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Resetting Xbox

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Re: Resetting Xbox

#171

At some point, the games industry decided it wanted to be interactive Hollywood, and the consequences are entirely predictable. Meanwhile, Nintendo just quietly shipped 3.8 million units of Tomodachi Life in two weeks, and 4 million of Pokopia in five. They're making actual games. Sony's obsession with prestige cinematic bloat, like Xbox, has also put them in a slow-motion death spiral that's going to become painfull…

That is encouraging, but my stock portfolio paints a different picture. Nintendo is unfortunately doing terribly this year. I still believe in their core mission, even if some of their litigiousness and anti consumer practices have put me off

Basing an art form on your stock portfolio is a good half of everything wrong with the industry.

And it's not surprising Nintendo isn't doing well in this clown market. They are taking a hit because they resisted pressures from shareholders who wanted them to raise prices on its new system. Nintendo eventually gave in, but with a much smaller price increase and a delayed effect from announcement to implementation (~4 months forewarning). And on top of all that they are not hyping AI to the moon.

And I haven't even gotten to the overall economic climate of Japan yet. Nintendo's stock falls would happen regardless of if they followed the above.

These are good, pro-consumer moves. It shows that more companies need to think past next quarter and resist the whims of people who don't have your company's long term interests in mind. You're the expert here, not them.

Re: Resetting Xbox

#172
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

a) Asha didnt push Phil out. b) She's been in the role for 4ish months, not years.

I can guarantee you Asha has been making this move for years.

Based on what? This just feels like baseless conjecture given she hasn’t been at Microsoft for that long.

Re: Resetting Xbox

#173
post #109

I think some of these game studios got so content with Microsoft constantly paying that they forgot to make games that would actually sell. South of Midnight took 7 years to make and cost $100 million to make... yet sold hardly any copies and I'm not even sure who they were trying to make it for. Meanwhile you have studios like Sandfall and Warhorse pumping out games on a fraction of the budget that ship millions (an…

There's no sourcing for that South of Midnight number. You should treat it as fictional.

Judging by the credits [1] it indeed looks very conservative.

1. https://www.mobygames.com/game/240054/south-of-midnight/cred...

Re: Resetting Xbox

#174
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you conflating Asha Sharma with Satya Nadella? Asha just joined Xbox, she had no role in any prior decision making.

Asha came from the AI division of Microsoft, she didn’t pop out of nowhere. She is strongly tied to the Microsoft LLM plays. IMO Phil was very clearly pushed out by “AI will cut costs talk”. No one makes huge investments into acquiring companies and then suddenly retires (after running the division successfully for decades) and none of his underlings were promoted into the role, they all left when he did.

I think Phil was pushed out by the complete failure of his strategic vision when confronted with reality. He had a vision of growth and prestige, and money would follow. I loved his vision in its grandiose and lofty goals, but he completely failed to capture any of the "how to make it happen". It stays a fantasy.

Re: Resetting Xbox

#175

I want XBOX to be one of the few companies that entertains more than a billion people each day "more than a billion"? What are we doing here? Do you have any idea what your target market is? Surely someone in your organization can provide you with a good stretch goal ... >10% of all humans using an XBox daily is not that. Seriously, I cannot fathom why you would say this. Innumeracy? Narcissistic delusion? Stealth la…

There are approx ~3 billion "gamers" worldwide, why shouldn't Xbox set a goal of 1/3 of them using their platform?

Because approximately most of them exclusively play mobile games

Re: Resetting Xbox

#176
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - The make around 5 billion in revenue per quarter - The problem according to them is profit margin - around 150-160 million > So first of all, they are big! Secondly they are not at a loss. They just have a "thin, non-growing margin". So to fix all this they are trimming down, so they can "return to growth" (which I think is ridiculous). How is that profit margin distributed though? King (Candy Crush etc) and Moja…

Really 191 players or 191k players?

No missing "k", really just 191 players. https://steamdb.info/app/3043580/

Re: Resetting Xbox

#177
post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is where Nintendo is at. It’s hilarious how much fun me and my kids are having playing games like Animal Crossing, Super Smash Bros, Mario Party, Pokemon Pokopia, and the surprise smash hit has been Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream. My kids make all the neighbors and have them get married and laugh about it and it’s just such a goofy concept. The graphics are good enough that you no longer notice there’s graphic…

There's a lot I don't like about Nintendo, but the one thing I admire about them is they understand that fancy cinematic graphics aren't what make a great game.

Absolutely... They've been able to make a lot of games just fun even if the graphics aren't stellar. To this day, I wish they'd have released a Wii Sports Golf as a separate title with several courses.

Re: Resetting Xbox

#178
post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the margins, that's crazy thin for the size of the org... One bad quarter could turn from a few million in profits to hundreds of millions in losses. It's too close, and there's no way to build/store funds for any kind of storm at that level. Now, I think the vast majority of the pain is more than self-inflicted... I think actual business, marketing and focus need to start taking priority over idealistic political…

Billion USD grocery chains operate on 2-3% margins just fine...

Yeah, because video games are as essential to the home as groceries.

Re: Resetting Xbox

#179

"Today, in some parts of the company, work passes through as many as 14 layers of management. Our platform teams are 40% larger than they were at the start of this generation, even as our player base and playtime have declined. "

14 layers of management is truly epic. I don't think I have ever been more than 5 levels down my entire 30 year career.

Re: Resetting Xbox

#180
post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Just so I understand your objection, they are woke because in the game one of their studios made, the woman in the game wasn't attractive enough for you?

And you totally skip the "self-insert"... But I'm sure you'd cast Lizzo as Helen of Troy.
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