Microsoft Just Gutted Its Gaming Division — MASS Layoffs, Canceled Games, and Studio Shutdowns

WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.240
from vacation. I don't really know what's going

00:00:02.240 --> 00:00:04.820
on in the world. Because I was pretty much out

00:00:04.820 --> 00:00:07.980
in the middle of nowhere to give you an idea.

00:00:08.820 --> 00:00:10.919
I was an hour and a half away from the closest

00:00:10.919 --> 00:00:13.839
AMC, so I could not go see the new F1 movie.

00:00:13.859 --> 00:00:18.620
And I was pretty sad about that here. But anyway,

00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:22.239
so I thought we would start off with a happy.

00:00:23.379 --> 00:00:25.699
Topic, you know, just getting back into the groove

00:00:25.699 --> 00:00:27.980
of things. It's been three weeks. You know, the

00:00:27.980 --> 00:00:31.960
world's on fire, I guess. So let's yeah, something

00:00:31.960 --> 00:00:34.579
that's not going to like make us all super depressed.

00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:39.960
So anyways, large scale layoffs have been happening

00:00:39.960 --> 00:00:42.700
across like the gaming division of Microsoft.

00:00:44.060 --> 00:00:47.640
In total, Microsoft has laid off recently about

00:00:47.640 --> 00:00:52.289
9000 employees. This also means the cancellation

00:00:52.289 --> 00:00:55.450
into high profile games that have been in development

00:00:55.450 --> 00:01:00.149
for a very long time. Rare's Everwind and the

00:01:00.149 --> 00:01:04.409
initiatives reboot of Perfect Dark. Alex, have

00:01:04.409 --> 00:01:06.969
you heard of these games? Were you waiting for

00:01:06.969 --> 00:01:08.890
these games? I was not particularly waiting for

00:01:08.890 --> 00:01:13.709
these games. Perfect Dark is a classic. series

00:01:13.709 --> 00:01:15.310
that they used to have. I was kind of looking

00:01:15.310 --> 00:01:17.430
forward to a reboot of it. I'd heard of it, but

00:01:17.430 --> 00:01:19.430
I wasn't like jumping over the world about it.

00:01:19.430 --> 00:01:22.689
I don't know. Rare is dead. Like, I hate to say

00:01:22.689 --> 00:01:28.650
it, but rare rare as a studio is is toast. Well,

00:01:29.409 --> 00:01:33.209
also, the initiative studio was shut down and

00:01:33.209 --> 00:01:36.790
this this studio was formed back in 2018 and

00:01:36.790 --> 00:01:40.439
they actually never released a video game. Other

00:01:40.439 --> 00:01:42.659
companies hit hard with the playoffs recently.

00:01:42.680 --> 00:01:47.620
Blizzard, Call of Duty's developer Raven Software.

00:01:48.459 --> 00:01:52.140
They're currently working on Black Ops 7. Forza

00:01:52.140 --> 00:01:55.939
Motorsport developer Turn 10 laid off close to

00:01:55.939 --> 00:02:00.000
50 % of their employees. Elder Scrolls online

00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:06.500
developer Xenomax with a Z. Online Studios canceled

00:02:06.500 --> 00:02:11.490
and unannounced massively. Exciting multiplayer

00:02:11.490 --> 00:02:14.069
game supposedly. I don't know. They didn't announce

00:02:14.069 --> 00:02:19.729
it but Doom creator John Romero was working on

00:02:19.729 --> 00:02:22.509
a new first -person shooter game apparently for

00:02:22.509 --> 00:02:26.430
Microsoft which is lost funding Meaning we will

00:02:26.430 --> 00:02:29.650
probably never see it But yeah, everything that

00:02:29.650 --> 00:02:34.610
I just listed Has has been owned and operated

00:02:34.610 --> 00:02:39.150
by Microsoft so I asked this question to you

00:02:39.699 --> 00:02:42.659
Why is Microsoft buying like half of the gaming

00:02:42.659 --> 00:02:47.400
market just to kill anything or Are they even

00:02:47.400 --> 00:02:49.800
good at running gaming studios? What are your

00:02:49.800 --> 00:02:51.800
thoughts? I'm gonna start with your second question

00:02:51.800 --> 00:02:53.419
first and the answer is are they good at running

00:02:53.419 --> 00:03:00.300
game studios? No Case in point was bungee. Yeah

00:03:00.300 --> 00:03:02.900
Yeah, bungee three four three. I don't know how

00:03:02.900 --> 00:03:06.099
that whole back and forth with all those mother

00:03:06.330 --> 00:03:08.590
Anyway, no, they're not going to run in gaming

00:03:08.590 --> 00:03:12.289
studios. They're just not. And I don't know what's

00:03:12.289 --> 00:03:15.930
happening over at Xbox. I saw some of the strategy

00:03:15.930 --> 00:03:17.009
when they were like, again, they were buying

00:03:17.009 --> 00:03:18.650
up Bethesda. They're buying up all this stuff

00:03:18.650 --> 00:03:21.069
like, OK, we're going to do this with Xbox and

00:03:21.069 --> 00:03:23.969
we're going on this live journey. And I, for

00:03:23.969 --> 00:03:29.530
a long time, was a proponent of Xbox Game Pass.

