Microsoft to shut down X-Box Studios, can 14K employees

[Aesop]

Link

The LA Times reports the computer giant will be closing most of that Calif.-based production facility, part of an expected 14,000 jobs reduction.

Launched in 2012 with big expectations, Xbox Entertainment Studios will wind down operations in the coming months. Nancy Tellem, the former CBS President and Jordan Levin, a well-regarded programmer, will see through some current projects in development before exiting.

This is mainly notable because it makes Bill Gates and Microsoft's corporate braintrust the first @$$clowns to be unable to run a studio and make a profit in this town since MGM folded in late '70s/early '80s.

When Michael Moore can make a profit and Bill Gates can't, the world is upside down.

[Aesop]

No argument re: The Monster, but when you start with buttloads of cash and can't make a studio profitable, that's like effing up a crowbar in a sandbox.
And those will be 14,000 formerly well-compensated temporary California residents likely coming to new digs elsewhere.
Cheers, y'all.

[Yogimus]

What was the last quality product they produced?

[Yogimus]

What was the last quality product they produced?

They've never actually produced anything independently. They've partnered with other production companies on mostly crap.

so 12k folks just got their pay adjusted to match their worth?

[Jericho941]

In the last couple years leading up to the release of the XBone, PS4 and WiiU, all the most trusted readers of entrails were hailing the death of PC gaming.

Failing to take into account that consoles now pretty much require an Internet connection, games have to be installed on them, they're just as bug-ridden as their PC ports but patches are slower, and you have to deal with absurd, imposed extra costs like X-Box Live, one wonders just how anyone could take that seriously, let alone see it become the prevailing wisdom. The attractiveness of console gaming was simplicity and convenience, something that each generation provided less and less of. The graphics improved while everything else got worse.

On top of that, the XBone promised to deliver a whole lot of extra inconvenience, absurd DRM, etc. Nobody really wanted a Kinect no matter how obsessed Microsoft was with it.

This is the sound of inevitability.

What was the last quality product they produced?

They've never actually produced anything independently. They've partnered with other production companies on mostly crap.

so 12k folks just got their pay adjusted to match their worth?

Yes.

[evan price]

In the last couple years leading up to the release of the XBone, PS4 and WiiU, all the most trusted readers of entrails were hailing the death of PC gaming.

Failing to take into account that consoles now pretty much require an Internet connection, games have to be installed on them, they're just as bug-ridden as their PC ports but patches are slower, and you have to deal with absurd, imposed extra costs like X-Box Live, one wonders just how anyone could take that seriously, let alone see it become the prevailing wisdom. The attractiveness of console gaming was simplicity and convenience, something that each generation provided less and less of. The graphics improved while everything else got worse.

On top of that, the XBone promised to deliver a whole lot of extra inconvenience, absurd DRM, etc. Nobody really wanted a Kinect no matter how obsessed Microsoft was with it.

This is the sound of inevitability.

We went from a GameCube to an Xbox 360 only because someone gave me one for a present.
The idea of console gaming normally is something I would never do- it's a one-trick pony. All it does is play games.
But it did it well.
But when I did want to play- no need to boot the OS, log on to something, etc. Just turn it on and hit Start.
Yeah I'm not the target demographic but c'mon, how can they eff up something as simple as an Atari 2600 with the advances in technology we've had in 30 years?
The Xbox 360 has good graphics and speed and at least it can be used as a DVD player which makes it not a one trick pony. Xbox Live? Naah. I log in once a year or so when they have free games to download. Once they hit on this idea of DRM that requires connecting to the Mothership they can stick the game up their own slot.

[Greg]

They're also refocusing their mobile efforts... but exactly how they're doing that, OTHER than chopping out old Nokia, is still unclear.

They spent a LOT of money on that. And now they're basically shitcanning it.

[skb12172]

I've pretty much stayed on the cutting edge until now. PS2, Gamecube, Xbox. Plus, a Wii, Xbox360, and PS3. I have NOT bought any of the current cutting edge consoles because, 1) The Wii U doesn't look worth it. 2) I want to make sure a new console is out for at least a year before I buy one. Let someone else deal with the initial bugs, etc.

Having said that, the money we spent on the Kinect was WASTED. Nice in theory, bad in execution.