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Microsoft lays off 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees (www.theverge.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 51 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I remember people on the Internet talking about the Microsoft Bethesda deal. I saw people saying that it's "actually a good thing" and how Microsoft can contribute more to Bethesda and they'll churn out better games for Xbox. Then I see shit like this and games like Starfield and understand why 99% of the people on the Internet have no fucking clue what they're talking about.

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  • [–] 29 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    You think Microsoft is at fault for Starfield being mediocre? Okay

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  • [–] -2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    You think they’re not?

    When Starfield was released Bethesda was already part of Microsoft. Sure, it was mostly done but Microsoft should have realized it was a turd and either delayed the release to rebuild the game or simply cancelled it. Instead they chose to take money from their customers for a game that is clearly not worth the asking price.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    It's worth mentioning thought that Microsoft did step in after they bought Bethesda to get the game to even run at 30fps on their consoles.

    However, I very much doubt that they would have tried to compromise the vision of the game after paying premium for the company. Keep in mind that Bethesda had delivered some beloved games in the past.

    The mistake was to trust them. A mistake that it looks like they don't want to repeat with Blizzard judging by the huge amount of layoffs.

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  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    The mistake was to trust them.

    I don't buy that it was purely trust. If you're going to spend $69 billion you have to do your due diligence. You want to know what you're buying. I can imagine Bethesda not noticing they had a problem, they have been working on it for years and if you're so immersed into the development it can be hard to take a step back and take a good look at what you've made. But Microsoft was looking at it with a fresh pair of eyes. There are only 2 options: Either the Xbox division at Microsoft is completely incompetent or they knew they had a stinker and decided to sell it anyway.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    If you're going to spend $69 billion you have to do your due diligence. You want to know what you're buying.

    They knew what they were buying - a beloved studio that has churned out tons of "classics" over the past couple decades, which has been able to sell and resell one of those classics (Skyrim) for like half a dozen different consoles.

    There are only 2 options: Either the Xbox division at Microsoft is completely incompetent or they knew they had a stinker and decided to sell it anyway.

    There's actually a third option: Microsoft knew Starfield would sell, stinker or not, because Bethesda has a very loyal fanbase that will eat up anything they put out. It didn't matter to Microsoft whether the game was good or not, they knew they'd make their money either way.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    There's actually a third option: Microsoft knew Starfield would sell, stinker or not, because Bethesda has a very loyal fanbase that will eat up anything they put out. It didn't matter to Microsoft whether the game was good or not, they knew they'd make their money either way.

    That’s just option 2 I describes, in more words. Basically, they scammed Bethesda’s loyal fans.

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  • [+] -8 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    And please read comments more carefully next time. I did not say Microsoft was ever at fault, simply that they did not contribute anything to make Starfield better before release. Delays are a thing, but nobody thought it would be worth it to delay Starfield before release. If anything I'd bet money that Microsoft pushed the release

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