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[FrankWza]

Pre-ABK=Fuck you money.

After ABK=Fuck you. Give me my money!

 

[poppabk]

Oh so Microsoft is being petty for the sake of being petty? That's worse.

That's business. Every single company out there is doing penny pinching shit constantly, each on its own is meaningless in the big picture but if you don't have a bunch of trolls keeping an eye on things then before you know it your company is spending $3600 a day on candles.

 

[Flutta]

I work at an international car manufacturer and I don't get cars for free, why do they get games for free just because they work on a gaming company?

How much does a car cost compared to GameAss?

 

[Dr_Ifto]

If it is supposed to be part of your employment benefits, and have some contract stating so, then this is shitty. If you dont, its the way of life. Cost cuts come from somewhere.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Then:
"don't you guys have phones?"
Now:
"don't you guys have Game Pass?"

 

[ahtlas7]

Paying for GP is going to eat into the tattoo, piercing, hair dye budget …

 

[NickFire]

Great advertising right here. So much value even own employees don't want to pay for it.

 

[deriks]

Bobby Kotick barely arrived, is about to leave, but is teaching stuff

 

[StereoVsn]

2023 is the best gaming year in a long time and this is what you kids are worried about, perks Microsoft employees get.

Can we get a thread about what ply of toilet paper MS stocks in their bathrooms and how that relates to how quickly they’ll be going third party? Someone in discord get the script ready.

If I was an employee and they want to single ply from double, I would get my pitchforks and torches out!

 

[buenoblue]

 

[Caffeine]

cutting a benefit is just delaying a layoff.

 

[Topher]

That's business. Every single company out there is doing penny pinching shit constantly, each on its own is meaningless in the big picture but if you don't have a bunch of trolls keeping an eye on things then before you know it your company is spending $3600 a day on candles.

Some companies are in a position that they have to "pench pennies". Microsoft is not such a company. Not even close.

 

[Sorcerer]

Wow, Microsoft is so confident that acquiring Activison will make them the kings of video games they are moving towards complete arrogance at lightning speed. Everyday brings something stupid now. I can't wait to see the fallout when they find themselves still in 3rd place 3-5 years down the line.

Sony should gift Playstations to every Microsoft employee who got screwed. If Microsoft doesn't care if it's own employees play their games, then why not...?

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

How is this news?

I mean they have like a quarter of a million employees.

 

[DForce]

There is a big difference in changing prices almost everywhere and adjusting for inflation in a single country, although even the former can be justified if the dollar is that dominant or if manufacturing costs sore.

Single country? Xbox has been adjusting prices in many countries for a while now.

Jun 2023

In a recent statement provided to The Verge, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that the company now intends to follow up on that move by raising the prices of the Xbox Series X across the vast majority of markets wherein the console is presently available. The adjustment that will go into effect this August will see Microsoft hike the price of its most powerful current-gen console by up to 10%, upping it to CAD $649.99 in Canada, £479.99 in the UK, AUD $799.99 in Australia, and €549.99 in the EU. The US will be exempt from the pricing changes, as will Brazil, Chile, Columbia, and Japan. That said, Japan already saw an Xbox Series X/S price increase back in January 2023.

October 2023

Bad news for Xbox fans in Brazil, as Microsoft has announced that the price of the Xbox Series S is going up in the region. From the start, a lot of the appeal of the Xbox Series S lay in it being the cheaper alternative to the Xbox Series X, but that won’t so much be the case in one part of the world very soon.

There are more examples.

That being said both Xbox and Sony get criticized for everything they do. Both here and elsewhere.

I said the SAME people who were criticizing Sony for increasing their prices before are now for the most part silent.

 

[poppabk]

Some companies are in a position that they have to "pench pennies". Microsoft is not such a company. Not even close.

Every company does. I've worked for 3 different multi-billion dollar revenue companies and not one hasn't at some point downgraded the quality of pens they stock for example. Must save them dollars per year.
Two of them at some point engaged the services of supply companies that purport to find the same items cheaper and they keep x% of the difference. Except in both cases they would substitute items that weren't equivilant until every order would be placed with the 'do not substitute' ticked and eventually the while thing fell apart and we went back to normal ordering.

 

[Negotiator101]

What a shitshow the Xbox brand has become and it’s only getting worse.

Time to fire Spencer and whoever else and start a fresh book because fucking hell at this point.