00:03:29.909 --> 00:03:32.750
OK, for a long time, I was a proponent of it.

00:03:32.789 --> 00:03:37.479
I thought it was a great deal. Um, I don't anymore.

00:03:38.259 --> 00:03:41.680
Um, I don't know what they're doing over at the

00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:46.620
Xbox division. Um, it, it, it boggles the mind.

00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:48.759
I don't know what the strategy is. There seems

00:03:48.759 --> 00:03:53.840
to me no rhyme or reason for it. Um, I, I, I

00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:57.520
really can't, I can't put it all together. Now

00:03:57.520 --> 00:03:59.759
it may have something to do with this. And I

00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:02.560
brought this article up on IGN and I thought

00:04:02.560 --> 00:04:03.599
about what we were going to do as a separate

00:04:03.599 --> 00:04:04.860
segment, but you know what? Now I think we're

00:04:04.860 --> 00:04:08.969
just Loop it in here. IGN. Oops. Hang on. Let

00:04:08.969 --> 00:04:13.069
me fix one thing real quick. IGN has basically

00:04:13.069 --> 00:04:20.550
said that Gen Z wants a. It's an article, basically,

00:04:20.769 --> 00:04:22.670
younger Americans are spending way less money

00:04:22.670 --> 00:04:25.509
on video games, 25 percent less on video games

00:04:25.509 --> 00:04:30.870
than this year than last year. Now. Without without.

00:04:31.960 --> 00:04:34.279
I'm sorry Wall Street Journal, you don't understand

00:04:34.279 --> 00:04:36.180
why these kids are buying less games. You don't.

00:04:36.199 --> 00:04:39.899
It's not just economic woes, okay? Honestly,

00:04:40.139 --> 00:04:42.040
video games are one of the cheapest forms of

00:04:42.040 --> 00:04:44.639
entertainment, dollar to hour of entertainment,

00:04:44.839 --> 00:04:49.060
out there, right? You buy a $60 game, you can

00:04:49.060 --> 00:04:51.720
milk that mother for a lot of entertainment.

00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:55.920
That's not why. I'll tell you why. There's just

00:04:55.920 --> 00:04:57.860
not a lot of good stuff out there right now.

00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:03.720
The gaming industry is in kind of a drought Right

00:05:03.720 --> 00:05:08.120
like I what was the last game Jay that you were

00:05:08.120 --> 00:05:13.240
really and I mean super hype about Super hyped

00:05:13.240 --> 00:05:18.879
about or like super obsessed with Hyped about

00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:21.060
you're like man. I'm buying that day one. I want

00:05:21.060 --> 00:05:25.300
to take a day off work. I Let's go. I'm not waiting

00:05:25.300 --> 00:05:28.019
for it to go on steam sale I'm not waiting till

00:05:28.019 --> 00:05:29.819
somebody recommends it to me before I become

00:05:29.819 --> 00:05:32.199
obsessed with it after I start playing. No, this

00:05:32.199 --> 00:05:36.560
is this game is coming and I want to jump over

00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:43.839
the moon to play it right now. Cyberpunk. And

00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:49.639
let's see here, what year did Cyberpunk I I legit.

00:05:51.160 --> 00:05:55.819
Built a gaming PC. Yeah, and and when did that

00:05:55.819 --> 00:06:01.500
game come out? I could tell you five years ago.

00:06:01.740 --> 00:06:06.839
Five years ago. Five fucking years ago. Some

00:06:06.839 --> 00:06:09.459
of the YouTube chats ask if there's if IGN other

00:06:09.459 --> 00:06:12.300
periodicals still relevant. Somewhat. I would

00:06:12.300 --> 00:06:13.720
say they're still somewhat relevant. I still

00:06:13.720 --> 00:06:15.620
get a lot of good rundown stuff from them, so

00:06:15.620 --> 00:06:23.899
I'll give IGN credit. I'll be honest. The hype's

00:06:23.899 --> 00:06:27.740
just not there right now. We occasionally get

00:06:27.740 --> 00:06:30.019
like a brief cultural moment like with Helldivers

00:06:30.019 --> 00:06:33.220
Yeah, right where everybody kind of jumps in

00:06:33.220 --> 00:06:35.759
Helldivers for a little while and then it goes

00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:42.560
away right, but honestly What's everybody excited

00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:47.579
about? See, I'm not I'm not entirely sure if

00:06:47.579 --> 00:06:53.040
that's it I think We are just like massively

00:06:53.040 --> 00:06:57.519
over stimulated Could be and I say that because

00:06:57.519 --> 00:07:00.519
I remember when I was younger playing console

00:07:00.519 --> 00:07:06.360
games. I mean, I would sit there and put in probably

00:07:06.360 --> 00:07:10.740
100 hours for fucking games that. I might not

00:07:10.740 --> 00:07:13.819
even buy today, and I think there's just so much

00:07:13.819 --> 00:07:18.480
content 24 seven of new game, new game, new game.

