The Thursday Letters page has no sympathy for it Xbox boss Phil Spencer, as a reader celebrates the reviews of Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes.
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Greed with limits
If anything good comes out of all this Microsoft madness, it's that I have a newfound respect for Nintendo and the Japanese games industry. They're all still run by greedy, callous businessmen, but at least they seem to have some idea of restraint and long-term planning. It would be funny if it weren't so destructive to see Microsoft, and most other Western publishers, trying to claw their way into an industrial crash.
What is the secret of Nintendo's success? Make great games consistently. Try to innovate, of course (within the safety of well-known franchises) and in terms of hardware. But actually just making great games, which Xbox has not been able to do for two generations.
Although the secret sauce for Nintendo is that they still do this within relatively small budgets. Half of their stuff is still AA and I doubt even something like Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom costs anywhere near as much as other publishers' triple-A blockbusters.
Japanese publishers haven't been firing people because they're nice and charitable, but because their games have a reasonable budget and they haven't gotten to the point where it's nearly impossible to make a profit from them. And the only one that acts like this sometimes is Square Enix and, guess what, they're the only one that seems to be in potential trouble.
It's not that Japanese companies aren't still in it for the money, but it is possible to run a business without it being at the expense of your employees and the entire industry. I'd say it's time for Xbox to learn this lesson, but I don't feel like they ever really pay attention to it. Considering how long they've been into gaming now, they're really pretty rubbish at it.
Casper
The burden of leadership
Good on Mike Ybarra for saying what we were all thinking; that multi-millionaire CEO Phil Spencer is the real victim of this whole developer closure thing at Xbox.
Here we are all feeling bad just because a few hundred developers are going to lose their jobs, no doubt due to his and other Microsoft executives' stupid business decisions, while poor old Phil is probably completely traumatized because he has to do the actual deed to actually fire them. .
So the next time you feel sorry for those hard-working people and wonder how they're going to pay their mortgage, keep an eye open for poor old Phil, the real victim.
I'm sure you're sitting in your mansion crying in your Battletoads T-shirt right now (he's a huge fan, by the way), but if you're reading this, Phil, I hope you feel better soon!
ANON
Real love
I just read how bad Phil Spencer feels. I'm sure all his millions will help him wipe away his tears, and the same goes for Sony. It makes me laugh, they spend billions buying companies, over and over they say how much they love their developers and how buying a company is good for gaming. Then begins what can only be described as firing the people who do the hard work.
Maybe Sony and Xbox should take a leaf out of Nintendo's book. What did Satoru Iwata do when the Wii U was in trouble and the board was talking about letting people go? He and the rest of the board took a pay cut. Why anyone would want to work for PlayStation or Xbox is beyond me.
Anon
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Death and rebirth
Can you be a bit more detailed in your prediction of an 'inevitable and imminent industry crash', as I think this insight is probably needed?
What exactly does that mean, and when do you think this will inevitably happen?
Matt (he_who_runs_away – PSN ID)
GC: We're not claiming to be Nostradamus, but it's clear that the cost of making games is constantly rising and the number and type of games that publishers find worth making is constantly decreasing – as we saw this week with Xbox . We will answer this question in more detail in this weekend's newsletter.
Back on the battlefield
EA is usually brutally sensible about the games they publish, which I can respect to a certain extent, but I'm honestly surprised they put so much into making more Battlefield. Those games had so many chances to be great and they always messed up. I just don't think a lot of people are interested in it anymore or even know what it is.
If you played Battlefield 1942 in your teens, you must be in your mid-30s by now, and I'm not sure the franchise really resonates with people much younger. Not my problem I guess, but all this time later and you're still trying to beat Call Of Duty at its own game? I just don't see it happening. The moment has passed.
Rodney
A bad year
What an absolute and complete disaster this year has been for Microsoft. I literally couldn't imagine what else they could be doing wrong at this point. I hope all those Xbox fans who desperately want the Activision Blizzard deal to go through (why? What did you get out of it?) now realize that everything everyone told you about what happens after the acquisition was true.
I highly doubt we have seen the end of Microsoft's cuts. Every studio that makes AA games is at risk, and that certainly includes Double Fine and Ninja Theory. I wouldn't even say Obsidian was safe – although they'll probably be told to become a Fallout factory once Avowed is out, and not doing very well.
The problem for Microsoft is that it has no patience. It always thinks it's found the fastest path to success, with Game Pass being the latest failed gimmick. If it had just sat back and built its first party studios from scratch, they would be in full bloom right now. No doubt Sony only came into their own with the PlayStation 4, so this should have been Xbox's moment – but they just wasted their time on money and have nothing to show for it now.
Their latest attempt was to buy up as much of the games industry as possible, without apparently considering the true costs, in terms of investor skepticism and lost jobs. The idea that we should sympathize with poor old Phil Spencer is not only absurd, it's insulting.
Focus
Can not connect
That removed tweet from Xbox's Sarah Bond is just… wow. She clearly knew about Tango Gameworks and co. at the time she wrote it, but she didn't connect the meaning of what she was endorsing to the reality of what was going on.
There's probably no better example of the lack of empathy executives have for their employees and the outright stupidity of so many people in the games industry. And that also applies to that ex-Blizzard boss. Pity poor Phil Spencer and the millions he gets paid for destroying an entire medium!
Scorpion
Build it and they will come
A good summary from GC on big companies ruining the games industry and how Xbox is leading the way. I cannot dispute any of the points mentioned. Phil Spencer lost me when he said producing 11/10 games wouldn't make a difference. Microsoft is so focused on analytics that they are blind to the obvious. The key to success is not rocket science. Build compelling hardware with great games, and customers will follow.
GC previously stated that PlayStation is essentially an American company. That's why they've become a version of Microsoft, beset by the same corporate greed. Nintendo has retained its Japanese roots and it shows. It's a company steeped in tradition and there's something honorable about the way Nintendo does business. It would be so easy for Nintendo to get enamored with growth and spread their intellectual property everywhere and rake in a ton of money. It's commendable that they don't.
I'm a big boxing fan and recently saw Japanese superstar boxer Naoya Inoue fight in Tokyo. The pound-for-pound best fighter in the world was up against a Mexican fighter. The Mexican was announced as public enemy number one in Japan, due to past digressions. Nevertheless, the Mexican was cheered in the ring. There was no hint of disapproval during the Mexican national anthem. And after Inoue delivered a beating, there was nothing but respect for his opponent. This whole spectacle epitomized Japanese culture for me.
So when Nintendo executives took a pay cut during the Wii U disaster, it's no surprise. That's why I'm advocating for Nintendo to get it right.
Anon
PS: If GC doesn't know Nayoa Inoue, check out his knockout highlights. He's not called the Monster for nothing. He should be the final boss in a fighting game!
Inbox is also running
For those interested, Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes has pretty good reviews, with an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. It seems like the script doesn't amount to much, but the direction is a highlight, so considering the director is doing Zelda, and he's had a lot of practice with high quality CGI here, that's quite encouraging.
Dunstan
Since it looks like another GTA 6 trailer is on the way, I'm very curious to see if any will debut at the Xbox or PlayStation showcases. Whatever it ends up being, it will be a good example of who is still willing to spend money to attract other publishers.
Lempton
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