Spencer knew nothing about itdid you even read the article?

Wow, Microsoft is so confident that acquiring Activison will make them the kings of video games they are moving towards complete arrogance at lightning speed. Everyday brings something stupid now. I can't wait to see the fallout when they find themselves still in 3rd place 3-5 years down the line.

Sony should gift Playstations to every Microsoft employee who got screwed. If Microsoft doesn't care if it's own employees play their games, then why not...?

Fallout 5?

 

[Alebrije]

I bet they get free Office or better price....it was wrong give them GP for free since begining ....

 

[IDappa]

Probably cutting down costs so they can pay off their $28.9 billion tax bill from the IRS. I just dont get it though, it's their own service. It's not like they're giving out physical games, just access to a digital game library. It shouldn't cost them anything.

Pretty sure they pay per game launched. Could be wrong though.

 

[Tommi84]

That's business. Every single company out there is doing penny pinching shit constantly.

We twlk about a company that had SEVENTY BILLION dollars spare so they could buy a gigantic game producer.

This doesn't add up

 

[JTCx]

Spencer knew nothing about itdid you even read the article?

The will to protect Phil Dispencer is outstanding.

 

[alphachino]

Wow, Microsoft is so confident that acquiring Activison will make them the kings of video games they are moving towards complete arrogance at lightning speed. Everyday brings something stupid now. I can't wait to see the fallout when they find themselves still in 3rd place 3-5 years down the line.

Sony should gift Playstations to every Microsoft employee who got screwed. If Microsoft doesn't care if it's own employees play their games, then why not...?

Why not? About $100million is basically why not, but would be a baller move

 

[Topher]

Every company does. I've worked for 3 different multi-billion dollar revenue companies and not one hasn't at some point downgraded the quality of pens they stock for example. Must save them dollars per year.
Two of them at some point engaged the services of supply companies that purport to find the same items cheaper and they keep x% of the difference. Except in both cases they would substitute items that weren't equivilant until every order would be placed with the 'do not substitute' ticked and eventually the while thing fell apart and we went back to normal ordering.

We are not even talking about the same thing. This isn't about cutting costs through cheaper sourcing.

 

[crazepharmacist]

You misread.

"Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell The Verge that the company started informing employees this week that in January 2024 the free Xbox Game Pass Ultimate benefit for permanent Microsoft employees will no longer be available."



Not really a big deal, but just hilariously petty for a $2.7 trillion dollar company.

Yeah, it's 2.7 trillion now but that number could shrink significantly pretty quickly in a bad recession where consumers stop spending. Companies are making these decisions now to prepare for the worst.

Though, I'm not sure how much this would have saved them but I guess they thought it wasn't insignificant otherwise why make this change.

 

[ReBurn]

We are not even talking about the same thing. This isn't about cutting costs through cheaper sourcing.

Maybe it is and Microsoft is going to get game pass for their folks from Turkey or maybe cdkeys

 

[Topher]

Yeah, it's 2.7 trillion now but that number could shrink significantly pretty quickly in a bad recession where consumers stop spending. Companies are making these decisions now to prepare for the worst.

Though, I'm not sure how much this would have saved them but I guess they thought it wasn't insignificant otherwise why make this change.

 

[splattered]

Saw on Twitter Phil Spencer unaware of any changes and is going to look into the matter... How TF does something like this get past the man at the top?

 

[Mr Reasonable]

Saw on Twitter Phil Spencer unaware of any changes and is going to look into the matter... How TF does something like this get past the man at the top?

Because there's no way that one person can possibly oversee everything and this is actually not a big deal, would be my guess.

 

[Beechos]

He had no choice he was going to lose 250k in the engagement kpi lol.

 

[Drizzlehell]

What will Phillip K Spencer do next?

He will finish what Don Mattrick started.

 

[poppabk]

Saw on Twitter Phil Spencer unaware of any changes and is going to look into the matter... How TF does something like this get past the man at the top?

How exactly do you think companies are run? I can't tell if people are being deliberately obtuse or they are just completely ignorant of how the world works.

 

[ZVWQP-9B8TM-VH9CT]

Good move. It made no sense in the first place. The sheer amount of stupidity in this thread makes me want to cry. LoL, why not also give them free consoles? Free surface tablets? Free Azure servers for every employee as well?