We've almost reached the end of the 1st half of 2024, and Xbox has had more studio closures than first party game releases in the year so far.
kinda hard to make video games if you keep laying off the people who make video games...
my heart goes out to those in the industry going through all this crap, man
deus@lemmy.world 6 months ago
At this rate in a couple years there’ll be nothing left of all those studios they bought recently.
ME5SENGER_24@lemmy.world 6 months ago
That’s by design. Force your opposition to sell, bankrupt them and write off the loses. Shrink the industry and force players to sign up for your subscription services.
I’m not a fan, but it’s hard to see this wasn’t their plan from the get go
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 6 months ago
The industry historically hasn’t shrunk when studios close like this. There just ends up being more bespoke studios all over the world with former developers from those studios.
paraphrand@lemmy.world 6 months ago
It seems weird for a platform holder to do this.
shinratdr@lemmy.ca 6 months ago
The sad part is this might actually end up being a net positive in the long run. Their two biggest acquisitions were Bethesda and Activision-Blizzard, one company that has started their decline and another that is deep into it.
Microsoft pissing away $100B to buy these companies only to turn around and kill them 5-10 years later will end up breaking up the gaming conglomerates that have killed the western games industry. The only sad part is all the people that will lose their jobs and all the classic IP that will be squandered.
Defaced@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Enhance, embrace, extinguish. That’s the Microsoft way, their success has always and will always be built off the backs of others they’ve fucked over.