A reader is unsurprised by the recent rumours about Xbox and argues that the cost of buying Activision Blizzard have been more than even Microsoft realise.
They say money can’t buy you love and we’ve seen that that’s definitely true for Xbox. In the last few years, they’ve spent over $76 billion (billion!) on buying up Activision Blizzard, Bethesda, and various other developers and their reward for that is… hardware sales lower than the Xbox One. In fact, they’re doing so badly that reports claim they’re just going to give up trying to push the consoles in Europe and just focus on Game Pass and cloud gaming.
The counter to this is that their revenues are up because Activision Blizzard games like Call Of Duty sell really well and now all that money is coming to Microsoft. That’s true, except… they had to spend $69 billion to buy them, so they’ve got to make that much in profit before they even break even. And no matter how well Call Of Duty sells that is going to take a lot of sequels, and well over a decade, before they get even close.
To be honest, I’m shocked anyone higher up at Microsoft agreed to this, since presumably Phil Spencer and co. would’ve had to explain things in great detail, including their predictions of what they thought was going to happen. So why is it that everything that has happened since seems like a sudden knee jerk reaction? They seem to change plans almost every week, with reports of in-fighting over multiformat in particular, which we know for a fact was not meant to be going the way it is.
When Xbox first bought Bethesda everything was going to be an exclusive, there was no talk about going multiformat at all. A few months after buying Activision Blizzard though and suddenly everyone’s in a blind panic, games are going multiformat, and thousands of people are losing their jobs. Was part of the plan? It clearly wasn’t but even if you pretend it is, why has it been unveiled in such a haphazard, amateurish way?
All these sudden changes make it feel like the top execs at Microsoft weren’t really paying attention when the sale first happened and since then they’ve had a proper look at the books and got the shock of their lives. That would explain all the sudden complaints about a lack of growth and having to expand the audience. All at exactly the same time as Xbox sales take a nosedive worldwide.
Microsoft are now one of the biggest video game companies in the world but at what cost? Nobody’s buying their consoles anymore, to the point where it seems they’re happy to let the current gen just fade away and be forgotten.
Their biggest money maker is Call Of Duty, which was multiformat before and is multiformat now. So, what has Microsoft gained from any of this? Especially without any meaningful console sales, the Xbox division has just become Activision Blizzard in all but name. Except for cloud gaming there’s almost nothing they’re doing now that Activision Blizzard couldn’t have done when they were independent.
I believe the rumours of a ‘civil war’ at Xbox, between those that wanted to see things stay exclusive and those that didn’t. I assume the latter also don’t care about hardware sales and are happy for Xbox to become just a service, even though Game Pass is also failing.
Like many I’m nostalgic for the Xbox 360 days, when Xbox seemed to have a unique identity. They were the young usurper, outselling Nintendo on their first try and putting PlayStation on the back foot. Nowadays though they just seem to pinball from one bad headline to the next. Every year they put on a good summer showcase and then immediately after everything unravels for another 12 months.
I don’t see anything of the old Xbox today. Instead, it feels like they’d do or so anything just to make an extra buck, and then immediately reverse their plans a moment later. All that money and they’ve gained nothing. Instead, they’ve lost their direction and their identity, the soul of Xbox has been extinguished and all that’s left is the empty shell of Activision Blizzard.
By reader Ratso
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