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Post by skalpadda on Oct 23, 2024 21:18:29 GMT
Always nice to see the "just throw all the money at it"-strategy fail.
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zephro
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Post by zephro on Oct 23, 2024 23:07:23 GMT
Always nice to see the "just throw all the money at it"-strategy fail.
As it always was going to. Much like books, films, music and TV it's not a matter of simple money. All those industries have evolved systems of 2nd party production companies or literary agents or just taking a loss on high quality art while pumping out Fast and Furious movies. They've all evolved for artistic expression AND profit seeking content. Some more so than others or with a different balance. Games are hard as theres also engineering involved (like film production companies). But still hasn't entirely found a stable place. I'm way more worried about Microsoft's massive cash grab of buying up mid sized companies like Obsidian or Bethesda than any of this shit over price. Though anyone good will just leave and set up new companies eventually. |
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nazo
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Post by nazo on Oct 24, 2024 12:16:55 GMT
The MS acquisitions don’t make sense to me. Surely 1st party exclusives are like supermarket loss-leaders; you make them to attract and keep people in your ecosystem. They won’t make as much money as releasing them on multi-platforms would, but getting the punters in is your ticket to getting that sweet effort-free money from 3rd party sales.
Buying up all the big 3rd parties would be like Tesco buying Heinz; maybe some people would switch supermarkets to keep getting their favourite sauces and beans but not enough to make it worthwhile.
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Post by Jambowayoh on Oct 24, 2024 12:49:55 GMT
King was always the major acquisition everything else is just content for Gamepass.
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apollo
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Post by apollo on Oct 25, 2024 11:19:09 GMT
Microsoft CEO's pay rises 63% to $73m, despite devastating year for layoffs 2550 jobs lost in 2024.
also the ceo looks like random selection character creator in Bethesda game
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Post by JuniorFE on Oct 25, 2024 11:29:34 GMT
Microsoft CEO's pay rises 63% to $73m, despite devastating year for layoffs 2550 jobs lost in 2024.
also the ceo looks like random selection character creator in Bethesda game
Well of course the CEO got a pay rise, all those salaries they're no longer paying have to go somewhere *eyeroll* |
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apollo
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Post by apollo on Oct 25, 2024 18:37:19 GMT
Those employees were a sacrifice he was willing to make.
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zephro
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Post by zephro on Oct 25, 2024 19:19:09 GMT
Is this surprising though?
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Post by Chopsen on Oct 26, 2024 8:47:56 GMT
I mean....a bit? The company's been giving "times are tough" vibes to their investors and the CEO gets a 60% pay rise. Not amazing corporate governance.
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Post by dangerousdave on Oct 26, 2024 9:28:20 GMT
This stuff needs to be either illegal or heavy taxed. Like any bonuses over a million in a single year needs to be taxed up the arse.
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rftp
New Member
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Post by rftp on Oct 26, 2024 10:07:38 GMT
I'm not going to hold my breath, tbh.
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zephro
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Post by zephro on Oct 26, 2024 10:08:10 GMT
I mean....a bit? The company's been giving "times are tough" vibes to their investors and the CEO gets a 60% pay rise. Not amazing corporate governance. Yeah but they fired a lot of people which made their share prices go up as investors took it to be a good thing. CEO bonuses and salaries are often based on that short term share price. So kinda just the way things are. If you wanted to change anything it'd have to be government restructuring the economy somehow to be less about immediate share price or just taxing fucking stupid salaries harshly. |
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technoish
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Post by technoish on Oct 26, 2024 10:26:36 GMT
Yer all communists.
His compensation wasn't based on share price per se, but it did include revenues which saw a large increase. Almost all of it was in form of shares, which he isn't able to cash out quickly, so he actually has interest in ensuring long term share increases not short. And he himself asked for the cash part of his bonus to be halved due to his poor performance and taking accountability for a cyber hack earlier in the year.
Also for a company with more than 200k employees, 2550 is near 1%... Natural attrition must be way higher.
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Post by Chopsen on Oct 26, 2024 10:45:48 GMT
How very dare you!
I've not been following MS's fortunes but I did think they'd been not doing so well recently, though obviously their share price seems to be going along with all the other tech stocks and seen some stellar (over)valuations.
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Post by Bill in the rain on Oct 26, 2024 11:46:24 GMT
I mean, he only has about 70 million dollars. How could he stay motivated if they didn't give him another 50 million?