00:07:18.519 --> 00:07:20.360
This is on sale. This is on sale. This is on

00:07:20.360 --> 00:07:23.579
sale. Like I legit have like, you know, a steam

00:07:23.579 --> 00:07:28.720
library of games. 200 games, probably 50%. I've

00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:33.860
never played, um, completing a game is like impossible

00:07:33.860 --> 00:07:36.439
now. And I could say like, well, I'm a, I'm an

00:07:36.439 --> 00:07:38.680
adult now, right? Like I have a job, like I have

00:07:38.680 --> 00:07:40.819
responsibilities, but I don't think that's it.

00:07:40.819 --> 00:07:44.779
I think I go to work and I look at the thousand

00:07:44.779 --> 00:07:48.480
unread emails I have, and I'm in like five or

00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:51.839
six, like family group chats on social media.

00:07:51.959 --> 00:07:57.769
No offense, guys. um text chats insert whatever

00:07:57.769 --> 00:08:01.230
other social media bs by the time i get home

00:08:01.230 --> 00:08:05.050
like i kind of want to like unplug from the matrix

00:08:05.050 --> 00:08:08.209
for a little bit like it's just too much like

00:08:08.209 --> 00:08:11.910
everything is always new all the time right yeah

00:08:11.910 --> 00:08:14.750
absolutely and again i i think it's younger people

00:08:14.750 --> 00:08:18.350
are playing less games people our age are more

00:08:18.350 --> 00:08:19.949
picky about the games they play and the ones

00:08:19.949 --> 00:08:23.279
they invest time into I can tell you in the last

00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:25.800
year and a half, there's probably four games

00:08:25.800 --> 00:08:29.779
I've invested more than a few hours into. Right.

00:08:32.399 --> 00:08:35.399
And it's it's it's hard to grab me these days

00:08:35.399 --> 00:08:38.200
again. So the sales numbers, I mean, again, 25

00:08:38.200 --> 00:08:41.399
percent year over year drop in 18 to 29 year

00:08:41.399 --> 00:08:44.519
olds. Right. Which is a big part of their market.

00:08:46.120 --> 00:08:50.820
Right. Means I would not be shocked if. Microsoft

00:08:50.820 --> 00:08:52.980
and other gaming companies are having some really

00:08:52.980 --> 00:08:56.200
hard financial times right now. Right. So these

00:08:56.200 --> 00:08:59.759
kind of layoffs again, very, very sad, but not

00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:03.220
surprising to me at all. And again, I think that

00:09:03.220 --> 00:09:05.620
Microsoft specifically, when it comes to Xbox,

00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:09.539
they kind of lost their way. Right. Like they

00:09:09.539 --> 00:09:13.820
had some clear direction in the Xbox, the 360.

00:09:14.700 --> 00:09:19.409
The Xbox one was a. Absolute misstep. It was

00:09:19.409 --> 00:09:22.090
an absolute misfire during that console generation.

00:09:22.169 --> 00:09:25.029
They knew it. They did it from the jump. They

00:09:25.029 --> 00:09:27.750
screwed it up at the gate. And honestly, I don't

00:09:27.750 --> 00:09:30.509
know if Xbox ever recovered from the absolute

00:09:30.509 --> 00:09:37.750
debacle that was the Xbox One's launch. Right?

00:09:38.629 --> 00:09:40.789
That thing went down in gaming history as one

00:09:40.789 --> 00:09:43.809
of the absolute worst console launches you could

00:09:43.809 --> 00:09:48.120
do. Right? Connect is necessary. You have to

00:09:48.120 --> 00:09:50.539
have it for the full experience for Xbox One.

00:09:50.659 --> 00:09:53.000
You can't sell Xbox One without Connect. A year

00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:55.659
later, yeah, we'll start selling Xbox One without

00:09:55.659 --> 00:09:59.960
Connect. We're sorry, right? You can't lend games

00:09:59.960 --> 00:10:02.679
anymore. Everything's DRM locked. And then PlayStation

00:10:02.679 --> 00:10:05.279
comes out with a commercial the next day. The

00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:09.480
next day at E3 showing full frickin' loanability

00:10:09.480 --> 00:10:12.690
of their games, right? Like they... They bungled

00:10:12.690 --> 00:10:14.950
that launch so much and again, I don't think

00:10:14.950 --> 00:10:20.029
they've ever really recovered not fully. You

00:10:20.029 --> 00:10:27.370
know. It sucks that all these people are losing

00:10:27.370 --> 00:10:32.549
their jobs, you know, 9000 people, but they've

00:10:32.549 --> 00:10:36.330
got to. They've got to find a way out of this.

