons everything that made GTA 5 great, it will crash and burn right out of the gate. GTA 5 was funny and not at all PC. My worry is that they will cave to the PC crowd and ruin the vibes.

Eonjay33d ago

They got freaking BBLs twerking on the top of trucks for the gram, the freaking Flordia joker, and dude running down the stree in their undies and you are worried about it being 'too PC'? The internet has runied gamers. It doesn't matter how non-PC they make the game, you will all listen to the grifters telling you not to believe your lying eyes lol.

gigoran832d ago

"Rockstar Games’ co-founder and former VP of Development Jamie King said he envisions GTA 6 as a game that’s “maybe not quite as edgy or quite as funny” as its satirical predecessors."

oh yeah, totally internet grifters spreading rumors...

blacktiger32d ago

That's part of the plan, they destroyed you but they need to destroy the shareholders? Only 1 shre holder is the true elite that don't care

1nsomniac33d ago (Edited 33d ago )

Meh.., if it’s above £55 I ain’t buying it.

Rockstar are genuinely not half the company they used to be. I was a die hard GTA fan I’ve purchased every game and expansion and spin off day 1.

My opinion of GTA6 is that I can take it or leave it. Not bothered. They burnt too many bridges.

DaReapa32d ago (Edited 32d ago )

So they're actually leaving the door open for an L.A. Noire sequel? Nice!

VaNdAl32d ago (Edited 32d ago )

He should just come out and say it already it's getting stupid it's going to be a 100 bucks $200 for the special edition🤡🤡; 29315;🤣♿

Storm2332d ago

I won't be getting this game until I can get it for $70. SHoot, I could wait for it to be even lower. I don't need the game that badly as my backlog is still huge and I am enjoying playing other things.

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40°

Talking Aliens: The Video Games With Author Mike Diver

Skewed and Reviewed have posted an interview with Author Mike Diver about his pending book on Aliens video games.

70°

Xbox boss: Memory crisis could impact next-gen hardware pricing

Xbox boss Asha Sharma has discussed how component shortages will impact the company's plans for Project Helix.

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gamedeveloper.com
Eonjay34d ago

When does this end? Its killing everyone. Consoles and PC. And for what? AI? The benefits of AI are completely outweighed by the negatives. And the government should have never allowed one company to buy up all the RAM.

Lexreborn235d ago

This kind of proves this is an after thought product, most products like this are in r&d 5 years before they start mass producing. So they typically have the cost of components and things worked out long before assembly starts.

This is an assumption still, but I wouldn’t be surprised if project helix is similar to Scalebound,perfect dark and sod3. They had an idea but no actual execution other than concept stage. Being impacted by the ram shortage likely would also put this device 3-4 years out.

I’m not even sure MS has that endurance with Xbox yet

Fishy Fingers34d ago (Edited 34d ago )

I mean.... what?

We're at a point that Samsung wont even provide their own phone department ram because they can sell it at higher prices to 3rd parties (AI). Its more profitable to sell the ram than make their own devices with it.

You think because R&D starts 5 years ago the 3rd party component manufacturers will honour that price? They'll sell it to whomever is paying the most today, not some gentlemens agreement they made years ago. AI farms will buy more volume at higher prices than any console manufacturer will. It'll be the same for Playstation.

Lexreborn234d ago

Contractual agreements are not the same as “gentlemen” agreements. If you think that they work with their distributors a month before production then their entire business model is trash. They work with companies like nvidia constantly for building the graphics cards they need. They work with companies that build motherboards years in advance. This is what proper business planning does.

They are not buying components on a whim like a consumer. So again, considering the ram isn’t a singular module and is integrated into the motherboard I highly doubt they wouldn’t have a final schematic that they are supposed to be building around.

If they are delaying production another 3 years then it’s obvious again this is an after though project and is just trying to be responsive to their bad execution they had the last 14 years.

It also isn’t far fetched to use their failure to produce first party titles the last 7 years including the highly anticipated games I mentioned all being cancelled. That they would continue to you know… lie

Sitdown34d ago

You don't really know how this works huh?

Profchaos34d ago (Edited 34d ago )

Helix is going to be stupidly expensive

Instead of leaning into smarter upscaling techniques they're brute forcing hardware that will cost them dearly and it remains to be seen if it's genuinely going to provide a meaningful differential

I know in the oc.doace people like to brag about not using frame gen or dlss to get to high on a game but for the majority of players they happily use those technologies without a second thought

That's going to be ps6 vs Helix

Eonjay34d ago

Yeah with FSR 5 they should be able to offer a much cheaper version of Helix.

Eonjay34d ago

While this does seem to be the case, I am encouraged by the statement from Microsoft about wanting to provide affordable options. If this means a Series S style Helix, at least there will be something affordable being offered.

XBManiac34d ago

Series S is what has killed Xbox Series so... Will they dare?

blacktiger34d ago

It's called systematic inflationary. Yes we get it Microsoft, keep raising in the name ofall kinds of stuffs

pwnmaster300034d ago

Honestly if there was thing I learned from this generation is that new consoles arnt day one anymore.
I can wait 1-3 years.

DarXyde34d ago

Another important lesson from this generation: while Nintendo showed us that prices don't necessarily need to ever drop, we've now learned that waiting 1-3 years does carry some risk that prices increase. This generation is just bizarre in all the wrong ways.

LucasRuinedChildhood34d ago (Edited 34d ago )

The factors are largely external. Covid and Russia-Ukraine war causing inflation led to the first price increase in 2022.

Then we get Trump's tariffs increasing hardware prices, AI boom causing a RAM crisis, war on Iran causing a worldwide fuel crisis which impacts the cost of everything.

Gaming doesn't exist in a vacuum. The last few years have been a shitshow and lot of it was definitely avoidable.

DarXyde34d ago

LucasRuinedChildhood,

For sure. No disagreement on the external factors doing a lot of this. Where I have to gently push back however is on two fronts:

1. The pandemic definitely caused some issues: asynchronous development was a big issue and really complicated timelines and affected game quality. At the same time, when it comes to price hikes, it's really difficult to know what was genuine necessity and what was taking consumers for a ride. The pandemic brought about "stag-flation" which was increasing prices and stagnant wages, which was a problem caused by supply chain constraints. There was also "Greed-flation", where companies that were slightly affected or had no issues took advantage of the situation and squeezed everyone citing supply chain issues when there were none.

2. It's definitely true that the tariffs, AI boom, and RAM crisis were all things enabled by tech broligarchs throwing money at this caricature of a world leader, one of them being Satya Nadella. I don't think Sony and Nintendo have contributed much to this problem if at all, but Microsoft's Nadella I feel was instrumental in causing every one of those issues. Microsoft as a company contributed to both candidates (though they gave Harris 4x as much if I recall), but Nadella was all in on letting AI run wild. He paid for unregulated AI, and got a war that's not a war (even though Trump called it that at least five times on television) that screwed up helium access. So for me, I feel that one of the players in the gaming industry is a key architect of these issues, and for that reason I struggle a bit to think of it as "external".

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