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zephro
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Post by zephro on Oct 26, 2024 22:57:20 GMT
How very dare you! I've not been following MS's fortunes but I did think they'd been not doing so well recently, though obviously their share price seems to be going along with all the other tech stocks and seen some stellar (over)valuations. Azure and Office are doing annoyingly well. I mean in part they gave away Office and Teams for free for a while before they started charging after businesses got hooked. Typical MS stuff. Plus they've invested heavily in AI like Copilot. Which is increasing valuations without any necessary associated revenue. Azure I assume is long tail companies lifting and shifting their existing MS stack up not because it's actually good for anything. Games. No fucking idea. I presume they're still getting outsold by PS. It's probably all a bit of a drop in the ocean relative to the other stuff. |
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Post by Jambowayoh on Oct 26, 2024 23:03:32 GMT
I believe in gaming their consoles sell fuck all but they're killing it in terms of software sales and subs.
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Post by simple on Oct 26, 2024 23:49:07 GMT
Turn off Office 365 and you might as well switch off the Western economy, they’ve really got us by the balls with that one.
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Post by 😎 on Oct 27, 2024 0:24:41 GMT
Yeah, Microsoft are doing super well in some areas, terrible in others, but overall they’re highly profitable. The company is not a single entity, it’s probably way more diversified than even Google pre-Alphabet, or Facebook pre-Meta. As much as we’d hope you could swap staff around rather than having workforce reductions, sometimes to optimize it’s just a case of trim the fat. As an example, the MS Project division doesn’t really exist anymore beyond a niche part of Dynamics, they took the talent from it and either sent them there or moved them into Planner, as far as I know the rest were laid off.
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crashV👀d👀
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not just a game anymore...
Posts: 3,829
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Post by crashV👀d👀 on Oct 30, 2024 12:37:00 GMT
So many threads I could put this in at the moment ... Sony does a WB, fails to read the room and carries on regardless. www.pushsquare.com/news/2024/10/after-a-tough-few-months-sony-says-itll-keep-making-ps5-live-service-gamesIn a devastating statement issued today, Sony announced the closure of two studios it acquired under co-CEO Hermen Hulst’s tenure – but it’s not deterred it from chasing the live service gravy train. The executive said that “expanding beyond PlayStation devices and crafting engaging online experiences alongside our single player games [is key] for us as we evolve our revenue streams”. In other words, it’s not going to stop trying. *emphasis mine |
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Derblington
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Did you know I have a girlfriend
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Post by Derblington on Oct 30, 2024 12:54:50 GMT
I’m not really sure what’s wrong with that. They want an expanded portfolio across a variety of experiences and on more than just PS branded boxes. That’s good business, no?
If they were ditching everything else to go all in on online service titles it’d be crazy but they want some online focused things to go alongside the stuff they’re known for and very successful at. Helldivers 2 wouldn’t exist if they didn’t. More of that would be fine. It all depends on what the games are. Trying to do Concord again would be daft, but they aren’t going to do that.
WB fucked up by making an Arkham game in to a Gaas. That doesn’t mean all other Gaas will be shit. Someone will get it get right.
The key thing will be not to over scope and over spend, build something that people want to play, and not completely close studios as a result. We’ll see how they go.
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crashV👀d👀
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not just a game anymore...
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Post by crashV👀d👀 on Oct 30, 2024 13:38:49 GMT
Is it good business?
Take a multi-million dollar loss, close the studio, fire everybody involved and then double down with more of the same?
Expanding their device base is a smart (pc, switch) potentially a requirement these days to increase sales but committing to more live service/gaas in search of the money printer straight off the announcement of the closure is a bold move.
it just seems like a segment of the market that is overly saturated (well for shooters anyway). Maybe they angle for some other genre instead, like dungeon crawler or space thing. Fuck it, bring back Warhawk, I'm sure that'll translate nicely.
I guess we'll see. It'll be interesting reading regardless.
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apollo
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Post by apollo on Oct 30, 2024 13:44:44 GMT
I really hope this fails and fuck any idiot who pays for these expensive nft shit
Ubisoft launches first-ever blockchain game, with NFTs costing up to £50k
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Post by Jambowayoh on Oct 30, 2024 13:45:53 GMT
I'm sure Mr. Sony, wherever he is, will be fine.
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Post by Jambowayoh on Oct 30, 2024 13:49:07 GMT
Also good to see that Roger Ubisoft is still up on the latest tech trends.
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Post by zisssou on Oct 30, 2024 13:51:06 GMT
They have closed the studio, but there's probably still assets they can use for other online service stuff. You don't really know what they've bought.
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Post by Jambowayoh on Nov 7, 2024 14:39:56 GMT
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crashV👀d👀
Junior Member
not just a game anymore...
Posts: 3,829
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Post by crashV👀d👀 on Nov 7, 2024 14:49:30 GMT
Nope. That's not going to go over well.
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Post by 😎 on Nov 7, 2024 14:54:48 GMT
Noooo not vectorman 2
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Post by Jambowayoh on Nov 7, 2024 14:56:08 GMT
I can't understand the logic behind this...UNLESS, it's all part of their super game project to put all this stuff behind the bullshit paywall of an always online game.
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