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Xbox's Icarus Moment: How Microsoft Went Third Party

Da1337Vinci

Member
Watched it was someone of a good summary on why xbox is now a third party publisher.

The end segment is more personal and somewhat to think about depending on which team you are on I guess.
 
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a superficial take on the whole debacle.
 

bender

What time is it?
Not a bad video, but the later boasts about being clairvoyant yet not being able to see the obvious folly of games version of Netflix or Spotify because of "no data" is a bit comical.
 

Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
Actually I think it's a great summary.

It's not even a good summary. It leaves a lot of things out core to understanding how Microsoft got to where it is. You could have summarized everything he said in about 4-5 minutes without him trying to sound smarter than he actually is.
 

Ashamam

Member
It's not even a good summary. It leaves a lot of things out core to understanding how Microsoft got to where it is. You could have summarized everything he said in about 4-5 minutes without him trying to sound smarter than he actually is.

Hence I called it a summary, sure there is plenty of other information that could have been included, but to my mind he basically nailed the core issues. Unsustainable model, growth for the sake of growth, poor analysis and planning and an elevation of the division within MS. Also touches on the 'marketing' through influencers.
 

Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
Colt and Jez have been the clown jesters of this entire thing.

It's been hilarious watching the cognitive dissonance unfold.

I maintain that Colt and Jez aren't actually clowns.

They're puppeteers. Could there be some mental illness that they share with their community? Sure, but they know what they're doing. They're looking for clicks and views, and they're somewhat successful.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
To be honest I think he soft-pedalled how semi-competent Xbox management has been from day #1.

OG Xbox didn't usher in a new era of "multimedia", PS2 being the first cheap dvd-player beat them to the punch. Great hardware but what were they thinking with the industrial design too?

360 was genuinely the high-point in terms of them changing the console landscape, but it needs to be noted that they prematurely killed the OG Xbox to get its head start, and by nickel-and-diming on the hardware they created the entire RROD debacle. Which I don't think gets enough credit as it should for helping Sony exit that long, long generation with much better momentum than should have been possible. Yes, them pivoting to Kinect so hard and the overall lack-lustre efforts of its third party were a big part of it, but plenty of people got burned by multiple replacements of their consoles due to RROD and that must've cost them users.

Xbone... I think goes without saying was a clusterfuck of a launch, and simply put never really got better. It also exposed how bad their studio and portfolio management was.

Then comes GamePass, which was clearly a horrifically flawed idea from day #1. As I wrote at the time there was never going to be a Netflix of Gaming because of the fundamental differences in how we consume games compared to tv/movies. Simultaneously opening a whole other can of worms as to the business realities of maintaining a content pipeline to such a ravenous pit of product churn.

The way I see it, in all their years Xbox has had one great idea: Xbox Live, and the rest has been a catalogue of cock-ups. I see their occasional success outside of that as being as intentional as their failures - its mostly random happenstance.
 
I maintain that Colt and Jez aren't actually clowns.

They're puppeteers. Could there be some mental illness that they share with their community? Sure, but they know what they're doing. They're looking for clicks and views, and they're somewhat successful.
At best, they are just puppets; at worst, they are clowns by their own volition

I talked to Jez one day. The guy sees himself as an expert, insider, leaker, and pundit. He thinks he’s making an analysis when he’s really just parroting Phil’s talking points (like a puppet). At the same time, he dismisses any criticism of Xbox's strategy and situation over the years, calling it nothing more than FUD, doom and gloom, and bad faith arguments. Yet, he engages on Twitter as a sad little fanboy, blocking anyone who calls out his BS (like a clown)
 

Gojiira

Member
‘Icarus Moment’ Yeah and how did that turn for Icarus hmm?
I wish these idiots would stop pretending this is some great strategic move, Xbox playing 4D chess and coming out on top. They’re not, they continue to make all the same bad decisions and continue to mismanage. 🤦‍♂️
 
This was good up until the last five minutes where it turned into Colin jerking himself off and dunking on Xbox fanboys…which sadly infects all content he is involved with.
 

Perrott

Member
‘Icarus Moment’ Yeah and how did that turn for Icarus hmm?
I wish these idiots would stop pretending this is some great strategic move, Xbox playing 4D chess and coming out on top. They’re not, they continue to make all the same bad decisions and continue to mismanage. 🤦‍♂️
Ummmm... what?
An Icarus moment is a time when someone's actions, ambitions, or dreams leead to failure or disappointment.
 

Killjoy-NL

Member
It’s funny how the main problem that Xbox had was games. And now PS has made that problem theirs. Only smart moves in this industry.
Ironically, Playstation can now take their time as Xbox is providing even more games for them.

I think this part is what pisses some people off most.

As a Playstation-user, I couldn't care less. Any game releasing on Playstation is a Playstation game to me, no matter the publisher or if they're multiplatform.🤷🏾‍♂️
 
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Radical_3d

Member
Ironically, Playstation can now take their time as Xbox is providing even more games for them.

I think this part is what pisses some people off most.

As a Playstation-user, I couldn't care less. Any game releasing on Playstation is a Playstation game to me, no matter the publisher or if they're multiplatform.🤷🏾‍♂️
As a PlayStation user I do care what Sony does with the money I give them. Since they have the history of delivering on the first party front I’ve stayed with them on the premise that they’d continue that way. But it’s been a generation and a half in which that’s not been true.
 

Killjoy-NL

Member
As a PlayStation user I do care what Sony does with the money I give them. Since they have the history of delivering on the first party front I’ve stayed with them on the premise that they’d continue that way. But it’s been a generation and a half in which that’s not been true.
Fair enough.

Guess it depends on your perspective. Personally, I pay Sony on a per-product basis (as I do with any other product).
I don't invest in Sony.
Don't care about most of Sony 1st party either, so I don't expect them to cater to me with every release.

I just need the products they release to work as I expect them to, if I buy them.
For games, I just buy what interests me, which 90% of the time is 3rd party.
 
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