00:10:38.529 --> 00:10:47.460
Yeah. Jay's just over here, silent, shaking his

00:10:47.460 --> 00:10:51.139
head like I just I don't know. I think I think

00:10:51.139 --> 00:10:53.779
the whole system is broken. I think back in the

00:10:53.779 --> 00:10:58.980
day you had game developers that like legit were

00:10:58.980 --> 00:11:03.419
nerds that loved playing video games, that loved

00:11:03.419 --> 00:11:07.639
making video games that and I'm not saying that

00:11:07.639 --> 00:11:10.620
nowadays like, oh, nowadays the kids don't care.

00:11:10.659 --> 00:11:14.639
I'm not saying that. But now I've seen this like

00:11:14.669 --> 00:11:19.289
mindset of when you have a startup, your number

00:11:19.289 --> 00:11:22.710
one goal is to get big enough to be bought out.

00:11:22.730 --> 00:11:27.450
Period. And that's well, we won't go down that

00:11:27.450 --> 00:11:29.389
road. Let's let's take I'm going to put a pin

00:11:29.389 --> 00:11:32.110
in that particular topic for just a second, because

00:11:32.110 --> 00:11:35.750
I may start a new topic on this. The crappy thing

00:11:35.750 --> 00:11:37.690
is, is that the system used to work really, really

00:11:37.690 --> 00:11:40.580
well. Right. Is that game developers would make

00:11:40.580 --> 00:11:43.039
games and then game publishers and gaming companies

00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:45.139
would pay them for the games that they made and

00:11:45.139 --> 00:11:48.919
then start over again. Right. And I think we

00:11:48.919 --> 00:11:51.340
see this again where corporate consolidation

00:11:51.340 --> 00:11:55.539
is just bad. Corporate consolidation is not a

00:11:55.539 --> 00:12:07.720
good thing. Right. And every time. Every time.

00:12:07.850 --> 00:12:14.370
it happens everybody loses um somebody in the

00:12:14.370 --> 00:12:16.570
youtube chat is making a joke and it's a classic

00:12:16.570 --> 00:12:19.230
seattle joke and i'm gonna i'm gonna talk about

00:12:19.230 --> 00:12:28.809
this right so so back in the day seattle has

00:12:28.809 --> 00:12:32.250
always been a company town right it's always

00:12:32.250 --> 00:12:35.190
been a company town and back in the day there

00:12:35.190 --> 00:12:38.450
was a billboard when we thought boeing was going

00:12:38.450 --> 00:12:46.029
to blow up right and and lose uh leave town for

00:12:46.029 --> 00:12:49.230
good right and so consequently somebody put up

00:12:49.230 --> 00:12:50.970
this billboard with the last person leaving Seattle

00:12:50.970 --> 00:12:53.090
please turn out the lights so he's not always

00:12:53.090 --> 00:12:55.950
going to leave and Seattle was going to die right

00:12:55.950 --> 00:12:57.649
uh so somebody in the YouTube chat said well

00:12:57.649 --> 00:12:59.210
the last person leaving Redmond shut the server

00:12:59.210 --> 00:13:03.169
down um I don't think it's to that point Microsoft

00:13:03.169 --> 00:13:10.259
as a company is doing fine Okay. Microsoft's

00:13:10.259 --> 00:13:15.519
doing great. $245 billion in revenue last year,

00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:20.759
$109 billion in operating income, up 24%. Microsoft

00:13:20.759 --> 00:13:24.659
is doing fine. Corporate consolidation is bad

00:13:24.659 --> 00:13:26.720
because when people are managing individual department

00:13:26.720 --> 00:13:29.539
P &Ls, they're going to cut to make their bonus.

00:13:30.399 --> 00:13:34.340
Right? That's how this shit works. Okay. Corporate

00:13:34.340 --> 00:13:39.539
consolidation is bad. Right? It just is. It always

00:13:39.539 --> 00:13:46.340
has been. Okay? It sucks. It really, really sucks.

00:13:47.500 --> 00:13:52.360
And what happens is people lose their jobs. It's

00:13:52.360 --> 00:14:00.419
bullshit. Anyway, that was a fun topic to open

00:14:00.419 --> 00:14:03.139
the evening with Jay. Yeah, I wanted something

00:14:03.139 --> 00:14:05.360
light, you know, something fun. Something like,

00:14:05.379 --> 00:14:10.320
you know, a fun topic. Yeah, just kind of bring

00:14:10.320 --> 00:14:12.480
everyone out of depression.