Thanks to Displate for sponsoring this video! Use code: SKILLUP or click this link https://displate.com/l/skillup for up to 33% of your Displate (conditions apply - not available on Limited Edition items) -- Asha Sharma's first big move as Xbox boss is to take an axe to some of their most successful studios, including the legendary id Software. What an inspiring vision for the future of Xbox. Timestamps 00:00 Displate (Ad) 01:15 Xbox's ruinous 'Reset' 21:35 Regular show -- Support independent games coverage by signing up to https://www.thisweekinvideogames.com. It's 100% ad-free and you can sign up for free to get access to our news, reviews and previews, as well as a weekly newsletter. Become a Supporter to get access to our op-ed features, expert columns, a bonus newsletter and an ad-free version of this very show. -- #thisweekinvideogames #Xbox #idSoftware If you want to check out any of our other radar shout outs, you can find them on our Steam curator page: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/28625128/ -- If you want to check out the Friends Per Second Podcast, you can find all the links to it here: https://linktr.ee/friendspersecond -- Thanks for taking the time to watch the video. If you'd like to support the channel even more, the best way is by becoming a supporter on our website: https://www.thisweekinvideogames.com. -- Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/skillup.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skillupyt/?hl=en
ADVERTISEMENT
So yeah. Microsoft buying every single devteam on planet earth was one of the worst things to happen to gaming.
Ah hell yeah, our weekly dose of doom and gloom surrounding our passion!
getting real fucking tired of hearing the "difficult decision" lie, when it comes so easy to these ghouls
An endless onslaught of layoffs and turmoil. I don't know why anyone would want to join a AAA studio in this time.
I literally cannot understand the decision to gut ID. What does "refocusing on our core IP" mean if you're killing the studio that made THREE smash-hit DOOM games in under a decade?? What... What is even your plan here?? RIP and tear to my favourite studio of all time
This is the reason Spyro 4 devs went indie. This game would 100 percent get canned if it stayed under xbox's wing
Asha Sharma being named an advisor for the Federal Reserve on Jobs and Productivity is a cherry on top of this fucking ruinous reset.
How Bethesda is STILL around after this reset is beyond me.
a REAL "difficult decision" would be cutting the pay of the c-suite in charge of this operation to try and save as many of those 3200 people as possible, but you'll notice that their compensation packages are quite a lot bigger than they were last year.
"Careful consideration", "difficult decision"; Those two phrases repeated forever in these HR 10-times approved memos where thousands of people now have to struggle to survive.
It's just shockingly shit news every week for devs. Got a brother-in-law looking at a future in the games industry and I'm worried for him, rough out there with no end in sight.
I remember when I was optimistic about the future of games, now it’s all bad news and corporate greed
bro ID SOFTWARE?? the devs of one of their only last relevant franchises they wanna focus on?? mind boggling
Phil Spencer ruined all of these studios. Bought up all those studios when in charged because he believed that the Game Pass model was sustainable (spoiler alert, it wasn't).
Summer doom and gloom for the industry. I'm a dev. I love my job. But this industry has never made me feel like I'm an actual human being.
It's incredibly sad to watch the lifeblood of the games industry being sucked dry by these corporate parasites Something needs to happen to these people
The hit to Id Software in particular is as tragic as it is baffling
Reminder that Asha Sharma was not appointed to "save" XBOX. She was appointed to be the glass cliff hatchet-man, gut the studios and then piss off to some other C-Suite position.
Phil Spencer’s hands-off approach and rampant spending got us here
Let me fix Asha Sharma's press statement: We failed to capture the market cap with Game Pass being a cheap deal. Which bled money from studios we blamed, cut staff of, or closed. We had to lower the price of Game Pass because we hadn't captured the market enough to dictate that price yet. We're restructuring Xbox not for sustainability but so Microsoft can invest more into AI, which no upfront cost is too great to replace employees with ones who never get tired and can be sold on a subscription service to other companies. Our AI investments have also made the RAM cartel jack up it's prices on all consumer grade computing machines making your Xbox console much more expensive.